The race recap is below, but a few days before the race happened, a few of us surprised our friend Tricia with a front lawn birthday surprise, that I really must share here:
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We are doing our best flamingo impression…How did we do? Tricia is in the middle. You know, the one that cannot possibly look her age!!
Ok, on the the Recap…
I decided last year, after completing the Bluewater Sprint Duathlon (the swim had been cancelled due to crazy lake huron waves) that I really wanted to complete the Olympic distance in 2014. The route seemed like a good first-time Olympic. Flat bike ride, super flat run. I was actually quite jealous of all of the Olympic racers last year, as the run looked like it could be a fast one.
Although I really don't feel like I trained any harder, or with more volume leading up to this year's race, I certainly felt more comfortable in the open water, and on my road bike, so I didn't feel light-headed as I signed up for the race. I did, however, force myself to do at least one long ride of over 40km before signing up, just to prove to myself that I could handle the distance on the bike. Yes, me and my bike don't spend that much time together. Hopefully someday soon I will make it a priority.
I did add aero bars to my bike this year, and I have noticed that I am more comfortable riding in that position. And when signing up for a race with a flat bike course, I knew I would have a chance to really test them out!
My friend Lorraine also decided to do this race, so we made it a "race-road-trip" together.
I have the greatest parents in the world, and they gave us a place to stay in their house the night before the race (they live super close by, and, I invited myself over).
We drove down the day before, and we went to the very casual kit-pick up and pasta dinner. The dinner was super yummy (all you can eat!!) and they even had fresh watermelon for dessert. mmmmmm
As I did this race last year, I took Lorraine to the venue so we could check everything out the night before.
Of course, as the swim was cancelled last year, I had no idea where the swim start/finish was. Well, duh, of course I knew it was at the water, but I didn't know where along the water.
Off we went, in search of the steps we would take up from the beach to transition.
We stopped at the first set of stairs we saw, assuming it would be the place, as they were very close to the transition area.
this is what we found...
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| ummmmmmm… I named these stairs the "metal death traps" and there was talk of whether or not our tetanus shots were up-to-date
So…we tried our hardest to be optimistic about the steps. We pictured coming out of the water in our bare feet, climbing these stairs with the rest of the crowd. It seemed a tiny bit awkward.
We tried to laugh it off.
Off we went, in search of the swim start.
We walked along, on the gorgeous night it was, trying to picture ourselves swimming all that way the next morning. This swim was point-to-point, so we would swim out to a bouy, then straight across (parallel to shore) then out (hopefully at a better set of stairs)!
When we arrived at the swim start (there was a marker on the beach) we ran into my friend Emily, and her family. Yay! It was fun seeing a familiar face!
We also met a young couple that was scoping out the course. We chatted with them, and shared our insecurities about the swim exit. They walked back toward transition with us. They were both younger than us, so we agreed that we could all be friends, as we were in different age categories on race day. No competition here! ;)
As it turned out, the swim exit was beyond the transition area. So the run back to transition would be a bit longer. But in the name of better stairs. Still very sketchy getting out of the water though…
See that "groyne" in the photo above? We had to "hop" over that thing on our way to the stairs on race day. Hmmmm
Before long, we headed back to my parent's house, and settled in and checked (and re-checked) our gear. We headed to bed early, as you do on "race-eve."
I checked my phone just before setting my alarm, and the weather network was calling for rain all day on race day. Seriously? Well, at least I wouldn't have to worry about my sunscreen failing me.
We arrived at the venue without any trouble, after a nice breakfast. This race has a "mandatory meeting" which is scheduled 35 minutes before the start of the Olympic swim. This was a bit tricky, as we still had to walk down (over a kilometre) to the swim start, and attempt a warm up. All after this meeting! It was going to be tight. The meeting wasn't short (boo) so we walked quickly in our bare feet to the start of the swim. We seemed to only have a few minutes (if that) in the frigid waters of lake huron before we were told to get out, back to the beach for the women's start. For this race, all women started together, with a 15 minute lead on the men. Age groups didn't matter. It wasn't a huge race, and that lake is very big, so it wasn't crowded. They also didn't care about swim cap colours. We were given swim caps, but they were all very random. Here is Lorraine's… 
It was practically personalized! Her initials are "LH," she is a Leo, and of course, she Has Speed (HS) so we figured all of that trumped the fact that it was dark blue, and it might be hard to spot her out in the lake (minor details…).
After a quick "have a great race" exchange, the horn went off, and into the water we ran! It was a bit wavy as we jumped in, and it took me a few minutes to settle into pace, after we rounded the first buoy. We spread out so well, that I actually spent much of the swim portion assuming I was in dead last place, as I didn't sight anyone near me! I ended up with a swim buddy in the last 200m or so. Another woman was swimming exactly beside me, at exactly the same pace. Neither one of us moved from our position. We probably looked really funny from the shore, swimming right beside each other in such a huge lake! Thankfully, we rounded the final buoy, and the shore was getting closer. I ran up (and over the obstacle) to the steps. I sprinted to make up time. I came right up behind Lorraine! Yay! swim time: 24:07* *we kind of think the swim was a couple hundred meters short, or the current was very strong. This swim time seems fast. We were parked side-by-side in transition. It was actually very nice to exchange a few words as we wiggled out of our wetsuits and into our bike shoes. I grabbed my bike, and said, "see you in a few minutes when you pass me!" and off I went. transition 1: 1:23 The bike course was out in an southeast direction, with a tiny hump of a hill, (an overpass) then straight east, to a turn around.  The wind was straight out of the southeast. It was sucking my will to pedal, I can say that for sure. Thank goodness for those aero bars. At about kilometre 6, a familiar voice came up behind me as I was choking back my Gu, "remember to take in lots of water!" It was Lorraine. She sped on past me. It was the only time in a race that I have been happy to see someone as they passed me! In the pre-race meeting, they had announced that, due to a change in the course (construction) the bike portion was only 36km long. While I was out there struggling in the wind, I was very thankful for that! Of course, after the turn around, time (literally) zoomed by. It was soooooo nice to have that wind at my back. As I rode into transition, I heard a, "Go Amy Go!" It was my best cousin/friend Janice and her daughter Mallory. They had arrived to cheer me on! bike time: 1:14:48 I ditched my bike, threw on my runners, and I was outta there. I had a bunch of people I had my eyes on catching that passed me on the bike. I knew I wouldn't catch everyone, but I was going to try my hardest. transition 2 time: 00:54 I came up to Lorraine, who looked awesome! She was going to have a great run, I could tell. The run was just as great as I thought it was going to be. Very flat, good aid stations, and a bit of shade. With 4km to go, I realized that I had a blister forming on my left heel. I didn't wear socks, and I think that was why :( I kept reminding myself that it was only 4k, and to try not to think of the pain. It worked I guess. As I ran toward the finish, I could hear my name being called again. My brother, and Janice were there yelling my name. So special. Really. I am so thankful to them, for coming to cheer for me! Run time: 43:28  Finish time: 2:24:37
I was certainly glad it was over, and my first order of business (after grabbing a water bottle) was taking off my shoes! Luckily (these are details that I'm sure no one needs to hear) the blister didn't burst, and it was just full of water, so it was going to be ok.
I watched my friend Matt finish, not far behind (he had to start 15minutes after me). Then we headed back to catch Lorraine, as she came into the finish.  |
And, it didn't start raining until the awards.
We enjoyed an AMAZING post-race meal (this race is famous for all of the food) and I received a mug for my AG award (2nd place 30-39)!
Thank you so much to Lorraine for being such an awesome road-trip-race-buddy, and to my brother and my cousin Janice for cheering!
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