US Half Championship RR - 9/26/04

Executive Summary (PR by ~8 minutes - Big Surprise):
Swim: 37:50.64
T1: 2:10.61
Bike: 2:50:11.42 (19.7 mph)
T2: 1:40.36
Run: 2:08:40.68 (9:49 min/mile)
Total: 5:40:33.71
Athena: 2/6
AG: 9/?
Overall: 167
Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/TriFilly/USHalf04/photo#s5118323886224494946

Long Version:
This race was all about hooking up w. my college basketball buddy, Ellen... Ellen lives in Milwaukee and we raced Dairyland/Spirit of Racine in 2003 as her first half IM and she raced it this year (2nd Athena) to qualify for the US Half. I was disappointed that I couldn't go up and race it again this year, but Coach Debi adamantly said NO (party-crasher coach).

Ellen didn't even know she'd qualified for this race until I told her & then she was pretty excited about it. Looking into it a bit more, realized that I'd qualified on time at Buffalo Springs (not that anyone couldn't have gotten in w. a general entry) and that Kansas City was about 550 miles away from Dallas & the same distance from Milwaukee. In addition, since Missouri is a state I've yet to race in (only about 34 states left), it was a go for both of us. Oh yeah, did I mention that I was four weeks into IMC recovery, so wasn't expecting anything fabulous from my body!

Headed out of town on Thursday at lunch for the long drive (not my most favorite way to spend my birthday). After an uneventful drive, w. lots of cell phone calls to catch up w. friends all over the country to keep me occupied, I arrived in KC about 9 pm to Ellen already at the hotel w. birthday cupcakes - yum!

Friday morning we slept in & hit packet pickup about 11. I called CLM and hoped to meet up w. her at packet pick-up, but no luck. Ellen & I met up w. another Dallas friend (Tanisha) and we rode the run course, we thought. Actually, we were lost and didn't even know it. Tanisha & I met Ellen running & she told us the right way to go - which looked MUCH more like the map than where we'd been :) Checked in my bike, went for a quick swim, w.out wetsuits - it was chilly, but not too bad. Knew it'd be wetsuit legal for race day though! We grabbed some lunch w. a couple beers, attended the prerace meeting then drove some of the bike course and realized it was a LOT more rolling than I'd anticipated, but nothing I couldn't handle. Headed back to the hotel, hit the hot tub for a few minutes, ordered pasta delivery, glass of wine w. 3 Tylenol PMs and was drifting off by 8:30.

Woke up about 5 AM, ate two packets of instant oatmeal, grabbed our crap & headed out by 5:45. Hit the race site by 6:15 and got set up. By chance, I saw someone who looked vaguely familiar in a Golden Gate Jersey coming out of the little blue room - took a chance & yelled "Cathy". Yep, it was her! We only chatted for a few minutes - but enough time to say we've met & to wish each other luck! Apparently it worked - CLM had a great race!

I was in the last wave of three (first: full IM, second: under 39 men, third: everybody else - the biggest). The swim was uneventful. Had a good bit of open water and tried to draft of a few different pair of feet, but just couldn't hang out back there in all those bubbles. Out of the water & noticed Ellen's bike was still in the rack - hhmm, that was a nice surprise. I thought Tanisha's was gone, but later learned it wasn't. Based on my 1:17 swim at IMC, 38 minutes here was exactly where I figured I'd be. Swim: 37:50.64

T1: 2:10.61 - not speedy, but not bad.

The bike was fun. Lots of rollers and no time to slack. Ellen passed me just before the half-way turnaround. I knew I should have a better run leg than her, but didn't want to giver her too much on the bike, so I tried to keep her in sight. Had a great time out there and met a guy wearing Richardson Bike Mart gear (RBM is our LBS). We jockeyed & joked a bit, but eventually I was able to drop him about 45 and all the while maintained my distance of about 1/2 mile behind Ellen. Off the bike at 2:50:11.42 (19.7 mph).

T2: 1:40.36 I think Ellen was pretty surprised when I showed up in transition right behind her... I had a pretty quick T2 and was out of there ahead of her.

There was no shade on the run, but it wasn't that hot (hello - I train in Texas). The run consisted of an out & back that you repeated twice. About 1/2 mi. from T2 we had to run on a utility trail that was rip-rock (large gravel). This wasn't good for me, as my feet are VERY tender (it REALLY sucked when I came back across this fourth time at mile 12.5). The rest of the run had a section across a dam and also some rollers and reminded me a bit of the Buffalo Springs run in Lubbock. Just like that race, I walked most of the uphills and ran the rest - walking the water stops. Had to stop at about mile 2 to vaseline my feel and again at mile 4.5 for a potty break. Otherwise, the volunteers were fabulous, the racers were friendly and it was all about continuing forward movement. I'd say the only "bad" thing about the whole race was that at about mile 1.5 (which was also mile 5.5, 7 and 12.5) there was a skunk roadkill - with the heat of the day, skunk smell and rotting flesh - it was nasty! Would have been really nice if someone associated w. the race would have shoveled it off the road.... Other than that - saw Tanisha, Ellen, RBM guy and another Dallas friend (Ahmed) on the run several times & that was pretty cool. I thought Tanisha was going to catch me, but held her off by about 30 seconds. Run: 2:08:40.68 (9:49 min/mile).

Total: 5:40:33.71

This was a good venue w. a smooth swim, challenging bike and run. Volunteers were great and all the aid stations were well stocked. I'd give it a B+ and definitely consider racing it again. We had a great post-race dinner with Tanisha & her guy-friend - what a blast!

Thanks for reading,
Kate

PS - Ellen finished 4th Athena, Tanisha 4th AG, Ahmed 1st Clyde 40+. I hope I didn't sound as if I wanted to trounce Ellen, but we both discussed the fact that coming into this race it was each of our goals to beat each other. It's great to have a healthy competition with friends - I know I would've slacked off on the bike if Ellen had been there to push me!