1/8 (60-64)
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Race Morning Rainbow |
took my bike down to rack in the Wave 3 Zone, second from the end, in
the sand.. Always remember to bring a plastic bag to put on the sand,
especially today, since the sand was wet from the rain.
I
went back to the apartment to hang out for almost an hour before the
race started. The race started on time.. 9:08am, all men and women over
50 started together. It was chaotic..... I started out to the left of
the pier, in line of sight to the turn buoys. At the first turn buoy, a
woman knocked my goggles right off my face - should have put them on
under my cap. It wasn't a disaster though, I managed to grab them and
get them back on, no contact lense troubles, I kept going. I hugged the
pier on the return and came out First Greem ca woman (1st woman over
50). I sat down on the steps, took off my wetsuit and went over the
timing mat.. I had trouble getting the wetsuit off of my feet, so I
lost a little time there.
The run over to my bike was quick, I grabbed my towel, shoes and socks and sat on the concrete bench to put them on. Grabbed the helmet, bike, glasses and a Hammerbar and ran out to the bike mounting zone. The road was still wet, so I took it easy on the downhills and went as fast as I could on the ascents. Using the toe clips and running shoes made the climbing harder, but I think I saved time in the long run.
Helen
Briglio passed me on the last (third) loop of the bike section. We
weren't far from the top of the hill, but I couldn't catch her and just
began to settle into my own pace, my own race.
As
it turned out, I wasn't far behind Helen, and came into transition
right after her.. Because I didn't have to change shoes, I was able to
get out on the run before her. Helen is a much faster runner than I, so
I fully expected to be passed, sooner than later. But.. I kept running
as fast as I could, walked a little bit on one of the hills, but kept
running and running.. when I turned down Crescent Ave and saw the finish
line, I thought.. she's got to be right behind me... keep running, keep
running... then boom! I finished victoriously! Helen was just 30
seconds behind, and #3 (60-64) came in 5 minutes later.. Narrow
margins!
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