I made the decision to show up late rather uncaffeinated. The new Subaru was packed for its first adventure, a racing/training morning at New Town Lake in St. Charles with my fellow Michelob Ultra/ Big Shark teammates and eighty other multisport junkies.
Late I was, missed the pre-race instructions, but still race ready. I had assumed a mass start, so you can imagine the disappointed face I made when Kevin the race director announced that the men would go off and then three minutes later, the women. Pat, distinguished "Big River Running event timing go-to guy", who was looking right at me at the moment of "the face", immediately suggested that any woman who wanted to could start with the fellas. Four women took him up the offer. And we were off.
I had a great swim, strong and smooth. Except for the giant gulp of goose-poop flavored water I practically inhaled as I rounded the last buoy. That's one way to increase the diversity of my gut-flora!
I hit the transition, struggled into my racing flats and took off. I was not the first woman out of the water. Sarah Haskins and her dad Brian were cheering along the side and let me know that I was "way back". Work to do.
And that is why it says "Jawsome" on the butt of my swimsuit (thank you Splish, Inc!). I put everyone of my speed workouts into closing the distance and managed to catch a very talented 14-year old right before the turn around of the 2.5 mile run. I crossed the line in first, and my Big Shark teammate Kate swam/ran her way into second from the women's wave (she missed the earlier change).
We couldn't leave the days training total at 30:01. A 30-mile aerobar and double-lollipop road ride on the New Town Triathlon course made it a respectable adventure training day.
See you next week at the St. Louis 5i50!
