I woke this morning at 6 am, Xterra's are a little more civilized, they start at 9 am. I made my way to GL condo where I would also meet Al and Pat and then head on a 5 min ride to transition. Before I left, I broke the top of one of my water bottle, really?! After setting my transition, I headed for stamping, where my race number was applied on my arms, and my age on my calf. I then moved on to sunscreen application and I was set for the start of the race. We were lucky to be blessed by an Hawaian Kohuna before the start. I have been fortunate to race in some big events along the years, nothing make me realize more when you see the helicopter flying and filming the start. 9 o'clock sharp and the canon went off. I decided to seed myself on the inside, a choice that I would regret on the first lap. The water wasn't rough but by the time I got to the first buoy, it was so chaotic that I was pulled under a few times. After rounding the second buoy, things seemed to be a bit better. A short run on the beach and I was back in the water for the second lap. I would ultimately exit the water around the 33 min mark, and to be honest, I'm a bit desapointed with my time. After a quick transition I off on the bike for a 30 km, 4100 feet of elevation gain course. Now I had been riding the course a few times this week and new what was in store for me but I have to admit that it felt warmer this morning on the course with no wind to cool off. I picked up a cold bottle of water before the big climb only to loose it 5 min later! Bad day for water bottles it seemed. A guy from Bresil offered me some of his water, I thought that was a very nice gesture. The course was very dusty and ad I approached the turn where I fell Monday, I was prepared for it. Some more fast decent and I was heading back towards the transition, good for 1:52 on the bike. Although I was hoping to be faster, I was happy with my time. After a fast transition, I was out for the 10 km run, with another 1200 feet of gain. I ran well, despite my size I'm usually a strong runner. I did past some people on the run and with the last 1/2 mile on the beach and a nice climb to the finish line, I was glad to cross at around 3:23:10, good for 34/71 in my age group and 226/628 overall. It was also nice to have my sister and brother in law to cheer me on as well ad Allison, Cathy (Al's family) Chris and Michelle who were also there to cheer Al, GL and Patrick. We all finished, which is great!
I'm glad that attended the Worlds, I surely plan to try to qualify for next year! I wanted to dedicate this race to my mother, although she wasn't here to watch, I'm sure she would have enjoyed it. It's now time for me to get cleaned up and head to the dinner, where World Champions and age groupers will be crowned. I hope you enjoyed the journey, I sure did. Happy trails!
Carpe Diem
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