... SOMA was AWESOME!!! I woke up not even the slightest bit nervous. Got myself ready, drove down to the race venue. Set up all my crap in transition. (There are still folks out there who bring all their crap in via an enormous bucket and proceed to set up camp. Likely they are the same ones who have 5 minute transitions. Eeek!) Pulled on my wetsuit and shot the shit with some girlfriends who were also racing. We were still yaking when the gun went off for the first wave so we decided we'd better get in line.
The swim: 1.2 miles. It was probably my most aggressive swim. I lined up at the front, which is an appropriate place for me. I was off to the right side, and as things began to get crowded I assumed my "stance". I learned in my IM swim clinic years ago, that when you are treading water waiting for the start you should be horizontal in the water. You take up more space that way, and then when the gun goes off you can immediately start swimming and have at least two feet of space behind you where your legs have been floating... instead of being vertical and then trying to go horizontal with another swimmer on top of you. Anyway, swim was good. About a quarter of the way through, I started to catch the men's wave. It's always a challenge to swim around men who are flailing a bit. But if I catch them a quarter mile in, at least I'm passing them fairly quickly, leaving them in my wake. For some reason, in my mind I believed I had to swim past the Rural bridge (which is actually the IM swim). So when the turn buoy popped up I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I had arrived. I made the turn and headed back. At this point, there was another purple-capped swimmer who couldn't swim straight to save her life. She started out on my left and we were swimming about the same pace. After she tried to swim over the top of me (away from the course) twice, I pulled up for a second and let her go by. At which point, I swam my line to from buoy to buoy. She continued to veer left into me and then would wander back to the right. Over and over and over again. Finally, I got so tired of her swimming on top of me that I would elbow her with every swim stroke when she came close to me. I felt bad for a brief second and then I decided that I needed to HTFU. This was a race. And I was swimming in a straight line. She eventually got the hint and wandered off course for the last time. I didn't see her after that. Got out of the water and had my wetsuit peeled by some very efficient volunteers. I glanced down at my watch and was thrilled to see 33 minutes had elapsed. It was going to be a great day!
The bike: 56 miles. The hardest part of the bike ride was keeping it reeled in. I had to keep reminding myself that this was not a sprint triathlon. I did actually have to bike 56 miles. My second longest ride in the last 6 weeks. It went amazingly smooth and easy. There is enough variation on the course that you can't get lulled into complacency. You've got short bursts up out of the saddle, and several mile long stretches in aero to really pull. There are a lot of sketchy U-turns on the course which I always slow down for more than I need to. I know where my bike is going, but I don't trust anyone else out there and inevitibly there's an accident in every race because someone with less than stellar bike handling skills takes someone else out. I'd rather not take my chances. I seemed to go back and forth with the same people for about an hour, and then there'd be a different group for the next hour. Sometimes, people left me in the dust. Other times, I was the one pulling away and gaining time. I pulled into T2 in 2 hours 45 minutes. Just over 20 mph which was awesome on this tight course!
The run: 13.1 miles. I've never gone under two hours in a 70.3 1/2 marathon. If I had one goal for the day, this was it. I'd not really trained for SOMA and though I was well rested from vacation, I wasn't particularly tapered having been training all week for my upcoming IM race. I had no intention of swimming and biking as well as I did. So when I hit the run course I knew I'd have to see what I had left. I hit the first mile in 8:03 and the next three miles were between 8:30 and 8:40. I felt like I had settled into a good rhythm and as long as I held pace I was going to be under two hours. At 6.5 miles I started the second loop and saw the SkirtChaser. I shouted to him "This bitch is going down! Sub-2!!" and kept running. He chased after me and gave me some encouragement. He said he'd see me at the finish line. With each mile I glanced down to make sure I was staying on pace. Then, just past 8 miles, my Garmin used up all of it's battery and turned off. (I had forgotten to charge it - oops! Rookie mistake.) By this point, my muscles were tight and I was ready to be done. I was so worried that I was going to fall off pace that I kept pressing harder and harder. I still had my Timex watch running my total time, and I knew I had to be under 5 1/2 hours to make my goal of sub 2 hours on the run. When I hit the 11 1/2 mile mark with only 1.6 to go, I was just over 5 hours. At this point, I knew I could run a 10 minute pace and still end up with a PR. I was so excited. I couldn't wipe the grin off my face I was telling everyone who would listen that I was going to have my best run ever. I finished in 5 hours 16 minutes with a run time of 1:53. Not only sub-2, but waaaay under 2. If you're gonna do it, you might as well kill it!
Overall it was a perfect day. The weather was great. Not too hot. Not too windy. Just right. And my friends were out on the course to keep my company. I had no expectations of myself and without the pressure, I pulled off a spectacular race and a PR by over 5 minutes. It was a huge confidence booster for the upcoming Ironman in less than 4 weeks. I look forward to being out there, wind in my face, sun on my back and high-fiving all my friends on the race course! Let's kick it off!
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