Oceanside 70.3

Laughter defined the weekend. I laughed for the first two hours of the six hour drive to Oceanside. I think the Skirt Chaser was wondering who spiked my coffee. I was giddy excited. Heading to a race that I love, with good friends, on the ocean. What could be better?

After checking in, stocking up on Erin Baker's cookies for only a dollar each, and hitting the expo, we had an early dinner and went to bed early. Saturday morning, the alarm sounded at 4:45 am. Having 5 people share one bathroom was probably not the best idea, but somehow we all made it to transition with time to spare. Being in wave 16 I had a lot of time to kill. My friend, KS, and I watched the pro athletes come out of the water and watched our husbands take off on the swim. She was 2 waves ahead of me and slowly but surely the line was moving and soon it was our turn.

I lined up at the front of my wave hoping to avoid the kicking and punching. For the most part I was successful. There were a few flailing feet to dodge but before long I had clear water and was hauling ass toward the turn around. My husband had given us a great tip about spotting after the turn buoy. His advise was invaluable as the sun was directly in my eyes and if it weren't for him, I'd have been swimming in circles like everyone else. Instead I put my head down and kept my eye on the big tall building and knew I was headed in the right direction. The last half mile was the hardest as I was catching massive numbers of people from the waves in front of me. I had to dodge breast-strokers and try to keep my pace. I exited the water in 32 minutes and was running through transition toward my bike.

E'ly and I were off. The first 25 miles of the bike ride are smokin' fast with a few little inclines, enough to separate the herd. I tried to establish a comfortable pace as I knew what waited for me around the bend at mile 28. A. Huge. Hill. Last year when I saw the hill I laughed out loud. People were actually walking up the hill. This year I was prepared. I talked to E'ly out loud. "You're gonna take this bitch," I told her. And she did. I got in my littlest, granniest gear and cruised up the incline. I passed a lot of people and only got passed by one other person. (I eat hills for breakfast.) After the climb was a nice, winding downhill to recover the legs. Then 19 more miles of rolling hills. I was so ready for the last 10 miles back into town to spin out the legs and get ready for the run. I averaged 18.6 mph for the bike ride, finishing in 2:58. Much improved from my 16 mph last year!!

Onto the run, I kept my turnover quick and tried to loosen up my legs even more. I was happy with my pace and having only drank an hour's worth of Infinit on the bike ride, I wasn't dealing with any bloating which was a huge relief. I sipped water and gatorade at the aid stations. At the turn around at about mile 3.5 I saw KS just behind me by about 3/4 mile. "Hurry and catch me" I yelled, wanting somone to run with. I saw her each time we turned around on the course and each time we were the same distance apart. The last 4 miles were painful and my pace slowed dramatically, but I kept running and finished with a sub-two hour half marathon. I waited at the finish line for KS to come in and we hit up the food tent for a little recovery.

After it was all said and done, I took 40 minutes off my time from last year which I was thrilled about. It definitely felt better after having trained, but I think I could do better. The Skirt Chaser and I showered, changed and then headed down to the awards banquet so I could be first in line for the Ironman Canada registration which opened after the awards were finished. Registration certificate in hand, we headed off to dinner with our friends and may have celebrated a little more than necessary. 6 beers later (was I trying to forget the fact that I had just committed to an Ironman race in less than 5 months??), we thought it would be a good idea to do a little midnight swim in the ocean. The chilly water in the sparkling moonlight was wonderful. Sadly, Sunday morning came too soon and we packed up to leave. We promised to return next year and stay a little longer to enjoy a day on the beach.