Race Report- USWTS Naperville

I will start with the beginning of the weekend. Bill had finals all the following week and a huge paper to work on. So it was a very tuff weekend to balance. I worked at the expo for Endure It on Saturday. I really enjoy the expos! It is a social outlet for me as well as a way to get my name out for coaching! I got to see tons of people and catch up with some friends that I have not seen in a long time. I got to meet a great bunch of ladies that started a company called Make Your Mark (http://www.makeyourmark.com/). I always try to support women owned and operated companies. They had great t-shirts. I am a HUGE T-shirt wearer as a stay at home mom. I must own 2 dozen life is good shirts. But these are even BETTER! I love how comfy they are. And they are CUTE and inspiring. Check em out! I also got to see Naperville Running Company and some other booths that I love! It got the competitive juices flowin for sure! This is my hometown race so I wanted to be ON for it!

I slept terrible Saturday night. First it started as me having a hard time falling asleep. Normally before races I take Ambien (sorry to push drugs here) but I ran out and forgot to get the refill. Then I started hearing EVERYTHING outside. You know those night that you can hear the branches crack and you get ticked. It was one of those nights. Then after overdosing on Tylenol PM I finally fell asleep at midnight only to wake up to my wonderful daughter at 2:15am WIDE freakin awake. Needless to say Bill and I had about 2 hrs of sleep Saturday night. By the time she fell asleep at 4am I was getting up for the race.

I headed out the door at 4:45am to get my warm up in at home before I took the 5 min drive to the race site. I was so tired my eyeballs were burning. I was in a BAD mood. Never race with no sleep or even try to be a decent human. It felt like I had a newborn again. Yuck. I almost decided to stay home but knew I would be mad at myself if I didn't try to go. So I drank some coffee and we got in the car.

I was really hoping to race this girl I have heard about from Chicago all week! But she didn't show up. I was really bummed about it. I got to the swim start with Adrienne a few minutes early to get in a good swim warm up. For a sprint triathlon you really need to warm up longer than the actual distance of the race to be able to go anaerobic from the start. We lined up at the start and it felt competitive actually. For some reason this race brings out some competitive feelings in the elite wave. I could sense it before they even said GO. The swim really wasn't that bad after a few strokes. It was pretty much open water. My wetsuit was taking on WAY too much water. I now know that the velcro that closes it is full of hair and won't stay shut (thanks Adrienne for telling me:) I would have never thought of it). I came out of the water second I think 45 sec or so back from the girl in front. I got her within the first 3-4 min of the bike. Then I got to ride behind the lead vehicle the rest of the race. I wanted to put in a hard effort on the bike with only a 5k to run you can do that. I got off the bike in the lead and started the run. The lead mtn bike guy in front of me started out to lead the course. I screamed at him after about a half mile to find out where second place was. He radioed someone and yelled at him that they were just leaving transition so they were 4 min back or so. AHHH, that was a nice feeling. The work on the bike paid off. On the other hand I LOVE to run with someone and push each other so I was a little bummed for that. I ran solid and got to finish with most of my family there! Noah was jumping up and down cheering. It meant a lot to me to have him there. He sees my train all the time on the trainer so now he understands the reason. 4 is a great age. Not to mention my client Kimberly Goodell finished second, YAHOOO all that hard work paid off. And Elizabeth and Adrienne were right on her feet. It was so much fun to have all those girls there. Congrats to everyone that finished the race.

10 days now to Philadelphia Triathlon. I can't wait to race there. Bill and I are going alone since he has a 2 week break from school. It will be a nice weekend away and nice to have Bill experiencing it the race with me! Thanks DAD!