But as usual, I digress. I was really looking forward to Mach Tenn this year, because it is a swimmer's race. For a sprint, it has a relatively long swim and long run, which plays to my strengths. Add in extremely choppy water and I was happier than a river otter in rapids. The only slight handicap to my having a great race was that I had gotten a nasty bite from a dachshund at work the day before. The feisty little dog had taken on a coyote and was lucky to be alive, and to show how grateful she was that I had sewn her chest back together, she latched onto my thumb as she was coming out of anesthesia. Friday night it was swollen to twice the normal size, but by Saturday morning I could almost bend it. I practiced switching gears using my pointer and middle fingers, and I was good to go. It was my first transition set up that included antiseptic wipes and band aids, but probably not my last.
As usual it was awesome to see all of my tri peeps pre-race. The weather was perfect, and packet pickup and body marking were quick and easy. I racked between Suzanne Erickson and Rick Grief, so I was surrounded by positive triathlon mojo and experience. Of course, I now know that Rick Grief likes to sling his bike up any old place on the rack when he gets back in to transition to the run, but when I've done as many triathlons as he has, I think I might feel entitled as well. I finally made it to the pre-race photo, usually I'm wandering up as everyone else is dispersing. There was quite a showing of Fleet Feet team members, which made it the race even more fun.
The swim was awesome. Waves and bodies everywhere. It was by far the most challenging conditions of any triathlon I've done, with swells bigger than the ocean swim at Gulf Coast a few weeks ago. I loved it, even though it meant I wasn't going to be laying down a smoking fast time. A little dizzy on the run up the hill to the bikes, which is to be expected after all that bobbing in the lake. The bike course was a bit hilly at times, and the one good flat section felt like there was a head wind (but then doesn't it always feel like a head wind?) but I managed a decent bike split. The wind was refreshing on the run, and cloud cover kept it from being unbearably hot. Brent Sherman and I played leap frog on both the bike and the run. My style is to slog it out at a near constant pace, he apparently prefers the sprint-then-coast method. His method proved to be faster...at least on the run :)
After the finish, I enjoyed beans and corn bread and beer while trash talking with the guys I train with in Scottsboro. Overall, we couldn't have asked for a better day to race. And I received a beautiful piece of pottery for coming in third masters female, so really, life is good. I can't wait until the next one! Train hard and have fun, tri peeps.
1:36:56 swim 15:16 2:15 bike 47:21 1:01 run 31:05