Sometimes it take a week to process a race enough to blog about it. However, that's not what happened in this case. I left for the beach right after the race and am just now getting around to typing up a race report.
Wet Dog is the only triathlon that I have done three years in a row. As such, it's a pretty good indicator of how much I've improved in the sport. 1:07, then 1:01, and this year 58:58. The biggest gains have been on the bike, but the run has gotten better too. Also, in the previous years I won the Athena category, and now I can no longer race Athena, so that's progress (I guess).
It was a sketchy ride over to Decatur from Scottsboro, because my (relatively new) bike rack was disturbingly wobbly. Apparently the threads on the bolt that connect it to my hitch are already stripped, and that after only about 5 months of use. Luckily I made it with my beloved tri bike still attached to my car.
Packet pick-up was not the most efficient I've ever been to, but it's a family friendly low-key kinda race so I just shrugged my shoulders and went along with it. Gregg Gelmis was already out and about taking fabulous photos as always, and I saw lots of Fleet Feet tri kits so I knew it was going to be a good day. I went for a little warm up bike to make sure my clips were working (still haunted by Frank Maples and having to race with only one foot clipped in) then a warm-up run. I was feeling physcially good but way too laid back mentally. I got transition set up, was careful to figure out where I was racked from the perspective of coming in from the swim, and totally forgot to do the same from the bike-in point. Yeah, no longer a rookie but still making rookie mistakes.
I went into the water for a warm up, and then got out in time for the team photo. Yep, you heard that right: Kasandra Garner finally made a team photo. Mostly because they did it at the beach start instead of the finish line so that made it easy to remember. Also, as I mentioned before, I wasn't in that pre-race zone I usually get into about an hour before the race start that makes me forget about things like "team photos".
I was way too far back on the swim. I probably put what my total swim time was last year instead of lying to get further up front. So my swim was ok but I had to swim over, under, and around people the whole time. Then I came out of the water a little dizzy and had to take it easy on the jog to transition. I found my bike right away, and set out to see if I could hammer the bike a bit. I had a good bike leg, but because of there not being a bike dismount line I got slowed down coming into transition since myself and 5 other cyclists were all there at the same time trying to avoid each other and all choosing to dismount at different points. Then I started running my bike to my transition and realized I had no idea where it was, since I hadn't counted racks from this side. So I stood still for a few seconds, telling myself not to panic, and looked around until I saw my tri bag. Consequently it was a slow transition, and it cost me.
But what really cost me was the run. I don't know if it was the heat, or the humidity, or my own mental weakness, but I could NOT make myself work the run. I would like to say that I had pushed the bike so hard that my run suffered, but I don't think that's the case. I could tell from my mental self-talk that I wasn't "feeling" it. Instead of pushing myself, I was already making excuses by the end of the first mile. I walked the water stops. On a 5k. I mean, really.
Still, I finished in a respectable time and I did manage to improve over last year. There haven't been many races lately that I've finished thinking "I could have gone harder" but this was one of them. I hung around for a little while, ate a burger for breakfast, and then loaded my bike up (in the back of my car, NOT on the bike rack!) and headed for the beach to meet up with my family. So even mediocre race days can be pretty great if you are going to the beach afterwards!
The Fleet Feet team put on a great showing and so did my many friends in the tri community. Congratulations to everyone that placed, and to everyone that PRed, and to everyone that had the courage to start and the fortitude to finish. I saw the athlete with only one leg on the bike leg. What an awesome testimony to the power of the human will. He reminds me that I need to stop making excuses and just get out there and race hard!