Last RR for a couple weeks, I swear!
As many of you know, I did the Seattle Danskin race yesterday. It was a very different experience for me this year after racing so many races in a row - the difference mostly being in navigating so many PEOPLE. I haven't really raced with so many people in the water or in transition since Ironman (which is obviously a very different experience in and of itself!).
Because of the vast quantity of people, they do packet pick up and bike/helmet racking on Saturday (the race is Sunday at 6:45AM). I have some pictures I put up on Facebook that maybe I'll extract so you can see..... the lines. Line to park. Line to get in. Line to get your number (where short comes in as an advantage and you squeeze between people). Line to get your wave number (my mother in law was something like #5 and I was #25 - an HOUR apart). Line to get your packet. Line to check your chip. Line to register for next year (45 minutes!). Line for t-shirts (which ran 1-2 sizes small... I gave in and got a small anyway, they were out of middle sizes). Then you drive over to the race site and wait in a line of cars, followed by a line of women. We actually scored an awesome parking space right next to the "bike out" transition entrance (past the volunteer tent, so I entirely neglected to remember you guys). They divide the transition area into categories by your numbers (roughly, age groups), which put me as far away from everything as possible, almost. A few women had it worse.
Since my mother in law is in an early start age group (#5 - after elites, amateur elites, survivors) we have to get down to the race site pretty early. Apparently they wanted to close down the transition area around 6:30 - that's funny. Most people hadn't even got there by 6:30!! In a race with up to 5500 women (just shy of 4000 individuals raced, plus teams), the logistics were... challenging. I felt like the new management of the race was a little lacking, but it was still well enough ran (and lots of awesome volunteers). Anyway, the race starts at 6:45 and I had to wait until 7:55 for my wave. I set my crap up in transition, talked to some ladies around me, got my wetsuit and walked toward the water, remembered I forgot sunblock on my face and went back, came back to the water, and by then I'd burned enough time that I decided to put on my wetsuit and get into the warmup area. The water was nice! Colder than back home, but warm.
I pushed to the front of my wave for the swim. In a race like this, I knew I'd be a faster swimmer. My father in law describes watching my swim as watching a shark swimming through minnow. ;) I was the 2nd cap of my color out of the water (the 1st was a strong swimmer in a fullsuit). I swam through so many people it was disorienting toward the end - so many mixed up cap colors. My swim ended up around 15 minutes end to end (the mat was up after the run to transition, I think) for the 1/2 mile. There were multiple waves of my age group, my swim was something like 5th age group and 161 overall (of 3709 women).
There was a long LONG trek to my bike. Easy off on the wetsuit, on with the shoes, helmet, and race belt, and off on my bike. It's so hard to know where you really fall, but I think maybe one person passed me (not in my age group) and I may have passed her back going up or down hill. The bike is mostly rolling long uphill or downhills (on some freeway express lanes that cross Lake Washington) with one short steep up/downhill to get on to the express lanes where it's a huge jam up both directions (people who can't ride uphill that steep, people afraid to go downhill that steep). I felt like I should have gone harder on the bike, but I'm not sure it would have been feasible considering it was a little windy over the lake. Overall, I had a good respectable bike time, near the top 5 of my age group and 52 overall (of 3709).
Another long trek to my shoes. I spent the time debating whether it would have been faster to run in my bare feet. Eventually I got back to transition and slid on my new quick-laced shoes. Awesome! Although, I think I need to adjust the right shoe a little and move a knot downward, it feels wrong when I run. I felt a little lost on the run, I knew I wasn't moving LSD-pace but didn't really feel like I was hauling either. I knew it wouldn't be my fastest 5k in a race, but wasn't sure what it would be. Again, as I always say, I probably could have ran harder, but I just don't know where to find it. It was a great atmosphere, though!! I must have been passed by a lot of people in my age group (or they had started before me/after me far enough I didn't see them - virtually passed!). The run is pretty much flat save for one fairly significant hill that's about one city block, then downhill to the finish about 4 blocks. There is definitely gentle uphill/downhill. I at least finished under 30 minutes, though I was hoping to shave a little more off.
All in all, a fun race, and I will do it again next year. :) Thanks to all the volunteers who really made this one possible, moreso than any race I've done other than Ironman.
Results:
1:29:20 - AG 24/376, Overall 150/3709.
Swim: 0:15:20 (thought it was faster but I think it includes some time up to transition; 161/3709).
T1: 04:32 (yuck, so far to go - but same as others in my AG).
Bike: 0:37:09 (a little wind, 19.3mph; 52/3709).
T2: 02:29.
Run: 0:29:54 (ugh, 9:38min mile; 843/3709).
Top 3 in my AG are 12-15 minute swims, 34-38 minute bikes, and 23-25 minute runs. I basically would be top 10 easily if I cut 5 minutes off my run. Good luck with that! :p (Time for a coach I guess, if I want to be serious and quit the whining!)
