Lise's Pleasant Prairie Report (long, of course )
Howdy, TE campers! :D
I did it, I'm home, the dirt, sweat, and tears (no blood, I'm glad to report) are showered off, I smell of Icy-Hot, and I'm here to tell you all about it.
Some of you may recall that I never planned to do this triathlon. I was going to do Lake Zurich, which I've done 3x before, but always with slower, less trained friends. LZ was cancelled this year, so I hopped on the Pleasant Prairie tri train. Pleasant Prairie is a little town in Wisconsin, about 75 min north of Chicago. They have an unbelieveable Recreation Center (the RecPlex) up there. Indoor water park anyone? It's on a spring fed lake, where we swam.
The packet pick up was Sat, and they wanted everyone to check in the bikes then, too. My race number was 693, the best number I've ever gotten. All multiples of 3, which is a number that represents many spiritual things for me. I was most happy about that. The expo wasn't much...only Keiffer (?--the swimming people) and Jelly Bellys. Good course talk, though, and the gal at the Keiffer booth helped me find a pair of goggles that honest-to-goodness did not leak. Nor did they leave me looking like an octopus had been sucking on my eyeballs.
I went to check in my bike, and to my horror, saw that I'd lost one of the aerobar pads on the way up. I had visions of duct-taping a washcloth on it so I could ride. There was a bike repair tent, and they suggested I try the "Triathlon World" store in Kenosha, the next town up. Sure enough! They had pads! Appearantly this happens frequently. Word to the wise: If you're strapping your bike to the back of your car, take the pads off the aerobars for the journey.
Got to bed by 8:30 in my cozy little room at La Quinta. No cats, no internet, no TV, didn't even bring a book, so ...sleep! Yahoo. 7+ hours of sleep before a race. What a difference that makes.
I love all the pre-race setting up, milling about, singing the Nat'l Anthem. And I saw a dachshund! A very friendly standard red boy. He was happy to let me pet him, which is unusual for a doxie. I felt it was a propitious start to the race. I was wrong. :p
I was in the last swim wave of the International Distance. I thought this would be good because no one would be swimming over me or kicking me. Well, I swam off course not once, but twice, and was the last person out of the water. Oh, you guys, I was so discouraged. It sucks to get to transition and the only bikes other than yours are of the people who are already out on the run course. I knew I would make up time on the bike, though, so I headed out.
I love my bike. I felt cruddy for the first 5 miles or so, to be expected. But once I got my stupid race number tucked up under my Bento box strap, I felt better. I got the wind at my back, and actually began to see some riders ahead of me. My new mantra: If I can see you, I can pass you. It's true! I passed 9 people, and then saw no one ahead of me for the rest of the race. The aero bars are phenomenal. I'd get in them, and my speed would immediately jump 2 mph. I was passing people going uphill, into the wind. At mile 10 I decided the Zero X is going back. I'm sore. Around mile 18 I had a moment of race-related-stupidity. I tried to pull out my back bottle of gatorade while in the aero bars. :eek: Whoa! What's this? The bike is weaving all over the road! Cuz you've got one arm in the aero bar, and one arm reaching back, under the seat, ya dolt! :p Corrected that. Ate a pkg of Bloks, could've used another packet. Drank most of a bottle of water and one of Gatorade. I need to get one of those between the aero bars bottles. Too hard to drink while riding fast. On one down hill I hit 30 mph, fastest ever. On some uphills, into the wind, I struggled at 8 mph. Lest you think there were "hills", it was really just overpasses. But still. An incline is an incline! :rolleyes:
Got in, racked the bike, grabbed Gu x2, changed shoes, left gloves and helmet behind, headed out on the run. Wierd course that doubled back on itself multiple times. I probably walked 2/3 of it. I was just wiped out. At one point, three of the girls who had finished the sprint race came riding up behind me on the run course. Close enough for me to hear, "Oh, you could totally have done the International Distance!" "I know! The bike was like, not that much longer!" Just before nearly running me down, they veered off the run course (there was plenty of pavement on the other side), and rode off, their helmets dangling from their packs. I thought, "girls, get the h*ll out of my way, because I AM doing the Int'l distance race!!!" :mad: Goofs. We'll see how "not long" they think that ride is NEXT year! :rolleyes:
So, I kept on, running, walking, drinking water, eating Gu. Waved at and thanked all volunteers. Finished as strongly as I could. Probably 5 people behind me. On the run, I thought, now, Lise, don't cry when you cross the finish line. It freaks people out. The second my timing chip beeped, I started sobbing. Sigh. It's just this physiological reaction. My mom and sister were there, cheering. Now they and the volunteers are all worried! In between sobs, I'm saying, "I'm OK! I always cry!" This one sweet, sweet woman volunteer came up with a finisher's medal, and said, "May I have the honor of placing this medal around your neck?" "Yes", I said, "You may. And thank you all so much." I gave the chip-cutter-offers the wrong foot, still crying, and they patiently waited until I gave them the right foot! Such great volunteers.
Mom and sis and I hung out, watched the awards ceremony, cheered for the last finishers, went and got pancakes (and, for me, steak, eggs, and potatoes). I talked to Running Mommy on the way to Perkins--she reminded me to eat protein, too. :)
The race was very well organized--I could only have wished for more bouys on the swim course. I was jinxed from the start--I only breathe off my left, and the few bouys were all on the right. I need to work on that swimming thing. I must say, it was a stronger swim than I've ever had in an Oly--no stopping to hold onto anything to catch my breath. I'm proud of that.
The times will come out tonight. Both mom and sis forgot their cameras. If BrightRoom took any pix of me that I'm willing to share :rolleyes:, I'll post them here!
I thought of things I've read on here many times. To cheer myself up in the swim, I thought, "It could be worse. It could be bog snorkling." On the run, I thought of Running Mommy at her Ironman, saying, "If you have to walk, walk with purpose." I thought of KnottedYet, doing her first tri, and being so nervous beforehand.
THANK YOU AGAIN, WOMEN OF TE! Knowing you for the past 9 months made this a wonderful triathlon experience. :D L.
