My weekend- a ride report AND race report!

[Running Mommy]

Wheeeewww, It's been one long weekend! It started saturday with a ride w/ ms. Melisa, and ended with a DU...
Here it is from start to finish. Lot's of details, so grab a cup o' tea!

The weekend started at 5:00 am saturday when I met our very own Ms. Melisa at the foot of the sun valley parkway for a loop. This road is great for Ironman training for a couple of reasons. The first being that an out and back loop is exactly 56 miles, so do 2 loops and you have your 112. The second is that there are no stop signs so you have no rest breaks, it's pedal, Pedal, PEDAL!!!! And the third is that it's one of the most BORING courses, so it's a GREAT mental training tool!!
Anyhoo, on to the ride. It was dark, VERY dark, but luckily I had my hubby's helmet mounted light and motion light, so I played the role of a headlight. We were also dodging a thunderstorm and got VERY lucky. It had been raining, and occasionaly we heard a rumble of thunder and saw a flash. Ahhh it's always an adventure with me.
Along for the ride was also Melisa's friend Heather. She had the misfortune of getting two flats in the span of the first 10 miles. At the second flat she told Melisa to ride on, as she was on her final big ride in prep for Ironman Florida. I stopped with Heather, as I was just there to cruise.
Melisa is a STUD anyway, and there was NO WAY I would have been able to keep up with her. But I did my job of lighting the way until it got light out.
I ended up turning around at 21 miles as I had to get back to the car by 8:30. I had to drive straight to San Diego from there, and I had to get to the expo by 3:30.
So all total I did 42 miles, it was great to ride with Melisa and Heather, and I hope to ride with them again.
As for Melisa, as stated- SHE IS A STUDETTE!! She is going to ROCK IMFL!! I'm thinking a sub 6 hour bike split. I am just BUMMED that I'm going to be in NYC for the marathon that day!
Ok, so back to the car I wash up really quick, jump in a porta potty to change and off to San Diego I go.
4.5 hours later I arrive in the land of the beautiful people. And when I say that, MAN do I mean it!!! I get to the expo and 80% of the women there look like they jumped off the pages of triathlete or Her sports magazine!
As I'm registering I hear that the swim has been cancelled???? whaaaaa???? . Yep they tell me. It had rained really hard the day before and that morning so they had pollution problems. So DOO DOO turned my "tri" into a "du"
So I figured I'd better hang around for the course talk to get the down lo. As I'm sitting there I coin a term for all the beautiful people milling around "tri barbies". But then I think to myself that it's not nice to judge people and I scold myself. I mean I HATE to be judged. So then as I'm sitting there I hear this from the two women in front of me:
- One women is super thin/fit looking and the other one is... uhh.... not-

fit girl: "look at the girl behind you. She did an Ironman. See I told you that you don't have to be super fit to do an IM, you just have to train"

I happened to be leaning forward into my bag when she says this so I hear it. NICE !! But then again I do call myself the poster child for chubby endurance athletes. But the thing that got to me was the "super fit" comment. I mean I'd like to think that I was pretty darned "fit" going into it!
So then the other girls turns back and gives me a total up and down look. I wanted to give them both a smack... But of course I just sat there embarrased...
Saturday evening was uneventful. I couldn't find anywhere to eat so I ended up at that gastromical palace known as Dennys! Of course since I've been eating clean my stomach revolted. What a BAD idea that was!! What was I thinking????
I was looking for a whole foods and ended up at Dennys??!!! UGH!

Sunday morning I was up early and out the door. Pre race was also uneventful. But something cool did happen. The PA system decided to go out in the middle of the national anthem, and everyone just picked it up and kept singing it. But we all sang it in a hushed tone so it was really cool.
The first leg was now a .30 mile run. I'm no sprinter but managed to do it at an 8:51 min mile pace which is phenomenal for me. I have one speed. SLOW.

So on to the bike....
No sooner did I get on the bike did it start RAINING!! I was cruising tho, and loop one went by pretty quickly. There were some dicey areas on fiesta island that were sandy/slippery. I tried to take it easy through the sand and then hammer. Loop two was super crowded!! And since this was something akin to a Danskin race there were LOTS of slower riders/ first timers out there. I was going between 17-18 mph and passing PACKS of slower riders. But the problem was there were women alot faster than me that would fly by and yell at me as I was passing the slower riders. Now mind you before I passed I would look back to make sure I was clear, but I was appalled at the behavior of some of the faster ladies. I mean I was trying to ride a PB myself, but when I got squeezed by a pack and faster people I slowed down. You would have thought these women were gunning for a kona slot or prize money! sheesh!! And some of them were downright RUDE!
on the backside of fiesta island on the second loop I saw a girl on the side of the road screaming at riders to slow down. And she was adamant about it. As I rounded the corner I saw three girls down and bikes splayed out. There were policemen with them, and then the ambulance passed me- and then ANOTHER ambulance. Oh man, I hate seeing that!! You would think that would have slowed down the hot shots?? Oh heck no! arrghhh...
So off the bike and on to the run. I'm just always slow on the run, so I just trudged along. This is where I was asked by a ton of ladies about my Jenny shirt. I gave the cliff notes version of the story and told them to check out the site here. They all commented that it was a really cool way to honor Jenny. So hopefully some of them join us here.
Before I knew it the run was over and I was running down the finishers chute. I don't know my official times, but I'll post them when I get them.

post script: If you have the chance, do this race next year. It is a nationwide series. So LISE, NO EXCUSES!! They have one in Naperville!!
The race organization is phenomenal, and the swag is as good as an Ironman. I got a mesh running hat, t shirt, drawstring back pack type bag (same as the IM races), and a towel and medal at the finish. They also give out some great prizes in the raffle. Even the food was great. Lots of Luna bars!
Cytomax is also the drink sponsor- and I like that WAY better than gatorade.
But like I said, top notch organization!
Now as for the participants... I was actually saddened by some of the attitudes I encountered. I would say that maybe 40% were the friendly types that I usually run into at races and the other 60% were, uhhh... NOT.
I was wearing my Ironman finishers running hat, and you would not believe how many people asked me if this was my first race!!! I pointed to my hat and said, "uhhh NO!" with a smile on my face. sigh..... What can I say? I guess it was because I wasn't wearing a high zoot tri oufit or something? I had my tri shorts and jenny shirt on. I'm also on the "thick" side, so I guess I look like a newbie?? What can I say.... I'm the poster child.....
Well gilrs, thanks for hanging in. I'll post a link to the pic's when they put them online, as well as my race report.
Ciao bellas!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Sounds like you showed the rude ones how it's done. And you're not "thick"....you're a STRONG girl!! Gotta have some meat on there to have more energy reserves than them bony skeleton girls. I'm neither heavy nor thin, but you would have beat the knickers off me in that event for sure!

Good for YOU, GOOD JOB.

[Tri Girl]

Awesome race report, as normal Denise! I love reading about your adventures- you write very well (and I'm always laughing/crying/sighing/giggling, etc).!!!
Seems like a great race, uh- minus the snotty women. Why do women need to be that way? Why can't we all just support and encourage each other? I found the same type of thing at the Race for the Cure yesterday. Sheesh, women, do a little bonding and try to encourage each other!
Anywho- I'm glad you had a good race and enjoyed yourself! I always like nice swag, and it's a bonus when you can use the things you're given!
Defnitely need to see pics when they come in, and as always- YOU ROCK!!!!

[colby]

Jeez Louise, when will people learn. From the "is this your first?" to the dangerous racers, finger-wagging for all of them

I might have to do the Subaru series next year after your great experience. I'm signed up for one sprint and will have to do Danskin with my mother in law, which are about a month apart from each other (July and Aug), and the Subaru a month after that (Sep). I want to do either Olympic or Half Iron next year, too, maybe earlier in the sesaon, or make one or two of the sprints something for fun, not for PRs.

Anyway, awesome weekend for you, even condidering the doo doo

[KSH]

Awesome ride/race report!

Now as for the participants... I was actually saddened by some of the attitudes I encountered. I would say that maybe 40% were the friendly types that I usually run into at races and the other 60% were, uhhh... NOT.
I was wearing my Ironman finishers running hat, and you would not believe how many people asked me if this was my first race!!! I pointed to my hat and said, "uhhh NO!" with a smile on my face. sigh..... What can I say? I guess it was because I wasn't wearing a high zoot tri oufit or something? I had my tri shorts and jenny shirt on. I'm also on the "thick" side, so I guess I look like a newbie?? What can I say.... I'm the poster child.....

Right... when I show my tri pictures to my family/friends... they are always SHOCKED to see people in my pictures who have less-than-perfect bodies. I always point out to them that MANY of those people... beat the pants off me... and ALL body types compete in tri's.

Unfortunately, some of those people didn't read your hat... or they thought you just bought it because it was cool... vs. you bought it because you actually did an IM.

I honestly can't believe how rude some of those ladies sounded! If they have EVER been to a tri... certainly they have seen ALL body types???!!!!

Oh well, screw 'em. You are fabulous... and racing... and you probably race more than they do!

[Running Mommy]

the funny thing is the hat says "FINISHER 2006" in bright blue letters!
But yeah, I guess they didn't pay attention to the hat. that isn't actually the part that really bothered me, it was just the vibe I was feeling. The race itself was great, but the participants were the ones that ruined it for me...

[KSH]

the funny thing is the hat says "FINISHER 2006" in bright blue letters!
...

OK, they were freaking idiots.