Can you believe it's already time for Boulder 70.3? On my journey for my pro card, I was targeting 106.27 points per race. When I only received 96.55 at St. George I was shocked. USAT decided to change the entire scoring system for women without telling us, and to top it off they haven't updated the qualification criteria for an elite license to reflect the changes, so I am chasing my dream without a clear checkpoint. All that means is that I have to think, act, and race like a pro and hope it's enough. That is what my race plan told me to do. Be the pro and then I'll become the pro.
Race morning was just a little different this year because we have a new exchange student, Nathan. He arrived on Thursday so his first experience with our family is the race set up on Friday and race day on Saturday. We went to bike check with the boys where they were able to play in the water and they earned some Kona water-ice for their help earlier in the week. There was a crazy microburst while we were there that sent a tent flying into the trees. Fingers crossed that won't happen tomorrow during the race!
Nathan woke up at 4:00am to tag along with us. I was balancing my race morning prep with being social with Chuck, and being a mom for Nathan. It was a little crazy, but the craziest thing was that I forgot my timing chip. What? I've never done that before.
As soon as I got in the water I tuned out everything else so I could perform. My swim was strong, but I knew it wasn't as fast I as wanted it to be. I was still first out of the water in my age group, but I still really want to break that 27 min barrier. My transition was crazy fast then I was out on the bike. Boulder has a fast bike course and I was going to push to break 2:30. I felt good out there. I was flying and no one was catching me. The second lap was crowded and I realized again that I have come so far from my early age group days. I was so focused on my speed and my solid fueling that when I checked my fluid intake at two hours I realized I hadn't drank nearly enough. I knew that was going to come back to haunt me. Onto the run I needed to run sub 1:30. About two miles in I knew that today was not that day. The majority of the run was on packed dirt and I felt my energy being sucked out by each uneven step. Dan was actually there on course today giving me placements and updates. Oh man, I wish he could be at every race. But even with his encouragement I knew I was in trouble. When he wanted me to go on that final lap I couldn't. Being dehydrated early was killing me now. I couldn't go. I managed to find some power the last mile but it wasn't enough. My run ended up at a 1:44. That put me second in my age group, fifth age group female, and 26th female with the pros included (I beat six of them again). I was so close to pro level racing but I didn't hydrate. Stupid, rookie mistake and it cost me dearly.
I was so surprised by how far behind me Jeremy was. Normally we finish this race at about the same time, but I had time to hang out in the medical tent, find Nathan, and still hang out at the finish line before he came across. He was riding his new tri bike at this race and was so excited for it. But on the second lap his bottom bracket broke! He ended up holding his left crank arm in his hand and pedaling with only his right leg for miles before he could find bike support to help put it back together again. Unfortunately it was crazy dangerous to do what he did and he used a lot of extra energy trying to keep going. This meant that his run really suffered and he did not do as well as he'd hoped.
Awards were delayed because of our afternoon thunderstorms and as we went back I ran into Kami again, it's so nice seeing friends there, and we waited in the rain for our plaques.
It may not have been the day Jeremy and I had been hoping for, but it was still a great day of racing. Ultimately I only ended up with 95.67 points, and all I can do at this point is just wait for the qualification criteria to post. Hopefully it's enough.
Annette: Swim 28:24, T1 2:31, Bike 2:28:45, T2 1:38, Run 1:44:34, Overall 4:45:52
Jeremy: Swim 35:36, T1 2:46, Bike 2:40:39, T2 1:41, Run 1:56:58, Overall 5:17:40
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