Music City Tri Race Report

The alarm went of at 4:15 this morning.

I got dressed, ate my oatmeal, and headed out.

At 4:45, as I was backing out of the driveway to go pick up Lana, my cell phone rang.

“You a re NOT backing out on me on this”

“I don’t want to, it’s my husband, he is sick…”

Edit: I really did think Lana said “my husband” but apparently she said “Bo”. It was only 4:45 in the morning and she was talking quietly so I guess I just misunderstood. Either way I don’t blame her for staying home. Can’t leave kids with a husband that is that sick and sure can’t leave a sick kid. There will always be another race. I did begin to wonder what was going on when I called on my way home and JT answered the phone. I asked him “How are you feeling?” And he said “Fine??” Like I had lost my mind.

I thought about pulling back into the garage and going back to sleep. I hate going to these things alone. But I went ahead to Nashville. I cranked up the radio and sang for the hour it took to get there. I saw a truck with a bike in front of me and like an idiot decided to follow him!!! He made a wrong turn and took us to the marina. I still managed to make it to the race site at six. It was still dark and they were working on getting lighting at the sign in tent. I got my bib and race packet. I went back to the car and got my bag and bike and head to transition to set up. Then the word came…water temp is 77.7 wetsuits are legal!!! I was very happy to hear that, after all I purchased my wetsuit just for this race.
I saw Chuck, aka Goodlettsville guy. I chatted with him for a bit then headed to the water.
Everyone was standing around trying to figure out where the start was going to be. A girl walks up to me and asks do I know where the start is. We got to talking and it turns out she is the one who just beat me in my age group by like 5 seconds at my first tri this season.
Finally they called my age group to start and me and 20 of my best friends got in the water. We waded out to the buoy. They counted down then said go. I felt great. I had on my wetsuit, I was floating. We bumped into each other for a while then it thinned out. I caught up with the guys in front of us. I was so excited; I knew they had a 5 minute lead on us. Then I got nailed with an elbow in the right eye. I just knew it was going to be black. I swam on, looking for the tower they told us to sight. Final I got out of the water.
Swim Time 30:01
I ran to T-1 pulling my wetsuit to my waist. It was a lot easier to get it off then Friday when Lana and I swam. I grabbed my bike and headed out.
T-1 time 2:50
The bike course was hilly and my left knee started hurting about 6 miles into the ride. I tried really hard not to think about it and just thought about TriSaraTops and what she had to endure last week. I felt like such a wimp. I knew that there were two turn arounds on the course that were 180’s on a 2 lane road. I knew I was getting close to the first turn around and my one and only goal was to hit it alone. I have a hard enough time turning, I sure didn’t need to take someone else out with me. Lucky for me, I made it to the turn around alone and turned with no problem. The second turn around I also made alone and uneventful. Then I made it back to transition.
Total bike 1:13:43
I got changed and ready for the run
Total T2 time 1:07
I knew that they had 2 hills that were worth mentioning in the course description. The first was at the beginning and the second was just after the turn around. I was NOT prepared for the first hill to be so soon. First you had to run on grass, then some very rough street, and then it was a long uphill. Close to the top I said to the girl near me “I sure hope that is the hill” She smiled, started coughing, and then threw up. I decided maybe I better not talk to anyone else on the course. Soon a guy ran up to me and started talking, I wanted to warn him that I had already caused someone to throw up but I needed the distraction. We ran side by side for a while then he headed off for a pit stop. He caught me later in the race and ended up smoking me! I got to the damn and saw the second hill. It was billed as a "short steep hill". It was steep but not short. I ran down it to the turn around, grabbed some water and headed for the hill. I ended up walking for about 50 yards on that hill then started running again. At the mile 5 water stop the girl was great and really pushed me to the finish.
Total run time 55:58
That is a total time of 2:43:42 which beat my only other Olympic distance. Not by much but it is a PR!!!