According to the Russian I woke up 10 minutes after we went to sleep to ask him to set his alarm too so I wouldn't oversleep (he was not thrilled). Then, I apparently jumped out of bed an hour later, turned on the lights and said it was time for me to go. Again, the Russian was less than thrilled. It took me a few minutes to admit that I was confused and go back to bed. Truthfully, I vaguely remember these two incidents only because he told me about them the next day. I do remember waking up almost every hour thinking that it was time to get up. The short of it is that I get really anxious when I know I need to wake up for something. The anxiety was compounded by the fact that I was meeting Sam to head up together. When I have to meet someone, that makes me REALLY anxious.
Sam and I headed out around 4:15, which was our planned time. There were lots of drunk people roaming the streets of Hoboken when we left. I believe they were going home, like any sane person should be doing at that time of the morning, rather than leaving their nice bed and nice husband. Seemed like a good idea two months ago. The GPS took us through Manhatten, which we didn't want to do, but didn't know how to avoid. Here's what I learned from that experience:
- There are a ridiculous number of people awake and driving in NYC at that time of the morning on Sunday.
- These people, despite their early morning habits, are less than ideal drivers. I believe I was cut off at least twice on 95.
- I am so distanced from reasons for staying up that late that I was trying to figure out why everyone was up so early.
Anyhow, we made it to the race and got in line to get our stuff. That's right - stuff. No pre-stuffed packets, just your number, chip and a t-shirt. We were in line at 5:50 with about 30 women behind us. No chance that transition was closing at 6:00. By the time I got my transition area set up and my wetsuit on (easier than last time with my currently short nails), it was 6:20. I missed the athlete meeting where they told us important things, like where we should swim. Despite the delay with the registration check-in, the race still started at 6:33. There were women running down the beach to get in our wave (the 39 and under). Sam quickly briefed me on the two buoys I should site for and we were off.
This is what Sam looks like at 5:30 Sunday morning. Yes, she is that cheerful.
The Swim (Time - 13:56)
The swim was 800 meters and it was a run off the beach start. It was pretty crowded until we rounded the first buoy. There was lots of people grabbing me and I'm sure I did my fair share too. Once it spread out a bit it was better, but I ended up swimming next to a woman for the last third who must have thought I was stalking her. Despite me actually not wanting to ride her hip, that's what happened to the very end. Whoever you are, I'm sorry I was crowding you. totally didn't mean to Overall, the swim felt okay and I wasn't feeling ill when I got out of the water, which was already a plus.
T1 - 3:03
I could not get my wetsuit off because the timing chip was so huge. It took me about 30 seconds to figure out that I needed to take the timing chip off first.
The Bike (Time - 37:01)
Not sure if I was thinking when I biked for an hour and a half Friday, but let me tell you that my legs were asking me, Why?" Not only did I feel like I was moving backwards, the thousand or so ladies that passed me were probably thinking that I was. Additionally, my front shifter was misbehaving so I had to stay in my small front ring the whole time. I am a classic masher and ALWAYS ride in the big ring in the front unless I have serious climbing to do. So I was spinning fast and going nowhere fast. Thank goodness they shortened the bike to 9 miles. I seriously could not have taken more of that.
T2 - 1:07
Nothing special, nothing terrible.
The Run (Time- 22:58)
As soon as I left transition, my hip started to hurt and continued the whole way. Running slow didn't help with the pain so I tried to run fast. I was glad to be able to go a decent pace (crushing it if I do say so myself) despite the pain. Overall the run was a confusing two-ish laps that was being directed by a 6 year old in a critical spot. Lucky for me that there were people to follow. The race ended on the beach, which I was not excited about since I hate the feeling of sand in my shoes, but I was glad the whole thing was over.
Post Race
I got a painful massage/stretch of hip that didn't help as far as I could tell, some fruit on a stick, hummus, coffee and yogurt. Yeah, it seemed a liitle odd to me too.
Post Race Feelings
I am anxious, frustrated, disappointed, annoyed, and (insert negative emotion here). This race did a lot to make me question my theoretical ability to do Pumpkinman. I seem to have no bike fitness and pain in my hip. The mechanical bike problem I was able to fix later that day (so no excuses there), but the other non-mechanical problems have got me worried. With less than two weeks, things are not looking good...
Sam still cheerful after the race (she crushed it).
She even made me smile, though I'm sure you can tell it was a bit forced...
Here's something to make you and me smile. Furbaby-1 decided all her own to dress up as a ninja and show her white belly. Don't call animal cruelty on us please.
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