The Bike

I was told that my tongue would swell from the salt water and not to let it freak me out. As it turned out, my tongue didn't feel swollen, but it did feel like it was covered in hair for the first hour and a half. It was just a weird feeling.

I really wanted to maintain at least 15 mph, so I kept it right there. Everybody and their grandmother was passing me. Deal with it. I stopped to go to the bathroom at the 1:30 mark. I had to wait in line for three people. I didn’t like that, but I tried to appreciate the butt time off the seat. I saw lots of people with flat tires. One poor guy had a tv camera about two inches from his nose while he changed his tire. I felt bad for him. Who the heck wants a camera in your face at a time like that?

The special needs stop was kind of fun. It was like a drive up service. They had boxes with sets of 50 numbers per box set up along the road for about a quarter of a mile. My box was near the end. I rode up to it and a volunteer handed me my bag. There were two other girls next to me. One was eating a PB & J. Ooh! That sounds good! She offered me a bite (aren’t triathletes the best?!) I declined because I had my own. It was good, too! (I ran into her again later, she asked “Are you the PB & J girl?” I had fun talking to lots of people on the bike.)

I remembered that my coach had told me to start out at the pace I thought I would be riding at the 90 mile mark. I had originally forgotten that, but luckily I didn’t go out hard anyways. I remembered this, because suddenly I started to pass people. From halfway on, I passed people, and some passed me. My coach was absolutely right when he said people would go out too hard and blow up later on.

My butt started to hurt around hour 3. I just told myself, “Don’t be surprised! You even blogged about how you know your butt always hurts between hours 3 & 4 and then it gets a little better.” I did start to get really tired though. This course is flat, which is nice, but there is no recourse. You never get to coast. You just have to pedal, pedal, pedal. Argh. I wanted to savor every moment on the bike, but I was definitely getting tired. I swear the mileage between miles 90 and 100 were wrong. It sure did seem like 20 miles instead of 10. When we turned to head into to town, I got a spring in my step again. I only had a handful of miles left, and I had just crossed the 7 hour mark. I was going to come in around 7.5 hours. I got teary at that moment (that was the only moment the entire race). I thought for sure I would do 8 or 8.5 hours. I bettered what I thought I could do. I was going to have 8 hours for the run. I WAS GOING TO DO THIS!!!!! Barring any stomach issues, I was going to finish! I was so happy.

It hurt to walk when I got off the bike. Our parents had signed up to bodymark, and they were STILL in the transition area. No wonder they weren’t out on the bike course cheering us on (but we had other friends that were. They were awesome! Thanks Matt, Dani, and Julie!) I couldn’t believe our parents were still there in the transition area. My father in-law handed me my bag. I could tell he was really proud of me. My mom cheered. I could hardly walk I was so stiff. I went in, changed my clothes (with the help of an awesome volunteer), and suddenly my legs felt fresh again.

I started running.