Musselmania 70.3 Race Report!

I had been thinking about---no, obsessing about this race ever since I DNF'd it last year after missing the bike cutoff by 4 minutes. So this year it was all about making the cutoff.

PRE-RACE: I set a new PR for pre-race hydration -- polished off a gallon of water on the drive to NY, requiring 5 pit stops along the way. This was on top of the 5 day hydration extravaganza I had embarked upon leading up to departure day.

Tough time sleeping Saturday night, but at least this year I wasn't making a late night run for Krazy Glue to fix my goggles the night before the race! (lesson learned the hard way last year)

Before my warm up swim on race day, as I was having one of those "Can I do this, will I make the damn cutoff" moments, leave it to Priscilla to try to lighten the mood with Ye Olde Divert-Her-Attention-And-Maybe-She-Will-Forget-To-Be-Worried Trick:

Me: "I'm really getting nervous about this."
Priscilla, pointing to some trash on the ground: "Look, look! It's a Snickers wrapper--your favorite!"

It was so random and she looked so excited about this piece of litter on the ground that I was cracking up as I headed in for a practice swim (no one rocks the pre-race cheer fest quite like P Diddy :).

And then there was Lisa, who was yelling at me about the debt crisis and the war in Afghanistan as I was walking into the water for my wave start--not your usual cheer material, I know, but I had told Lisa I needed to get worked up before the race, so she was trying to piss me off! LOL

SWIM: Goal: anything under 53 minutes would be nice. Actual: 47:19

If you were in the neon green swim wave --- that was me who yelled Oh My God twice, right before the horn went off. What a wild swim that was! I felt like I was getting thrown all over the place by the waves and chop. After we made the first turn it seemed to get worse. I briefly considered freaking out, but then decided that plowing ahead would be more productive. Once I relaxed and decided to roll with it, I was surprised that I actually enjoyed the swim!

I have to pause here to give a big shout out to our awesome Team Z MD swim coaches, Alexis, Mark, and Jim. THANKS GUYS! And a big thank you to the Z cheer squad that greeted us as we got out of the water. :)

BIKE: Goal: Make the cutoff Actual: Made it with about 25 minutes to spare

The bike course seemed easier this year, perhaps because I knew what to expect. Or maybe it was the strength training (thanks Janet and Melissa) and hill workouts I did this year (thanks Melanie and Alexis).

I have these nifty new aerobars, so my plan was to stay aero as much as possible, keep up my cadence, and pay attention to my nutrition. I had practiced my tire changing skills the weekend before the race and had an extra tire and multiple tubes and CO2's stashed all over the place---probably overkill, but better to be over-prepared, right?

Right around mile 51, just as I was starting to drag a bit, I spied the familiar Z green on the side of the road. I couldn't believe it! They had waited this long---on the side of the road, IN THAT HEAT---for the LAST of us to ride by! Amid the cheers I could hear Lisa shouting something about bin Laden--- OMG I was laughing so hard. It was just the boost I needed to pick up my pace and make it back to the park.

Approaching the final stretch before the dismount line was my favorite part of the race. I kept checking my watch, thinking it must be slow, or maybe it had stopped working. It couldn't possibly be correct! How is it that I have all this time to spare before the cutoff??!!

Priscilla, Janet, Rich and several other Zs were there cheering everyone in. (Thanks for waiting guys!) They have had to listen to me obsess about last year's DNF for a year now and knew how nervous I was about making the cutoff. As I passed by they started shouting "PR! PR! PR!" I started getting choked up---I had to tell myself to GET A GRIP! Then I saw the timing mat, still in place--- and no one was waiting with scissors to cut off my timing chip! Oh happy day.

RUN: Goal: 2:45 Actual: 3:28

I was sooo happy to finally be on the run-- my total comfort zone! It took about 3 miles for me to pep up a bit and step up my shuffle. That didn't last long, though. The heat was a challenge, for sure. By the time I was approaching the gravel hill, I was taking regular walk breaks. Just as I was starting to think I must be the only person left out here suffering in this heat on this hill, two Zs passed me. Just seeing familiar faces and the Z green was awesome. We all must have been thinking the same thing-- get this done!

The aid stations were amazing and the people standing out in the heat with their hoses -- I couldn't believe it. I'm sure there were plenty of other ways they could've spent their Sunday but they were there for all of us.

Thank you to the cheering Zr who told me to just "keep moving forward" -- that became my mantra for the final few miles.

Thank you to Rohini, who rode up on her bike and gave me words of encouragement, told me I had only a mile or so to go, and pointed out the Z tents off in the distance. She said something like, "That's the finish line--it's right there!" What a happy, happy sight!

Then Tracey magically appeared out of nowhere with --get this--a Diet Coke! No kidding-- I couldn't believe how lucky I was. I had a Diet Coke before I even reached the finish line!

FINISH LINE! Goal: 8 hours Actual: 8:28

Approaching the finish line I couldn't believe how many Zs were still there -- waiting in the heat for the last racers to cross!! I got choked up again. It was a combination of - Wow, I'm so glad to be done and OMG Team Z is so amazing!

MusselMANIA!

Okay, I am so pumped about Musselman. This race is all about redemption. I'm not going to go into detail about what happened last year (because frankly, the only person who reads this blog has heard it over and over and over....and over) but let's just sum it up with a simple "I didn't make the bike cutoff" and leave it at that.

This year is different. Here are the top 10 reasons why I'll make the damn bike cutoff this year:

10. Karma is on my side
9. My goggles aren't cracked
8. But just in case, I actually have a spare pair this time
7. No late night runs to the store to buy Krazy Glue
6. My bike is pimped out with aero bars
5. I actually went to Hillz practice this year
4. Georgetown Prep....Lake Montclair...I've made it to more swim practices than ever before
3. I actually started hydrating 6 days before the race (unheard of!)
2. The race may start on time...or not. But this time I'll actually check my watch to make sure
1. I'M IN THE 4TH SWIM WAVE!!!! WOOOHOOOO!

The bottom line is that this year, I WILL run--no matter what! They can yank my chip, yell DNF at me, and rip my race number off of me, but I will RUN AND FINISH THE RACE!!! BRING IT ON, MUSSELMAN!

3-2-1 Amazing!

Just got back from watching the Space Shuttle Atlantis blast off into the history books. That's it, the final shuttle launch, something that will never happen again. It was so very cool to be there covering this milestone for the U-S space program. Assignments like this one make me love my job.

I interviewed some amazing people: astronauts Ken Reightler, Roger Crouch, Dan Tani, Janice Voss, former shuttle launch director Bob Sieck, and NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden....

...but topping it all was meeting and interviewing Bob Crippen, pilot of the very first shuttle mission (Columbia in April 1981). Crip, as they call him, has flown 4 shuttle missions, logged over 500 hours in space, orbited the earth 374 times, and traveled more than 9 million miles! The guy is a legend!

The day before the launch, it stormed all day. Fortunately, they set up a tent for me to stand under so I wouldn't get drenched during hours of live shots. We were in front of the countdown clock and you could see the shuttle across the lagoon.

On launch day, NASA almost called it off because of the bad weather. But somehow we lucked out and managed to have just enough of a break for Atlantis to launch. It was a long day -- wake up call of 2 AM, then standing in one spot the entire day for live shots. But it was all worth it because at 11:28AM, Atlantis roared off the launchpad toward the heavens.

I must note that my tri training came in handy on this assignment. To beat the heat and humidity, I wore tops made of "wicking" fabric, drank lots of water, and popped some Endurolytes to keep from getting dehydrated.

When I finally made it home I collapsed on the couch and slept for several hours, woke up and practiced changing my bike tires, then went to bed! Had to get the tire changing practice in because Musslemania is in one week!! woooohoooo!

30 Days To Kilimanjaro!

The 30 day countdown is ON!! (Well, it's officially 28 days out, but it was actually 30 days out 2 days ago when I started writing this post.... but who's counting?)
I'm starting to get nervous, excited, overwhelmed with all I have to do to get ready... Let's see, what else? I woke up at 3AM on the official 30 day countdown day thinking that I still need to buy large Ziploc bags. Yep, gotta obsess about that one. That'll wake you up, alright. Can't forget those Ziploc bags. Never mind that I still haven't gotten MAJOR things done! And I'm heading out of town this week for the final space shuttle launch....which means no getting things done, no Musselmania training, no sleep....

At least I have tomorrow off! Happy Fourth of July, y'all.