The expo and packet pickup:
The packet pickup was the day before or the morning of. I decided to go early on the day before. There was a tent next to the transition area. You first need to find your number on a piece of paper then provide the volunteers your number. Side note: since the t-shirts were lady sizes they were small. Even the ladies size small seemed smaller than normal. At the end of the race I think you could exchange your shirt, but I had already used mine to dry myself off so I felt too guilty trading it in. The expo happened after the race. Honestly, the stands might have been setup beforehand, but I did not notice. After the finish line and next to the transition area, there was a section with food (yea!) and water plus various vendors. There was a store vendor, an energy drink I've never heard of, and HP printers. Yes, HP printers. They were promoting their camera printing printers. You were allowed to wirelessly connect to their printers and print out 'any pictures you took during the race.' Since I could not listen to music, I did not bother taking my phone with me so I had nothing to print. I did ask him to snap a quick picture of me with my medal. This is what I was able to print:
not my best picture
It was a super small expo which is what you expect considering it was not a large race. There were only a couple hundred participants from what I gathered.
Race day:
Woke up at 3:50 the morning of the race. I've gotten used to 5:00 am enough that I can semi-handle it when I wake up then to run. However, before 4:00 am is rough. I have a routine of drinking my particular energy drink and eating a banana and 100% whole wheat toast with jelly. Usually I do this an hour when I run at home and two hours before a race. This race morning it was three hours beforehand. This meant the possibility of any energy I was getting would be gone before I even started.
It had an extremely low chance of rain for the time of the race so I brought my non-water proof Nike Pegasus 30s. As predicted, the rain stopped on my drive there. However only a few minutes away, the rain picked up again. I kept thinking on incredible ill prepared I was for the rain. I only brought a water resistant running jacket, but I had nothing to cover my seat and my shoes would be soaked. I didn't bring any extra clothing either. You'd think this was my first race! Once I got to the parking lot (which was right next to the start and finish line, score!), I left my TOMS on and saved my Nikes in hopes the rain would stop before the race. Unfortunately the transition area was in a grass field and not a parking lot so I knew I was going to get wet either way. Luckily the rain stopped right before I had to make my way to the starting line. I picked up my packet and got my pink wristband.
This pink band is needed in order to get into the transition area. I suppose this helps keep it to strictly racers. Each rack was labeled with numbers. I was in the 11 to 35 rack (I think). I found a spot near a post to put my bike. I had a lot of last minute changes the morning of the race. First, I switched up my pink shirt for my green one. Next, I decided I did not need a towel for the transition area because lastly, I decided to wear my gloves and go with my armband for my iphone.
did not need a towel since I only had my helmet and bike in transition
The parking is right by the start, finish, and transition area (kudos to the organizers for that decision!). It was nice being able to stay in my car (and avoid the rain) right up until 15 minutes before the start.
branded and ready to go
My race:
The race had three heats- 1st for elite (only 3 women), 2nd for those 40 and older, and 3rd for those 39 and younger. I hung around the side and towards the back of the 3rd heat. I knew I would be slower and did not want to get in anyone's way. It seemed to be about a minute between the first and second heat then another couple of minutes between the second and third heat. A lot of runners sprinted out of the gate fast. I had a game plan as to how I wanted to attack the first run- go slowly and conserve energy. At one point I glanced back and only saw maybe 10 runners behind me. I legitimacy was worried about coming in last. This changed quickly since a number of people started walking the course and a few that went out too fast and seemed to then struggle with the hills. The course took us through a park then out to a road. I sped up and took advantage of the downhill to the turnaround point. One thing I noticed is that some runners would keep the same pace even if they were up or down a hill. I am very much a runner who slows down going up a hill and speeds up going down a hill. The turnaround point was a little cramped. Up another hill into the transition area.
transition area- imagine this full of racers
From the start of the roped off path to the transition area to my bike which was on the first rack, I had enough time to stop and save my run on my Garmin and which activity profiles. This process worked out really well. Another bonus of my awesome Garmin 620! I was in and out of the transition really quickly. I wore my gloves when running so all I needed to do was snap on my helmet and go. A lot of people were leisurely walking with their bike out of the transition area, but I was jogging. I even started to wonder if I was not allowed to jog with my bike since no one else was. After I crossed the timing pad and hopped on the road, I mounted my bike and sped off. Somehow my Garmin started and stopped so I missed the first bit of my bike ride. The hills were a killer. I tried to find the right balance of pushing myself but not completely draining myself. Around mile 3 there were two rough back-to-back hills. A number of cyclists hopped off of their bikes and walked them up the hill. Finally a little after mile 5 it become a bunch of smaller hills. Since it rained right up until the start of the race, the roads were wet with a few puddles. I am not an experienced cyclist so I was extra cautious going around corners. Another major hill came at the end of the bike ride. I was very slowly passing another cyclist and said 'I am so over these hills!' She let me know that this was the last big one before the end and she was correct. One thing I noticed about the bike portion was I did decent going up hills and was able to pass some point, however, those same people would then pass me on the straightaways or downhills. I was not racing anyone per say, but I used this to gage what I need to work on in the future. The bike route went on the same road as the running route. We climbed uphill passed the runners around the turnaround point. This was exciting since I knew I had to be close. 13 miles is not far on a bike, but I was so ready to get back to running. A very enthusiastic volunteer pointed us into the park. Between the entrance of the park and the dismount area, I was able to take off my gloves and unhook my helmet. I hopped off of my bike before the pink line (important!) and ran my bike to my rack.
if you look by the volunteer, you can see the pink line
My second transition I think was even faster since I just threw down my gloves and helmet, racked my bike, and sprinted out of there. As expected my legs were not huge fans of the second run. The second run is reverse of the first so it was downhill to the turnaround point then uphill most of the way to the finish. They needed the downhill to recover before the climb.
During the course the water stations also offered this new energy drink. After the bike ride as we were starting our second run, I broke the cardinal rule of trying something new on race day. I tried the BodyAde (I think that was the name of the energy drink) instead of water. I assumed my orange looking drink would be like orange PowerAde, but not so. I couldn't quite place the taste, but it wasn't what I wanted when running. Luckily they placed the water station near the transition point so I could get water again not too long after.
I was completely engrossed in the second run climb when I noticed my Garmin read 1.9 miles. Unfortunately this did not leave me much time to try to sprint to the finish.
finish line
I did not have a time goal, but I thought I would finish around 1 hour, 47 minutes. When I got to the chute, the clock read 1:46 and change. I managed to cross seconds before the 1:47 mark so I knew I went faster than I anticipated. There was a table near the food tent with the official results. My official time: 1:40:55. My splits: first run- 18:12.7 (9:06 minute average!), bike- 59:16.1 (13.2 mph average), second run- 21:09.8 (10:35 average).
not a bad medal
Course:
Hilly. Very similar terrain to Pennsylvania with the rolling hills, but the course was hillier than I anticipated.
from the race's website
I was worried that I did not really study either the running or bike course beforehand. Yet I never felt I would get lost. The turns were marked and there was a volunteer or policeman at each one. Eventually the participants spread out, but I always had a biker or runner in sight.
The first leg you run in the park past some fields. The first half of the run was mostly downhill. You then go out to a road where you go down a hill to the turnaround point then up the hill to the transition area.
There were volunteers to make sure you were going in and out of the appropriate places. You climb on your bike outside of the transition area once you are back on a road.
There were some large hills on the bike portion, but then equally large downhill. After a couple of big hills just after mile 3, I came to appreciate the small hills as pieces of cake. Like I previously mentioned there was a volunteer or policeman at each turn and also a policeman at each intersection to make sure no cars interfered with the bikers. The bike route is open to traffic! There were one or two cars along the way and every so often a motorcycle which I assumed were race organizers making sure no one needed help. Coming back to the transition area you pass runners going by their turnaround point. You then enter into the park and look for the jump off point. There are volunteers there along with a bright pink tape. Hop off the bike before this tape. The split timing pad is right there as well.
The second run was same route just in reverse. This seemed to cause some confusion with people around the turnaround point and the hill leading to it. The finish line is close to the transition area.
Final thoughts:
Overall I enjoyed this race a lot more than I thought I would. There were negative factors outside of the race's control (weather, wake up time) but I won't hold that against them. I appreciated having someone at each turn letting you know where to go. The course was almost completely void of supporters so it was nice seeing these volunteers. I really enjoyed the post-race snacks. They had good fruit, watermelon and bananas, plus bagels with a choice of peanut butter and jelly (unfortunately I am allergic to peanuts so I avoided even the jelly in case of cross contamination). There were a couple of choices of chips as well as Fruit Snacks (a personal obsession of mine). They also had water and BodyAde. I am not sure if it was because this was a women's only race but the racers were very supportive and friendly. I had a number of quick chats with fellow runners/bikers during the course. You also heard a lot of people cheering on others. This might sway me into finding more women's specific races.
My biggest lesson learned is that I need to work on my second run. Maybe I could have saved some energy on the first run which would have helped in the second run, but I doubt it. This is just something that I need to practice or research how to get my muscles used to the bike to run transition.
Next race: Rock n Roll Half Marathon
