This past month, I have worked on my mindset more than my physical training. I didn't want to fear failing at this race, I wanted to celebrate the work that I knew I had put into getting there.
3:45 am came quickly the morning of the race, but I woke up excited and ready to go. Getting to transition was surreal with 3000 bikes racked and waiting. We were racked by age group, so I found myself standing with all my "competition". Except they weren't. They were a great group of ladies who chatted about their lives and kids, their fears about the race and what they hoped to accomplish. I had pictures taken with them before we even knew each other's names, and we all went together down to the water to watch the first waves go off. We were all in it together.
Slight nerves set in two waves before mine. You could see the tension on some of the ladies' faces, especially after watching a few of the guys getting pulled out of the water, too tired to go on. It was, after all, almost a mile. A long way to swim.
Three guys joined our wave, having missed their own. We all jumped in the water, swam to the start, and tread water. The initial start was like bumper cars, all of us trying our rhythm. After the first turn, we spread out, and while I felt the pull of the current against me, it didn't hinder me. All of a sudden, I felt a body shove up against me. Taking a quick check off that side, I saw a green cap - one of the guys that had joined us. I shifted a little to the side and kept going. Whack, he hit me again, and again. I knew I was sighting straight, so it had to be him that was weaving. I brought my head up and doing breast stroke, saw that he had pushed us right off the course. Rats! I picked up my speed and got back on the course. Coming around the second turn, I felt it again. Seriously?
This time I shifted over to the far side of the course. He must have been using me as a sight, because he followed me. The last time he hit me he said sorry about three times and then proceeded to weave so far back on the other side of the course the person on the kayak was yelling at him to get back on course. Climbing out of the water, I was ten minutes off goal. Giving my head a shake, I let it go. There was still a lot of race, and I wasn't going to let it get to me.
I had used my legs a little more on the swim than usual with the current, so the first mile I used to loosen up my legs. My former Canadian coach and I had poured over the maps, and I knew I had three turns before the hills. One turn, two turns, whoa! The first one was bigger than I expected. The Shiner ride became a good decision - I knew how to shift to conserve my legs as much as possible. Two very scary hairpin turns later and I was on the long part of the loop. Since it was a slight downhill, all of us hit the high gears. We were flying, and it felt great. Four loops and the bike was done.
That's when it hit me. I had already won this race. It was on the bike I had ended my last race, so I had already done what I set out to do - the run was now just for fun. I caught up to three girls from my cycling group, I ran with them for a bit, and then they waved me on. It was awesome to share this race with them.
Coming up to the finish line and hearing the crowd cheering just validated everything I have learned over the last four months. I had taken the last of my mental monsters and squashed them. I know now that Ironman is a certainty - and it too will be a day to celebrate every workout I did to get myself there. Until then, there will be no focus on the end result - Ironman comes whether I think about it or not. Instead, it will be taking one workout at a time, and enjoying the process.
Thank you to everyone who believed in me, everyone who cheered me on. Many of you let me know that you had followed me online, and that was a wonderful feeling. Five months from now is the Half, again in Austin. The road to Ironman continues!
No comments:
Post a Comment