August 2nd was the 2nd Xterra Black Diamond. I had been a little nervous leading up to this race because last year I DNF’ed. I face planted so many times, but it turned out ok since I was already in the medical tent when they were pulling my husband off the course with a branch through his lip...
We were both better prepared this time and even pre-rode the day before. Because of the dry conditions, the course seemed totally different to me this year which could have been because it was actually ride-able, or maybe because my face wasn’t in the dirt the whole time. The first loop was a little different, allowing the riders to spread out some on an uphill road climb before heading into the single track. The start of the 2nd loop was the same as last year. The run was longer this year too, but I had nothing to compare it too since I didn’t get that far last time.
The kids spent the night at grandma’s so we had a nice relaxing evening at home before the race. I wasn’t nervous about the race and barely though about it all night. Having pre-ridden, I was much more relaxed than I imagined I might be. We woke up on race morning around 6am, and I had my regular PB&J for breakfast. We were out the door by 7am.
We arrived at the race site and I set up my transition area among a bunch of the other LUNA Chix. We had girls from all 3 teams there making up 2 relay teams, 6 doing the whole race and 1 there spectating. It was great to have so many of us out there!
Then they announced no wetsuits because the water was 84 degrees. We had been having some record setting hot days in the Seattle area, so I had expected that this might happen. Thankfully, I had done a few swims in the lake without a wetsuit the previous week, otherwise I might have freaked out. I did have to address the issue of what to do with my race number. I was planning on just pinning it on, but now that it wouldn’t be under my wetsuit I didn’t know what to do. I wound up leaving it in transition and figured I’d deal with it on the run when the time came.
We got into the water (I didn't do a warm up at all) and we were off. It was a mass start and I was all up in the mix and getting tossed around. This is the first year that I have positioned myself among the masses, and I am not really a fan of this kind of start. What made it more fun was that we were swimming through the water lilies. I was doing pretty well, but then I started having a hard time breathing and started to panic a little. I kept going, but switched to breast stroke, which was slow and disappointing. In the middle of the swim, we got out and ran across Xterra Island and then jumped in on the other side. I was making my way up onto the island when I heard someone call my name. I turned and saw that it was my husband - BEHIND me! We had joked that this was a possibility since it was a no wetsuit swim, but I didn’t really think it could actually really happen. But now the race was ON! We got back in the water side by side and I stuck to him. I even pulled ahead a little and somehow got way off course and had to swim back to get going straight. Finally the swim was done and I was up out of the water and sprinting to the timing mat to ensure that my time would be faster! Our swim time was not stellar, around 25 minutes but I beat him by 4 seconds and I may have well won a gold medal at the Olympics, an Oscar, the lottery and a Nobel Prize.
We ran into transition together and he was a rack away so I could see him while I was pulling on my fancy yellow Mavic shoes and getting ready to head out. I made it out of transition before him but somehow he was on his bike and out of site before I even started pedaling. (Note: He wound up doing really well in the bike and run portions of the race, coming in 3rd overall and somehow changing that 4 second deficit into a 1 hr lead, so congrats to him!)
I started out on the bike at a comfortable pace but not all out. It was hot out, into the 90s, and I knew it was going to be a long race. The pre-ride came in very handy and I was feeling pretty good out there riding along. The course was technical with lots of turns and rocks and roots. Not a ton of climbing and really only two sort of sketchy downhill sections. I was passing a bunch of people and a few were passing me. I was riding well and I even surprised myself that I was clearing some of the things that I was. I was pretty stoked when I passed the place in the race where I had dropped out last year. At the end of the first lap there was a mandatory dismount where you ran your bike across the timing mat and they marked your number. I was a little confused for some reason, but really it wasn’t confusing at all. Then it was off into lap two.
I was still passing some people and occasionally getting passed but it was way less congested. There was a stream crossing with a forced dismount that we went through at each lap. On the 2nd lap, there was a girl standing there with a volunteer trying to get her shoe unclipped. She was stuck to her bike! She asked if I had any tools. I had one so I couldn't just leave her there all stuck, so I quickly grabbed it out of my pack and handed it to her then ran off into the water and shed a few tears about getting my fancy yellow Mavic shoes wet yet again. I did get pretty tired on that 2nd loop and started getting a little squirrely. I was pretty excited that I didn’t get lapped by any of the race leaders – a first for me!
When headed back to transition, they set up a speed trap. They had one of those speed sensors that are set up on the side of the road to tell you that you are going too fast. I was pretty happy to see that I managed to get to 23mph. All in all, I felt like I did pretty well on the bike, and finished in about 2hrs. I went through 2 bottles of LUNA Sport Electrolyte Splash in Pink Grapefruit, the most amazing stuff ever and spaced 3 CLIF shots out so that I took the last one soon before heading into T2.
In T2 I put on my sweet new trail running shoes and grabbed my race number and hat and ran out just as they were announcing that the 3rd person in, part of a relay team was finishing. This meant I accomplished another goal of mine – to get out onto the run before my husband finished his race. Granted he was the next finisher coming in only a few seconds later but I was still out of T2 before he was done. We aren’t competitive with each other or anything. The run was hot and sunny. I was dying. The first hill I pinned my number on as I walked it. At the top, I ran when I could but walked most of the uphill sections. The last part of the loop was on pavement, but it was hard. I wasn't feeling very well and was pretty sure I was going to have to walk the rest. I wanted to be done. At the very end of the loop it kind of went downhill as we headed out for loop 2. I grabbed my 2nd Lap wrist band and headed out, feeling exponentially better. The course was a figure 8 and we passed the water station 4 times. I walked it 3 times and took water and Gatorade each time. I was starting to cramp and I was worried about the big logs we had to go over. It all worked out and I was able to pick up the pace for the last 1/2 mile or so. It took me about an hour.
Total finish time was 3:30 and some seconds.
I came in 3rd in my age group - another total surprise!! and 11th overall. Technically I was 4th in my age group since one of the girls was in the top 3 overall, but she didn’t count for age group awards. All 3 of the girls who finished before me in my age group finished in the top 5! They are SUPER fast, so I was pretty excited with my results and my fancy new beer glass.
Other great finishes from the LUNA Chix included:
Amy from the Tri team and Sara from the Cycling team as a relay
Susan and Amy from the Mountain Bike team as a relay
Charity, Yonina and Amanda from the Cycling team all completed the entire race
April and Virginia from the Mountain Bike team both completed the entire race. April is leading her age group for the Regional standings and has already secured her invitation to Nationals in Ogden!
Great job ladies!
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