Xterra World Championships

October.
A lot has happened since nationals. For some reason work didn’t get less stressful as I was hoping it might but maybe that had more to do with the excitement of the upcoming trip to Maui than anything else.

I think I was to have two weeks of build and then sort of a taper and then a rest week or something of that nature. Everything was going well, and I did some crazy hill workouts, one of which eric joined me on, pushing the kids up the highlands 3 times!

I did my very first cyclocross race which turned out to be pretty fun but also hard and I’m not so sure I will do it again. Eric was feeling crappy so he didn't race but as we headed to the race site, the whole time I was telling Eric i didn't want to race. at the line up there were 12 of us which i was happy about, apparently the other weekend there were 30 and I wasn't so sure I was up for that. we were in the 3rd wave heading out and we started on the road. i couldn't get clipped in and was last heading into the grassy part and turns. ugh. i quickly passed a few girls, got caught up in the barriers but managed my way into 4th by the end of the first lap. 2nd time through the barriers two girls passed me but later that lap I passed one back on the climb. i held her off for the 3rd lap and that 3rd time through the barriers but then on the last lap, bam, i dropped my chain going over the barriers and she got me. by the time i was back on my bike she was too far ahead. i tried to close the gap but couldn't and wound up in 6th. i was happy with my race for a few reasons - i didn't crash or fall at the barriers, i actually rode in my drops on the road sections, i didn't use my brakes on the big long descent and hardly used them any other times, i worked really hard, i didn't get caught by any of the junior boys that started after us nor did I get lapped by any of the men who started ahead of us. i was unhappy with my race because i didn't do so well remounting, but that will just take practice. the whole race was 36 minutes and i was pretty beat after. i had to take a nap.

The next day we headed out to belingham for a duathlon and it was COLD. low 30s. neither of us were excited about that but the bright side was that there was no rain and it was a DU so no swim! That would have been terrible. it was also fun to see charity there since we don't ever get to see enough of her. the start came quickly and we were off. i ran hard and was 3rd woman back to transition, only a few seconds off 1 & 2. once on the bike i went really hard and passed those two ladies and a bunch of the guys, so I was in the lead. the bike course was all up hill and all downhill. the uphill was steep and just went on and on, the down was super sketchy with crazy drop offs and just totally nuts. i got through all but 1 of the switch backs which i was happy about and i think i got off twice to run down some of sketchy stuff. I was pretty happy with my riding but the 2nd time I got off my bike, not to far from the end, one of the ladies passed me back. since it was only 6 miles it was super quick and back into transition right away. i was sloooooow mostly because i couldn't get my running shoes back on my feet very well. the first place lady was headed out as I was headed in and then someone who came in after me was faster in transition and beat me out. i could see her up ahead the whole time but couldn't catch up to her. with about 1/2 mile left she looked back and saw me there and she picked up the pace. i didn't have enough to go get her. i finshed 3rd overall, 1:30ish back from first and like 15 or so seconds off of 2nd. i was suprised by my run paces, the 1st one was 7:38 and the 2nd was 8:10. I sure felt like I was going harder than 8:10. i guess there were some hills, the garmin said over 500ft in those 2.6 miles. I was pretty excited about the sweet new pint glass I won!

I was pretty darn tired so I slept in and then went swimming at the gym the next day at lunch, I think with Leslie? I can’t remember for certain but I am pretty sure that’s what I did. Later that day I started getting a sore throat. On Tuesday it was so bad I went to the drs. Other than the throat thing I felt fine. The dr said I was fine, too. Then later that day I got really sick, it all hit at once. Wednesday I had a fever, but went to work for just a little bit but then totally went home and slept. What a mess. Thursday I thought I was feeling better maybe and hung out on the trainer for a few minutes but really I felt like ass, so much so that I went back to the drs on Friday. What a mess. I told the dr my dilemma and he gave me antibiotics for 10 days, then prescribed all kinds of other crap that I didn’t get filled. Friday was also fun because Allie came to visit! When I got home from work she was there and we all headed out for dinner. I hadn’t gained back the 2 pounds I had lost in Ogden and then this week of being sick made me lose my appetite and I dropped another 2. We went to the Pinelake Ale House and I so wanted a totally delicious BBQ burger but it just wasn’t that good which totally bummed me out.

Saturday Allie went with me to the gym. She ran on the treadmill and I sat on a bike and then some on the treadmill. It was dreadfully hot in there but I sweated like a pig and felt better after. I was shooting snot all over the place, but what’s a girl to do? Later we took the kids to see Cloudy with a Change of Meatballs which was pretty good. Sirus was very funny during it that is for sure.

Sunday, Eric and Allie ran the NWTrailruns.com 10 miler. I was originally planning on doing the 5 miler but due to being sick and leaving for Maui the next day, my coach suggested I not do that. I felt like I could have run it, just not raced it. Instead the kids and I went to go watch and they took some photos with the camera. Xtie and Jon came over and then Eric’s mom came, too. We had some salmon that Xtie’s boss caught and then eventually it was time for peeps to go and for me to take Allie to the airport. It was so fun to have her here for a visit. I hope she will come again someday. It was definitely a treat for me to hang with one of my best gal pals.

Travel Day:
We woke up on the earlier side, before the kids were up, finished loading the car and headed to Toby’s house. He was gracious enough to take us to the airport and hang with our car while we were gone, I can’t thank him enough for it.

We had no real issues checking our bikes and our one suitcase, getting through security, or anything. We got on the plane on time, sat next to a tiny baby that didn’t make a peep the entire trip, shared a grody sandwich and landed without incident. We got off the plane and it was HOT. It was also not quite noon. All of our stuff got off the plane quickly, Eric picked up our sweet minivan (the same make and model we had in Ogden) and we were off. We were both starving so we made a run for the border and hit the taco bell. We hit the star market and then hit the condo only to be told we couldn’t check in for a few more hours. Yikes! They held onto our eggs and milk, we changed into our swim suits and we hit the beach.

I was supposed to do a 20 minute swim, but it turned more into an hr of trying to get used to the ocean. Its way different then a lake. The waves were HUGE. HUGE I tell you! and not just the breakers, it was all choppy and oh no I was thinking it was going to be one loooong swim. And OMG did it taste terrible. I was gagging all over the place pretty sure I was going to hurl. That getting to know you period in the ocean proved to be crucial. I think we went to Fred’s for dinner! I like Fred’s mostly because they have some awesome pina coladas (no rum!) but also because last time we were in maui, after the trail run when I was laying in bed being sick, eric and seamus went for a father/daughter dinner there and I think that is pretty cute.

Dude, we were so tired that we went to bed at like 8. Every night. OK, some nights we made it to 8:30. I was still feeling sick, bleck.

Tuesday
We went to the race site and did a 20 minute ocean swim which was waaaay more successful. The water was way calmer and I felt way better about it. I was starting to get a little concerned and my self esteem was being tested. I think I look pretty good and somewhat fit, but damn, not compared to the people who were out an about this week. Everywhere I looked there was someone who was fitter, tanner, more muscular! The good thing was that it was a beach full of flat chested women just like me! We followed the swim with a 60 minute easy ride south of Makena down through the lava fields. We hadn’t been that way before and it was so amazing. After we went up to Lahaina for the afternoon, had some ok hamburgers, another pina colada (no rum!) and just walked around some. I was beat, I had to go back to the condo and nap. Later that evening we went to Pizza Madness which is THE BEST PIZZA EVER in the whole entire world, forever and ever. It was so good. Eric ordered a beer and I had to have a sip. Ah, it was tasty.

Wednesday
Easy run then off to get our registration stuff. We also picked up some snorkeling gear and headed out past the lava fields. The place where we went was pretty nutty. The water was pretty rough and I was thrown around a bit trying to get in since it was pretty rocky. There were quite a few people there, the snorkeling was cool, we saw a ton of fish and some crazy clear blue tube fish things. I was a little freaked out though since the water was as crazy as it was. Eric headed out to ride the practice course and I took a nap. Later we went to Sansei for sushi. We held back and didn’t totally gluttonize the way we normally do. What was up with us?

Thursday
We met up with Jeff at the race site for a 30 minute swim. We swam out a while, swam across a while and then swam back in. On our way back in we totally went head to head with a turtle. I was less than 5 feet away, just treading water with its head out of the water looking at me. Finally it swam away, I was pretty sure it was going to bite me or something.  After we got on the bikes and headed up to the practice course. There is a long climb up and then you turn onto the jeep road. There was a fun descent that was a little sketchy and then some other stuff and you just ride along. It was pretty short and we did two loops of it before heading back down. The guy that won Worlds last year crashed the following day on the practice course and wasn’t able to race on Sunday. While the course was fun and not that challenging at the pace I was going, it’s a totally different story if you are actually going fast.

Eric then went out on a run and I went back to the beach. I saw Shonny as she was headed out for a swim, she looked awesome and totally fit. I lounged on a chair until Eric showed up and then we got in the water for a bit, that is until I was stung on the arm by a jellyfish. I was like, what is that, akkkk, owowowo, what is that?? WTF?? So I got out and so did Eric. He wanted to pee on my arm and I was pretty sure that wasn’t appropriate. He kept saying that was what he needed to do, even when we went to the life guard who just laughed when she sent us to first aid. Apparently it was a Portuguese Man of War and really the sting wasn’t very bad at all. It left some red bumpy marks but really nothing much else. They put some stuff on it which very well may have been pee in a bottle and it started to feel better.

We got in the car to head back to the condo when not 5 minutes on the road when I was replying on facebook to a comment about the jellyfish sting I was screaming because a deer had jumped out of the side of the road and as eric told the insurance people, it totally t-boned the car. On my side! It was so damn scary. I told eric to pull over right away, it kind of was like this: Pull over! Pull over! Pull over! So he did. the deer bounced off the car and seemed to run away. Hopefully it was ok but really who knew there were deer in Hawaii? Oh, I guess the people who put the deer crossing sign up right by where we pulled over?? Most of the rest of the day was spent at the car place, exchanging the car and filling out paper work. Nice!

We made a trip to the beach. And had dinner probably at Freds again and missed the sunset once more.

Friday
We got up and headed out for some snorkeling first thing. We went to this lovely cove that we had ridden our bikes past and had driven past on the way to the last snorkeling place. We were the only people there although we had seen a bunch there the day before. The place was so amazing that as you stand there with water not even up to your knees the fancy fish come swimming right up to you. There were so many and it was so amazing. The water was pretty shallow in the cove so you could see all of the colors really well. It was almost a little creepy. We also saw a turtle that came swimming right at us and passed right by eric. Not too long after eric pointed to something along the bottom - a shark!! I immediately mumbled no way and turned and went the other direction. Apparently there had been two shark bikes somewhere around Maui in the previous week. Seeing that little guy, although we were told many times that he was pretty much harmless to us since we weren’t dead or anything, really freaked me out and I wasn’t so hip on being in the water very much more. We did continue to swim around but the more amazing, more beautiful stuff was right off shore, so that is where I went until it was time to get out.

Later we went for a quick run, probably went to Pizza Madness for lunch and then later had dinner at the condo. We may have gone to the beach again but we did miss the sunset once more.

Saturday
As the race gets closer, I seem to forget more, but really, do you want to hear again that we went to Pizza Madness or Fred’s again? We met up with Jeff to do a swim. The buoys were out so we swam around them. I wore the hamburger suit! I think it was this day when there were crazy swells in the water. it was actually kind of cool to swim up and over them, but pretty crazy when you looked up to site and you couldn't see anything but a crazy wave coming at you. My swimming confidence is way up because of this race for sure. I'd say some of the swimming was more intense than Idaho. Then we did an hr road ride with a few bursts of intensity which was really a lot of fun because we went south of Makena again through the lava fields. It was windy!! We passed the cove with the shark and saw that despite a sign that says “do not enter the cove here because you will damage all of the lovely wildlife, please enter the other side” a ton of people had their lawn chairs set up right there and were walking all over the wildlife. This reminds me of the dude we saw one of the other days peeing right by the no hiking sign on the lava fields. His friends were off hiking around the lava rocks taking photos of each other. What is up with people?

Saturday was exciting because we went to the race site for the race briefing at which the race director said that they would be putting a bunch of pigs blood in the water in Kihei to keep the sharks away from us. I don’t know if he was joking but I was and still am very concerned by this anyway. Later we had dinner and caught up with Ashlie and Luke and Jeff. It was a good dinner but I wasn’t quite sure I got enough. Eric drank two beers!! But I was ready to go back to the condo and get everything situated and ready for the morning. We were up a little later than normal, but I was able to fall asleep pretty easily.

Race day!!!
After Friday's run, I was totally beat, which was weird since it was only 1/2 hr but I just remember thinking, oh no, this isn't good. But after Saturday's swim and especially the bike ride, I felt great and was pretty excited to get to race day.
I slept ok but woke up at 3am and couldn't go back to sleep. Totally rediculous. I was very happy when my alarm went off and I could start getting ready to go. I had my normal PB&J for breakfast and we were off to the race site.

We found easy parking, and set up transition pretty quickly. I like this whole alphabetical thing because they rack the As right by the pros where all the action is! Eric was able to rack right next to me. Ashlie should have been right there, too but I don’t remember seeing her but I did see Jeff a few racks down since he is a B.

Eric and I then stood in line to get numbered. I love that they use the giant numbers with the stampers so everyone’s numbers are consistent. We were in line behind a super tall dude with the skinniest calves in all the land. He went up, got numbered with a 2. He was a pro who apparently did pretty well last year and finished top 5 this year! After I put on a TON of sun block all over. The Xterra TV dudes even came by to watch.

There is a Hawaiian reverend woman who does a race blessing but then also will bless each of the racers. I got in line, she blessed me then told me to be careful of the rocks. I was just like WTF!!! Rocks? What rocks? I felt better after I heard her give the same message to Ashlie. Whew!

Down to the beach for a warm up we went. I was totally freaked out by how big the breakers were. But I got in and swam around for a while. Then I got out and hung around waiting for a bit. They penned us in when in the past they let the racers spread out. They also tried to get everyone onto the beach and out of the water but were having a time of it. Everyone was so anxious to get started that no one wanted to give up their spot.

The Swim - 1.5k
It was weird because we were just hanging around and then all of a sudden the cannon went off. I don't remember hearing a warning or anything. I jumped in and swam along. I felt pretty good but did swallow some water and had to stop and gag for a bit. All week I had been working on blowing out only my nose because i had to do everything i could to keep that water out of my mouth. As we got closer to the 1st buoy everyone started converging in on me and swimming on top of me. I got a little freaked out and backed off. I was able to start swimming again pretty quickly and was happy to see the divers under the water. I also liked seeing all the fish along the crossing there, too. Coming around the 2nd buoy i was thinking that it was going to be a really long swim and i was getting tired. But that is the most fun part of the swim because you get to ride the waves and it goes really fast. I jumped out of the water for the 100 meter run across the beach to start the next lap. I had not been caught by any of the pros!! On the beach I tried to run as much as i could but was worried about getting back into the water breathing too hard. The 2nd lap went quicker. The water seemed rough and the swim seemed slow. I am ok with my time but think it should have been faster.

I liked that the announcer called out my name when I came out of the water and even called out that Eric was not too far ahead.

Swim time 38 minutes and some seconds.

T1
My t1 wasn't the fastest but better than some i have had in the past. i had my glasses on my helmet and my gloves on my handlebars - and I left them there. eric had tossed a water bottle onto my area so i rinsed off my feet and I put on socks. since I had gotten sick I hadn't had the chance to really test how my feet might do going wet into my shoes and then putting socks on just for the run. i'll try that next season.

The Bike – 19 miles
I ran out and hopped on my bike. i started out at a decent pace but fiddled with putting on my gloves once I was on the pavement. since i can't go no handed I'm not sure if it was faster or not but if I practice I'll get better at it.

i was working pretty hard on the climb, harder than i did in ogden. i was pretty confident that i wasn't going to hit anything i couldn't handle, so i stayed in my middle ring for a good portion dropping into my 22 to get up the steeper stuff but then also getting off for the really steep stuff. it seems like i got off a lot though but i was happy when i was riding stuff that other people weren't. i also was super psyhed, but also kind of freaked out with the first downhill section that had all the big rocks and was super sketchy! i got down it ok despite people stopped all over the trail! whew!

the course has places called Valient Park, Heartbreak Hill and the Water Tank. i had taken a big bottle and a little bottle of discontinued LUNA Sport Pink Grapefruit and was through the big bottle and some of the little by the time I hit the Boneyard which was the first water hand off and I think like 8 miles in. yikes! i was happy to see that either Shonny or Danelle had pitched a LUNA bottle on the side of the trail but sad that I had to pitch my lucky big water bottle I have used at all my races. But the cold water was so awesome and I must have downed at least 1/2 of it instantly.


I rode along with a guy who is blind. I don't know how he does it, he can see some, but instead of going into darkness, i read that his world keeps getting painfully brighter. he had a guide with him who would ride a head a little bit and shout to which side of the trail to stick to. I have no idea how they did it, but it was amazing.

Next through Crossroads and up to Neds climb. i was just trucking along up that hill, i felt good. i probably slowed down some but was still working pretty hard but i think i could have gone harder. There were some amazing views as we climbed along Haleakala where they say we go from sea level to 1200 ft then down and back up to 1400 ft. Of course, me with my horrible, intense fear of tsunamis, as I was riding up there, checking out the view every once in a while, the thought did cross my mind, what if there was a tsnunami while we were racing? would they signal to us to not come down the mountain? gosh, the whole vacation was a bit of an exercise in not panicking about something like that happening, all the way to being happy we were at least on the 2nd floor of our condo, asking the front desk when they did their tsunami warnings that last time we were there gave me a heart attack and working out my escape route.


eventually at the top of ned's climb, you take a right hand turn and head down hill. 20 seconds in was where i crashed. i have no idea what happened. it was dusty and gravely and i was on the left side of the trail but fell to the right. i felt my head hit pretty hard and slid through the dirt and gravel. quite a few people passed and a few asked if i was ok, which i was but i stood there for a minute wondering if i should go back to the top of the climb. i felt ok so i got back on my bike and headed down again. i didn't however check my bike to see if it was ok, luckily it was. i know at least one or two girls from my age group passed me here.


i was instantly worried about "the plunge" which is a steep, fast, sketchy part and what that would entail and i knew that a lot of the rest of the course was downhill. the plunge however was the most fun part of the entire course. not sketchy at all. granted i wasn't going super fast but it wasn't scary. i did take it easy on all the downhills and came to almost complete stops going around the turns. i figure i must have lost at least 20 minutes after the crash by just riding along through all that downhill and faster stuff and pretty much no longer racing.

3rd water stop by the Oil Tank, i took another bottle and then the bike was almost done. i wound up going through my big bottle and then 2.5 little bottles and 3 clif shots on the bike. thats a lot of fluid!!

Bike time - 2:41

T2
when i got to t2, i changed my shoes. i was totally covered in dirt but i could feel the sun burning me so i grabbed some sunblock and headed out. i had to stop by a volunteer for help with the sun block to make sure i didn't put a big glob of it into my new wounds...

The Run - 11k
i did not go fast. i felt fine but i was hurting some from the crash and i just was looking forward to enjoying the run, not hurting during it. i ran some and i walked some, i walked through the water stops pouring one on me and drinking one at each stop. eventually i had to pee. i tried with all my might to just pee like the pros but couldn't do it. i really really did not want to stop in the bushes more because the thought of pulling my shorts on and off was killing me, but i did it and instantly thought of high school chemistry class when they say that if you spill the boiling acid on your jeans, the teacher will come and yank your pants down instantly otherwise your skin will cook to your jeans. thats what it felt like.

this first part of the course, almost 3 miles was all up hill on some road and gravel sections. i continued to run and walk and just do my thing, trying to give encouragement to people i passed or who passed me.

i traded places with two guys, one from alaska and another from SF. i ran the downhill, not fast but at least i ran it and the flats for the most part. once back to sea level, you head out onto Makena Beach, aka Big Beach for almost a mile. I was excited for big beach because it is so beautiful. i was a few steps back from the big guy from alaska and just used his foot prints which were awesome. i passed some guys who were lounging on the beach and still had numbers on their arms. they cheered for me and told me to not give up. i was just like - hey! i'm not giving up! I'm just running along!
Good grief I was dirty from that crash!!

you then head into what they call spooky forest and is really the only real trail running we do. There are logs to hop and branches to duck under. It was fine but i had a hard time running most of it, and then we hit black sand beach. i came off of some rock only to find the TV guy was there getting ready to film me so I had to run the beach. he ran along next to me and then in front of me for a while and then he turned away. i kept running for a bit and then i can't remember what happened. i should have kept running but i didn't.

on the rocks right before you jump onto the golf course a spectator told me there was another girl behind me. he said he'd check her age for me and as i was a little bit further along i heard him yell out that it was going to be a show down since she was in my age group. that was exactly what i needed because i was not going to get passed any more. i think 2 had passed me on the run already. i was fine with it at the time, but now its a little irritating, but i was glad i had it in me to get off my ass and run hard for that last bit and not let that girl pass me. i should have been at least 10-15 minutes faster on that run. I stopped racing and decided to just have fun instead. That's ok I guess. I had fun, and am proud of my race for sure, and when I crossed the line i felt like I had accomplished something big. heck - i finished top 20, actually 18th.

Run time: 1:34, whoah that's pretty slow!

Total race time: 4:58

Eric had an awesome race, coming in a little over his goal time but still good for 15th place and 135th overall. He did awesome!!

after crossing the line, i immediately went to the medical tent and they immediately told me to go take a shower because they didn't want to deal with me as filthy as i was. when i came back the dr. gave me a shot of lidocaine in my shoulder then another dude got out the brush and started scrubbing. i asked for a bin because i was pretty sure i was going to hurl, but i never did. the guy with the scrub brush was was so nice, even as he poked my shoulder with his thumb asking if it hurt. it was funny though because when eric came, the guy said that eric should finish it and i begged him not to let him! eric would have done fine but i was worried that it would hurt too much.
the medics tent was weird - probably 20 or so cots for those needing IVs and then all the people with wounds that needed to be cleaned. it was kind of funny because they were scrubbing all the people and then hosing them down out back. real weird.

we finished cleaning up and then headed to the condo. we showered and changed and then you guessed it, we went to Fred's. Not too long later we headed to the awards dinner and caught up with everyone and chatted about the races. It was a pretty cool deal. They also played this highlights video which we were pretty excited about since we both made it!


Later we got dressed in our costumes and went to the party. i clearly didn't work as hard as I could have because i was able to wear my crazy boots and my feet and legs felt ok. i couldn't finish my beer but i had fun dancing with eric. we stayed only an hour or so then had to go. we got to bed around 1am which was nuts since every other night we had gone to bed at 8:30.

we woke up on monday and went right to the kihei cafe for breakfast!!! later we went to the beach and for a walk. i was sad because i couldn't go in the water but was still happy to be there. we eventually went to pizza madness for dinner, of course.

i've never had road rash before. i am a big wuss. i have had a ton of brusies and cuts and whatever but never road rash. and can i just warn you, if you ever have road rash, DO NOT used any tea tree shampoo or anything that makes your scalp tingle. I used it this day when I showered and was brought to tears as my whole right side burned beyond belief!! it was horrible and wouldnt stop for probably 1/2 hr or more.

We went up to Lahaina for some shopping and some tasty shave ice, although I think it should be called shaved ice. eric got the pretty mama.


tuesday we came home to the cold and rain.