Santa Cruz Mermaid Triathlon

Well, first I have to publicly thank Maeve for supporting me on Sunday before, during and after my race. She was a perfect assistant!! I really couldn't have done it without her. Secondly, I would like to thank all of you who worked out with me over the last few months... I may not have even made it to the race had it not been for the group workouts. Thank you!!

It was perfect weather for a triathlon: foggy and a bit chilly. There was no chance of overheating. Maeve and I got up by 5am and left the hotel by just before 6am. We arrived at the Seacliff State Beach just after 6am and started setting up my transition area. It was a little difficult to do in the dark! Note to self: bring a headlamp next time. Once my transition area was set, we had some time to walk the transition areas and check out all of the places where I would be coming in and out of transitions. Then of course I had to make the ritual trip to the outhouse. Success! This is extremely important and can really make a big difference in a race. Next it was time to wriggle, pull, grunt, and squeeze my way into my wetsuit. After much lingering and trying to shake off the pre-race anxiety, it was time to descend to the beach (down the 180 steps that I would later be climbing after my swim). I took a pre-race plunge for a quick warm up. While I was acclimating, 4 seals swam by to say hello. I felt that it was the perfect, fortuitous sign of a great race to come.
The swim is a 1/4 mile counterclockwise tour around a pier that has a sinking ship parked at the end of it. The water was fairly calm with no real waves. I felt pretty strong and came out of the water 16:28 minutes later, 12 seconds slower than in 2006. The run along the beach was a bit longer because we did the swim clockwise which put the finish farther away from the stairs. It took me 3:47 to get up the stairs and on my bike, this is about half the time it took me in 2006; a significant improvement.

The bike ride is an 11 mile loop through the town Aptos, CA. There are two major hills, one on the way out and one on the way back. I made it up both of them! I felt that I could have pushed harder during some parts of the ride, but at the time I did what I did coming in at 54:35, about 10 minutes slower than before.

And finally, the run... the part I was most looking forward to strangely enough... it having been the hardest part of all my previous triathlons. I ran almost every step of the 2.5 miles. I walked a minute after the first water stop, didn't stop for the second one and walked a little bit of the hill up to the finish line. I completed the 2.5 mile run in 28:39... a whopping 7 minutes faster than two years ago! That is an 11.27 minute mile as opposed to 14:04!

So, indeed, I placed 2nd in my division. I was completely shocked. Ironically, my race time was actually 2 minutes slower than it was 2 years ago when I competed. So, I figure if I gave more attention to the biking and swimming next year I could really shave off some time. That will be a goal in the coming year.

For now, I will be focusing on the running and increasing the mileage significantly over the next few weeks. I have very little time left, but I think I can work in at least a couple of good long runs.

I would love to see all or any of you out on the Nike Marathon run course. I will add a link so you can check out the map of the course and figure out a good place to cheer me on. Of course I would also love for you to see me crossing the finish line!