Bike accident: the importance of helmets and checking your bike

"Until you have your first accident, you aren't a true cyclist."

I can't remember who told me this, but I guess I can now say I am a true cyclist (well, triathlete).

Tuesday night, I drove Alex and Justin to their triathlon practice as per summer routine.  Even though I had just completed my run workout (with my sweet fuel belt, see pic), I knew the team had an easier ride today with a big race coming up this weekend, so figured I could ride with them to loosen up my legs a bit (and get some extra outdoor riding experience in as well).

Let's just say I'm lucky I didn't damage my legs.

How my workout on Tuesday began: starting to run with my fuel belt to prep for Kona.  Never would have predicted my day would end in the hospital.

We rode in Fermilab for anyone familiar with biking in the area.  We made a quick bathroom stop, in which I first started to notice the ride-ending problem.  My right brake (the one that you would normally hit to slow yourself down while biking) wasn't working very well.  By the time I thought about options (turning around and not riding, or fixing it), the group was back and starting to roll out.

The next stop sign we approached, we rolled slowly through, so I figured my brakes were fine and it was just a fluke.  The next stop sign would be my last.

I always ride in the back of the group when I ride with the team as to not disrupt their workout and to be the sag "vehicle" in case anyone falls off.  From what I remember, we approached the stop sign and I must have realized my right hand brake wasn't working so hit my left one.  The left one slams on the brakes a lot harder and I am guessing I just wasn't ready.

The only reason I know that I for sure flipped over my handlebars was because of how sore my shoulders are today.  Because I was bringing up the rear, no one actually saw me flip.  I don't remember a lot of the night.

-I know I was taken by Kerri Izzo to the hospital (can't thank you enough) and taken care of by her and John until my mom and sister-in-law arrived.
-I remember being upset that my Garmin wristwatch (wedding gift from Ryan) was scratched
-I remember being asked how long into the ride this happened and repeatedly telling people, "11minutes in, look at my Garmin!"
-I remember pulling part of my tooth out of my lip in her car...don't know where it is.
-I remember looking at myself in the mirror of her car and crying, "Oh my gosh, my tooth is chipped, my parents spent thousands of dollars on dental work, they're gonna kill me.  And my cheek? Oh my gosh, they spent hundreds on dermatology, they're gonna be so upset." (side note: they weren't at all)
-I remember getting mad at the receptionist for not listening to me when I told her my Driver's License last name wasn't the same as my Insurance Card last name (I had to tell her like five times)
-I remember not being able to get a hold of my parents as they were at their Tuesday night Main Beach runs.  I called anyone who might be there with them to no avail.
-I remember not knowing where exactly Ryan was, but remembering he was out of town somewhere.

I am sure time went by SUPER slowly for everyone around me, but I felt time was going by SO quickly. Once my mom arrived, I burst into tears again and just kept apologizing.

I was taken in for a CT scan and was very concerned about getting my earrings (from Ryan) back. It's funny what you value when you aren't fully "there." I got an X-ray of my shoulder to rule out any breaks.

Injuries:
-concussion
-left cheek cut, eye swelling
-5 or 8 sutures in left side of chin
-chipped teeth (2) on left side
-puffy lip
-cut up left shoulder
-cut up left elbow
-road rash surrounding left elbow and left shoulder
-sore shoulders from flipping

I probably sound crazy saying this, but I went to school (summer school) to teach on Wednesday.  My mom was so incredible and drove me to and from work.  All of the staff (my co-teacher, the summer school administrators and school nurse) were wonderful and told me to call them for anything--it truly reminds me how blessed I am to be teaching where I am.

One of my students rides his bike to school, without a helmet.  I spoke to all of the students (someone had to address the "elephant in the room") about the importance of wearing a helmet.  I pointed to my face and told them, "This happened while I was wearing a helmet. Notice where my helmet goes...do you see any scratches?  No.  Do you see why you should wear a helmet, no matter how dorky it seems?"  My specific student just looked down, ashamed of himself.  I talked to him and he feels bad for me and "gets" why he should wear a helmet.

Overall, I definitely have to say I was BLESSED.  No, no one ever wants to crash and no one would wish that upon anyone.  BUT, if I had to experience a crash, I was lucky to experience it in this way. I had wonderful, caring people around me to help me out.  I did not get a single scratch on my bike.  I only slightly scratched my Garmin and helmet.  And the best part?  I can use this as a lesson for my fellow triathletes (even my students!) and NOTHING on/in my legs got hurt:)

I decided to blog about this to for a few reasons.  First, I have a family wedding on Saturday and want to forewarn my family of how lovely I look.  Second, and most important, I feel like my crash can remind everyone of the importance of a few things.

1. Obviously, wear a freaking helmet.  I don't care how "uncool" it is: if you are alive after an unpredicted bike accident, that's pretty cool, right?

2. Don't overdo things. I didn't have a scheduled ride on Tuesday, but wanted to ride with the team to "get the junk out of my legs" after my run workout.  I figured extra practice couldn't hurt.  If I wasn't such an overachiever, I wouldn't be nursing my face right now.

3. ALWAYS check EVERYTHING on your bike before riding it.  I'm not sure if my bike was damaged via traveling (most likely the case) or because of a manufacturer defect (also a try possibility). My dad looked at my bike the day after and tried spinning it and noticed right away that my right brake does not engage at all.  Had I done that before riding, this all would have been avoided.  Lesson learned.

4. Focus on the positive.  Yes, I look like a monster right now.  Yes, I chipped a tooth after my parents shelled out thousands of $$ for braces.  BUT my legs, which have given me incredible things this year, are completely scratch free.  I have a few scrapes that will heal.  I only had a concussion and NO brain damage.  Things could have been SO much worse.

5.  Use bad experiences as life lessons.  If this can teach my students that wearing a helmet isn't "lame" and can really prevent injury, I will be a happy girl.  If this can remind my fellow triathletes to always check their bikes before riding, I will be a happy girl.  

This was a horrible experience that I would never wish upon my worst enemy, but I have to stay positive.  As much as I want to cry, I need to be brave and focus on the positives.  I won't lie, I feel like I've wanted to cry a million times since this happened.  It's hard not to feel sorry for yourself when something bad happens to you.  But if you can focus on the GOOD things you have going on (and there is ALWAYS something good going on in your life--you're alive!!!!), the healing process will come along much faster and smoother.  I get my sutures out on Monday and am ready to make the most of my training as I truly believe in utilizing the talents God gave you to the best of your ability.

Thank you for all of the well wishes.  And don't worry... I'll be back soon:)

***Pictures to come are a little graphic.  I put them here at the end for those who dislike blood/pain.

 The aftermath.

 Check out that lovely chipped tooth.

 Ouch.

 My incredible husband drove home from Indy to see me at the hospital and drove back less than 12 hours later.  Somehow he managed to write me the most incredible note ever and get me food I could eat (not pictured: ice cream in freezer) since my lips were poofy and jaw hard to move.

 Day 2. Slight improvement.

Fixed tooth!!!! Thanks to the best in the biz!

Eagleman Recap: on the road to Kona (sorry in advance, this is long)

It all started as a joke.  “Hey Ry, how cool is it that our 1 year wedding anniversary is the same day as Kona?  How fun would it be to celebrate our 1 year in Hawaii?”

The joke now sets us up for the biggest race of our lives: Eagleman 70.3.  There are only a few 70.3s that qualify athletes for the World Championship Ironman race (Kona), and Eagleman happens to be one of them.  It also happened to be the Sunday after I got out of school, whereas the other two (St. Croix and Hawaii) were during the school year, so it seemed almost too good to be true. 

After talking about how we would train and if this was truly something we wanted to do, Ryan and I shelled out a couple hundred and signed up for this crazy event. 

A half Ironman (70.3) is a 1.2mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run.  I have competed in two 70.3s in my life, so I wasn’t in for a total shock….but those were right after college when I first started dating Ryan and really wanted to impress him.  Long story short, I kept getting injured from collegiate running and once Ryan started coaching me (after I “retired” from the team) and incorporating swimming and biking, I stopped getting injured.  It seemed silly to just waste that training so when Ryan signed up for Buffalo Springs Lake 70.3, I figured I might as well do it, too. 

And by “do it, too” I apparently meant race hard and just miss qualifying for Kona by 9 seconds. 

Yep.  9 freaking seconds.  I know I’ve blogged about this before, so I won’t waste your time, but after that day I did decide I’d qualify for Kona at some point in my life….and most certainly not by completing a full Ironman.  Watching Ryan complete Ironman Wisconsin a few years ago was not a fun experience.  Granted, he did not train for it at all, but still seeing him struggle really made me upset and I decided an Ironman was just not in the cards for me. 

Flash forward a few years and here we are.  Attempting to qualify for not just any Ironman.  Kona.  The World Championships Ironman.

Are we crazy?  Maybe.  I like to think of us as ambitious and dedicated rather than crazy.  Now our coach, that’s another story.  While he himself is perfectly sane, his workouts can only be described as crazy.  BUT, they work(ed).

Ryan and I started training for Eagleman the second week of January.  This gave us 5 months of quality training before heading into the taper.  Those 5 weeks were truly the most brutal 5 weeks of my life.  I remember being at LifeTime one night to lead the Run Club and being asked if I was okay….that’s how “out of it” I looked after completing my hard swim workout at the end of week 3 of hard weeks.

Bill (coach) structures our training by weeks: Hard, Harder, Hardest, Recovery. I have never looked forward to a Recovery Week until I started working with Bill.  My U of I ½ marathon PR came at the tail end of a recovery week, so it goes to show that his training cycles really do work well.

Alright, getting into the actual race…

Ryan and I flew out Friday night and arrived in our Baltimore hotel around 1am on Saturday.  We met up with college friends/teammates Melissa and Arjun for a fun run around the Ravens and Orioles stadiums before heading for a fantastic brunch with them and their adorable 9-month-old daughter, Tarala.  It was so much fun catching up with them and I can’t help but think how lucky we are that our sport helps us connect with old friends so frequently.

We picked Ryan’s dad up and headed to Cambridge, MD, the site of the race.  We spent quite a bit of time getting our bikes ready before taking them out for a quick spin.  We racked our bikes (many longer races have you leave your bikes overnight, which is actually kind of nice as we didn’t have to deal with the hassle of our bikes this morning or last night) and headed out for dinner.

 Personalized bike slot!

 Darn right!

The important part of this picture: the beers were by Maui Brewing Company...get it, Kona, Maui??

Being huge seafood fanatics, we had to try Ocean Odyssey…okay, it might have helped that they had a large selection of Craft Beers and Bison Burgers (my pre-race ritual), but their seafood was pretty darn good, too.  And wouldn’t you know…right next door was a Dairy Queen.  We got some dipped cones before making the trek to our hotel. 

We arrived at our hotel in Salisbury, MD, just as the Hawks game got started.  Perfect.  Ryan’s dad actually made friends with all of the lacrosse players and their families who were here for a huge tournament (one of his new friends actually texted him to see how our races went, too!!).  When the Hawks gave up a goal with less than 10 seconds left in the game, Ryan and I decided we really needed to focus on our sleep.  It’s not like it was the 7^th game and our race was kind of really important.

We woke up Sunday morning at 4:40am to GREAT news that the Hawks won.  If that isn’t a sign that today’s going to be a good day, I don’t know what is.  We grabbed some breakfast and headed to the race site. 

WOW was it muddy.  We were happy that it had rained 6inches on Saturday as that cooled the water enough to have the race be wetsuit legal, but it created QUITE the mess.

After pumping our tires and setting up our transition area, we headed back to our rental van to hang out as we had over 2 hours until we would actually start racing.  While hanging out in the van, ironically (now) Ryan and I began talking about how much we didn’t want to race and how we never get these kinds of nerves before running races.  We joked about this after the race as we clearly were confident in what we knew we needed to do in order to qualify…all we needed to do was execute the race exactly as planned.  No big deal, right?

The pro’s took off at 6:45am….and Ryan’s wave began at 8:30am, mine at 8:35am.  Dead freaking last.  At least it allowed me the opportunity to pass some people for once on the swim, which is always a successful day in my mind!

THE SWIM:

Right from the start, I was getting knocked around.  The one thing that I really have going for me in the swim is that I am really particular about swimming the shortest route.  I spot the buoy and make the most direct and shortest route to it.  Let’s be honest…who wants to ever swim/bike/run farther than they have to in a race situation?  Anyway, I started my swim on the inside (it was a water start) so got a little pushed around in the beginning before finding my groove and—in my mind—began flying.  Ryan had told me that there are sometimes jellyfish in the water, which I didn’t remember until probably ¾ of the way through when I hit something that freaked me out.  Neither one of us got stung, but I was a little scared after touching it!

I came out of the water with a girl named Jessica Crate (I met her after the race).  She was the only girl in my age group not wearing a wetsuit, so she stood out to me for that reason and because she was wearing a PowerBar Team Elite uniform….so I knew she was going to be good.  When I exited the water on her heels, I was pretty excited since I knew she had to be a pretty good triathlete (looking her up after the race, I saw that my prediction was correct). 

I quickly took off my suit, changed into my bike shoes and plowed through the muddy mess to hop on my bike for 56 miles of fun.

Swim time: 41:47….26^th out of the water.

THE BIKE:

I started training with power this year, so knew the “number” I should be hitting….which would have been great had my Garmin bike watch actually worked.  14 minutes into the bike, it froze.  I tried turning it off and on and started to get worried until I remembered that I’m a math teacher….

I used my wrist Garmin as it split every 5 miles.  I knew to be in contention for the one coveted Kona slot, I had to bike around 22mph and run a 1:25ish 13.1miles at the end.  I started doing the math and realized I should be biking low-13’s for my 5mile split in order to average at least 22mph.

This was truly the only solution I could come up with and really was frustrating.  I do believe I’m capable of biking faster than what my split shows, but had no idea of how fast I was ever going since my Garmin decided to die.  While I felt like I was constantly pushing hard, I know there were a few times I wasn’t, specifically going into the wind and when changing out my waterbottles.  Long story short, I keep one bottle in between my aero bars and two behind my seat and struggled a bit rearranging them when I’d empty one.  I had one bottle of just Gatorade, one bottle of Gatorade plus three PowerGels and one bottle of Gatorade plus three PowerGels with caffeine.  I knew what to take and when to take it, but just struggled moving the bottles around and this truly could have cost me my slot to Kona.

I started the bike in 26^th place and ended the bike in 6^th place.  My split put me 4^th in my age group, which is something I have to be proud of as it was always SUCH a weakness of mine before training with Bill (and doing workouts in our “dungeon” with Ryan).

Bike time: 2:35:08 (21.66mph average....21.88 for the first half, 21.44 second half)

THE RUN:

My favorite part!  I started the run with a lady spotting me and telling me, “Slow down girl, you’re gonna burn yourself out!”  I just smiled and ran past as she helped fuel my already growing fire.  My run splits were ridiculous .  I seriously don’t know how I did it.

6:22, 6:14, 6:31, 6:37, 6:43, 6:45, 6:44, 6:51, 6:53, 7:00 (yeah, we’ll get to that), 6:56, 6:42, 6:28

Honestly, the first three miles really felt the easiest.  Part of that was probably because it was not too sunny at that point.  The run course was an out and back, which was so awesome for me as it gave me the chance to see my competition.

Ryan’s dad yelled to me that the girl he thought was in first, Jessica, was 1minute and 40seconds ahead of me.  So, I had 80some minutes to make up 100seconds.  Bring it on.

At about mile 4, I saw Ryan and Jen Harrison and was SO excited.  I also was able to see Jessica in her PowerBar uniform, so knew it was now doable.  Jessica is a phenomenal runner.  She’s run a 1:19 half and 17:xx 5ks, so clearly this was going to be a battle (though at the time of the race, I was able to identify her as a good runner based on her stride and form).

I’m used to being able to rely on my run to pass girls at the end as generally, when you’re a good swimmer and a good biker, running is your weaker of the three disciplines.  Not with Jessica.  I really was worried until I started creeping up around mile 5.5.  Just before the turnaround at 6.5miles, I flew by her and prayed she wouldn’t come with.

I saw her at the turnaround and she was starting to fade back a little, which made me confident but still scared.  I knew I’d have to stay sub-7, preferably sub-6:45, if I was going to win this thing. 

I also got really scared at mile 5.5 when I saw another female wearing a bib that clearly put her in my age group.  I thought, “there’s NO freaking way.”  Except that there was.  I looked up results and saw she swam TEN MINUTES FASTER than me.  And biked about the same.  Jeeeeez.  But, again going with the “good swimmers and bikers aren’t the best of runners” philosophy, I kept plowing on in hopes of catching her.

I passed a guy in Ryan’s age group and he decided to run just a few steps ahead of me (after repassing me) for the next three miles, which was great until we hit a 7:00 mile.  That is NOT happening if I want to go to Kona.

With one mile to go (sound familiar? As in my first ½ Ironman experience?!), I had her in striking distance and decided to go by her fast so that I wouldn’t get repassed again like I had a few years back, which ultimately cost me my Kona slot then.

After I passed her, I went back to my 6:45 pace only to find that she was just about to repass me!  She did, and I did the only thing I could think to do: pray.  I know it sounds super cheesy, but it truly is what I did.  And just like that, I was around her again, running for a Kona slot. 

I saw Ryan and his dad and they put even more fear in me.  This would be why I ended my half Ironman half marathon in a 6:28.  It was SUCH a sigh of relief to be done with the race.

I finished a mere 50 seconds ahead of Jessica, who then qualified for the World Championships 70.3 in Vegas, which is pretty darn cool as well.  I’m very thankful to have raced someone of her caliber today as she pushed me to my potential and we had a fun (despite being stressful!) battle.  I’m already looking forward to seeing her rock the 70.3 Champs.

Run time: 43:42/44:11 for 1:27:53 (6:42/mile), 1^st in my age group.

Overall finish: 4:48:14.

We knew I’d have to be around 4:45 to win my age group and with the swim being long (over a quarter mile long!), I can’t complain with my time.

As soon as I found Ryan and his dad, I immediately asked if Ryan had won his age group.  He told me he did and I just jumped into his arms.  Having eyed down every single female on the run, I was 99% confident that I also had won.

On our walk back to the van to get our phones to look for my results, we happened to bump into ANDY POTTS.  You know, the guy who represented the US in the Olympics for triathlon.  No big deal.  HE was super excited for US for qualifying for Kona—how cool is that?  We told him we’d get another picture with him after we all dominated at KonaJ

When we got back to the van, my phone had exploded with texts and facebook messages from friends and family, reminding me just how blessed and lucky I really am.  All of these people were cheering for me, tracking me, following each discipline to see how I was doing because they knew how important this race was to me.

Awards took FOREVER to actually get going, but signing that check to solidify that we would be celebrating our one-year anniversary in Kona by recovering from the World Championship Ironman made everything worth it.

I have to really thank SO many people for support throughout this journey.  This goes without saying, but God really has big things in store for me and I am so lucky He chose this race to show me that.  Ryan, my biggest supporter and cheerleader throughout this process, I would not have even thought about ever trying to make it to Kona without you.  My parents, right behind Ryan in the support/cheerleader department, got me into running and being competitive at such a young age and I am so grateful to have grown up with a fun running background….thanks to Nic and Kristina for pushing me to my limits in everything any one of us does.  Coach Bill—without you, truly none of this would have been possible.  You completely killed us on each and every hard workout, but look where it got us.  I am so glad we trusted you, believed in you and found you (shout out to Lauren for Nic’s surprise party where we met Bill!).  I could go on forever, but without the aforementioned people I really would not be where I am today: recapping the most incredible race of my life.

Here’s to another crazy intense 4 months of training.  Happy following!

 Top 5 females 25-29

 Kona bound!

 AWESOME trophy!

Just hanging out with the overall pro winner, Andy Potts. No big deal.

 After awards, we drove 3 hours to Atlantic City to see the shore and have fun....

 ....this happened to be the only non-smoking room left, and our reservations were for non-smoking...

 ....so I think we got a pretty good deal.

We came home (after a very delayed flight) to a decorated house! We are SO blessed!

 Happy 30th anniversary/thanks for your help with our wedding....fly to Kona on us! :)

"Local Celebrity:" Soldier Field 10mile recap

I got my first job weeks after turning 16.  LifeTime Fitness in Algonquin had just been built and it only seemed natural for me to work in a fitness setting.  For those unfamiliar with LifeTime, it's basically a health club that has everything: indoor pool, outdoor pool, free weights, cardio equipment, group fitness classes, basketball courts, rock wall climbing, cafe, hair salon, child car...everything.  My job was to work the front desk: greet people, set them up with the Membership Advisors, and make sure they get a nice "have a good day!" on the way out.

One of my favorite Membership Advisors I ever worked with was named Kurt.  He was as sarcastic as me and was just getting into running, so really actually enjoyed hearing about my high school racing (as opposed to others who just chatted to chat).  After a few months of working together, he gave me the nickname of "Local Celebrity" as he had seen my name in the paper in the Prep section a few times.

Being 16/17, I thought this was the coolest thing ever...I mean, who doesn't want to be some sort of celebrity?  (again, I'm 16/17 here)  But that phrase stuck with me even when I'd come home for college breaks.  

And Saturday, May 25th I found out the meaning of "local celebrity."

At 7am on Saturday, May 25, 2013, I took off for the craziest 10miles of running I have ever experienced.  But let's back track just a tiny bit as this race almost didn't happen...

On Monday, May 21st, I decided to ask Coach Bill if running the Soldier Field 10mile would be okay with my BIG 70.3 just weeks away (June 9th).  Given how well I've been able to recover, Bill said, "let's DO this" and I proceeded to sign up.  Long story short, Ryan picked up my bib on Wednesday but it was not an Elite Athlete Start, so I was a little concerned as awards are based off of gun time and not chip time (trust me, this can make a HUGE difference in a tight race as I knew this one would be).  I emailed the race director with help from a few friends and was told to pick up my new Elite bib on Friday.

I went to pick up my bib and was asked in a rude tone, "YOU'RE an elite athlete?"  I do sometimes overreact to things, but this time I promise you the tone was just as I present it.  I was looked at up and down when the lady said this, so I felt really stupid.  I showed the email correspondence to prove that I wasn't just some Joe Schmoe claiming to be an Elite, but really just felt humiliated.

Don't get me wrong.  I know that I do not have the standard running body (I honestly never have)...I enjoy eating way too much...but for whatever reason, that really hurt.  I texted Ryan as soon as I got my packet, telling him, "I'm giving it everything I have to win tomorrow.  I'll show them I'm an elite gosh darn it."  

**The reason I mention this is because I plan on blogging about running misconceptions soon, as SO many close to me have had their running suffer due to stereotypes and trying to fit them.  Stay tuned for that.

Back to Soldier Field.

I stayed at my brother's place on Friday night since his roommate was pacing a friend the next day.  Nic gave me his set of keys so that I could go out and get some food on my own time.  I went to Jak's Tap for a burger and beer (pre-race ritual), watched the Cubs game and headed to bed.  Somewhere throughout the night, Nic and his roommate separated so Nic called me to get into his place.  When I woke up for the actual race, I felt exhausted.  Not good.  Ryan had commented that maybe I should use Saturday as a "sleep in" day since I rarely get those, but being the stubborn person I am, I signed up for SF10 instead.  At 5:30am on Saturday, I was really regretting that decision.

Nic drove me to Soldier Field and I weeded my way through the crowd of runners.  I spotted Mary and Andres while plowing through the bathroom line, said a quick hello and had barely enough time to get a 5min jog in.  I was a little nervous until I spotted Coach Bill, who told me to, "Just use the first few miles to get in your groove, treat it as your warmup."  Probably the best thing he could have told me as I was a little nervous about my legs at this point.

At 6:55, the Elite Corral opened up and we did a few strides before the gun went off.  When the gun went off, a sea of green passed by me (Fleet Feet Women's team) and I latched onto the pack. I settled in and began feeling pretty darn good, just like I had at U of I for the 1/2 marathon a month earlier.  

Mile 1- 5:54.  I felt pretty relaxed, and we had a pretty darn good pack: my Saucony teammate Columba Montes, Fleet Feet runners Pam Staton, Melissa Hardesty, Rachel Velarde and New Balance team runner Kristen Heckert.  All of these girls are phenomenal runners and I had raced each one except for Melissa, so I knew we would have a tight group for quite some time (I predicted at Mile 5 we'd cut our group down a little, and by Mile 7 we'd be looking at the top 3).

Mile 2- 5:57.  Dave Schaefers, Mick Brown and Joe Vukits (DPFT teammates) were all right by us, pulling us through.  Staying tight.

Mile 3- 5:53.  Rachel and Kristen were leading us with the pack of guys, but it was hard to get around or reposition at this point.

Mile 4-5:57.  I planned on taking my gel at Mile 6...and had to open it now.  I don't know what was going on with my legs, but I just wasn't feeling it.  Mind over matter.  Stop over thinking things.  GET MOVING. Start taking your gel and get over it.

Mile 5-5:49. OOPS.  Well, as predicted, this is where we lost a few of our pack.  Crossing the timing mat at Mile 5, Kristen and Melissa and I were starting to run 3 across with guys behind us and in front of us.  Teammate Rich Siok was a great target and super positive throughout (thanks:)).

Mile 6-5:55.  I sipped more of my gel before throwing it away at this point.  I know it's 100% mental, but MAN did my legs start feeling better after each sip I took.

Mile 7-5:56.  Just before we hit mile 8, I got clipped and thought I was for sure falling.  Luckily, I was on the outside on the right so didn't interfere with Kristen or Melissa, but I was seriously close to falling.  My stride altered a bit, which made me nervous for the remaining few miles.

Mile 8-5:59.  This mile was one of the bigger struggles.  At the beginning of this race, I had planned on staying in a pack and trying to take off after mile 8 if I had felt okay.  I knew at this point that I couldn't take off and that it would probably be a sprint finish, which scared me a bit.  I told myself to not stress, let the other girls dictate the pace, and just BELIEVE.

Our pack just after mile 9.  I'm pretty sure our faces say it all.

Mile 9- 6:05.  Our only mile over 6.  Clearly we were all starting to feel it at this point (combined with the lovely shift in wind that we had been dealing with ever since the turnaround just before mile 5).  I knew that at 9.5, if not sooner, things would be getting ugly.

At 9.3 miles, Melissa took off.  Crap. Do I stay and hope I can out kick at the end or do I just go now? With no time to waste, I went with her.  I knew we were going at a much faster pace--sub 5:50 for sure.  I just wasn't sure if I could maintain this for the last .7miles.  The cheers kept getting louder and louder, which only motivated me to push harder and harder.  Melissa and I kept bumping into each other--THAT'S how hard we were running.  

I could see where we would be turning in to go into the stadium before being dumped onto the 50 yard line and knew what I had to do.  I sprinted just slightly ahead, took off once we got into the tunnel, and just ran like it was the last race of my life until I hit the 50 yard line.

And I did it.  I broke the tape.  Melissa finished 3 seconds behind me (gun time, 1 second, and that's what results/awards are based off of), that's how hard we worked.

Our last mile was a 5:47.  This was the same exact last mile I ran at the CARA Lakefront 10 earlier in April, but boy did it hurt much more this time around!

59:31.  The top three females all broke 60--it was unbelievable.

This race has the best prizes ever (if you're a Bears fan): personalized Bears jersey and a flag that's flown over Soldier Field.

 Top 5 men and women.

 LOVE this picture with Mark!

 High school classmates Megan and Amy ran too--it was so fun to catch up!!!

 Personalized jersey.

 Thanks for a great cool down, ladies:)

 4 of the award winners were Illini alum!!!

 Running buddy Joe:)

Pretty much sums up the race.

To tie in my beginning (Local Celebrity thing)... after the race, I swear I was talking to people until my ride called me to say it was time to go.  I met so many new people and caught up with so many others.  It was incredible and time just flew by.  I felt like a celebrity with everyone wanting to talk to me and hang out...it was such a cool feeling.  

Everyone had such kind words to say and I seriously left in tears of happiness for such an incredible day.  THANK YOU to everyone for all of the sweet messages and for making me feel so great.  I am such a lucky girl:)  Congrats again to everyone who ran this race!  And congrats to my husband who was in Elgin, winning his own 10mile race:)

One of the best parts of this race had to be the medals.  We were given medals from active service men and women.  Seriously gave me chills and made me remember the reason we are celebrating this weekend.

On that note, HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY everyone.  Let's celebrate those who keep our country safe!

2013 Debut (outdoor) Triathlon: Galena.

At some point, I figured I should probably actually do a race that involves swimming, biking and running since that's all I've been doing since January.  Saturday, May 18th was that day.

Ryan and I left after I was done with school on Friday for the 2.5hour drive to Galena.  I swear, this drive always seems so much longer than it actually is.  For some reason, we never seem to think Galena is that far away....until we are in the car at hour 2 and realize we still have over 20miles to go.  

In any case, we made it to Galena and picked up our packets with a few hours of sunlight to spare.  We decided to ride our bikes for a bit just to make sure things were working okay.  Good thing we did.  Ryan pumped up our tires and less than a minute later, his popped.  We joked how hopefully this meant it wouldn't happen to us on race day before heading out for an easy 15minute ride.  

When I say "easy 15minute ride," I'm referring to it how Ryan would.  There was nothing easy about it for me.  My legs felt so incredibly tired and sore.  My IT bands never loosened and my hamstring (yeah, the one that crushed my marathon dreams in 2012) was tight throughout the ride.  Ryan joked with me that I was finally sore because I hadn't raced last weekend....which I actually think could be true.  I have done a race every weekend since mid-April and had never been this sore, so it was strange to think that after not racing last weekend, I now felt like I had been "run over by a truck."  

I was confident in my swim and run, but in almost any triathlon, it's about the bike...which I clearly was not ready for.  I had tears in my eyes during that "easy 15minute ride" just thinking about how all of this hard work wasn't going to pay off, but also telling myself that this race is just an outdoor triathlon experience to get ready for the REAL race on June 9th.

In retrospect, I should have realized that I was on Hard Week #3 of 3 and just completed the hardest bike workout of my life on Wednesday followed by a hard tempo on Thursday, so SHOULD have been as sore as I was, but all I kept thinking was how badly I wanted Galena to be a good "debut" race for me.

In any case, I stopped my sadness and got in the car to ride the course with Ryan before heading to dinner.  The course hadn't changed too much in terms of the roads we ride on, but we did avoid one of the biggest and most challenging downhills thankfully.  Ryan got up to 60mph on this hill two years ago and it has a decently sharp turn that could really cause an accident.  Luckily, they changed this part of the course....and we ran down it instead. More on that later.

We went to our favorite pre-race place, Spike's in Eagle Ridge, where Ryan had the pasta bar and I had my standard bison burger...and some delicious raspberry beer.  We headed to our cute hotel, Stoney Creek, and met up with John and Oscar before crashing for the night.

DELICIOUS!

This year, the Galena Triathlon changed the course so that it now had TWO transitions.  Yep, you swim in the normal lake, grab your bike after throwing all of your stuff (wetsuit, goggles, swim cap, etc) into a bag labeled with your bib number, and ride your bike 17.5miles to Transition 2, where your running shoes are at.  This caused a LOT of headache for not only us, but many other triathletes on race morning.

PowerBar was a sponsor of this race, so despite the late (9am) start time, Ryan and I still had to be at the finish line by 7am to get his stuff set up.  We saw the shuttle bus (as promised) at the finish line when we arrived, and were told there'd be another one coming in about 30minutes.  7:30am catch the bus, arrive at the water at 8am, Ryan take off at 9am....sounds perfect, right?

If the bus was on time, it would have been.  However, we waited from 7:20-8am for a bus.  We saw at least 10 pass us as they headed to Remote Parking, and never came back for us.  Our friend Alejandra (and the three others who we met waiting for the bus) still had to drop their shoes off at T2, so we were getting pretty nervous.  Luckily, the volunteer that was with us got real mean after 30minutes of us waiting and called the race director to yell at her.  A bus was stopped in front of us 5minutes later.

We arrived at the race site at 8:40am....no time to test out our bikes (we left them overnight) or do much of anything besides get body marked and put on our wetsuits.  My wave wouldn't start until 9:30, but I just felt so awful for Ryan.

After seeing him come out of the water in a pack of 5 (6th/7th overall) and do an awesome flying mount on his bike to immediately take the lead out of transition, I chatted with a few friends, met my teammate Emma (coached by Bill as well) and headed to the water with my Sammy's teammate Dani.  

I never really get nervous for races, except for when they're triathlons.  My heart was beating a million miles per hour and I just wanted to get this thing over with.  Luckily, when the gun went off, I rushed into the water and was immediately in the middle of the pack (good for me, considering I would start at the back in previous years with my slow swim).  

I surprised myself and kind of got angry in the water.  Girls were hitting me and kicking me (all part of the sport), so I'd speed up and go around them. Many girls kept going off course, so I made sure to stay on the inside and make a line closest from buoy to buoy.  This strategy seemed to pay off as I came out of the water with only 5 girls ahead of me, and in a time of 9:44 (for me, for a 660, that's really good).

Transition 1 was full of large rocks and gravel.  I literally walked to my bike because I was almost crying in pain.  My feet are really sensitive, so this was pretty tough.  I learned from Jen Harrison (PHENOMENAL local triathlete) that I can just put a pair of slip on shoes out by the water and slip into those.  This will be SO beneficial and save me at least 30seconds I bet.  *always a learning experience*

I came out of transition surprisingly fast for walking, and only had 2 girls ahead of me.  I passed one (who I would continue switching places with throughout the bike; I'll call her Gatorade Girl as she wore a Gatorade uniform) right away and eventually got around another girl by mile 5.  My teammate Dani also passed me around this time, which was frustrating but motivating.  We later talked after the race and she gave me valuable advice, so I'm thankful for how things worked out during the bike.

I'm not sure we ever had a "flat" section on this bike.  It felt like we were either going up a hill or down a hill the entire time, and I was struggling as bad as I had been on Friday.  2012 Jacqui would have given up.  Thrown the towel in and be content with hopefully placing in my age group.  2013 Jacqui is tough. And doesn't give up.  I kept telling myself that everyone was struggling and that I was doing fine (not looking at my mph as I'm sure that would have just caused me unnecessary stress and panic).  My power was where it was at in Alabama, so I had to be doing okay.  Going into T2, I knew Dani was probably 60-90seconds in front, and Gatorade Girl was just in front of me.  It was now MY TIME to race.

T2 wasn't pretty.  My left shoe just wouldn't get on, and the insole kept flopping around every time I tried to put my shoe on.  I grunted in frustration, which made someone chuckle (I would have too--why am I getting upset???).  I was so frustrated that I took off FLYING out of transition and almost completely face planted going up the first grass hill.  

I could see Gatorade Girl just in front of me, but she looked like she was flying.  Granted, she was easily 3 inches taller than me, so she obviously looked like she was running faster, but in my frustrated mind, this did not help.  The first mile has a GINORMOUS uphill that many peopled walked up.  John was right there, banging his drum and yelling at me to GOOOOOO.  Dani was only 90 seconds ahead of me and John was determined that I could catch up.  

When someone gives me a goal or tells me I can/can't do something, I go after it like no other.  I passed Gatorade Girl during that uphill and surprisingly ran a 6:49 first mile (if you've done Galena, you know how challenging that hill is).  

Mile 2 had that HUGE downhill that was part of the bike course in previous years, so I was not surprised when I clocked a 5:47.  I passed Jen Garrison (the eventual winner) at this point, but since triathlons have wave starts, she ended up beating me by 4minutes!  I was in the first wave, so knew I had to haul the entire time as there were girls behind me that could bike faster and my run was my only saving option.

Mile 3 came and went uneventfully in a 6:01.  It was getting pretty hot out, and I was feeling discouraged that I couldn't see Dani yet.  Just before mile 4, I saw her.  When she passed me on the bike, she was so encouraging that I can only hope I was the same around mile 4.  I split a 5:58 and sprinted the last half mile to the finish with the support of the crowd.

I met up with Ryan and talked with his grandparents (who had come to watch!) for a bit before heading over to talk with Jen Harrison and her friends.  She gave us some good pointers and helped me feel a little more confident for Eagleman.  She's racing it as well, and has done it many times, so it was nice to kind of prepare myself.

Ryan, John, Oscar, Dani, Alex (her fiance and fellow Sammy's teammate), Nate, Trina, Alejandra and I hung out under the PowerBar tent and relaxed and just had fun before heading to get our bikes.  What a  headache this turned into.  Long story short, I don't think Galena will be having two transition areas next year with as many complaints as I heard.  It was such a mess.

After picking up our awards (free 2night stay at Eagle Ridge!!!!), we strolled around in downtown Galena before calling it a day.  Galena sure is relaxing, but it's good to be home:)

 The gang post race.

 Sammy's represents!

 My stud of a husband with his award:)

Sammy's Tri Team: Alex (1st male Du), Dani (3rd female Tri), me (2nd), Ryan (1st)

This race helped me put things in perspective.  This race had a lot of good females in the field, and I held my own.  I now know I need some work on transitions and my bike (although a small taper might help that as well), and am more prepared than ever to get after it at Eagleman.

3 WEEKS FROM TODAY!

I hope everyone was able to enjoy this beautiful weekend (running a race or otherwise) and am SO glad it's finally past winter!:)

Double race weekend part 2: PRs. (Race That's Good for Life 5k recap)

To follow up from my last posting, 90% of this running thing has to be mental.  I truly have no other explanation.

I've been racing the Oak Park Race That's Good for Life 5k for probably 5 years now.  Ryan's cousin and his wife (two of our good friends) live in Oak Park, so it started out as more of a fun get together the night before.  Then we started doing the mother/daughter and father/son competitions and, well, now we're hooked.

This race is one of the fastest 5k's in the Chicagoland area.  Flat, fast, and draws great competition.  Many of my friends and teammates have their 5k PR's on this course, so it's hard to say no to it.  Unfortunately, this race had to take back seat to the Shamrock Shuffle this year....every year this 5k is the first Sunday of April, but with Shamrock screwing with everyone always changing their race date, Race That's Good for Life chose to make their date the last Sunday in April.  This would have been okay for us...except for the fact that we had tentatively planned on racing U of I 1/2 marathon.  We sign up for it every year in hopes of actually going down, and FINALLY pulled through and went this year (see previous blog post).

Ryan and I talked on the way back and decided that we were going to suck it up and run the 5k.  Would we be sore from the 1/2?  Probably.  But would it be fun to see if we could help our parents pull off a mother/daughter father/son victory? Absolutely.

I knew my mom and I had a chance at placing top three based on last year's results when I raced with bronchitis and we finished 4th.  I also knew the top spot was virtually impossible to reach since mom had been unable to train for the past two weeks with taking care of my dad (long story short, he had foot surgery, it got infected, and every spare minute she had, she spent taking care of my dad.  He's a tough guy, but it's VERY hard for him not to be able to move around much--he's the guy you see riding his bike to the train station, yep that's my active dad!).

Anyway, I told my mom I had no idea what to expect, but would be going for as fast of a time that I could run to help us out the best I could.

This is the part when I refer to my first sentence: running is a mental sport.  I put it in my head that I raced many of the girls doing Race That's Good for Life a few weeks ago on DEAD legs at Shamrock Shuffle (Ryan and I raced the Double Oak Duathlon in Alabama the day before, drove back, raced on 2hours of sleep).  If I could compete decently at an 8k, a 5k should be no problem.  I told myself to stop being a wimp and just push as hard as I could so mom and I could be top 3.

And it worked!

We had a pretty good group for the first mile or so.  We went through the mile at 5:42, which was much slower than 2 years ago, but also was something I was okay with.

Just before the halfway point, Pam and I opened up our gap a bit (I could hear the lady in the lead vehicle saying that) and we went through the 2mile in 5:47.  I didn't have any idea what pace we were running and didn't look at my watch until the end.  I saw our time on the clock, but didn't even compute our mile split (which is weird, since I am SO into that normally--it's the nerdy math teacher side in me).

With 3/4 of a mile to go, I decided to take off as I know Pam can kick.  I figured, worse case, I would break 18 and best case I could maybe win this thing!

I definitely underestimated myself.  Looking through my watch splits, I closed in a 5:33 and ran the last 0.1 at a 5:17 pace.  I truly attribute that to my crazy encouraging teammates.  It was UNREAL to see SO many guys in orange/yellow/grey singlets cheering for me (in addition to the spectators).  Imagine running through a giant crowd and EVERY single person calling your name.  That's what it was like.  I have goosebumps just thinking about that moment as I felt like I was a celebrity.

I ended up running a 17:40, a 5second PR.

However, that wasn't even CLOSE to being the best part of my day.  I shook the other females' hands until the clock hit 19minutes and went running back to find my mom.  I cheered her in and pushed her to a sub-26 finish, which was what she was going for.  She really started pushing hard when I told her we had a quarter mile to go and to kick it in, and that helped her get her goal time.  Truly an amazing feeling.  And one of my lovely teammates captured that moment:

Seriously in love with this picture.

 Top three ladies.

 Females finish.

 Total no-no in racing.  I failed.

 The start of the race.

Check out that sea of red!

Oh...mom and I ended up getting 3rd.  She is more motivated now than ever to get her butt back into running shape and wants to even win next year! It is incredibly fun for me to watch my mom get excited about racing again and truly made this race my favorite one to date.