This event, the Best of the US, is one of my favorite events. I have been privileged to represent the state of Wisconsin at this event for the four years since it was established in 2005. In the past it has been held in Lake Winnipesaukee, NH; Minneapolis, MN; Cypress Gardens Adventure Park, FL; and now this year in Tempe, AZ, hosted by the Soma Triathlon. Each year provides the opportunity to visit a new place and race against many of the best short course amateur athletes in the country.
The season is winding down for me and this is my second to last race. My final race, a 70.3, will be dealt whatever is left in the tank after a long season.
I arrive in Tempe, AZ pretty late, check in at the hotel, meet my new roomie (Kristel Maes from GA), and hit the pillow in less than 10 minutes upon arriving. It has been a long day.
Saturday morning we get up, head to breakfast, and the first people I see are my 3 Timex Teammates- Chris, Roger and Bruce. Lucky day, these guys are great!
After breakfast it is time for pre-race preparations. I have started a competition with myself to see how fast I can break down and put together my bicycle. I am down to 15 minutes and feeling like I could almost consider myself a novice mechanic. Once my little Trek was ready we were out the door for a little spin to make sure the gears were working, check out the race venue, and ride the run course with my buds. It is getting hot, but not complaining as it was 40s and rain when I left Wisconsin.
The rest of the day was spent driving the bike course, grabbing lunch downtown, checking in our bikes, attending a pre-race meeting, and enjoying dinner with a group of friends. I have met some amazing people through triathlon and always enjoy the opportunity to expand this circle. Spending the day preparing for the race with Kristel and several others was definitely a highlight.
On to race day…
I have finally figured out (after 8 years!) the nutrition plan that works for me and I am happy to report that I felt good the whole race, didn’t bonk, and didn’t have to run to the port-o-potty upon crossing the finish line. This is reason to celebrate in itself!
The sun wasn’t even up yet as we jumped into the water of Tempe Town Lake. I swam a little bit, peed in my wetsuit for good luck, congregated at the start line with the others and waited for our signal. This is the first time they have started the men and women in one wave so I was excited to see how it would go. We were off and it was chaos! I just kept trying to swim, find a little space of unoccupied water, and move forward. We hit the first turn buoy quicker than expected and a large group was already ahead. I was between two guys and bam, I was hit in the face, my goggles filled with water and were almost off my head. I had to stop to put them back on and while doing so I gulped a wave of water and my body immediately responded with gagging and coughing. Wow, this is not good, I thought. Well, I got my goggles back on, a few inspirations of oxygen in the lungs, and I was ready to go again. Second turn buoy, third, and headed home. I hit the stairs, struggled a bit to find the step and then it was up and out, hit the lap button on my orange Timex (wow, 12 minutes?, either I am fast or that was short!), through the crowds, into T1, and out on the bike. At least 2 girls were ahead and an occasional guy would zoom by. With several out-n-backs with a 180 turn-around, you had the opportunity to asses your position on the course. Half way through the first of 2 laps I saw that I was being heavily pursued by a group, borderline peleton, containing both males and females from my race. I was about to get mad when I noticed that an official was riding with this group for several miles so either they would play fair or be penalized. I kept pushing the pedals around the fairly flat course and felt that I was having a pretty good race… and then the peleton caught me. Grr! I dropped off the back and tried to remain positive, but to be honest, I was getting pretty frustrated. And then it got even more interesting as we hit the second lap and merged with those racing the citizens event and the road was packed, literally. In some parts, bikes were 3 across the road and there seemed to be limited opportunity to break free from the mess. Several girls from my race were also stuck and I burned my legs trying to find open road ahead. This only resulted in more frustration and getting re-passed so I gave up, let myself drift off the back and cruise into T2.
My feet were frozen and I had trouble getting in my running shoes. It was going to be a hot day in Tempe, but it was fairly cool in the early morning. Onto the run with a few girls ahead (those that were in that group on the bike) and I started strong and passed 3 in the first mile. After that, I could barely see 2 girls 1-2 minutes up and knew it would be difficult to catch. But, you don’t come to a championship even to be a slacker, so I continued to push as an improvement in my run was my biggest goal coming into this race. The best and worst part of the run course was an out-n-back on the trail that I didn’t realize was as long as it was. On the way out I got a clear assessment of the race going on ahead of me, counting each girl that passed by and just waiting for the turnaround that never seemed to come. Finally, reaching the turn I was in 9th place and started to play mind games with myself as my goal became to place top 10. And then I saw Beth just behind me and was determined to not let her pass me like she did 3 weeks ago in Dallas. I bumped up the pace and hoped I only had a couple miles to go. Coming over the bridge I saw that I could get another girl that was struggling up ahead. I crossed mile 6 and was still running scared from Beth in hot pursuit. Finish line, come soon, I thought. I rounded the last corner into the park, took one final look back (I know, never do this), and pushed to the finish line. I crossed the line and heard Jerry McNeil, our event organizer and announcer, talking about me like I was one of the greatest athletes of all time (as he does for everyone).
Once across the line, the post race story telling begins. What a wonderful opportunity to share the experience with everyone else in the race.
I crossed the line in 8th place, and ended up 7th once penalties were assessed. My WI teammate, Mark, was also 7th in his race, and with our combined times, placed 4th in the team competition. Way to go Wisconsin!
Thanks to Jerry McNeil and Trudy Marshall for their continued support of amateur triathlon and hosting the Best of the US competition. They truly allow and encourage us to be the best that we can be.
For more details on this event, check out the following posts:
Roger Thompson (Timex Teammate)
Beth Schutt (the girl in hot pursuit)
Best of the US website
