I decided to write a ‘weekend report’ instead of just a ‘race report’ because, quite honestly, it will be much more fun to write about the weekend than about my race.
The Toyota US Open is the Championship race in a series of 5 races. As an amateur, I qualified to compete in Dallas by finishing in the top 5 amateur elites at the Lifetime Fitness Race in Minneapolis (and again at the Accenture Chicago Triathlon). Lifetime Fitness, desiring to promote amateur racing and gather the best amateur elites from across the country, offered to host the top 20 males and 20 females from the previous qualifying races. It was truly an honor to be part of this elite group.
I arrived in Dallas Friday afternoon and was happy to find my bike waiting for me at the hotel office. Finding myself lost in the giant host hotel, I ran into Chris, a friend from my first trip to the Best of the US race, and felt my anxiety slip away with the sight of a familiar face. A little unpacking, bike assembly, shower, and I was ready for dinner. A room filled with elite and professional triathletes from across the globe, pretty darn cool (and intimidating!). This was just the start of being treated like a professional athlete. Saturday morning a bus was waiting to take us to the race site to check out the venue, get in a little pre-race ride and swim, and rack our bikes for the following day. This was a great opportunity to meet other athletes, share nervous stories, and become familiar with the race venue. An afternoon pre-race briefing by the officials and hosts made sure that we all knew what to expect on race day. Early evening, a group of us met for dinner. This was one of the best parts for me. I went down to Dallas solo and unsure if I would know anyone, and by 30 hours into my trip I had a whole group of friends to share the experience.
My Sunday morning wake up call came early. It was the typical race morning routine and out the door to catch the bus. 5:00am and dark, find friends, board the bus and ride over to T2 (is the driver lost? -yep). Fifteen minutes to set up T2 with shoes and race number then back on the bus to head to the race start and T1. Plenty of time for breakfast on the bus and wishing that I was still in that cozy bed back at the hotel. Still dark when we unload, get body marked, find timing chip, unload stuff at bike rack, then find potty (of course). We have more than enough time to set up so the typical pre-race nervous chit-chat clatters through the racks of bikes.
It is time to race: The water is warm with a straight out and back swim. I line up right behind the fastest swimmer in our wave and hope I can hang on. This lasts about 200m and I am jockeying for position with the rest of the girls and feeling solid. All is well to the turn around and then… sun, glorious blinding sun… where am I going? I try to chase the splashes ahead but am sure I added some yardage to my swim. I come out of the water with no clue of my position and definitely with a slow swim time. But wait, there’s Cathy, so I might not be that far off!
Onto the bike, winding through the park, out onto the road, up and down a few good climbs and then open road ahead. I was able to settle in pretty well and only saw a few people on the course (passing me!), and amazingly managed to avoid casualties (or so I thought).
I came in to T2, surprised by how quickly the dismount appeared and was barely out of my pedals before I had to jump off (not one of my most graceful arrivals at T2). Off onto the run and I was feeling pretty good, despite the typical heavy legs feeling. I was trying to not be jealous of everyone who was already done racing and focusing on the run ahead. I hit my lap button at 1 mile, ouch, again at 2, ouch again, sure feels like I should be running faster than that! Two girls came by be on the way out to the turn around and after that I was determined not to let anyone else get by me. I saw the girls in pursuit and pushed harder, come on legs, let’s get a move on! The finish line could not come soon enough, and when it did, I was spent and elated to be done. I was greeted by all the fast women that finished ahead of me and felt truly honored to race with them. We shared our stories of narrowly missing or hitting potholes on the bike, discussed whether or not the swim was long, and praised each other for a job well done.
In the end, I placed 9th in the Elite Championship wave. Not exactly what I was hoping for, however, having reviewed my data for the day, I am pleased with my performance. This was likely the toughest competition I have faced this year and feel proud to have landed in the middle of these amazing women.
After enjoying the post-race festivities with my new friends, I headed back to T2 to retrieve my gear only to find that my rear tire was completely flat. Yikes! Maybe that is why a few of the corners felt squirrelly. I am just happy that it held up throughout the race, definitely better luck than Matt Reid and Liz Ott who both had to pull out due to bike mechanicals.
It was a mad rush to shower, pack the bike, organize my gear, and exit the hotel. A few hours of waiting and chatting with friends before it was time to catch my flight back to Madison and home-sweet-home.
A special thanks to Lifetime Fitness for an amazing experience and the opportunity to race with a stellar field of amateur athletes.
Thanks also to my Madison Multisport team for all their good luck wishes and cheering me on this weekend, you are my inspiration!