Luray Fest

I am still feeling somewhat of a let down from my tremendous weekend. It was the Luray Triathlons at Lake Arrowhead Park Luray, VA made possible by David Glover and Endurance Works. I left the Northern Virginia on Friday afternoon and arrived in Luray around 4pm in order to do some course preview action. Drove to Lake Arrowhead Park and was met by some clydes….Shawn (aka Agave Boy) and Jon. We did one loop…I felt pretty awful…may have been the heat. Then we headed over to packet pick-up, which was in the town. There we ran into The Delaneys and The Colburns and tagged along with them to find some eats. After finding the 2 or 3 restaurants in Luray to be completely packed, we then found our way to Uncle Bucks, a friendly little restaurant. After dinner, headed back to the Luray Caverns West motel (which looked like something out of the Flintstones), got stuff ready, and was in bed by 10pm.

***International Triathlon***

***PRE-RACE***

Saturday was the International Triathlon (1500 meter swim, 25 mile bike, 10K run). I was signed up for the full thing…although I was not sure yet if I was going to walk/run the 10K. But knew that there were at least 5 people there that would tackle me if they saw me out on the run course. So with my low chances of survival I leaned towards not running. But either way it was a beautiful day and I was surrounded by many of my favorite people…so things would be good.

***RESULTS***

swim – 25:21, 5th fastest female overall
bike – 1:19:50, 2nd fastest female overall
run – DNF

***RACE***

The water temperature was 82 degrees, so wetsuits would not be legal. I would have to do it in my fancy pink TriWhite uniform. I am never to sure about swimming in tri-shorts and feel mush more comfortable in a wetsuit. The swim start is always the most anxious part of the race for me as it is for most. There were 4 or 5 waves by age group/gender, set off 3 minutes apart. All of the females were in the last wave (pink caps…FINALLY a pink cap…geez). I positioned myself front/center, waited for the horn, and was off. I pulled out to the front with a few others and we shortly caught the wave in front of us. The 2 loop course was clockwise with sharper turns around 2 large yellow buoys. I felt good and caught a lot of the wave in front of me and also noticed a lot of people from the wave 2 ahead. It got kindof frustrating dodging people, but also made it easy to know where you were going and not have to site much. I finished the swim thinking there were maybe 1 or 2 females in front of me.

I had a smooth T1 and was off on Luna Bananas. It is funny…when I think back to any transition I have had I realize that one is so focused a bear could be about to maul them and they really would have no clue what was happening until it ate them. So not really sure what went on at TI.

Anyways off on the bike. I love the Luray bike course. Lots of hills. The course has you go out from the transition about 2 miles and then do 2 loops and then back 2 miles to transition. I shortly passed 2 girls and wondered if there were anymore in front of me. I felt good for most of the bike. I went back and forth Josh (just like a usual good time ride) and Rob Urbach, who I later was officially intoduced too and found out we swim on one of the same masters teams. Towards the end of the 2nd loop Julie Gibbons passed me. Maybe I was 2nd or 3rd female overall? As I came into T2 I got a bit sad...should I run? I am doing really well. My body felt good but I was hungry….I had purposely only brought one gel on the bike (that I took right after the swim) so I would not have enough energy to continue.

***POSTRACE***

I was done. I went over to get some water and to watch my friends finish. Everyone seemed really pleased with their results. After the awards, we decided to tag along again with Mary and Al for lunch and found ourselves back at Uncle Buck’s for some eats and drinks. After lunch Shawn was ready to start the serious boozing (it is hard work to keep up the Clydesdale lifestyle). After a retro movie, we headed back to the town to find some dinner with Josh and Brian…more boozin. Hmm. Ken and I then decided to cut the boozing and check out Harry Potter (a sub-par movie), while the others went to find more spirits.

***Sprint Triathlon***

***PRE-RACE***

OK try not to get to confsed here. Sunday was the Sprint Triathlon (750 meter swim, 16 mile bike, 5K run). For the Sprint, Matt White and I had set up 6 teams with the employees of White + Partners (one of my places of employment). We were all very ready for the event and made team shirts, a banner, set up a tent, and some of us even got fancy uniforms. The night before some of the team had arrived and everyone was getting very excited. We all decided to meet at 7:30am on Sunday morning to gather everyone and do packet pick-up together. The Sprint was to start at 9am. The alarm went off at 6:45am and I was full of anxiety about getting 6 teams of people, most of whom had never seen a triathlon, ready for the race. We got moving and were finally at the park for the chaos of getting 6 teams through packet pick-up. I was swimming with The Rugged Slugs and biking with The Slackers. So I would come out of the water, pass my chip to Tom of The Rugged Slugs and then wait for Mel to come out of the water to start the bike for The Slackers.

***RESULTS***

swim – 11:13 1st fastest female overall, female course record
bike – 57:30, 4th fastest female overall
Rugged Slugs (Katie, Tom, Adam) – #1 relay
The Slackers (Mel, Katie, Annie) – #9 relay

***RACE***

Today the water temperature had dropped to 76…there had been some rain overnight. I was definitely going with the wetsuit. Again about 4 or 5 waves, this time leaving 4 minutes apart. This time we would only do 1 loop of the course. I hung at the start with the other 5 swimmers from White, answering questions and addressing concerns about what to expect. I positioned myself front/center, waited for the horn, and was off. I pulled aways from the group and tried to settle into a zone. I did not let up the whole time. My goal for this day was to have a fast swim. I made it out of the water first in my wave and quickly ran up the stairs and passed the chip to Tom who was then off on the bike for Rugged Slugs.

I was not sure how much time I would have in transition till Mel got there and I would start the bike for The Slackers. I took of my wetsuit and got ready for the bike. I noticed at this time how delerious people are coming out of the water into T1. HAHA.

Mel came out and Annie (our runner) passed the chip and I was off on the bike for The Slackers. My legs felt a bit sore from the previous day but not too bad. I decided to push it and if I finished without hurting that was unacceptable...HAA So that’s what I did.

***POSTRACE***

TriWhite did GREAT! I am really proud of everyone! It was great being out there with you all! The Rugged Slugs had taken 1st place relay! We got some cool glasses and gift certificates to a health food store called The Apple Cottage (with gluten-free products). Also for participating in both races a free entry to General Smallwood Triathlon was awarded. Also I got the female swim record. It was another great day.

***NEXT YEAR***

I will be back! Thanks David, you do a phenomenal job.