Half Time!

Where did June go? Anyone? Do you realize the year is now officially half over? Um, slow down please!

So, happy July 1st!

June was another full month of working, training and races! I kicked off the month with the Sedalia Duathlon in...well, Sedalia, of course! This was fun because I had others doing the race with me. Terry, Stasia and I loaded up bright and early Saturday morning and made the almost 2 hour drive to Sedalia. Terry and I have done this race in the past and I always kinda like it as a season opener, because it's really small, pretty close to home and very inexpensive compared to what is planned for the rest of my summer! In fact, this year, I didn't even register until I was at the race. That's just crazy talk for me - crazy!

We got signed up, checked in and all that good stuff, and found great spots in transition (they're almost all great because of how small the race is. ha ha). It was really hot and humid already this early in the day, so you knew it would be a cooker on the course! We got warmed up and next thing you know, it's toe to the line time. Terry lined up closer to the front and Stasia and I started a little further back. If I'm not mistaken, someone just says, "ready, set, go!" and you go.

Why is it that the minute you start running in these races, you think, "holy cow, what am I doing! this hurts, make it stop!"? I mean, literally, if I listened to those voices in my head for the first few minutes of any race, I think I would DNF (Did Not Finish) them all! Stasia's watch was beeping at her pretty quickly, telling her to slow it down. So, I gave her some rah-rah words and we parted ways. The course heads down a hill and then gradually climbs up to an entry to the Katy Trail. I worked hard on that initial hill just to keep my own pace and not let my breathing/heart rate get too much out of control. I was feeling pretty good by the time we hit the trail. Thankfully we had some shade on the trail because it was really soupy (is that a word?) out there. I don't recall for sure how long you run on the trail, but you hang a right and then you're onto a grassy patch for maybe a 1/4 mile? I almost went the wrong way - I was so engrossed in thought (not even sure what that thought was, but it had my attention), but thanks to a nice fella behind me, I was quickly heading back to transition. I hate the grassy patch! Really. My feet just don't enjoy unstable surfaces, but I managed to survive that stretch and back into transition I ran.
Onto the bike! This course is moderately hilly (it's ALWAYS hillier than I remember it being, even though I read my race reports that remind me of the hills...for some reason, I don't listen) and it was hot, humid and windy to go along with the hills. I had done everything right with fueling and actually remembered to fuel and hydrate on the bike, but I just did not have it out there on that bike course. I would pass people and think, I'm not going fast enough, they're probably gonna pass me back. Well, thankfully that didn't happen. In fact, I don't believe anyone passed me on the bike course, so perhaps everyone was having trouble with the conditions!
I kept riding hard, but felt very slow. I recall looking down at my Garmin, sure I was going to see 8 or 9 miles and imagine my disappointment when it read "3.2". Just keep spinning! That I did and finally I made it back to transition. As you come back into the park, you have a bit of a popper hill to climb up and then flat all the way across the parking lot. Ahhh....I didn't see a bunch of bikes back on the racks, so that's always a good sign.
I slapped on the running shoes and off I went. This time, you run the same loop, only in the opposite direction. So, you start with the grassy patch. Boo. Like your legs aren't wobbly enough from switching them bike to run...let's throw a grassy field in the mix. That'll be fun to watch! ha ha
They were setting up for a wedding by the lake and I remember thinking, "who would wanna get married in this disgusting weather!?" I could barely tolerate my tri shorts and shirt...a wedding dress? No thank you!
Oh right, I'm "racing"...back to business. Run Dawn, run. Did I mention I was hot? There was a guy up ahead of me and I just tried to keep the same distance between us. I found every bit of shade available and endured the sunny stretches. Once back onto the main road leading into the park, there was no shade. I walked a little - ran - walked - ran. I managed to keep sight of that fella until pretty close to the end. As I approached the park entrance, I saw Terry sitting on the rocks, waiting for me. He walked/ran up the hill with me and then I took off across the parking lot to the finish line. I was quite happy to see that finish line! Immediately the cutest little girl gave me a wet rag to put on my neck - that felt fantastic! It helped cool me down right away.
Terry and I chatted a little about our races and I asked if he'd seen Stasia. He saw her heading out for her 2nd run. So, we were anxiously waiting for her head to pop up over the hill. This was Stasia's first multisport event - go Stasia!
I was just about to go change my shirt, when over the hill we see Stasia...I went over and screamed for her (which I'm sure she hated at the moment), and watched her cross that finish line! Congrats to her on her first DU - in rather steamy conditions!
We got packed up and headed back to KC. We stopped for lunch at a questionable truck stop that happened to have a Subway inside. I'm pretty sure there was a serial killer eating in the diner with his reflective sunglasses and baseball cap on. Yikes.
All in all, a good race to kick off MultiSport Season. I looked up the results and while the field was small, I was 3rd female overall on the long course. I'll take it.

Next up, Naperville Triathlon....(hope to get that write up in this weekend as well)