Silicon Valley Sprint Triathlon 3 of 10

I was extremely tired coming into the SVST. The week before my workouts didn’t seem on par. I decided by Thursday that I would take the race easy; my goal was just to get triathlon three under my belt. Race morning did not bring good news, instead it brought sickness. I racked my bike, set up transition and kept debating in my head whether or not I should pull out, there was no gas in the tank. After some time in prayer I decided to continue on, if I had to drop out during the race I would simply pull to the side and hand in my timing chip. Right before the race started I downed a nuun electrolyte drink and headed my pale face down to the water.

I positioned myself at the back right of my wave. I figured if how I felt translated to my race performance I would be SLOW! There tended to be quite a few eager beavers in my group, at the gun they burst out and then dropped off about 75yards out. I started slow and then to my shear delight I got a tiny burst of adrenalin. I started picking up my pace, which resulted in having to swim around a lot of people. The most amazing thing is I felt like I was being carried through the entire swim, I kept stretching out my stroke and kept passing people. It was like God was making a way for me through the waters, I remembered that verse that says, “When you pass through the waters I will be with you and they will not sweep over you”. That was the most amazing feeling ever. I spotted about every 15 strokes not wanting to waste energy. I came in strong, unaware that I was 4^th out of the water in my wave.

The bike course was crazy! I did not enjoy this part of the race. If you’re strong on the bike and you do a lot of passing, this would not be your course. The path wove through a park on paved trails that were split down the middle with cones. My wave was heading out on bike as the elite/29 and under male were coming in. Guys coming in and girls going out were all jockeying for real estate to pass. It was a bit dangerous. There was a nice hill with a terrible false summit. I had pushed hard up the first half only to find the same hill waiting for me past the false summit. I pushed hard and moved up a spot on the ride, happier I was another leg closer to the finish.

I must have been happy go lucky by the time I got to the run I just wanted to finish as strong as I could. First thing I did in transition was take my helmet off, no more Mermaid repeats for me. The run course was around the lake and pretty much flat, I could hear the lead male crossing the finish line when I was about a mile into my run. With what was left in me I laid it out there, dropping back a spot and finishing 4^th in my age group. I was extremely happy with the results as I had started the morning wondering if I should even race. I thank God that at moments he multiplies even our tiniest efforts.