Bangs Lake RR !

• On: 08/10/2009 15:17:48

Hey, guess what? No long winded race report from me this time!  HA!  I actually don’t have much to say except I had SO much fun!!!  I love these local races and our local races are NOT necessarily easy though.  We have a ton of local talent and each race, since there are not a ton, are big.  This race is like 30 minutes north of my house and where I ride my bike sometimes, so it makes sense for me to do it.  Plus, I did it last year and had a great race and just had fun.  The swim was long and that was good enough for me to go back.  Oh, just kidding.   I just  wanted to do a local OLY race this month and I was secretly a little worried b/c I have done NO speed work on the run or bike since my rest cycle after Eagleman.  Of course I have been training, but no track, no intervals, no group rides…so, I knew I would be strong for the race, but not necessarily fast.  But, I was ok with that…!

Anyway, because it was a local race I had a handful of athletes there and even knew the girls that I would have to race head to head with – well, there were multiple waves, but you know what I mean.  It is always a treat to get to race with some of my local competitors – who, I actually consider my friends more importantly.  Mary Bradbury has become a good friend of mine and we are like split at the hip.  Except, she is a much faster swimmer than me and I tried desperately (like ohmygod!) to stay on her feet on the swim at Bangs Lake…but to no avail.  However, she was going the wrong way and I screamed at her – so she would get back on course and she heard me?  WHO can do that?  Anyway, her U of I days swimming  100k per week is big time compared to me!  Anyway, she did beat me out of the water, which I figured, but I put my head down and tried to catch her on the bike…

The swim was long again!  Actually, it was more like a 1/2IM swim b/c the fastest guy did it in 26 minutes and I swam it in 28-29minutes, so as soon as I looked at my watch I was like, “whoa!” but in that heat – it was 93F at race start – it would make for a long day (and we had on wetsuits – GRRR, but our summer in Chicago has been VERY cold so one fluke day did not heat up the water, but I was roasting in the water – ick!!!).  So, I think everyone was freaking out in the water that were doing their 1^st OLY race…probably thinking, “Man, this is sooo long, some of them  45+ minutes!”  Poor guys.  L 

This is Angela, me and Mary after the race!

Off on the bike…Jerome was not there yet so I had no idea how much time Mary had put on me, but I figured 90” or 2 minutes.  That was about right, I think…so….

I LOVE the bike here.  It is 2 loops and gently rolling to flat.  It was a little hard b/c started in wave #6 of 8 and I had to safely maneuver around a lot  of cyclists, but it was ok.  No one passed me and I felt very good on the bike – actually, my biking feels really good right now.  Anyway, I DO need to share a story with you because it is SOO naughty of me.  So, I passed this one guy and I was just minding my own business and he decided to pass me back (annoying) but on MY inside/right.  I said, “You need to pass on my left.”  So, he just grunted.  Secretly, he was so screwed b/c he was riding way too hard for the heat/humidity of the day.  So, after a few miles he died and I passed him again hard.  HE grunted again (ego issues?) and I just ignored him (who cares) but he came by again SPRINTING full max!!  So, I finally said to him (oh you will all hate me), “Dude, relax no need to race me, I started  16 minutes after you.”  See….that is not nice, but sometimes I can not STAND these racers. Clearly he was out of his element…and either pass me and pass me HARD or…get over yourself.  Ok, back to being nice…

Jerome and Morgan were on the bike course cheering for me as well as Judie R’s husband and Scott (Mary’s husband)!  It was fun to see local faces at a race (that is something I love about local stuff).  Anyway, when I came into T2 Jerome said the 1^st place girl was 90” in front of me.   But, I don’t think Jerome remembered that that wave started 4 minutes ahead of me.  And, Mary was in T2 with me – so I had caught her but I think she had some “getting lost” issues.   Mary and I started running together and it was HOTTTT!  Damn.  Like pea soup thick air hot.  I don’t mind it usually, but we were all just not adapted.  Anyway, I passed Mary and grunted, “come on Mary” to her…and I never put a huge gap on her…it was so hilly and hot…I just worked to move forward, quite frankly.  And, they changed the run course from last year.  Last year’s run course was flat and fast (YAY!) but this year they took us in and out of the lake streets, so up and down.  AH!  Anyway, Jerome said he thought there were 2 girls in front of me, but I knew they were in the earlier wave…but, guess what?  I came out of T2 3.30 up on the girl in 1^st place…and I figured it must be Angela Kidd.  Gotta love her.  I love when I get to chase down my athletes – or let me re-phrase this…TRY TO…and I am not stupid, I know her strengths and weaknesses and this girl can run and I was not even close in keeping that gap…but I surely tried.  It was hard and it was long and hot and I was slow.  And, Angela seemed unaffected by the heat (I hate her) and just was booping up and down running her fast 10k.  !!!!   Jerome saw me and was like, “oh lord, Jenny!”  hhaaa.  Ok, that bad?  Yep.  I think so.  But, after I crossed the finish line (oh thank god) and caught my breath, I talked to Angela and knew she had won and I had gotten 2^nd. Great race all around!  Mary ended up 4^th and another friend of mine and athlete I coached, Shannon, a few years back for LP /Kona was 3^rd!!   See, good times.  Nice to see these girls race so well!  Even my OB was there racing – seriously!  Hee hee

This is Angela and I....(I need the pink shirt she has one, pink is NOT her color.)

Afterwards it was nice to see everyone….catch up and just chat.  Lots of first time OLY athletes there and I must say- this was NOT the race for first timers.  A super long swim + super hilly run + nearly 100F temps when we finished.  Poor things!  I think they were looking at me like, ‘ARE YOU A CRAZY PERSON’.  Um, the answer to that is YES! J Congrats to Frank, Jaynie, Angela, Tom C, Drew, Stu, Mary, Stacie, Jim, Jeff, Judie and everyone else there – great job on a tough day!   Now the rest will be a cake walk!

Oh, and I will piss in my pants when the professional pictures come out and we can see the face of death on me!  I will have to burn them all!

Oh, and Mary and I were laying around after the race and she said, "are you at race weight, you look skinny."  Remember, how I told you I like this girl.  Well, I changed it to LOVE this girl yesterday.  She is my new BFF.