Hey there folks. Long time no see.
I just got back from a wonderful 4 day weekend of racing and visiting my
family :) I flew into the Columbus airport on Thursday and Joe (my brother in
law) picked me up. I was able to spend a nice relaxing evening visiting with my
sista, Rachael, and my nieces. On Friday morning after dropping off the kids we
made our way over to Muncie which was suppose to be a little less than a 3 hr
drive. 5 minutes into our drive though we hit traffic and basically didn't move
for an hour. I guess that's just my luck for bragging out how smoothly travel
went the day before. It wasn't too big of a deal though because we had all day
to get there.
Once in Muncie we made our way to packet- pick up. The site itself was in
the middle of no where and we had a hard time finding it. Once we finally did
find it, pick up and racking the bike went smoothly. Little black bag number 3
acquired, 2 more to go! We were also able to do an open water swim practice. It
was really nice to cool off and get some good ows practice in since I really
never have a chance to. The water felt great and I was almost jealous I wasn't
swimming the next day.
Race Morning
We woke up at 4 am. We stayed at a Best Western and the hotel was nice
enough to provide breakfast to the athletes starting at 4:30am. I really wasn't
hungry that early in the morning so I only had a mini muffin and filled up my
water.
We were out the door by 5am and on our way over to the race site. Of
course we got lost again ....if that is even possible....just follow the rest of
the cars with racks on them, right? Wrong. There was a ton of ways to the lake,
but we made it there by 5:30. We had pre-paid parking the day before at a lady's
house across from transition. True IM provided free parking, but this was super
convenient and it was nice not to worry about parking.
My sister set up her bike and the race official went over the rules with us
and some of the other relay teams. There was a relay pen for both the bikers and
the runners. You had to stay in the pen until you say your relay team mate. At
that point you could come out and exchange the chip.
Anyhow, we headed down to the water about 6:40ish and relaxed while we ate
some snacks and watched the pros and other waves go off as we were in the last
wave starting at 8am.
The Race
Now for myself I wasn't too nervous about the day as I was using the run
leg as a training run, but Joe and Rachael have never swam or biked this
distance before in a race! When we originally registered for the race almost a
year ago I was excited to get my family involved in something I love and I was
excited to introduce them to the 70.3 distance. They both worked their butts off
and I am so proud of both of them!
The Swim: 1.2 miles ~ 51:39
Now I can't speak for Joe, but I know he was super nervous and was nervous
he might let down our team somehow. The relays went off in the last wave which
was 8 am. He was worried about not making the 1:10 cut-off, but we kept telling
him he had nothing to worry about and he didn't!
The water temp was right at 75
so it was wetsuit legal. I would say about 60% of the people still had them on.
Joe opted not to wear one and I mean really you didn't need one, the water felt
warm. After my sista and I watched him swim into the distance we walked up the
bike relay pen.
I wished Rachael good luck and positioned myself back by the
swim exit. I saw Joe excited the swim at right about 51 minutes. I was so
excited and happy for him!!! The swimmers had to run up a big hill with gravel
(it was covered by carpets, but still). When I saw him I shouted out his time
and a big smile came across his face. All the hard work paid off and he was
running out of the swim exit to his love at his first 70.3 distance race!
T1:
I ran as fast as I could from the swim exit up the relay pen. I shouted to
my sista that he made it! She was so excited and jumping and clapping for him.
They gave each other high gives, exchanged the timing chip, and off my sister
ran into T1.
She already had on her helmet and shoes so she only had to grab her
bike. As she went into T1, I sprinted over to the bike out area to get more
pictures. No one ever told me being sherpa was so hard!
The Bike: 56 mile ~ 3:16:25
Once again I don't know exactly how Rachael felt throughout this ride, but
I know she put in the work and was excited to get out there. She was a little
worried about her back hurting her, but thanks to the good old tennis ball and
an apple it felt ok on race day :) The course took you out a few miles, then it
was a 2 loop out and back, then back a few miles to T2. It's a mostly flat
course and luckily the winds weren't too bad. They got a few head winds heading
out, but that's about it.
The bike went by fast for Rachael and she made one pit
stop around mile 30 to refill her water bottles. I think she surprised herself
how fast she was going and was worried I wouldn't be waiting in the pen for her
yet. But I knew better and had headed over to the pen around 11:30 because hey
it's race day and you never know what will happen!
T2
I had been waiting in the relay pen since around 11:30ish and it was hot as
shit in there! I thought I might pass out (no breeze and right by the food
grills). I myself don't know why I was so nervous for this run coming up. I
don't know if it was the combination of waiting around all day and not knowing
what to eat or if I was worried about Rachael coming back in off the bike. When
I finally spotted her running her bike in from the across the way around
12:15ish I gasped and starting clapping!
She kept telling me around a 3:30 bike
split so I was shocked and excited to see her 15 minutes early! I had known at
that point that the bike went well for her and I was so excited that both her
and Joe had a great day. As she came running toward me I was allowed to leave
the pen and take off the timing chip and off I went
The run: 13.1 miles ~ 1:46:52
I was super happy to get the hell out of the waiting area and finally have
my turn at sportz after doing so much waiting around. I went into this run with
it being just a training run and wasn't expecting much out of myself. I must had
been more excited to run than I thought though and took it out way to fast! My
first 6.5 miles were a 7:47 pace. The next 6.5 miles would not hold the same. In
the first 6 miles I had probably picked off about 5 or 6 relay runners. I was
really happy about this. I also think this might the only time I am never passed
in a 70.3 run and am flying past everyone else. I felt a little guilty. After
the turn around I started feeling light headed and actually wanted to walk (wtf,
I did not swim or bike). I kept at it though even though my pace slowed. At the
beginning of the day I was jealous of everyone doing the full 70.3 but by this
point I was glad I was only doing the run. At the end of the run I felt worst
than I normally do after a full 70.3. Weird. The run it self had rolling hills
and would have had no shade. But by the time I was out running the skys were
overcast and the clouds looked like they were about to drop rain on us. A small
amount of rain came around mile 10 but it was nothing heavy and stopped after 5
minutes. bummer. I was happy to be running down the finishers shut and had
wished Joe and Rachael could have joined me since obviously I couldn't have
crossed it without them!
Overall: 5:59:21 (14th out of 29 relays)
We all had so much fun and I can't say it enough how proud and excited I am
for Joe and Rachael! Go Team KARSTAK! We all had so much fun and I can't wait to do another one
with them or maybe sherpa one of their first 70.3s :)
