40 Acres of Hill

Hill. Hills. Hills, Water, More Hills and even MORE Hills. No joke. Russellville's FOP hosted an alternative Triathlon of run/paddle/bike with the proceeds from entry fees going to the Shop with a Cop program that takes underprivileged kids out Christmas shopping with a uniformed officer in a cruiser. How cool is that? So we pull in this morning and we're a little early, aarrgghh I could have slept longer. What surprises me is that I see a LOT of women. Usually races like this are very Male heavy. Cool. The field was small, limited to 30 people as single racers and 10 teams and I don't think they made quota for either one but I'm sure they will next year.

The transition is central so we get our bikes and gear laid out and get ready to run. I'm "smart" and wear a brand new pair of trail shoes because I've been having issues with my ankles in the ones I have. It could have been disastrous but luckily these shoes that I got at serious sale rack price rock! And yes they are Oscar the Grouch Green. The Run was to be 5 miles, the first mile was up and down off road trails then to some hilly neighborhood roads with one ugly hill about midway. We even had a dog come out and pace some runners (she was mine for a while) and that darn dog did the whole course. I finished the run in about 52 minutes which is actually a pretty good run for me considering the hills and race jitters. Joe says he knows I wasn't going hard because he heard me talking and knew I had thanked each and every volunteer on the course. I was the 4th place woman by the time we hit the water, but one of them was on a team and would not have to do the bike. My life jacket was too big and had a permanently attached camelback that felt like a lump in my lower back the whole time so I had to adjust a lot. The kayaks were a little slow-but I was able to pass two of the women competing as individuals and one team of women before the 3 miles was up. I think that leg took about 45 minutes. With transitions I'm up to an hour and 39 minutes. Off on the bike. I feel good for the first few miles some hills, rollers and general noiceness. This is a nice ride. And then the pain begins. A hill. A long hill. A long long hill with many false tops. And I'm dying. So when the nasty hill is over, I actually lay off to eat and drink. Then it happens. I get passed. By a girl on a team which means she has fresh legs because her partner did the run. GRRRR it's still not good so I decide I need to put on my big girl panties and at least keep her in sight. A couple of miles later, I get passed by one of the women I had passed in the kayak. Dang it. 8 miles to go but I'm hurting. I keep her in sight but just can't pull it out. Oh well. I settled in for 3rd place in about 2 hours 47min. That's unofficial of course. I got a warm down lap around the parking lot and was coming back to put my bike away when I see Joe coming. YAY Joe! I hopped off the bike so I could go cheer him in. I wish I'd had time to grab the camera but no.

Shooting the bull afterward, I found out the woman who passed me on the bike is a friend of our sweet Sarah. Not just a friend, a RIDING friend. One who does those same tortuous training rides with her that I avoid at all cost. One of her fellow monster riders. I feel better about getting passed. And of course, crappy for not "training" harder.

This is me and the pace dog. We're both "dog tired" hahahaha

Splits:
Mine- 53:32 47:33 1:08:23 1st place 46:49 47:35 1:07:19
Easy to see where my improvement needs to be. Short legs better learn to roll!
Joe's - 54:46 47:08 1:08:38 I guess same goes for him.