3:43:34 - DeFeet of the 4 Hr goal to Marion

3hrs 43 min 34 sec from Sparkle City to Marion.

Tiff and I struggled yesterday morning. We both set our alarms for the wrong times but still managed to get up , dress, eat and out the door - oops, we forgot our water bottles. We had to turn around after leaving the house to go back and get them. But we got to the start, got parked, threw my bag in the truck for Marion. I took a few brief moments to hit a port-o-pottie and butter my chamoi and then we got a place in the feild and waited for the start. A guy behind me was counting down but I was oblivious, I thought perhaps he was counting the seconds down on his watch. It wasn't until we started pulling off that I saw the huge sign in front of us that was counting down the time and then "GO" appeared.

The sound of so many cyclists clicking in and the hum of our bikes was amazing. The feild started to stretch early. We hit a hill leaving downtown and I turned, I'd lost Tiff and considering the amount of riders I just kept going. She was coming off an international distance tri and all she wanted was a number for Mitchell next year. But I had a time in mind to finish and I had to try for it.

I jumped in with guys who were absolutely smokin, 24-29mph depending on who was up front. Trying to make up time and catch up to the lead group I suppose. Even though I I didn't have to save anything for Mitchell I was still worried about keeping this pace for 74 miles since I hadn't trained for this distance at all. My longest group rides have been 32-35 miles and my longest solo has been about 60. I kept hearing Caroline in the back of my mind telling me "get on a good wheel & stay small, just stay small." The first 40 miles or so were pretty much nice and flat which is my preference. I was amazed at how fast time and miles were flying by. Before I knew it we were 45 miles in.

I passed Rae at some point after some dude had run her off the road. She said she might as well be mtn biking... at least she kept a sense of humor. So much of the ride was like some fuzzy dream. My concentration was on keeping a wheel in front of me, or keeping up a 25+ mph pace for miles - but the best part of it all was that I, this chick all donned in pink and blue, was hanging on this ride with a bunch of dudes that prolly wouldn't have given her a second though any other day. I was proving so much to myself. I've worked so hard these last few months to achieve the fitness that I have and it felt so freak'n awesome.

The hills really didn't bother me that much except the one after Bill's - it was a grinder and I struggled to keep my pace steady and my HR under control. Though I was pleasantly surprised to see the men slowing down as much and I was on all the hills, I even passed several of them. Each time I let out a girlish giggle on the inside. I half wanted to stick out my toungue at them as I passed and half wanted to give them a pat on the back and tell them to keep going - but I figured either would come as a very large insult from a girl wearing pink in the peloton.

At the next feed zone after Bill's Hill, I guess about 45+ miles into the ride, my West End domestique ~ Arthur ~ met me to make sure I continued to work my butt off the rest of the way so that I made my goal of under 4hrs. I think he might have over estimated my capabilities with 50 miles on my legs and I had to let him pull away a few times. He'd turn and see I was about 8 riders back and slow the pace a bit, continuosly checking on me wtih a quick glance over his shoulder. We motored for while & my legs started feeling like they wanted to cramp. Drink, drink, drink & eat. Then it happened, I was #2 in line behind Arthur and we hit the last hill into Marion. I was overcome with TIRED, I wanted to stop working, just roll the rest of the way. I told Arthur that I was popped and falling off. I think I only had about 10 miles left to go and he told me I couldn't quit, that I was to close - basically willing me back onto his wheel. The coolest thing was the fact that the guy behind me heard what I said and was encouraging me too. He said "you've pulled all of us this far, keep going."

Somehow I found just enough in my legs to crank like hell into Marion. I got into the grass & dropped my bike. My legs were weak and didn't know what to do now that I was asking them to walk and carry weight instead of pedal. I surveyed the scene... there's pink. Dawn was at the feed table so I went over and breifly talked to her while she crammed a sandwhich down her throat and tried to stay in the zone. I yelled at her as she hopped back on her bike, headed to GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENTS along with Giselle and Rae!! I hobbled back over to my bike - my left sit bone was in an LARGE amount of pain and made it hard to walk. I struggled to get my cell phone out so that I could call my mom and Cathy... I was so proud of myself.

I hobbled yet again over to the finishers table to collect my Marion patch and had a wonderful massage (though a bird in the rafters tried to poop on me) while waiting for Tiff to finish. As I came out of the bathroom there she was. She got changed too and we celebrated our DeFeet of Mt Marion and celebrated our excitement about Mitchell next year with some pink beer. My account isn't quite as detailed as others but to be honest I was zoned out most of the time with one end result in mind or focused completely on the wheel in front of me.

I finished 3:43:34, 16 min better than my goal with an average of 19.6. A big thanks to everyone on the team for support, to all the men who pulled me to Marion though they'll never see this blog and to my West End domestique!! I'm chomping to do Mitchell next year.