another damn jersey du

ADJD
2mi run – 16mi bike – 5K run

if last week's tri was an example of victory through focus and strategy, this weekend's result was surely victory despite wiftyness and fucktardery, as my pre-race routine was a collection of boneheaded and newbie mistakes. do as i say, kids, not as i do. here are some hints:

• - don't start watching Notes on a Scandal at 8pm the night before you have to get up at 5, because you won't want to stop mid-way (good flick, though -- thanks for the rec, kath).
  
• - don't eat a huge bowl of ice cream at 9pm because 2 hours later you will still be doing the samba if not on the floor then in your head.
• - don't drown your ice cream in homemade kahlua. you made it, genius. you KNOW what's in it.
• - if you have been averaging only 5 hours of sleep in the days before the race, there is a good chance you will forget about the bagel you set to toast in the oven.
• - there is a good chance you will forget more than once. and there is an extremely good chance that on the 3rd time it will catch fire.
• - men who are awoken by the smoke alarm at 5:15am are still horny.
• - “i'll be quick” is usually a lie, or at the very least an extremely relative statement.
• - get a good warm-up. driving to the race at double the speed-limit, though it may increase your heart rate, is not considered a warm-up. neither is dashing to registration, or re-racking the line of bikes you knocked down trying to jam yours in.
• - if the portapot line is too long and you take the woods option, mind the thorn bushes. jersey grows some doozies. and if you get stuck, don't panic because that will only entangle you more and put holes in your uniform and your skin.
• - don't forget to get bodymarked unless you want to dash back to registration 2min before the start of your race. but if you do, there's a smokin' guy there with nice forearms and a chunky timex whose hands feel cool on your hot skin. he won't mind that you're bloody, either.
• - if surveying your transition area leaves you feeling like something's missing, explore that feeling. better to take this time before the race than to finish the first run and discover your cycling shoes are still buried in your transition bag. good thing you didn't have enough time to take that back to the car!

got all that, grasshopper??

despite an unpropitious start, i still finished pretty well, especially considering how knackered i was from the preceding week. felt okay on the first run and was 1st woman and top 10 overall coming into T1. felt progressively better, then progressively more tired on the bike; but passed a ton of people from the triathlon running concurrently and had the kickass Wings for Marie in my head once again.

ohhhhh mannnnn - hollered an extremely enthusiastic man as i powered by him – noyyyce. you go girl!! that's one dude who has no ego issues about being passed by a girl.

hamstring and compensatory tweaks a bit of an issue on the 2nd run – there is a definite line i don't want to cross – but still passed more people, including the 2nd place woman in the tri. 1st place was within reach as we approached the turn-around but her dial must go to 11 because she rabbited away and the next time i saw her was at the awards presentation. recognised No-Ego Dude in the oncoming traffic, still very enthused. there she is – he yodeled happily – looking GOOD!!

there are No-Ego racers, and there are those who take your pulling alongside them 150m from the finish line as an invite to drag race and by drag i mean the state of your ass because you've spent the past hour flirting with your blow threshold. it does not matter that they're not your gender or age group and may not even be in your RACE, but du/tri, male/female, old/young doesn't matter when you're two racers approaching the finish.

he blew about 50m from the line.

stats: 1st F and 3rd overall out of 77.