More Race Thoughts

I’m still flying on a bit of a high from Sunday’s race and I don’t want to let it go, though as I said to one of my Team Fight teammates as we walked back to retrieve our bikes from transition after the last racer finished, I was already starting to feel some of the post-race letdown.  After all, we had trained for so long, and this race was the pinnacle of my season.  Plus there was the added fun of meeting so many amazing Team Fight teammates and spending time with them.

Of course, I plan to stay with the team, and I am definitely picking up Thursday night swims again when the pool re-opens next month.  So I will see all of my new friends soon!

There were some amazing, inspiring athletes out there on the course.  As I was going up the “Yes U Can” hill on the course (local bikers will know what I mean), there were plenty of cyclists walking their bikes up the hill.  And then there was a woman who was running as hard as she could, pushing her bike up the hill.  She might not have been able to ride up, but she was certainly going to get up the hill as fast as possible.  She definitely got lots of cheers from other riders.

Another big inspiration was my friend Jaquisha.  When I first met her at swim practice, she was a struggling swimmer.  Still learning, but determined.  Absolutely determined.  She improved and improved through the season, but she was definitely nervous come race day. We knew she could do it, even if she swam from kayak to kayak. (For the non-triathletes out there, there are kayaks and paddleboards out in the water for safety – you can legally grab onto them and hold on, they just can’t propel you forward.  Something I didn’t need this race, but always nice, even if just a place to grab on while fixing your goggles after a run-in with another swimmer.)  But she was definitely scared.  I saw her on Saturday and she was clearly stressing out after looking at the swim course.  I reminded her that she could do it.

Race morning, my wave was 12 minutes before hers, so I had no idea what was going on in her race.  While I was on the run, I asked one of the Team Fight hill runners (yes, we had people to run us up the awful hills) if she had made it out of the water, and no one knew.  After I finished, I asked again, and still no one knew.  Turns out, at that point, she was still in the water.

She made it through the swim!  It took her over two hours, but she conquered her fear and finished that swim.  Now she just had to bike and run.  She’s a good cyclist and an amazing runner, but she still had to make the cutoffs.

As we were cheering runners in, we were told that she had been pulled from the bike course.  I refused to believe it, as did many others.  We wanted proof.  We needed to find her race number and find out from an official.  Thankfully, she had photographed her race bib and gear and posted it on Facebook (like so many of us).  But we still didn’t know what was up.  There was no live tracking, so we had no idea where she was.

We wouldn’t give up. So we waited.  And all of a sudden, there was a huge rush of Team Fight yellow down the hill towards the finish line.  And we knew.  She was coming.  She came tearing into the finish line and I got chills and teared up.  This finish felt better than my own finish.  She was absolutely incredible.  She took something she feared and she fought for it.  Maybe she wasn’t the fastest and maybe it wasn’t the prettiest, but she did it.

She’s really humble about it all and says it wasn’t due to her, that it was due to all of the awesome people around her, but I think she’s pretty amazing.  I don’t think that I could have gotten into the water with that kind of uncertainty.  She’s seriously an inspiration and I am lucky she’s my friend.