XTERRA ROCKED!!!

I just did my first Xterra this morning! I had a blast!!

It was at Arrowhead Park, so I went into it knowing the mtb course really well. I've done two other tri's before, both road tris. This was my first off-road event and going into it I was already really stoked because of my mountain bike background.

So the weather was actually cool this morning -- well, cooler than normal. It was like 85 instead of 105!

We had a beach start and then hit the water for a 1/2 mile swim. I felt really good on the swim. I was able to control my breathing (damn you asthma) and it felt much easier than the last tri. Ironically, despite feeling easier, my time in the water was exactly the same!! 19 minutes. I was about 3/4 of the way in the pack out of the water and by minute 22 (i think) I was on the bike.

The first couple of minutes on the bike I felt like I had gelatin for legs, but I quickly regained my senses -- and good thing because the first mile or so is the most technical (for me anyway). People (I suspect those who hadn't preridden the course or who weren't true mtbers) were biting it left and right. I can't even remember how many people I saw crash in front of me. This made the first few miles a little challenging to maintain speed, but I ended up passing several women! Lap 2 of the 5 miles course went the same as the first, and I only lost one minute in time.

As an aside about the mtbers, before the race I saw a guy in the transition area who had a blue schwinn moab. It looked EXACTLY like my first mtb (which I still have and is in the slow process of being converted into a single speed). So I said hi and told him how much I love that bike, that it was my first, etc. His reply?? "Yeah, well, it's not my bike. I borrowed it from a buddy. I ride on the road. I've never actually ridden a mountain bike before." JESUS! Right then I made a mental note to get IN FRONT of this guy going into the woods. lol.

I felt good going into the run -- until I actually started running. My strategy was to make enough of a dent on my competition on the bike part so that when my slow butt started running I wouldn't be passed by them. I was a little fearful of the run as I've been battling plantar fasciitis issues and have only run twice in the last month.

The run was difficult, as I expected. I remember thinking for at least the first 5 minutes, "oh my god, I can't run, my legs won't move that fast, holy crap, i have 3.5 miles to go." But in the end I only got passed by about 4 women, and none of them were in my age group. The best part about the run, though, was that my PF didn't hurt AT ALL! The run course was 2 laps of a 2 mile circuit, out and back. Out was uphill, back was downhill. Again, I only lost one minute on the second lap.

I finished strong -- my definition of strong is glassy-eyed and drooling (you mtb racers know what i'm talking about) -- and felt great about my performance. I had set a goal of 2:20, and did it in 2:17!! And, as it turns out, I managed to finish 2nd in my age group!! I got some sweet schwag, which I'm sure will be pillaged by Jake. lol. I finished no where near to Kate, who was well ahead of all the women, but I finished several minutes (or maybe it just seemed that way) in front of the third place girl.

ironically, the third place girl turned out to be the girl who finished just ahead of me at the Memorial Day Tri. I remember catching up to her on the (memorial day) run only to have her pull away at the end. Well, as a twist of fate would have it, I was beat her this time around.

Lot of people out there took pics, so hopefully somebody will email me one and I'll post it when I get it, although I refuse to post any drooling photos. lol. So all in all I had a great time, and wish I had another off-road tri on my calendar this year. I'll have to see if I can dig one up.

In other news, bad things happen in 3s right? Flat tire on my bike last week. Flat tire on my car this morning (which I discovered as I was leaving to go to the tri). What's next?? I have 3 more bikes, which one will it be??