Most races have one or two highlights that stick in my memory. When I think back on Vineman 70.3 this year, I think I'll remember how special it was to race with my husband on our 1-year anniversary and how grateful I was to be able to run the entire half marathon (no matter how fast).
Last year, when Vineman registration time rolled around, I casually mentioned to my husband that the race was scheduled for our 1-year anniversary. I can't remember exactly how the conversation went, but I'm pretty sure I was really excited about the fact that we could race together on our anniversary... and he was slightly less enthusiastic about the idea. Now, don't get me wrong, my husband loves competing, and is quite the athlete himself (he has a speedy sub-15 minute PR for the 5000 on the track). But at the time of registration, he hadn't raced a triathlon in 4 years, and just a few months earlier I had "talked him into" signing up for Ironman Wisconsin in 2015... so he was probably wondering what he was getting himself into.
----
Now about that running thing... For several months leading up to Vineman, I had been dealing with a strange intermittent pain on the top of my foot. It appeared in April, went away for two months, randomly came back at the end of a track workout, went away for a few days, came back again, etc. It was not your "typical" injury, and I had no idea what it was or how to treat it, so I had conservatively taken quite a bit of time off of running. A few doctor's visits and an MRI later, I found out that I had developed a ganglion cyst between my second and third metatarsals. Luckily, I have one of the best podiatrists in town, and he assured me that orthotics would most likely solve my problems. Having never dealt with something like this before, I was skeptical... but willing to try anything. Ironman Wisconsin has been my focus for this year, and I wanted more than anything to be healthy for that race.
After my appointment with the podiatrist (just 3 days before Vineman), I sat down with my coach and discussed my options for the race. I had tried the orthotics, and they seemed to help, but I wasn't sure how my foot would handle a 13.1 mile run. At the same time, it didn't seem like there was any chance of making things worse by running on my foot, and I would always have the option of dropping out at any point during the run. So we decided that I would at least start the run and see how my foot felt. Given the level of pain I had experienced in my foot, I wasn't real optimistic that I would be able to complete the entire half marathon, so mentally I prepared myself to drop out of the race at some point during the run.
----
The Vineman weekend was much more relaxing than a typical race for me, which was really nice. The day before the race, we were able to meet some of the girls from
my team for coffee. It was fun to briefly catch up, and to meet some of their friends and family as well.
 |
Coffee with Team Freeplay
(photo by Sean Dulany) |
After going to packet pickup and dropping off our run gear in T2, my husband and I spent the rest of the afternoon/evening relaxing at the campground where we were staying. It was quiet and uncrowded even though it was only about 3 miles from the swim start. There was even a secluded beach on the river where we spread out a blanket and played some cards. If only every pre-race day was like that!
 |
| I could get used to this pre-race setting |
We were fortunate enough to have my parents visiting (from Pennsylvania) for this race. It was great to have their support and to hear them cheering for us during the race. They were real troopers with the early morning wakeup call (they actually got up earlier than we did), driving around to watch us at various points in the race, and enthusiastically cheering every time they saw us racing (even though they were probably thinking, "it's about time they got here... we've been standing in this one spot for hours!)
 |
| Dad, Greg, and I walking to the start (Mom was there too - behind the camera) |
While my Vineman 70.3 race was far from perfect, it was certainly enjoyable and I was happy with how things went. Here's the quick rundown of the race itself:
 |
Prepping water bottles and race nutrition at the campsite on race morning
(photo by Jeanne Bare) |
Swim: I love this swim course. It's in the Russian River, and there are a LOT of buoys, which means it's easy to sight and see where you're going. Each buoy is also numbered, so you know where you are at all times.... what a luxury! During the swim, for some reason I had a hard time getting into a rhythm. I never felt strong, and I'm not sure why. But that's OK... soon the swim was over and it was on to the bike.
 |
Swim exit
(photo by Jeanne Bare) |
Bike: I felt stronger on the bike than I have in a long time, which was encouraging. Since I was in the very last swim wave, I was almost continually passing people on the bike. That can be a blessing or a curse. It either makes me feel really fast or it makes me frustrated that I can't get into a rhythm since I'm always trying to maneuver around people. At Vineman, the riders were spread out enough that passing people wasn't too bad. At some point in the bike, I was passed by another girl in my age group. I noticed that she wasn't going a whole lot faster than I was, so I made it my goal not to let her out of my sight. The two of us kept passing each other back and forth for most of the bike course. It seemed like every time we passed each other, we would exchange a few encouraging words. It was really refreshing to have someone so positive out there on the course with me. (After the race was over, I realized that the girl was Kayla Kielar. While I recognize her name from racing over the years, we've never actually met each other. Hopefully the next time we find ourselves at the same race, we can finally meet because she seems like a cool chick.) I felt strong for the entire bike, and at some point near the end I decided to hammer the rest of the 56 miles. Normally, that would not be a good strategy (actually it's never really a good strategy)... but I knew that there was a chance I'd have to drop out on the run, and I figured I would have regrets if that happened and I hadn't gone hard enough on the bike. So that was that...
 |
Heading into T2
(photo by Jeanne Bare) |
T2: The dismount line was a good 200 meters (or more) away from the actual transition area. This was a time when I might have tried running without my bike shoes. But I was a little concerned about running barefoot with the current state of my foot, so I ran the whole thing in my bike shoes. Not ideal, but not the end of the world either. Once I got into T2, I saw that there was only one other bike racked in my age group's section. That meant I was in second place... better than I thought. :-) I got my shoes on, and started my run by going the wrong way in transition. I hadn't bothered to scope out the transition area the day before... oops... amateur hour over here.
Run: As I mentioned before, the run was a big unknown for me going into this race. I started out easy (which ended up being around 8 minute pace) for the first few miles, and was please to find that I never noticed more than a dull ache in my foot. That was a huge improvement from before. I still wasn't sure how my foot would handle a half marathon, so I decided to just run easy and (as long as my foot didn't get worse) finish the race. While I was able to finish (which I definitely count as a success), my idea of just jogging along for 13.1 miles didn't quite play out. The fact that I hadn't run much leading up to the race (as well as the fact that I had gone hard for the last 10ish miles on the bike) meant that my legs weren't exactly happy to be running a half marathon. By the last few miles in the race, my legs were hurting... kind of like I remember feeling in the second half of my marathon at Ironman two years ago. The kind of pain where all you want to do is stop and never move again, but instead you somehow manage to keep putting one foot in front of the other because that is the only way you are going to get to the finish line in a reasonable amount of time. I guess you could say that my run at Vineman was good mental training for Ironman. I crossed the finish line in a little over 5 hours, placing 6th in my age group. On a day when I wasn't even sure I would be able to finish, I was really happy with those results.
 |
There's a reason they call this race "Vineman"... vineyards are everywhere along the course!
(photo by Sean Dulany) |
 |
Cresting one of the many rolling hills on the run
(photo by Sean Dulany) |
Just after finishing, I was greeted with a big hug from my husband. I learned that he had broken 5 hours and had an amazing day, surpassing his expectations in every aspect of the race. After doing all the typical post-race stuff (namely, eating lots of fruit and hobbling around on sore legs to gather our gear), we went back to the campground that we had reserved for one more night. We made some calzones on the camp stove and toasted our 1-year anniversary celebration with some Korbel champagne (the Korbel vineyard was just a mile down the road from our campsite). Not a bad way to celebrate!
 |
| Looking forward to many more years of triathlons and marriage... |
Up next: Ironman Wisconsin... let the Ironman training begin!!!
----
- My husband for agreeing to celebrate our anniversary at a triathlon :-)
- My parents for supporting us and putting up with a long day of triathlon activities
- My coach, Alisa Benson, for being flexible and helping me through a period of injury
- My Freeplay Magazine Team for being so supportive before, during, and after the race
- Dr. Siqueiros, Dr. Byrne, and Martin (at SLO Motion Shoes) for getting me running again
- My sponsors for their continued support (they're listed on the side bar of this page)
No comments:
Post a Comment