XTERRA East Championships Race Report

June 15th, 2008

Richmond, Virginia
1st Amateur Female

After racing in Alabama, I flew directly to Washington DC to meet up with my parents (who came from Michigan) and my Aunt, Uncle and cousins who live just outside the city. Because this race was the weekend after, I didn't see any point in flying all the way back to Colorado and then fly back a few days later. Plus, I hadn't had the opportunity to see my 8 month old twin cousins so it was perfect! I'd never raced back to back before so I wasn't really sure how to train and rest for this race so I kinda just did whatever worked out with everyone else's schedule :) It was hard to get motivated as the weather was hitting record highs and pretty much unbearable to even stand outside much less train! I did, however, manage to squeeze in 3 pre-rides on the course which were much needed. Again, lots of twisty, turning, and rooty singletrack with several steep power climbs. Although I took some pretty hefty crashes, by the third time, I was starting to get the hang of it. I was super relaxed going into the weekend and enjoyed a great pre-race dinner at an Irish restaurant with the family. I was sleeping like an absolute baby the night before until the fire alarm went off at 4:30am (in the race hotel) and we had to evacuate the building. Let me tell you how sucky it is to have to walk down 14 flights of stairs when you're half asleep. We met everyone outside to just laugh about the situation. About 20min later we got to walk back up the 14 flights of stairs to hear the alarm go off every 15min for the next 1.5hrs! Not exactly the best pre-race sleep, but hey, whatcha gonna do about it?! Everything else went smoothly so no complaints here. Plus, it was Father's Day and I can't remember the last time I got to see my dad on this specific holiday :)

The swim - this was by far the most interesting swim I have ever done. Because the water levels in the James river were so low, the entire swim was in water 1-3 feet deep with gigantic rocks and debris that you could stand on top of. Talk about an 'Xterra' style swim! We even got to swim to an island in the middle of the river, run across it, then get back in the water and swim back to where we started! Being stuck in the last wave made for even more obstacles to maneuver through and although it slowed me down quite a bit, it was absolutely comical!

The bike - since the course was predominately singletrack, all the people who started in front of me were bottled up on the course. I attempted to pass as many people as possible, but it was really sketchy and the last thing I needed to do was fall off the trail or take another crash. The goal for this ride was to keep the rubber side down (i.e. tires on the dirt, not in the air). I wasn't really sure how many girls were in front of me, but when we went through a steep and rooty section, the guy in front of me crashed making me have to get off my bike as well and run the rest of the section. As I was doing that, a train of 3 girls flew right by. I jumped on my bike and began to absolutely hammer in attempts to catch them. They must have passed another group of guys because I got stuck behind another group that again washed out forcing me to dismount and run. This time I was determined to bring those chicas back. I was feeling pretty good for a good 10min or so until I completely blew up and got really frustrated. I let off the gas and just cruised in with a pretty negative attitude and just wanted to get the run over with.

The run - immediately starting the run, I felt incredible. The cadence was there, I had gotten in all my nutrition on the bike and I was relaxed because I figured my race was as I like to call 'in the shitter'! Well that wasn't the case and I was about to prove it. I picked off the first girl within the first mile and she told me the others were pretty far ahead. Perfect motivation for me to kick it in gear, get my head back in the game and go catch them. Girl #2 was about 5 min later. As we were climbing up the 'Mayan Ruins' (a huge full body climb up a series of broken down stairs, wood planks, etc.) I picked off #3. Oh baby, oh baby, here we go. As I got to the section where we run across the rocks in the river, I hit #4 and I was pretty sure there was only one more to catch. At about mile 4, I saw her! My plan at the time was to just sit behind her and then make a move close to the finish line, but I just felt so damn good that I decided to keep my pace and just cruise by. SWEET...to the finish line it was. I notched it down at about mile 5 as no one was anywhere in sight behind me and just enjoyed the last part of the run.

The finish - It was so great to have my parents and family at the finish line waiting for me. I saw them a few times on the course and it was super encouraging. My aunt even took one for the team as she got plowed over by a rider while cheering on the course! It was a great day for everyone. Tyler, Igntaz, DeCook, Craig and Will all had stellar races as well.

After the awards and a few pics with the twins, it was a 2hr drive to DC for me to catch a flight home and get into Denver at 11pm :( I jumped on the bus and got home pretty late only to get up at 5:30am to begin working like a madwoman for the next few days in attempt to catch up with all the work I wasn't able to do while gone! Thanks to everyone including friends, family, sponsors, the Xterra crew, etc for all the support and super fun times!!!