Update

So I've been sick. Really sick...

Thursday was pretty much the start of the massive head and chest cold that decided to attack my immune system this spring. I tried as hard as possible to kill it by doing absolutely nothing all day, but woke up early Friday morning with nothing but snot propelling from my nostrils...yummy! I took the 4:30am bus to the airport where I flew to San Diego for the Xterra West Champs. Upon arriving and getting my rental car, I drove about 100mph to Temecula in order to meet up with the crew before they left to go pre-ride the course only to wait another 2hrs after I got there :) I love you guys.

So we get to the course where it's over 100 degrees and start riding. After about an hour of riding (or melting), the sidewall on my rear tire blows and I'm forced to walk back. Of course, I get lost and a wonderful couple ended up driving me back to the car where the boys had set out looking for me...too funny. Because I'm a moron and didn't bring an extra tire with me, I had to buy one at retail ($50) and pay someone to put it back on because I didn't want to have to purchase a whole bottle of Stans and deal with the aggravation of it all. BIG LESSON LEARNED!

Saturday morning we headed out to pre-run the course and catch a dip in the lake which felt amazing. We all spent the better part of the day running around in compression socks and taking ice baths.

Getting ready for the race was quite amusing as well. Will gave us a little preview of what he would be wearing for the race, Craig showed how he really felt about the new race number timing system and I was checking out how my camelback fit.

I'll post a race report later when I get a chance to catch up but I'll just give a quick recap. I woke up race morning and everything had moved to my chest which left me coughing like mad and feeling pretty crappy. I had made the executive decision to race, but not put forth any more effort than necessary. I just wanted to cross the finish line with a smile on my face! After 3.5hrs of 102* and no shade, I did just so. I had let hundreds of people pass me on the bike, walked with someone for a good 20min on the run and did not exert hardly any effort other than being really hot the whole time. Somehow, I miraculously finished first in my age group which was good for a slot to the World Champs in Maui in October. Although my time was over a half hour slower than it should have been, I'm very pleased that I was so disciplined about going easy and thrilled I didn't put myself in a bigger hole health-wise than I already was. Don't get me wrong, I'm still sick as hell and hacking up stuff left and right, but I'm on the mend and know it!

Alright, that is all I have time for now. Stay tuned for more.