Challenge Atlantic City Race Report

"No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everybody on the couch."

The sun was relentless. My normally welcomed sweat burned my eyes. My legs were fighting every single step I tried to take. My skin was burning - literally - and turning redder by the minute. But I kept going. Screw you legs! I relished in the small amounts of shade cast by the looming casinos and hotels filled with normal people gambling and drinking. I poured ice cold water over my head to cool down. I tried to do math. "I have a 5k to go and need to do it in how many minutes to break 13 hours?!" "2 miles left and 25 minutes left. Right? Or is it only 20 minutes til 13 hours?!" I drove myself mad with equations and false calculations. Slowly - very slowly - but surely I could hear the crowd get louder. I saw the red carpet and started to smile like a fool. I raised my arms up. 

I fist pumped. I "woohooooed." 

I saw my amazing fan club in their neon pink shirts.

And, at last, I saw the finish line clock. I was here. I did it. I completed my second iron-distance event. In a last-minute decision, I jumped up and slammed my hand on the clock. I came down fast and somehow my battered legs held me up. I held my head high and smiled. I. Freaking. Did. It. 

Completing CAC was a huge accomplishment! My second iron-distance race was a wildly different experience than my first. Lake Placid was full of the unknowns while CAC was like a bad habit. I knew I could physically swim, bike and run the insane distances. But could I do it faster? Could I quote/unquote race it? The flatter course aided in that respect but even a flat iron-distance course is a tough course.

Pre-race with World Champ Chris "Macca" McCormack aka the tannest man alive

Pre-Race -- I would normally skip this part but I think it's important for me to remember the hurdles I had to jump over just to get to the starting line.

My race week prep could not have been... more stressful. Yes, I had probably one of the worst pre-race days ever in my 9 year triathlon career. After my last bike ride on Friday I decided to check my tires because there was some glass on the road I was on. I discovered two gashes on my front tire and one on my back. Argh. The rear tire was only 2 months old. I didn't want to take any chances so when I went to the expo I bought brand new race tires and luckily they had the same brand that I'm used to. I didn't want a repeat of Placid where I got three flats! I was stressed about having to change my tires out so late but I think it was the right call.

I rented a house in AC that was advertised as a "luxury beachhouse" with 4 bedrooms and plenty of space for my fan club. I always would rather stay in a house instead of a hotel room before such an important race. I like the quiet, the space and I like being able to cook our own meals. Well, this house was anything but luxurious. To put it bluntly it was a shithole. When we walked in on Friday, the dishwasher was broken and spilled water onto the kitchen floor. That stunk up the house and it smelled as soon as you walked in. The owner sent her husband over right away to fix it and I was grateful for that. But the smell stayed. The toaster oven, blender and coffee pot were all disgustingly dirty. There were broken lights. Open electrical outlets. Missing blinds. Garbage on the front lawn. Mold, yes mold in the shower. Noisy neighbors that partied all night long. It was a nightmare. I went to bed that night stressing about the house. I didn't think it could get any worse until I saw bugs, yes BUGS, in the master bedroom. You know those thin bugs with thousands of legs, I think they're called silverfish? Yeah, one was on the floor and one was on the ceiling in our bedroom. I lost it. I started to literally bawl and flip out. There was no way I could have my family and friends stay in this disgusting home. Needless to say, I did not sleep 2 nights out from my huge race. It was just terrible. I wrote the owner a long email and sent it to her at 6am the next morning before my practice swim in the bay. I called her when I got back and told her how unacceptable this house was. To make a very long story short, she agreed to refund me the remaining three nights and we got the heck out of there. One problem. There were no hotel rooms left in AC! It was race weekend and Lady Gaga was performing. We wound up snagging the last two rooms at a hotel in Brigantine, about a 15 minute drive. So my husband and I stayed in one room while 4 friends stayed in the other. My parents drove back to their house (a 40 minute drive) and my brother just came for race day. It was truly not an ideal way to spend my time leading up to the race. I was really down, upset and just not excited to race. I was angry that this situation took away from my pre-race excitement. I also wanted my friends and family to be comfortable since they were taking time to come and support me. To be honest, I was a mess.

My father just happens to be a motivational speaker, among other great things. He told me to put the house nonsense in its own little box and put it away. It was done and there was no use worrying about it now. I had only one thing, or one hundred and forty point six things, to worry about. That was it. Putting things in their boxes became my little mantra for the day.

Swim - 1:32
We arrived at the race start with a welcoming sunrise peaking over the AC skyline.  

It was gonna be a sunny and hot day. You know what else was hot? The water! They measured it at 80 degrees so that meant no wetsuits unless you didn't want to be considered for an award. I chose not to wear my wetsuit as I would seriously overheat in that thing! I was a little nervous about just swimming in my tri kit since I've never tested it in a solo swim before.  

Super race supporter BLT!

I told my amazing support crew I would take longer on this swim than I anticipated. I swam an open water swim race in May and did swimmingly! (see what I did there?!) I finished in 1:11:30 and my goal time for this race was 1:10 or anywhere between 1:10 and 1:15.

Before the starting gun went off the race had Navy Seals parachute drop with the largest American flag I've ever seen! It was super cool and a unique touch to this race. The national anthem played via loudspeaker while the American flag flew through the air. It was cool, but one suggestion I would have is to actually get a live singer. The recording was a little amateur and I'm sure there is some local talent that would kill to get a gig like that!

My wave was one of the last ones so I said goodbye to my team and made my way over to the start, watching the other waves go off. Since a lot of people opted to wear wetsuits my wave consisted of maybe 25 people. That was great! Everyone was friendly and we all commented on how the swim start would be calm with so few people. Our time came and boom - we were off!  

I surprisingly felt super comfortable swimming without my wetsuit. I thought it would feel weird but I really liked it. I felt so great in the water and was psyched to see what I could do. After the first turn we were swimming into the sun and even though I was following a large group of people - we went off course. I definitely lost some time trying to figure out where to go. The buoys were spaced oddly and there just wasn't enough of them. Then we got to a turn buoy where there were about 30 people jammed up. I was wondering why so many people were there until I felt it. There was a MAJOR current pushing all the swimmers backwards! It was a treadmill swim! I had to swim super hard to get around the buoy and the other swimmers. I felt bad for weaker swimmers because it was tough with people panicking on your left and right. Then we had to swim horizontal to the current to another buoy to make another turn. I had to point my body almost upstream to get around the second buoy. It was crazy! After that all I wanted to was to finish the swim! But I still had a few more turns to make and a few more currents to battle in order to finish. I gotta say, it was the toughest and slowest swim I've ever done! But -- the good news was that I was never tired and never felt fatigued. I could have swam more if I needed too!

When I got out I looked at my watch and gasped! An hour and thirty minutes?! What the f......! I gotta admit I was disappointed. I heard my fan club calling my name and I tried to smile but all I thought about was how slow my swim was. How long my friends and family had to wait for me to get out of the water. How my 1:10 goal time was destroyed. My head was not in a good place.  

Washing off my ridiculously long swim and some bay water junk

I ran and got my transition bag and went into the women's changing tent. I got ready for my long ride and had sunscreen sprayed on my back and I got my face. Yup, just my back and face. Who knows why I didn't think my arms or legs needed anything. Everything is blurry when you go through an ironman. It's hard to nail every single detail.

I ran to my bike and saw my fans again by the fence. I was still pretty peeved about my swim and I wanted to yell, "I'm sorry!" to them. I felt like a letdown.  

Not the happiest of campers

But then those magic words came back to me. The swim is over. Put it in the box and close that shizz up!! There's nothing I could do about my time. I swam a hard course with a hard current very comfortably without a wetsuit. Suck it up and go ride your bike!

Let's ROLL!

Bike - 6:22
Ah the bike. My happy place. I love my Roo and I feel the most comfortable on my bike out of all three sports! 

I gotta give some major props to the race organization for the bike course. I felt so incredibly safe on the course. There was always cops patrolling intersections, stopping traffic and I made sure to yell thanks to every single one. We went out to the AC Expressway biked a few miles, went off to some back roads and then back on the Expressway for about 15-20 miles out to Exit 28. The ride out was a false flat heading uphill so I figured I'd be slow on the way out and faster on the way back. That would have been ideal but that's not what happened on race day! I FLEW out to exit 28. I had put my disappointing swim behind me and was really enjoying riding my bike. I was thinking, "wow, if I'm going this fast on the uphill, I'm really gonna fly on the way back!" While I was on the expressway my brother was standing at a rest stop and started cheering. It was a really nice surprise! Then he drove by and yelled something out the window. A dude passed me right after and said, "I hope you know that guy!" hah! I got the Hammonton loop and I knew my average would slow a bit due to road quality and turns. But I was still on my goal of a 6-6:15 ride. I rode the course about a half a dozen times so I knew the loop very well. I knew what roads would be lumpy (airport/columbia road) and which would be fast.  

The highlight was definitely biking through Hammonton. They closed the main road down and it was like a party!  

Hammonton!

I saw my support crew there and they were a welcome sight. I was feeling so great on that first loop!

Hey!  I know those crazy neon pink shirt wearing peeps!

The second loop was uneventful and that was a good thing! I did start to feel a sensation almost like a hot spot on my left foot. I've never ever felt it before so I did have to shift some of my weight around on my foot while I pedaled.  

I went through Hammonton again and saw my team again. They were awesome!  

Simon enjoying a fruity beverage in Hammonton

Then I made my way back to the AC Expressway for the 30 mile ride back to transition.

See ya back in AC!

Once I hit the expressway all my hopes of getting a 6 hour bike split faded. There was a major headwind that we were biking into the entire way back. It sucked. It sucked bad. It was carnage out there. No shade, all sun, wind in your face AND we were biking against traffic which was a weird sensation. My foot hurt. I started to get tired. Usually food helps when I start to feel sluggish so I tried to eat more. That didn't help. I saw people pull over just to rest for a second. I debated about stopping. I really, really, really wanted to stop. Or be magically beamed to the transition at that very second. Neither happened. I sucked it up and started to get some strength from somewhere. Maybe it was mental strength. Maybe I was drawing from one 96 mile training ride where I rode against the wind and felt terrible after. 

Throwback to when I felt like death after riding 96 miles into a headwind.  Good practice, yes, but man that hurt!

If I could get through that I could get through this. I started passing people and I finally made it off the Expressway!

The transition area was a welcome sight! I dismounted, a volunteer took my bike and I took off my bike shoes. There was a long jog to my transition bag so I decided to run in my socks and get some feeling back in my feet. That was a smart move!

I got my bag, went into the tent for the last time, maybe got some more sunscreen, but I can't really remember and got out of there. I stopped to use the porta potty before I went out on my run. Oh - it wouldn't be a race report if we didn't talk about bathroom breaks! I stopped twice on the bike by an aid station to pee. Then on the way back to AC I peed on my bike - heh! yes, gross but it's better than stopping on the side of the road!

Run - 4:49
When I type the time it took me to run the marathon I cringe. I am capable of running a marathon in 4-4:30 so even after a couple a weeks it still stings a bit that I was much slower than I planned. That being said, I don't think I could have given any more at that time on that day.

No walking allowed!!

I started off on the Bader field 1 mile loop and noticed how hot it was right away. When you're on the bike you at least get some wind (or a lot of wind) in your face which cools you down a bit. But on the run? Nada. Nothing. Zilch. Just the sun beating down on you. My legs felt heavy but nothing out of the ordinary. I made my way to the boardwalk and I was hoping there would be some shade on the course. No such luck. I headed south on the boards, turned off onto the street and completed the most southern portion of the race. I saw an empty porta potty so I emptied my bladder for the last time. There were lots of supporters along the boardwalk and some children holding hoses to cool us down. It was great! My pace hovered between 9:22 and 9:45 which was perfect for me in that kind of heat. I sweat A LOT so I know I need to take in extra water and electrolytes to help with the salt loss. Looking at my garmin splits, it looks like I started to break down around mile 10, which is really early when you have to go 26.2 miles. I walked every aid station and perfected a slow routine. My stomach couldn't take any more gaterade so I switched to coke, water, saltines and ice cold water over my head. I stuffed ice cubes down my top and held some in my hands while I ran. Anything to get cool. Nothing really seemed to work. I was just hot and getting hotter. My legs got heavier and heavier. I was basically in this state for the rest of the marathon.

Hot

The major highlight of running back and forth on the boardwalk was seeing my family and friends a total of FIVE times! The first time I saw them I was really hot and told them so. 

So so hot

The second time I told them that this will take longer longer than I planned.  

I'm in third place behind the lady in the scooter

The third time I smiled.  

Hey guys!  I'm happy to see you!

The fourth time I walked a bit with my friend Brie recapping the crazy swim. 

Welcome to Struggle Street

Taking a breather to chat and to pull myself together.

And the fifth time? 

My Dad and Godfather are all smiles!

Finally I am too!

That was the sweetest time. That was when I cruised down the red carpet, fist-pumping, wahooing and jumping my way over the finish line.  

Jump!  (and please don't fall!)

I. Freaking. Did. It.

Legs didn't give out on me! Woo!

Total Time - 12:55:07

Boy, that was a tough race!! It's 140.6 miles so it's supposed to be tough! Lake Placid threw me hills, minimal wind and three flats. Atlantic City threw me currents, wind, heat and sun. Both races are tough. Maybe it's because CAC wasn't that long ago, but I think CAC was tougher due to the conditions. But I finished. And now I can brag for the rest of my life for a SECOND time!! :)

I have to thank my coach and family and friends who were able to make it down to AC. It meant the world to me that you were there. I might not have expressed it properly at the time, but you guys rock. Thank you to my brother for cheering for me in the most surprising places. Thank you to my Mom & Dad who helped me find a hotel room, drove back and forth from their home numerous times and who provided "Motivation and Meatballs" via facetime. You are the best. The biggest thanks of all goes to the one person who truly saw what I went through... from the sign up deliberations to the post-race pain. Simon, I know I woke you up at ungodly hours throughout the year. I know I was cranky and irritable and stressed. You put up with me and didn't divorce me before we could hit our one year anniversary. You are one patient man. I can't say thanks enough and I couldn't have done it without you.

Si is THE best

So what's next? Well after an amazing vacation in Alaska, I'm back to training for Age Group Nationals in Milwaukee! It's "just" an olympic distance race, but it's against the speediest girls in the country so I'm just gonna try not to embarrass myself!

Day-after margaritas at the beach bar while sporting my Challenge hat and crazy sunburn!