This is not going to be a tight description of my race day because I have to tell the whole story.
I will sum up my mission to take my husband, my training partner Elena, her brother-in-law Rick, and my brother’s best friends wife Kim on a crazy cross country trip to race in Boise ,Idaho.
The original plan was to do this race with my brother Mark; my first 70.3; his pre game for Coeur d’Alene. Tragically I lost my brother, a Boise smokejumper, when he had a complication during a training jump, just weeks after we decided to race together. At Mark’s memorial in Boise I mentioned the race, and how I was planning to go it alone, for him. One by one, folks signed on to do it with me in honor of Marks life long pursuit of fitness. Two smokejumpers Kurt and Allie, and Courtney also from Boise and our crew from back east were set to race. Training for this race was easy because I could feel Mark’s spirit with me every step of the way.
Five days before the race with our bikes in tow, we touched down in Boise at 12am, only to find our Air bnb house mistakenly booked for a day later. Luckily we had rented a Yukon to fit all our gear, because we slept in the car that first night! It was 98 degrees by noon the next day. We had 4 days to train in the heat and elevation. My heart rate was higher right off the bat, but running and biking in my brother’s Boise hills filled me with fire! I couldn’t wait to race!
A few silly side notes: the Yukon sucked to drive, what a tank! It was fully loaded with auto features that I didn’t have a clue how to use. The first day, after buying enough food to feed a house full of athletes, I cautiously pulled out of the parking lot into city traffic and Elena says “the groceries are falling out!!” The auto trunk close feature failed and the next thing I knew they were out in the street collecting our groceries, while I blocked traffic and tried to figure out how to turn the hazards on! Good thing we brought our bikes, because I was avoiding getting into that truck all week!
The swim for Boise is in Barclay Bay an amazing and HUGE reservoir at the top of the dam at Lucky Peak. Driving the winding road up there was not my favorite thing, even if someone else was driving! We were lucky enough to jump into a practice swim there a couple nights before the race. It was hosted by Tri-Town, the local tri shop! The night before the race we got a ride up to drop the bikes off. Guess who forgot her bike stickers? I ended up having to come back to the dam with the Yukon!! I was letting everything roll off though! My race plan was chugging through my mind, I was psyched to ride down that road on my bike!!
OK here’s race day! Up at 5:30 to take the 7:15 shuttle from Julia Davis park,in lovely downtown Boise where the race finish was, to Lucky Peak. I ate the same breakfast as everyday, cereal, granola, and milk. And of course coffee! I had frozen 2 water bottles for the bike, one half full with gatorade. I forgot to bring an extra bottle to sip, but the high desert sun took care of that for me right quick. We had been worried about the water temp in Barclay bay from prior years race reports, so we rented fancy long sleeve wetsuits. The water temp for race day? 65degrees!! What a relief! I couldn’t wait to get out of the baking sun and start swimming. The Boise 70.3 starts at 10 am in an effort to dodge the wind that can whip through the hills in the early morning. There were 12 waves at the start and mine was at 10:40. I was way more excited than nervous, and knowing all those friends and family were going out on the course with me, I couldn’t stop smiling!
The swim 45:24
Right on target! My rented Blue Seventy wetsuit was thin and stretchy, perfect for the water temp. I started out staying within a group and using the like colored caps to sight. It was really hard to spot the buoys, they seemed so far away! For the first 15 minutes I tried to remember to keep my head down, rotate my whole body, and reach out at the start of my stroke. I was rotary breathing and keeping an eye on the other swimmers for direction. The first few buoys were nice and easy. Then the field spread out a bit and I struggled to stay on course, I was sighting about every 6 strokes and still trying to keep good form. Finally I made the first turn! I felt at this point the hardest part was over because it was the long side of the course. Then I got slapped in the mouth with a big ole’ wave! I remember thinking that this was actually good because it was keeping me hydrated!! The far side of the course ran along a current caused by the pressure being relieved from the dam. This forced me to breathe only to one side and challenged me even more to stay on course. At this point I realized I wasn’t sighting enough and started looking every three strokes. Wow was I swimming straighter now!! Lesson pocketed for next time! I had trouble rotating in the wet suit, the boyancy in the legs makes me arch my back, I need to figure that out soon. The final stretch of the swim got really crowed. Everyone was hugging the buoys and my feet were getting grabbed and people were swimming over me. I just kept trying to find a hole to swim in. As the finish got closer and closer, my energy got revved up. My bike was calling me! I swam all the way in, until my hands could touch. I was giddy as I entered T1!
I didn’t rush my transition. I took a moment walking up the ramp to catch my breath and get my wetsuit unzipped. Then I felt like jogging and headed in, making a pit stop at the wetsuit strippers. These folks were awesome! They had my wetsuit in my hand in 5 seconds! A quick drink, shoes, socks, glasses, helmet, tossed my swim things in the bike bag and T1 was history. This is usually the fastest part of my race, but not today. I kinda savored it!
Bike 3:50:14
First thing, riding over the dam….this is breathtaking! My senses were overloaded in the best way. I took some deep breaths because this was what I had been training for, this race magic, the free spirit feeling that was filling me, I wanted to remember this moment forever. Then there was the downhill. It was a free-for-all, and disc wheels were whizzing by me like Chevy trucks! I chose to go at a comfortable pace, but in retrospect I should have let the wheels roll more. This was only the beginning for me. The rest of my race was still uncharted territory. But that was a fun hill!!! Right after that; a long, slow uphill. The athlete info session had me concerned about the new drafting rule.. 5 bike lengths apart and 20 seconds to pass. I didn’t know if I was strong enough to catch those folks in front of me and unfortunately I was slowing down instead of going for it. Then my training partner, Elena passed me. I was frustrated about it until we got to the top of that hill. I started getting into my zone and race mode was kicking in. My confidence flared and I passed a few people. The roads were blocked from traffic and the route headed toward the rolling desert prairie. I don’t remember seeing much traffic at all, I think most of the roads were blocked. I took advantage of the first aid station and grabbed some water. We had driven the route by car earlier in the week, and I knew the road ahead led to No Man’s Land. I was looking forward to being on the downhill side of the many upcoming hills. I was following my fuel plan pretty well, Gu on the hour and drink every 15 minutes. The first hill was long and not too bad. It helped that I saw Allie from Team Re-Mark-Able just as I started the climb. She shouted to me that I looked strong. Those were exactly the words I wanted someone to say to me out there. I was escorted up the hill by a hawk who was gliding beside me. I was loving everything about this race so far. There was a nice long stretch of flat in the baking sun, I saw Elena out there looking great! I rode into the first turn around. It was tight and I was happy I didn’t fall over! Then there were two nearly identical climbs both ending in a turn around. They were tough but short, and I felt some burn in my legs, and on my shoulders from the sun. I saw Gabe on the back side of the turn around, and glancing at my watch, knew he was having a good race too! The last big hill was a double with some flat in the middle. I passed a few people on this one and even got out of the saddle for a bit. I gathered some courage and just flew down the other side, smiling and laughing, thinking how proud my brother would be. I also realized at this point, around mile 35, that I was for sure going to be able to finish this race! I had to remind myself that the race wasn’t over yet though. I pushed through the rest of the bike, trying to stay strong and in the big ring. I grabbed a water at the aid station. Pre-race I had determined it was too chancy to grab water without getting off my bike, but I didn’t want to stop now. I was surprised at how smoothly it went when I got the volunteer hand off. The bottle was slippery though and I jammed it in my bottled cage before it slid out of my hand. Around mile 45 my lower back was starting to whine. I was getting out of the saddle every 5 minutes or so. One of the volunteers perked me up when he shouted about how tough I was because I didn’t have aero bars! One more downhill led to an ABRUPT turn onto the Boise greenbelt. It was a hairpin turn with a hill on the other side. Because I couldn’t see it, I was still in a big gear from the down hill and really had to power up it. I was pretty mad at that little hill! It was back on the road after that, and the home stretch to T2. I could not wait for the run, not because I love running, but because I couldn’t wait to get off my bike!
I rolled into T2 and Team Yeti’s Kurt was waiting for Gabe to come in so he could start his run. I gave him a big hug and he we talked excitedly while I packed up the run bag with my bike stuff. We agreed I could walk the rest of the race and still finish; no pressure, I was so glad. The run is always my greatest challenge. I finished my water bottle, ate half of a Lara bar, got weakly sprayed by a teen with sunscreen, and started to run.
The run 2:51:26
The first 5 minutes of the run felt great! I had made it this far in one piece and still had some fire in me. My shins started to feel splintery as I made the first mile turn, into the aid station. I decided on Gatorade because I drank mostly water on the bike. I slowed to a brisk walk to see if that would help my shins. I saw a lot of other people walking too. After about a half mile I picked up a run again. My goal was to keep my heart rate at 140, the way I had been training using the Maffetone method. I got water at the next aid station and kept going. There was no shade out here but it was on the greenbelt so the scenery was lovely. It was tall grasses and short trees full of birds and butterflies. I ran with a 70.3 veteran for a while and then we alternated running and walking. She was doing 4min on, 1 min off. I started thinking about my own plan, I didn’t want to be out in this hot sun any longer than I needed to be. Finally at mile 4 there was some shade! It was much needed and got me recharged. The next turn was headed to the park where the finish was. We would do 2 laps through and head for the finish chute. Mile 5 was my unforgettable mile. Cramping, nausea, panic, it hit me like a freight train! I was mentally prepared for this, but physically a wreck. I decided I was probably dehydrated, I had drank less water on the bike than I had planned. Maybe it was that Lara bar too, I didn’t train with those but couldn’t find bonk breakers to pack anywhere. I limped to the next porta john. I lost some time with this whole episode but managed to get some water in me, and when I started up again it was time to fuel. I was not in any state to put something in my stomach but I didn’t want to stray from my race plan. I walked and force fed myself GU. About 5 minutes later I tried to run and a few minutes after that I actually felt great again! I ran a full mile and grabbed some water. I walked again here. This seemed like a good way to pace myself so I decided to run to every aid station and walk for about a minute after I got there. When I passed the finish chute area I saw my family on the side of the path screaming and waving. There were people cheering everywhere in the park. I remembered to smile and that I was here to have fun! But before the next mile was up, I had some more gastro distress! I was so frustrated, I could barely walk but I had to keep going because if I didn’t make it to the next aid station I was literally going to explode!! By some force of digestive magic this feeling went away before I hit the mile 7 aid station and I gladly picked up the pace again. I saw Gabe walking his bike back on the bridge that crossed the Boise river. I snuck a quick kiss and congratulations in and kept running with a big smile on my face. The back side of the loop was quiet and had some nice views of the river and all the kids splashing and jumping off bridges into it. I drank at every aid station and poured water on my head too. At mile 9 I started to think how I was almost done. I laughed because 4 miles was still a long way! I flashed back to last year when I thought running 6 miles was amazing! I was feeling really good now and keeping my pace. I was trying to keep up the run after mile 12 so I could bring it in faster, but I was struggling so I slowed to a walk. Just then Kurt came up behind me (lapping me!)He was going at a break-neck pace! I asked him if he wanted to walk with me, and he asked me if I wanted to run with him. I told him to run on and I would see him at the finish line. I knew he was going for a good ½ marathon time(this was his first) and that he also wanted to make Mark proud. He handed me Mark’s smokejumper patch which he had velcroed to his shirt and booked toward the finish line. I squeezed Marks patch in my hand, his guiding spirit got me right here, to this moment in time, I was so grateful, and I wished out loud that he were with me. I knew he was beside me the whole time though, I started to run, and didn’t stop until I crossed the finish line. The volunteers were handing me all sorts of things and I couldn’t really even see straight. I wasn’t sure if I was going to faint. Then I saw Kurt waiting for me. We hugged, I had a big cry, and then we took a goofy 70.3 finisher photo! Our other friends and family were right outside the fence. I was elated, but also incredibly fatigued and sunburnt like I have never seen before! We all replayed the race over and over that night. I said I would never do it again. But of course, the following morning, I was talking about which 70.3 I would be doing next year!
One final note: While we were in Boise, Gabe held a fundraiser for The Wildland Firefighter Fund. Those folks helped us get out to Boise for Mark’s memorial services and they help other families like us, and firefighters in need. Team Yeti presented them with a $1300 donation. It was a great way to bring the race full circle. If you would like to know more about what they do, or find out more about smokejumpers and the amazing lives they lead you can visit
www.smokejumpers.com
and
www.wffoundation.org