Sometimes you wake up for a workout or a race and you just aren't feeling it. I returned to this race hoping to drop some significant time off my previous year's 4.5+ hour result. This course has defeated me and I was determined to tackle it. Yet, I wasn't feeling it this day, and should've known the day wouldn't end well.
I actually had a really good swim, 0:33:25 for the 1500 meters. Not bad at all. 6 minutes in transition is nothing to sing about, but I was dreading this bike course (see last year's race report for an explanation). I headed out on the bike, slowly but surely making my way up the first hill, up the second hill... and on the third hill, just as I'm approaching the top, the person (I don't even remember if it was a girl or a boy) went to replace the water bottle in its cage... and missed. The water bottle fell and landed right under my front tire. I was too out of it from climbing up these mountains to have any chance to swerve and avoid it, and so my bike went down slamming my elbow into the pavement. ouch.
I got my first ride in an ambulance back to transition, upset about the incident but I'm sure there was a part of me slightly relieved to have an "out" for the day. It was raining and the ambulance dropped me off and quickly rushed out to another crash. In fact, I later heard that many cyclists were held up as one crash was so bad a helicopter had to be called in. Geez, dangerous conditions on that type of course no doubt. I had Joann's car and the plan was that Jon, Joann, PD, Dan and Brock (Chris' friend, visiting from Atlanta) would come up later, and I'd be able to return home with Jon. Well, this put a damper in the plan and Joann was the first person I could get in touch with. She rushed out to Columbia to collect me, and eventually her, PD, Jon and I had breakfast at Eggspectations in Columbia. Good food but what a terrible, rainy day. Yuck.
Jen: 0
