hickory knob is quite simply one of my favorite races. yes, it's typically cold and late in the season when everyone is burnt out and fried but the course is absolutely beautiful and challenging. thanks to jeremy and raly and the whole setup crew for an amazing race and another fun triathlon season!with the physical roller coaster i've been on, it was probably a little crazy to do this race but i haven't raced since july and i was really itching to get in just one more before the season disappeared. i arrived at hickory knob late friday afternoon and met up with some of my go tri teammates for dinner. friday night pre-race pasta dinner followed up with a couple of beers - perfect! saturday morning it was 39 degrees when i woke up - brrrr! luckily the cabin was about 100 yards from transition so still in my pajamas i rolled my bike out to transition then went back to the cabin to get back under the covers with my coffee. i kept thinking it would warm up enough that i would actually get in a little warm-up but that just didn't happen. finally 10 minutes before the first wave was supposed to start i put on my wetsuit and headed to the swim start.
luckily the sun was shining and the lake was absolutely beautiful. i forced myself into the water to at least get in a little swim warm up (plus the fact they were making us get in to clear the dock). after floating around for about 15 min or so, it was time to start. my swim felt good - long, easy strokes and about 50 yards out i found the feet of the leader of my wave who i am guessing was some young collegiate swimmer. i stayed there until the last turn bouy - she took a wide turn and i cut in and we swam side by side all the way in. one of the toughest elements of this race is the run to T1. by the time i reached the top of the hill i thought my lungs might explode! those pictures should be lovely.
T1 was a disaster - i couldn't get my stupid wetsuit off and my feet were totally numb. ugh! starting off on the bike, i was really just hoping that everything was going to work properly since i hadn't ridden it after putting on the race wheels. oops! i think this is where the lack of warm up really hurt. i finally started feeling some power come into the legs around mile 8... of a 10 mile course. even though it was an out and back course, i wasn't paying any attention to if there were any women ahead of me or even how close any women were behind me - totally oblivious. within the last mile however, a girl FLEW by me... GOING UPHILL. YIKES! putting on my running shoes in T2 i still could not feel my feet and was wondering if this biking superwoman could run and more importantly, could i? in the first mile i had this constant argument going on inside my head... i had just blown up on a 5K a couple weeks prior so i knew i needed to keep myself in check but i was also anxious to close the gap on the girl ahead. the evil side won. i closed the gap fairly quickly - i considered just hanging behind her for a bit but again, the evil side won and i went right on by. amazingly, i felt pretty strong the entire run and was surprised and happy to finish 1st overall! post race i discovered robin aka "superwoman" is actually a professional cyclist which made me feel a smidge better about her crushing me on the bike. overall, my splits were not very impressive but 1st place was a nice way to end a frustrating and inconsistent triathlon season!
