My friend Michelle was doing the Lawrence 5150 on Sunday
which was her “A” race for the
year. If you aren’t familiar with the
5150 it’s actually owned by Ironman.
It’s an Olympic distance race that consists of a 1.5K swim, a 40K bike and a 10K (so 51.5
“K”s…..get it). Anyway, the top 5
finishers in each Age group qualify for the Hyvee Championship race in Des
Moines, Iowa later in the year and Michelle’s goal was to qualify. Since it’s a
qualifier, the race also brings in several pros, which is always fun to see.
They also have shorter sprint race so I decided to do that
one. I could have done the longer bike and run, but I wasn’t ready for the
nearly mile long swim. My race was a 500
meter swim, a 13 mile bike and a 5k.
The race location is about an hour and 10 minutes from my
home. It’s kind of out of the way for
packet pickup so Michelle and I opted to pick up our packets race morning – which
meant trying to get there by around 5:15….which meant leaving home around 4:00
am. The 3:15 wake up is not pleasant,
but it always amazes me how awake and alert I can actually be on race day. So I
was up and out the door by 4:00 and headed to pick up Michelle.
We did manage to get there about 5:15 which was perfect
timing – transition/packet pickup started at 5:30 and there was quite a walk
from your car to the race location – around a half mile. We got our packets – they were out of my size
shirt – I’m supposed to get one mailed – we’ll see. We then got in line to pick up our chip
timers. It was just 5:30 and there was
already a line. They had one person handing out timers. This line would grow throughout the morning
and was huge by around 6:15 or so. I would have been panicked if we had gotten
there late. The race organization for
this race was not very good. I got to my transition area and set up all my
stuff and then looked around trying to find someone that was doing body marking. There was no one around. Normally at a tri they practically knock you
over trying to get you marked. I finally
asked someone and found out that there were only two people doing body marking
and they were outside of transition. Again,
another long line….again lack of organization. I don’t know if they didn’t have
enough volunteers or what.
The morning was actually beautiful. It was only about 65 degrees and not a cloud
in the sky. It would get hot later, but I would be done. We’ve had some unseasonably cool weather in
Kansas City the previous week which had dropped not only the air temperatures,
but also the lake temperatures. So this
race was wetsuit legal, which is pretty unheard of for a tri in Kansas City in
late July. The water temperature was 78.
Since I was only doing 500, I opted out of the wetsuit – assuming it
takes me more time to get out of it than it saves me.
The Swim:
Transition closed and Michelle and I headed down to the
lake. I wished her luck and we went our
separate ways. My group was the very
last to start. The pros went first, then
multiple waves of the 5150 then all the “sprint” men, and then finally all the “sprint”
women. This was the first race where I’ve
ever done with a swimming start. You
basically walk down a boat ramp and enter the water which is very rocky! You then swim over to a little area and tread
water until the buzzer goes off. You
burn a little extra energy treading water for about 5 minutes – but I guess you
could call it a warm up J
The race finally starts and as usual you find yourself in a
jumble of bodies - Hands, arms and feet everywhere. I finally got in a rhythm and found a spot
that wasn’t too jammed with people. All
of a sudden though I feel a huge swoosh of water right in front of my goggles I
look up to see two huge feet right in front of my face. The girl ahead of me was doing the breast
stroke and almost kicked me straight in the face. That’s the closet I’ve ever come to being
kicked in the head during a race. I got
out of her path quickly and kept on. I
finally reach the turn for the final stretch of the race and some of the faster
Olympic distance swimmers have caught up with me. All of a sudden what was fairly calm became a
little hectic. But before I knew it I
was done with the swim and heading into transition.
The Bike:
Hardest Bike EVER for a sprint race! Ok, just thought I’d start with that. I run into transition and grab my bike….my
tri bike (first actual race on the tri bike) and head out to the course. You have to mount on a hill….yes on a hill.
Now, I noticed this before the race thank goodness, so I had my bike in the easiest
gear. But many people did not. People were struggling to get started,
weaving, stopping, falling, it was quite a mess. I was feeling pretty proud as I passed most
of them and got up to speed quicker than many.
I was actually passing people – woot – I never pass people J I actually veered outside of the cones to get
around a big mass of people right at the start and then all of a sudden this
guy was basically veering right into me…I yelled “woah” and headed toward the
left where I ended up coming within about 2 inches of going off the road –
which would have been disastrous, but luckily I managed to keep it on the road.
My heart was racing of course, but I got myself back together and kept climbing…as
we headed out of the park and onto the main course. The course is HILLY. No other way to describe it. I have ridden tougher individual hills, but because
this course was hill after hill it was just incredibly taxing on the legs.
The Run:
I quickly change out of my helmet and shoes and throw on my
running shoes, visor and race belt and I’m out.
My transition times were actually pretty good during this race. The bad news is, my legs are toast! I mean toast.
I feel like I can’t run 3.1 feet, much less 3.1 miles! So, I start on the run up the basically ½ mile
climb. And before I know it I’m
walking! I hate walking in a 5k! Granted it’s up a hill and after a tough
bike, but still I keep telling myself it’s only 3 miles you can do it…but my
legs say NOPE sorry lady right now we need to rest. I kind of walk/run until I reach the top of
the hill and then I try to get going. I’m
still feeling pretty sluggish but at least I’m running and the hard part of the
run is over. Most of the run is pretty
flat. Of course running is not my strong
suit, so I get passed by a lot of people….as in most people. Anyway, the beauty of a ½ mile uphill start
is a ½ mile downhill finish. I run to
the finish and mile 3 is my fastest mile of the course! There is a little confusion at the
finish. I am running back toward the
park and the volunteer said “Olympic distance turnaround here!” – I said “But I’m
doing the Sprint” – he said “then go straight” which I did….and noticed I was
heading back into transition – I looked over to my left – there was the finish
line…ARGH……I had to then cross back across the parking lot to get back into the
finish line area. I finally cross the finish
line…glad to be done.  |
| Me & Michelle pre-race |
Overall, I still had fun.
That’s been my goal for racing this summer. Enjoy it and have fun. This was certainly not one of my favorite
races ever. As a matter of fact I would
put it up there with least favorite. I don’t think I will do this one again, but
still I can’t complain too much. I finished another triathlon and on my new tri
bike for a change!
I grabbed my medal and a few refreshments at the finish line
and then headed to get my results. I was
super excited when I saw I was 4th in my Age Group! That was my
highest finish ever. But then I found
out there were only 4 people in my age group….of course. I was bummed because I was that close to an
age group award by default – if just one of those girls hadn’t shown up I would
have won. LOL and I would have been thrilled to get it even if it was by
default. The other thing I noticed was
my bike speed. It listed me as 18.9
miles per hour! Say what? My fastest
bike ever was just under 17 mph….hey maybe that tri bike was magic? But then I started really thinking that there
was just no way on that course I just had my fastest bike ever. I went to the results area and asked “does
anyone else think their bike time is fast”.
My friend (who works for the timing company) said “it was a 16 mile bike
right”? No, I replied it was only 13….oh…the
miles were entered wrong, suddenly my stellar 18.9 mph bike ride was 15.3 mph –
that’s more like it.
After I got my “real” results I then headed to the finish
line to cheer on other athletes and wait for Michelle to finish. She didn’t feel like she had her best race
ever, but she did finish 3rd in her Age Group (out of way more than
4) and she did qualify for the Hyvee Championship which was her goal. So in the end it was a great day for both of
us!
 |
| Jack wearing my medal and trying to take all the credit again |
