Best news of the week: I survived our respiratory/immunology
module! Since I’m in denial about studying for our two Neurology RATs next
week, I will right a quick update about my recent races. I traveled over to
Smithfield, VA with a lot of my Endorphin teammates for a sprint triathlon last
weekend and raced the Monument Ave 10K yesterday.
Smithfield Triathlon
Traveling Alone: I really never
go to races alone. I’m fortunate to have family and friends who travel to races
with me and provide me with race support. My father recently handed over his
title of “general manager” to Tim, who now provides various race-related
support including, but not limited to, taking me out to buy water bottles,
electrical tape, and other things I forgot to pack, making late night trips to
Target to obtain candles to cover up the smell of smoke in cheap hotel rooms,
and generally reminding me that my self-worth is not based on my race results. Unfortunately,
my general manager has a day job, and it’s one of the most intense day jobs
around: 1L. So while Tim stayed home to outline Constitutional Law and
Contracts, I drove myself, alone, to Smithfield. Heading over to the race, I
was a bit worried about the drive. I mostly travel by bus, foot, bike, and
carpool, so I am really not used to solo driving. I also have no sense of
direction and get lost whenever I travel outside of (and sometimes within) a
five-mile radius of home. The night before the race, I printed out paper
directions, went over them multiple times while looking at a map, and set the
GPS as backup support. Being directionally challenged is no joke.
Pre-Race: Due to
my superior pre-night prep, I made it to Smithfield without getting lost. Pre-race
prep went smoothly, and the only real snafu of the morning was that I missed
swim warm-up because I had no idea that they would close the pool 25 minutes
before race start. Also, I had to race as a 25 year-old (I turn 25 in
November), which was difficult considering I haven’t even gotten used to being
24 yet.
Swim: Not much to
say here. It’s always a little depressing when you’re faster in practice than
in a competition. Of course, I did have to pass someone, and the lack of
warm-up didn’t help. The swim was over quickly, and I was onto the bike via the
slip-and-slide (aka muddy) transition.
Bike: While I was
not pleased about the inaccurate swim seeds for the pool swims, my slow seed did
provide me the opportunity to pass a lot of people on the bike. The fun in
training and racing for me lies primarily in the opportunity to compete. My
friends and I played a lot of games growing up, and my friend Amelia had this
one where there was no winner. Amelia, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry, but I
just never understood the point of that game. I could not wrap my head around why
someone would design a game with no winner. Now I’m not sure if my love of
competition comes from nature or nurture (Rechel family badminton tournaments
and Gast Family Christmas Eve bowling tournaments are probably some of the more
intense competitions I’ve ever experienced), but I just like to compete. I have
more fun losing in a close competition (bananagrams with my dad) than in
winning something where there is no competition (the game SET with my dad,
although demolishing him in SET does wonders for my ego). My point in this
digression is that I had more fun passing people on the bike than I would have
if I had been near the front doing a solo time trial devoid of nearby competitors.
I averaged 10 watts higher than I did on the same course in 2010, and I
remember making myself hurt on the bike a lot more that year. This year, I felt
like I was still getting used to the feeling of going fast with fewer watts on
my new triathlon bike, so I think I could have held a higher average.
Run: I slogged
through the first mile of the run while my stomach was having a fit but managed
to pick up the pace for the last two miles and finally break the post-bike
18:00 barrier (17:44). It was really helpful to see so many of the Endorphin
juniors during the out-and-back run course. I’ve had the opportunity to train
with a lot of them, and they’re a great group of athletes. I ran 18:44 on that
course three years ago when I was in excellent shape with UR track, so I was pretty
excited that I dropped a minute on the same course even with my stomach
problems.
Monument Ave 10K
Yesterday, I raced in my second Monument Ave 10K. I don’t
really have much to say about the race except that I hit a consistent pace in
nearly every mile except mile 5, which was a bit of a flop. I finished in 35:12
after winning a sprint finish with an Ethiopian. I ran with her for most of the
last mile and said good job to her after the race, but she did not so much as
look at me in response. I’m not quite sure if she didn’t speak English, if
Ethiopians have a different cultural perspective on sportsmanship, or if she
was just really mad that I beat her at the end. The incident sort of took me
off guard because runners
at road races are usually a really friendly bunch, even if they are complete strangers.
In the end, I was the first Richmond woman and came home
with the promise of a $500 check just in time to pay taxes on the $300 I won
for second place last year. Notably, my favorite 1L dropped 2 seconds from his
time last year despite considerable school-induced time constraints on
training. He makes his triathlon debut of the season in 2 weeks!
Back to the books,
Julie
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