Blacktail. The Return Trip.

Last year I quit the Blacktail Triathlon after the swim. It was 32 degrees at the start... windy... and snowing. No lie. Snowing in September in E Idaho. Who would've thunk it. (haha) I'll have to admit... 'THE HILL' scared the hell out of me too, and so there was no way I was going to be freezing cold, miserable, AND in pain. That whole race has haunted me throughout this year (see that picture? that's not too far off the memories in my brain!), so I was shocked to see myself on Active.com a month ago signing up to do it again. Must've been a schizophrenic moment...

So, this morning the alarm sounded at 5:30. The husband rolled over and I stumbled into the bathroom. Twenty minutes later I was on the road... driving towards Blacktail. What in the @$%Q was I thinking? Actually, I was having second thoughts the whole way... still haunted by last year's experience... and 'THE HILL.' Plus, I'll admit I've been feeling incredibly burned out. So I wasn't too thrilled about doing the race in the first place.

But... for some odd reason I kept driving. Lincoln Road turned into Blacktail Road and I was looking at all those "rolling hills" (those aren't rolling hills.. they are big hills to a big woman) and I started thinking, "this isn't that bad. It's not as bad as I remember it looking last year!" Then, I drove down 'THE HILL' to Ririe Reservoir. As I started the descent in the hubby's nifty minivan with the Orbea strapped to the back, the sign pointed out the obvious: 12% grade. Here's how the conversation in my head went after I saw that sign:

"The reservoir is waaaaaaaay down there."
"I can see Rexburg!"
"Damn. There's the Tetons. Straight across from me."
"Uh. That reservoir looks pretty small. It looked big on the map."
"Ok Smitty. Stop it."
"Now."
"The glass is HALF FULL, not HALF EMPTY".
"There are a few more switchbacks than I remember from last year."
"Look at this spot right here... a nice little area with only an 8% grade or so. I can rest here. It's about half way."
"Hmm. The bottom. It's only a little over a mile."

I got to the bottom. I thought...

"OK. I'm gonna do this. I did Spudman. That was a big hill. I can do this."

Besides... the weather was certainly a whole lot better than last year. The sun was out... and you could actually see the surrounding mtns (last year all I could see was the snowflakes hitting me in the face!).

One problem... Not much water! Well... enough to boat on, but it was a ways away from transition area. It'd be a short hike through the deep mud, across the rocky shore, through the stickerbrush and up on the grass. Oh. It was also pretty shallow in parts. That helped a few "non-swimmers". One dude in the Olympic race must've walked half of it! Haha. Good for him! Attaboy. Me? I like the swim. I need the swim. I need the headstart. Unfortunately for me, I think the course was "a bit" (OK, a lot) shorter than 1/2 mile. I'm thinking it was about 500-600 yds. Oh well. I was 2nd person out of the water... in about 7:30. Up to T1 in 8:45ish.

T1 was smooth. I passed the person ahead of me.. and off I went on the bike... up 'THE HILL'. Holy bejesus. About 1/3 way up, I got a NASTY cramp in my right calf. Ooooouuuucccchhh!. I dismounted, stretched... walked about 50 yards... and pounded my fist against my rock hard calf (wish I could say it was natural muscle... but it isn't. still got that fat!). I hopped back on and pedaled my way to the top. The girl and two guys passed me on that walking fit... and then one more dude slowly went by me after I remounted... but then no one else passed me on the bike. I was happy getting to the top of the hill, but the work had just begun. The rest of the bike portion was literally up and down... but I felt good. I brought the Orbea so I had some good bike control. There was a pretty good headwind going out - nothing too serious, just annoying. I even PASSED a guy on the return trip! Yay for me! hahaha. little things make me happy. My bike split wasn't too great, but I didn't DIE coming DOWN the hill so I was happy! Oh how I hate speed!

T2 was good. I felt it was pretty fast for me. The run was an adventure. Around a parking lot... up part of 'THE HILL' and then UP a trail and DOWN (oh that was steeeeeeep) the trail, up and down and around the sagebrush, rocks, rattlesnake holes (ok. I didn't see any. But I sure imagined them there. Kept me running, actually), through the tall grass and ruts from last week's rainstorm.. and back to the transition area. Three loops. You know... it wasn't bad. I typically don't like running loops. But I actually liked this run. I had "targets" I looked ahead to (like that steep decline) and that made the run go by faster. Yah. I still walked a bit. But I still hovered around a 9:30 mile pace so I was happy with it - especially considering the hills. A girl passed me in the last 400 yards... I didn't care. I was actually surprised the finish line was coming up so quick!

End Result: 1:31 time. 3rd overall female. 1st Athena.

Blacktail isn't so bad. I actually LIKED it.

HA!

AND... I WON THE GRAND PRIZE IN THE RAFFLE! A 400 dollar DeSoto T1 wetsuit! What every swimmer needs! SaWeeeeet!

That's it for the 2007 Tri Season. I'll think of some marvel thoughts and post 'em later. Nascar's on. Gotta watch TV.