Beer as prizes!

A month ago I did the medium length race in this series and came 3rd. I wrote all about it for 220 triathlon magazine, due out in the shops next week. I can’t wait to see it! This month everything was back to normal. I got a lift down with a friend from my club. We left Edinburgh in an unexpected snow storm and were wondering whether we would ever make it before the race started!

Favourite quote of the journey: “Well, I like wearing my tights because, er, because they’re tight”
Favourite tune of the journey: something funky from Austin Powers!

At the venue there was no snow in sight, it was even sunny on occasions :-).

Apart from standing on my already rather ripe and squishy banana, my pre-race prep was uneventful. Soon I was on the start line, the hooter was going and we were off! This time I didn’t wobble. The bike leg was good fun, but in contrast to the last race, I lost sight of the two leading women fairly early on. I’m not sure why – but I didn’t quite have my normal race mojo. However, I’ve been concentrating on run training recently and was also a bit tentative (even more than usual!) on the downhills. My hip is still a sore from my heavy fall a month ago and I didn’t want a repeat incident. Having said that, I still had fun and loved the single track through the trees. Then the marshals gave me such a cheer I even manged to get up the final steep bank. Success!

My transition was terrible! I fumbled with my shoe laces and changed my mind about what to wear on the run. Eventually I set off again. A key aim for me in this race was to test my running. Last time I felt like I plodded round but this time I intended to race. The first part of the course undulated but we were soon heading up and up. We picked our way along a narrow mossy bank and wove through tightly packed spindly trees. Great fallen tree trunks across the route added some spice and made my legs ache even more! We turned round at a memorial stone with a lollipop as evidence we’d been there!

This course was an out and back, so I could see where all my competitors were. Shona and Jo were already well ahead and the next two girls were about 3.5 minutes behind. I wasn’t sure if this would be enough and it spurred me on! I did my best on the tricky technical bits, felt like I swooped through the trees and made a conscious effort to pick the pace back up on the ‘easier’ sections. I struggled for about 10 mins at one point, but then got my second wind and really surged for the last 10 minutes. Sprint finish as a matter of principle!

I was 3rd lady again, with 1st about 5 minutes ahead, but I also held my lead over 4th. Overall, I was very pleased with my efforts and cheerfully collected my finisher’s creme egg and another podium beer for Andy 🙂

Success for our club – Jo was 2nd female and overall series winner, Chris tied for 3rd in the senior male series and Glen (my lift!) finished well inside 10 minutes of me 😀