From time to time, Swim Bike Mom features awesome folks and their race experiences in the form of official guest posts.  If you are interested in sending in your story for consideration, please email SwimBikeMom at Gmail.com. But you must include photos. We all like pictures. Preferably bad wetsuit pictures and hideous finish line photos.  They make us all part of the bad race photo club. However, none of these apparently apply to Miss Sara’s awesome photos, below!


Another semi-requirement is the fact that you cannot just be a super-duper athlete who fell out of the sky with gifts of triathlon from the gods.  Swim Bike Mom requires some motivational stories, people!  This is an underdog blog!  


The below post is from Sara in California.  Sara and I found each other by accident (much like I found triathlon) via this blog, and turned out we were both competing in our first Oly distance races on the same weekend – me at St. Anthony’s, and she at Wildflower Olympic distance.  Sometimes, in my darkest “i can’t do this” moments… I would think of Sara.  Even though we have never met, I felt like could keep going…because she  was so inspiring (or would yell at me or make nasty blog comments). 

Here’s her story!  
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Hello SwimBikeMom readers!  Meredith and I both completed our first Olympic triathlons on opposite sides of the country on the same day (May 1), and she graciously invited me to be a guest blogger and relate my race day experience.  I am flattered and honored to be invited, and I hope you enjoy my post! 
Before I start, I want to say thanks to Mere for being “here” on the internet for me to read, laugh, and stress along with on my own journey.  While we have never met, I feel like I know her well because we have a lot in common.  I am so proud of her race and her dedication and willingness to push through everything that might hold her back and ROCK St. Anthony’s like she did!
Wildflower Olympic Course – May 1, 2011
Lake San Antonio, California
The Wildflower Triathlon is called the “Woodstock of Triathlons” because most of the athletes and spectators camp at the lake, given the total absence of hotels in the area. The event really started for me on Friday, April 29, since that was the day we drove to the Lake. My packing list for camping plus triathlon was crazy long!  Friday we drove to the site (about four hours), set up camp, and walked to the lake to pick up our packets.  The camping area was about 1.5 miles from the lake and up a huge hill so we knew we wouldn’t want to do that walk often!
Saturday was race day for 4 of the 8 people in our group.  Two were doing the mountain bike course (.25 mile swim/10 mile mountain bike/2 mile run) and another two were doing the long course (1.2 mile swim/56 mile bike/13.1 mile run).  

The other 4 of us walked to the lake to see them all off on the swim and stayed to watch their transitions to bike, then we decided to head back to camp to eat lunch and rest since we all had our big race the next day.  

The long course run went very close to our camp, so we watched the long coursers slogging away at mile 9 of the run all afternoon – looked painful!  We had a hot dinner ready when our two long coursers came back around 6:30 after finishing their race, to make up for the fact that we didn’t walk down to the finish to cheer them in (since we were all dreading walking up that big ole hill again before our race). 
It was great to watch so much of the races on Saturday, since it definitely psyched me up for my race on Sunday.  I could also get used to the flow of the transition area, since my entrances and exits would be the same.  Plus, lots of time for expo shopping (I got a hat, a t-shirt, and some Yankz laces)!
I did not sleep well Friday or Saturday night….it got very cold in the tent and my face would freeze enough to wake me up.  AND… giant trucks came around to emptied the port-a-potties (not complaining!) and sprayed down the dusty roads and such.  Usually around 3:30 I would wake up, then again around 4:30, and again around 5:30.  So when 6:00 rolled around on Sunday morning I didn’t feel particularly well-rested, though I was happy to be able to get out of bed and start getting race-ready. 
Sunday morning dawned cold, clear, and still.  Gone was the wind that had been around the prior two days, which was awesome.  I had packed up my gear the night before, so all I had to do in the morning was drink some coffee (priority #1!), put my numbers on my shirt and bike, and eat some breakfast.  We had to be in the transition area by 8 AM, but our waves all started between 10:20 & 10:40, so we also packed some second breakfasts to eat while we waited – mine was a pb&j sandwich.
The four of us doing the Olympic course biked down the big hill to the race site.  This was our first look at the hill we’d be biking up right after the swim, since when we walked we took a dirt trail instead.  It was about a mile long and steep, definitely the hardest hill on the whole bike and right at the beginning – yikes!  But I’m glad I got to see it first, so I knew what it looked like and that it would eventually end.
We found our spots, racked the bikes, met up with three more friends from our gym also in the race, laid out our transition areas, got body marked, and sunscreened.  Then I realized my timing chip was all the way up at the campsite.  Crud.  Luckily, they were able to replace it – I was not the only one who made that mistake!  We had lots of time (too much!) to mill around and wait, so we all busied ourselves with what we could – drinking water, snacking, etc.
Finally, our wave times were close.  We weren’t close to each other in the transition area (there are thousands of people in the race, so it was a huge area), so we went our separate ways to get our body glide and wetsuits on, goggles and swim caps together, and get ourselves down to the swim ramp.  After doing the ‘wetsuit dance’ I got my swim cap & goggles and went down the ramp.  Of course I still had my sunglasses on, so I had to go back to my transition spot to drop them off.  Oy.
I found my friends and wished them luck.  Two of them were in my age group, but I was starting five minutes after them.  Wave after wave started.  I spotted my friends who raced the day before and tried to smile for the camera.  I was not particularly nervous about the race as a whole, but I was looking forward to getting in the water and starting! 
5…4…3…2…1…go!  I wait a few beats and enter the water after most of the rest of my wave.  I am a decent swimmer, but I don’t like the melee at the start so I tend to start behind and pick my lanes to swim past the slower people in my wave.  My new sleeveless wetsuit works like a charm – no more tired arms, and I don’t get that suffocating & overheated feeling I sometimes get in my old full wetsuit.  I stopped to rest and look around more than I wanted to, but I was really wanting to stay calm and save my energy for the bike and the run.  I swam the .9 mile course in 31:29, which was about how long I thought it would take. 
I “run” up the hill to T1, strip my wetsuit, put on my shirt with my number, socks, shoes, gloves, and helmet.  Eat half a Luna Bar.  Stuff my tri short pockets with Shot Bloks.  Grab my bike and I’m off.  4:53 in T1.  Not fast, but probably 2:00 of that was in transit between the water & bike, and to the bike out gate.
Going into the race, I felt least trained for the bike, and was dreading it the most.  I knew I could swim a mile.  I knew I could run/walk 6 miles.  


But I was nervous about the bike, which had the reputation of being very hilly and tough.  The first mile did not disappoint.  Steep hill, 1 mile straight up.  Ouch.  I was glad to see a friend at the top cheering me on! 
The rest of the bike was way more fun than I anticipated.  Beautiful country, rolling hills, but only maybe two tough uphills and they weren’t anything close to the first one.  


Lots of nice words from other racers (and I tried to give some too).  I even found myself pushing myself to go faster, which is odd for me – I felt like I had the energy, and I wanted to get off that bike.  I tried to concentrate on drinking lots of water, especially in the first half of the bike, and eating Shot Bloks so I had energy for the run.  The bike took me 2:04:01, again about what I expected, and I was so relieved to finish that ride and find I had enjoyed it!
T2 took me 2:52.  Probably half of that was getting from one end of the area (bike in) to the other (run out).  I changed my shoes, stripped my gloves and helmet, put on my hat, grabbed a little water, and took off.  My feet were asleep from the bike (I’m still working on changing my shoe angle and position on the bike to prevent that, but obviously haven’t fixed it yet!) but I tried to ignore that and push on to the running.
The run started out up a set of stairs (ouch!) but then rolled along on a trail by the lake for a while.  Small uphills and downhills but nothing major for the first half.  I mostly ran this part slowly, with some walks up some of the hills.  There were water stops and guys with hoses every 1-2 miles, which was awesome.  By this time it was about 1:30 in the afternoon and the weather was starting to be a real factor for me.  I think it was probably between 75 & 80, but there wasn’t much shade or breeze, and there was a lot of dust kicking up.  Most of the walking I was doing was not so really because my legs were tired, or because my lungs were tired, I was just trying manage my body temperature so I didn’t poop out at the end.
At about mile 3, there was a major uphill to the upper level road that went past the campgrounds.  It was a brutal hill.  Not super steep, but long (1+ mile I would guess), with zero shade and zero wind.  Blech.  I walked a lot of that hill.  I used the reflector markers on the side of the road, and tried to run two and walk one.  I chatted up some other racers and just generally tried to pass the time.  I was SO glad to see the top of that hill at about mile 4!  One more mile of small rolling hills on a very dusty trail, one mile of downhill on a road (the same road I rode up at the start of the bike, and down at the end of the bike) and I was approaching the finish line! 
I estimated that I was going to finish the race in about 4 hours.  When I got close enough to read the clock and could subtract 2:35 from the time (since I started 2:35 after the clock started) I saw I was about 20 seconds from 4 hours.  I pushed hard to try to get in under 4 hours but missed it by 14 seconds with a run time of 1:16:59.  12:24 pace on the run, yikes that is slow but I was DONE and SO PROUD of myself. 
My friends were all waiting at the finish line to cheer me in, which was so great (plus they took great pictures for me), and just as great was the cold wet towel the race volunteers handed me when I crossed the line, and the delicious water and Gatorade recovery drinks they gave us.  Total race time 4:00:14, in what I have heard is one of the toughest Olympic courses around, and I was super happy to be done.  I was 113th in my age group, out of 156, with a faster than average swim and slower than average bike & run.  My friend Leah finished 13th in our age group, she is super fit and super fast and I’m guessing there are some age group medals in her future because she is also super motivated.

We crashed on the grass for a long time and snacked.  Someone handed me a beer, which I drank along with two different recovery drinks (the chocolate shake tasting one from Gatorade is pretty yummy!).  I bought a hat from the expo.  By the time we were ready to motivate the road was open, and a couple of the racers from the day before walked up to the campsite to get the vans.  Thank GOODNESS because I could not see walking that 1.5 mile hill with my bike and all my stuff!  We drove back up to our campsite, took some pictures, tore down the tents, crammed the vans, and headed out.
What a weekend!  I am so grateful to my friends (Downtown Oakland YMCA represent!) for being awesome athletes and great friends and camping buddies.  Especially my friend (and bad ass bootcamp instructor) Kym, with whom I relayed this very course in 2003 (I think).  At the time, we looked at people doing the whole Olympic, and people doing the whole long course (half-iron distance) and said “Look at those crazy people, we will NEVER do that!”  


This year, we were the crazies – me on the Olympic, and her on the long course – and I’m so glad we get to keep sharing this wonderful journey with each other.
I am looking forward to doing more Olympic distances this summer, perhaps without the camping and on slightly flatter courses!  I am not signed up for any yet, though I am signed up for a bike ride around Lake Tahoe (~70 miles) and the half-Aquabike at the Vineman race weekend (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike – basically 2/3 of a half-ironman, I guess that will make me a 1/3 ironman?).  

I’m not ready to join Mere on her half-Ironman quest, but I will keep watching and supporting her, and I so appreciate her support, humor, and general badassery!

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Sara, you rocked it!  Thanks so much for sharing!! We are so proud of you!!!!



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