Race morning started early, up a little before 5:00am. We stayed in the youth annex of a small church about 1.5 miles from the race start. The church provided cots and housed about 20-30 people the night before. They had bagels, PB, and bananas for us in the morning. So we woke up early, mingled with some of the other people racing and headed out to the race site by about 5:40. It was dark when we got to the transition area, we racked out bikes, set up or transition spaces and mingled around until the first swim wave (the pros) went into the water. As the sun started to rise you could tell it was going to be a gloomy day, which I was happy about since it wouldn't mean we'd have the hot sun beating down on us for the run.
Brandy, Jake and I were in the sixth wave to start the race. The swim leg of the race was held in the Prairie Creek Reservoir, water temperature as of 5:00am Saturday morning was 77 degrees, making it a wetsuit legal race. Lots of triathletes wear wetsuits if they can because it gives them extra buoyancy and makes the swim a bit easier for the less-experiences swimmers. None of us wore a wetsuit. I thought the water temp was perfect, nice and cool. When the beep went off the whole wave dove at once into the water. It took a couple minutes of bumping into/swimming over other swimmers to break away from the pack and get out to a point where we were a little more spread out. About half-way to the first turn on the swim course the front of our wave started to catch up with the stragglers from the previous wave. I exited the water in a respectable 36:48, which ended up ranking 141st of all of the swim times (there were a total of 597 people that finished the race).
My legs felt a little jello-y running up to the transition area. I tossed on my helmet, bike shoes and sunglasses and threw a couple Gu packets in the pocket of my tri suit and a powerbar on my bike. Ran out of the transition area and started the bike in the midst of a bunch of men. Women were severely outnumbered at the race with only 190 female finishers compared to 507 male finishers!
I had passed through quite a few people from previous waves during the swim, which was very obvious by the speed at which I was getting passed during the first few miles on the bike. The beginning of the bike course wound through a wooded area on a nicely paved bike path. I was cruising through this part of the course at about 20-21mph while still making sure I wasn't using too much leg, there was still 50 miles left to go! We turned out of the bike course and made our way onto IN-35 (the roads were closed for the race so there was no traffic to worry about). Within a couple miles on the open road the wind started to pick up. We had decently strong headwinds for most of the bike course. It seemed that every turn we made it always felt like the wind was in our face. At about mile 20 the skies opened up and the rain came beating down on us. It rained hard for a good chunk of the ride, and we heard one or two cracks of thunder, but the thunderstorm never really materialized. By mile 30 I was hurting pretty good and had been passed by quite a few people, I tried to stay in lower gears and use more cadence than muscle power to move along. The last 15 miles on the bike were probably the worst part of the race, looking back. My rear was incredibly sore from sitting in the saddle for over two hours and my legs were starting to tire. What made it even worse was the last 6 miles of the course were pretty rough and bumpy, not good on a sore bum. Total time for the bike course was 3:08:17 (average of 17.4 mph) and I have to say I don't think I've ever been happier to start running, I was sooo ready to get off the bike.
As I was rolling into the transition area I heard the announcer saying that the second place person was just finishing. I still had approximately two hours left and the pro men were already done. Not exactly uplifting, haha. The rain had let up and was simply just intermittent throughout the rest of the race. I didn't wear socks during the bike thinking it would be nice to put on fresh socks for the run. I didn't anticipate my socks would get soaked in torrential downpour, so during T2 I made the decision that wet socks weren't going to help much in preventing blisters so I might as well go without them. Note to self: for next race, bring a gallon-size ziplock bag to put shoes and socks in, just in case it rains.
I surprisingly didn't feel too bad starting the run, but I was mostly just happy to be off the bike. I took water at every aid station and just kept focusing on putting one foot in front of the other and making it to the next aid station, which were placed about a mile apart along the course. The course was an out and back layout so I saw people on their way in as I was making my way out to the 6.5 mile mark turnaround. Brandy and Jake had both passed me on the bike so I saw them heading the opposite direction while I made the turn. I kept a pretty decent pace (slow and steady 10 minute miles) until about the 8 mile mark when I started really recognize the pain in my feet. I could feel the tops of my shoes and my timing chip rubbing my ankles raw along with some choice blisters starting to form under the arches of my feet. I didn't want to walk, thinking if I did, I still had to make it the last five miles AND it would just take longer. With two miles left one of the trucks patrolling the course came up behind me, I moved over to let them pass and saw two guys (one about may age and one an older man) in the back of the truck, wrapped in blankets. Seeing those two being pulled out of the race made me want to finish even more so I kept pluggin along. I could feel my feet growing heavy and just about every emotion I think I had in me at the time starting bubbling beneath the surface in a mix of endorphins, excitement and exhaustion. I was getting SO close. The final stretch leading up to the finish line took us up a bit of a hill. I could see the people lining the street along the finish chute and it took quite a bit to not burst into tears as I entered the finish. I couldn't believe I had finally made it. I got to stop moving, and when I did my body just felt like a ton of bricks. My muscled ached and my feet stung. The run had taken me 2:19:02, which was respectable considering my time at the mini was 2:02:16. So, after 4 hours of previous racing I only added 17 minutes to my real mini marathon time, lol.
Total time for the race was 6 hours, 9 minutes and 17 seconds. I didn't quite break the six hour mark, which was my original goal, but I'm going to blame that on the weather ;) I'll definitely be back for more Muncie action next year. Despite the miserable weather, I had a great time and it was simply an AMAZING experience. I had no idea I could put my body through so much and it would rebound like it has.
I was sore and shaky pretty much the whole rest of the day, which was to be expected. I woke up feeling a bit more sore Sunday morning, but it faded fast leaving me feeling pretty good and considering doing other races. But, for now I'll give myself time to rest before the next race.
