Too Much Information Running Through My Brain

 Okay. time for a race report. It was the State Road Race Championships last Saturday. It was my 2nd race in 4 days and I was pretty banged-up from my crash at the mountain bike race. It was also the 3rd road race I had done all year. I went into it knowing I wasn't going to be very strong, but I like to support the local races whenever I can.

This race is located in Riverside, one of the nerdiest towns in Iowa.

Right before I was supposed to start the race, my tire blew-up and made the loudest BANG! I've ever heard. So, I got to be embarrassed, but luckily, John heard it, saw it was me and followed me to the car to put a different wheel on it for me.

There were only 2 other women in my race, which meant I would podium no matter what. So, I felt no pressure to kill myself riding my heart out. Plus, I got my period in the middle of the race. I know, some might say that is too much personal information, but that's what blogs are all about. If we weren't going to give out too much info, we'd get a damn Twitter account instead, and it's all part of being a woman athlete...Anyway, having my period can make me weak and tired and make my legs ache. That race was no different. I just didn't have the strength or energy to compete.

One of the women was really fast and strong she took off early. I got dropped up the first big hill, and then caught up to the second woman not too long after that. I asked, "Do you want to take turns pulling?" and she said, "Yes, please!" I went out in front and pulled. She was 23 years younger than me and pretty tiny, so she was better at the uphills and I was better at bombing the downhills. We came upon the first girl who had dropped her chain and a sheriff was helping her getting it back on. She passed us pretty easily. The second girl jumped on her wheel, but I knew I couldn't keep up that pace. The second woman, slowed down and let the first woman go and we continued to take turns pulling. We came across two of the junior boys and they weren't working together or at all aware of where they were on the road. They were going pretty slowly, so I came up behind them and said, "on your left". They let me go by, but then tried to jump on my wheel. I heard the second girl say, "I've got her wheel. We're racing together," and one of the boys yelled, "shot-gun".

As we got about 200 meters from the finish, the second girl attacked. I knew I didn't have it, so I let her go, but then thought, "I might as well put in an effort", so I pedaled faster and couldn't catch her, and got third out of three. I was fine with that. The second woman and I recorded an average speed of 19.4 mph for the 32.7 miles we rode and that's pretty fast for me.

We met some of our friends for lunch after the race. It was great to see them, but both John and I were fried from the race and the heat. It was about 90 degrees out there with no shade. So, we went home and slept for a couple of hours and I was STILL tired when I woke-up. Luckily, I had enough energy to make a vat of fresh salsa with many garden items my co-workers brought in work this week. It was delicious.