Ellicott City, MD

The next triathlon was the Rev3 MD - the race I was gearing up for and wanted to requalify to be a pro triathlete. Stephen and I drove up to Ellicott City on Thursday. (Next time we will be sure to avoid DC at rush hour! ha.) The drive was gorgeous, as was the weather...until race morning! 80 degrees on Friday, but 40 degrees & raining by the time we entered the bike course. At the briefing on Saturday, the director mentioned we might want to take the time in T1 to put on arm warmers. Check! I put on arm warmers and had booties on my cycling shoes...yet I still literally froze on the bike. I felt like Lloyd & Harry in Dumb & Dumber, with my snot freezing down my face - ha.
A guy crashed right in front of me and I was so thankful to avoid him! I went down the next steep hill & at that point, my hands didn't work so I couldn't brake nor shift. At mile 15, I wasn't even half way (this Olympic bike course was 32 miles) and had a lot more hills to go down in the rain. I rode up to a policeman and asked him to stop me and hold my bike so I could get off. Ain't nuthin fun about quitting a race(!!!). I knew there was no way I could finish safely, so I told him I was done for the day. He told me to sit in his truck and turned on the heat. I shivered uncontrollably for 30 mins...and was soon joined by another lady. We stayed in his truck for 1:45 & and munched on my 2 Gu gels I taped to my bike (civilians, hotel shuttles, and rev3 vehicles were all picking up the serious hypothermia cases first). I felt bad for Stephen - I knew he'd be worried about me but there was no way to contact him. After 2 hours, a van with other shivering athletes made it back to the start line and I got some warm hugs from Stephen. Lessons learned for me: 40 deg + rain = full clothing including gloves next time. The big picture was that I was so thankful to return without injury/crash...and time spent with Stephen during the long weekend was fun and adventurous. Also, it was neat to be part of a race that so many cancer survivors were racing! Constant reminder of how thankful we all are to be able to just show up at the start line! Pics of Rev3 MD...



Warming my hands...

Yes my hands are in my armpits to stay warm! haha. I think she was telling me how crazy we all were! ha