Pelham Xterra

Knowing how important it is to get a good nights sleep before the race, I hit the bed by 10:30. However, my body was not ready to sleep and really didn't seem to be in any kind of rush to get to there. I flipped. I flopped. I read. I tried counting the RPMs of the overhead fan, but that just gave me a headache. The last clock check I remember was 3:30am! Nice, I have been lying here wide awake for 5 hours and the alarm is set to go off at 5am. At some point after 3:30 I fell asleep. Guess an hour and a half is better than nothing. However, around comes 4:30am and I am wide awake. Wooo Hooo, a single hour of sleep! That's just fantastic. I gave up on trying to sleep at this point, so I just got up and started getting ready.


Took a shower, ate some fruit and oatmeal, packed the car and off we go at 5:45am.


We arrive for the Xterra Southeast Cup!

Race starts at 7:30 so I am hoping to have plenty of time to get warmed up. Rebecca helps me get my transition set up. One goal for this race is to have a much better time in both transitions.


Not really sure where the time went, but I only got a 4 minute run and a 5 minute nap/warmup on the bike before they start calling for everyone to head to the water. Oh well, so much for a good warmup.


I jump in the water and get a few minutes of swimming around before the start. Water temps were nice, 72 degrees. Not too cold.


Just another quick nap before we start.


Can you spot the difference?

I need a wetsuit. Actually I think that no one should wear wetsuits, slow everyone down so that I have a little more of a chance in the water.

Off go the Pros.


Pro Craig Evans swims like a fish! JEEZ he is rapid.


Pro and 3 time Xterra World Champion Melanie McQuaid just checking her time while swimming. You can do that sort of stuff when you are Professional.


First 750 meter lap is done. One more time.


Two time Olympian and three time Xterra World Champion Conrad Stoltz finishing the swim and is about out to blow by everyone during the bike and run.


Finally, I finish the swim.


Thought I have a look and see how far in front I was everyone after the swim. Funny though, no one was there. Oh right, they are in front of me! Crap! Off to T1.


My T1 time was much better this time around. However, getting gloves on my wet hands created more of a challenge this race. The Oak Mtn. trail is a lot of fun. It's fast, yet rocky and rooty. A lot of the trail looks like this.


The last 2 mountain bike races I have attempted on the Oak Mtn. course have resulted with 2 DNFs because of 3 flat tires. I was determined to make it through the course without a flatting, so I upped the psi in my tires much more than normal.
About a quarter of the way into the bike, I hit the rear wheel a little hard on a rock and knew that I was in trouble. I rode conservatively the rest of lap and made it. Phew, no flats.

Coming through the blood rock section.


I get to the transition area and suddenly my spot becomes a needle in a haystack. I look left. Nope. I look right. Nope. Crap. Where is my stuff. I then spot it, an aisle over. Oh well, there's a waist of 30 seconds. I rush over to my spot, throw the bike on the rack and tear off my helmet, gloves and cycling shoes. Pop on my running shoes, which now have a nice set of glow-in-the-dark orange yankz, and race belt. T2 overall is ok, even with wasting time searching for my spot. Need to get an easy to spot neon green towel to put down so that I don't screw that up again.

Off I go for the 10k "trail" run.


The first mile or so of the run feels good while I am trying to settle into the running rhythm. And then all hell breaks loose and the freaking trail decides it wants to kill me. Steep straight up and steep straight down. I don't even remember how many times I rolled my ankles and thought I was going to really hurt myself. I was so not ready for that kind of "run". Next year I will focus my run training for this race by running up and down the carved side of Stone Mountain. That just MIGHT be steep enough.

I finish up the run and cross the line. I didn't do as well as I would have liked, but it is only my second race. Atleast I know a little more on what to expect. Till next year...






Thanks to Ruth F. for the heads up on the difficulty of the run and congrats too for winning her class!

A HUGE THANKS to Rebecca for helping me get all set up, cheering me on and taking all the pics.



Cheers...