RR: Escape from Ft. De Soto

Short version:
Not a great day. I could jump on the excuse train but in the end, I just wasn't well trained for this race. Trained to finish? Yes. Trained to excel? No. And I have no one to blame but myself for missing workouts.

The good news: there were no major hip problems.

A few more details:

This course is not well measured. You could forgive the 700yd swim because of the fog but rest of it is just laziness. This was a watch-only race. No bike computer because I normally use my Garmin and no Garmin because it's a huge pain in the ass for tris. After a 30 minute fog delay, I got to wait another 30 minutes for the privilege of starting in the last wave. The water was 71F but I swam without a wetsuit. The swim felt strong. I actually found a groove where I could feel the power of my stroke. Very cool. We swam into a current so I'm happy with 2:00/100yds. Then we have a long run to transition. The bike was relatively calm, only one annoying guy who wouldn't drop back when you passed him. As soon as your wheel crossed his, he would speed up, saying it was "inspiring him to ride faster". Glad your inspired Blocker Boy. But it's also illegal. Despite my lazy bike training, I dropped Blocker Boy and l pulled off a 19-20 mph average for the bike. Not too shabby.

Wait a second, good swim, decent bike, why am I disappointed in my race? Oh, right...

I didn't drink anything on the bike because I didn't want to mess with a bottle on a crowded course. Florida's humidity is not forgiving to people who race like a dipshit. Note to self: buy an aerobottle so you don't have to mess with it, idiot girl.

Back to the run...it was slow and thirsty. Only one water stop at the turn around. The first half was fine. It was hard to judge pace because the course was so wacky. The second half of the run climbs the fort and heads into soft sand. My hip flexors staged a protest so I backed off the pace and finished without injury. Not my most inspiring race but I'll take it! My husbadn Joe and Jarrod brought champagne for Sherri and I so that was a little bright spot.

Right now I'm battling a serious resurgence of last Monday's cold. A congested cough has joined the game. My voice is gone. It's all bad.

But I'm already planning the next race at the end of May. :)