St. Anthony's Race Report - Race Day

Alarm went off at 4am...eastern time...so that is 3am our time. Why so early? Well, parking in downtown St. Pete is a challenge and that is one thing that we did not want to worry about. And thankfully, it was not an issue. We just hopped into a parking garage and made our way to the race site. So if you ever do this race, get there super early - that way can park, get body marked and not have to wait in line for any of it!

The princess was right where I left her, safe and sound. I'm sitting there, staring at my transition zoning out I hear "Chloe?"...and it was the one and only ONEHOURIRONMAN!! It is always awesome to meet fellow bloggers at races! Bob was one of the amazing volunteers since he is tapering for IMSG!

Anyway, I get everything set up and turn on old red (my garmin). Beep Beep - low battery. Really? WTF. REALLY? I charged if before I left home, so I guess it was turned on in my bag. Sooooo I was going to race this tri blind. Totally blind because I didn't have my bike computer either. Awesome. I'm not going to let something small like that ruin my day. This is my first Oly, so no matter what this will be a PR!

Karen came back over to my bike and we made our way to the swim start which was close to a mile walk. In route, we decided to stop at this ritzy hotel so Karen could get coffee and I could use the restroom (not a port-a-potty). As I was waiting in line, you'll never guess who walked in!

Sister Madonna!! If you don't know about this 80 year old Ironman Nun - check out this article. Anyway, she said a prayer for all of us in the bathroom. I was so ready to race after that. :)

SWIM:
Thankfully I was in heat 10 of 32. So I took off about 20 min after the first wave. Still, this swim was tough. Lots of chop. Sideways waves are always fun. Thankfully, 1/3 of the race we where swimming with the waves - so I rode those as much as possible. I am thankful to be able to train in the gulf so I don't freak out when water conditions are not the best. Once I hit the stairs, I had to tread water for about 30 seconds or so until the men in the waves before me got out. Frustration.

Total swim time: 27:50

BIKE:
T1 was T1. Threw off my wet suit. Strapped on my shoes and took off. Total time 2:31. As mentioned in my last post, it was a great idea that we rode the course ahead of time. There where lots of turns and speed bumps. Since I had no clue at all how fast I was going - my only goal was chase all of the men that where ahead of me. Besides the pro and the elite, my wave was the first female to take off. So passing one guy at a time - I made my way. The wind was pretty random. Lots of head wind, some tail wind. But what can you do? Just put your head down and go.

Total Bike time: 1:16:05 avg speed: 19.6

RUN:
T2 was great. I could see how many girls had came in before me. Threw on my running shoes, grabbed a hammer gel (just in case) and took off. Total time 1:53. The run was an out and back through a great neighborhood. The water stations where full of awesome volunteers and thankfully the sun stayed behind the clouds for most of the time. Some families even came out to cheer us on as well as kids with their own water stations. Love it. Again, I was not quite sure how to race this distance, so I just chugged along.

Total Run Time: 50:29
Total Time: 2:38:45
15th out of 132 in my age group

After the race I made a bee line right towards to massage tent and had two amazing people work on my legs. Ahhh..I love the massage tent. But once again, this was an amazing race and I can't wait to race it next year. With a garmin. :)

Hope everyone had a great weekend and congrats to everyone who raced!!