29 September 2008

Ed Sanders Memorial CX




Let me just first say that on Saturday, I ran 20.8 miles in nasty, muggy, tropical weather. Well, I ran 20 and walked/limped .8. I then proceeded to lie on my couch for most of the remainder of the day second-guessing whether or not I'll actually finish this marathon. UGH. I hate running.

But I love biking! And I love Cyclo-cross! This is my second year doing CX races, and my first year that I've actually 'trained' for it, thanks to the cyclo-cross clinics put on by DCMTB and City Bikes. I was able to make 3 out of 4 clinics at Ft. Reno Park, only 1 mile from my house. The clinics were a big boost to my techincal abilities, and that definitely showed at Sunday's race.

With the exception of the mercury level, the weather was ripe for a cross race; it had rained steadily for the past 3 days, was overcast, a bit of a breeze, and the leaves were falling all around.

Fellow Bella Marisa and I headed out at a leisurely 10:30 am for Buckeystown, MD for a 1:30 race. It was so luxurious to do the afternoon race! When we arrived, the Lilyponds were alive with excitement. The men's race was in full force, the "back 9" section of the course had the beer garden atmosphere, and I saw alot of muddy bikes!

We headed out on the course for a warm-up lap, and as I thought I was riding over a big stick, I suddenly realized I'd just ran over a snake! I felt so bad when he slithered away, I really hope I didn't break his back. But then I was a bit freaked out about running into snakes on the course.....luckily that didn't happen.

I took my practice loop at an easy pace, and we came around the back side to the mud pit, two gals ahead of me slowed way down, I lost my momentum, and PLOP! I fell into the mud. It was gross, smelly, peanut-butter-consistency mud. UGH. I stopped and got the muck out of my gearing, and continued around the loop. The backside has 1 run-up and three or four great hills. There were 2 steep downhills, also covered in mud. This was going to be a scary course at full speed. I finished the loop, went and rinsed myself and my now-broken-in-Kona off, and headed to the start line.

As the 1/2/3 Women were lined up ahead of us 3/4 Women, the skies opened up and it started to pour. The juniors behind us started to cheer, but all I could think was that the course is already wet enough! It was a pretty big field, about 10 elite, and 20 of the W3/4.

I was at the back of the line-up, and had to fight past everyone to get to the front before the first turn onto grass; I was about 5 or 6 gals off the front. I raced my heart out on the first lap, and got all sorts of cheers on the back hills because I rode them every time--except one, where I got stuck behind a 12 year old junior girl and lost my momentum--which happened to be the exact place where Superstar Bella Dee-Dee Wingfield lapped me. Oh well!

I ended up racing alone for laps 2-4; I was about 2 minutes off the leaders and about 3 minutes ahead of the back of the pack. I just couldn't get my legs or my lungs to go any faster.

In the end, I was passed by 3 other elite, but I did slow down to let fellow teammate Melanie Swartz pass me at the finish.

I finished 6th in my race, which I think is an all-time high, and considering I highly doubt anyone else out there had ran 20.8 miles on Saturday, I'm quite pleased with my improvements over last season!

Unfortunately, I just found out that work is going to make me go to TN for some extra duty, so I'm going to miss a few more races, and this season I'll probably only be able to do 3 or 4 CX races total. Next year, though, I'm going to really focus on CX.


Results

Velo News article

Awesome Pic

1 comment:

The Lazy Triathlete said...

That sounds like a lot of fun!!! As you know the only good snake is a dead snake. If you did a 20 mile run, you can handle the marathon. I am the one that has been sucking lately!!