Scarborough Tri Race Report

1/3 mile ocean swim
15 mile bike
3 mile run

This was the most fun I’ve had in a tri all season. First, it was super fun to compete on old stomping ground. Scarborough is the town adjacent to Cape Elizabeth (my home town) and we frequented Scarborough Beach in high school. It has great sand and great waves. Second, my friends Alina and Heidi and Alina’s oldest, Maria, came to cheer Ange and me on. They even had a sign that read Go Mary on one side and Go Ange on the other! It was great. Third, Ange and I were right next to each other in transition AGAIN. Not the same rack—we are talking right next to each other! She was number 65 and I was 66. Something is clearly going on here. Finally, the surf was up, baby! Not just a little up--we are talking six and seven feet waves up. It was nuts! It was so fun!

I admit I was a little gun shy about the swim when I arrived. At the Cohasset Tri we had to run into the surf and the first buoy was only about 200 yards away. I immediately got trapped under bodies as people punched and kicked their way to that first buoy, and I panicked. This was the same kind of run start into the ocean, but the first buoy was much farther out (thank GOD) and so people spread out once we dove into the waves.

The first part of the swim was crazy. It’s hard to even call it swimming. I would take a few strokes, get knocked backward by a wave, stand up and try again. I felt like I was swimming (or flailing) in place! It has been reported by Alina and Heidi that Ange did the BUTTERFLY to get through the waves. I know you all know she is a kick ass swimmer, but what you may not know is that her when in college, her events were the 200 fly and the 400 IM. If you paid me 100 bucks I’m not sure I could complete a 200 fly! Anyway, apparently doing the fly through the waves worked, because she had one of the fastest swim splits of the day. I think she must have done a few strokes, then dove under a wave, and then emerged swimming the fly again. Pretty cool.

Once I finally got to the first buoy I did okay too. It was smooth sailing then. We were out far enough so that we rolled with waves before they crested, and we were with the current, moving right along. It was hard to sight, though. The huge swells got in the way of viewing the buoys. When I finished swimming and tried to run the final steps to the beach, the ocean totally played with me. A wave crashed on me and I lost my balance and the current just pulled my feet in every direction. It was horrible and hilarious at the same time. Finally I stumbled to the sand, and then began peeling my wetsuit off as I tried to run through the deep sand to the boardwalk. I saw Alina and Heidi cheering for me. That’s all I needed to get me to pick up the pace and get my game face on!



(That's my game face... ha ha)
My transition was a little slow. We had to stuff everything into a plastic bag with our number on it so it could be transported to the finish since this was a point to point race. I got distracted when I noticed Ange left her green transition towel out, so I stuffed it in her bag before pulling my bike off the rack and running out.

There was a long stretch of hard packed sand to travel over once we were allowed to mount our bikes. I am a sand wimp! I am still so new to biking that I haven’t forgotten what it’s like to lose control of the bike and fall. One poor woman was behind me as I slowly moved through the sand. I think she didn’t dare to pass me because of the sand and because the path was narrow, but I still didn’t pick up the pace. I just crawled until we got to the road.

When I finally made it to the pavement I got up in my saddle and cranked! The girl behind me passed me immediately though, probably so filled with pent up anger at my slow pace that she couldn’t control herself. A minute later I flew past her again. She was a woman, and so therefore I had to pass her. That is the rule.

I passed a bunch of men. I rode past Mark, Ange’s husband, and he recognized me and said hi. I went on passing men for awhile. I knew that I was one of the first in my wave out of the swim, so I figured I must be doing well as no women had passed me on the bike yet. I was just having this thought when a woman sailed past me like I wasn’t even moving. Woah! I knew immediately who it was—this woman Carrie who lives in Cape Elizabeth and is a scary good cyclist. I tried to go after her, but that was a joke. Soon she was just a dot in the distance. No one else passed me until the end when one other woman passed me. It was Allison, a friend of Ange’s and another awesome cyclist. I knew I would beat her in the swim. I was hoping to hold her off on the bike until at least the run, though. She is an awesome cyclist but an even better runner.

By my count I was in fourth for woman at the end of the bike. Ange was first out of the water and I knew I probably wouldn’t see her for the rest of the race. I did not. I had passed the pissed chick early in the bike—still not sure who she was. I passed another woman close to the end of the bike who I knew was Bernadette, an awesome swimmer who had, predictably, kicked my ass in the swim. Carrie and Allison, as predicted, stormed past me at lightning speed after I beat them in the swim. The 40-44 women started three minutes behind us, so I knew I probably wasn’t a TRUE fourth, but it was fun to pretend.

The run started downhill. Wahoo! I was flying! I hit the first mile. 5:52. What? Okay, I was flying, but I have never down a 5:52! I felt great until I realized there was no way it was a real mile. Still, I was encouraged and picked up the pace.

I heard panting behind me and I knew I was about to be passed. Was it a girl? Ahhh, no. just a guy. Okay. I began to run scared. I knew a ton of women must be close behind me waiting to take away my precious fourth place.

We ran straight on a trail for awhile, and then did a 180 and came back the way we had come. This is when I really got scared. At first I didn’t see any women. All good. Then, they came. There they were, one after the other, probably only a minute or two behind me, coming coming. Yikes! I saw this woman Catie, a 40-44 who I know had a good chance of winning the race. She was moving! I got a little panicky, and began trying to run faster. This didn’t really work. I was already maxed out!

I hung on and didn’t get passed before the end (by any WOMEN, that is. Psych! I had finished in fourth—at least for now. We’d have to wait for the results to see how many 40+ women had kicked my butt. Later I learned this number was TWO. So I finished in sixth; fourth AG. The top six women were all between 38-45. And Ange had won the whole thing. She is a superstar!

Final splits/rank--out of about 300 competitors
Swim: 10:55 Rank OA: 37
Bike: 46:17 Rank OA: 42(includes both transitions)
Run: 19:12 Rank OA: 61



I feel great about my race! They gave me 2nd AG because Ange and Allison were 1 and 3 and they are 35-39. Wahoo!