Here is my long delayed Victoria Half Iron Race report. The results are here; our team name was “last minute lassies” but at the last minute we decided to change it to “Under Five and Falling”. You can read my race day story below to figure out why. April took many many great pictures (you can click on any of the shots below to see all of the pictures in my highlights album). Thanks, April!

After working in the morning, I rode over to Victoria on my bike. Yes, it is possible to pack everything you need for an overnight triathlon trip into two panniers. The pre-race highlights included a raucous dinner at Rebar with Ben, Hugh, Jean Yves, April and Bronwyn.

After my debacle of a swim in Oliver, I was determined to nail this race. I DID! I had a good swim and pushed hard. In between tempo efforts, I kept myself calm with imagery of early season warmup sessions in Lord Byng. Exiting the water, I sprinted like pro’s (Bronwyn and I had the 2nd fastest T1 overall!) and then felt seriously whoosy as B got the timing chip off my leg. My PB in the swim had us out of the water as the 4th women’s team overall. As B took over on the bike, I recovered from my whoosy spell, had a nap beside the car, and shared some cookies with my new friend Massimo Lanaro.

If you haven’t done a triathlon relay before, you should do it. The team aspect, the racing, the fast times, it’s a good time with lots of benefits. For example:

1. you can have a nap
2. you can hang out and watch other racers in transition
3. you can seriously kick butt on the run

Ah, the run leg, now here’s this story get’s interesting. We came out of the water 4th overall. As I was waiting in transition, I could see all the teams lined up. Not too many teams had left, everybody was jocking for spots and waiting for their cyclist. Before the start, Bronwyn told me that if she was having a good day she’d come in just under 3hr off the bike. At 2h45 Bronwyn came into transition. 2h45!!! Seriously awesome! After a brief mechanical spill into the gravel, Bronwyn had an epic battle with another cyclist that pushed her to a great performance. I knew we were one of the top teams out, so I headed out running hard.

Now, I usually pass people during the run, but with a relay, you can seriously have some fun on the run (see #3 above). As I passed people, you could almost here the sighs as they saw the “R” on my calf. I spent the whole first loop running past people as if they were standing still. One guy even asked, “Could you run that fast if you were just off the bike?” I gave him the thumbs up as I dusted him. It was pretty fun. Nobody had passed me so I got to thinking that we must be in first place. That thought gave me a lift, so I ran even harder.

Then, on the start of the second loop, I got passed by a runner. Even worse, it was a female with an “R” on her calf. Worse yet, she passed me as if I were standing still. “Oh damn, I guess we’re not doing as well as I thought. Come on, keep up with her. Nope, I can’t do it. She’s a real runner. She’s way too fast for me.” My spirits took a dive, but I kept running hard and focussed on my “Go forever” mantra. Imagery of training runs in the endowment lands with my LETC buddies turned my head around.

At 17km to go, I turned a corner and saw the runner. I even exclaimed out loud, “Oh my god, it’s her.” Between 17 and 19 km to go, I inched up behind her battling the effort and the “But she’s a real runner” thoughts. At 19km to go, I was right behind her. “It’s going to be a sprint to the finish. Save yourself, hang back, don’t let her know you’re here. Then hammer to the finish. You’re a runner.” All of sudden, she stopped and grabbed her side with cramps. “Oh shit, I’ve just passed her. Run with everything you’ve got. She’s right behind you. You’ve got less then a km to go. Oh shit, run faster.”

About 200m from the finish, I was hammering. I passed a runner on the trail, and as I did, my foot caught a tree root. SLAM. I went from sprinting to being slammed on the ground like a limp doll. Slammed hard. No fair. As I was down in the gravel, all I could see in my head was an image of that girl running past me. So I yelled, “Get up!” and I got up and ran hard to the finish. As I ran, I could see that I was bleeding from lots of place so I started crying. No helping it, I was hurt. I had every plan of finishing this race with some serious celebration. I managed a small fist pump before being whisked off to the first aid where they treated me for cuts on my leg, knee, ass, elbows, hands, and shoulders. It took me about five days with no training to recover from the serious beating that the trail gave me.

So how did it all end up? Did she pass you? Nope, we got her. Bronwyn and I were 2nd place overall (there was an elite team, they don’t count). We finished 19 seconds ahead of that third place team! What an epic day for us both. Even with all the falls, we finished under five hours.