| Date/Location: | April 10th, 2022 – Lake Berryessa, CA |
| Distances: | Swim 1.5K – Bike 24.8miles – Run 6.2miles |
| Time: | 2:48:51 (37:18-3:38-1:22:15-1:39-44:01) |
| Place: | 1st W15-19 (out of 2), 8th Female out of 71 |
| Teammates: | SPRINT: Shantelle Tupaz 70.3– FCA: Caryn Galeckas, Robin Soares, Suzanne Hartley; Sam Louie |
I get down to the water and get ready to start. The water is pretty cold and I really hope I'll be able to stay warm during the swim. I jump in and swim around to get used to the water. One minute left. I swim into the line of swimmers and try to get to the far outside. There's a shallow part in the beginning of the start and I don't want to be caught in it. The race director counts down and starts the race. I take off. So far the swim is good because the wind is at my back. I also don't see the bottom of the shallow part. As I'm swimming I try to get into a good rhythm. I rotate what side to breathe on and make sure to guide for the buoy at the same time. The buoy is really far away, but after a while of swimming, I finally get there. I swim around it and head for the next buoy. Now the waves are choppy because I’m going right into the wind. I remember my dad telling me to act like a kayak. You're just swimming straight through those waves as you near the buoy. It takes me longer to get to the next buoy this time. I finally reach the buoy and turn towards the buoy at the beach. I'm almost done with the first lap! They've made it a two lap course. I swim towards shore and the waves are a little less choppy. I try to swim farther upstream because the waves are pushing me more downstream. This time it takes forever to get to the buoy. By the time I get there, I turn around and get ready to head back for the second loop. I see Suzanne and Caryn and wave at them. I also see my parents and wave at them too. They all cheer me on. It's great to have a great cheering squad. After going around the first buoy, it's very difficult to see the next one. I do breaststroke for a little bit in order to make sure I can see the buoy I'm shooting for and then go back to swimming. The water is so much calmer when it's going the same direction as you. I swim easily with the water to the buoy. As I’m swimming I think about my peanut butter bar I have at transition. I can’t wait to eat it and fall asleep on my aerobars. I then get to the buoy and after turning around, I get to the choppiest part. I swim through the waves towards the next buoy and this time the waves are rougher than last time. Some of the water gets into my nose and the other water gets in my mouth. I don't let it bother me for long and continue swimming towards the next buoy. I finally get there and turn towards shore. This time I'll actually be done when I get there. I'm trying to swim fast because it's the last stretch. I get closer and closer and finally make it. I get out of the water and take off my wetsuit. It comes off really easy. Thank you God! I then run over, grab my flip-flops and start running up the ramp. My dad askes me if I'm going to wear my bike jacket. I tell him I am, the wind is pretty cold and I don't want to freeze out there. I get into transition and quickly change to my bike gear after quickly drying off. I also grab my peanut butter bar. I've been waiting all day to eat this. It's one of my favorite snacks. It's packed with so much energy.
I take off on the bike with my peanut butter bar in my back pocket. I'm already starving after the swim so I gobble it down. I leave a little bit for later though. I take off on the bike and get into my aerobars. Oh I love my aerobars! I can practically fall asleep on them. Which works out well because I'm really tired from the swim! I relax on aerobars and start to pass people as I head out for the bike. My dad told me I was in 34th place, and I think I can catch up. I'm much stronger at cycling than at swimming.
I bike across a bridge and start up a hill. As I start biking up the hill, it doesn't feel that bad. I'm glad God has given my legs energy because normally biking up hills really hurt. At the top of the hill, I see a broken telephone pole and zoom by it. I check my watch. 2 miles! I’m going to be out here for a while. I don’t give up. I'm catching a lot of people and enjoying zooming down the downhills.
Finally I hit 6 miles, which is 1/4 of the way done! So far I've been in my aerobars the whole time. I don't get out of them unless I'm going really slow. As I'm biking down the downhills, I'm very grateful for my jacket I have on. It's keeping me warm. I am getting closer to the turn around and I keep my eye out for the top girls ahead of me that are coming back. After a while I start seeing the men coming back. I keep my eyes open. As I get closer to 12 miles, the turnaround, I see the first girl. She looks really fast. I then see a bunch of other girls following her. I estimate that I’m in about 20th place now. As I get close to the turnaround, the bike gets harder. I'm going down a hill, but I have a ton of headwind which makes me feel like I'm going up a hill. Everyone on the other side going back up the hill looks like they're going faster up then I am going down! It's kind of frustrating but I don't let it get to me, I push hard for the Lord and don't give up. I get to the turnaround and start heading back up the hill. It's much easier than going down the hill. It's a very interesting experience.
After I get more into the mountains, the downhills start to feel like downhills again and the uphills start to feel like uphills again. I'm hungry again so I finish off my peanut butter bar. Yum, so delicious! I also drink some of my sports drink. So good! I power forward trying to catch the girls ahead of me, even though they are pretty far ahead. Every once in a while I think I'm catching one of them, but just realize it's another guy. I'm not going to give up though because I still have the run where I can pass some of them. I'm biking hard up the up hills now, and there are more of them making up for all the downhills I had on the way to the turnaround. I also know there's one really steep hill that I zoomed down before, but I don't know when it is. As I’m biking I get back to the spot where I was 1/4 to the turnaround. Now I'm 1/4 till transition! I keep climbing hard.
Up ahead I'm pretty sure I see a girl athlete. I work hard to catch up to her. She's going pretty fast. I finally catch up to her and pass her. I’m starting to be able to see more girl athletes ahead of me. So far none of them look my age but it's still a good challenge to pass them. I slowly catch up to them and pass them on the steep uphill. As I'm going down the other side I see the crooked telephone pole! Only 2 miles still transition! I pedal hard down the hill and try to stretch my calves while I'm at it. They're getting pretty tight. I hope I didn't spend all my energy on the bike and not leave anything for the run.
I zoom across the bridge and head towards transition. As I get closer, I finish up my sports drink, and slide my feet out of my bike shoes. I get into the park and bike towards transition. I then jump off my bike. So far so good. But as I'm running into transition, my bike shoe falls off. I look behind me and see it. It's pretty far back and I know that my dad can pick it up for me possibly. I keep running. I get into transition and quickly change into my run shoes. I'm about to leave and I realize my water bottle fell off too! I guess when I jumped off my bike it wasn't very smooth.
I run out of transition and head out to the run course. My parents tell me that I've passed a lot of people and I'm in 13th place, and that I have three people close to me. I take off on the run determined to catch them. So far God has given me a great race and I want to finish strong for him. I see one girl up ahead and I try to slowly catch up to her. I finally catch up to her and pass her and tell her good job. As I keep running I feel my foot start to fall asleep. It makes running a little uncomfortable, but I push on. I run across a long bridge, then start the uphill climb. I am slowly passing people and telling them good job as I go. I make my way up the hill and watch the lead girl come flying down. I tell her good job and keep running. I then see a man running down and he asks me how many hills are left. I tell him, I don’t know. There are a lot of small hills and I didn’t want to mess it up for him.
I then get to the first aid station and grab some water. I pour most of it on my head. It feels very refreshing. I now start heading down the mountain and pick up speed. As I’m going down, I keep telling people good job and pass a few girls. As I’m running, my shoe feels really tight and it’s hurting my foot. I also have to use the restroom. I plan on running to the turn around and using the porta potty and loosening my shoe. My foot starts hurting more and I don’t know if I should stop now, or keep running. I ask God what he thinks I should do. I feel him telling me to keep going. I push towards the turn around. I finally get there and quickly adjust my shoe. Sadly there is no porta potty, so I keep running. I have to run uphill for a while, but God has given me energy and I power up the hill. I remember seeing a girl ahead of me and I run fast to catch her. I get around the turn and see her up ahead. I catch up to her and tell her good job. As I keep running, I tell the people running the opposite direction, good job, as well. It’s hard to keep saying good job while running hard, but I feel God wants me to keep encouraging all of those around me.
I get back to the aid station in the middle and I grab some water and pour it on myself. I’m almost done. I run hard down the hill towards the long bridge. I get there and power over it. I know I have only a mile left. I don’t want to leave anything behind, so I push really hard. I get to a half mile left and I push really hard towards the finish. I turn into the park and run towards the finish line.
I see family and friends and they cheer me on. I run hard into the finish shoot and my feet start to slip on the gravel. I stay standing up and power through the finish line with God. Thanks to God I had a great race and finished 8th overall for Women and 1st in my age group. The Lord gave me great strength and I’m glad I got to race hard for him.
Praise The Lord For He Is Good, His Love Endures Forever!
