So aside from some serious procrastination, there is a real reason for delaying this post, but you’re just going to have to hang on the edge of your chair and wait to find out.

As Conde Naste and other authoritative travel sources will tell you, Vernal is the ultimate vacation destination.  Small town feel coupled with picturesque Western landscapes, abundant camping, and enough prehistoric history to make even the biggest history buff gush, it is most likely already atop your ‘places to see’ list.  No?  Never heard of it?

Me neither.

Until last year when Jordan reluctantly made the trek out there for Dinoland, only to be pleasantly surprised at how nice it actually is.  So this year Riptide made a weeklong training camp around the race, and Jordan and I made it a long weekend, and packed up the wagon and dog.

I was really excited to camp, and when we got to the campground, Jordan and I quickly set up the tent and I haphazardly threw the rainfly overtop.  I didn’t bother attaching it because “it never rains” in Vernal.  Sometime around midnight Vernal got its first rainstorm in history and our air mattress was in a puddle.  Early the next morning I realized my iPhone was also in the puddle.  Off to a good start.

The weather eventually cleared Friday afternoon, offering a few hour window for us to get our workouts in, before turning cool and damp again.  All was well though, the rainfly was attached and Gulliver provided ample warmth.

Saturday morning I hitched a ride to T2 with Sean, where we set up our running stuff before getting on a plush charter bus to the swim start.  We had set up our bikes the previous afternoon, so all there was left to do was to dry them off and top-off the tires, and mosey around aimlessly warmup.

Pros and elite amateur men and women went off together, which is always a disaster if it’s a pretty small field and you’re not an insanely fast swimmer.  I was off the back about 10 strokes in, and over the course of the first lap watched the pack disappear into splashes far in the distance.  I haven’t swum an entire swim leg by myself in a really long time, and forgot how hard it is.  I was breathing like a maniac, the only indication that I must still be going at a decent pace.  I got out in 24:05, and knew it had to be at least a little bit long.  From there I thought the day would get easier, as I’ve felt good on the bike lately, but I was mistaken.

Up and up out of transition…actually I was climbing from the second I came ashore.  My cycling has really been coming around in training, so I thought now I would finally be able to lay down a good bike split, and I tried my best to let ‘er rip, but it didn’t happen.  Jolene came out of T2 about 1:15 back, but she had already made up the ground on me by 6 miles into the bike.  I fought to not let her become a dot in the distance, but eventually it happened.  I tried to keep the effort up but stay relaxed, noticing my breathing was pretty wild.  On the out and back section I saw 1st place, then a little later, Sean (who also raced in the elite wave).  He yelled that I was still within 8%, but I really had to get to work.

8% was the magic number for this race.  As Sean and I had realized only about a week before the race, I had 2 of 3 races checked off for pro qualifying Criteria A: finish within 8% of the winner’s time in a race with pros and pro prize money.  Dinoland was poised to be my 3rd race, if I didn’t let it slip away.

At the turn around, a surly guy in a pick-up blasted heavy metal and helped get me going, yelling at me to “get the music in your head and go with it!”.  That was definitely the best part of the race, despite feeling like hell, the guy definitely forced me to crack and smile and relax.  Once I turned around I realized it had been a slight uphill the whole way out and suddenly I felt like I was flying (I wasn’t, but at least it felt a little better).

Heading out on the run I knew I had my work cut out for me.  I went out hard then relaxed, and took the first 5k relatively easy as I again struggled to get my breathing under control.  About 1/4 mile before the turn around I saw Sean (I had already seen 1st place go by and Jocelyn in 2nd).  He said, “It’s gonna be close, but wait until 2.5k to go to kick.”  If the heavy metal guy didn’t wake me up, this certainly did.  Here I am in Vernal, Utah, I’ve slept in the rain the past 2 nights, trained my ass of all year, and now on my 3rd out of 3 races, here I was letting it slip away.  For the next 1/4 mile I talked some sense into myself, then hit the 180 turn and dropped zee hammer.  I couldn’t wait until 2.5k to go, I had to go now.  I forced myself to relax my breathing, relax my arms, and let my legs carry me.  I thought of Mar and her “controlled falling forward” and just let it go.  It was the first time in a triathlon where I felt like I was actually running, not just shuffling along.  I had found my stride and it felt really smooth.  I wish I had timed it, I think it might’ve been my fastest 5k ever.  By the time I hit the track for the final 200m, I had all but run out of steam.

I had finished within 8%.  It was done.  …but I didn’t let myself get too excited, since USAT would have to approve it still.  I found out on Monday, July 6th, that it had gotten approved.  The goal that had seemed more like a pipe dream when I set it last October is now reality.  I’m excited and very happy, but more than anything I realize this is only the beginning.

True, I’m not the most experienced or fastest age-group triathlete on the block.  But, it doesn’t really matter.  I’ll get my drubbing at the next level, and that is completely fine with me.  I don’t believe in waiting for the perfect moment, I’m more into throwing myself into something and going from there.

To quote Jon Bon Jovi from a recent 60 Minutes Interview, “Too many people say, ‘I could’ve, should’ve, would’ve.’…I don’t want to do that.”

A massive thanks first to Jordan, for showing me the triathlon ropes and putting up with me day in and day out.  In the 8 months I’ve been training with Riptide I’ve come a loooong way, and that of course wouldn’t have been possible without Coach Sean Wendt and all of my teammates who bury me in training everyday.  And of course to everyone else I’ve been training with lately (Sonja, Michelle, Laura, Taylor, Martha, etc).  Annnnd finally to my fam who thinks I am insane for getting up early to run on Christmas morning.  They are probably sad that won’t be stopping anytime soon, but judging by my parents’ reaction when I told them the news, I think they are pretty happy.   =)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 at 8:50 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.