Xterra Uwharrie - Race Report
| 46 | Markey, Alicia Newark, DE USA Mid Atlantic | Women 25-29 (1) | 3:49:31 Details Hide Details
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After a long ride down on Saturday we made it to the race site in time to pick up our packets on Saturday. We received our numbers and they must have assigned them alphabetically - Shawn and I were one number apart. Shawn is trained by now to check the number against the name and sure enough they had ours switched, in addition they had me as a male competitor. After promising the race director I was female, she promised to switch it by morning - so off to the campground we went to unpack.
As we unpacked we found no air mattress - we searched, and looked twice until we came to the conclusion it was not in the truck ... so far, not a great start. So we traveled into the town that had three restaurants, one of course was a McDonald's in search of dinner, we settled on an Italian place and had a nice spaghetti dinner. On our way back to the campground we stopped at the local gas station that was a restaurant/outdoor center all in one. In such a small town we were able to get our hands on a $16 air mattress! Unbelievable...things were looking up.
The rain came so we all retreated to the tents early, we shared a group campground with most of the other xterra competitors. The rain must not have been too bad, because I slept through most of the night, at 5:40 we all were awoken by our neighbors car alarm that would not go off, he even drove it out of the campground, came back with it off, got out and it restarted on him.
We had plenty of time, the pushed back the start of the open division to 10:30. With everything set up in transition, Shawn and I went for a warm-up swim. I opted for the wetsuit, Shawn opted to not wear his. The race went off and the swim was uneventful as usual. A few fast swimmers took off and I let them go, the others all fell behind me, by the time I rounded the final buoy the rest of the field was back at the last buoy. I got out of my wetsuit fast and never saw Shawn enter transition.
Onto the bike, nothing went well. My heart rate had spiked and it would not go down, I was working hard and could not get into a rhythm. The bike had no rhythm. You had to pay attention to every move you made, and the hills...oh the hills... The trails were rutted out from horse use, and rocky. The 29er performed like magic, and technically I did fine. On the first lap we came to a long uphill, no one could ride. As we were walking, Shawn appeared, then Otmani appeared. I was defeated, out of breath and ready to give up. I asked Shawn if we really had to walk this hill a second time - he replied yes (I knew this was the answer, I just wanted a simple glimmer of hope that we wouldn't have to.) I let them pass, told them good luck, got to the top - heart rate has now been in the 170's for 40 minutes, and I had not drank anything yet since it was all I could do to suck in the air. I stopped, took a Gel - the trail flattened a bit and we went in for the second lap. The Gel did the trick, I slowed a bit and got my rhythm a bit in the second lap, a few girls had passed and I had decided I was just there to finish. Throughout the second lap I made sure to eat and drink more and got through to the run.
At transition Shawn was just finishing up and leaving. We said a few positive words (even though we were both defeated by that bike) as he was on his way. I caught up to him shortly into the run, and told him to keep it up. The run was rutty and rocky as well, but pretty flat. I got to the first aid station and found Otmani, we walked the hill together and I went on. A mile or so later I took my first crash, my legs were done and were not reacting, every rock seemed to be a magnet. I made sure to take it easy for the rest of the run, I wanted to finish, but I wanted to finish in one piece. I did, the next competitor to come in was Shawn. Otmani was shortly after and Sara finished her first ever xterra. We all got big points since it was such a small race.
It was a fun event, very difficult to race on trails you have never seen before. After eating at the gas station/restaurant we went back to the campground. All of our fellow campers had left, we had the entire campground to ourselves for the night.
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