Xterra Appalachia - 8.03.08

The drive to xterra Appalachia out in Indiana, Pennsylvania is beautiful. Through the mountains on the PA turnpike we encountered some severe thunderstorms and had a wonderful show Saturday afternoon. By the time we arrived, it was sunny and not humid, a perfect evening. We picked up our numbers - I was number 1. Wow!

The evening went fast and we tried to get some sleep, but the hotel hosted a bunch of party animals so the night was restless. In the morning we had a quick breakfast and made our way through the fog. We were so close to the race site we got there with plenty of time to stake our space in an odd transition area. Before I did that, I went down to the lake for some neat photos.

I picked a spot close to the entrance from the swim, not the best location, but I ended up only sharing the rack with one other person so it was fine. I set up my gear, got my number 1 plastered on my arm and got in for a swim. We had enough time to swim the entire course which was an out and back on the warm lake.

When the race director shouted go we were all wading chest deep in the water, off we went. Shawn sprinted ahead, I have never seen him take to the swim like this. I was too far out away from the line of buoys that would be so easy to follow so I decided to cut in. It was Otmani I was cutting in front of, but I decided to go for it so I could have a straight line throughout the swim. It was a very short swim and I wanted to hold back as much as possible. Going out some dude in a wetsuit took off with Shawn. I was still surprised Shawn was going this hard, on the way back they died off a bit and I pulled up beside them. Shawn and I dropped the wetsuit dude and swam together. Shawn started pulling way left and I tapped him on the shoulder and he got back on track. I timed my stroke so we were stroke for stroke, we came in together. It was fun. Shawn got up before I would normally, because the water was so shallow. I got up with him and then immediately fell back down, but caught back up to him and ran in while having conversation back to transition. Headline should read - Husband and wife finish swim together. At least Shawn won the swim, because the rest of the day did not go his way.

Out on the bike, I got out of transition first, and Otmani soon came up behind. I pedalled with him for a while and then Shawn and Fortmann came up as well. We all went into the single track together. I was last in, Fortmann stopped at one point and I passed by him. Right after that I was behind Shawn and he was getting up a steep hill where you had to dismount. He was trying to get back on and to get started when he got off balance and ended up perpendicular to the trail with his back tire covering the trail, upright pretty much leaning on the tree. A man came around me riding and was trying to pass Shawn's bike, but ended up riding directly into the tire. It tore Shawn's tire right of the rim, and I completely witnessed the entire incident. The man thought he had a flat and I said no Shawn you have a flat - knowing that was it. There was nothing I could do to help him. Fortmann was with us, we all stopped, said sorry and had to go on, I felt soooo bad and so did Fortmann.

The rest of the ride was composed of steep hills that you had to push, push and push. And then some fun downhill sections, a water crossing and some more fire roads. At one point I was by myself and I thought I had gone off track. I stopped to ask a man and woman walking their dogs if they had seen riders going by, they confirmed I was on course and I picked my speed back up. I never saw a female, I was in first the entire bike section until the very last mile. Two females came by at once. I got off the bike not too far behind them, though they dropped me on the last hill coming in.

On the run I felt good going out, and passed two men right away. The run starts out with some huge winding hills. At the bottom of the hill you can see way up and I saw second place female. I tried to catch her, and ran hard when I could, but I had a side cramp the entire run. I never caught her and both the men I passed, passed me later on in the run. I did pass one other guy and overall had a fairly strong run.

The results are not posted yet, but I did end up in third female - free entry into next year's race (pretty cool perk.) I think I broke two hours and last year I was 2hrs 9 minutes at this race. I will post the results when they are up. The race director is so enthusiastic and runs a great race, I will return for more in the future!