Race Report: Kansas 70.3 (well, 63.8ish)

After getting yelled at by Dawn this morning, I’ve finally sat down to write my race report. I guess the reason I have yet to do it, is because of the debacle that was Kansas 70.3, or in my case Kansas 63.8ish. So here goes:

Pre-Race

I should have known this weekend wouldn’t be very good when I got a 3 hour late start due to bank issues. Finally, I was on the road around 11ish for an 8hour drive. I had planned to leave at 7:30 right after I dropped Junior off. But alas, things happen. Originally I was going to drive all the way into Lawrence so I could visit with people. Once I realized what time I was going to get into the KC area, I just decided to stay with Corky in Blue Springs, and save myself the long drive to Lawrence. Plus she offered to drive to Lawrence the next day, which saved me gas! Thanks girl!

We ate a fantastic dinner provided by the future Mr. and Mrs. Staton and pretty much went right to bed. Woke up Saturday morning, ate some food, pottied the cuddly pit bulls, and we were off to Lawrence. We went straight downtown to the expo. It was great being in downtown Lawrence and the atmosphere really was great. However, I agree with most athletes and think the expo should be at the race site. Just makes it easier all around. P.S. Downtown Lawrence is really awesome in the day time…i.e. not at 1am while you’re drunk, which is how I spent most of my days in downtown Lawrence ;)Since we got in and out of getting our race packets so quickly, we had plenty of time before bike turn in started at 2. After walking around the expo a bit, we decided to have 2nd breakfast/brunch outside at Milton’s. It was PERFECT outside, and Milton’s is always delish. I ate waaaaaay too much, but it was so good, I just couldn’t stop. Bad idea.

(Yes Corky is putting tightening her goggles while sitting outside at Milton's)

Next we were off to the race site for our last workouts. We both rode for about 20 minutes, and quickly determined it would probably be windy during the race. We made it back to the TA, and Corky went to swim while I ran. Well, Milton’s and the overeating came back to get me, and I ran a total of 10 minutes because I felt like I was going to hurl. I thought I would have enough time to digest, but apparently not. I walked down to the beach to try to find my partner in crime, but didn’t see her, so I went back to the car and started putting stickers on my bike. Biggest.......Gatorade Bottle........EVER

Cork finally made it back, and we got in line to turn bikes in. All the sudden Corky said “I see an opportunity approaching”. She went to her car to get her Trisports.com handouts. I was stuck holding both our bikes and trying to move with both of them as the line quickly moved. I kept looking back and seeing Corky mingling and passing out her handouts…good for her, but I was going to drop her bike right there and fend for myself! Good thing when I got into the chip tent, Mark Livesay was the one giving me mine. He looked at me and said, with the dumbest look on his face “why do you have two bikes?” I said “This is Courtney Crutcher’s, she’s handing out trisports stuff”. He just looked at me, looked at the bikes, looked at me again, and said “Ok I trust you”. Great! Finally Corky realized what was going on and ran up to get me (aka her bike, at this point we were already talking sh*t with each other about who was going to win).

We found our spots in TA and headed back to the car. We had been at the race site for nearly 3 hours so it was about time to head back to rest. We went back to Alyson’s house (thank you for hosting us!). We were doing the normal race prep stuff and I had several visitors (Beej and his girl, Dennis, and Sexy Mike!), which it was great to catch up with people!! Finally we thought we should get our stuff together for the race, since we had a 3:45am wakeup call! Earliest race I’ve ever done! Then it was time to snuggle with the Corkster all night long. She claimed I spooned with her in the middle of the night, but it was actually because she was laying in the middle of the dang bed!

Ready to Race!!

Be glad we didn't do this to YOUR bed the night before the race...Thanks POPE!!

Race Morning

3:45am is E-A-R-L-Y. At this point, I was also thinking how glad I was I left Junior at home, even though I missed the wittle guy. We got all our stuff together, put our race gear on, and headed out the door. We stopped at BP for some gas, and much needed (though not very tasty) coffee. We ventured to Clinton Lake, rocking out to some old school Nelly with the sub on. We were reverting back to high school. Quote of the morning was Corky: “only triathletes would wake up at 3:45am to race for 6+ hours and sh*t on themselves”. Totally true.

After a “short” walk to the TA, we started setting up. I always forget how long it takes me to set up my TA. I was able to meet a teammate I didn’t even know would be there, and BARB!!! Her husband was obviously way too busy to come meet me, though. Finally it was time to head to the swim. On our way, though, we got to look up and see some dudes jumping out of airplanes to land on the beach…and they call US crazy!

Swim: 36:57 – 1:45/100 yards

First off, this time included a 5 mile run from the beach to the TA…ok not really, but it was every bit of 250-300 yards…a long way if you ask me! Also, EVERYONE has said the swim was measured too long. My pace says so, I think. I know it was choppy, but the half I did last year, I was about 8-9 min faster. Even the pro’s were about 3-4 min slower than their usual times. Corky and I started up front. We were the first two swimmers to the first buoy. I just kept swimming, thinking to myself “holy crap, why do I do this?” I did a decent job of staying near the buoys, but could have done better. Overall, I felt really good on the swim.

T1: 1:39

Not bad, probably should have been faster, though.

Bike: 3:53:08 – 14.4 mph

UGH. It was so damn hilly. Who knew there were hills in Kansas?! I thought the only one was on campus. It was tough, but it also made me feel that much better when I finished it. Though I wish I would have paced over 15mph. The worst was my hamstrings tightened up again, and about 3 times as worse as at MIM. I wanted to get off my bike and stretch, but I also didn’t want to stop. Well, God must have been telling me to, because about mile 30 I dropped my chain. Going up one of the biggest hills! I stopped, put the chain back on, got my hands extremely greasy, and stretched out a bit. Much better! Took me forever to get clipped back in because I was going straight up it seemed like. I passed NO ONE on the bike…very frustrating. I got passed by EVERYONE. Dropped my chain AGAIN about mile 45. Not cool. Saw Dawn cheering for us right at the Iron Cross. That was so awesome and MUCH NEEDED! Thanks so much Dawn for coming out! Finally I made it back to TA.

T2: 2:11

WTF?! Why so slow?

Run: ???

I did what coach said to do on the bike, and it WORKED! Maybe she knows what she’s talking about. My run felt pretty good. The first mile wasn’t so fun, but after I got loosened up, I was cooking. Probably my fastest longer tri run to date! Yeah, it was hot, and hard, but I felt great all things considered. That is until the clouds rolled in. They looked bad, but I thought “they don’t cancel tris for anything.” Well, I was wrong. The run was kind of a figure 8 and you passed the finish right at the cross. I was coming back after finishing the first half of the run (after about 6 miles?) and they pointed me to the finish chute. I said “no I have another lap!” They said “we’re calling the race for weather, go into the finish”. I was so confused but ran thru. I felt like I just dreamed that it happened. I think my legs were happy to be done, but the rest of me wasn’t! The guy gave me my medal and said “congratulations on finishing a half ironman”…I said “but I didn’t” and walked away. I just kind of stood there in disbelief. As my friends came across the finish, hardly any of them finished, and they were all pissed…including Corky who was crying. It was so disappointing. The worst part is it rained for a few minutes, then let up. The sun came back out! In hindsight, I guess they made the right call because apparently the radar looked pretty bad and KC ended up getting hail and thunder and lightning. Still…very disappointing.

According to the results, I finished 4th in my AG, with a run pace of 5:40 min/mile. Well…I don’t think I could drive that fast, so obviously they just took my run time and put it in for 13.1 miles. Still no word on what they’re going to do about awards, times, etc. It was so nice to race with friends and teammates and to see some of my Kansas people I haven’t seen since last year! Wish I could race with them more often, but this weekend was fun.

That is until I got a flat tire in Festus, MO on the way home…but that’s a whole other story.