Boulder 5430 Sprint Race Report

Well the first Boulder race is in the bag, two to go. I felt I did pretty well for the swim despite the fact that some woman was hitting me and pushing my feet down for much of the first 330 yards. I finally started kicking to let her know "to back off". I was worried about the men in my wave but it turned out that it was women who I needed to do some battle with.  My goggles didn't fog for the first time ever in a race! Spit does work!
As always, the bike was my strongest event. I averaged 20.1 miles an hour and didn't suffer to much. Considering I didn't know the course and haven't been training like I should for the past two weeks, I was very happy with this. Also there were times when you couldn't pass due to cars or narrow areas where you couldn't pass slower riders which probably slowed me up just a little bit. While I had driven the course the night before I would have benefited from riding it at least once.
Now for the run. Well, I fell apart. It was very hot, no shade and I just didn't have it in me today. I walked part of one hill, walked the aid stations where I poured water on my head and stopped to stretch out my painful shin. I have to say that this is very discouraging for me. I know it takes time (years to improve) at this sport but it just seems like I am stuck when it comes to running. I have accepted that all the people that I pass on the bike will be passing me on the run but when I see the rankings and I see what could have been if I was even a half way decent runner, it frustrates me. I can say that the race today has lit a new fire under me along with the reality that the Boulder Peak and HIM are just around the corner. Probably the best part of the race were the cold soaking wet towels that they handed out after the race. I wore that on my head for at least 10 minutes. The other Boulder races are going to be extremely hot and the run is going to be brutal due to lack of any shade. I am really going to have to figure out how to hydrate for that as I sweat a ton and I am on that run course a lot longer then most.

Over all it was a good day. Boulder is a different league for me in terms of competition so with that in mind I feel I did pretty well. here are the stats.

I was 28th out of 68 in my age group.

I was 13th out of 68 on the bike in my age group. ( we won't talk about the run rank)

I was 243 out of 555 woman

I tied for 88th out of 555 women on the bike (Again, I only look at the bike results in that detail as that is the only place I am at all competitive).

Thanks to everyone for the words of encouragement. They mean a lot !