Conference 2015 (Race Report 2)

by Rachel Marty

 

On Saturday morning, the day before the race, Clare arrived at my house around 6:30am with her little silver Volkswagen. Over the next hour, we managed to fit Sinead, Vivien, Clare, me, Sinead’s bike, Clare’s bike, all of our camping gear, and bags into and onto Clare’s car. After we conquered set up of the bike rack (on the fourth try), we knew nothing would stop us.  During the drive, we alternated between admiring the ocean view and laughing about the age discrepancies of memories associated with old music. We got to SLO around 1:00pm, picked up our race packets and then started setting up camp. Once more people had arrived, we assembled our bikes and rode for about half an hour to acclimate to the course. The whole time, I was in awe of the beauty surrounding us. Naturally, we had to get off our bikes to take a selfie with some of the horses. I mean, who can pass up on opportunity like that??? After the ride, we went for a short run. Some people chose to swim, but my strategy was to stay out of the water as long as possible! As dinnertime rolled around, we drove back into Arroyo Grande and ate at a cute Italian place. Exhausted from the day, we went back to camp and started assembling our gear for the next day. Then the nerves hit me. Would I survive the open water swim? Could I make it up “the big hill” on the bike course? If I made it to the run, how was I going to finish the 10k when I was already exhausted? Although I was anxious, it was definitely Dan and Charlie that kept me awake late into the night.

At 5am, I woke up because Dan and Charlie woke up. You might be thinking, did you share a tent with Dan and Charlie? Well, no. But I’m pretty sure everyone on the team felt like they shared a tent with Dan and Charlie! Luckily, there was plenty to do in the morning to get ready for the race! Everyone was stumbling through the dark with headlamps, trying to eat, get dressed, use the bathroom and down the hill to the transition area that opened at 6am. The race didn’t start until 8am, so we had a couple hours to perfect our transition set up, warm up, and stand around being nervous. At 7:45am, we pulled on our wetsuits, left transition, and started down the long ramp to get acclimated to the water.

For the women, the gun went off at 8:10am and all 104 of us took off toward the same buoy.  Since I don’t come from a swimming background, this is a terrifying experience. Every. Single. Time. The water is murky, so you can’t see your own hands, much less the legs of the person in front of you that keep aiming for your face! Once the pack started spreading out, I was able to get in a rhythm and the anxiety was gone. Every couple strokes, I would look for the bright yellow buoys to make sure I wasn’t getting too far off course. One by one, I passed each one. Finally, the last one was in sight. I rounded the corner and started coming out of the water, stoked to finally get on my bike. Remember that long ramp I mentioned earlier? Well, it took all of my coordination to run up the ramp without slipping while trying to get my arms out of my wetsuit. When I finally got to transition, I realized my next obstacle. With shaking hands and a hazy brain, I had to get off my wetsuit. I could hear my parents (who had driven down for the race) and a couple other supporters offering encouragement, so I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of the situation as I kept tripping over myself. My advice: practice getting out of your wetsuit BEFORE the race.

Once on the bike, I couldn’t have been happier. The rolling hills covered in fields and vineyards and surrounded by mountain ranges were overwhelmingly beautiful.  Although my legs were in pain, I couldn’t help but smile. I was happy to have constant access to food and water on my bike. Well, until I dropped my water bottle. The tragic event happened in slow motion and suddenly I realized how thirsty I was. Funny how that works! Luckily, an aid station about 10 miles down the road re-stocked me with a Gatorade! Boy was I grateful to for all of the aid workers who gave me water and encouragement throughout the race! About three fourths of the way through the ride, I came face to face with the big hill. It didn’t seem too bad when I we had driven it the day before, but for some reason it seemed so much steeper on my bike. Slowly but surely, I made it to the top. It was incredibly satisfying to fly down the hill at full speed, knowing the hardest part was over! As I entered transition, cheering teammates motivated me.

As much as I loved the bike ride, the run was my favorite part of the race. It is by far the easiest segment to see your teammates and cheer for them. As the fatigue set in, I suddenly felt a certain bond with everyone else on the course that was in the same pain. Encouraging others, even random people I had never met, lifted my spirits and propelled me to keep pace throughout the run. Every mile marker seemed to be farther away than it should have been, but eventually the finish line came in sight. I thought my legs couldn’t go any faster. I was wrong. My mom started sprinting next to me for the last 100m. Knowing I couldn’t lose to my mom, I dug deep and found one more gear. It was pure joy to cross the finish line, knowing I had an amazing team cheering for me and that I had successfully completed my first Olympic Triathlon.

Thank you so much, Cal Poly, for putting on such an amazing and beautiful race. I am so proud of everyone on our team who raced, pushed through the pain, and enjoyed every moment. It was such a blessing to participate and I can’t wait until I get to return to the beautiful Lake Lopez.