Be DQ'ed and still PR and smile

In 2013, I raced the Rev 3 Cedar Point half with a majorly bad attitude. I had PR’ed every race that season and went into this race believing that if I didn’t PR, it wasn’t a valuable race. Well, that race was drastically changed from the moment it began. The swim was moved from the shores of Lake Erie, over to the west bay of Cedar Point due to dangerous swells in the Lake, which equated to an extra .25 mile run from the swim to the transition area which I wasn’t prepared to run…...in sandals! With crazy headwind on the bike as well, I finished in a decent time, but NOT what I had prepped in my mind to race and thus at the finish line I emotionally collapsed. I wasn’t able to appreciate all that I had done and wasn’t able to celebrate the accomplishments of my peers. That day my coach held my crying face in her hands and said, “Amy if you expect to PR every race you run, you will NEVER last in this sport. You need to find the things that went WELL today.” Those words have run in my head ever since.

Just Tri gang for dinner! Early bird special! :)

Fast forward to September 7, 2014. It’s time for Rev 3 again and I'm racing the half distance….again. I went into this race obviously wanting to “race” it but also knowing it was meant to be a BIG training day for THE big day…..meaning IMAZ on November 16. The winds are always mighty at Cedar Point so I knew that going into it. The day before the race I got my race number, #343, checked in my faithful steed Killer (all pumped up with her new hydration system and fine tune up) and racked her for the night. I met up with some Just Tri peeps for dinner at TGI Fridays’ (always a fine establishment) and crashed at the hotel with Iron Ann and my family friend Jackie who was doing the half aquabike for the night. After some cursing at the standings in the Big 10, we went to bed.

Love the tri suit, thanks Wendy!!!

Race morning wasn’t super early as Rev 3 doesn’t start the half waves until at least 8:20am. My wave was set to leave at 8:45 and since the park isn’t open to the public until 11am, parking was awesome and aplenty.  I got all set up in transition and gave my pep talk to Killer, then made it down to the beach. The waves were huge and fast. The water was warm thankfully, but did I mention the waves were super big? I tried to let it out of my mind….had to get in anyway, right? Met up with some Balanced Tri/MIT gals and kept my cool for a while. Then it was time to line up. Peed in my wetsuit on the beach. That warmed things up a bit! Then we waded into the water before the siren went off. So far I was still good, but getting a bit nervous about the swells. They were big and often. My friend Nichole who was in my wave mentioned to me “I swear it wasn’t this bad on the warm up Amy.” Haha, yeah, ok Nichole. This was getting a bit scary.

My spot :)

The siren went off and I charged the waves. And lost. It was the most challenging .25 mile swim of my life. After hitting the second “sighting” buoy, I felt myself pulled underwater (slightly) by some current and lost my orientation of where I was and what I was doing. When I surfaced later, it had been at least 10 seconds and I was gasping for air and choking. The jet ski came up to my side and ordered me to hang on. I assumed this was for safety and to let me catch my breath. Sooner than I realized I was pulled onto the jet ski and we were headed for shore. I wasn’t fully sure what was happening but I started to realize my day was over. “No,” I thought. “I can’t be done!” When I reached shore, this guy named Eric came up and saw my number and whispered those fateful words: “I’ve got a DQ on #343.” Ouch. Punched in the gut. Eric then turned to me and said, “do you still want to do the bike and run?” “Really?” I thought. “I can still do that?” I said to him. “Yep, you’ve trained hard for today. You can still do the rest if you want.” “Ok,” I said. “I’ll finish.” He called someone on his radio to let them know I was continuing and I made the sobering walk to the swim exit to find my bike and continue.

On the way down the beach I wondered if I really deserved to continue. Should I keep going or just call it a day? I patted 2 other guys on the back who were making the same walk of shame…..it was sad and hard and humbling to not be out in the water with the rest. Whatever the circumstance, as an athlete your mind always starts to think what you could have done to prevent whatever happened.  I decided I HAD to continue….I had paid too much money and had come too far to throw away this training day. I was indeed going to find the things that went well today and celebrate THOSE things rather than my DQ on the swim.

I made my way up the swim exit and signaled to Iron Ann that I was out. Poor thing probably didn’t understand what was happening! After fully utilizing the wetsuit strippers (LOVE THEM! EVERY RACE SHOULD HAVE THEM!), I was off on Killer and we were going to have a run ride, no matter what.  I decided I’d congratulate every full Iron athlete I saw and I’d encourage everyone I could. I’d make this a good day, no matter what! I utilized my new hydration system and found that I loved it. In the end, I smiled at a ton of volunteers, and I finished with a PR on the bike for the half distance, FINALLY getting under 3 hours. And I didn’t cheat, didn’t draft and didn’t quit.

Origninally I had thought I’d only run a few miles off the bike….this was of course when I was walking on the beach after my swim defeat. I knew I had to run the full 13.1 miles and I set out to do it…...started out at a good clip and kept on my nutrition and hydration plan which worked wonderfully. My only downfall: forgetting sunscreen. The temps weren’t that bad but the sun was relentless and we were in full sun for a LOT of the time. I’m fair skinned and that didn’t set well with my poor, white-girl complex. I could feel myself turning pink and wishing I hadn’t made such a rookie mistake!

Seeing Iron Ann and Randy around mile 7-8 helped. Ann ran with me for a bit and I filled her in on the mishap of the swim. She told me my coach had called her and ordered me to finish the day. Yes ma’am! There was obviously no other options!

I rounded the corner to the last 2 miles of the run and kept going strong. It was a slog, as I could feel myself chafing a bit under my left arm and the sunburn was increasing. But I kept going and rounded the familiar turn to the finish. The announcer butchered my name and I crossed the finish in the best “thank-god-i’m-done-you-have-no-clue-how-much-of-a-day-this-was-for-me-mentally/physically/emotionally” kind of pose I could muster. That cool towel on my back by that lovely volunteer meant everything.

Here I come!!!

I was offered a medal and finisher visor and I took it….ultimately not because I truly finished the ENTIRE race, but more beauce I finished MY race….my mental “not going to give in the towel, especially this week/season” race. And that’s something I’m very proud of doing.

This would have been an easy day to quit and make up some excuse to tell everyone why it went wrong, etc. But that’s all Fear-Based Amy and she didn’t get a role today. Badass Brave Amy got to race today, and she’s the gal who will toe the line at IMAZ. Today was a great training day and I can tell you many things that went right if you ever are curious….I took in EVERY grateful detail of the day which I honestly can say did NOT happen last year.

Be DQ’ed AND still PR AND smile. Be Brave.