Pictured here with fellow "Clarkie", President of XTERRA and fellow Love Shack singer.
Aloha! My race game was ON at Worlds! good thoughts and prayers from friends did me well! other than my hand which was already broke, I made it threw without one bruise, scrape, or scratch...my bike too! I shaved 40 mins off my time from last year!-1min in the swim, -30mins on the bike, -7mins on the run. and about a minute off of each transition.
The swim: went into it with a few good tips from my coach, the first lap was much better than the second. On the second I was stuck with a group of people, where the one man decided to do a breast stroke kick which gave me a nice heel in the face and put some salt water in the goggle.
The bike: was HOT, dirty, dusty, dry, and ROCKEEEE! I had the Yeti ASR to drive. This is the sweetest ride for this course. I actually had FUN out there on this bike! Thanks to Biketopia for hooking me with all the right components and fitting to make this a sweet ride for 20 miles! My biggest obstacle was the person in front who kept hitting their brakes, or getting off the bike to climb. Its a domino effect on this course. You can't go off course or you will crash or find some nasty needles in your tires for a flat. Better off being patient sometimes.
The run: The first quarter mile is on the pavement, so it was here, while running, I drank the bottle. There are many water stops, but I passed the first one (at the beginning of the off-road climb)...where I also passed about 10 people. The climb lasts for about 4miles up...in the sun...and just when you think you can't climb, you climb some more. Then its down to the beach, into a spooky forest, out to another beach, onto nasty lava fields, to the finish line! a group hug at the end! very sweet!!!
Total time for the 2007 XTERRA World Championship: 4hrs 13mins. I placed 9 out of 22 in my age group, 69 out of 131 women overall (including Pros), and shaved 40 mins off my2006 time.... very happy with my results! Mahalo!
