Well, the race did not go as planned. It was pretty bad, actually.
But rarely is anything ever ALL bad, and that was the case with Chattanooga 70.3
The Good:
- Pre-race dinner and post-race celebration with my local tri club.
- Watching several friends complete their first 70.3.
- Enjoying the sights and sounds of Chattanooga.
- A great swim, my fastest yet.
- An amazing first lap of the run, on pace to be one of my fastest half marathons.
- Watching my friend, Mariah, run across the parking lot waving her World Championship slot letter in the air and jumping into my arms for a hug.
The Bad:
- 3 hours of sleep the night before.
- Leaving my bike legs back home in Florida. A physically painful and slow 56 mile ride.
- Projectile vomiting at mile 8 of the run and run/walking to the finish.
- Teammate still in the hospital after a bad bike crash.
The good was great and the bad was pretty horrible, which makes you feel a little bit excited, hopeful, and strong one minute and then disappointed, frustrated, and angry the next.
We put so much time and effort and hard work into this type of training, and it all comes down to just one day, so it’s 100% normal and expected to feel confused, sad, disappointed, frustrated, angry, pissed off, etc. I’d be worried if I wasn’t, because that would mean I don’t care. And I do. A lot.
For me, I just need 72 hours to process everything, think about what happened, how I’m feeling, decide what changes we’re going to make, and move on.
And if I have a problem with that last part, my lovely husband will just reach over to the radio and turn on that particularly annoying song from Frozen to remind me it’s time to stop talking about the race and just let. it. go.
