This was my
fifth year racing the Wausau Triathlon, with the first time being in 2010 as my
very first triathlon. It’s always fun to
come back and do this one every year, since it’s not only the place I started,
but I also get to go back and see a lot of people I know. This was also my first year racing it without
Katherine though, and this season hasn’t been the same racing without her (she
just had her first baby in June).
We got to
my friend Katy’s to unpack for the night around 6:50pm, when I discovered that
when I grabbed my front race wheel, I forgot to take the skewer from my
training wheel. A bit of panic, I must
say! Trek’s hours were until 7pm, so I
rushed over and told them my dilemma.
Thankfully they lent me a skewer from one of their new bikes in stock to
borrow for the race, for free. That was
so awesome of them – thank you, Trek! I
miss my old shop.
After a
terrible night’s sleep, I biked over to the race in the morning. The night before I also found out that
wetsuits were being allowed for the swim.
Since this race has never allowed wetsuits, I hadn’t packed mine. Apparently it was in the brochure that they
MIGHT be allowed this year depending on the water temperature, but I missed
that, as I was definitely not looking for it (nor was I even sent a brochure,
even though I won the long course last year).
Fortunately, the two fast women that I knew I would have for competition
did not wear wetsuits for the swim either.
I was thankful that I was not left at a disadvantage as a result.
The first
part of the bike route is flat and you’re able to cruise along pretty
well. I had Kim within my sight, but
could not catch up to her until around 13 miles into the ride. We played leapfrog for a bit before I was
able to pull away and put some distance between us. I had yet to see Tara, who I had battled it
out on the bike with last year – a fast cyclist! I worried that she was somewhere ahead of me
yet, since I had a slow swim. My bike also
was not as fast as last year, despite there being little to no wind as a
factor. I came into T2 and headed out on
the run. It was a very hot, sunny
run. The run has a little loop in the
parking lot before heading out of the park, and I saw Tara headed into the loop
as I headed out. I felt relief that at
this point I should be in the lead for women.
Despite having a slow swim, Tara was still a minute behind me coming out
of the water, same as last year. This
year though, I was the one with the fastest bike split!
We split from the short course
runners, and eventually I could see the relays and lead men returning from the
turn-around. I hit the turn-around and
it was confirmed I was in first. I
passed Tara and Kim after the turn-around.
I didn’t have a huge lead, but it was good enough that I wasn’t worried
about pushing the run too hard. Wausau
was not about having super fast splits, I need to save that for next weekend at
Nationals! I had slower swim, bike, and
run splits this year compared to last year, but I did what I had to do in order
to get the Win this weekend. I finished
as the overall female winner for the second year in a row!
Not only was this race special
because I finished as the back-to-back champion, but also because I had an
awesome fan crew: our friends Katy and Dan Schield (fellow CU Trackster!), the
Twietmeyer family, and my family of both Andy and Baya! This was the only race she could be at this
season, since it had a late enough race start for her. It was also our 6-year Anniversary! (Thanks for being willing to spend the
morning at a race, Andy!) Lucky me, I
even got chocolate milk afterwards!
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