Mooseman! Done and done.

Mooseman is so done!
I was a bit nervous for this race as I was seriously under trained. I am talking one long ride over 30 miles and no long runs since the 1/2 Marathon in March. Not a good recipe for a successful race. I knew I would make it through but figured it would not be pretty.

TE and I drove out of DC on Thursday evening and spent the night in the Jerse. We left for New Hampshire Friday morning around 10 and made it to Newfound Lake by 4:30. Not bad!

Saturday was spent on a short swim-bike-run as well as packet pick-up for the race. We also managed to see friends racing in the olympic distance race which was nice. Early to bed for a 4:30 wake-up call.

RACE DAY

SWIM
The swim start had bout 5 or 6 waves and I was second to last. TE went in the first so he was way ahead of me by the time I got in. The water was COLD, something right around 62 degrees. Everyone else around me seemed to have full-sleeves in contrast with my sleeveless but I got over it. I started around 7:52. The swim went relatively well considering how cold it was. I rounded the first couple of buoys and felt great and then somehow found myself alone after the the final turn. I got back on course and managed to get out of the water in just under 40 minutes (39:05) ! Awesome..my Timberman time was about 48 so I was happy.

BIKE
The bike was 2 loops of a pretty hilly course. There were a couple of serious uphills and then some long gradual hills in the hot shadeless weather. It was apparently up in the mid 90s when all was said and done so not exactly ideal conditions. I made it through loop one in about 1:45 and was not excited for number 2. Things started to go seriously wrong and I felt really hot and nauseous. I can seriously say that I almost called it quits after that ride. My hopes of finishing the second loop faster the first were seriously dashed as I wondered if I would even make it through. Towards the end one of the volunteers yelled out that there were 4.5 miles to go and I actually started to cry. I don't know if it was out of joy or pain but I did it and got ready for the run. Total time = 3:41:21.

RUN
The run was HOT. It consisted of 2 loops next to the lake and through a neighborhood behind. There were some serious hills and not a lot of shade. The 2 loops made it easy to see people though which was great! There was lots of water and volunteers though which made it a little better. Loop 2 went right back around the transition area/finish line which was rough. Everyone saying things like "you're almost done!" when in reality there were over 6 miles to go! D'oh! Somehow I managed to power through (I think I was just ecstatic to be off that bike) and even ran the majority of the course. I finished in 2:16:21.

Overall my time for this race was technically a Personal Record since I finished almost exactly 20 seconds earlier than at my other 1/2 Ironman, Timberman, last August. I finished with a 6:42:26. I am pretty happy with it and am even happier that the rest of my races this summer are sprints with possibly a relay thrown in for good measure. I'm kind of over this distance for a while, especially this distance in the heat and sun with Hills! We'll see how I am feeling tomorrow. Survey says....very, very sore.