Rev3 Knoxville!

Here I sit finally getting around to my race report for Rev3 Knoxville. First off, Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas out there! May your day be drama free!!

Since I last wrote from Galveston I had a few things going on before Knoxville. I got to catch up with the Rev3 crew in there run across America. They were just north of Tulsa so I rounded up a few locals and we tried to give the runners a day off. A huge thanks to Kathy and Bill--Kathy covered 28 miles and Bill covered 48! Duncan, Lisa and I, all recovering from Galveston and Leadville, covered about 40 between the 3 of us. It was fun and for a great cause! Also, who knew I would see my first space capsule in the middle of Oklahoma? Hopefully next year we can round up a few more runners.

I also headed to Austin to particpate in the first tri camp for Team Red White and Blue. This truly deserves its own post, but simply put the camp was amazing. A huge, huge thanks goes to Derick Williamson for making the camp happen. It's awesome to see Team RWB living up to its mission and touch veteran's life. I left the camp inspired knowing that we are actually doing something here. Thank you for allowing Jess Jacobs and me to be a part of this!

Now, to the good stuff! Rev3 Knoxville! This would be my first Olympic race in nearly 2 years. Needless to say, I felt a little out of element, but was psyched for my race to be done in a little over 2 hours! Of course, Rev3 never disappoints. The race was looking to be quite competitive, but beyond that Rev3 puts thought into every detail of the race. If you haven't participated in one of their races, you are missing out! Race day rolled around nice and early on Sunday. Going into the race I knew my swim was not going to be up to snuff. I was hoping my body might surprise me. But alas, if you don't get the work in, it ain't going to happen! In my defense, I did what I could and hope to rectify this by Quassy! My point? My swim was ugly. As I swam along, knowing I was giving up more and more time while leading a small pack, I started to get pretty irritated with myself. An Olympic distance race is too short to give up this sort of time. Further, it's important to position yourself in the race for the beginning of the bike which ultimately has a large part to do with the outcome of your race! Once on the bike I felt strong and slowly started to pick girls off. About a half mile out from the turn around I saw a pack of about 5 women riding together (legally, but there is no doubt there is a huge benefit of riding with women vs by yourself!) I caught Nicole around mile 18 and Laurel shortly after that. We ended up riding into T2 together. I heard we were 3 minutes down and I was hoping that was to Sara and not the pack of women. Laurel and I ran together awhile, which was good because it forced me out of my half-ironman clip and reminded my legs it was supposed to be running a 10k! Finally around mile 4 I started to pick some of the women off. There were a few more up ahead, but the last mile is on a windy path and I just couldn't get the momentum going to catch them. Looking back I should have gone with Laurel and made the passes before I entered this section. Oh well, you live and learn. In the end I was 6th, with about 35 seconds seperating 3rd through 6th. Once that sunk in I was pretty mad at myself for my crud swim. But now I know what I need to work on in these races and you better believe I won't let that happen again! As always, I have to thank my incredible sponsors! Rev3, Pearl Izumi, Powerbar, Recovery Pump, Kestrel, Rudy Project, Blue Seventy. Also, I have to thank a new sponsor: Challenge Tires! The tires are super smooth, thank you!! Next up is Quassy, getting pumped!