Boulder 70.3, 70.3 World Championships, and more

It's been awhile since my last update. I think my last blog was my Vineman race report back in July! Well, since then I have raced Boulder 70.3 and just recently 70.3 World Championships. Read on to catch up on my latest happenings...

-Believe it or not Boulder 70.3 was actually my first trip ever to Colorado. I drove to Boulder from Flagstaff which was a beautiful drive. I was lucky to have Justin and Brooke Daerr open their home to me for the weekend. It was a great trip but unfortunately my race wasn't so great. I was completely flat from the start and got flatter as the race went on. It was quite awful. I ended up finishing 8th. Nothing is more frustrating then having a bad race when the training leading into the race has been going really well. I left Boulder a bit down on myself and headed to Taos to visit good friends Heath and Larissa. It was just what I needed after a disappointing race. Taos was beautiful and I had a great time relaxing and catching up.

-70.3 World Championships was bittersweet. I was 11th overall and just one place out of the money. Ugh. Although I was disappointed with 11th, it was still a good race and I was able to take away many positives that gives me more confidence leading into Kona. A quick recap...

I had an o.k. swim staying with the front group until about 1500m. I drifted a bit and lost the pack the last 400m. Two girls caught me towards the finish and we headed staight towards the exit ramp instead of the last buoy. Volunteers were yelling at us to make sure we go around the last buoy, so we back tracked to the buoy which cost us a bit of time to the front group. On to the bike and it was wet. The rain was coming down hard. I've had my fair share of crashes in the rain, so I was very cautious on the downhills and turns. The bike was a bit of a learning experience as it was one of the first times that I was in a pack for the whole ride. Frustrating at times but I made the best of it and felt I did a fair share of work. Off the bike with the group of 4 others. My legs felt surprisingly springy and I was just trying to stay with everyone around me. I managed to pull away from 3 of the girls within the first couple of miles. Magali and I went back and forth for two loops before I started to open up a gap. At this point I was in 9th place. Heather W. passed me some time during the second loop and I couldn't match her pace. And, I knew Kelly W. was coming quick, and she did. About half way through the third loop I could see Heather wasn't getting any further away and that she was actually getting closer. All I could think was that she is $3500 (10th place) and I'm $0 (11th place) right now. Catch her! I kept plugging along, felt strong on the hills and was gaining on her. At the last turnaround I was literally breathing down Heather's neck. Unfortunately, she heard me gasping, picked her pace up another notch and was gone. I fought hard but in the end I came up about 20 seconds short and finished 11th overall.

-We are now back in Flagstaff for the final push to Kona. Another couple of weeks of solid training and then some rest. We will head to Kona Wednesday before the race like we did last year since we are coming from altitude. We're both looking forward to racing Kona and then having some time off together. This will be the first time in a few years that our off season will coincide with one another. Usually when my season is over, B is still training for a late season Ironman.

Thank you to all my sponsors for your continued support!