Instead of walking at graduation,  I decided to do something really memorable and race Xterra ACE Big Canyon in West Virginia! This was my second Xterra for the season (West Championship in Vegas was the first) and my dad was able to make it out to cheer me on with our dog Zoe.

I did this race for the first time 4 years ago when I first started riding and doing triathlons. I couldn’t pass on the opportunity to do the race again this year. The course is epic, swimming a mile and a half down a river, then running eight miles up the side of a mountain and mountain biking at the end. The Ace staff and volunteers are always awesome. Plus, my teammate Marcus was going to be there.

This race is notorious for it’s muddy conditions and this year would be no different.  A huge amount of rain fell on the area a week prior so I knew what to expect on the trails. However, I didn’t expect the swim to get cancelled because of the amount of rain. I was pretty disappointed I didn’t get to race in my new wetsuit from Profile Design.

We left early Saturday morning so I could pre-ride the course and have time to set up our tent before it got dark. It was nice that our campsite was only 100 ft away from the transition area!

Going into the race I was pretty nervous about my running fitness. After Vegas I took some time off from running to recover and prepare for Collegiate Road Nationals and had only started back up running again the week before the race. My longest run leading up to Vegas was around 40 minutes, so I knew running 8.3 miles with 1000 ft of elevation gain would be a huge challenge for me. I definitely started to fade the last couple of miles but was able to hold off the other girls.

Going into the bike I was first women and 10^th overall. My dad was able to give me time splits at various parts of the course. While I was getting my stuff together the night before, he was planning the route he and Zoe would take, running from aid station to aid station.  Good thing he’s a runner!

During the bike, I was able to hold off the other girls and started picking off some of the boys in front of me to finish 7^th overall. Marcus killed it, even making a wrong turn for a huge time delay and still managed to race back to fourth overall!

After the race we enjoyed free burritos provided by ACE and my post race favorite, massages!

Ah Maui, what a mellow place. And here I was racing at Maui for the 5^th time, in perhaps my 30^th XTerra, and I was wound up all weekend like I was sitting in the dentist’s chair about to get drilled. I spent most of Sat before the race - when I wasn’t hanging out with the Melrad guys, or chatting with everyone else in the XTerra mafia - holed up in my hotel room trying to chill, and ate a bit of the cereal I bought to relax me. OK, clearly I ate too much of that cereal (and no, it did not relax me).

Sunday. I am up and at the beach getting ready. My gut is in knots from the cereal. Ouch. My legs hurt already as well (Off-season project is to figure out what is wrong – piriformis syndrome? I don’t even know – and fix it).

Anyway, after too much time prepping, we all line up on the beach. Rather than the usual bit where they say that everyone needs to get out of the water, but they start the race anyway, this time they actually got everyone out. I decided to avoid the madness and line up quite a bit to the left of the main cluster of pros and wannabes. BOOM. Well, my plan worked in that I had a free swim lane, but it didn’t work in that the pack was swimming faster together, and I lost some good ground at the start. Then I noticed that my long swimsuit’s zipper was digging in my neck. The zipper had opened a little, and the teeth were gouging me. Ouch. Anyway, overall an uneventful 2 laps, in a little under 22 min. I must have been somewhere around 40^th out, maybe 10th amatuer, out of 500+.

Off to the bike. Once on the bike I kept wondering whether I picked the right tires (Racing Ralph’s) whether the pressure was too low (28), and whether I should have worn gloves (never have at Maui, but my hands always get wet and a bit slippery). Maui is a ride that is rarely that technical, but loose enough, with so many rocks, that you have to focus the whole time. No real chance to just put your head down. I was doing my best to focus, and watching people crash, and get flats, just hoping it wouldn’t be me in either case.

Mel came by me before Heartbreak hill. She was motoring as usual. I knew she had a tough day ahead of her, and hoped for the best for her.

There’s always about 6 short climbs on the course that are steep and loose enough that most people walk. They always frustrate me, but I tried to do my best cyclocross on them, and run up, hop on and go. Fred Smith came by at some point around there – and he seemed really up beat and full of energy! Go Fred.

At one point, as I’m motoring down a little section, I see this HUGE black bull standing right in left side of the trail, staring up the road at us, and looking none too happy. He had to be 6 ft tall, and seemed about 6 ft wide. I decided to ride on the right side J.

About an hour into the ride, I realized I was doing well. Not a lot of riders around me, meaning they were mostly back down the course. As I was climbing a hill leading up to the Plunge, someone right behind me started singing the Oscar Meyer wiener song. It was Casey Fanin, and he got me laughing pretty hard. For a guy riding that hard (he won the 45-49 race), he had plenty of free energy to chat.

My legs starting hurting bad up the last few climbs, but I had a few chances to stand up and stretch them out, which helped.

Down the Plunge. Man, that descent is the only part of the course that makes me nervous. You can really get moving there, and you can loose it in less than a second in those loose rocks. I tired to keep from having the death grip going, laid off the brakes and just hoped my trusty SyCip hardtail would lead me out of danger. Once off that drop, and breathing a little easier, Tom Lyons came by. Normally Tom is as chatty as a teenage girl, but today he didn’t make a sound – just totally focused on his race (no doubt knowing that Casey was still up the road).

After what seemed like forever, I got near the end. Almost dropped the bike right before I left the dirt, getting too aggressive in a gravel turn as I looked forward to the run. I saw Diebens running on the dirt, and Mel not too far behind on the road. I was hoping Mel could catch her, but even a small gap is tough to close. As I came into transistion, I saw Tom and Casey running out about 15 feet apart. I thought to myself “damm I want to watch that battle”.

Off on the run. Hotter than a Quiznos sandwich oven. We had some clouds on the bike, but they left us for the run. No wind at all. I just got into my shuffle rhythm. Fast turnover, short strides, keep the HR below threshold. My legs hurt, and now I really felt the stomach craps again. Argh, painful. I kept focusing on relaxing my body, which helped a little. I saw Keri Strobeck-Grosse coming in off the bike as I ran out. Looked like she was in a good position.

The long and super hot run up the hills was just tough. I felt like I was baking. I dumped water on my head at every aid station. Then finally, we dropped down to the beach to head back. One mile in the sand up Mckenna beach. I have found there is no good way to run there, by the water or in the high sand, it all sucks – even in my Avia Stolz. Then after that you get the Spooky forest – under trees, over trees for 5 min. That’s where people cramp up every year, and sure enough the guy behind me let out a huge scream as his leg locked up on him. Poor dude.

Then you get the black sand beach, but it’s short, and you get on the lava. I hate the lava. It’s the most treacherous part, when you are completely smoked and just want to give a kick and finish. A half mile of stumbling across the rocks, trying to go fast enough without doing a face plant. Then at last the finish. I was relieved. I didn’t even care if I won – I just sat down and dumped water on my head for 5 min to cool down. I still felt bad though, and headed off to my hotel pretty quickly in order get myself out of the sun before I passed out.

I packed my bike, and got back to awards in time to have a few beers, and carry one up to the podium. It was nice to have win #2 in Maui – I needed the validation that win #1 was no fluke. It was also my 20^th XTerra AG win – another milestone. But the party was a bit bittersweet, knowing I won’t see everyone for about 6 months. I was hoping to spend my last day in the islands, surfing with some of the xterra mafia, but everyone got tied up or hung-over, and I ended up surfing alone. It was a perfect mellow day to end my stay however. Catching a few waves, chilling in the sun on a long board, contemplating the end of another race season, along with thoughts of doing some cyclocross, and putting plans together in my head for XTerra in 2010.