Rev3 Quassy Olympic-Race Report Part I

This race report is going to have two parts because something in me was sparked and I need to write more than just a race report.  This should actually be called "Triathlon Brattiness" but just stopping short of calling myself a brat, i'll keep it as "race report" but.....i'm really calling myself out. 

I started to write this race report about three times before Quassy even started.  The first time was when I had to call my friend to come watch Soren so I could load up the car on Friday morning.  Sounds ridiculous right?  Well, living on the 3rd floor of a building, I knew I was going to have a heck of a time loading bags and a bike with towing a toddler beside me begging to either A: hold/twist/drop/throw my keys or B:stop to twist all the door handles on every door of our building. 

It could've taken me easily two hours.  Friend came, I was rescued.  The next time was when I arrived at Quassy and I realized that walking my bike and pushing a stroller was going to be an interesting turn of events.  Luckily I had some awesome teammates to help me out!!  The last time was when I realized that the only water I had drank all day, the day before my race was the two glasses of water I had drank during dinner, other than that just one caffeine-free diet coke.  Excellent race preparation.

I should quit my whining, because honestly, I had a lot of time to think this weekend, I have some people on my mind that don't have it going so smoothly right now or people who are struggling and worried about "real" things in their lives.  When I start to talk about how many things were odd or wrong with my race preparation or the things that I struggled with, it sounds really really lame to complain about.  Seriously.  Who cares if Dave had to rent a car to come watch me race since we're down to one car in Boston and he got to the hotel at midnight the night before a race, we got up at 5:00 a.m. to head to transition and I woke with a headache realizing I was indeed, dehyrated, but even worse, I had nearly nothing to eat for breakfast, and my fast shoe laces I had bought were missing pieces to them so I was going to have to...gasp....tie my running shoes during the race instead of slipping them on.  gasp.  Boo Hoo. :)

Perspective people.....here are my thoughts: sure, racing is MY time, it's what I love, it's someone else's time when they read a book or paint or see a movie or they shop alone.  I race, it's one of my most favorite things in the world.  Dave and I are opposites, I train because I love competition, the thrill of a race.  Dave..he loves the training and the race is just the reward for all the training.  In my own "mommy" world, racing has become a part of my identity, something that I look forward to because it makes me feel like "me" and I can focus on each of the sports and challenge myself.  So, I guess I get frustrated when things don't go smoothly before a race because I want to feel good about myself in a race.  But.....come on, seriously, when you think about it, most people I know are working either full or part time, they're juggling having time for their kids, themselves, juggling finances, struggling to even visit family, and if my biggest worry is that I was dehydrated before a race---I need to kick myself in the pants for even considering that a "worry."

I'm not saying Dave and I don't have any struggles, please don't take what I wrote as that, i'm merely saying the fact that I have the time in my life to train and race and enjoy that time is a gift in and of itself.  Each race I do should be seen as a gift and be grateful for that opportunity, not dwell on all the nuances that may go wrong.

What prompted me to write all this out exactly...well, I realized that I was getting a bit into of a frenzy with how things weren't going smoothly and I've come in contact with people at races before who I actually felt like they were so obsessed with what was going on in their race preparation that I thought to myself "do they even realize how lucky they are?"  People who spend HOURS away from their families training for races and their families come to support them, only to have them get all irritated because they didn't "PR" in a race.  How annoyed would you be if your family member spent hours away from you and then complained of the one teeny tiny nuance that didn't go perfect.  Perspective people. 


I'm not saying people don't deserve time to themselves, but....realistically there is time to yourself and then there's the guy on the run this past weekend who I was talking to who was complaining about not getting a PR on his run and he mentioned his five-week-old baby.  I couldn't even wrap my head around that, I just thought "Dude, you have a freaking INFANT and no doubt your wife is sitting on a rock around here in the heat, in the transition area after getting up super early no doubt on zero sleep and you're complaining about not having a PR".....what a jerk.  And I hate to say it, he's not the first one to make comments like this, I hear it quite a bit throughout the triathlon community and it drives me insane. 

It just really made me think about perspective.  I started my race being grateful to have my first open water swim of the season, ride my bike for the FIRST TIME SINCE VINEMAN (yes, i'm finally admitting, it, I didn't do any trainer rides or rides outside before Quassy, it was all spin classes, huge admittance, but whatever it's my blog), I teared up riding my bike, I love it, it's fast, fun and I had a great ride, and the run, I was so grateful to be running in the shade, and best of all, being greeted by my awesome husband and son at the finish.

You have to take the time to be grateful, life isn't always about YOU and your PR's and lining up races and flying around all over to get in as many races as you can.  Life is about juggling and sometimes juggling a lot of things at once, makes you appreciate being able to have time for yourself more...I got my pants in a bunch initially when I was trying to make my race logistics work, but i'm glad by Friday evening at dinner I had sorted out my selfishness and kicked myself in the pants and got to focus on the fun part, finding myself lost in the fun of a race!

Stay tuned for play-by-play of Quassy.....it was a good one :)