Race Reports - Small town 5K and Pirate Tri 2012

The Bancroft family has been having some at some races the past few weeks!!  Two weeks ago, New England was hit with torrential rains that lasted for days.  I think I heard that if it had been snow, it would have been about 7 feet! Instead, we got floods.  Rivers swelled, lawns drowned, gardens struggled and at camp, all the docks are now submerged. But that didn't stop anyone.  In my last post you read about the gang at the Mooseman Tri in New Hampshire. That was the same weekend. Insane cold rains....  Here in Maine it was no different. 

The hospital in our town started a 5K this year.  I was thrilled. Why? I'm not really a 5K runner. The distance makes me rather sick to be honest.  It's fast and furious and since I love to push myself outside of my limits, trying to run that fast makes me eyeballs want to pop out. But... the county I live in is, quite sadly, extremely unhealthy.  I hate to admit this but we are in fact the 'most unhealthy county' in the State. Possibly New England. sigh.. it is heartbreaking. But, it is true. Hard to believe because we live in a gorgeous area with many many clean lakes, beautiful roads on which one can run and bike and walk, ski areas everywhere, trails... you get the point. ( Of course, I must add in case someone with an idea is reading, NO swimming pool. NO community center... blah)

Ok... back to the races. 

A 5K in our town.... the Bancrofts are IN!  The kids signed up for the 1 mile fun run. 

Despite the POURING Rain ( not regular rain, Insane torrential windy cold rain), we all got up early and felt excited. A little Sunday morning adventure.  

The gun went off for the kid's run and boom...they ran. And then boom, they were back. Huh? 

The road was flooded. So, they turned the kids around after about .12 of running and they were back to us in 2-3 minutes. 

Ok. My boys were a little unsatisfied. 

"can we do the 5k too Mom?? Paaleaaaaaaaaase!!!???"  

Yes, of course.  The choice? Stand under the tent and watch or get out and run for 3.1 miles with some friends.  Easy.  Do I push my kids to do long run distances at their young ages? No. They do it by choice once in a while.  It was all about the community and having healthy fun on a crummy day. 

Here we are below. Feeling wet. 

At front of the line: Gavin ( our friend) in red, Tommy ( gray and black) and Nick ( all black ) looking at me like we're all crazy. 

Cameron and Mark ( both in blue Tshirts) and me. 

 In short? We ran. We all ran hard. We all high 5-d as we passed each other on the way back.  Mark and I ran together for 2.8 miles or so ( I was in front, I must add. He drafted. ) And then, his giant 6'3" legs took off and he smoked me. He ran 19:02. Woah!  I hit the watch at 19:14. Huge PR. I took 1st place, Mark took 3rd for Men.  The boys were right behind us and in perfect order (phew..little brothers keep trying to catch big brother..not ready for that yet.)  : Cameron in at 21:20, Tommy 1 min later to the second almost and Nick sprinted in to finish in 23:xx!!  Pretty cool. They were proud. I was proud. We had friends who ran with us and they had great fast races too. It was a good day.
To see >200 people show up and run hard in that weather was a warm and fuzzy feeling. The goal to get people up and out and pumping that heart muscle is on it's way!!!
______________________________________
 Next up:
The Pirate Tri at Point Sebago. 6/11/12
We have a little camp on Sebago Lake.  We call it "the Island." Because, well, we're on an island.  It's off in a little part of this big lake called the Basin.  It's our summer hideaway. That makes this race one of our favorites. We can Boat there!!!!  How fun! We still get to spend our weekend 'at camp' but we can also squeeze in a race. My boys love it because it's on a beach. And, there's a jungle gym. And, a fun run.  The night before, Tommy told me, " I only like getting up early for races. " Cameron added, "Yeah, me too. It's exciting." Ahhh.. phew. I guess these guys have just grown up with this.  They don't seem to resent me or dread it all. They embrace it and have their own fun. This makes me very happy.  It's part of keeping the Balance.. which is very important to me.
My parents came to our island on Sat so they could enjoy camp and see the race too.
We got up super early, ate a little food and hit the water!  Our party boat was loaded up with race gear and bikes. We bunded in sweats and blankets and started our day with a 45 min ride across the lake. Pretty invigorating really. I loved it.

One of the best parts about this day was seeing a bunch of my best friends again. Our races schedules and personal schedules don't always mesh. Life is busy and catching up with everyone is tricky.  But I was happy that a bunch of great friends were there on Sunday to have fun with again.  It's one of the reasons I love this sport.

Did I say yet that Mark was racing? Yup!! Both of us were toeing the line for the Pirate this year.

Ok- onto the race!

Here I am pre- swim.

Focused? Or... just hot standing in sun with wetsuit on for too long?

Swim-- My wave was 6 min behind Mark's. The 35-39 y.o. women were 3 min ahead of us.  My mission became to catch "them all."  :)  I just wanted to go out and go fast. That's really all it was about. Go hard the whole time. A race is a race to me. I've been in some big races far away from Maine and I've been in lots of local races. I give my 100% for every single race I do. It's just what I do.  This was no different. I'm preparing for my first "A" race of the year in 2 weeks. Mont Tremblant 70.3. For this sprint, my goal was to push the envelope a bit to see how I felt in 'race gear.'

I ran and dove in at the GO GO GO command.  Head down, I sprinted like crazy. 

Doh! I finally sighted after 15-20 strokes and I had taken a Serious right hand turn. Geez... Ange!??? 

I corrected myself and moved on. 

I caught some of the age in front of me and got around the buoys. The swim at this race is SO SHORT! Too short. I will always say that but truly, it took me 7 minutes!  I think it took longer to get the wetsuit ON than to swim the course. But since I can often gain in the swim, it is a bit of a handicap for me. I needed to do the job on the bike and run on this day.  

Alright. Out of the water and into T1. Suit came off without much ado and off I went. I have to admit something. After 8 years in the sport, I accomplished something for the first time. I ran out of T1 with my bike shoes ON the bike, did a flying mount and later, a flying dismount. Yes. I did. Thankyou. This is a big thing for me. I actually have multiple scars on my knees from previously failed attempts. I am proud. 

I felt fast and strong on the bike. I had fun slingshotting with others and cruising around the course. I loved it.  I caught Mark a few miles in and gave him a little smile and teased him with some words. :)  

Not much more to say! 14 miles of up and down and up and down and I felt great through it all. 

40:10ish... 

Into the run... ahh... wasn't feeling so hot here. I thought about my 5K the previous week. It appeared I left all my speed out on the course that day.  I was breathing like Darth Vadar again.  I ran with my friend Pat for a bit. He was looking super strong. Fun to see him there. I pulled away after a bit and made the turn towards home. The next few minutes made me so happy.  You see... there were 3 other TriMoxie athletes there on Sunday. A few of us were wearing our new Kits. I felt like real team. Those woman were running towards me looking SO strong!!! As I said in my last post, the joy I am getting from watching these people succeed is just fantastic.  I'm loving it.  Mark ran towards me as well.  He looked awesome as he usually does on the run.  There were lots of spectators and support. I heard my kids and parents. 

I was suffering pretty badly. I didn't feel very good at all. But then it clicked and I said to myself, "Ange. This is a Sprint Triathlon!!!!! If you felt GOOD you wouldn't be doing it right!!!!" 

Good point self!  

And, as is usually the case for me, as mile 2-2.5 came along, I started to find my groove and felt pretty fast. I finished strong and gave it my all.
run: 20:10 

overall 1:08:50

Pushing hard to finish

I took 1st place on Sunday.  The other TriMoxie athletes took 5th, 6th and 12th overall!!!!  Just awesome.
Mark had a great race. The kids ran the 1/2 mile fun run and crushed it.
We were all happy.
So we packed up the party boat and cruised back to camp in the warm sun.

Party boat cruise home

Tommy--chillin' on our cruise home