Third - Kansas 70.3
A big Howdy!
My racing stampede continued this past weekend in the mid-west at the Kansas 70.3. On a day that I will remember as a "perfect Kona training day" I came third behind two of the finest women in our sport: Jo Lawn and Sam McGlone.
I arrived in Kansas with perfect timing, I just missed the tornado that had blown through the night before. Perfect! I was met at my homestay by my new favorite Kiwis: Jo Lawn and her husband Armando. Chris and I quickly became friends with them and I am already looking forward to more fun times together. A big shout out to the best home stay on the circuit: Kent and Liz Dobbins (and the rest of there family). They treated us all like royalty and we shared some good laughs together!
Race day started similar to Kona with a non-wetsuit swim, however, the aquarium landscape was replaced with a mid-western murk. The coolest part was watching the Navy Seals parachute there way down to Clinton Lake as the national anthem played. The gun was fired, feet were kicking, arms were flying, and I ended up having a non-impressive swim. I excited transition knowing I had my work cut out for me with the leaders nearly 4 minutes up on me. Time to get riding on my stealth Scott Plasma!
The bike course in Kansas was just like Kona: hot, humid, hilly, and windy. It was a great course with 3 out-and-backs that gave me lots of opportunity to see what my competition was up to. I worked hard to ride myself into the top-5 but all morning I was wishing I had my half-ironman legs with me and not my heavy yellow-brick-road legs. I found myself day dreaming a bit (sorry, coach!), in a few mental lows, and just not feeling on par. I did manage to enjoy all the mid-west super fans that were out on the course, however!
I entered T-2 with two girls in sight and I was looking forward to slipping on my dancing shoes: Saucony Fastwitches! I ran my first 10k pretty well and moved myself into third place. The run course was great, and had the feel of Wildflower as it weaved its way past camp grounds and RV's. Let me tell you, the bbq sure smelled good at mile 10!
I finished my day cowboy hat in tow and more to be desired from my performance: hopefully this weekend in Victoria at the New Balance Half!
I spent the next day enjoying all that Lawrence has to offer checking out downtown, campus, and enjoying some great food at the Free State Brewery. Then it was off to Canada for some time with Coach Lance until I realized I forgot my passport, oooooooops! The good news is thank goodness for great friends and overnight FedEx services.
So there you have it, eh?!
Linsey
