Vineman is one of those races that attracts a competitive
field of athletes and for good reason. The pro purse is large, the course is
beautiful and it’s in wine country! I was excited to be going back to Vineman
after 3 years and I was curious to see how I would stack up.
In a last minute change of plans, I ended up staying with
friends at their rental house in Windsor (thanks guys)! We had so much fun in
the days leading up to the race (i.e. wine tasting) that I was a little worried
how I would feel on race day. It definitely wasn’t my normal pre-race routine
but we had fun!
Race morning we got to the start early as Tyler, Dusty and
Jason went off at 6:38. My wave didn’t go until 7:54 (ugh) so I had plenty of
time to warm up, spectate and hang with Erin, Karin and Amy (they took their
Sherpa duties very seriously and were awesome. All pics courtesy of them).
As Erin and I were watching the swim start we couldn’t get
over how many people (all men, of course) were either late for their wave start
or missed it entirely! As if that wasn’t surprising enough we saw a dude with
his wetsuit on INSIDE OUT and it was fully zipped! Fail!
SWIM: 32:42, 9th
(holy crap that’s bad)
By the time my wave went off I was anxious to get started. I
walked into the water for our little 3 minute warm up and immediately my left
foot and calf cramped. Uh oh. I tried to shake it out but nothing was helping.
I basically did the entire swim trying not to move my legs because every time I
did things started cramping. I’ve also been dealing with a bum left shoulder
that decided to flare up before the race so I felt like the only thing working
was my right arm! This technique does not make for a fast swim (as noted in my
very slow swim split).
T1: 3:19
After seeing my slow swim time I hauled ass up to my bike
and attempted to rip my new awesome wetsuit off as quickly a possible (thanks
TBT for the new Helix). As soon as I bent over both calves locked up! I have
never experienced any type of cramping in a race so I started to panic. I ended
up having to sit down in the mud in order to get the suit off and keep my legs
from seizing up. Things were not going
as planned!
Bike: 2:39:23, 1st
After a very rocky start at the mount line (literally I rode
with what felt like boulders in my shoes from the gravel in T1) I was off on
the bike and hoping to put the swim behind me. I felt like I was moving pretty
well in the first few minutes but then the cramping came back. Not only were my
legs crampy but my hands and right arm too. WTH?? I started worrying that
perhaps too much wine leading up to the race was to blame for how crappy I was
feeling. The rest of the ride was just a suffer-fest. My power was about 5
watts lower than my race in Kansas the month prior and I just never got into a
groove. Then the negative thoughts started flowing and I found myself hoping to
get a flat so that I had a legit reason to quit. I couldn’t remember ever
feeling that miserable and desperate on the bike, even during an Ironman.
Coming into T2 I assumed I was probably in 10th
position or somewhere along those lines and I really just wanted to quit. I was
afraid that the cramping I was experiencing on the bike would only be worse on
the run and I didn’t want to be one of those people hobbling along for 13.1
miles in pure misery.
T2: 3:07 (um,
really?)
At the dismount line I saw one woman right in front of me. I
didn’t think much about it until we both ran to the same bike rack and I
realized we were the only ones there. She was in first and I was in second.
Suddenly I had to switch my mentally as I was still in the mix and realized I could
actually pull off a win after such a miserable swim and bike. I tried getting
my flats on and of course my legs started cramping. I had to sit down again and
fumble with my shoes for what seemed like minutes (3 to be exact) as I watched
the other woman fly out of transition. It was so frustrating giving away that
free time. I finally got my act together and made it out of T2.
Run: 1:31:52, 1st
I felt surprisingly good as I started running until I
realized that I left my precious bag of salt pills sitting in T2. I take a
ridiculous amount of salt during my run and due to all of the cramping I was
experiencing I planned on taking one every mile. This would be my first run
without salt pills. Crap. The first 5.5 miles went by pretty quickly and I was
keeping my pace between 6:30-6:40. As we turned in La Crema and hit the dirt
path I saw the girl who was in first and passed her pretty solidly. I actually
loved this part of the course and felt like I was putting a good gap between
us. I ran the next 4.5 miles scared as I have lost most of my races this year
within the last 2 miles. Every time I looked over my shoulder I didn’t see any
women so I thought I was in good shape, until the aid station around mile 10.5.
As I went to grab water the volunteer said “looking good ladies.” WHAT?? I
turned around to see that she was back and RIGHT ON MY HEELS. Instead of panicking I got pissed. I wasn’t
going to lose again in this fashion. I dug deep and somehow found another gear
that I haven’t been able to find in past races. I told myself to run as hard as I could until
I puked or blew up. Thankfully neither of those happened and I managed to cross
the line first (by a mere 17 seconds). As much as those last 2 miles hurt I
knew it wouldn’t hurt as bad as coming in 2nd again!! Even though
this wasn’t my best race I guess the moral of this story is to never give up. I
have never wanted to quit a race so badly in my life…it’s a good thing I
didn’t!
Another great thing about Vineman is so many SoCal people do the
race. A bunch of friends got together that night for a fabulous home-cooked
dinner (thanks Liza and the gang) and we managed to quickly kill the bottle of
wine I got for winning and Reilly’s bottle too!
On the flight home the next day a woman from my age group
was on my plane and asked if she could take a picture with my “wine box trophy”
to send to her coach. It was pretty funny. Then I was approached by a guy on
the plane who was the last finisher of the race. He asked if we could take a
picture together. I explained that I wasn’t Meredith Kessler and didn’t win the
whole race but he didn’t seem to care. It made for a pretty entertaining flight
home (and the free wine helped-love Alaska Airlines for that perk).
As always, I want to thank those who help me out so much… My
coach JZ, Athlete Octane, Tribike Transport, Cynergy, Ero and the crew from the
house that weekend (Go Team Tawney).
Up next 70.3 Worlds in Vegas (there will be no wine until AFTER the race)
