2014 Wongstar Racing in Review

Well, I did a Turkey Trot 10k on Thanksgiving morning, which I never race reported, as it was pretty pathetic (for me). If you must know, my first and last miles were great (6:36 and 6:37) but those four in between were pretty awful (7:24, 8:07, 7:54, 7:19). I just didn't care. I had some intentions to break my 10k PR again, as it was only 2.5 weeks after the Bay Bridge 10k, but my body had different intentions as it hates me when I make it run in race temperatures under 30*F. Because F that SH! (See also: Wineglass Half Marathon...)

So instead, I am doing a nice generic "year in review" for how my racing went this year. Having done triathlons for the last 15 years, I felt like this year was pretty light, as I "only" did two Olympic tris and one half-ironman, but then I gathered up all the various finisher's medals strewn about our living quarters and was surprised with how many I had:

So here's what I did all year (with links to race reports):

• A 263-mile bike ride that was DNF'ed and "only" 182 miles. Still my longest bike ride in a single day!
• Two Olympic distance triathlons (Rock Hall and General Smallwood).
• A "virtual" TeamRWB 4-miler
• A cross country race at my high school alma mater
• two half marathons (Navy-Air Force and Wineglass)
• two ten-milers (Annapolis and Army)
• three 10k's (St. Michael's, Bay Bridge and Thanksgiving morning)
• and a HALF IRONMAN! (Beach2Battleship, whoop whoop)

Oh yeah, there were also two 5k's I raced that obviously didn't have finisher's medals...but I did win one outright (YAY!) at the Lockheed Martin 5k:

And the other 5k was the Firecracker 5k, which I got 2nd place in my age group at, but figured I was too slow and didn't stay for the awards. (D'oh!) Of course, it later turns out that I also got 2nd in my age group at the Turkey Trot 10k and didn't stay for awards either as I was butt-cold and assumed I was too slow to place in my age group...

Moral of the story, maybe I'm not as slow as I think and should stay for some potentially awesome age group awards? Here are the things I did stay for (which aren't really that exciting or awesome, but hey, hardware):

So, a 2nd place in my AG at a 10k, a 2nd place in my AG at an Olympic tri, and the smallest paperweight I'm most proud of, is the 3rd place overall woman at the General Smallwood Olympic tri. I guess because that was the one race that I actually felt pretty fit at, where I busted my ass through the bike and run and didn't feel like "wah, I didn't train enough."

Oh! As a side note, I did manage to PR at different running distances, 5k, 10k, 10-miler, and maybe the half marathon (questionable as my previous PR was banditted). I haven't run this many running races in the last 5 years so previous PR's were fairly slow.

I am also really proud of my Beach2Battleship half, as yes, by the end of October I was just riding off my summertime fitness and did in fact feel like "wah, I didn't train enough." But I still put in solid enough splits for the swim/bike/run that I was happy with being only 10 minutes slower than my PR, "close enough" to sub-5 (5:01), and 4th in my age group. Not too shabby at all!

Yes, "not too shabby at all" would be a good way to summarize my entire year, as going into 2014, my athletic goals were up in the air and all over the place. I didn't want to commit to triathlons much, thought I wanted to do ultramarathons or marathons, and ended up coming around and getting remotivated in the triathlon world through Amy, Beck, Carmen, and the RWB newbies.

So having sat on my butt all of last winter, and only starting to swim in May...I'd grade my triathlon performances as "better than expected" but still not super amazing, as we ex-pro athletes hold ourselves to very high standards. It was fun dragging my new fiancé to the races and even getting him to do his first 5k!

Which brings us back to it being winter again. And ugh, yes, I am sitting on my butt. I've got my first 2015 race in 8 weeks (the Austin half marathon with Amy), and have these grand plans of doing up to THREE half ironmans and PR'ing at that distance, of course! And how about WINNING MORE STUFF?!? What's with all these lame 2nd places in my age group? F that SH!

But there is also a wedding in September to plan, so as of right now, the three things I'm committed to are that half marathon in February, a half ironman in June (Challenge Atlantic City!), and my wedding in September.

BUT, there are also only 10 days left in the year (when most of these triathlon race fees go up!), and I was recently promoted to our Team RWB DMV chapter's triathlon co-coordinator, AND White Tiger has been replaced, AND I have miraculously been picked up by (an unsolicited, even!) triathlon sponsor (Rose Physical Therapy) for 2015!

So more blogging shall be done to expound all the aforementioned new and exciting topics; in the meantime, have a Merry Christmas and I hope you are working out more than I am, as I sit on my butt and eat like a fat kid on all the days it is under 40*F.