Jordanelle 2009

This year, while I was training, Ashley gave be a big surprise- he told me he wanted to do the race with me. The only bad part is that he told me less than a week before the race so he didn't train at all. In fact his only training outside of backpacking and hiking was the Wednesday prior to the race when he went to the course and did 75% of the race to see what it was like. I know that Ash is strong, naturally, so I knew I would have to pull out a great race to beat him.

When we arrived at the race, we rode the 4.5 miles from Francis to the race course, picked up our racer packets, got our body marked with number and age, and then went to the transition area to set up. Once the bouys went into the water, Ash was nervous about the length of the swim. Soon enough, he calmed down, I gave him a good luck kiss, and he went into the water to start the event.

Ash started the event 5 minutes before me, that way not all 700 people start at once. What that meant to me was if I could see him at any point, we could tie...if i passed him, I had him beat by five minutes. Even though I absolutely wanted to beat Ash, my ultimate goal was to leave it all on the course and to 'hurt' the whole time. I think I did that. Here is how it Turned out

• Swim: Ash- 18:55 Rhielle- 18:58 Ash: 0:03 ahead
• T1: Ash-3:59 Rhielle- 1:44 Rhielle: 2:02 ahead
• Bike: Ash-42:51 Rhielle-43:29 Rhielle: 1:36 ahead
• T2: Ash- 1:25 Rhielle-1:02 Rhielle: 1:59 ahead
• Run: Ash- 25:57 Rhielle-22:28 Rhielle: 5:28 ahead
• Total: Ash-1:33:08 Rhielle- 1:27:45

There you have it, I was able to beat Ash, but just barely. And, honestly, him being there helped me push harder than I have before. Last year, my time was 1:39 so I was mostly happy to beat that and to go under 1:30 which was my overall goal. I also placed second in my age division, only six seconds behind first place, and I placed 10th overall in the female division. I was really proud of myself. Ashley placed 10th in his age division. Not bad for his first attempt and no training...I hope I can stay faster as he keeps training.

The other bonus to this race was how many of my friends raced in addition to Ashley. Of course we had store employees and sponsored athletes doing the race, but I also had my friends, Melissa, Rachel, and Clari at the race with me. It made for a great race!