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Race Result

Racer: Donna Rostant
Race: Eagleman
Date: Sunday, June 14, 2009
Location: Cambridge, MD
Race Type: Triathlon - Half Ironman
Age Group: Female 45 - 49
Time: 5:41:57
Overall Place: 800 / 1540
Age Group Place: 9 / 38
Comment: A PR for 70.3



Race Report:



Compared to last year’s Africa-Hot Eagleman adventure, this one was pretty tolerable.

Because of USAT moving up (I prefer to call it moving up rather than aging up) rules, I raced in the 50 -54 year old woman category. Which was great because it meant we got to start right after the pros. I guess they want the old people out of the water first so they don’t have to worry about us any longer than necessary. When the guy who body marked me asked what age group I told him 50-54. When he asked what to out on my calf I (jokingly) said 26. After he was done with me, I looked at my calf and indeed he had written 26. Sadly he was married. Anyone that mistakes a 49 year old woman for 26 is - in my opinion - perfect marriage material. (Which could explain a lot about my personal life.) I'm sure there are some USAT rules prohibiting the impersonation of a 26 year old so I had a bit of a panic attack trying to figure out how to get it off without removing any skin. Of course I needed a commemorative picture of it, but then we got it off with a little suntan lotion and he put the "soon to be correct" age on my calf. Off I went to prepare.

The slightly overcast weather was perfect as was the water temperature. The jelly fish – not so perfect.

SWIM. 42:20 29/38 AG

You know when you’re swimming in a body of water where you can’t really see anything? You just know that there are all kinds of nasty things in the water - like snakehead fish, piranhas, snakes and corpses. Well I kept thinking of all of those things and more and when I felt something biting me during my swim – I told myself I was crazy. Turns out I wasn’t so crazy after all. Although I saw no dead bodies (I may have touched one – I just couldn’t see), when I got out of the water, I had some nasty welts on my arm which I later discovered were jellyfish stings. My swim was my usual - slow and tortuous - although I did a few minutes better than last year. Regardless, let’s just say Dara Torres is not quaking in her swim fins. During the swim, I feel guilty for impersonating a triathlete. Instead of those nifty sleek age group colored swim caps, they should issue me one of those white rubber swim caps with the chin strap and plastic flowers. I would feel more authentic and the pressure would be off. I was happy to exit the water and on to transition.

SWIM TO BIKE 4:10 25/38 AG

I love to watch athletes in the swim to run transition. The vast majority slide out of their wetsuit like a hot knife in butter. For me – it’s the start of a wrestling match. Grace and efficiency are nowhere to be found in my transition area. And every time I try to get out of my wetsuit, I swear that I will never complain about pantyhose again. So much for the $16.00 bottle of suitjuice I bought at the pre-race Expo. I think it must have been spray glue. But I finally managed to get the wetsuit off, my riding gear on, and out the arch I went.


BIKE 2:52:21 8/38 Avg. Speed. 19.6

As luck would have it, notwithstanding the bike tune-up I had right before the race, my speedometer/cadence thing did not work. I decided not to goof around with it since I had no idea what I was doing and instead just tried to find a speed that was not too fast and not too slow. The bike course was very interesting and had some pretty cool patches through the Eagle preserve. I’ve been dealing with a sore hip issue for a few months and kept moving and changing positions to find one where I was in the least amount of pain. I’m sure I must have looked like a squirmy toddler from behind. But I popped about 1000 mg of Motrin and that helped. Since I started in the second wave, I was passed quite often. My favorite passers were the folks with the cool wheels that made that whooshing noise. I ate my usual pbj on toast followed by a luna bar and almonds. I probably didn’t hydrate as much as I should have but didn’t feel any real ill effects. The dead eagle in the road towards the end of the bike ride was an interesting touch and I managed to cut a couple of minutes off of last year’s time.


BIKE TO RUN 3:20 12/38 AG

Back to transition. I’m always afraid to break that rule about taking your helmet off before the dismount so I never remove anything until I’m back at my space. Which can cause a problem because sometimes I forget to take things off. I’ve never forgotten to remove my helmet, but I did leave my bike gloves on when I started the run. Fortunately, one of my chief supporters was at the beginning of the run course and I threw them to him.

RUN 1:59:48 7/38 AG 9:09 Average Pace

As soon as I started my run, I ate some fig newtons which didn’t taste all that good but I knew I needed some energy. The first mile seemed to take forever. I finally got some of the feelings back in my legs by miles 3 to 4 which was right around the location of a great group of rowdy Virginia Tech fans. Those guys were awesome and I loved the music they played. Except for the first few miles, the run course is not very interesting. The sun came up to stay around mile 6. Last year, prior to the race, some seasoned female triathletes suggested pouring ice cubes in your jogbra. I tried it last year and it really worked although it does take some time to get used to the ice cubes clacking about. But I did the same thing this year. I managed to keep fairly cool even though the sun started heating things up. I was a little stiff and sore but managed to keep a fairly steady pace. I was delighted to finish under 2 hours - although I had only seconds to spare. The post race massage was excellent but my stomach wasn’t so good right after. I didn’t eat any of the post-race food except for a banana. But I had the best hamburger and fries when we got back to our hotel.

Except for the jellyfish, I really do love this race.