For the past couple of years, I have been wanting to do a race at Bear Lake but it never worked out with my schedule or circumstances. This year I was so excited to participate in Mountain Tropic and finally do a race in the "Carribean of the Rockies." Bear Lake holds a special nostalgia of memories for me, it was the location of my favorite family vacation as a child. Having only been back to Bear Lake one other time 5 years ago, I still felt sentimental driving past the Picadilly theater in Garden City and past the beautiful brown condos my family spent a memorable week in almost 20 years ago. I vividly remember my 13 year old self riding a jet ski and thinking this was the greatest place on earth! I was happy to have Sherrie with me as we marveled at the beauty Bear Lake has to offer, and wished our kids were with us to share the experience.
This year Mountain Tropic experienced their fair share of drama as their race permits allowing cyclists on the road were revoked on account of Pioneer Day weekend and the lack of safety it would cause cyclists on the road. I can only imagine the frustration of BBSC because of obtaining their required permits a year in advance then having them taken away so close to the race day. The race was turned into an aquathon, and participants were offered discounts to other BBSC races. I'm sure there were many racers who were angry with BBSC and felt cheated when the truth of the matter was that the situation was out of their control. Sometimes when you're given a little lemon you have to make lemonade and I felt that's what BBSC did.
The race was held at the Rendezvous State Park, on the south end of Bear Lake. Sherry and I arrived Friday evening for packet pick up and to find out where we could camp. The race director was so generous for giving us a fantastic camp spot right on the beach with a covered pavilion and plenty of room to host a pre-race party. I was very surprised to see the campsite so empty, and wished my team could have joined us. After setting up our tent and bathing ourselves in bug spray, we walked down to the water in anticipation of tomorrow's events. Like every other lake in Utah, the water levels were very low, making for another long transition to T1. As we settled into bed that night I laid awake for hours unable to sleep (which I don't do well away from my own bed), and excited as always to race the next day.
My alarm didn't even need to go off because we were camping 5 feet away from the race start and the campsite started bustling pretty early with racers preparing for the 7:00 am kids race. I got a glimpse of the kids heading out to the water to start their race and it was adorable! Some of them had mini road bikes (not much smaller than Amber and Cherry's :) and they looked like little baby triathletes with their swim caps on and little tri suits.
The swim was the hardest one for me of the season. The water temp. felt great, but the the water was very choppy on the first half and I couldn't get into any kind of rhythm. My swim is officially the suckiest part of my race! This is purely a training issue (or lack thereof) because I am really quite comfortable in the water and when I'm not racing someone, I truly enjoy it. At the end of the swim the water is very shallow for quite a ways and choosing to stand up and run in it to shore Baywatch style probably added to the long swim time...oh and losing my sandals and running back to find them, yes that added to my swim time...yikes.
As I headed out on my run, I was still breathing pretty hard, but without a bike segment my legs felt pretty great. This race was a little different to me, I never really pass people on the run unless they're racing on crutches, or pregnant with triplets, or over the age of 95 (except for that one time..). Before I hit mile one I passed a gal whom I thought was looking pretty strong and she said "wow you're going fast, what's you're age group?" This sentence has never been uttered to my ears in a race before. I wasn't wearing a watch and I was hoping to hold an 8 min/mile pace. As I passed two more girls, I was feeling pretty proud of myself thinking I must have met my goal pace. The run course was beautiful, it ran through the campsite which gives you an automatic cheering crowd, and on a gravel/dirt trail surrounded by trees. The weather was so perfect! It was cloudy with the threat of rain, but no drops of rain came down until after the medal ceremony.
The finisher medals and the podium medals were beautiful! The top three overall finishers also received visors and everyone looked like they were in good spirits enjoying the post race pizza and the cool weather. Despite my swim time, I was surprised to see 5th overall female and 2nd place age group finisher. My delusions of my 8 min/mile run pace were actually 8:30 min/mile (boo), but I still had a great time. I realize that although an Aquathon does not highlight my triathlon strength, I still enjoy the challenge of pushing myself and watching other's do the same. There were many families at this race participating together and celebrating their accomplishment at the end. I got just as much out of receiving my own medal as I did putting the medal around the neck of a teenage kid grinning from ear to ear at what they had done that day. I was proud of my teammate and dear friend Sherrie who battled hard through this race because of injuries her body is recovering from.
At the end we all had smiles on our faces because when you're at Bear Lake it's never a bad day.
A big thank you to BBSC for truly making the very best of a difficult situation and pulling out a successful race despite the setbacks. Way to go! Thank you to my sponsors TriEdge, Kestrel, T3, HEAD, Gu, Bearpaw, 3B Yoga, Coach Keena, Flexr, Switch, and to Sherrie for being a great friend and racing companion and of course my cheering squad at home, my amazing family.
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