Pumpkinman, the race that almost didn't happen!

This year I was fortunate enough to be able to race Pumpkinman, another BBSC popular race. The venue is perfect, just 30 minute outside of Las Vegas, swimming in the beautiful Lake Mead. I knew this was a great opportunity to pack up my family and enjoy the bright lights of Vegas and one last triathlon of the season. As everyone is well aware, we had an annoying little government shutdown that threatened to ruin my plans two weeks before the race was to start. Without the access to Lake Mead, the swim and bike portion of the race would be cancelled turning a triathlon into a run. At this point I was actually feeling pretty bad for BBSC, they've had some tough luck this year with permit issues at Mountain Tropic, and now this, a government shutdown! Luckily, the Thursday before the race the govt. re-opened to prevent our country from defaulting it's debt, (but that is a whole different story) and I was going to get my race. Las Vegas here we come!

Before the race, I looked at the online map of the race and read the description, but I didn't pay attention to the elevation and when you are only doing a sprint, you figure you can muscle through anything. Saturday morning was an eye opener. I didn't arrive in Vegas early enough for packet pick-up, so after an invigorating 4 hours of sleep, I took off to my unknown race destination.

Pumpkinman is a split transition race, meaning you have two different transition areas. The morning packet pick-up was at T2 so that racers could set up their running gear before heading down to T1 at the Lake. I was overwhelmed at the amount of racers that show for this race. There were over 1500 racers between the sprint, olympic and half distances. There was a large group of international racers there as well. It makes sense, any race close to Vegas makes a great vacation. After placing my run gear, I jumped in my car and headed to the Lake not expecting what I saw.

I have a Dad that used to tell me stories of his rough childhood (and they genuinely were rough). He used to tell me about walking to school 5 miles in the snow, uphill both ways. Did you have a dad like that? Well this race was like that. Not in the snow, not 5 miles (12) but uphill both ways! I was laughing at myself as I drove down a steep hill to get to T1, for desperately wishing to not have this ALL UPHILL bike portion of the race be canceled. Unfortunately, when it comes to biking uphill, I'm built a little more like a mule; steady and slow.

The weather was GORGEOUS! The best I've raced in...ever. It was sunny, not a cloud in the sky, and not too hot, not too windy, perfect. As I set up transition and prepared to get in the cold water, I heard a call for my wave and made my way down to the water. I looked at my watch and saw that I still had 7 minutes before start time, but as I looked around there were no pink swim caps like mine. Hmmm, it took me about 30 seconds to realize I had missed my swim wave and they were already at the first buoy! I've NEVER done that before and started swimming towards them like a crazy lady. I was a bit disappointed because I've been working on my swimming at Heath's class and he's been kicking my butt in the water. I felt stronger in that swim than I have in a while. I quickly reached all of the backstrokers and made my way around several slow swimmers but couldn't catch the front of the pack...not even close. Aside from results, I felt so good in the water, by the time I finished I felt like I was just getting into my rhythm and didn't want to stop (I never feel that way, I'm always eager to get out). As I got out of the water and ran up transition, I realized I couldn't find my bike! There were several Kestrel's in the race that day and I again found myself looking like the village idiot running up and down transition looking for my bike. My T1 time looks as though I took a nap. I finally found my bike and left transition mentally preparing for a tough bike ride.

The first two miles were rolling hills on an out-and-back road before starting the big climb to T2. I was grateful for it and pushed my legs pretty hard to get some momentum. I must say that If I lived in Vegas I would ride this course a lot. It was mostly on a bike/run trail away from the road and through a red rock area. It was beautiful! I found myself enjoying the scenery and the weather.

The run was through neighborhoods and pretty hilly. Compared to the bike, it wasn't too bad. It took me a mile to regain my legs which isn't great when you're only running a 5k. I picked up my pace the last two miles and ended up doing a little over 8:30s.

The race was very well supported! I was so impressed that there were so many volunteers and spectators considering many thought the race was not happening. BBSC always does a great post race. They provided meals to the racers, and nice metals for participants and podium finishers. I didn't expect a podium finish but was surprised to see a third place finish for my age division! I was glad I pushed hard to the finish even though mentally I thought that starting late, loosing my bike, and biking uphill meant no chance at podium. In races, you never know who is going to show up, or what kind of race bloopers you or your competition will experience. It's best to not let your foot off the gas until you cross that finish line.

Thank you to BBSC for putting on another great race! Thank you to my sponsors, Kestrel, HEAD USA Snorkling and Swimming, Flexr Sports, Switch Eyewear, T3, 3B Yoga, and BEARPAW for a fantastic race season and for supporting a group of women from Utah who really love this sport. Thank you to my TriEdge-Kestrel teammates for supporting me and making this sport even more fun. Thank you to my family for supporting me in my obsession, and particularly to my son for telling me I'm the "best runner he's ever seen!"