Escape from Alcatraz

I did Escape from Alcatraz this weekend. Once I finally made it to the west coast. The weekend began with what was supposed to be a 7:30pm flight to Atlanta followed by a transcontinental flight to San Francisco. I fell asleep as the plane pulled out onto the tarmac and woke up 1.5 hours later in the same place. At 9:00pm we were supposed to be taxiing into our gate in Atlanta, but instead we were pulling back into the gate in Durham. Argh! Thank god for friendly, good-spirited people who were also on my flight. It was 11:00pm before we finally re-boarded the plane and departed from Durham, arriving in Atlanta 5 minutes after my flight to San Francisco closed. Two hours later I found myself sharing a room with 2 other girls who had also missed their flights (a chaplain from UNC and another girl about my age). We each pretty much paid $26 for a shower and for a bed to take a nap. Four hours of sleep and a shower and I was as good as new. At least for an hour or two.

I got into San Francisco at 11:00am PT the day before the race. I suppose I didn't even have time to get anxious about the race since I'd been so preoccupied prior to the race. It felt good to finally meet up with the other Team A Step Ahead athletes (Sandy, Amy, Jean, Marcos, Dave, Tommy, Jack, and Jeff) and support crew (Erik, Phil, and Balsley). Finally, all I had to do was focus on the race.

The race started off with everyone boarding a casino boat about an 1.5 hours before the race started. The physically challenged (PC) athletes and elites were ushered to the front of the boat where we hung out until the race start. We got to jump over the railing into the water to start the 1.5 miles swim through choppy, cold water back to shore. I knew beforehand that the sighting was going to be difficult. But didn't understand just how difficult until I was in the water looking for the landmark I was told to sight. And couldn't find it. So I picked another landmark and proceeded to overshoot the beach and had to fight the current back upstream until I found the shore. With numb hands and blue lips, I hopped out of the water, put on my leg and ran the 1 mile to the transition zone. By then I had some feeling back in my foot and I hit the hills hard. Long, fairly steep hills that just went on and on. Thank goodness for the compact crank on my new bike. I definitely went conservative on the bike because I didn't know what to expect and I think I could've gone faster looking back. That at least meant that I had legs for the run though. The run was more like an Exterra run, with lots of stairs, narrow single-file trails, a low tunnel, and a mile out and back on the beach. Running on the beach was pretty much agony, but at least that took us to the half way point and once I got up the 400 sand stairs (one of the things Escape from Alcatraz is famous for), it really was all downhill. I must've past 20 people during the last 3 miles, which pumped me up and kept me running faster and faster. So I finished 27th of 40 in my AG and 1st in my physically challenged category.

If you ever have the chance to do it, go for it. Escape from Alcatraz is a blast!

Beaverdam Triathlon Race Report

The nice thing about early season races is that there is very little pressure. At least that’s the way I look at them. I worked Beaverdam into my schedule as a training day and what a training day it proved to be. The morning was characteristically cold; the norm for an early morning in April and yet I felt unprepared. I was able to peel off one layer at a time during my warm-up and in the transition zone while I set out my gear. By 8:00am the temperature had risen to a stifling 48 degrees. I’m still impressed by all of the racers who were able to get in the water to warm up and then get back out to wait for the race start. Once I got in I knew there was no way I was getting out so I hung back on the beach with a handful of other racers to wait for my wave start.

8:06am. All of the female competitors lined up behind an imaginary line in the water and the race began. The swim was uneventful for the most part. I think I lost feeling in my hands by about the third buoy, which may have been about a ½ mile into the swim. I didn’t worry about that too much until I got out of the water. Then it became a problem. I fumbled for a while to unzip my wetsuit. With no dexterity in my fingers, it was all I could do to grip my wetsuit hard enough to even pull it off. But I couldn’t put my prosthesis on until I got my wetsuit off and I couldn’t get out of the sand until I put my leg on so there I was balancing on one leg while trying to shuck a wetsuit with numb hands. It wasn’t pretty. Nor was it quick. The slowest transition ever and unfortunately it counted against my swim.

Once on my bike, I realized how hard I had pushed my legs earlier in the week. I dropped down a couple gears and tried to just spin for awhile to get the blood moving again. After that I felt pretty good. The bike ended up being a beautiful ride once it warmed up a little more. At one point my prosthesis unclipped from my pedal and all of a sudden I was riding up a hill with one leg while trying desperately to clip my cleat back into my pedal. But it proved tricky since the pedal was spinning and I have pretty imprecise control over my prosthesis. Good thing I’ve been doing my isolated leg spins since it wasn’t until I crested the hill and could coast for a second that I was actually able to clip back in. At least it kept it interesting.

Overall, my swim and bike splits were pretty mediocre. But thankfully I still had legs for a decent run. Despite a couple fairly big hills, I was able to maintain a 7:45 pace, which I was initially a bit disappointed about. But a 7:45 pace gave me a 47:47 run, which was good enough to give me 4th overall in women in the run. If you couldn’t tell, I was a runner before I was a triathlete! So 4th in the run, 18th overall for women, and 3rd in my age group. I can be happy with that!

Forgot to post this during the US Open

Day 1 of the Main Draw

I think everyone in New York was on my train this morning headed to the US Open. I could barely get a seat on my way out to the Willets Point/Shea Stadium stop on the 7 train. But knowing that I would be standing for most of the day spurred me to push a little harder to take up that one remaining seat. Plus, I wanted to eat my breakfast sitting down.

I was surprised to find that even more people had already shown up at the Tennis Center. I knew it was going to be packed, but my imagination had failed in comparison to reality. I was both nervous and excited that this was the first day of the Main Draw and although it was no different than any of the qualifying round days, I still had a hard time pushing down the nerves. My team of six relieved the morning crew on Court 8 at around 1:00 PM and started off with a women’s match. I was sore from my 10 mile run the day before and my shoulder was a little tight (so my throws to the backs weren’t perfect), but I warmed up quickly and felt good by the end of the match.

While Nadal, Federer, Yankovic, and Blake won matches in Arthur Ashe Stadium, I fielded balls on the outer courts that skirt the main stadiums. Being assigned to a stadium court is a real honor and veterans put in many years to work their way up to those spots. Although my efforts might be in vain, I will continue to work my butt off, put in the hours, and hustle on my courts for a chance to do one stadium match this year.

Back to IM training

After 3 weeks in NY I am still trying to get back on track for the IM I've signed up for in November. When I signed up in January the race just seemed so far off, but now it's creeping up on my quickly and I need to get my butt in gear. It was tough to get all of my workouts in while living it up in the Hyatt in New York City with no bike, no running trails, and no swimming pool. The substitutes: stationary bike (with TV), treadmill (also with a TV), and ummm...upper body workouts. I got in a fair amount of mileage without ever moving an inch. Now the quality of those workouts is being put to the test as I continue to increase the volume of training. I logged a 19 mile run over the weekend followed by a 60 mile bike on Sunday. So far, the good news is that I am still relatively injury free (just some nagging knee pain that I hope will fade as I get back on the trail instead of concrete) and I am able to recover from one workout to the next quicker than ever. I am looking to put another long bike and run in this weekend as long as I can get all of my work done too. I have to be careful to avoid getting too rundown because I'm walking a fine line with overtraining.

US Open Ballgirl Wrap-Up

At this time last night I was waiting patiently outside Arthur Ashe Stadium waiting for the finish of the Women's US Open Finals because I was given the honor of carrying a flag for the closing ceremony. Although there was no tv easily viewed from our location we were sent frequent updates about the status of the match. And when the uproar of the crowd penetrated the large double doors we all knew that it was over, Serena had won.

Along with 18 other ballpersons, I quickly made my way to center court, carrying my American flag high and proud. The crowd was still going wild, flashes were going off in every direction, and to top it all off, I nearly bumped into Serena as I walked onto the court. Her family had been seated in the bleachers just above the doors we had entered through so she had immediately raced over there to shake their hands, just as we were walking out. I was so caught up in making sure that my flag didn't touch the ground that I barely noticed her until she was about 3 feet away. Her excitement was so palpable at that distance. It was incredible.

We then lined up behind the net, and I lowered the butt of my flagpole onto my right foot. I don't think there was a better seat in the house to watch the presentation of the trophies. I was about as close to the excitement as you could get. A couple of people even saw me on TV (CBS) standing directly behind Serena and Jelena while they received their Tiffany and Co. trophies and very nice checks. My favorite part was when the presenter announced that Serena had won $1.5 million. Jelena then asked how much she would get. The most important question of course.

Rafael Nadal at the US Open

I had the pleasure of joining the USTA Florida section in the President's Suite today for lunch and got a couple of shots of Rafael Nadal against Sammy Querrey. A little more on lunch: it was an incredible experience. Everyone was absolutely fantastic and supportive. I met David Denkins, the former mayor of New York City, Pancho Seguro, Tony Trabert, Andy Everett to name a few, and had lunch with a number of USTA members and volunteers. Another wonderful experience.

Photos from US Open

Photos from Top to Bottom
(1) Jelena Jankovic [2] - Practicing
(2) Roger Federer [2] - Practicing
(3) Roger Federer [2] - Practicing
(4) John Isner [81] - Practicing
(5) Donald Young [73] - Mixed Doubles