St. Louis 5150

On June 28th I raced the St. Louis 5150. Since there have been so few Pan-Am Cups in North America this year, I have been racing a lot of non-draft events to keep sharp... and because they're fun too, in spite of getting bike-envy of age-groupers who make astronomically more money than I do...

The race actually took place in Innsbrook, which is pretty much just idyllic. I would love to vacation here, or even get a training camp set up here. It is nestled in the wooded hills outside St. Louis, and there are several very pristine lakes around. Rachel was glad she came with me, if for no other reason than to enjoy the views!

We drove down after a day in Omaha, and I warmed up a bit and scoped out the race course the day before. I knew it was going to be tough, but I didn't know how tough! Olive Garden for dinner, lights out, an early alarm, and an hour drive brings us to the race course again. Now, I got in a little warm up, but then I realized I had to use the bathroom. I went to the porta-potties... of which there were only 12 for 900+ competitors... and sparing you the gory details had to wait and wait and wait and finally was finished just a few minutes before my wave left! I got transition set up and warmed up just a shade more and headed to the water.

Rachel is a great motivator for me, without even knowing it. I've never even fully illustrated this to her, but seeing her just before the start brings out my prehistoric this-is-MY-mate-and-I-will-fight-to-the-death-for-her instincts. I know it sounds weird, and I realize none of my competitors will probably even come in contact with her at all, let alone hurt her. But I had visualized that, and the weird thing was, it WORKED! I was in kill mode toeing the line. I led all the way through both turns, and then got passed by 3 guys who I stayed with. Coming into the finish, I remembered I told Rach I would come out in the top 3, so I passed one of the guys back and hit the beach.

I helped a guy with his zipper running up to transition (there is not a single level surface in that whole county, so we ran up and up and UP) and got some Karma points, and came out of transition in second behind Mr. Billington himself. I knew the bike would be hard, but not having a good warmup really hurt me in the first few miles, which is where I got passed. It was a hilly, winding course, so I lost contact with the leaders, but came off the bike 8th.

I would like to start out the run recap by saying that Ultramax Sports are murderers. Some swimmer must have stolen that dude's girlfriend a while ago, because he clearly hates us swimmers judging by that run! I cannot stress enough how brutal this run was. It was mostly on gravel, and to say it was hilly would be like saying Lindsey Lohan kinda likes to party. The hills were steep, rolling, and everywhere. I thought I might have to crawl at times. I got passed twice, and crossed the line, gasping for air and vomiting shards of my pelvis into the bushes, for a 10th place finish.

I was reasonably happy, but again I had hoped to be in the money. Still, I think 10th here was a much better result than 10th in Lawrence with this field and this course.

After the race, Rachel and I had a bit of a vacation. We ate at some damn good restaurants (Pi Pizza, restaurant review in the future?) went to the zoo, and toured the Anheuser-Busch Factory, which was really impressive. I think we both needed that time, kind of away from everything and being together, more than either of us realized.

Until next time, FOLLOW THE PACE RABBIT!!