Our flight took off at 6:30 am and we landed in Boise at 10:20 am. As we stepped outside to pick up our minivan, yes, I said minivan, we got our first taste of the Boise weather. Such a big difference from the 100* weather we had left behind in Texas. I think it was probably in the high 60's with a slight breeze. It felt absolutely wonderful!! Since we had gotten there so early I was not sure if the hotel would let us check in early, since check-in time is normally after 3 pm. But as we drove out of the airport and into downtown Boise, it took us all of 8 minutes to get to our hotel, The Owyahee Plaza Hotel. So I ran in and explained our situation to the girl behind the counter and she said that they had a room open and we could go ahead and check in. And this was to the be the trend for the rest of our stay. We managed to get lucky at so many places here. Everything really did go off without a hitch. We could see the snow-covered peaks of the mountains off in the distance and the room had recently been re-modeled.
We found a local bike/outdoor store that was just down the street from our hotel to pick up all our nutritional needs that we would need for the race and CO2 cartridges for our bikes, since the airlines would not let us travel with the ones we already had. And we went ahead and bought neoprene caps for our heads, since we knew the water was going to be cold after talking to a few of the locals in town.
We decided to drive up to Lucky Peack Resevior where the swim was going to be to test out the water and then from there drive the bike course. We stuck our hands in the water, and yes, it was cold. Although I think we were trying to convince ourselves that it was not that cold by saying, "Oh, that's not too bad!" The bike course was pretty easy to follow and we found out right away that the first 2 miles are a nice decent out of the resevior. All-in-all, driving the course didn't seem too bad. There were no massive mountain passes to bike through and around mile 20 there was one long gradual uphill but nothing as bad as I had been picturing. I could see, though, that if the winds were blowing on race day, it could be a long day on the bike. Once you get out by the airport property, there really is nothing out there to block the wind.
Thursday we had athlete check in and expo shopping to take care of. There we learned that the official water temperature was 53*. Yikes!!! We got our bikes put together and took them for a little ride through Boise to make sure that everything was adjusted properly and in working order. Then we went for a little run down on the greenbelt along the Boise River where the run was going to be. I knew I was going to love this run. Flat, shaded, and beautiful scenery - you couldn't ask for a better run venue. Friday we drove back up to Lucky Peak to check our bikes in transition. The other cool thing about this race is that it starts at NOON on Saturday, so you don't have to worry about going to bed super early Friday night. We spent the rest of the day sight-seeing and had our picture taken on the blue field at Boise State University!
Race morning: No matter how hard I tried, I could not sleep in. Of all days, I was up at 7 am and ready to get moving. As cool as the noon start time is, it almost made it harder because I was so wired up to get racing that I couldn't relax. We soon realized that even through we ate a good breakfast we were going to have eat again before the race started. We headed out of the hotel around 9 am and went down to T2 to check in our run gear bags, since this was a two-transition race. We found a subway and bought a sandwich that we could take with us on the shuttle to the swim. We got on the shuttle at 10 am and were off to Lucky Peak!
After that, things seemed to move pretty quickly. I got my tires aired up and made sure I had everything that I would need for the bike. I had packed a lot of clothes in my gear bag because I didn't know how the weather was going to be. It turned out to be the best weather that this race has ever seen. High 60's when we started with the sun out and not a cloud in the sky and a minimal breeze. We ate our sandwiches and went out onto the dock to get into our swim waves. The pros started exactly at noon and I had a start time of 12:33.
Swim: 49 minutes
52 degree water is COLD!!! We jumped off the dock and had to tread water for 2 minutes before taking off. Immediately my hands and feet felt like tiny pins and needles were in them. Almost every girl in the water with me had our hands out of the water and we were making fists or slapping our hands together to get feeling back in them. Someone had told me that I needed to dunk my head underwater to get adjusted to the water before the start. I did that once and decided that I would just get used to my face being in the cold water when I started to swim. I seriously considered pulling myself out of the water right then and there, but then I thought better of it. My husband was out there in the same water and I had talked for weeks about this race. And I really wanted to ride my bike, so no quitting for me! The gun finally went off and we were one our way. The course was marked fantastically and I had no trouble sighting. The only problem I was having was with my feet. They were so cold that anytime I tried to kick they hurt. So I basically did the 1.2 mile swim with just my upper body and I dragged my legs behind me. When I got to the final turn buoy I got blasted by an even colder burst of water. Really? The water could get even colder?? I finally made my way to the ramp and started walking my way up it. I could barely find my feet because they were so cold so I just tried to pound them on the ground to get some feeling back. Halfway up the ramp I was ready to start running again. I found my bike and took the time to grab my towel and rub my feet for a few seconds. I put on my socks and helmet and took off out of transition. My longest T1 ever: 7 minutes!
Bike: 3:48
Luckily on this bike course you have about a 2 mile descent out of the park so you have time to get your breath back and get some nice speed. It was around this time that the rest of my feeling started coming back to my feet. I was just happy to feel them again! This was a bike course of different stories for me. I felt great on the way out to the turn around (about 25 miles). There were plenty of people around me and I was able to see the pros as they were making their way back to downtown Boise. I was eating and drinking when I was supposed to be and the world was great. I'm not quite sure what happened when I reached the turnaround but suddenly I wasn't so happy to be on my bike anymore. Maybe not enough long practice rides before the race. I know I forgot to keep eating so I'm sure that had something to do with it. But between miles 25 and 40 I got into a bad mood. Of course, this is also the part of the course that has the most hills and a false flat that seems to go on forever! Then once I got past all that and was finally back around people again, things started looking up. I passed a few people on the bike and there were spectators cheering us on again. I started drinking up again and life was good. The sun had gone to hide behind some clouds so it suddenly felt marvelous to be out there. I kicked it into gear and finally made my way down Capital Street where T2 was. It was really cool riding down the street with the Capital sitting at the end of it. I ran into T2, racked my bike, and threw on my running shoes and visor, suddenly I was refreshed!
Run: 2:20
This was by far the best run course I have ever run on. It follows the green belt along the Boise River and it's absolutely beautiful. There's plenty of shade and is nice and smooth and flat! I had a plan of running to every water station and then walking the station. It was a 2-loop course so on the first loop I tried to keep my heart rate down so I would have enough for the second lap. When I got to the turn around after the first lap I was able to see the clock at the finish line. After some quick calculations in my head I realized that if I stayed at the pace that I was at, I would have a faster finish time than my previous half-iron race! Consider the slow swim and bike ride I had, I was really stoked about this! I ate every 3 miles and I was feeling strong by the time I got to mile 10. I picked up my pace a bit and bypassed the last aid station and ran into the finisher's chute. I had a time of 7:08! I had knocked 8 minutes off my previous time and it had all come off during the run!
The volunteers were great at the finish and got me wrapped up in foil (the temps were starting to fall and the wind had picked up by then) and gave my some water, my cap, my medal, and got my chip off my ankle. I would have to say that this race had some of the best volunteers around and they were very encouraging and supportive the whole time.
So even though I have yet to break the 7 hour mark on a race, I know what I need to work on. Luckily I'm in this sport to enjoy it, and I'm so glad that we decided to do Boise 70.3. It gave us a chance to visit a part of the country that we had never been to before and we absolutely loved our time there. I would definitely recommend this race to a friend.
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