It's been 2 years since me & 'ol Treky dusted off and headed to the races. At 24 lbs, she and I have a few lbs to loose. But that just makes you stronger :-P (so I'm told)
I've done Bulldog Road Race twice before, it's fun, fast and has a nasty hill right in the middle. It's steep and once you think you've gotten to the top, it goes up again. It flattens, and just after you're pretty sure you're done mini-puking, it goes up, again. They key with this race is hitting the hill as hard as you can. The top contenders will gap everyone else, and you'll typically never see them again. Two years ago I was able to recruit enough friends, including 2 other bellas (Jen & Christine), and we inched our way back to the podium with a 2nd & 3rd overall finish.
This year, wasn't expecting that kind of performance. I've only been back into workouts for about 6 weeks after my Budapest hamstring injury (still not 100%, but manageable). I've lost a good 8 lbs since Feb with 5 more to go before I feel like I can fit in my shorts. I'm not sure if my iPhone app MyFitnessPal has terrified me or empowered me. I never thought I'd be counting calories, but the reality is.... being conscientious of what I put in my mouth without "dieting" or restricting what I eat makes enough of a difference to shed pounds.
Team mates Madelyn, Cindy & Karen were all season Bulldog racers as well. Last year they battled it out in the pouring rain while I sat at home with my ankle injury. This year, the only difference was I didn't have an ankle injury. The rain however, was haunting me. So, we crawled in my car and turned on the heater to stay dry & warm. That's my kind of warm up.
The race started with a little apprehension. The roads were wet and by the first mile, there was no shortage of road-mud everywhere. We all stayed up front and out of trouble. After sitting in the first few rows on the way out, I attacked on the final small downhill before the left turn to the climb. With the wet roads, we wanted to stay up front around the tight left. Then the madness began.
As expected, the slighter riders, who looked like climbers, attacked. Madelyn & I hung in with the group. A few pukes later, my body informed me that I would in-fact, not, be staying with this group. Madelyn "The Climber", did and caught the break. At this point I was looking at survival and was delighted Madelyn was there to represent.
The lead group was a solid 5 strong, and they were pulling away. Me & another girl were left in neverneverland as chasers. As we were both time trialing home, I was hoping she's slow up just enough to let me catch her so we could work together. But she didn't. So I gathered friends and somehow managed to hang on and get pulled back up the last 5 miles of the race. We blew past her and came within a minute of the lead group.
Everyone did an amazing job. We all had to remind ourselves mid-race, we paid money to be here. We all also noticed the amazing support provided by the hosting Marines. The guy halfway up the hill had all the great lines "oh, you get that guy!" (all the men's waves started first), "don't you quit on me!" "uh hu, you go girl!" I'm going to blame oxygen debt, as I know he had a ton more to say. If you ever get the chance, go to a race run by Marines. The support doesn't get any better.
Congrats again to Madelyn who finished 4th overall & 2nd Divison, I placed 6th overall and 1st division, Karen placed 3rd in her division and Cindy was 4th in her division.
But the best part of the race.... the coffee & sun after the race with a group of very cool Bellas.
Happy Riding,
Raja
I've done Bulldog Road Race twice before, it's fun, fast and has a nasty hill right in the middle. It's steep and once you think you've gotten to the top, it goes up again. It flattens, and just after you're pretty sure you're done mini-puking, it goes up, again. They key with this race is hitting the hill as hard as you can. The top contenders will gap everyone else, and you'll typically never see them again. Two years ago I was able to recruit enough friends, including 2 other bellas (Jen & Christine), and we inched our way back to the podium with a 2nd & 3rd overall finish.
This year, wasn't expecting that kind of performance. I've only been back into workouts for about 6 weeks after my Budapest hamstring injury (still not 100%, but manageable). I've lost a good 8 lbs since Feb with 5 more to go before I feel like I can fit in my shorts. I'm not sure if my iPhone app MyFitnessPal has terrified me or empowered me. I never thought I'd be counting calories, but the reality is.... being conscientious of what I put in my mouth without "dieting" or restricting what I eat makes enough of a difference to shed pounds.
Team mates Madelyn, Cindy & Karen were all season Bulldog racers as well. Last year they battled it out in the pouring rain while I sat at home with my ankle injury. This year, the only difference was I didn't have an ankle injury. The rain however, was haunting me. So, we crawled in my car and turned on the heater to stay dry & warm. That's my kind of warm up.
The race started with a little apprehension. The roads were wet and by the first mile, there was no shortage of road-mud everywhere. We all stayed up front and out of trouble. After sitting in the first few rows on the way out, I attacked on the final small downhill before the left turn to the climb. With the wet roads, we wanted to stay up front around the tight left. Then the madness began.
As expected, the slighter riders, who looked like climbers, attacked. Madelyn & I hung in with the group. A few pukes later, my body informed me that I would in-fact, not, be staying with this group. Madelyn "The Climber", did and caught the break. At this point I was looking at survival and was delighted Madelyn was there to represent.
The lead group was a solid 5 strong, and they were pulling away. Me & another girl were left in neverneverland as chasers. As we were both time trialing home, I was hoping she's slow up just enough to let me catch her so we could work together. But she didn't. So I gathered friends and somehow managed to hang on and get pulled back up the last 5 miles of the race. We blew past her and came within a minute of the lead group.
Everyone did an amazing job. We all had to remind ourselves mid-race, we paid money to be here. We all also noticed the amazing support provided by the hosting Marines. The guy halfway up the hill had all the great lines "oh, you get that guy!" (all the men's waves started first), "don't you quit on me!" "uh hu, you go girl!" I'm going to blame oxygen debt, as I know he had a ton more to say. If you ever get the chance, go to a race run by Marines. The support doesn't get any better. Congrats again to Madelyn who finished 4th overall & 2nd Divison, I placed 6th overall and 1st division, Karen placed 3rd in her division and Cindy was 4th in her division.
But the best part of the race.... the coffee & sun after the race with a group of very cool Bellas.
Happy Riding,
Raja
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1 comment:
You continue to amaze me! Love, Mumsy
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