Jazzland

For those of you from Louisiana you may remember Jazzland. It was a Six Flags park that was located in New Orleans and it was just kinda..... Well it wasn’t Disney World.  I'd like to compare the first 28 miles of the IM New Orleans 70.3 bike leg to that amusement park.

As I was fighting the fierce winds I passed said amusement park and it reminded me of a joke I had with someone I used to know. I thought to myself this fucking bike ride is Jazzland. Shitty. And all I could think was Disney World better be waiting for me at the turn around.

It was a fun weekend of course, with my girl Bam Bam. We traveled down to Nola on Saturday, hung out at the expo. Which was very small. Kind of a let down. Andy Potts was in fact not there. Not racing. All my hopes and dreams of meeting him were crushed. So we headed over to bike check and racked Red, I said goodnight and we were on our way. It was a much more relaxed race weekend being that we were relaying so we headed to the mall. Did some shopping at Lulu and had dinner in the food court. You would think we had never been to a food court because we thought we had to get food from every place in there. Greek, Subway, pretzels, Starbucks. 😳 Then a quick trip to Rouses for some post race beverages (which are currently in my fridge) and we were back at the hotel to get in bed. Ehhhhh well that was the plan. However with us nothing goes as planned. See video and pics for details.

Yes, we are grown ups. No, we don't care what you think of us. Yes, we have shit tons of fun. Because YOLO.

Race morning alarm goes off at 4:30 and we both decide we need 30 more minutes of sleep. We arrive at the race site and meet a lot of sexies in transition. We were super excited to finally meet Michael, the guy that got us into this whole thing. He is recovering from a serious training accident that happened in October 2015. He was half way into a 5 hour training ride for IM Cozumel when he was hit from behind by a car. He had several broken bones; fibula, patella, radius, ulna, and fractured vertebrae. This type of accident is feared by all triathletes. His come back is so inspiring. A true example of what triathletes are made of! He wanted IM New Orleans 70.3 to be his come back race but he is still suffering from knee problems. He said he could only swim and needed a biker and a runner for the relay and of course we jumped on it! 

#BamBam

Michael literally murdered the swim in like 34 minutes. I don’t know how he did that because the conditions were awful. He rolled up into transition all happy because he was done and we were just starting! 74 people were pulled from the water and this chilling picture below is proof of just how awful it was.

(I'm not sure where this photo is from but I did not take it.)

I am so inspired by all who toed the line that day. Whatever it was for; relay, the entire race, or if they just made it through the swim and bike.

I am so lucky to have so many experienced triathletes in my life to give me advice. They may not even realize the impact they all make in my training and racing but they do. One of those awesome humans told me right before I went out, just keep the bike upright today. And, so I repeated that the entire way out. One goal, keep the damn bike upright. You can do this. So Michael is back and I’m headed out to what will be the hardest 28 miles of my life. I had no idea what was ahead of me. No. idea. I really can’t put into words how tough it was. All I know is that at the end of the day I am grateful for that experience and I feel like it has prepared me for the challenges that lie ahead this year. (look at me being positive!) I just kept thinking the whole way out, was they have to be handing out a tailwind at the turn around. 

Mile 28- THE TURNAROUND

Now, on to Disney World; I get to the turn around, after what seemed like an eternity, and it feels like that first step into Magic Kingdom. That first bite of a Mickey Bar. That first push out on Rock’n Roller Coaster. Anyway, I think you get it. I’ve never ridden that bike so fast before in my life. I felt like a boss.

So I haul ass back to T2 and Paige is off on the run before I know what’s happening. My foot is killing me at this point. I had to put so much pressure on it to keep the bike upright on the way out it was toast. So I rest for a minute get my stuff  together and it's off to find the food!  1:58 minutes later Paige is bringing it in!  We ended up with 5^th place in relay. Now that’s not too shabby for someone coming back from a serious injury, me with an injured foot, and Paige with an upper respiratory infection. It was a fun day. Thank you again Michael for the opportunity to race. I LOVE racing.

 Ran into these two TWAMT ladies at the expo. LOVE THEM.

Then there's this bad ass mother fu#@er here........... She needs no introduction.

The one and only Matt Miller coming home! 

This one here. She toed the line for her first 70.3. She didn't make it through the swim but her perseverance inspires me! She was right back at training on Monday. I know she is going to KILL her next 70.3. Keep at it lady your day is coming! 

I wish I remember what was being said here but this is my fave pic from the entire weekend.

 I think it went something like this Paige: "Jessica you are so amazing." Me: "Who me?" Michael: "You're so right Paige she is." If memory serves me right that's how it went down. 

#BenzBoodroBamBam

#whereishe

until the next race..............

~Swimbikerunfuel

Lipstick on a pig.....

This AWESOME group of sexy people are my team mates.

BIG SEXY RACING 2016

Confidence can be described as a belief in one's ability to succeed. Striking a healthy balance is half the battle in life. Too much of it and you can come off as cocky, but too little can prevent you from taking risks and seizing opportunities. I have struggled to find this balance my entire life. Being a triathlete takes a lot of self-confidence. This sport has helped me build mine and see that I am capable of things I never dreamed I would accomplish. Someone told me it's all about the journey and the reward is race day. I like to call race day the party because well, I like to party!! 

While racing yesterday I started to fall back into my old self and felt embarrassed to be racing in the Big Sexy Racing team kit. I kept thinking I’m not cut out for this, I look ridiculous. I’m making the team look ridiculous and while on my first loop of the run I thought to myself, you can put lip stick on a pig but it’s still a pig. That’s how I felt wearing that kit. Then I thought wait a damn minute. You have been out here for 5 hours now busting your ass and you are not going to lessen that. You are a fighter, you are strong. STFU. I said those things over and over again to get myself out of my rut. Finally, I am DAMN proud to be a member of this team regardless of the numbers I put up in a race. I am a triathlete. I am a finisher. Period.

That feeling of a 20 minute PR......... 

The drive into Galveston and the days leading up were a blast! I am so lucky to have found a friend in Paige Johnson. We had a blast together and she helped me with whatever I needed! I cannot thank her enough!

Pre- race swim with Kylie, whom had an AMAZING race!

This guy was a blast! Thanks for all your help and the laughs Steve! 

Matt Miller selling me on Base Performance Salts. I was sold when I spotted his mustache. 

More sexies at the expo

Had some minor bike rack issuses but huge thanks to David at the bike path!  I called him from the side of the road and he talked us through it! 

The night before the race the hotel fire alarm went off and we had to evacuate in the middle of the night. This was almost comical. Paige and I frantically gathered all of our stuff including her bike and began our trek down 5 flights of stairs at midnight half asleep. Only to get to the bottom and be told we could go back up it was a false alarm. Luckily I was so tired I passed out quickly after getting back to bed.

Now on to the actual purpose of this post……………

I am not a morning girl. At all. I dislike mornings, but I always get up early on race morning and make myself get there early and set my stuff up. I was literally first wave of age groupers, so my day started early. Thank goodness because I was out there for 7 hours and 4 minutes. 

Race selfie with MM, it's a thing. LOVE HER.

 Swim was long. Long yall! It was a straight line and that scared the crap out of me. It was nothing at all like that nice and safe close to land rectangle at River Roux.  I felt really good, slow, but felt good and didn’t want to push it. Drank a lot of that nasty salt water though. The water never ever cleared out. Was constantly getting kicked or kicking someone or being swam over the entire time. SO being in the first wave was great and all to get an early start but when those supa fast men start swimming over you it’s a little scary! I made it out and wasn't dying so on to T1. There are tons of bikes in that damn transition area so before starting the race I looked around the outside to find something that was close to my row and visualize that to find it. WORKED LIKE A CHARM. Someone told me this little tip and I can’t remember who but if you're reading this, thanks big time!

The bike was a constant battle. Crosswind was everything they said it would be. My bike almost came out from under me twice. On the way out I felt like a rock star holding 21 mph, then I turned on to the beach road after about 5 miles of glory and boom there was that damn wind. 16-17 was home for me and it was WORK. There were several emotional moments for me out there. (shocking I know) Seeing the pros coming back in was incredible. Gave me the goose bumps! Especially when I spotted our fearless leader THE Big Sexy himself!  Then on the way back in there was a girl who crashed and she was laid out in the road and looked pretty bad, I really hope she's okay. Those winds though. Did I mention them? I swear I almost lost control. The bike is my favorite part of triathlon. But I can not emphasize how crazy strong the winds were, but I digress. As I hoped off my bike ever so gracefully (insert sarcasm) I realized my foot was hurting. First thought, don’t even attempt the run. Second thought,  STFU no way you will DNF. You are not dying. SO I laced up and headed out.

The only good thing about the run was………. {crickets}……… Okay there was nothing good about it. Oh wait, when I ran across the finish line, yea that. Okay okay I’ll be positive. There were several great things about the run that didn’t include the actual running part.  Heading out of T2 I got sunscreen rubbed, I use that term lightly, because it was more like slapped on me. I looked like an elephant had just…….okay you get the point. So the start was so fun! Passed the FJR crew which is always a blast and exciting. Hugs and High fives for everyone! Even got a nice ass slap on the last loop! Thanks Jeffirs! First loop felt pretty good, but doesn’t it always? Around mile 2 I passed the 4D tent full of BR peeps! Loved hearing my name shouted and all the cheers! At the beginning of the second loop I was able to run with a friend for a little bit until he took off and left me. Said he had nothing left in the tank, his results show otherwise! Hearing "Hey big sexy,"on the course over and over is hysterical, I've never felt so sexy!  At this point my foot is hurting so bad I have blocked out the entire crowd. The course was no help either, gravel, grass, overpasses, 84,000 turns. I’ve been dealing with, and by that I mean ignoring, pain in my right foot for a few weeks and just chalked it up to plantar fasciitis. I’m pretty sure it’s more than that at this point.. On the last loop I just lost it fell apart and boo-hooed. Hysterically. Then I pass one of my teammates who is a freaking inspiration and  I immediately get this burst of emotion and again tell myself to STFU and get after it. STFU became the theme for the day, and it worked out pretty damn well. (there’s your shout out). I literally limped for 3 whole miles, between run limping and walk limping I made it home! Of course I straightened my self out and had a beautiful run into the finish chute! But that didn’t last as you can see from the videos on my Facebook.

My dad and his amazing girlfriend were waiting to welcome me home. It was very emotional, again you’re shocked right? They came in the night before the race and facetimed me asking for a good place to have dinner in Galveston. I was an emotional wreck the Friday we got there not having any of my support group with me. So having them at the finish line was a dream!

Pizza is my jam! 

Even with all of the emotions and wanting to quit so many times I enjoyed every minute of it. I feel like that’s what triathlon is all about. Pushing yourself past your comfort zone and embracing it. Next up a couple of sprint tris (my FAVE) , Escape From Alcatraz, and Chattanooga 140.6 . Buckle up 2016 is going to be a hell of a year!!

Jenn, my fellow tri beast and I at the race expo. Looking forward to a fun year of sprints with you lady! 

#30-34AGFTW

#haveyouseenpaul #doyouknowpaul

because inversions are my happy so I do them everywhere

Peace out Galvy, it's been real. 

~Swimbikerunfuel