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