Rev 3 Quassy Race Report

I am not gonna be afraid to let my talent shine - ani

First off, I am blown away (again) by the full-on-double awesomeness of Rev3. The Quassy course is breathtakingly beautiful while also being the hardest half on the planet. The swim is clean, clear and pretty, and you sight for the finish with rollercoasters! The bike is gorgeous and hard as hell. Honestly, you try to think about how tired you are or how much it hurts, but all that comes to mind is "Wow, this is amazing". It makes it hard to dwell on negative feelings and forces you to feel positive which makes you race better! The run is silly difficult. Every time you run up a hill and crest the top you can see the next one. Its an evil game of shoots and ladders with some fun dirt roads thrown in. I really love a mean, tough, run course. I can't wait to see what Rev3 has in store for us in Portland!

Race Report:

I always have music playing in my head while I race. This time, for some reason, it was the Super Mario Bros theme song. As I swam, I was thinking of myself in the frog suit on the video game. My wetsuit had a gaping hole in it, possibly creating some drag, and that made me feel like I got hit by a video game fish and lost my frogsuit power. My swim wasn't great. The water was beautifully clear and the perfect temperature, but I just wasn't feeling it. I floated along and finished a few minutes slower than I normally would. I was perfectly happy with that.

My transition was a bit dallied. I was hanging out, excited to see Kate and Katie volunteering and wanting to chit-chat with them. Kate yells "Hurry! You can catch Bobby!" And I was all, "I can eat my lunch first and still catch Bobby". Yes, I'm a maneater (watch out boy she'll chew you up). I finally got my act together and got out on my bike. From there, I proceeded to have the best day ever. That course is HARD! My bike recently had some work done and it felt perfect. I also practiced my bike skills that I learned in Spain for climbing and descending. I used to get dropped horribly on descents because I am so light. Now I know how to get more aero and descend more aggressively and I'm even able to pass a few people! I pushed hard on the bike and was very happy with my time and my effort. I am teensy tiny and Strong Like Ant now. The last 16 miles of the course are just so gorgeous I kept thinking to myself "this is my life". Awesome.

I was really excited to get out there for the run. This is where I got into video game mode. I decided that I was now on level 3 and everyone I passed was one of the mushrooms you stomp on in Super Mario Bros. The JH CREW have skulls around the collar of their kits that are meant to hold the souls of the people you pass while racing. My CREW skull collar started to fill up pretty quickly so I decided only to count the female ones. This was also my power meter. I was filling it up. If I got passed or walked I lost power. I didn't walk. I did get passed. Gels and aid stations were where I got my star power to stay in the game. I fought through and ran on dirt and winding roads on a course that seemed to go mostly straight up. Sometimes all I could do was laugh at how unbelievably hard that run was. I just needed to get to the end and fight the evil villain monster to save the princess.

And I did. I beat the game.

I'm also officially hooked on Rev3. They rock!