Race Report: See Jane Tri (Pleasanton)

I'll try to keep this report short and sweet - just like the race.

This was my third year running (and biking and swimming) for the See Jane Tri, so at this point I knew the drill.  Get there early to get a good transition spot, which means leaving home at 5:15 ish (yes, in the a.m.) to drive roughly an hour to Shadow Cliffs Regional Park in Pleasanton.  I arrived to find nicely upgraded bike racks and scored a prime endcap location.  The weather was also much warmer than previous years, which was another welcome change.  After setting up my area and getting my bib and chip, I headed back to my car (which I found even though it was still dark) and caught a few more Z's.

Around 7:30 I ate my Builder's Bar and headed to the starting area.  Much more crowded than I remembered. Word on the beach was that this year's race had 3x more participants than last year.  Whoa!  As I looked around, I marveled at the spectrum of ages, shapes and sizes.  For those not familiar with triathlon customs, they mark your bib number on your arms and legs and your age on the back of your right calf with a thick black Sharpie.  The bib number helps identify you in photos.  The age helps you compare yourself to everyone around you before and during the race, sometimes somewhat cattily, I admit.  She's 70? Wow, what an inspiration!  She's 28?  No way.  I'm kicking her ass! 

The 400-yard swim waves started a little after 8 am, by age group.  When they called my group, we waded into the water and awaited the horn.  The water temp was lovely, but wading through the muck on the ground was not.  I looked on the bright side and remarked, "It's good for your skin ladies!"  The horn sounded at 8:35 and we were off.  There was the usual jostling for space, swallowing lake and making sure I was heading in the right direction.  All was going according to plan until ...OUCH! Dammit, that hurt!  Someone had kicked me in the nose so hard that my goggles were knocked to my forehead.  I got my bearings and since miraculously I wasn't bleeding, I kept going.

The rest of the race was fairly uneventful.  The 11-mile bike course began with a small hill and had another medium-sized one in the middle, but was otherwise flat.   The 3-mile run course, on the other hand, was mostly hills, some quite steep.  But the weather and the Shadow Cliffs trails were both beautiful.  I was glad I'd packed my sunglasses at the last minute.

As I approached the finish line, I couldn't believe the race was already almost over.  In the days beforehand, I was feeling physically ready, but was having trouble getting myself mentally psyched up.  Now, the race was coming to an end and I was wishing it would keep going. I was feeling happy but somewhat unfulfilled because I knew in my heart of hearts that I hadn't tried something I was unsure I could do, and achieved it anyway.  That's the biggest rush -- and I wasn't feeling it.  So I made a mental note that it's time to find a new challenge.

In the meantime, I donned my finisher's medal proudly and headed back out toward the home stretch of the course to cheer on some of the other participants.  It feels great to have a crowd of strangers cheering for you, and I wanted to give back some of what I'd gotten.

When the results were posted, I saw that I'd clocked in at 1:16:34, seven minutes faster than last year's time.  Not too shabby!

Then I drove back to San Fran and sought out some sweet rewards at Sweet Dish and Simply Chic.  Nothing says congratulations like candy and a cute top!