In light of the race taking place around the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Rocky’s infamous steps I felt this image suited the weekend quite well. “Life ain’t all sunshine and rainbows”… and it wasn’t. Shortly after I arrived in Philly, the rain started and continued through the weekend. The afternoon prior to race day, I received an email saying the swim had been cancelled and the race was now going to be a duathlon; a 40k bike and 10k run with a time trial start. I didn’t let the change of events shake me, drawing on the lessons I have learned from my past two years in the sport I just focused on “going with the flow”. The morning of the race was still rainy and transition was sloppy. I set up, warmed up and waited for my start time.
A tap on the shoulder by the race director was my signal to start. I sprinted out of transition and hopped on my bike. The roads were still slick and the descents were a little sketchy. Then it happened. 5.5 miles into the race, I heard a strange rattle from my rear wheel. I had a flat and my day was done. I pulled over to the side, unclipped and reminded myself “this is a part of racing, its not a big deal, make the most of the day”. With my cleats and helmet in one hand and my bike in the other I proceeded to walk and cheer on the other participants as I slowly made my way back to transition. At one point I stopped and chatted with a volunteer, she didn’t know much about the sport so I answered as she asked. Eventually we realized there was no sag car, so she gave me a stick of gum and I thanked her for volunteering and continued my trek.
Eventually, I made it back to transition. My feet at this point were bleeding and blistered. Though I was disappointed that I didn’t get to finish I was grateful that 1. I didn’t crash on my bike 2. I am privileged to share the journey of triathlon with my boyfriend (who had a phenomenal day finishing as 4th Pro!) and 3. I was able to meet his grandfather, aunt and uncle while on our trip and begin to develop a relationship with them.
Next up, Live Love Tri. A local New Mexico reverse sprint tri, just for women! Looking forward to sharing the passion of triathlon and the inspiration of the female spirit with all those women!
SierraSmithTri 