Five years ago today I was in painful labor with my first child. Fast forward to today (March 27, 2010) and I'm climbing Suncrest in my first EVER TT (timed trial). I was so nervous! Why I ask myself? I know how to race, I've Boston qualified, done a half-ironman and trail marathon, it can't be more nerve wracking than that...right? Being at a bike race has such a different atmosphere than running races and tri's. These people were so serious. They were warming up on their trainers in the parking lot, had all sorts of gear that they were stripping off and way to serious looks on their faces. Wasn't this supposed to be for fun? For underprivileged kids who needed bikes? Or was this a qualifier for the Tour de France? Lighten up people! Seriously! My warm up was around the parking lot (which actually cooled me way down with a little frost bite). Forget warming up! So I headed back to the truck and talked to the kids who were munching on Burger King french toast...YUM.
Then it was time to "tire" the line. Weird! Some dude was holding me upright while I clipped in and counted down to my official start time of 9:05 (just about the time 5 years ago when I was pushing). The hill climb was a lot harder than I expected and I got passed by 3 women and 1 pro man. I did pass 2 women so a net of 2 was okay by me. Justin and the kids kept cheering me on from the truck and where ever they could find a pull-out. As I climbed to 1300 feet I was starting to feel some pains..not the labor ones but pretty close. Then I started to feel guilty that I was doing a race on my baby girls 5th birthday. I should be at home making her pancakes and watching her biff it on her new roller skates. Then I had another thought....what better gift could I possibly give her than the gift of determination and courage. She can watch her mom literally "climb a mountain" with a smile on her face and know that she can too, one day, accomplish anything!
Happy Birthday Baby!
I love you,
Mom
