Tuesday Twilight

First Race- Mariko Fischer

Second Race- Cathy Crawford

Course Set up and break down: Scotty!! With a bad back no less! He did have some help but unfortunately I can�t say it was me. Reflections on the Tuesday Night Twilights/ Extended race report:

Last night was Tuesday and, true to tradition (at least after this many years), men in brightly colored lycra were lined up at a start line, nestled in between a bunch of dark corporate buildings. Our very own Jim Keene was up front holding on to a very curious little pup named Koa, who was a last minute addition to the race�s events, as there was a late discovery of a big hole in our fence right before I was leaving for the race.

When I rolled up to the start line Jim had already started announcing the rules and the mentioning of sponsors, when he gracefully brought to my attention that I would be racing against myself that evening. I took a quick look around at the small field of 15 or so participants and realized that I was all by my lonesome as the single female that had made an appearance. Naturally since I still consider myself a greenhorn I was a little spooked, but then I looked at all the faces surrounding me and realized that they would take care of me just as well as any fellow team mate would. Right before Jim said �okay go� Laura Sharmeda (sp?) and Dr. Todd pulled up and I knew that things would be just fine.

The race unfolded as usual, neutral lap, preem laps, Todd hanging out in the back �warming up� and encouraging me as I watched the pack drift away from me at the end of the first preem. As I caught back on to the pack Laura came up right alongside me and gave me some things to concentrate on as I was riding, the two that I remember were, �REALLY concentrate on the spot that you need to be in to protect yourself from the wind, don�t let that spot go, LOOK at it!� The other one was, �The preem lap is going to be fast, and then there�s going to be one more fast one when they catch the guys that that went out.� Both of these things were very helpful as my lungs were bursting because gave me something else to think about, and a couple of things to work on. Though they may both seem like things that we all know from doing a crit or two, they are easy to forget when you�re doing all you can just to hang on to a wheel and all you�re thinking about is how hard it is to get enough air into your lungs and how badly your legs are burning.

Cathy herself had an awesome race, she participated in the second race that was SUPER fast! Jim was being slightly sadistic and rung the preem bell four laps in a row, by the fourth one I don�t think there were too many guys left that cared who won the preem as long as they could all just slow down for a minute. Cathy was right in there every lap, on her little bike, looking very relaxed and confident. GO CATHY! J I have to admit I was overjoyed to see her as I was coming around for the last few laps of the first race, it�s so great to have fellow Norcal ladies around!!

I read a good passage in an article about training vs. racing in a magazine this morning that reminded me that I had promised Cathy Crawford that I would write a race report ;), it is one of those life/race applicable ideas, and here it is, Learning to embrace uncertainty rather than striving to prevent it can help you grasp something you feel you�ll never reach. When you learn to accept uncertainty as a natural and necessary element of life, you can experience certain emotions such as hope, promise, curiosity and anticipation, at a more satisfactory level. We like to compete in part because we are curious about the unknown possibilities intrinsic to racing. Whether you come to judge the superficial results of a race as good or bad, there�s always the promise inherent in competition that you will grow and learn from the event. �Inside Triathalon/ July 2007 Vol 22, Issue 7.

As far as the location of the quote, Claire, I promise I am not turning into a tri-person, it�s just that those magazines are all over this house and they make for good reading material w/coffee in the AM :). Thanks for reading folks- M

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