2419: a number I won’t soon forget (Genine’s 2010 NYC Tri Race Report)

So here it is almost a week later and I am finally getting time to write my NYC Tri race report. I competed in this race on a relay team as a favor to my former swim coach, Elana. She had signed up to race with 2 of her friends & then later had an opportunity to travel to Japan. I don’t blame her for deciding to travel instead of race, but I was left with making a difficult decision. The race date was July 18^th. My sister’s due date with her second baby was July 21^st. So close… If I agree to race I risk not being available to travel to western NY when my sister delivers. If I decline the offer, and my sister doesn’t have the baby until after the race, then I’ll have missed the opportunity to race in NYC. Oh, and since I would be biking (my fav) that just added to my intense indecision. What to do…… obviously I decided to race with the relay.

As luck would have it, I received the phone call from my mom on Thursday morning before the race. Kryste & Scotty (my sister & brother-in-law) had just left for the hospital. It was 6:30am. I was on a train heading to Long Island for work that day. Tears immediately began to swell in my eyes. Not only would not be at the hospital when Kryste had the baby, I would not be able to go that weekend to meet my new nephew. I was so upset and conflicted. I emailed the race contact person to see if I could substitute someone last minute (not that I knew who that would be). I expected the answer to be no, but surprisingly it was yes. Matt said he would stay back & race for me. But then my rational voice spoke up. I called my sister and she said not to worry. That is what I needed to hear. So to wrap up this prolog quickly, I am typing this report from the car as we are traveling to meet our newest nephew, 1 week old Daniel Charles Ferguson.

I had arranged to meet my teammates, Amy & Tom, at the expo Saturday afternoon for packet pick-up, pre-race meetings, bike drop off, etc Matt & I drove into the city with my bike. We sat in some construction traffic on I95 to get to the Holland Tunnel, so I was late meeting Amy & Tom. We were texting to keep tabs on each other until we met. I got there in time for the 2pm pre-race meeting. I walked into the large conference room and sat in the last row. No sooner did the meeting start, I got a text from Tom. He said that he & Amy were in the back of my meeting room. I looked to my left and waved. They were standing only 1 person away from me! Funny! After the meeting, I officially met Tom for the first time. And even though I knew Amy from masters swim, we hadn’t seen each other in months (she recently moved to Jersey City). It felt good to have us all together! After the waivers, packets & expo we drove across town to transition to check out the layout & drop off my bike. It was Tom and Amy’s first time experiencing a triathlon. We walked thru transition, discussed in’s and out’s, chip transfer, etc I was pretty relaxed about the race. I only had to bike instead of swim, bike, run…sounds like fun to me!

My alarm going off going off at 2:45am Sunday morning was not so fun. But, as I always do on race day, I was easily out of bed & getting ready to go. We easily made it into the city and found good parking on Central Park West. We walked over to transition & got settled. It was about 5:15am. I wished Amy good luck and she started her 1mile walk to the swim start. Then I got my stuff settled, bike check, first potty stop and then went to pump my tires. When I got back to my rack, Regina (from Chiu on This) was there. We chatted for a few minutes. Matt & I have established several on-line rapports with many great tri-peopIe. It’s so nice to put a face with a name. Regina was racing also and was racked near us. She did the Mooseman half last month. Those of you that were up there with us know how tough the weather was. Regina rocked that day to complete her first half-iron. Yes!!

While the relay teams waited by the racks for our swimmers to arrive, we were priveliged to to be within a few feet of the swim in when the pros came running into T1. It was like a back stage pass! I’m always amazed at how fast & fluidly these athletes move through transition. It’s like being in the pits at Nascar. As the next few waves of athletes starting entering transition, I could feel myself getting a few nerves for the first time.. I guess that’s what makes it race day! Amy had a great swim (especially since it was her first open water race ever!) out of the water in 20:18. She came into transition looking a bit dazed, so I transferred the chip and was ready to ride.

I was very relaxed biking out of the park and cautious of the many sharp turns & climbs to get to the West Side highway. I waved to Matt who was cheering as I exited the park. Once I was on the road it was go time. With no run to worry about when I was done, I felt I could push a bit harder than I normally would. Within a few minutes I was being passed by the guy on the relay team racked next to me. We exchanged hellos, I passed him back & then didn’t see him for the rest of the ride. The bike course was packed. By far the busiest I have ridden in a race before. I did my best to obey the rules, but at times it was tough at times slower riders would ride in the middle instead of to the right causing minor back-ups until someone would break away and others would follow. I did a good job of keeping a quicker cadence at the start to warm up my legs. It was a nice course… some long climbs, fun down hills and the road surface wasn’t as bad as I expected as long as you paid attention. Within a few miles of the ride, I settled in with about 2-3 women that we leap-frogged with the entire ride. Most notable to me was #2419. She was my rabbit. She would pass me and then my sole focus was to reel her back in and pass her. Yes… #2419 on the yellow bike, team in training jersey and 43 on her leg…..The perfect pace car. I had to look her up after the race to see who she was…little did I know!

It was a great ride. I felt strong, focused and confident. I passed many people…even a few guys on fancy bikes! ;-) I cruised carefully back down the hills into the park & into transition in 1:22:44. Tom grabbed the chip and he was off on his run. Time to relax for a quick minute. The Amy & I met up with Matt (who has been running his own race this whole time taking photos.) We walked back into Central Park just in time to snap a few pics of Tom entering the last turn heading to the finish line. He crossed in 53mins & change. We walked down to meet up with Tom who had our finisher medals. They are actually kinda cool as they look like subway tokens.

The heat was brutal by that time (only 10:30am mind you!) at over 90 degrees and humid. I was so thankful not to be running. We watched the pro awards, met up with Elana for some eats, got my bike and then back home to NJ. It was a fun day. Of course race day always is for me- rain or shine/ racer or spectator…doesn’t matter. It’s FUN!!

My final thoughts:

Thanks to Elana for affording me the opportunity to race in NYC and I didn’t even have to even dip a toe in the Hudson River!

Congrats to Tom and Amy on a spectacular performance! What great people, athletes and teammates! Have you caught the tri bug?

A huge thank you to Regina!! You kept me focused on there on the bike course. My mind didn’t wander for more than a second because when I did #2419 would pass me again!

A side note: Those of you who read regularly know that Regina was #2419. I had no idea until I got home after the race and logged on to the blog to find the comment she had left the night before saying her bib was #2419 and she would try to find me in the am pre-race. I literally laughed out loud! It doesn’t get any better than that!

The BIGGEST and BEST thank you to Matt….. my amazing husband, chauffeur, bike tech, photographer, sherpa and cheerleader. Nothing good happens without you by my side! Xoxo

There you have it folks! And now that I am only 2 hours from squeezing that new baby and Ian…. Life truly is good. I am one lucky girl!