Why bear trophies are the cat's ass

Bear trophies are the cat's ass because that's what you get when you win overall female at the XTERRA Illinois Wilds off road triathlon!

Quick recap: 800m swim @ 14:54. I came out of the water 2nd female :32 seconds behind the swim leader Erin Kersten, I actually saw her silhouette as she exited the water. Drafting on the swim I was able to find feet and hang on. What I didn't expect was to see Al in transition, he took off pretty quickly and I knew I wouldn't see him until the end -- he's just fast like that!

15 miles of GNARLY-twisty-turny-rocky-sandy-shred-your-tires-up-single-track. *Take note of the foreshadowing. Fortunately for me I was not the recipient of the ill fated flat tire--a little gun-shy after last weekend's blowout. Finishing bike time 1:26:35 (10.4 mph avg). Caught up to and passed the first chickadee I mentioned from earlier, probably within the first mile. At this point it was all about creating space. Space is KEY, you have to create as much as you possibly can because space on the bike is far more damaging than space on the run. I used to race under the latter methodology. You learn though that it's not as much fun being the hunter vs the hunted. So I was able to put 9 minutes between myself and the eventual number 2 female. Albeit, I did not have the fastest bike for the ladies. That title belongs to my good friend and one of the most prolific XTERRA title holders Ms. Beverly Enslow, she's a beast and she's bad ass and rockin' it at 57 years young! Beverly got me by 1:15 . . . . on her home turf. A vast improvement from two years ago when Beverly killed me with a time diff of 9:16 on the bike. Looking at numbers I knocked a total of 12 minutes off from 2012 to 2014 on the bike portion of the race. Skill work baby! Phil and Flow as I like to say!

Top 3 chickadees Me, Erin Kersten (2) and Beverly Enslow (3)

4 miles of rolling terrain through the Prairie Wildlife State Park sustaining a 7:43 (actually slower than in 2012 by :13 seconds). But I'm cool with this as I explained earlier, I'd rather put space down on the bike than run down the comp at the end like I had to do in 2012. Again, I didn't tow the line on the run either, Erin (#2 F) ran her girl ballz off laying down a 7:04 min/mile. I'll give it to her, she earned back 3 of the 9 minutes I put between her and I on the bike. Damn fine running mama! Gotta watch out for that one :)

2014 Finishing time: 2:14:22
2013: broken foot boooooo :(
2012 Finishing time: 2:25:42

Shain crossing the finish line at his first XTERRA

I'd say that's a success, Everyday I race my MTB I thank my awesome husband for not giving up on me, he knew there was a racer deep down in there and he wouldn't shut up about it until I finally relented. There's a compliment in there, trust me.....

Oh yeah the foreshadowing. So goin' out on my second loop on the bike and who do I see along the two-way.....Al. WTF? Dude shredded his tire. This poor guy has the bad race juju goin' on like you wouldn't believe. One week post bike crash at Steelhead 70.3 he's racing again, stitches and everything. Despite making peace with the tree that took him out twice last year on our pre ride, the race God's were not appeased. Thinking of sacrificing a chicken or goat, what's worth more spiritual brownie points? It might be the only way. So positive thoughts are appreciated...direct them to AL WADE as he approaches his Ironman in less than a month.

Okay, but the real star of the show is my stepson Shain. Less than 24 hours from the start of the race this guy decides he wants to take a stab at it. So, Al takes him out on the bike, he does fine. Next test, OW swim. Not quite as successful. But, no worries, we'll look for a relay team missing the bike or run portion. Nope, no go. Okay, last ditch effort, let's talk to the RD. Bingo, he's in! But . . . he's a pirate racer, no number, no official finishing time. Shain was cool with that. So I'm guessing he was the only 15 year old out there, scratch that, he was the only racer out there on a single speed, fully rigid 29r with a leather Brooks saddle and platform pedals. The kid nutted up, finished, and did it with a smile on his face.

So. . . we have another Wade that digs the durt! Watch out cuz he's racing the XTERRA Grand Rapids DU in October on a proper bike!