Headwinds and tailwinds: Tri en France: French for "mud" is "la boue"

Raacce day.
When I arrived, about an hour before my race (I learned from my mistakes when I arrived too early last time) the whole race site was covered by a haze of fog. How foreboding!


Oooo scary, right? It was also cold.

The men's race took off before us at 9:45, and I quickly recognized two of the guys from the tri team who were running the course. I considered watching them start, but decided to go warm up around the track. I did some strides and drills and a little easy jogging, and then went to watch the men loop around the muddy course in the trees. Albain (who is the fastest guy on the team) was hanging in the pack with the top 4 guys and they were way far away from anyone else. The other (who looks like a baby-Pre... before facial hair) was hanging out in the middle of the pack. I think he can do better and was having a bad day :/

About 20 minutes before the women's start, Albain won the race! The 2nd and 3rd guy were a decent distance behind him, and the 4th guy in the pack apparently couldn't keep it up and ended up coming in 4th, quite a bit behind the top 3. I was impressed and excited to know the kid who won... but then it was time for my race.

I started jogging a bit in the start area, realizing that there was mud uh EVERYWHERE. Great. Cross country races. Right. I've never really felt a desire for spikes until today and then I thought "Hmm, I wish I had spikes or... any experience wearing them." I looked around and quickly realized I was not going to come anywhere near winning this one. (A) I wasn't being ranked by my age group, but only among the ranks of these 70 women on the course (B) these women were infinitely more athletic than the women at the other race... although still not all that legitimate. :P Some of them were fake-boxing with each other before the race. I mean... whatever gets you pumped right? One woman changed into her spikes and her legs were so intense she looked like she could pick me up with one of them and throw me to the finish line.

The race then immediately became about time. My goal was to come in at 18:30 and to stay focused. Then this French guy shot a gun and we went trampling through the mud. Lots of women took it out WAAAY to hard. I spent the whole race passing people. Some women walked... in a 3.465 km race. I understand fitness goals, but a 3.465km race? Whatever.

We wound through trees, uphills, through LOTS of mud, grass, and dead leaves. The men all watching as we suffered through what they just had. All I could hear was "Allez, filles!" and I just kept passing. I only looked at my watch twice. Once to see I was disappointingly climbing a hill at 9:21, and one happily to see I was pushing a flat a 7:50.

In the second loop, I knew the end was near, but my abs were crying. I kicked myself for biking 6 miles to a race. I wondered if I had warmed up too much... or not enough, or if I took the first loop too hard, but whatever it was, I was paying for it. I pushed through anyway, passing another woman in purple. Her shirt said "Nelly" and she was always exhausted. Ohhhh Nelly. We came down the finishing hill, and she ripped right by me with her friend, stealing two places. Wish I was better at short distances... ah well.

winding and rolling through the trees - don't worry, this time it WASN'T during the race

I ended up coming in at 18:58, which wasn't quite what I'd hoped, but it wasn't too terrible either. 8:48 pace is not all that beautiful though when you know you can do better. I crack it up to the mud and it being my first trail race. Still, it was tons of fun and a really cool experience. I definitely would want to try that again. Definitely not easy, but also it was over SO FAST! And it was free, so there's that.
I asked a woman to take my picture at the finish and after some questions about where I was from and if I actually did the race, she did.