PG Triathlon

PG Elite Awards

September 9, 2006
PG Tri

It's that time of year for the PG Triathlon. I was excited not only to race, but I had two friends who were coming to compete at this race for the first time, Beth Hibbard and Flo Chretien. The three of us have been racing together for at least 4 years and it was great to have them here in my hometown.


Erin & I before her race

Saturday morning, Jay left early as he was swimming in a relay with Taylor Tolleson (cycling) and Mikah (running). Flo, Beth and I hung around the house and waited anxiously until 10am before riding down to Lover's Point. It was only a 3 mile ride down there, but was enough to get the legs moving. After setting up transition and checking in we went for a short run of about 10 minutes and then proceeded to the water for a short, cold swim warm up. The pro men left about 15 minutes before we did.


Mom was 1st in her age group

There were 13 women who started and finished the race. I started out the swim in a good position, but found myself locked between a few girls, so decided to roll over one of them to get in a clear spot...I happened to roll over Flo!! We laughed about it afterwards. I soon found myself caught between two packs and swimming by myself. I exited the water after the first loop and saw the girl infront of me. I was gaining on the girl towards the end and exited only 8 seconds behind her. My time was 22:42. I had a quick transition and left before Erika (the girl who exited the swim before me) did. I didn't know how many women were ahead of me but as usual, I was in the chase. Erika rode up to me and we worked for a while before I pulled away and continued my quest for the next person...who happened to be my friend and phenomenal swimmer, Linda Gallo. The two of us worked for a while and by this time I could see who was ahead of me, Becky, Sarah, Evelyn, Maliaka and Karen. Linda stayed with me for a while and I could here she was really working. Unfortunately, she couldn't hang (she sliced her foot awile back at the half vineman and is still recovering) and I again found myself alone. I continued to push the pace until I reached Karen and the two of us worked together. I looked back at one point and there was no Karen; alone and now the wind is starting to pick up on the 3rd loop. I saw behind a chase pack of Flo, Beth, Kelly, & Linda and with every loop I think they were gaining on me. I kept pushing the pace and noticed on the last lap the Evelyn had dropped Malaika and had caught up with Sarah and the two of them were working together. With ~2 miles to go to the finish, I caught Malaika and we worked briefly until we reached T2. My bike time was 1:07:37 which is 22 mph and good enough for the second fastest bike split after Becky with a 1:04:42!


Dad won his age group too!

I entered first but had some trouble getting my run shoes on, so Malaika headed onto the run first. I got myself together and gave chase and within a minute or so caught and passed her. My legs didn't feel too bad when I started, but they weren't the get up and go that I've had in the past. I didn't want anyone to catch me, but I didn't know if I could catch any of the girls ahead of me. I was in 4th place heading onto the run and I at least wanted to keep that. After the first loop I noticed that Kelly was gaining on me. I worked the 2nd loop as best I could and at the closest I think Kelly was about 30 seconds behind me. It took everything I had, both mentally and physically, during that last loop to push myself as hard as I could. I could feel liquids in my gut sloshing around as well as side cramps that wouldn't go away. I knew though that if I could make it up 12th street one last time with enough of a gap and run down 13th street with gravity that the crowd on Ocean View Blvd. would carry me to the finish line holding onto 4th...which I did! I ran my heart out and everyone at the finish could tell I put it all out there that day. Kelly finished only 14 seconds behind me to take 5th place.
My run time was 38:17 for a total time of 2:10:40.


Me at the Awards

Don, once of the race announcers wanted an interview after I crossed the line, but it would have to wait as I doubled over with abdominal pain...luckily nothing came out and with a few minutes of recovery I was standing beside Don for an after finish interview.


Erin-pre race

My next race will be at the end of this month at Tinley's Toughest down at Lake Lopez in San Luis Obispo.

Pictures to come soon.

The Boston Tri That Wasn't

Rip & Suzie- My homestay


September 3, 2006
The Boston Triathlon

My last race was in Long Beach about 2 months ago and I had put in some consistent and solid training and was ready to test my fitness in Boston this weekend. I was also very excited to see my homestay family and good friends, the Reeves and well as my friend and fellow pro athlete Flo Chretien.


Rip & Suzie at dinner

I arrived in Boston on the evening of September 1 (friday). My homestay, Rip, picked me up and took me back to his house where I was greeted by Suzie (his wife) and their three girls, Taylor, Emily and Claire.


The kids at dinner

Saturday at 2:30pm Flo and I were at our pro meeting where we found out that due to inclimate weather the swim had been cancelled and there was now the possibility of a duathlon. We wouldn't find out for sure if there was going to be a duathlon or if the race would be cancelled completely.


Taylor & her friend

The high winds and rain from Hurricane Ernesto was apparently coming up the east coast and beacuse the bike course goes through downtown and the Big Dig where there are numerous potholes, the organizers were worried that a terrible crash could happen.


Me at Walden Pond

At 5 minutes after 6pm I checked the race website to find out that indeed the race was cancelled. It's unfortunate for all of us athletes that came from far away as we won't be reimbursed for our expenses.


Walden Pond

I must say I was a bit excited to not have to get up early the next day and race. The Reeves family, Flo and her son and I went out to dinner.


Suzie & Taylor

I woke up to rain on sunday morning, but I don't think it was that horrible that the race should've been cancelled. We are professionals that have trained and raced numerous times in the rain.


Emily & Me

After having some coffee and a lite breakfast Rip and I drove out to a park where we started our rainy run on trails, but after stepping in plenty of puddles we decided to run on the road. I picked up the pace a few times to get in some kind of workout, but it just wasn't the same as a race. After our 35 minute run, I got my wetsuit on and we walked to Walden Pond for a swim in the lake. It was absolutely beautiful, with trees surrounded the entire lake. We covered about 1.5 miles total.

I had a very early flight home on monday morning; plenty of time left in the day once I got home to celebrate Jay's birthday!