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Is motherhood an excuse?

Summer Schiavo

posted: 05/09/2012, 4:47 pm

in: Life & Home

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So this past Saturday, I toed the line at the Wildflower Long Course race including a 1.2 mile lake swim, 56 mile hilly, windy bike ride, followed by a 13.1 mile run on hot fire trails. I didn’t feel ready, and I wasn’t. I didn’t actually finish the race. Here’s what happened.

I joined thousands of other athletes at the swim start of what Chris “Macca” McCormack, two-time Ironman World Champion, has called the most grueling 70.3 distance race in the sport. I sort of looked like I was ready. I had my wetsuit, swim cap and goggles on like everyone else, and had a good enough swim start, but as we headed to the middle buoys I realized I was slipping behind, as the next wave of women age 40 to 44 started to catch up to me. Uh oh. I kept going, and eventually finished, and got to see some of my pals from the Silicon Valley Triathlon Club cheer my swim exit. I had a fair enough transition, and then headed out on my bike.

At the first big climb at Beach Hill I was passing a few people, and felt good, but then my feet started to hurt. And hurt, and hurt and hurt. Turns out that since I had Alex, my feet might have changed size, and now the Sidi shoes I have are pinching a nerve in the middle of my foot. Sure, I encountered issues with my cycling shoes while training. But those things are expensive! I did NOT want to buy another pair. So, I held off, figuring I could deal with it, which was not my smartest move especially when up against Wildflower. Still, I pressed on for miles and miles, on up over the very correctly named Nasty Grade. As I rode back towards transition, at mile 53 I heard someone say there were only 10 minutes left before the bike cutoff time, but the foot pain was too intense. I couldn’t hurry up. When I finally pulled into transition, a volunteer told me I hadn’t made the cutoff. They took my timing chip and so I wasn’t able to finish the...