One more race before the big one in St. George! I like to blow out the last cobwebs at the Rage Triathlon in Las Vegas put on by BBSC before the season really takes off. Lake Mead is also my favorite places to race and I am still sad that Silverman is no more. The lake itself is ok but what I really love is the hilly bike course on smooth roads along the lake! To make logistics simple and cheap, I decided to camp by the lake the night before the race. Bonus: A beautiful lake swim at sunset and a chill race morning.

I like it when races have an OPEN category. This means: If you want to race for the win, sign up for this category. That way all fast (wo)men, regardless of age, can race head to head. I don’t come to a race because I think I will win. I come to a race because I want to see what it takes to win and race against the best. Push myself. Get out of my comfort zone. Have some type II fun! The bummer is: some don’t know it exists or what it is, some don’t think they are good enough, some are afraid to enter it. So when I looked around in the water at the start: I was the only woman in the open category. So much for that plan. Time to race the guys!

It was a pretty lonely race this way but fun nonetheless! I just kept reminding myself that the fast girls are chasing from behind and I cannot afford to take the foot of the gas for one minute! The run has a good long hill on rocky trail, which is a big challenge at the beginning going up but also going back down at the end. I had to really pay attention in order to not biff it while pushing myself hard. At one point I had noticed a speedy girl that had started in one of the waves after me, but I wasn’t sure how many minutes later and hence had no clue whether or not she was beating me. Great motivation to push it all the way to the finish line!

Happy to take the win in 2:21:46 and pleased with my effort today. St. George 70.3 is just around the corner and, while I love the low-key local races, I am super excited for the Ironman circus to come to town! Overall a great day at the races seeing old friends and making new ones!