Friends don't let friends drink and make race plans.

Saturday I trekked up to Deep Creek Maryland to participate in a relay for the OLY distance Savageman.


Savageman is a race where you can't fake the training. It's intense. But I was going to try anyways.


So this all started with a Happy Hour in Georgetown. Over pizza Supersnail and I talked about doing a relay with me swimming , tri friend N biking, and SS running.

N ended up having to bail. Later I got an email from J asking if I would want to relay with them as the biker. Ummmm, no? Somehow it came out as yes, and brainstorming of obnoxious team names ensued.


Options we didn't go with:
Three Slick Chicks
Cold, Hard Bitches
Chicks with Attitudes
Back Off, We're Triathletes
Hard, Harder, Hardest
Bitches on a Mission
Black and white and sore all over
Legs, boobs, and booty
Something for everyone
Ridden hard and put away wet
We'll tri anything once


What we went with was: 3 legs and 6 boobs

(It's a grenade joke)


Since the OTP crowd has some truly awesome people in it, I got to just go along for the ride as everyone else planned the stay and the food. Sandy was Queen Bee and Master Organizer, and Ryan was the Iron Chef. Seriously dude, marry me.


A little about the course:
Savageman is The. Hardest. Course. Period.

The swim:

I have never been so happy not to have to swim in my life. The lake was covered in fog, it was freezing, and the first few finishers were actually DQ'ed because of a mix-up with the buoy colors (allegedly yellow for the OLY, orange for the HIM), and because they couldn't see anything.

The bike:

Sigh. We drove the bike course the day before. Someone said not to worry because it always seems harder in the car. Challenge. The pre-race briefing included telling us that aerobars were verboten because the descent were technical and they didn't want you screaming to your death. And several warnings about where to shift down, and where to be prepared to hold on for dear life.

On one hand I was glad we saw the course, so I knew where I was later. On the other, it really made me so much more nervous.

I was trying to rationalize that it was only five miles longer than the bike at IronGirl and I wasn't swimming or running, so I could handle it, right?

Let's just say I ended up wheels up 3 times. Stupid chain.


The run:
Crazy, crazy hilly. The HIM took racers past the finish line 3 times. That is just cruel. And more than a few people turned down the finish chute by accident.

SS did a great job despite the heat and hills, and J and I got to run in with her.

They actually refused to announce our team name since it's a family show ...


Post race:
S gave me a ride back to the house and made popcorn, and I got a shower in before the boys came home.
No vacation time meant a long drive home late with a slight detour. I still need to take my wheels to get trued.