Buffalo Springs Race Report

Ihave heard about the winds, hills and heat at Buffalo Springs 70.3 for a year now, and on Sunday I experienced the beast. The race is held in Lubbock, TX in a Canyon. The swim is spring fed and traditionally swimsuit legal, but always boarderline. The bike provides 8 challenging hills with a lot of technical bike handling skills needed on the downhill switch backs. The run has 3 challenging hills which I witnessed pro’s walking.

Robert and I left for Lubbock Friday after work and made the 5 hour journey together. It’s crazy that you can drive for 5 hours and still be in the great state of Texas. I read inspiring Ironman stories to him for entertainment and of course had some solid heart-to-hearts. We arrived to Lubbock around 8pm and went to Orlando’s for a yummy pasta dinner. After dinner, it was around d9pm and we checked into LaQuinta, or tried to…the maid staff had left over half the rooms dirty. Drew and OJ met us in the lobby and we all hung until the rooms were ready.

Rise and Shine! Saturday morning Robert and I woke up, shaved our legs, and headed to packet pickup. I love triathlon expos! There are so many friendly vendors, nifty new products, and re-visiting with old friends. Mary Tubb was there selling sweet triathlon necklaces. I chatted with her for quite some time and bought one. I also made friends with the guys selling Honey-Milk and re-visited with my friend Juan Martinez who is the owner of “Tri it” clothing founded in Austin. I am going to Austin for work this week and have plans of meeting up with him and his fiancé for dinner and some workouts. After playing at the expo we headed to the racesite to do a small pre-race run/swim . We saw Lauren and Brandon there and worked our with them. We then headed to the Overton, which is a nicer hotel in Lubbock, to meet OJ and Drew. I was STARVING! I literally ran into the hotel with a bowl of oats and a half a banana and asked them to heat it up in a microwave for me before I passed out. I feasted in the lobby while Robert un-loaded the truck (he knows how I get when I am hungry). The 4 of us then drove the course and got a good taste for the challenge we would face tomorrow. Yikes!

After driving the course we met Trey and the hotel and separated for dinner. Robert, Trey and I drove to Lauren and Brandon’s place to meet their Colorado friends for a home-made pasta dinner. I had met Lauren’s friends, Matt, Molly & Yachia when I was in Colorado and it was so good to see them again. They are such generous and good-hearted people. It was SO good to spend time with Lauren and to be in race scene together again. Stomach’s were full, conversations were ending and it was time to get back to the hotel to pack for the race, get the bike’s ready, and get to bed!

3am—Breakfast time! At Ironman Arizona mom had bought me a hotplate so that I could make oatmeal pancakes on the road. Yumm! We left the hotel parking lot by 4am and got to the race site by 4:15am. OJ joked that is his “old life” he was just starting an afterbar party at this time, now he was about to race 70.3 miles!
Swim: It was debatable weather the swim would be wetsuit legal or not. We made it by just a few degrees! Swimming is my weakest link, so it is important that I keep a positive frame of mind in the water and do not get discouraged. I remind myself that it all comes down to the run. I was out of the water in 36 minutes which is pretty good for me. Good start.

Bike: The bike was just as I had been told, hilly, windy, and hot. Thankfully we had cloud coverage, so the heat was not too bad. While hills are always hard for me, I really enjoyed the bike course. Hills give you a different sense of accomplishment. At somepoint on the course I saw Drew and he was bloody. He had crashed 10 miles in, broke his finger, bruised his hand up bad, and was still battling like a solider. I gave him some encouragement and rode on.

Run: I was looking forward to the run the entire bike. The run had 3 large hills, which pro’s walked, a hot, unshadded stretch of highway, and some steep downhills. It is the most challenging course I have ever run, but again, I liked it. I saw almost all my teammates on the course and gave out high-fives. It was hot, it was hard, and we all fought through. I wore my red and white SpeedStars. At the end of the race, the white netting was red. I thought the die bled. NOPE-- my feet bled right through the shoe as a result of not wearing socks. I didn't notice the blisters much during the race, but I am sure noticing them now-- ouch!

Finish: I finished in 5 hours and 20 minutes on a hard course and won 7th in my age group. All in all I feel pretty accomplished out the race. Buffalo Springs is defiantly a course that one needs to respect. It is a race that you go to experience the challenge and not one that you necessarily race to get a PR.

KONA BOUND—Lauren won our age group and was awarded the Kona spot! Those Colorado hills, altitude, and dedication have made her into a stellar athlete and I am so proud of her! I hope I can afford to go to Hawaii and cheer her on. So proud of you Lou!

Check out this awesome video Trey made of the race
http://www.vimeo.com/12951150
Finish times on the clock are when the pro's started