The Big Race…Catalina Island, I trained all year for this race but on the eve of the race a problem arose I will talk about that later.
Saturday Morning (11/07/09)
My gear is ready nothing missing, my breakfast was a Power Shake, I’m in the best shape of my life thanks to my trainer Lori Christensen (viXen training).
All my peeps have arrived 20 people cheering GO Nina! Signs are passed out, my presence is known to the competition. I feel the eyes sizing me up, my name is mumbled who is Nina! My peeps are everywhere cheering Go Nina! As I put my bike into the transition area. My competitors are sizing Kay (My Bike) up. Kay always gets good compliments because she is a beauty. I put my wetsuit on and start to warm up my shoulders, arms and legs by doing a light jog on the sand and some stretches. I also get in the water (which is freezing cold) to do a nice easy swim before my wave (9:12). My thoughts “I’m ready for this race, I have a group of supporters watching me, I have to give it my all”
The Swim
The Gun goes off, I take off so fast on the swim too fast, I realize I have done too many strokes without taking a breath…bad Nina…bad Nina…so I correct myself and slow my pace down …one, two, breath, one, two breath, nice easy strokes. This race I didn’t get hit in the head but I’m pretty sure I popped a couple of people that got in my way a kick here or there, maybe even a hand slap. I got off course a couple of times which I know slowed my time down…sighting is everything…I didn’t sight as often as I should of those darn fishes in the water…the water was clear green, with fish beneath me beautiful swim. The race disappeared for a moment and it was just me and the fish… All of a sudden I heard GO Nina! Reality set in a Thumb went up out of the water that’s a picture queue…I kept swimming and realize I was too close to the pier that darn sighting again and those darn fishes…ADD at its best…I realized the exit and started to turn on the swim speed time to get out of here…On my way out of the water I hear Go Nina! From Gina my Monday night swim coach says watch your step Nina…boy I tell you it’s Great having friends in High Places…ok she was saying that to everyone but mine was more personalized. :o) Thank You! Gina!
The Bike
I entered transition peeling off my wetsuit and running to Kay, I was totally amazed this time I actually was able to get my wetsuit off without sitting down on the ground…my balance was good… poured water on my feet to remove the sand, put my sunglasses, bike helmet and shoes on and grabbed Kay we headed out…I could hear Go Nina! Go Nina! Go Nina! Go Nina! Now imagine I just swim ½ a mile (800 meters), I’m tired, exhausted and this high pitch voice is screaming at me (Audrey!)…I say you can stop now…I start to wonder why do I have all these people out here…she didn’t stop the Go Nina! And it did make me move faster, then I heard Mariela, Gloria, and Emma scream Go Nina! With the thick Spanish accent…the thumb goes up for Picture time and I’m out of transition on Kay for 13 miles.
The route was a step uphill battle, and a fast decent with a sharp turn. It was said that this is the most dangerous bike route of all Triathlons. Imagine going up a mountain people passing on your left on a narrow lane while other riders are descending the mountain and also passing people on their left. So you hear constantly “ON YOUR LEFT” “ON YOUR LEFT” water bottles are flying off of the bikes so you have to swerve to miss them then you don’t know if someone is actually screaming at you “ON YOUR LEFT” I make it up the Hill and realize I have to go up this Hill 2 more times. I do have to say the hill wasn’t that bad, due to all the hills and mountains I climbed from San Francisco to San Monica last year. What slowed me down was the danger of hitting other riders, Kay is so fast on descending, a couple of times we got into the path of the riders coming up hill. There’s always one competitor that I somehow find in a race that is not very sportsman like. She is the Lady in Turquoise, this lady road right in the middle of the bike path going up the hill and descending down, very tough to pass with all the other riders and to stay within the rules. When I said “On Your LEFT!” She would speed up, while descending, she would not move to the left and stayed right in the middle which causes me to slow down due to the bikes coming up the hill (very dangerous), well I finally passed her, but of course I was on her radar now, she was aware of me and eventually passed me going up the hill. This was our last loop and I knew she could not be in front of me descending down, she causes too much stress. So going up the 2nd part of the hill the most steepest I had to give it my all, I did not yell out “On Your Left!” and zoomed past chicky, as I descended she was still coming up to the top of the hill to do her loop. I said to myself “good ridden” and Kay and I flew down the hill with no one around us just the wind and the smell of the sea.
The Run & Finish
I make it to transition with no problems, some of my competitors had to come back for their racing BIB and they warn me “Don’t forget your BIB”, they didn’t know this but I’ve been trained by the best and I would never forget my BIB because it sits right on top of my race shoes. You will be disqualified without your BIB crossing the finish line so it’s a must have. As I leave Transition I hear GO NINA! All over again, I even hear people I don’t even know screaming GO NINA! I say what is the world coming too, I just want to finish now but I threw the thumbs and kept on moving. On my way out of Transition I see my Uncle Denham and Aunt Jackie, I see my Cousin Candace and Kiki, all saying my name I feel the LOVE!!! Then the Lady in Turquoise shows up and I say to myself “she’s back, I got to lose her again” this chicky is running right beside me and I’m thinking unbelievable! I knew I was on her radar. We start running up the hill together of course, but I have been trained on hills and I pull out my secret hill stride and zoomed up the hill never to see The Lady in Turquoise again. What a feeling, I’m passing people going up the hill and I really would call this a Mountain. I get up it and see there is a steeper uphill battle I’m faced with I can’t believe it because I didn’t realize this one existed. I took this one with a nice easy pace to get the breathing under control altitude change had me breathing a little hard, then I hear from descending runners “You are almost there” you really never believe them because if you can’t see it you don’t believe it. Well I make it to the top grab some Gatorade which I have vowed never to do because it’s sticky when you waste it on your hands, you have stickiness during the rest of the race. I decided an exception to this vow was needed after that Mountain I just climbed. I started descending down the Mountain you have to be very careful on the descents, you can blow out your knees if you do them wrong, all of my thoughts was on stride and body positioning. This was another challenge because you have people speeding down the hill and you want to speed with them this is where a strong mind is needed and not to follow the pack. Another Lady gets into my radar we will call her the Lady in Black are should I say the 25 year old in Black…LOL! She flies by me coming down the hill, I continue my pace, I get to the bottom of the hill and she is walking, I of course ran by her with easy. Next thing she runs past me, I say to myself “she’s one of those” but I continue my run no one’s around me I’m passing people that are walking it’s all good, the crisp clean smell of the Ocean, the light sound of my feet, I do a mental check with all body parts and everything is good except for the left ankle we have a sharp pain that is starting to protest a bit. I just make a mental note of it but keep on pushing. I hear Go Nina! Then I see another Hill, I say what? Where did that one come from…I didn’t do my job well the day before…Cheryl and I just Golf Carted the Bike Route but not the whole run route and this 3rd Hill was blowing my mind. My Cousin Tracy, was yelling “Go Nina! Let me get a picture of you going up the Hill” I believe she has the only picture of me on a hill even though this day I took on 4 hills and one of those hills 3x so that’s a total of 6 Hills in a day. You Go Tracy! She literally ran up half that hill with me to get that picture. It did take my mind off of the challenge for the moment, you may not know this but I’m a bit of a Ham. Well you know when you go up you must come down, but on my way up the 25 yr old Lady in Black was walking up the Hill and I just had to say something to her…so I did…”You are messing with my ego, when you run pass me you must stay pass me, do not let me pass you again” Of course I said this with a smile. :o) Then she said “I can’t keep running, I have to walk some” my reply as I passed her going up the hill “Pace Yourself! Don’t stop I know you are going to pass me again but don’t let me catch you” On that note I was up and around the hill, descending down again. Guess who pass me…You guess it the 25 yr old Lady in Black…Never caught her again…I say good ridden…I hit the corner, the sign says Finish Line with a arrow…my speed start to increase…I see the Finish Line…the closer I get the faster I get…then I just take off…My whole body is one, my legs are in sync with my arms, my mind says GO! GO! GO! GO! So my body goes…and that’s a wrap I FINISH! The Speaker Man Says “NINA MOSBY, Brought her own Cheering Section out here today!” YES I DID! YOU GO FAMILY & FRIENDS!!! THANK YOU!!! For the support and encouragement it was needed.
Thank you for all your support (Andy, Audrey, Aunt Jackie, Brandi, Candace, Chanyel, Cheryl, Emma, Esvan, Gloria, Jaynel, Keith, Kiki, Kim, Kristen, Mariela, Michael, Neva, Tracy, Uncle Denham) Thank you Tiffonee and daughters for the lovely Go Nina Go signs. Thanks to Lisa Lopez for the Go Nina! Go! Blog Spot. Thank You! All FACE BOOK Supporters it was also greatly needed. I Truly felt the love on and before THE BIG RACE and everyone on CATALINA ISLAND FELT it too.
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