Transition opened up this morning at 4am. We rolled in at 5am to set up our stuff. It didn’t feel as cold as it had been, but that may be because of the anxiety and excitement of pre-race. We set up our gear in the dark and caught the first bus to take us to the ferry boat. Usually at a race, the transition area is right by the start, but at Alcatraz, everyone gets on the ferry and they take us out to the rock and we all jump off. There were almost 2,000 people racing and all of us were on the same ferry. They emptied the boat in less than 6min!
The pros were the first wave and they all climbed over the rails so they all could jump off the boat at the same time. The rest of us were ushered off the sides and our time started once we hit the timing mat at the edge. It was a frenzy of people, willingly jumping into the cold water and frantically swimming to shore! The current was pushing us downstream at 1.8 knots so we had to aim at a point directly across the bay to avoid overshooting the swim finish and being swept under the golden gate bridge. It was cold, salty, and rough! By far one of the hardest swims I have ever done. The total distance was about 2 miles, but because of the current, we only swam about 1.5 miles.
Mark rescued some guy in the water. He heard someone yell “help” and saw the guy roll over on his back and black out. He had to wave a kayak over to pick the guy up and by the time the kayak got there, the current was so strong, it had swept him pretty far off course. I managed to rub a nasty strawberry on the back of my neck from my wetsuit, but other than that, Jamey and my swim was pretty uneventful.
This race is different from other races because at Alcatraz, there are 2 transition areas. The first transition comes right after the swim. We had to pack a transition bag with shoes, towel, water, or whatever you thought you might need and they would have it waiting for you after you got out of the water. The reason this transition exists is because the main transition area is ¾ of a mile from where we exit the water! So, once you finished the swim, you found your bag, took off your wetsuit, put your shoes on, and ran the ¾ miles to the transition area where the bikes were.
Although the ride was only 18 miles, this may have been the hardest ride I have ever done!! We did about half the ride on Friday just to check it out, but we had NO idea how hard the rest of the course would be! Even Jamey, for a brief moment, considered getting off his bike and walking it up the hill! The incline on some of the hills was intense. If you want to check out the elevation changes and the course maps, go to www.escapefromalcatrazcom.
During the swim, I couldn’t wait to get out of the water and get on the bike, and during the bike, I actually found myself looking forward to the run! The run was crazy, it was more like an Xtera run rather than just an out and back course. Most of the 8 miles was uphill, on the trails, up the stairs, through the tunnel, down the beach, up the sand ladder, and back through the trails. Mark had to be extra careful going through the tunnel because the tunnel starts out 6.5 feet tall and by the time you get to the end of the tunnel it is about 4.5 feet tall (Jamey and I, not so much. J )! How does that even happen? Do they not have building codes in California?! It was beautiful though. We ran right under the Golden Gate Bridge and at mile 3.5 we hit the beach and ran in the sand for about a mile and then it was up the sand ladder. This was a 100yd climb up the sand back to the road. It felt like 200yds and was brutal! Mark wanted everyone to know that he beat Andy Potts up the sand ladder. (That’s the guy that won. They had a timer at the bottom and at the top.)
It was an awesome race and we couldn’t have asked for a better day. The sun was shining, we all finished and no one had to get off and walk their bikes! We ended the day with a burger from In-N-Out, and topped it off with hot fudge Sundays! It was a good day.
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