06/06/2022
She ESCAPED! Alcatraz is a tough course and Heather had an epic day. Her race report is below and well worth the read on how she persevered and mentally fought through the race.
Race Report:
Today was EPIC! Six years ago (tomorrow), we toured Alcatraz and I decided someday I wanted to do the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon. After my friend Mauricio tackled it, I threw my name into the lottery in hopes of getting selected. My name was drawn in 2020 and well COVID. Deferred till 2021 and I wasn’t able to safely race so another deferral to today.
Not gonna lie, this race is scary and I’ve been pretty nervous about whether I was ready for it. An hour on the ferry this morning out to Alcatraz didn’t help. 🤣 Somehow I ended up in the slow line and was one of the last people off the boat. They were yelling at us that we had to go now, so I just jumped in the 57 degree water and swam out of the way. No thinking. That came about 50 yards in when my brain finally figured out what was up. Hands were frozen, couldn’t see any of the landmarks I had prepared to sight, and swallowed a ton of choppy salt water. First time I’ve ever thought “what the hell am I doing” during a swim in a race before. 🤪 Then I reminded myself that I’m swimming freaking Alcatraz, calm down, and just follow everyone else. It was still hard and took a lot of gut checking the first half. I was so happy when my feet touched the ground. 1.5 mile swim ✅ Huge smile out of the water and a few high fives to those battling with me.
Alcatraz is unique in that they have a half mile “warm up” run to transition. Wetsuit stripped and took off. Did I mention that it was in the 50’s and rained all day. Even though I covered all my stuff in transition, it was soaked. Grabbed all my gear and bike and away I went.
This was the part of the race I was most worried about. It’s San Francisco. The course is hilly and technical. Throw in constant (sometimes stinging) rain, wet roads, and a rented road bike, the fear was palpable. The uphills were everything I thought they would be - just kept pedaling and pedaling using every gear I had. The downhills would’ve been scary dry, wet they were terrifying.
My forearms were hurting from riding the brake so much! 🤪 It definitely wasn’t a day to go out and race on the bike, it was a day to play it safe and make it to the finish line. Thankfully, all the competitors had the same mindset and were all courteous on the course. I was so happy when I finished that last uphill and got a couple of miles of flat to finish. 18 mile bike ✅ Bigger smile off the bike as I knew I was finishing the race even if I had to crawl.
The Alcatraz run is no joke. It has almost every kind of running surface you can imagine. Started the run and my shoes were soaked and heavy by 1/2 mile, but I was too happy to care. I loved this run. I’ve missed trail running and this reminded me of that. Running on the beach was amazing. The 200 step sand ladder at Baker Beach at mile 4.5 lived up to the hype. Still happy and felt blessed that I was able to do this. Another half mile uphill and then it was downhill or flat till the end. Smile didn’t leave my face the entire 8 miles of the run to finish my Escape. Another race off my bucket list ✅
So very happy to have my favorite Sherpa there today as well. Ashelyn left her black belt test yesterday, immediately jumped in the car to the airport, and flew here. I picked them up at 10pm last night (midnight her time). She was still up and ready to cheer in the pouring rain. ❤️ this girl! She is a rockstar!
Thanks Barry for having me ready for today and giving me the pep talks I needed! And thanks Mauricio for all the advice on the race - much appreciated! Again, my was on point and had me feeling great the whole race.
Today was everything I wanted it to be and then some! Now I can relax for the rest of the race year. 🤣
