24 Hours around the Clock

Sometime this winter I had decided I wouldn't be doing the 24 hour race solo this year. I never have time to put in the correct training and I manage to do well, but the consequences are generally high. I decided to join an all female team this year. We were short 1 rider so we had to use one of the girls daughter for 1 lap which ment the rest of us would be running basically as a 4 person. I was pretty excited about this. I have never done an all female team. Well Sunday a week prior to the race I came down with a terrible cold. I haven't had to call in sick to work in a couple of years. Between fever, congestion, and exhaustion I was done. I tried to rest all week, but by friday the cold had migrated to my chest and I had a sinus infections too. Lovely. I decided I loved to mountain bike and I was going to race anyways. So out to the race my husband and I went. He was racing on a 5 person male team. I surprised myself with how well I was racing. I had some really fast lap times out there, which was exciting for the condition I was riding in. We rode in 2nd place out of 12 womens teams for most of the race, only tailing 1st by 30 min. Not bad for being short 1 gal. Come morning Jenni's daughter suited up and was going to head out on her lap, she is 12 yrs old and courageous. To make it legit our 5th rider had to at least start the lap. Jenni and Alli headed out together and about 1/2 way Jenni made a tough motherly decision that her daughter shouldn't be riding some of the trails. So they decided to DNF the lap and take the easy way back. I was proud of both of them. Alli for just being brave enough to get out there even though she really didn't want to, and Jenni for making a tough decision that she knew would put us in 3rd. We were still a very happy team. We placed 3rd againts teams with 5 riders, pretty sweet. Unfortunately my cold didn't go away racing 75 miles and staying up all night. Funny how that works. What is even funnier is that I didn't learn my lesson and attempted to race the Wednesday night race yesterday. Lets just say I am taking a couple of days off. My lungs are shot and I now sound like I have emphysema or have been smoking my entire life. Not so great. So a couple days off then up to Mt. Spokane to see what is clear and off to Chelan next Saturday for a 60 mile MTB race. Thanks to Vanderkitten for all the great kits and clothes I think I got more comments out there about their awsomeness than any other jersey/kit. Noah did his first MTB race by himself this weekend during the 24 hours. He was pretty proud, I was very proud. The fact that he loves to be outside and ride bikes and hike and rock climb with us is more that I could ask for. Adrienne and Oliver are so lucky to have such an ambitious older brother!!!