INSTALLMENT 6—Epilogue
 
I have to hand it to HFP Racing for how well this event is run.  Sure there are minor glitches, but considering that we did 4 races in 3 days, I have no complaints.  Isn’t it funny I’m not saying something like, “Please flatten out the bike courses.”  Part of the charm and allure of this race is how hard the courses are for individual races.  Put them all together and you get psycho hard core aggro outstanding racing fun.
 
After the last race, Cindy and I wandered off to get some post-race food, where we caught up with Mark and Erik.  Those boys did the race proud!  Check out Mark’s race report here: http://moonpie.org/triblog/?p=132.  Also check out Cindy’s race report here: http://add-triathlete.blogspot.com/2007/05/desoto-triple-t-totally-tough.html.  All the different perspectives on this are wonderful!
 
Then we head back to cabin where I need to finish packing up my stuff because my ride is leaving at 4:00PM.  Part of me didn’t want to leave, but then I thought that if I stayed overnight that someone might try and make me do another triathlon!  At this point, the entire weekend is swirling around in my head, but mostly I am just damned please with myself, with my awesome teammate, Cindy, and I’m feeling pretty stoked about my training and buildup for Ironman Lake Placid.
 
A few days after the race, I talk to my friend, Peter, in Miami, and ask if I could stay with him if I decide to do Miami Man ½ Ironman in November again.  He tells me sure, he’s engaged to be married, and then we didn’t have more time to talk, so stay tuned.  I signed up for the race, and then I make my training schedule from now through Lake Placid, then forget I promised I’d do an underground Ironman (on the Ironman Wisconsin course the week after the actual race) with some other people, so I continue making a schedule through that, and then decide that’s enough—I could pretty much do no training between mid-September and Miami Man and I bet I’d do just fine.  I won my age group at that race last year, but this time there is a whole horde of ladies in my age group, so I don’t know if I can do it again, but I’ll try.  It will be interesting going into the race as a “marked woman,” don’t you think?  If nothing else, it will be a hoot to race something so flat, coming off of Triple T, Horribly Hilly, Ironman Lake Placid, Dairyland Dare and Ironman Wisconsin.  Sure I have a flat 200K ride thrown in there for good measure (Bike Psychos 200K), mostly I’m riding and/or racing tough stuff.
 
Jovan made me a CD of all the photos he took, and it’s awesome—you’ve seen many of them throughout this epic report.  Cindy got to stay for the awards ceremony where she found out we got 2nd place female team and we won a $300 gift certificate to a bike shop!  SCORE!!!  I haven’t seen our plaque yet (we each got one and she collected mine for me), but I am sure it will earn a prominent place in my house.  Cindy and I have already decided Team Crackheads is going back to Triple T in 2008 to be 1st place female team.  We learned a lot doing it once, and we both know we can do a lot better, and still manage to have fun.  See some people think that if you are fast you can’t be having fun, but I tell them, “We have lots of fun—we just have fun faster.”  I have no clue about me doing an Ironman in 2008, but Triple T is basically that, so that would be enough for me next year.  But I have a sneaking suspicion that Cindy or one of my other friends will rope me into something else.  
 
What are friends for?  Friends are for pushing one another to more than they thought they could do.  Friends cover your back when you are having brain cramps, actual cramps or bonking.  Friends wait for you while you are cursing your bike for behaving badly.  Friends let you have your emotional moments, but don’t buy into your evil, self-critical s***.  Friends let you go faster when it’s you on your own, and they slow down when you’ve agreed to stay together.  Friends don’t freak out when you think you’re losing it.  Friends tell you how proud they are of you.
 
As much as I love racing solo, I have to say you can’t beat the experience of racing with someone on a team where you are fairly equally matched.  It became like a Vulcan mind meld, and I think we both came out stronger as a result.  I know that there will be many times when I can reach inside and think about some part of Triple T where I wasn’t feeling great, and if I had been alone I might have given in to the dark side, but because I wasn’t alone I could push on, and that will help me when I’m racing solo.
 
Thanks, Cindy.  I couldn’t have done this without you!

To achieve satisfaction in everything
Desire it in nothing.
To possess everything,
Desire to have nothing.
To be everything,
Desire to be nothing.
To know everything,
Desire to know nothing.