Sweet Weekend!

Okay...so I started following Deborah Shulman's nutritional pre-race guidelines from the recent awesome sports nutrition class I took. Did the whole carbo load thing on Thursday, ate light on Friday with some nice pesto tortolini from Whole Foods for dinner Friday night, and was off to Deer Trail Saturday morning for my favorite road race. It was a nice field of 19 women (cat 3's had raced earlier in the day) with mostly 1/2's and a few newbies that entered the open women's field. There were 6 of us Rio gals racing, so we were definitely the biggest team in the pack, but Vitamin Cottage had a decent showing, and Sharon Allpress was back for a visit (former Vit Cottage gal...now gone NRC pro) and working with her old racing buddies. We had some bad luck before the real racing had begun, with 2 of our key riders on the team (Kate and Erin) getting crashed out at mile 40. After a valiant chase, both ended up dropping out of the race due to technical problems with their bikes...not to mention road rash and bruises. So there were 4 of us left to do what we could and we were headed into the rolling hills portion of the course. The group ended up splintering with the attacks up some of the short and steep climbs, and Beth Fisk and Sharon Allpress ended up getting off of the front, with 5 of us in a chase pack. There were 3 of us doing all of the chasing (Syrae wouldn't work as she had a teammate off the front and planned to save energy for the final sprint) and one gal didn't have the engine to help much. Trish, Emily Finanger (an awesomely talented triathlete in her first ever road race), and I did all of the chasing and couldn't pull back the Fisk/Allpress pair. So...in the end, Syrae took a flyer and suffered as a result...then I made a solo attempt for the line...only to be swallowed back up 1/4 mile later. Once caught, my teammate Trish countered, forcing Syrae into the wind : ), and with 200m to go, I sprinted by Emily and Syrae for the field sprint win (and 3rd place in the race). Fortunately for me, Syrae was cramping badly and couldn't get out of the saddle to contest the sprint. That is the first (and very likely the last) time that I will beat Syrae in a sprint to the line, so I'm going to savor this one for a long time ; ). Here's a podium shot from the race:
Overall, the Rio gals did great, with 4 great finishes in the open RR and our cat 4 emerging star, Heather McNeill, ripping it up in the earlier race with a 2nd place in a sprint to the line.

So...that was the start of a most awesome weekend. Next up was the vet school Jr/Sr Banquet at the Hilton. I had been informed on Friday night that I was the recipient of the AAEP equine clinician teaching award, selected by a vote from junior and senior veterinary students, and that the award would be presented at the banquet. I was incredibly honored by this, as my job as a teacher and clinician is so important to me and it's always been a dream of mine to receive an award for teaching excellence. That was the perfect end to a perfect day.
Next day I was off to finally explore the epic ride from Boulder through Ward and along the Peak-to-Peak Hwy, along Hwy 7 and down into Estes Park. It was a beautiful day on some tired legs and great training!