I was so relieved to finally be on my way to Clearwater and the 70.3 World Championships. The last two weeks of tapering had me going batty.  I hadn’t raced in weeks, it was cold and dark in Philadelphia, and the season had been really long.  I was really excited for this race though. My goal early this season was to get a slot for the World Championships and I was thrilled when I got one at Vineman. Racing at the World Championships did make me pretty nervous too. I only had a few races under my belt as a pro and I still felt like I had a lot to learn. Here I was at the World Championships racing against the best women in the world. Yikes! My parents and I arrived in Clearwater on Thursday afternoon and after checking in to the hotel, I dragged my mom and dad out to drive the bike course. 56 miles is a long way to drive, especially with traffic. I knew the bike course was mostly flat but I want to get familiar with the roads. One thing I learned this year as a pro is that you spend a lot more time racing by yourself. And when I’m by myself, I like to know where I’m going. The course was mostly flat as I expected but there was one steep ¼ mile climb over a bridge at the beginning and end of the course.   I was surprised most of the bike course was on main roads with tons of traffic and lots of intersections. I knew the race director planned on having a lane closed down throughout the entire course but I could only imagine the traffic jams this race was going to cause. After a short run to loosen the legs up and dinner, it was off to bed. I had a very busy day Friday. I was up early and down to the swim course to meet my coach and go for a swim. The water was about as calm as the ocean gets and 70°. Just the way I like it, wetsuit-legal and not choppy at all.  After discussing some strategy with coach Lindsay and picking up my packet it was off to lunch to meet up with the guys from Zoot and my Zoot Elite teammates. We ate at Frenchy’s , a nice little seafood restaurant right on the beach. Great food and very relaxing. I got caught up on how everyone’s season had gone so far and what Zoot had in store for the future (some very exciting stuff!). After lunch Caroline Smith, one of my Zoot teammates, and I walked down to the pro meeting. I was really glad to be at the meeting with her. This pro meeting was the largest one I have been to yet with the best of the best. It was a little overwhelming.  I couldn’t believe I was going to be toeing the line with these women tomorrow! After getting our last minute instructions and multiple warnings not to draft on the bike we left to get our head shots taken for the media and then back to the hotel. I got all my gear organized, took my stuff to transition, had dinner and finally got to put my feet up and relax. It had been a really busy day and by 8PM I was already starting to fall asleep. Unfortunately for my parents, they still had to pick my husband at the airport. It was a late flight but the only way he could get to my race and he didn’t want to miss it.

The next morning came way too early as always. In transition I was surrounded by bright lights and NBC cameramen. I happened to be racked near Leanda Cave and Becky Lavelle so I was forced to maneuver my way between bikes and big men with big bags and big cameras. There already wasn’t a lot of space. It was though cool to be at a race which was going be on TV and racing against the same women that would be on TV! Before I knew it, I was at the swim start and waiting in the corral for the race to start. I watched the men go off running full speed into the water. It was utter chaos and I knew my wave would be like that too. This was the biggest field of pro women I had raced and I knew the first 100m was going to be crazy. We lined up and I tried to prepare myself for the mayhem. For the first time this year I felt only excitement to be in the pro wave and not worry over what I was I doing with these women. I knew I would be slower than a lot my competitors (it was my first year after all!) but I had earned this slot, worked really hard, and just wanted to race as hard as I could. The cannon went off. I ran into the water and attempted to do some dolphin dives (I felt like I did pretty well considering I never tried it before) and finally was able to start swimming. I felt good, in control, and managed to do some drafting. The swim actually ended quickly (and I never feel like that!).  I ran up the beach to T1. I heard some yell “Go Des!” and out of the corner of my eye I saw I was indeed running into T1 with Desiree Ficker. How cool! Off on the bike I tried to keep the women I had come out of the swim with in sight which I did for a bit. The bike course was pretty uneventful, flat and fast with no breaks on the legs. I biked hard and by the last 10 miles was ready to be off my bike. The legs were starting to feel heavy. Coming into T2, I jumped off my bike and was a lot more shaky then I expected. I didn’t realize how beat up my legs were! I basically stumbled through the transition area and after 2 miles into the run my legs finally started to come around. Unfortunately, that didn’t last too long. I managed to stay on pace for the first half of the run but then it all fell apart.  I tried to push as much as I could but I just had nothing left. I crossed the finish line knowing I had given it my all, disappointed about my run, but happy to have gotten here and to know I made some very positive changes. As I sat on the beach the next morning, resting and enjoying the first day of my off season, I thought about how far I had come. It hadn’t been too long when I was a scared little amateur unable to do well at any big race because I was too scared. Now here I was, a professional triathlete, competing with the best of them. I knew I had a lot to work on for next year and a long way to go before I would consider myself successful but this was a big step up.  And most importantly, I had fun.