Food

A little over a year ago I reported on what I called my anti-cancer 'diet', although I hesitate to call it a 'diet' because there is no calorie counting, weighing of food, or point systems involved.  It is more like a nutritional lifestyle.    It also seems to be a topic of much curiosity so it is probably about time I blog about it.

It all started last year with a visit to the nutritionist at Huntsman Cancer Institute.  Over the years, I had become more cognizant of the health benefits of a nutritious diet and my primary goal for this visit was to ensure my nutrition supported reduced risk of recurrence.

The nutritionist provided me a handout where the American Institute for Cancer Research recommended the following:

• Plant-based foods like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and beans should cover two thirds of the plate
• Include substancial portions of one or more veggies or fruits on your plate (not just grains)
• Eat five or more servings every day of a variety of colorful veggies and fruits
• Choose minimally processed foods and limit consumption of refined sugar

Research shows that eating a plant-based diet reduces risk of cancer (and a boatload of other diseases)!  

This was a start.  Then I got my hands on this book:

In his book, Dr. David Servan-Schreiber, who underwent treatment for brain cancer...twice...and survived an additional twenty years, uses his background in medicine and science to detail the complete anti-cancer lifestyle.  While the book is incredibly informative, the sections on diet and environmental toxins especially resonated with me.  Dr. Servan-Schreiber describes the importance of choosing foods that reduce inflammation in the body,  have a low glycemic index (foods that don't cause spikes in blood sugar level), and are not toxic (processed foods, non-organic, and animal products).

Then I watched the documentary Fork Over Knives (highly recommended), got a copy of The China Study (also highly recommended), and read Brendan Brazier's Thrive books (to try to figure out how an athlete can sustain on a plant-based diet).  I was sold.  100% bought in for the health benefits of a plant-based diet.  Adding in the positive ethical and environmental ramifications of a plant-based diet is icing on the cake!

I started the plant-based diet not long after my diagnosis in February 2011, however it has evolved over time, and I suspect that it will continue to evolve in the future.  Last summer, after watching Fork Over Knives, I eliminated all dairy(including my favorite greek yogurt) and have since added the occasional salmon and/or free-range egg.  I also avoid soy because it potentially interacts with my medication.  (Most soy in this country is genetically modified too-and the health ramifications of genetically modified food is not yet clear).

Now, you may wonder what a person on a plant-based diet eats?  The answer is: plenty, just not much of what is considered the traditional American diet!

Over the past year, I have found some great cookbooks and recipes and with a little planning, maintaining our new nutritional lifestyle has become quite manageable, maybe even fun...  Everyone seems to love pictures of food so I have photographed some of my favorite meals, although I must admit I'm more about the nutrition of the food than the presentation:)

My favorite breakfast is a bowl of steel cut oats with MILA, hemp seeds, walnuts, almonds, vegan carob chips, blueberries, and a touch of agave nectar.  It really tastes more like dessert than breakfast.

For lunch, I usually have leftovers or pack a nutritionally dense salad.  One of my favorites is kale, arugula, spinach, onions, hemp seed, pine nuts, grape tomato, avocado, olive oil, and a touch of balsamic vinegar.  I especially like this meal because I don't need a microwave to heat it up.  On busy work days I often have to eat in my car.

Snacks:  Pretty much happen all day long.  I still have my daily 'green' smoothie and this helps me get some 'green' early in the day without eating kale and spinach for breakfast!  Some of my favorite ingredients for the smoothie include kale, cabbage, brussel sprouts, fruit (banana and pineapple seem to help it taste more like fruit than veggies), ginger, MILA, hemp protein.  I eat fruit and nuts in pretty much unlimited quantities for snacks.  I also sneak in some 'processed' food such as whole grain toast or ancient grain cereal.  Mmm cereal.  My processed guilty pleasure that I just can't quit!

Some of my favorite dinners:

 Quinoa with veggies.  Pretty much use anything that is in the fridge
 (broccoli, garlic, bell pepper, green onion)

 Brown rice with veggies (same as above)

 Brown rice with kale and veggies (kale, carrot, mushroom, green onion)

 Wheatberry salad with cucumber, bell pepper, zucchini

I always throw together a sauce for these dishes.  One of my favorites is olive oil, lemon juice, and cumin or turmeric.  Olive oil, lemon juice, and agave nectar is also yummy.  

 As a pasta substitute we make zucchini pasta
with grape tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes and almond cheese

 I do occasionally have a salmon dish.  My favorite is cauliflower, brown rice, with salmon.

 ...and for dessert, homemade ice cream:
blend and then freeze cashews, dark chocolate (or vegan carob) chips, agave nectar, banana, and maca powder

Homemade energy bars: almonds, dates, dark chocolate (or vegan carob), and a touch of almond butter.  Topped with hemp seed.  Mmm.  Only make for special occasions.  I can put this away in no time!

How does this fit in with being an athlete?  So far, I think pretty well.  People always ask where I get my protein.  There is actually quite a bit of protein in a well thought out plant-based diet.  On a typical day I'm getting 70+ grams of protein.  When I add in a Vega protein drink, closer to 100 grams of protein!

So what does this look like in numbers.  Well, here are some recent lab results.  Prior to these labs, I had not had my cholesterol checked in years, but high cholesterol does run in my family.
My numbers: textbook perfect!

		Desirable range
Cholesterol Total	121mg/dL	Less than 200mg/dL
Triglyceride	45mg/dL	30-149mg/dL
HDL (aka good cholesterol)	68mg/dL	Greater than 40mg/dL
LDL (aka bad cholesterol)	44mg/dL	0-129mg/dL

One concern with a plant-based diet is maintaining sufficient iron levels.  I do take a daily iron supplement, and my iron and ferritin are holding steady.

		Desirable range
Iron, Serum or Plasma	99ug/dL	30-160ug/dL
Iron Binding Capacity Total	316ug/dL	240-450ug/dL
Ferritin	22ng/mL	12-160ng/mL

Another value to watch on a plant-based diet is Vitamin B-12.  That too is holding steady, however it is my understanding that it may take years for this value to drop so I will continue to have it monitored.  

		Desirable range
Vitamin B12	385 pg/mL	210-911 pg/mL

Eating this way certainly isn't for everyone.  It takes some thought and definitely a bit of planning, but, after a year where I underwent a treatment I didn't want for a disease I wish I never had,  it is truly empowering to feel like I am doing everything I can to remain healthy and reduce risk of recurrence.  I feel pretty darn good too!     

Galena Grinder

Last weekend Shannon, Dizzy, and I traveled to Sun Valley, Idaho for the Galena Grinder-my first marathon distance race this year.  While the distance of the Galena Grinder is rather short for a marathon-only 42ish miles- make no mistake, it is a difficult race.  With almost 7000 vertical feet of climbing you are either barely able to turn your pedals over up steep climbs or ripping down sketchy downhills with switchbacks that seem to come out of nowhere.  The high elevation certainly doesn't make it any easier.

One of the highest points on the race course.  

You can barely see the trail on the left popping out of the pines.

The open women's field was full of talent including the reining National Marathon champion as well as the National Ultraendurance Series winner.  However, with over two hundred racers and a mass start, I had more than the girls to worry about.  I immediately ate dust, and a lot of it, for pretty much the first hour and a half of racing.

Dust-free on the start-line

Photo: Dyan Lee-Spoken Chain

Post-race: Hot and dirty!

Overall, my race was pretty uneventful with me sitting in 5th place almost the entire time.  I did get a bit of a scare when the 6th place girl caught me about halfway through the first lap (of the two lap course), however I was able to drop her pretty quickly. Soon after, I caught the 4th place girl while she was walking up the steepest climb of the race, however she was clearly stronger on the bike as she dropped me as soon as she was able to get back on.

Sweet photo: courtesy Dyan Lee-Spoken Chain

I beat my personal, although completely arbitrary, goal of 4.5 hours by a few minutes despite a little mid-race water bottle mishap.  Funny story there!  The course ran in a figure-8 pattern and I had set out a table with fresh bottles in a location that I would pass three times.   This worked well the first two times through,  but my final time through there was a lady holding one of my remaining water bottles.  I figured that she must know me and was going to pass the bottle up to me, however when I rode up she said "I don't know who these belong to, but do you want some?"  Apparently she had been giving away sips from my bottles to random racers and none of them were full!  I think considering the circumstances,  I was quite polite when I told her that they were my bottles and I had placed them there.  Regardless, it was frustrating that I had to stop and dump a bunch of half full bottles to completely fill mine up before I set out for the last one and a half hours of racing in the hottest part of the day.  In reality, I didn't lose that much time.

Anyhow, I finished 5th which was good enough for a spot on the podium.

Podium: Jana Repulski, Jessica Cerra, Pua Mata, Amanda Carey, me (l to r)

Yep.  Those are checks in our hands.  Galena Grinder has equal payout for women.  I love this race!

After the race I was peer pressured to sit in the creek (to cool the legs and help recovery).  

It was friggin' cold.  The other girls were calming chatting away.  I was shivering the whole time!

Shannon and I then spent two more days hiking and biking trails in the Sun Valley/Ketchum area.  It's possible I say this about every bike destination we visit, but after this weekend, Sun Valley/Ketchum rates as one of my favorites.  The town is a lot less busy (at least this weekend) than most resort towns and very dog friendly.  Dizzy even went out to eat with us one afternoon and the staff at the cafe oodled over him.  The trails are riding distance from town and it is easy to put together a mellow two-hour loop or an all-day epic.  And although we barely scratched the surface, the trails seem pretty fun too!

 Riding Chocolate Gulch

As for Dizzy, he has such a great time traveling to races with us that it is really hard to leave him behind.  He really is a good boy and travels quite well. Although he was a bit restless the first two nights, and as he kept waking us up, I threatened him that it was his last trip ever!  I think he, like me, gets so excited that he has a difficult time sleeping.  Anyhow, he's certainly tuckered out now.  He has barely gotten up since we returned...two days ago!

Skillz and Drillz with Gene Hamilton

Back in the fall of 2010, when having a blog titled Athlete Fights Cancer seemed unfathomable, I had the opportunity to participate in one of Gene Hamilton's BetterRide clinics in Fruita, Colorado.  Gene has worked with and helped some of the best (and by best-I mean world champs) mountain bikers and has developed this amazing curriculum that teaches correct body positioning, foundational skills, and drills that just plain make you fast and efficient on the bike.  I wrote about it here.

Most cyclists think the only way to get faster is to get fitter, and while getting fitter really, really helps, improving bike skills and efficiency not only allows you to downhill faster, but helps you conserve energy so you can focus on utilizing that hard-earned fitness to the best of your ability and hammer up the climbs.  Knowing that my downhills skills had room for improvement, and being an easy 'buy-in' to Gene's philosophy based on my history of having constant coaching in my former life as an equestrian, I thought the BetterRide clinic would be especially worthwhile.  It did not disappoint, and I must admit when my life took an unexpected turn in 2011, practicing drills and using some of Gene's visualization techniques brought me immense enjoyment during a difficult time.

Fast forward to 2012.  I am back to racing!!!  Racing is going well and I am feeling fit and fast and although I feel like I'm riding technically stronger and more efficient than in the past, I also feel like a little technical tune-up is in order.  So, I caught up with Gene Hamilton for a few hours when he was traveling through Utah.

We discussed bike set-up, problem solved and practiced skills that were irking me, rode some trails,  discussed race strategy, and I came away with some specific skills and drills to work on.  All-in-all it was a pretty amazing morning and I am already feeling more confident with those skills that were irking me!

Here are some photos Gene took:

 Practicing some tight switchbacks.  

I now have my vision, position, and braking dialed.  Well...hopefully!

As for specifics, I'm not going to give away my new secret weapons:)  Okay, maybe I'll give away a few in my lesson write-up on MTBracenews.com!

One Year

This Sunday, June 17th, officially marks one-year since my last chemotherapy treatment.  (Note: I wish I could say that it marks one-year since finishing cancer treatment, but technically I'm not done with treatment.  I still take a daily Tamoxifen and will officially be done with cancer treatment mid-July 2016).  A lot has happened in this year.  Life is different, but very much the same.

I'm pretty content with my life, and unlike many people who are diagnosed with cancer, I don't feel the need for a drastic change.  Why would I?  I adore my husband.  We have the raddest dog and cat,  a home that feels like home, a cycling community that feels like family, and arguably some of the best singletrack imaginable.  I enjoy my job and I love to ride/race my bike.  Cancer has forced us to change some plans, but I suppose plans are meant to be changed, and we will adapt and are happily moving forward.

As for one-year updates, I am very pleased to say that I have hair.  Being bald is very simple and I'm all for simplicity, but looking like a sick (bald) cancer patient just wasn't for me.  So yeah for hair!
Anyhow, here's what my hair looks like (sans helmet and/or visor) one-year after finishing chemo and five haircuts later.

Yes, the curls are new and the color is darker.  The plan:  grow it out to pony tail length and hope the curls stay!

In honor of our one-year anniversary of health, Shannon threw a surprise party at Trailside Park in Park City.  Despite the wind and cold temps, it was fun celebrating with friends.   Apparently Shannon was pretty stressed about keeping it a surprise, but he was even more concerned with how to get me to the park without raising suspicion.  He always says that I never do what he says (usually I do the opposite) so he was in a bit of a predicament.  Being the creative dude he is, though, he had my coach put a skills ride at Trailside on my training plan.  Since I always follow my training plan, it ended up being pretty easy to get me to there.  We'll be laughing about this for a while:)

As for what I've been up to since my last post.  Well, I returned from Mesa Verde, rested for a few days, and then spent the next three weeks ramping up the training and racing five times.  Nothing like making up for lost time!  Needless to say, by my last race I was pretty spent and it showed in my performance.

Deer Valley, UT

Enjoying a midweek race at Corner Canyon

Our new Epic Brewing/MTBracenews.com kits

I also finished up my last four weeks of work and am now officially on summer break! Since Shannon and I both need some rest, we took a staycation this week.  This entails sleeping in every day, going on  some chill mountain bike rides, and taking Dizz on some hikes!

It's pretty easy to have a staycation really feel like a vacation when you live in mountain biking paradise!

Up next is a boatload of mountain bike racing as I ease myself into some longer distance events.  Oh, and it is that time of year for more 6-month check-ups.  I'll keep you posted!

12 Hours of Mesa Verde

Last weekend Shannon and I traveled to Cortez, Colorado for the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde held on the world famous Phil's World trails.  We raced in the co-ed duo category which is basically a 2-person relay race; Shannon races a lap, passes the baton (or clothespin in this case) to me, and I race a lap, and so on for 12-hours.  The team that races the most laps with the fastest time over 12 hours wins.  Although we were gunning for the win, in the end, we came up two minutes short.

In my opinion, though, the weekend was a success.

For me and Shannon, just getting to Mesa Verde was a victory.    This race is incredibly popular and  registration sells out quickly in December.  In 2010, Shannon and I had pre-registered, but we both succumbed to a vicious case of food poisoning the week before the race.  We tried again for 2011, but my cancer treatment interfered with our racing plans.  This year, once again, we added it to our race schedule way back in December and were both determined to not only get to the race, but to race well.

Here's how it went down from my perspective:

Friday we arrived to the venue for an easy pre-ride of the course.  We rode really, really easy.  So easy, in fact, that I tipped over on a ledgy section and have some fun, new bruises as proof.  The course seemed less technical and bumpy than I remembered, but I would regret thinking that by my fourth race lap on the course.  I had two busy and stressful days leading into the race, but race morning I woke up feeling rested, ready, and psyched to race.

We didn't know who our competition was, but I had seen on facebook (the source of all important information) that Jonathan Davis and Eszter Horyani were teaming up so we knew there would be some formidable competition.  Additionally, there were over 400 teams and some 1700 racers all jammed onto a 16-mile singletrack course, so passing became an added element to the race.

Shannon raced the first lap and he turned in a respectable 1:17 although I counted 5 girls go out in front of me, Eszter included, so I knew I had some work to do.

Shannon's quads are still angry that he got to run the LeMans start

I went out hard and within a few minutes I could see two girls in front of me.  I got around Eszter first and was following another girl when she blew a corner and came to a complete stop.  It was easy to do, as the dry spring made the course especially loose and dusty.  I was able to get around her and proceeded down the trail.  A few moments later, she was on my wheel asking if she could get around.  I thought about letting her, but the new, tougher racer in me reconsidered.  I had just caught her and passed her.  I was pretty sure I was riding faster, so I think I mumbled something, accelerated, and proceeded to drop her.  Even though I had pre-ridden the course, a few turns and rocks caught me off guard.  Additionally, I had to contend with a bunch of fast duo-male teams catching and passing this first lap.  Slowing to allow guys to pass this first lap gave me extra sympathy for the solo riders who must have been passed a hundred times by team racers each lap.  I finished my first lap passing four girls.  The one girl I did not catch ended up being in a different team category.

Shannon chillin' with Dizzy between laps

My decent but not astoundingly impressive first lap put us in the lead and gave Shannon a little less than a 2-minute buffer on Jonathan and from here on out our race was pretty exciting.  Shannon came in after his second lap right ahead of Jonathan so Eszter and I were jumping on our bikes and taking off for our second lap together.  I knew I wanted to hit the singletrack first so I attacked right away and was able to gap Eszter pretty early in the lap.  I ended up coming in with about the same gap as after my first lap and Shannon was off with Jonathan not far behind.  This time, though, Jonathan would come in before Shannon.  While everyone else was showing some fatigue and lap times were slowing, Jonathan kept putting down consistent 1:17 laps.  Who does that???

Trying to pump Rib Cage

Photo courtesy: Wild Cat Studios

Smiling after one of my laps

So for lap 3 I was chasing once again.  Just as I was starting to think that I wouldn't catch Eszter this time around, I saw her up ahead on the final climb of the lap.  I attacked as hard as I could and passed her as we were cresting the climb.  It was a pretty narrow spot and she could have easily stuck an elbow out or swerved in front of me to block me, but she did not.  I rode the last downhill smooth, safe, and efficiently and then time trialed the final flat section to the timing tent.  As I handed Shannon the baton (er, clothespin) I told him he only had seconds and to ride fast and smart.  I know Shannon raced his very hardest, but that dang Jonathan put down another 1:17 and gave Eszter a 5-minute head-start going into what would be our final lap.

Sprinting to my bike for my 4th and final lap

I knew a five-minute gap would be difficult to close, but I enjoyed the chase and never gave up as I desperately passed what felt like a zillion solo racers who at this point had been riding in circles around Phil's World for eleven some hours and were probably pretty sick of being passed.  Thank you everyone for appeasing my desperate pleas and allowing me to pass!  In the end, I came up two minutes short.

The first time we saw each other all day (besides transitions)

Podium shot

Even though we didn't 'win', the weekend was pretty incredible.  The battle between me and Shannon & Eszter and Jonathan was well fought and made for the most fun and definitely exciting team race I have ever done.  I'll take an epic battle with a second place finish over a boring win any day.  It was also a weekend full of friends.  We had a group of about fifty Salt Lake City racers who traveled down to Cortez to race; some raced solo, some duo, and some mostly hung out and drank beer between the occasional lap.  The mutual support was incredible.  But, when I reflect, what was the most meaningful about the weekend was the contrast from last year.  This same weekend last year, I underwent my 2nd chemotherapy treatment, my hair was falling out in chunks so we shaved it, and I could only day dream about racing my bike.  This year, I was duking it out with some pretty amazing racers (and people for that matter) for the top step of the podium.  My journey back to racing has not been easy.   It has taken self-reflection, dedication to a new lifestyle, belief in myself, lots of support from my awesome hubbie, and a whole lot of hard work.  Definitely worthy of a future blog post.

Let the racing begin......

Yep.  Race season is underway and it is awesome!  When I was first building my race schedule earlier this year, I had every intention to ease into racing.  I planned to not do my first 50 miler until July and to not race any distance greater than 50 miles this year.   Arbitrary, I know, but something to guide my return to racing nonetheless.  I have followed this to a certain degree, however I keep bumping up those  deadlines.  For example, I am now planning on racing my first 50 miler in June (not July) and have already registered for a 100k.  I guess at this point, it is safe to say, that I'm not ruling anything out.  So much for arbitrary timelines.  I'm psyched!

Speaking of racing, last weekend was the first Utah State Championship Series race and was held in Alpine, Utah at Lambert Park.  Last year, I experienced this race as a reluctant volunteer.   Reluctant, not because I didn't want to support the super awesome promotors of this series, but because I really wanted to be racing.  I watched all the local pro girls riding well and duking it out, and I wanted to be part of it.  This year, I was a racer!  It is waaay more fun to be a racer!  (Okay, enough exclamation points, I think it is clear that I am excited about racing)!!!!!

Like I already mentioned, The Lambert Park race is part of the Utah State Championship Series.  The promotors of this second year series seem to know a thing or two about putting together quality events, and perhaps that is why this particular race tripled in participant numbers since last year.  These guys design fun courses with ample passing and real singletrack.  Race registration is efficient.  Race results are posted quickly and awards are done in a timely manner.  And there is actually a decent pro payout.  Needless to say, I'm planning on being a RACER for the entire 4-race series.

As for the race, it went pretty well.  I finished 3rd behind Erica Tingey and Kathy Sherwin once again.  Overall, I felt good, and am proud of how I raced, but still have some areas to improve upon.  The one thing I notice as I do more races (and I have now done four- so hopefully this isn't premature to report) is that the pain associated with racing is a thing of the past.  Sure, going as hard as you can hurts, but now it hurts in such a good way.   Racing my mountain bike makes me feel healthy and strong and ALIVE.  Complete contrast to how I felt at this time last year.

I'll leave the detailed race reporting to the professionals, since I lack the motivation to talk about myself anymore.  Check out MTBRacenews.com for a race report, more photos, and results.

Some photos from the weekend:

The race venue the night before.  This second year event tripled in size from last year. 

Trying to find some speed on the Rodeo downhill.

One of the many bridge crossings.

 Pro Women podium

(me, Kathy Sherwin, Erica Tingey, Emma Garrard, KC Holley)

Short-term memory

I think athletes in general have short memories.  We put ourselves through intense pain and proceed to forget about it pretty quickly.  Then we convince ourselves that it was fun and go out and do it again!  I seem to generalize this ability to forget to other areas of my life as well. These past few months, I've had lots of one-year anniversaries.  Some of the more memorable anniversaries that have come and gone include: the day I was diagnosed (1/25/11), my first surgery (2/18/11), my second surgery (2/25/11), my third surgery (3/25/11), and coming up is my one-year anniversary from starting chemo (4/15/11).  These are all pretty profound and definitely emotional experiences in my life, but the passing of their anniversaries has stirred little emotion.  I suppose that short-term memory loss has kicked in and I'm simply having a hard time remembering myself as a cancer patient.   Life has moved on, and even though I know that this experience has changed me (I could and may do a whole post on that), I am moving on with life!

That said, I do get frequent little reminders that I am still a person who has undergone treatment for cancer. A few weeks ago I had a sore rib that I could not explain.  Normal people would probably just dismiss this as a sore rib.  For me, every time it twinged with pain, I thought "crap, this can't be happening".  I am educated enough about breast cancer to know that ribs are one of the most common bones for metastasis.  Fortunately, the unexplained pain subsided, and I have long since forgotten that little bit of fear I felt.

More recently, I had some routine blood work done.  I was most interested in checking my cholesterol (my medication puts me at increased risk for stroke), iron, and vitamin D levels, however my doctor suggested we run a Complete Blood Count (CBC).  All of my blood work came back text book perfect, with the exception of my white blood cells (low), granulocytes (low), and lymphocytes (high).  Apparently I was immunosuppressed.  I received these surprising results via my online medical chart (cool) along with an email from my doctor asking if I had been ill, fatigued, etc.  Well, I had just finished a big weekend training block and thought I felt good.  Maybe I was tired?  Maybe something was wrong?  I was confused.  After speaking with my doctor she expressed concern that I may have a virus such as Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and suggested that we draw some more blood later in the week and run the CBC again.  I consider myself a fairly reasonable person, however during this short waiting time I had some very unreasonable thoughts.  First, I considered that I had leukemia (a rare, but potential side-effect of chemo), then I decided that I was fine, and then proceeded to convince myself that I had CMV and that my race season was over.  I met with my doctor Wednesday and we re-ran the CBC.  I felt really slow on the bike that day which further convinced me that I had CMV. That night my doctor posted my results and emailed me that everything was fine, my levels had returned to normal. We hypothesized that my temporary immunosuppresion was training related.  My short-term memory kicked in, amazingly I no longer felt fatigued, and I was ready to focus on the weekend race!

The race.  Once again we traveled down to Southern Utah for the second Intermountain Cup race, The Cactus Hugger.  Like the first Intermountain Cup back in March, this race course utilized the Green Valley trail system, however it was a completely unique, and in my opinion, super fun course.  Despite flubbing up some sections on my pre-ride, and the unusual week leading up to the race, I felt pretty confident that my legs were strong and I was ready to race fast.  We had a small, but elite group of pro women on the start line.   I trusted my body to sustain a hard effort for the entirety of the race and it did not let me down.   I ended up finishing in 3rd, just one second ahead of Utah superstar, KC Holley.  We pretty much traded punches and positions the entire race-I just happened to get to the finish line first.  My short-term memory has already served me well as I pretty much forgot any pain or suffering I experienced during the race (actually I'm not sure I was suffering - the course was so much fun - I was pretty much smiling the whole time) as soon as I crossed the finish line.  Instead, I'm just looking forward to my next opportunity to duke it out with the girls.

 The downhill was rocky, windy, and loose.  It was fast too.

 Pro Women start

Podium (Erika, me, Erica, Kathy, KC, Emma)

For some real race coverage click here