Longhorn 70.3: by Jayne Furman

Kim Watson, Julie Cutts, Lisa Locati and I met up with Shannon Cutting for Longhorn 70.3 in Austin TX. This trip was planned a few months ago when Locati, on a Tuesday McGhies bike ride, quietly worked her persuasive powers. "I’m going to Texas for a half ironman, so let me know when you’ve signed up". I answered the only way I knew how. "Leave me alone, no way I’m doing it". This went on for a few more weeks, Cutts and Watson signed up, and I caved. I really had no desire to train, but after I started riding and swimming again, I was glad to be back into the mix.

The excitement built as we got closer to departure. The trash talking had begun. When Lisa found out Shannon, Julie AND Kim were all in her age group, that Kim was running the loop strong every weekend, and Cutts was on a cycling tear, she expressed herself mildly. F*()*()*)*()*(*((*((*(*K !!!!!!!!

We had so much luggage – between the bikes, laptops, duffel bags, etc -- and for some reason, Cutts decided to stash a Viking oven in her Samsonite. The Ford 150 would come in handy!
You’ll notice in the airport photos that everyone was smiling a bit more on the front end than the return trip !!

We stayed at the Embassy Suites at Town Lake, went to packet pickup, and bumped into Shannon. We were invited to dinner at her unbelievably hospitable friends home located about 30 min outside of Austin on a gorgeous woodsy plot of land with a spectacular sunset view from their rooftop deck. Leslie is an accomplished musician, and an awesome cook. She played Big Bad Betty for us, a humorous song about an Athena she competed against. We were now race ready.
The day of bike check in we (ie, Jayne) wanted to drive the bike course. Shannon had driven it the day prior. Monkey See, Monkey Do …. and despite warnings from Shannon about unmarked streets and where they were located, the 4 of us still managed to get lost looking for Monkey Lane. This caused some major stress to our chauffeur Julie Cutts, who had a look of fear as if we were driving into enemy territory and would never find our way out alive. This apparently pumped her up so much she chewed up the bike course with a 2:33 bike split (10th fastest female).

Race day we were extremely lucky. Temperature was ok, plus we had cloud cover for a lot of the day, and the humidity wasn’t bad. The swim in Decker Lake was a little short. I didn’t shed any tears bout that !. We all swam without wetsuits, good advice from Shannon. Most wore them, but the water was a mild 78 degrees.

I never did get thru transition during visualization, which led to me putting my socks and cycling shoes over soaking wet muddied feet, and then heading for T1 exit without my helmet--- till someone in transition told me HEY, you need a helmet ! DUH !
Check out the socks. You’d think this was my first triathlon.

The bike leg was mostly rollers with one nice climb at the end. There was plenty of cross and headwind too. It looked more like the Tour de Austin for the 1st 20 miles till we all spreaout a bit. Very cozy, kinda annoying.

The course was fun though, and included a hill called Quadzilla at 7 % grade. About 3 miles was on dirt, the rest on pavement, and there were very few actual "flat" sections.
It was a two loop course so we saw each other a couple of times. At one point Locati yelled "hey what are you doing walking". I lookup to find her limping with a smile on her face. Still she finished under 6 hours, even walking like 4 miles. Shannon was the 2nd overall female and first in her age group. Kim hada great race, and her training paid off as she easily PR’d. Way to go Kim !

I pulled into the stable in 6 ½ hrs, this one was sweet under the circumstances of a 2:45 half marathon shuffle. I finished feeling great, what more can you ask.

The fun continued for a couple more days. We went for a hike in the park, and a swim in the refreshing water of Barton Springs (68 degrees) We stopped for some beverages in Willow City at Harry’s

After our ride we refueled at the Becker Vineyard, enjoying some wine in a serene settinwith trees, and greenery. We visited a couple bike shops (yes, Mellow Johnny’s), a running store, some very cool shops on Congress Ave (SoCo), and had dinner at Mexican restaurant located on Lake Travis. This was a wonderful trip, and I’m so glad I had the opportunity to experience all of it. Triathletes looking for an October 70.3 should consider Longhorn in 2009.

Jayne