Rev3 Knoxville VOLUNTEER Report

I'm injured.. It's official. So I rolled to Knoxville anyway and pretty much decided en route that I was pulling completely out of the race. I had considered doing the swim and bike then just DNFing the race. Didn't really like that idea. If I was going to get in the water I wanted to finish the deal. I taught a spin class on Thursday night and my knee was bothering me (it hadn't previously hurt on the spin bike) so I figured I should just lay off it. I was/am super bummed to not being doing my first tri of the season, but it is what it is.

I'm still so glad that I went down to Knoxville anyway. Not only did I get to meet my TEAM TRAKKERS team mates, but I got to work my booty off behind the scenes with Rev3. They are a top notch crew... and I'm not just saying that bc we're all part of the same family. I watched over and over again as they took care of the athlete first!

Saturday I rolled down for the practice swim and got to swim FOR THE FIRST TIME in my TYR Hurricane Cat 5 wetsuit. DAMN! I was very impressed. It was by far the first open water swim where I didn't feel like I was struggling. Great flotation!

Then Laura, Chad and I went out for a little spin on the bikes.. unfortunately Laura took a spill (as did many other athletes) on some really bad train tracks. Thankfully she bounced right up. And like a good triathlete the first words out of her mouth were "is my bike okay" then she looked herself over. She got some road rash, but rode on!

TACO BREAK!

Kier and Laura W.!

Next up was registration. Kier, Kristin, Colleen and I ROCKED that registration booth. Kier made sure to be in charge of the PRO line when they got done with their course preview meeting and we got to chat up Matty Reed, Julie Dibens, Courtenay Brown (actually got to talk to her a bit and she's super grounded and really cool), Richie Cunningham and many other pros... good times. We broke things down and messed around a bit....

Now it's time for some dinner w/ my Team Trakkers team mates Kier, Mike and Laura. LOVED having this time to chat and get to know some of my teamies!

Race morning got Kier and I going around 5am to head down to transition for final set up and TRISLIDE application! We got to LUBE people up all morning!

Rev3 is a top notch group. Did I already say that!?

The expo was slammin and look at the pro set up!

Expo from up above.

Number 1 was dedicated to Sally Meyerhoff. A fallen Triathlete!

The pro space in transition.

Lubing up my teammie Chad! I think it the TriSlide was cold.

After all were lubed and folks were off to race we finished up getting things going in transition and watched in amazment as Matty Reed came sprinting up after only like 17 minutes of swimming. DANG!

Next up was run course marshaling. I stood in a spot where people ran out and back, up some stairs on the way out and down on the way back. A lot complained about going up stairs post bike, I only saw one fall and a few stumbles. (I'm wondering if this was more prevalent on the half.. I was done when the OLY was almost over.)

Matty Reed rounding the corner on the way to his first place finish - with lucky number 13.

Women's Pro Winner Leannda Cave.

I had a long drive home and had to wrap things up long before my Half Rev Teammies came in and I'm sad to not have been at the finish line to see it all come to a close... and for the celebratory beverages of course. Virtual Cheers to all of you!

It was a long drive home..we hit a snag of traffic that caused us a 10 mile section in about 2 hours. My plans to drive through were smashed and I stayed the night at Kier's only to get up at 3am to drive the remainder of the trip... which thankfully was uneventful.

I'm still drained from all that has transpired leading up to Knoxville and then the big trip down, but I would do it all again. A couple of good nights sleep and weaning off the caffeine has put me on a good path to 'recovery'... yes, volunteering is hard work too!