Saturday, March 1, 2008

Saturday Update

I am hurting.

I am in pain.

And why?

Because my fellow campers biked me into the ground.

It was crazy.

It was stupid.

Crazy Stupid Hard.

But amazing.

First - I love South Carolina. Love Greenville. Love the hills. Love the challenge. Love (some) of the locals - except the jerks in pickups who razed us during our many climbs.

Second - who knew that Greenville, SC was hilly? Apparently I didn't get the memo - but FYI... it is. Trust me.

Third - According to Dustan and Matt (two of Ashley's friends who took us on our epic bike ride today), Jennifer Harrison and myself have been officially "devirginized.

Yes, my friends - JH and I were devirginized.

How?...

We climbed "The Panther". An epic "hill", crazy stupid hard, 2 miles, between 15-20% grade for the entire effing thing. It took me 30 minutes, and I am forever changed. It was a religious experience - and I would know... after passing a dozen or so churches on the way to the beast of a hill... I found my Saviour during the climb. The peak was beautiful - trust me. I'll post photos of me and Coach Jen later. But well worth the effort.

I think I threw up in my mouth... but didn't dare spit out for fear of falling off my bike. It's kind of hard moving forward, while biking 3 mph at 37 rpm. I wish I could say that I was able to HTFU and climb the entire thing. There were 2 times when I had to physically "hop" off my bike and push the fucker up the hill. I simply couldn't move. Thank goodness the grade went down to 12% - and I was able to hop back on the bike within :40.

It was painful - but I was determined.

I wasn't sure if I would ever have this opportunity again - so up up up I went.

Great day - fellow Camp HTFU'ers are awesome - they kept me honest after my epic climb.

Elizabeth is a phenominal climber - watching her dance up the hill, as my sorry butt kept going backwards was incredible.

Jen - reminded me to stay in aero, was on my shoulder and kept me honest.

Mary - awesome at climbing, not happy when descending - but smiled the entire time.

Leslie - fellow IM Arizona'er - kept biking with me after everyone else stopped. It was great, she made me feel that I wasn't alone. And with her, I wasn't.

Ashley - the girl can ride. A 23 cassette didn't keep her down. And up up up she went. It was all I could do to hang on.

Great epic day of mountains, camp, and more mountains.

I'm liking Greenville, SC...

And now - I'm off to relax. Sorry for the random stuff. Brain is fried - left somewhere (along with the legs) on The Panther mountain. I plan on returning sometime in the not-too-distant future and retrieving them.

Happy Saturday to ALL!

Danielle (Pedergraham) - once again your coffee got us up. Helped us climb. Made us strong. Thanks.

6 comments:

BreeWee said...

AWESOME! GREAT climb, you are so crazy and amazing! I bet you love working with your coach... is it true she eats m&m's all the way up the hills?
Glad you like SC... I can picture you now, a little house with a tin roof, 12 dogs barking in the front lawn, 3 broken down cars, and your bike...
Hope tomorrow is just as awesome! Swim hard...

Anonymous said...

Great climbing! I'm jealous...I LOVE climbing and of course being in Florida right now...NO HILLS! I must live through you ladies this week!

I hope you have another great training day today!!!!!

Pedergraham said...

Marit:
So great! I tried to imagine those hills...and all I could think of was how scared it would be with clip-in pedals...
Hope your last day is fantastic and that you have a safe trip home.
-Danielle

Brooke said...

Sounds intense. Great job.

Mel said...

THANK YOU....for telling me the AWESOME tri chick you are...getting off your bike to walk it up the hill...I already have in my head that is what I am going to do in St.Croix once I reach the BEAST is walk it....I have NO hills here to train on...so I do not do hills :)

I am so glad you are having such a blast and I am excited to see photo's...KEEP ROCKIN IT!!!!

Kellye Mills said...

Marit... YOU ROCK!! From what I read, you were the tough one making it up that hill NO MATTER WHAT!! At some point, we'll have to ride together just so I can chase you and TRY to keep up!! :)