Women usually take a back seat in attention and placings at most sporting events. This summer a few have been stepping it up to compete with the top runners - be them men or women. This is super cool and here is a shout out to some of the ultra-chicks over the USA scorching it this summer.
Krissy Moehl won the overall at Where's Waldo 100km trail running race last week in 11:18, eight minutes in front of second place overall/first place man and only 10 minutes behind first place relay team - scorching hot!
Last weekend at The E-100 I had the pleasure of watching Monique Sawicki do some of her own scorching. She finished 3rd overall only 4 minutes off first place. The reason I got to see her ride was cause I snuck past her for a few miles after she flatted. Without that flat she was darn close to taking the overall.
I don't know of a woman taking the overall at an ultra-endurance mountain bike race YET but it is coming. I've scored a 3rd and 4th this year. Maybe it will be Monique, maybe me or some other fast chick but I'm tellin' ya, it's coming.
My E-100 race: This one was the first in a long time I have done unsupported. Steve my mainstay ran the Park City Marathon winning his age group and coming 3rd overall. I was lukewarm at best for a few hours then went stone cold...Blah...Uggh...Ouch... I left my race legs in Canada methinks - no regrets there. I spent big in Canada and every ounce of effort was worth it. Even my skin hurt after the E-100 finish. The Trans Rockies/E-100 combo is a wicked one I'll not attempt again. 100 miles with a reported 22.5k of climbing is a big ride for an empty pair of legs. I stuck it out finishing in 11:55 pulling off a respectable 2nd place with enough points to take the E-100 series win, which was the big goal.
What a shock, I'm not invincible after all ;-)
Dave took the men's series win, so another double podium for us. To sweeten things up the two of us racked up enough points in the Team division to finish second. Most other teams had a whole pack of riders amassing points. Boris called us a "Powerhouse Duo"I like that :-).
Here's Dave and I with our series trophies and crazy Russian Boris, E-100 race director and course magician. He told us next year he has some nutty scheme to make things even harder for us!
Finally, another shout out to all the guys I coached and consulted with before The E-100. Every single one of you made me smile and be proud by producing beautiful even splits and executing the race plan we put together - awesome job everybody and thanks for the super satisfying coaching moment. High fives to the lot of you.