Sam Anderson ~ Triathlete: Chester Deva Divas

Let me introduce you to my lovely friends Vanesa & Jess. Vanesa is a crazy Spanish chick who will make you laugh until your ribs hurt! Jess is just as nuts and has been one of my best friends in the world since I met her 14 years ago.

My journey to Chester Deva Divas triathlon started about a month ago:
* Jess ~ "Why don't you do Diva's with me and come and stay"
* Me ~ "Great sounds fun, count me in"

3 weeks later the start list is sent out, minus Jess's name:
* Me ~ "Jess why aren't you on the start list?"
* Jess ~ "I can't be bothered, I'll just watch you win it!"

Oh great, I better race well then! Friday night in Chester was amazing! We went out for Tapas and sat in a courtyard, it was like we were abroad! One bottle of cava lead to another, and another, then we were on the prosecco and the cocktails. There was a sangria thrown in there somewhere and just when we thought "maybe that's enough", Vanesa appears with another bottle of Cava! Woop woop!

"Good friends don't let you do stupid things......alone"

Thanks Pam for the wetsuit!

When most people would like to relax the morning after the night before, our Saturday went like this:
* Up at 8:00am - couldn't face breakfast
* Somehow survived Vanesa's driving to Manley Mere, every time we went over a speed bump my head was through the roof!
* A dip in the lake in a lush Huub wetsuit I had borrowed from Pammie babes after splitting mine last week!
* A hot chocolate, scone and read of the paper in the sunshine - this would be so much more enjoyable if I was not hungover!
* Googling on my phone 'how long does a hangover last'
* Back in the car with Vanesa, dear god
* Out on the bikes to recce the race bike course
* Lunch at The Architect sat on the table next to Michael Owen
* Back in the car with Vanesa (clinging on for dear life) to go and register at the race tent
* Finally home to shower and put PJs on
* A healthy dinner of pizza and jelly babies
* Wondering if a 72 hour hangover is really in store for me
* Start to watch a film but the room is still spinning so at 8pm I go to bed
* Get up every hour to see if I need to be sick
* Finally fall asleep thinking "I am never drinking again!

We arrived at race venue 'The Meadows' the next morning at 7:15am. There was a great buzz around the place, the atmosphere was fab! There were 350 women racing, from all different backgrounds and all different abilities. I spent most of the morning in the portaloos (nice!) but tried to 'talk myself into it' and kick some ass.

The swim was in the River Dee and was a lovely calm swim starting at one point, and swimming up (or down?) stream to the next. I led for the first half of the swim until someone swam past me and I latched onto her feet. We went slightly wrong at the end, almost forgetting to go through the 'gate' before exiting the water. Out of the water in 2nd and Jess gave me the biggest cheer ever! A quick T1 saw me out on the bike first with about 4 other girls in close pursuit, grabbing their bikes and following me.

Being the first athlete out on the bike course meant the crowd were going wild! They were screaming and shouting and applauding as if I were a celebrity! I loved soaking up the atmosphere and for the first time all morning, felt alright! If bike courses were made for me, then this would be it. Mostly flat, a few drags and rolls on an out and back course. By the time I got to the turn around point, I already had a huge lead. The headwind on the way out had played to my strengths but coming back in with a tail wind it would be harder to make more time on my competitors. I got a little held up on the way back; mostly because all of the other girls from later waves were still heading out on the bike course so when the roads got narrow, the cars infront of me stopped to let them through safely, but in the process meant I was sitting in their traffic jam! That happened a couple of times which was a little frustrating. Coming to the end of the bike course I was navigating the last few roads around the estate back to transition when 2 marshals sent me back out again with the other athletes. I don't think they realised I was the first girl back. Most athletes would use their common sense and just carry on but me being me, meant that I turned round to start the bike course again until they started calling me back! Haha what an idiot!

Back into T2 and Jess was going wild again! The commentator announced that last year I had won the British and European Championships (I felt a bit embarrassed by this) and he also told the crowds how I was fuelled for today's race by prosecco and cava, cringe!!! Off on the run and this is where I felt really bad. I could just taste alcohol. So gross! I had been running for about 3 minutes when I heard the commentator announce the next girl into T2. Ah great, I thought, I have a nice big lead I can just plod round and try to feel human. However Dee Allen of TeamFreeSpeed had other ideas. She was a gazelle! I have raced with super speedsters like Emma Pallant and Katie Hewison in the past and I swear Dee would give them a run for their money! On lap 1 the marshalls were saying "I think it's safe to say you're going to win this one love!" but by lap 2 it had changed to a frantic "you better get a move on!" I tried to pick it up a bit with 2k to go and a little bit of sick came up so I decided to go back to plodding. It will be alright, I thought. Then Jess was legging it towards me shouting to get a move on, (Is it bad if I admit that I wanted to punch her in the face!) Haha! I was just hating every second and replied to Jess that I didn't mind if I didn't win.

But once I said that I looked over my shoulder and could see Dee was catching me quickly! I thought to myself how annoyed would I be if I didn't win because I was hungover? The answer? Very! So with 1km to go I picked it up a notch and ignored all feelings of sickness! Once I came out by the car park and could see the finish, I knew Dee wouldn't catch me so could relax into the finish, crossing the line in 1:18:07, just 5 seconds ahead of Dee (she ran a sub 17 minute 5k!!!)! What a great race!! It was quite exciting having Dee push me all the way (although I didn't feel like that at the time!)

Our other friend Jess (a different one!) crossed the line not long after and then we cheered on pocket rocket Vanesa, who was fabulous! The biggest cheer of the day went to the last lady across the line who gave it everything she had to make it round the course. The crowd went wild, it was brilliant! The prize giving was lovely and I won a voucher, some high 5 energy powder and a bottle of bubbly - which I won't be drinking anytime soon!

Afterwards Jess and I cycled to Parkgate for a world famous ice cream. I used to live near here so it was lovely to be back on homesoil! All in all, it was a fantastic weekend!