World Cup Win!!

WOW!!! Thats about all I can say about my day today. I am in Richards Bay, South Africa and should be sleeping, but am too excited about winning my first World Cup! I knew training was going well and I was ready for a great race, but am still in a bit of shock that I actually won the race :) As with everything it was definitely not handed to me. I had a less than average swim and exited the water well back from the front group. This was something Darren and I had discussed that I may have to deal with and to be prepared to hammer the bike. So that was it. I put my head down and pushed as hard as I could to try to bridge the gap. I had a few women to help, but knew this would have to be as hard as I could ride to make up time...It only took 5 laps to finally catch up. (I was thinking it might be 2) so I was definitely tired by this time, but still had a few laps of the bike to recover my legs a bit and be ready to run. We have been working hard in the mountains so I was confident that I could still run well with tired legs and knew this was my chance to go for it. Within 200m I was leading...wow ok so then I had to keep my focus for another 9.8km ...no problem! I felt great, but was definitely running scared and worried about falling apart or falling literally, but focused on the technical and positive self talk to get me through the run. At the top of the last hill Felicity seemed to appear out of nowhere, but I still had enough in the tank for a strong sprint and was not going to give up the win without a fight. I will go back to my awesome training group tomorrow and get back to work for the World Championships in Vancouver June 8th. Thanks everyone for your amazing support and emails. I heard all the cheers!! Take care, Carolyn :)