The Weekend Ahead-Florida 70.3 and RnR Raleigh

This coming weekend is big for the Ferreira Family. Amber will be racing her first triathlon in 2014 at the Florida 70.3 in Haines City, Florida. It will also be her first triathlon on her new bike and race kit racing for Maverick Multisport. I will be heading out to Raleigh, NC where I was comped a free entry for the Rock N Roll Marathon by Brooks. Normally I wouldn't think running a marathon 8 days before Boston and two weeks after Knoxville was a good idea but a free marathon entry made it worth it. Amber on the other hand, hasn't raced in a while and has been itching to go. I mean she is raring to go! Her training has come along very well this year and the times I've run with her I know she's going to have an amazing 2014 triathlon season.

The US Snowshoe Champion is ready to take on the world of triathlon!

While Florida may not be a high point scorer for qualifying for Worlds, it does appear to attract a high level of competition. As you can see from some of the studs below, Amber, once again, shows her tenacity and lack of fear in going head to head with some of the fastest SBK out there:
 Florida 70.3 Start List

36 Nina  Kraft

37 Caitlin  Snow

38  Jessica Jacobs

39  Rebekah Keat

40  Jackie Arendt

41  Laura Bennett

42  Margie Shapiro

43  April Gellatly

44  Katherine Bruck-LaGala

45  Jocelyn Cornman

46  Dee Atkins

47 Lauren Goss

48  Rachel Jastrebsky

49 Amber Ferreira

50  Stephanie Jones

51  Tamara Kozulina

52 Sharon Gallant

53  Suzy Serpico

54  Jessica Chong

55 Amy Javens

56  Jacqui Gordon

57  Rebeccah Wassner
Beyond the deep competition, the heat and humidity and flat bike course aren't necessarily in her favor. However, the swim will be non-wetsuit which should help thin out the weaker swimmers, and the run profile does look like it's got a few hills that typically help reign in slower runners. It's too bad that I won't be able to watch her race because I'm sure it's going to be an awesome day. You can follow her race this Sunday on Ironman.com.

Ten minutes after Amber starts her swim in Florida, I will start my marathon in North Carolina. This will be my first time in Raleigh so I plan on exploring a bit on the days leading up to the race as well as getting together with Amber's Aunt Babe who lives a few hours from town. The race itself looks pretty hilly so I'm going to try to take it out conservatively again like in Knoxville, however, hopefully I won't cut it quite so close. We will see.

I can't tell if Amber's excited about the upcoming season