“What in the hell am I doing here?” I said that once at mile
20 on the run…
Bar none having the love and support of Alley was the main
reason I even got to the starting line. The crew each athlete must have is just
overwhelming to think about. For myself I had: My brother Lynn looking out for
our pups and kitty. Miia, Ryan, Nina, and John also taking the pups out while
we were gone. JRA, the bike shop down the street, rushing to getting Jerry Lee
in top road shape. The TN Support Crew (25+). Coach Mark and all the people
online and at work.
The day sets up as one long ass training day in my mind. The
whole thing is just too much to swallow beforehand as a race. I keep referring
to “as before” and this was nothing like 2010.
Josh and I got dropped off just after 5AM and headed to bag
drop and body marking. Alley was doing body marking so that was great to see
her, calm the nerves a bit and get marked. Settled up the bike then got in the
line for the bathrooms. Right on plan.
Met up with a few TN folks and sort of just hung out
shooting the shit for 20-25 minutes. The usual random nervous conversation and
watching the two bathroom lines grow to about 100yards each from different
directions. Oh, and there’s Rebecca , just whizzing in front of us all,
understandable. Ah, the comfort of being around teammates!
Goal Swim Time: 1:15
The swim is the warm up, extra training this year so as not
to be faster , but to feel fresher coming out. I jumped in and started out
right away instead of waiting like before. I found a good group and just stayed
steady. I told myself “easy, steady, sight”. I stayed on feet for the majority
and only had to bridge a gap once at about the 2 mile mark. Not bad at all. I
told Mark if I swim faster than 1:15 I’ve spent too much. If I take longer than
1:18 I’ve used too much.
Swim Time: 1:16 – Sweet
T1 – Coming out of the water Alley was a stripper and I got
to have her take my wet suit off then get in a giant smooch before I headed
off. When I reached my bike (Jerry Lee) I grabbed the seat and felt a little
give so I had to fish out my multi-tool and tighten up the seat. Added a bit to
T1, but better safe than sorry.
Goal Bike Time: 6:30
2 minutes on the bike and I hear from behind me “Another
training ride today huh?” It was Eric L., we’d done maybe 5 long weekend rides
together and we were starting another! I was happy as hell to see him. I’d been
telling myself seconds before “just another weekend training ride, nothing to
be afraid of”. Eric’s a strong rider and I knew he’s be up the road soon
enough, but it was great to start with him.
My goal was to make Richter Pass in 2 hours’ time, it’s too
easy to overcook the first 40 miles, so it’s about being slow and steady. There’s
a little kicker at about mile 35 and everyone around was huffing up and I was
just talking out loud to myself to check my breathing. Steady, clear,
controlled, no worries. Ed Wong found me on the approach to Richter and said I
looked strong. I laughed a bit and told him. “Patience, it’s all about
patience.”
Hit Richter at 1:57. After
that it was just looking at the Garmin for: Top of the hour,:15, :30, :45, top
of the hour, for nutrition. After Richter I knew the work of the day would
start. My thought has always been, ‘You have to work a bit to work less’, that
was the case through the rollers. Small bursts in the right spots makes you do
a lot less work.
I hit Becks
road, which is the turn off to the out
and back, I’ve suffered here plenty and this is where the wheels have come off
the bike 2 of the last 3 times I’ve hit this part of the course. However, this
time before entering I told myself ‘easy out, hurry back’, it’s a false flat on
the way out. I didn’t stop at Special Needs, just grabbed my bag and kept
rolling. Instead of getting beat down by the Out and Back I took and used the
energy I got from seeing a bunch of teammates in this area. I saw Eric, Josh,
Travis, Aimee, Derek, Joey, and Rebecca. When any doubt came to mind I quickly
reminded myself that this was the 4th time this year of going over a
100 and that this was JUST an 85 mile bike ride up to this point.
I felt energized and
ready to take on Yellow Lake.
Hitting Yellow Lake with the light of the day fully changed
to afternoon sun was really the first time I looked at my watch to see how long
I’d been on the bike. Roughly 5 hours ~interesting.
I saw Paul and Vicki at the base of Yellow Lake and that was
a great boost. I felt odd, plenty of energy, but a bit afraid to use it, so I
ignored the urge to race up the last bit and held steady. Just before the last
downhill I heard the person next to me blow a snot rocket and turned to see
that it was Rebecca again. I yelled to her, ‘that sounds like a great idea’ and
unloaded myself, side to side.
Just after this two things happened. The first was my
stomach started to let me know that it was about to start revolting. That was
expected I suppose. The 2nd was I got hit in the right eye by
whatever blowing by. Seriously…on the last set of down hills…. with the wind
and everything going on I totally lost my right contact. Crap! *Thinks a while
while hitting 40 mph on the bike……. Oh well. Don’t panic, stay in this.
Hitting the team tent on the last miles of the bike was a
huge relief, just seeing the familiar faces again and hearing the cheers.
Seeing Alley again! As I hopped off the bike my first thought was, one full
season without a mishap.
No accidents, falls or flats! ~ Amazing
That was quickly followed up by the realization that I
forgot to take my feet out of the shoes before I stopped so I’d have to run
through T2 with my bike shoes on.
I never looked or noticed my bike time until after the race
when Mark told me what it was.
Bike Time: 6:09 – Unbelievable! Never limit your
expectations of yourself!
T2 – Had to wash out my eye, took a bit longer than I
wanted.
Run Goal Time: 4:30-just finish
My mantra for the run was ‘slow, slow, slow’ I HAD to keep
9:30-10 minute pace to make it to mile 8. Then I felt like I could go to
9:30-9:15 until mile 16 where I’d see what needed to happen. I had a handheld
water bottle that I ran with. I was afraid of overheating on the run so my plan
was to fill it with water and pour over myself to keep cool. It took 2 aid
stations to get it down, but it was like clockwork after that: run to the last
table at a station with the lid off and dump 3 water cups and one ice down and
off I’d go. I’d pour over my head every 20 seconds and along neck and arms,
roughly every 4 minutes I’d throw a shot down the shorts. Then the next aid
station would pop up. Repeat.
It was interesting,
the body ticked right along at 9:35 pace. Kept looking at the Garmin and seeing
9:35, kept thinking, right where I want to be. The plan was coming together. I
hit mile 4 and my stomach started to ache. Don’t think about it, just keep
moving. Went through Gu’s as planned, miles 4, 8, 12, then I realized they only
had Power Bar gels on course and not Gu’s like they said. Hmmm. Not a big deal…
I hit the turn around and mentally didn’t want to think that
it was the halfway point. I just wanted to get in and get back out. I grabbed
my special needs bag, which only had a pain relief patch and a little zip lock
bag w/ 4 ibuprofen in it. Also, Alley had put a note in there for me so I
grabbed that and figured I’d read it on the steeper part of the run that I knew
I’d have to walk around mile 15 or so.
First up was getting out of the turn around, I headed up the
hill and suddenly my head fell forward and my legs stopped. I grabbed for my
knees, but it was too late and I ended up on my knees feeling like I was back
in the swim. I couldn’t concentrate to answer the woman’s questions that had
grabbed me and was talking from what sounded like 40 feet away. All I could
think was how far away from the finish I was now. Her last question was ‘Do I
know what day it was?’ and that made me laugh and I pushed away from her and started
walking and told her, ‘ I’ve know what day it’s been for 2 years’, and walked
off.
It was like sleep walking up and out of the turn around and
at the top I started to run and all the clarity came back. Think it was a blood
pressure thing. Pace – 9:35 back on track
I grabbed Alley’s note and read it at the base of the steep
hill that I picked out at about mile 15-16. I made it through most of it and
started to cry as I read the last sentence “bring it all together and come on
back to town. YOU’VE GOT THIS THING!” I had the overwhelming urge to run and
told myself “Let’s get the hell out of here and back to her” I picked back up
and was running back at 9:15 pace and it felt comfortable.
At mile 18 my stomach started to really kick in revolt, the
second I took in anything other than water it would explode with sharp pain. At
18 I looked for the Gu that was supposed to be on course and didn’t find any,
all they had was Power Bar so I grabbed one and took half and it all came back
up, yuck. I waited about a minute and tried again and the same thing, back up
on to the road. Crap! OK, new plan, Perform, Grapes, Banana’s, water. Had to
hold out for coke until mile 20.
I was running scared because I’ve hit the wall in marathons
with little or no warning and at 20 I hadn’t had a GU since mile 12 and very
little Perform because it just wouldn’t stay down. I had long conversation with
friends, pictured the dogs running at the park, thought about hard training
runs, and really thought about the work I was doing. Repeating to myself, ‘this
is easy, this is all the work you’re doing, this isn’t hard.’ I was running at
9:30’s, but would force myself to walk for about 30-45 seconds each mile just
to conserve energy.
Then at mile 20 I spit up the last Perform and water and
knew the cracks were starting in the mental game. My hip started bugging me and
I thought “What the hell am I doing here?” Saying that out loud was like
flipping a switch. I told myself “You are fucking rocking it, that’s WHAT
you’re doing!, You have the love and support of everyone that knows you! Get.
Your. Ass. Moving!” From that point on I just knew if I could split the
difference and made it to mile 23 I’d make it.
Pace 9:15
I saw the aid station at 22 and laughed out loud as I told
myself “You’re a runner that’s been holding 9:30 ave. GO!” I looked at 7:35 on
my Garmin, hit the next aid station and saw 8:15. I ran through Main St. where
I totally broke down and cried last time because of totally different reasons.
I could see the turn off to the left and I knew that Alley and the team would
be right around the corner. The sheer joy of seeing them, I ran faster, 7:50
pace. I saw Mark 1st, then Teresa and Alley was a few steps pass
them. HOME - I felt nothing crossing the
line, completely carried by the crowd.
Run Time: 4:46
Goal Finish Time: 12:45
Finish Time: 12:25:58
I’ve told people that the whole day goes by so fast. As long
as it is you can’t hold on to any part of it long enough to really get that
since of time passing. 2012 was an amazing experience, so many things came
together. I wanted to be one of those teammates that said afterwards “Thanks
Coach, I trusted my training and trusted our plan and it totally worked.” And I
was so very lucky to be one of them.
Again I have to thank Alley for really making all of this
possible. Without her love and support this would have always been a ‘Some day’
item on a list that would never see the light of day. Also, thanks to Lynn for
making sure the Muttlys and Leia were taken care so both Alley and I could rest
easy knowing that they were safe. And to my training Peeps at TN Multisports.
Teresa, you and Mark have put together an amazing family of support that
guides, pushes, and reveals everyone’s dreams and possibilities.
Thanks Coach, I trusted my training and trusted our plan and
it totally worked.
