This race was a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and a 13.1 mile run. It had two different transition areas that were separated by about a mile and a half and you had to park and take a shuttle to the start of the race. I dropped my bike off the day before when I picked up my race packet. One of the first things I noticed at packet pickup was, unlike any other race I had ever done before, the athletes at this race were really fit. It wasn't that is was intimidating, it was more like when I saw everyone it put what I was about to undertake in perspective.
The morning of the race I woke up, packed my transition bags, and headed out hoping to arrive by 6:30. I didn't plan ahead for race morning traffic and there was also a wreck on the road leading into the park. I didn't get on the shuttle bus until 7:30. Transition closed at 7:30. The pros were in the water before our bus arrived and they closed more roads leading to the start of the race to get the bike course ready. I was quietly freaking out while I was on the shuttle thinking that I would miss my race. If only they would let me drop my bag in transition I would be fine. Oh and I still needed to air up my tires before I could ride.
The event staff let us in very quickly to drop bags and I convinced someone to let me air up my tires. Whew!!! I was in. Now I could calm down and try to mentally prepare for the race. Not an ideal way to start the day.
The wave start was not the normal order. Instead of the men youngest to oldest, then women oldest to youngest it was all mixed in. I thought it to be more fair. My wave was called and I slipped into to the water with the uneasy feeling that it was going to be a long day, a very long day. That horn blared and I was off. My plan was simple: Go Slow. If I wanted to surge ahead because I was feeling good I vowed to pull it back and save my energy for the run. I swam easy and as relaxed as I could. It was very crowded for the first half of the swim, but it finally thinned out enough for some elbow room. I forgot to put body glide on my neck and paid for it with the painful feeling of my wetsuits Velcro and zipper rubbing against the skin. It was so annoying. I am not sure if there was a current but I definitely felt like I kept veering to the right on the way back to shore.
I found my bike, put on helmet, shoes, bib, sunglasses, packed my wetsuit and goggles into a bag and was gone. As I was jogging towards the exit I saw volunteers lining the wall wearing plastic gloves and asking us if we wanted sunscreen. I said on my arms please and then kept going. I made it to bike exit and proceeded to mount my bike. I do not know what I was thinking but I was trying to mount my bike completely wrong. I had my left leg crossed over my right and I was trying to clip in with the pedal straight in the air. It felt wrong and a spectator was standing right there to give me some sage advice. He said, "No Dude. Not Like that. Swing your leg around first." It was a little embarrassing but I was glad for the help. Everything was happening so fast.
I normally have a fast ride. I tend to push the pace because cycling is my strongest of the three sports. However I wanted to have a good run after the bike so I held back my pace for the majority of the ride. I definitely felt like I was getting passed a lot, but I convinced myself to hold back. I did not want to walk any portion of the run and I had nearly three hours of cycling ahead of me.
The ride was really fun. There was a ton of action right out of the gate. Riders were lining the road with flat tires at the very start of the ride. I felt bad for them but I was sure glad I had deflated my tires the night before. After a mile into the ride it got a little less crowded. This is when I heard a loud pop followed by a short hissing. Thankfully it wasn't me. It was a guy about 30 feet ahead of me. He was so mad he picked up his very expensive tri bike and threw it to the side of the road. Type A personality?
An exciting feature of the bike course were the water stops. You slow down and snatch water bottles and Gatorade out of the hands of volunteers. It can get a little dicey with a bunch of cyclists rapidly converging on a group of people and I saw a few slow speed accidents but was fortunate enough to avoid them. When you grab a bottle you are doing it at speed so the volunteer will swing their arm in the direction you are riding to make it a smoother transition. On one of the stops the girl passing up the water bottle must not have been paying attention because it felt like I took her arm off when I grabbed it. At my second stop I was already low on fluids so when I grabbed the Gatorade bottle and put it in the cage I was very disappointed to hear it crash to the ground when it immediately fell out. Oh well.
At about mile thirty I was cruising along and I heard a distinct "Clang" noise like you hear in old WWII movies when someone throws a grenade. The rider directly in front of me had lost his double water bottle carrier that was under his seat. Instead of a grenade exploding it was his water bottles popping open right in front of my wheels. I was down in the aero position and didn't have time to slam on the brakes. All I could do was lean a little to the left and hope I missed the falling bottles. It all seemed to happen in slow motion. I made it by without crashing and when I passed the rider he looked at me with these huge eyes and he said sorry in some language I can't remember. I laughed and said, "That was awesome!"
Some riders weren't so lucky. Just before mile 40 I came around a corner and I heard everyone yelling to stay on the left. There had just been a pretty big bike pile up of at least five or six bikes, maybe more. A couple of the riders were still lying on the pavement. I looked over and I saw one guy on his back and another rider holding his head in place to prevent any possible neck or spine injury. It was a surreal moment and as I was riding by I thought did that just really happen. I wanted to stop and help but it looked like volunteers were already on the scene so I just pressed on.
After passing the accident I was ready to get off the bike and start running, so I picked up the pace significantly and finally passed all of the other riders who I had been leap frogging for the past 40 miles. It was around this point in the race that cars were apparently part of the equation. Traffic in both directions was allowed on the course. Once again my NYC bike messenger days gave me a little edge on the bike course. I have no problem splitting cars and riding down the center line of the road to pass traffic. I think other riders might have been a little hesitant but not me. I just sailed on through traffic for a few miles. I finished the ride feeling really good and had no problem this time unclipping out of my pedals.
The second transition area just had our run bags hanging on bike racks so we had to run through the racks and find our bib numbers. I had trouble racking my bike because the two other bikes surrounding my spot were too close and I didn't want to go all the way down the aisle to hang my bike from the seat. I yelled for a race official to help but there wasn't a soul around. We aren't allowed to touch another competitors bike so the only thing I could think of was to just hang my bike on top of the other two. I slipped on my running shoes, wiped my face off with a towel and headed out for a 13.1 mile run. Woohoo!
The run actually felt pretty good. I eased into it and my goal was somewhere near a 9 minute mile pace. After the first two miles I realized I was at an 8:30 minute mile pace. I knew I couldn't keep that up for too long so I eased back to 9 minutes per mile for a while. The run course was a 2 loop course from the Travis County Expo center out to Decker Lake through an off road cross country course that included a monster of a hill appropriately named Quadzilla. At the top of the hill there was a race announcers calling out peoples names and encouraging them up the hill with pep talks and music. I kind of liked it. After Quadzilla the course gets a little easier as you cruise downhill for a while. The water stops on the run course were staffed by volunteers in costumes. The best of these water stops was staffed by my old roommates running group, Rogue Running's famous Riff Raff. It was a mental boost to see Steve, Kelly and LP. They were dressed like Cowboys and Indians. Steve had a big feathered headdress and a drum and was going wild when I came upon them. I grabbed some Gatorade and he jogged by me for a while. I asked him how our friend Tanner was doing and he reported that he was looking real strong on the first loop. I headed out of the park and back to the expo center for loop number 2.
On the run back to the arena I passed Karen Smith, Tanner and my friend Craig. All three of them looked really strong. Then a spectator on a bicycle came riding by and he had music blaring from some sort of sound system attached to his bike. It was awesome. I paced him for a couple of miles and got through a couple of tough climbs with his help. I rounded the arena to start my second loop. This is where all of our friends and families were watching and cheering. The good news was we had people yelling for us and picking up our spirits. The bad news is we had one more loop to go.
Fatigue was starting to set in and my memory starts to get a little hazy after that. I remember running the second loop and it was very painful. I was running strong and didn't walk a single step. I even tackled Quadzilla a second time. I came through my friends water stop even more excited than the first time with just a couple of more miles to go. With about a quarter of a mile left I went for broke and sped up. As I rounded the last turn I broke out into a full on sprint. The race finished inside of the Expo Center and as I went in I lost the sun but still had my sunglasses on. I was a little worried about being blind but couldn't pull it together enough to take them off. All I could think of was to put one foot in front of the other as fast as I could and it would all be over soon and the glory of finishing would be mine. They called my name out as I crossed the finish line I raised my arm up in victory. I have to admit I felt really good.
I finished in 5:48 minutes. I swam 1.2 miles in 41:50. I rode 56 miles in 2:55. I ran 13.1 miles in 2:03. I had the time of my life. I loved it. 10 months of training, preparing and racing and I am finished. Thank you to my family who cheered me on and my brother Michael who raced with me. Thank you to Amy, Mark, and Karen for your coaching advice, support and use of some equipment. Congratulations and Thanks to my friends Tanner and Craig who raced with me and trained with me. Thank you everyone for reading this blog and supporting me on this journey.
Racing season is over so what's next you ask? Well there is a little marathon in Big Sur in May that looks nice. Of course after racing a Half-Ironman the next step is....a full one. Vineman 2011 here I come.
Now for a ridiculous picture of my dog Oskar:
