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 Swim
Comments: I thought there were too many buoys out there. The current had everyone swimming all over the place so within a few strokes, I was already off course. When I looked up to site, there was 3 different buoys to choose from. I was all over the place, so my time was really bad. I swam well, saved my energy and never felt strained or panicked. I just couldn't keep a straight line to save my life. About 500 yards from the finish, some @**hat kicked me in the face HARD (I say he's an @**hat because he kicked me, turned and looked right at me saw that I was holding my face and he turned around to keep swimming, leaving me there in a complete panic). I checked my goggles which were in tact, my eye, and my nose, none of which were bleeding. I managed to catch my breath and calm down enough to put my face back in the water to keep swimming. Once I got going again I had this rage come over me and I went after the guy that kicked me. Not sure what I would have done if I caught him, but I can't remember a time in my life where I've been that mad. It was weird. I still have a really nice bruise on my forehead from his foot. Thanks for the souvenir, @**hat. What would you do differently?: I really needed to site better, although I am not sure how I could have done that. More OWS practice in choppy water.  Transition 1
Comments: T1 volunteer was awesome. She had me off on my bike pretty quickly! What would you do differently?: Nada  Bike
Comments: I have no idea what happened here. I did 6 centuries going into this and was really well-prepared. I know my fitness fell of because I got sick, but there is no way I lost this much. My hip flexors flared up at the half way point and it destroyed my ride. I've never hurt so badly on a bike ride before. I had to stop several times to stretch... and after I did I was fine for about 10 minutes. Then it would start all over again. I paced really well, nutrition was spot on but still screwed the pooch. What would you do differently?: Don't get sick a month before the race so you can keep riding. Transition 2
Comments: Second verse, same as the first. I told the volunteer that took my bike he could have it. ;)  Run
Comments: I know my fitness was good because I rocked the first 9 miles of this run and I could have kept my pace easily. Then my stomach flared up (same thing I've been dealing with for a month) and I couldn't eat or drink anything. I got so dizzy and nauseous it took everything I had to move forward. I walked for about 8-9 miles since running just made everything start to spin. I finally got a gel down and that seemed to be enough to bounce me back to life. A few more aid stations and I felt great again. I ran most of the rest of the way, but by then, my race was pretty shot. Already 2 hours over my goal time, I ran the last 3 miles telling myself that it didn't matter. Ultimately it didn't, because when I got to the finish line, Jon was waiting for me to give me my finishers medal. Crossing the finish line put an end to the worst year of my life. Post race
Warm down: Sat on my butt and made more inappropriate jokes with Trish, Ranger Dave, Trix and Jon. It was awesome. :) What limited your ability to perform faster: Being sick, having to take the last month before the race "off". Event comments: Since its been a few days since the race, I've had time to digest the fact that I didn't put up the performance I know that I am capable of. But who cares? This race put to rest all of the crap that I've had to go through over the last several years. Divorce, moving to 3 different states, getting laid off twice, cancer scare #2... its all over. I've finally been able to get my life in order so that I can do the one thing that's been on my list for 3 years. There wasn't anything that would have kept me from toeing that line. I can't say enough good things about this race!!! Everything was perfectly excuted (although I could have done with less buoys on the swim). The little touches made this race so awesome. Running through the finishers banner was so great! And last, but not least, a big fat thank you to Jon for being the best sherpa EVER. He spent the entire summer giving up his weekends to ride with me or wait for me, listen to me bitch, cry, whine, moan, etc. He got up at dumb:thirty on mornings he didn't have to in order to ride with me. The boy deserves a medal a lot more than I do. Last updated: 2010-09-14 12:00 AM
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United States
Revolution3
70F / 21C
Overcast
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My iron adventure started on Thursday night when Jon (wavedog) came to pick me up at my office. We were all packed up, excited and ready to go! We got to Akron super late and stayed near the airport since it was an hour and a half to Sandusky.
We woke up the next morning, packed up, and drove to the race site for packet pick-up. The volunteers were awesome and this venue is unreal... a rollercoaster park?!? F'real?? I got my packet but in my inifinite stupidity I forgot my chip... kind of a vital thing for a race, no? After we checked out the expo, we headed over to TGIFridays for some grub where we met up with trixie. We laughed and made inappropriate jokes just like old times. The TGIFridays pasta put me in a food coma a quick nap was in order before we hit the ROLLERCOASTERS!!!!! The rest of the evening we spent at the park but I didn't ride too many since it really irritated my stomach... I still had fun watching trixie and Jon scream like little girls.
The next morning Jon and I went to the shore to do a practice swim. We get there and there is 6' swells on the lake. Oh well... suck it up and swim. We swam for about 20 minutes and I had a blast launching myself off the top of the waves, dolphin-style. I did some body surfing on the way back in. It was AWESOME (but obviously not going to make a fast swim time). Later that day, we met up with the BT Michigan crew who just happen to be the most fun group of people you will meet anywhere... Coop, Kimm, Kathleen, trix, Jackie, all of my favorite pals. So in true BTMI style, we dropped our pants and held our own underwear run in the parking lot of Breakers. We managed to draw quite an audience in the short amount of time we were sans pants... but we are quite the sexy group. :)
Bike check-in was much less eventful since by this time, I had put my pants back on.
Since my little stomach issue doesn't allow me to eat pasta sauce, the pasta dinner was pretty much out, so trix, Jon and I made plans to go to a hibachi grill in the next town over. The hostess sits us at a table of 5 people whom were all well into their alcholic beverages by this point. They look at trix and I and say, "Are you sure you guys want to sit here? We are kind of crude." I reply with, "Heh. Do you know who you're talking to?" Trixie then makes a comment regarding the placement of the straw on the buddha drinks they were sucking down... they laugh and so the evening began. The hibachi chefs were awesome and hilarious... playing off of each other in the restaurant. Ours threw chunks of chicken at us to catch, but had extra fun trying to throw a piece down the shirt of the super drunk chick next to trix. After 4-5 pieces she still hadn't caught on... good times were had by all. After a couple hours, a fantastic hibachi dinner, and several bottles of sake passed around the other side of the table we had to get back to the hotel to get some sleep.
Race morning, the alarm went off at 4. I took a quick shower (to help wake me up), chowed my crappy bagel, downed my Ensure, and headed off to the race site. I managed to track down a chip, but it never made it to my name (which is my own darn fault). After some down time, chatting with some of the BTers, it was time to go.
Put my wetsuit on. That's warm-up enough.