Redman Full Distance Triathlon - TriathlonFull Ironman

The swim felt great. Even though I'm slow to some in comparison, it's by far my favorite of the three disciplines. Honestly, I felt like I could've swam all day. My issue was my navigation. I believe this was the first time I've swam a triangular course and somewhere during the second loop I ended in the middle of the triangle. Burned a lot of time correcting what I had done wrong. Other than that, I had a good swim.

Maybe study the layout a little better and be conscious of what's going on.

Ran the abnormally long trail to T1. Reminded me a lot of Cornhusker State Games in Lincoln, but the Redman trail was longer. Once in T1, everybody was helpful. First time using wetsuit strippers and the foot bath was nice. Once in the tent, the guys were cool. They helped me unpack and repack. I had one guy spray suntan lotion on me, including my neck. He asked if I was sure, I told him to do it. It stung. Guess I didn't put enough body glide on my neck. FYI, I took my time at T1. Coming out of Transition and jumping on my bike, my family was cheering me on at the 'mount' line. Izzy and Ian were holding a sign that Makalah had made for me. They looked so cute, especially Izzy.

Put more Body Glide on my neck before the swim.

Realized once I jumped on my bike that my bike computer wasn't working. I just needed to sync it up, but didn't feel like stopping to do so. I'll go by feel for this one.

Anyway, there were two things that I couldn't believe: 1) How much vehicle traffic we were riding with and 2) The road conditions. It seemed like the road was worse this year then in 2009 when I did the half.

First lap went good. Felt strong and kept up on hydration. Coming back in, I noticed the wind was picking up. Had a nice tailwind going back to the lake, but I had another lap to do. Knocked out the first lap at 3:03:25 (18.3 mph average).

I knew the second lap would be difficult. I stopped at the Bike Special Needs Aid Station and hung out for 15-20 minutes. Ate a Snickers bar (bad idea), went to the Johnny on the Spot, drank water, filled up the bottles, and took off. The second lap was difficult like I expected. Had nice headwinds, got hot, and my stomach began hurting.

Not stop for so long and not eat that Snickers bar. Maybe next time eat some pizza or something. Also, take blister band aids on the bike with me. Both of my big toes began hurting around 80 miles and I had nothing to help them.

Dont remember much, except I took my time trying to recoop from the ride and put band aids on my two big toes.

Nothing.

This is where everthing fell apart and then came back together for me. Let me start by saying I had specific goals in mind for this race: 1) 17.1 mph aveage on bike (averaged that on my 1st half here at Redman), 2) Run all but 3 miles (last year in Ironman Louisville I walked all but 3 miles), and 3) Have a Overall Time of sub 14 hours. As you can see, I did not hit any of thos goals. However, God had something bigger and better for me.

Beginning on the first lap of my run, I had a run/walk/shuffle going on. My legs felt great, but my stomach was having issues. I would run for a bit and my stomach would be upset. Beginning my second lap, I felt horrible. Tried eating and drinking different things, but nothing seemed to work. Seeing my whole family and friends (17 people in all) temporarily made me feel better, but things were rough. After seeing them, I dry heeved a couple times. I knew things needed to change or it would be a DNF for me.

After the dry heeves on that second lap, I made the decision to walk until I felt better. I also spotted out some Saltine Crackers at one of the Aid Stations. What do you give an upset stomach? Crackers. From then on, every Aid Station it was crackers and water please!!!

Anyway, the whole second lap was me dealing with my upset stomach and my failing at hitting any of my goals. I thought about all the time and family time I sacrificed to not hit any of MY goals. I thought about the mileage, amount of money, and the time everyone spent to watch me do Redman and not hit MY goals.

Why do I race? If you were to ask me that, I'd superficially say, "For Jesus". Really? Is that the truth? If I honestly got to my core motivation, I'd say thats a huge lie. Sure, I like to race, compete, meet new people, and give Jesus a little recognition. But that isn't what spurs me on. If I was honest, I'd say I race to: impress and be proud/conceited. A big head might you say. Superficially, I'd tell you my priorities are: God, family, work, music, and then triathlon. Realistically, my priorities are backwards and shuffled around.

During this second lap, I was dealing with these issues on top of my stomach issues.

During the third lap, I was feeling much better and ran most of it. Makalah even ran about 1/2 mile with me. She's 12 and has already done 3 triathlons. If she keeps this up, she's going to smoke her old man. I remember Ian throwing Glow in the dark necklaces at me as I cruised by. What a stinker.

Anyway, my last and final lap the stomach issues came back. That was fine with me. Gave me a chance to walk the final 6.5ish miles in the dark and reflect on everything again: my messed up priorities, my walk with God, my relationships with others. This was definately a God moment. The goals and accomplishments meant nothing to me. My God, my family, and my friends meant and means everything to me. I thanked everybody at the Aid Stations for their help. I tried encouraging the other athletes still on the course. I kept thinking about the "Gift of the Goose" and sharing that. If you've read "Gung Ho", you know exactly what I'm talking about. At the Athlete Parking area, I stopped and shook hands with the 2 volunteers who were directing traffic. They were cool and full of encouragement. At mile 25, I took that time to pray a 'Thank You' prayer. Made a conscious effort to not ask God for anything, but just wanted to thank him for everything.

With approx. 1/2 mile to go, I began running again. The place where my family and friends were camped up at was deserted (I knew where they were). I ran down the Finishers Chute high-fiving everybody I could and hooping and hollering. This Finish was for them. They endured the whole day for this moment. I wanted to deliver instead of being a bore while finishing.

Absolutely nothing. This was a God moment. We may have plans, but He guides our steps.

Chocolate milk, bagels, water, talked with family and friends and got the gear. Dina wanted to get back to prepare for her race in the morning.


At this point, I'm not worried about it. It was a God moment.


Race was good. Didn't like the road conditions and traffic control. Volunteers were awesome and the informal Q & A sessions on Facebook were excellent.