LongHorn Triathlon Festival - Half Iron - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I haven't been in a full ironman yet, but I think this was close to how it's going to be with all the contact.

Coming up the beach to a faux turf running surface, they had some gatorade and water handouts. I never heard them say "water" until I was nearly past them...put the brakes on and both feel slipped out from under me and THUMP..."down goes Frazier!" The collective (and in unison I might add) OOHHHH from the crowd was hilarious. I quickly got up, GOT THE WATER and said something to the crowd about their in reaction.

not stop so quickly for a measily 1/2 full cup of water when I have a topped off aero bottle waiting for me 30 seconds from then. Ok, maybe stop slower as to not fall...drink the water...and then proceed to said bike rack.

the bike was great for the first 50 miles. Then "it" happened. I was at the last aide station and decided that I wanted a powerade rather than water (the previous 3 aide stations, I got just water). So going about 23 - 24 miles per hour...I looked behind me to see if anyone was there...and then without slowing down much (hindsight tells me I should have) I pointed at one of the pre-teen (ok, maybe a young teenaged girl) holding (not balancing, but literally holding) a sportdrink. I grabbed it, she didn't let go right way, I wobbled for a good 30 feet left and right, left and right..left and SPLAT. "down goes Frazier!". Only, this time it wasn't so funny. I landed squarely on my left hip...followed close behind was my head..then my shoulder, then my elbow and finally my knee. It is a very strange feeling to be experiencing this first hand. 1) Knowing you are about to fall at a fairly high rate of speed is not a good feeling
2) Knowing it's going to hurt (ALOT) is a sickening feeling
3) FEELING the pain as you slide....hurts
4) SEEING the pavement from a bugs view is weird.
5) WONDERING when you are going to stop moving so that the thought of "I'm sliding and it hurts and am I ever going to stop sliding" is not fun.

After the slide, I immediately got up (so as not to be ran over or cause any other cyclists from crashing) and began to scream. Initially it was anger directed at the girl that "handed me" the sportdrink. Then the anger turn towards myself for going 1) choosing someone that was not holding out the drink properly 2) not slowing down to a safe speed to snag the drink without losing balance. I had been avg. close to 21 mph up until that point of the bike segment. I inspected the bike...fixed the front derailer guide and put the chain back on (one handed because my left one wanted no part in moving at this point). Got on the bike and started going again. NOT that I wanted any assistance, but absolutely no one asked if I was all right or if I needed any medical assistance (I was clearly in pain and clearly injured). But these are volunteers delivering drinks, not educated medical personnel. Still, that stuck with me a bit. FINALLY made it to T2...and guess what? Being injured as I was, I still tried to do the flying dismount (it's all I know how to do ..lol) and got my right foot out, but not the left. Came to a stop...fell over on my left side...my left shoe, thankfully, released just before I fell on my side (again)...and someone asked if I need help. I angrily said "I got it"...I feel bad about that. so, off I hobbled to my rack. Left shoe still on...barefoot on the right. As I mentioned, up until mile 50, I was having my best ride. Still finished in a respectable 2:53:50.

Obvious answer. No need to re-state it.

Oh boy. Frustrated that I crashed, angry that I got hurt 49 days before IMAZ...Realizing that my left sunglass shade was missing...hmmm...changing into running shoes for a 13.1 mile run while injured...hmmm...yeah, I was definately phych'ed for this! lol.

dismount the conventional way when injured.

My goal of 9:30 pace went out the window when I went off the bike at 23 - 24 miles per hour. My new goal was - FINISH. I could have DNF'd and chalked it up to "oh well"...but where's the glory in that. To finish, after such a painfull experience - made the medal even that much more deserving (to me anyway). I wasn't sure about my medical condition (aside from the obvious road rash) but if I was able to walk...then I could finish. I stopped at least 1/2 a dozen times to shed a tear of pain and regroup. I did stop at every aide station and squeeze the sponges on my wounds to try to prevent infection as best I could. With all the dust and sweat..I figured that it would at least help to keep it somewhat clean. My hip was in major pain. Shoulder was 2nd, followed closely behind was my elbow. From my vantage point, I could have sworn that my bone was sticking through! ha ha. Quadzilla was fun. Both times. My fiance jogged/walked up it with me (from outside the chain link fence) and gave me encouragement my first time up. She gave me a huge boost of confidence that I could finish (she knew I wasn't going to DNF despite the obvious injuries). Yeah, I cried. Yeah, I was hurting. But I got through it due to my fiance's sweet words (and a kiss at the top of Quadzilla through the fence..ha ha) and back on the course - John Clayton helped push me from mile 12 to mile 13 (9:30 pace) - and then once I explained to him that he might break 6:30, but I would not because I was in wave 4, not 7 and to push on, he left me in the dust (literally). Unfortuantely, I might have cost him his 6:30 goal time because he wound up with a 6:31 finishing time (sorry John).

Begin the run injury free.

Cold towel, finishers medal, banana, medical.

We walked over to the BT tent and talked briefly. I wanted to stay till 6 (initial plan), but given the days events, I set a new goal of "let's get the F back to Dallas and let me go get x-rays!. HA HA. Angie drove back (I was in no shape to drive) and did a marvelous job. We even stopped at DQ for an icecream. Chocolate Xtreme blizzard (wow, those are good!) and we stopped off at McDonalds (sounded good, but didn't taste as good as it sounded. lol) Got home, Angie, Chris and Andrea brought in the gear and then Angie and I went to the hospical for me to get checked out. Thanksfully, no broken bones. Just lots of road rash, hematoma's and pain. decided to skip work today. Knowing that pain would be worse today (and it is). Hopefully, in a few days, I can try riding and running. No swimming for now. Got to let the scraps heal up a bit. My hip has a bruise the size of a grapefruit on it and it sticks out a good inch outward (swelling). I've kept ice on it all night and today.


Crashing on the bike probably. DUH! :-)




Considering my two "falls" both were related to obtaining drinks from volunteers, I'd suggest a bit more instructions be given to those folks. I understand that they are not paid for their services; however, I'm not paying to receive untrained personnel hand me liquid. I take some blame for both falls. Both falls would have been prevented had the volunteers a) spoken up and informed me what they had b) held the bottle properly so that the handup was a bit more smooth. A better system for shuttling BOTH atheletes and spectators to the race site is probably in order. Gary Goode (yes, I'm mention him by name) walked up and into a line and went straight onto a bus. We had been waiting a good 30 minutes...and STILL waited another 10 before we were allowed on. The person in charge of deciding which lane goes first obviously didn't have a clear plan. Kudo's to you Gary. You picked the right line. :-)