Muncie Endurathon

I just got home from doing 10 of the run course.  It is your basic country road with rollers (not flat, but not killer).  Parts of it will be shady.  Not sure if it will be totally closed to traffic or not, but there is a bit of a slope or crest to the road which made my foot ache (not running on a flat plane).  I think there are usually a lot of aid stations (I did the swim and the bike last year, so this will be my first time to do the run).

The bike is north on the Greenway (very nice), south on state road 35, west on state road 36 (very windy last year), turnaround and get a tail wind going east, back north on the state road 35, then you turn off and loop around the north and east side of the reservoir.....the east side of the reservoir is really bumpy because they sealed cracks in the road with drizzled tar....it actually vibrated my computer loose last year.  Give all your screws a tighten before the race.

The swim was a very nice and clean three sided box type route.  Once you turn the last bouy, you are looking directly into the sun and can't see anything but sun.  I swam a good 5 minutes off course, not realizing that I should just swim TOWARDS the sun.  There is a huge inflatable dancing neon guy (like they have at car lots), but you can't see him until you're pretty close to shore.  It was swimsuit legal last year.  The beach and swim area is actually still closed, so I have not swam out there this year (financial issues, there's nothing wrong with the water quality)

The run from the end of the swim to transition is a little far, but not bad - not as far as Chicago, if you've done that one.

Just so you are aware, packet pick-up is in downtown Muncie and the reservoir is not at all close to downtown.  If you're staying at a hotel, factor in drive time Saturday morning - and the traffic was heavy getting in Saturday morning.

Does anybody recall if the transition racks are numbered or is it a free for all to get a transition spot?  Thanks.

Matt

OK, so this is a good day because I just took my bike to a bike mechanic and showed him my back wheel / tire.  I should back up......I had a great swim.  Even though there was a lot of chop and LIGHTENING, I took 6 minutes off my swim time from last year!  I got on my bike and immediately thought there was something wrong.  I stopped and got off and felt the back tire because I thought it was going flat, but no, it was firm and hard.  I got back on and 30 seconds later...BAM...a blow out.  I got off, took the wheel and tire off and put on the new tube.  I, and I know this violates the "nothing new on race day policy", used my frame pump to put a little air in and managed to rip the end of the valve stem off so it would not hold air.  Usually, I have two tubes, but I took my saddle bag off and just took one tube in a water bottle.  I thought that maybe I could patch the first tube, but there was a three inch split in it.  I was out of the race and it was only 8:10 a.m.!!!!  So, I gathered up my bike parts and started walking barefoot in the pouring rain.

How is this a good day?  Well, I assumed the blow out was my fault and I must have over inflated my tire in the dark earlier that morning.  BUT, I showed my wheel to the mechanic and, without telling him I assumed I caused it, he found exposed threads in the bead of the tire and said, "Oh, this caused your blow out"  YES!  It wasn't my fault!  I was NOT a happy camper having to accept and swallow a DNF and especially 4.5 miles into the bike leg....I felt like I didn't even get a chance to get started, but he said without a doubt that it was tire failure.  I will, however, accept the reality that I was ill prepared for a flat and changed my mode of operation on race day - a big "no no".

I did run 13.4 miles yesterday and, now that I am confident I probably won't flat again today, I am headed out for a ride. (I bought much better quality tires).

I have refocused my training and am planning on the Great Buckeye Challenge in August (HIM).  I would love to do Steelhead, but that race is the day that band camp ends and I am always wiped out after band camp.

Not sure if I will wear the Endurathon shirt since it was a DNF, but I feel better about it now that I know it really was mechanical failure.  Maybe that shouldn't matter, but it does.