Last night, Meredith and I went down to one of our favorite cheap dinners: $4 burger night at a local Irish pub. Now that we're on a tighter budget with her quitting her job, we've got to look for those inexpensive ways to get out once in a while. There were a couple people ahead of us on the waiting list, so the hostess handed us one of those little things that buzz when your table is ready. We found a local paper on a bar shelf, and were reading it while we waited.
Fifteen minutes turned out to be more like two. Our pager never buzzed, but a woman came to show us to the table. She never asked for it, and I didn't see another hostess, so I just carried it with me to the table. After she laid down our menus, she turned around and said she'd be back for our drink orders in a second. I replied with, "Great, and I'll just give you this.", and held out the pager for her.
She jumped back.
I held it out again.
With a tinge of panic in her voice, she held up her hands and said "What is that thing?!"
Okay, now I was really getting confused! I held it out a third time and said, "Umm...it's our pager for the table."
Finally, she realized what was going on. It turned out that it was her first day working there, and in her defense, we were just talking last week about how much their pagers look like stun guns.
Pager:
Stun Gun:
She was (quite deservedly) teased mercilessly by both the staff and other patrons the entire time we were there. Afterward, she said she was ready to hand over all her tips when she saw it.
Hmm...
Maybe we have a way to make a little money on the side after all!
On Saturday, I was working on our photobooth, and had to go to Home Depot for some wood. I got my 1x2s, came home, did a couple test runs on scrap, and got ready for my real cuts.
I measured twice.
I cut once.
I put it all together, and it didn't fit. Why not? Because I apparently needed to do the math three times first.
So I had to take the walk of shame back to Home Depot. (Fortunately, it's maybe half a mile from our house)
Yes, you just saw me.
Yes, I'm buying more of what I just came in for 15 minutes ago.
*sigh*
I haven't done any training of significance since the race, but I think it's about time to get back in the saddle. My knees are feeling much better, I'm walking like a normal person again, and I'd like to find maybe one more race to do this summer. I'm thinking olympic distance, but haven't ruled out another half completely.
Or, "Charlie Brown vs. the Muncie Parks and Rec Department"
So this was it. The culmination of all those hours of training, all the hours in the pool, on the country roads, and around the neighborhood.
We rolled into Muncie around noon on Friday and checked into our hotel after lunch. I'm glad to report that there was no evidence of the "cat pee" report from TripAdvisor. We did, however, get a smoking room. As much as we wanted to light up the day before our race, we wanted more for our room to smell halfway decent. The solution? Our last coconut scented pine tree car air freshener! We hung it off the coat rack, and by Saturday our room smelled like coconut and smoke instead of just smoke.
By order, Meredith (and thus both of us) were to go down to the race site and get in a practice swim, bike, and run. With a little friendly talk, we were able to get into the beach area without paying the admission fee, and walked down to the start location. The only bad part? Only the normal swimming area was open, so our spandex clad warmup swim was in amongst the locals sunning on their inflatable rafts. I'm sure we got a few strange looks. We then got in a 20 minute bike ride down the start of the course, and decided to skip the run because we were starting to feel the sun and needed some water. In the evening, we got some pasta at Olive Garden among flocks of people with numbers on their arms, got our things ready, and got to bed early.
Race day started out fairly uneventfully. The water temperature was 80°, so no wetsuits for us for the first time. We took the back roads in, got all our gear set up, and were about to head back to the car when the director called a meeting in the transition area. The weather, he said, was going to be getting dicey ("special" was his word) in about three hours, and they were going to put the start waves only 3 minutes apart. That meant a quick trip to the car and back, and no time for me to warm up. By the time we got to the beach, the first wave was off, and my fourth wave was lining up. We said our goodbyes and good lucks, and I was down to the beach. This was the most nervous I've probably ever been before a race, both because of the length of the race itself, and the threat of the weather.
I placed myself near the back of my wave, and planned to stay wide at the turns. I still managed to take a kick straight to my goggles (fortunately, it was so direct that they didn't even move), and one to my side (which the other swimmer apologized for - unneeded, but appreciated). The course was a near-triangle, and most of the bumping was just in the first leg. It was also some pretty choppy water thanks to the wind. I took one big wave in the face, which caused the only time I had to flip over and cough it out for a few seconds.
On the middle leg, the wind was at our back, and because I swung wide, I had a really nice clean swim. I really felt like I was moving well here. Because it was such a long stretch, you couldn't see the next buoy at first, so I sighted off the boats that were lined up along the course. I apparently did a really good job of sighting, because at one point I looked up, and I was about 2 yards from a head on collision with a big boat. The captain was standing out on the prow of it (I assume to make sure I was okay if I hit it), and we shared a chuckle as I made my way around the side instead.
At the second turn, I made my only big mistake of the swim. I went too wide, and due to the chop, I caused myself to have to swim against the current most of the way back. I'd sight, think I was going the right way, but then the next time I looked up, I would be off course again. Still, when I finally hit shore, I looked at my watch and saw it at 39 minutes or so! I ran up the long ramp to transition, quite happy and surprised with that time. I'll be a little greedy and wish I had done it 24 seconds faster, so it could start with a 3. :)
Swim: 40:23
As I was running up the ramp, it was drizzling a bit, and during transition, it got heavier. I did a much better job of preparing my things for transition this time, and got in and out probably the best of any race so far.
T1: 2:55
I wasn't on the bike course two minutes before I saw the first lightning bolt of the day. What happened to three hours before the weather hit us? Then, it got worse.
BOOM!
I saw the bolt back and to my right, and the thunder was almost on top of it. All I could think about was Meredith, and that she was probably still in the water since she was a couple waves behind me. I hoped they'd pulled out the swimmers, but I hoped they hadn't, because I didn't want her race day ruined. (Later, we heard secondhand that they did pull people out, but let them continue. Not sure what exactly happened there)
Not knowing what was going on back there, I decided I'd keep on with the ride. However, I felt like I was having trouble getting in the right gear. I was bouncing in the saddle, which usually means I'm in too easy of a gear. I upshifted, and was still bouncing. Tried again...still bouncing. Something wasn't right. My tire didn't look flat, but I pulled over to the side of the trail and dismounted to check it by hand.
Squish.
Uh oh. Number of times I've changed a tire on Charlie Brown: 0 Number of times I've changed a rear tire on any bike: 0
Fortunately, someone had a camera on me.
The other issue compounding matters was that we were on the local rails-to-trails path, which had zero shoulder room - both sides were ditches. I got as far off as I could, and was still trying to figure out how in the world to change my tire in there when I heard a scraping sound and looked back. Another biker hadn't been paying attention, looked up and saw me, swerved, hit the gravel, and went down into the ditch. I went back with a couple other bikers who stopped and tried to help him out. Thank goodness, he seemed mostly okay - a few cuts and scrapes, but nothing broken. I really hope he made it the rest of the day...I felt awful, but I didn't know what I could have done differently.
Finally, I found a place where someone had laid a couple wood planks across one of the ditches where I could get out to the main road. I set up next to a police officer manning an intersection, and proceeded to teach myself how to change a rear tire (in a thunderstorm). Muncie's rules state that you can have zero outside help on mechanical issues, or else be disqualified. Even the race people can't help you. The sag wagon did stop by and let me know to radio them if I couldn't get it fixed, and they'd come and pick me up. So, there were two ways out. Figure out how to fix it, or go home.
After a little trial and error, I got the wheel off, but I didn't have tools with me, and the tire was too tight to get over the rim by hand. I looked around for a stick or anything else to help. The best I could find was a dead turtle. No, I didn't use that. Then I realized I had my sunglasses. I used one of the ends to pry under the tire, and finally got it off the rim. I got the new one on, hit my first CO2 cartridge, and hoped for the best. With a whoosh, it filled, and seemed to be holding air. I tried a second cartridge, but it just blew out its gasket, so the tire was as full as it was going to get.
While I was over there, I saw Meredith go by, which eased my mind that she had made it out of the water. She did her best Mr. Bill ("Ooohhh Noooooo!"). After the first turnaround for her, she saw me again, and handed off the car key in case I didn't make it. At the time, she hadn't realized that I was still going out on the first leg since I was over on the other road. When I hopped back on, my tire held, and my shifters seemed okay.
So. 40+ minutes into the bike leg, and I had made it maybe 5 miles. I had some serious work to do. By now, the lightning was at least more intermittent, but the wind and rain would keep up for almost the whole bike leg. I grabbed a bottle of gatorade (on the fly, thank you very much!) from the next aid station to replace my aerobottle that had spilled out during the change. I wasn't sure exactly what to do with my nutrition plan since I hadn't been riding continuously, and ended up making the executive decision to postpone everything 30 minutes from the original plan.
My challenge now was to stay positive, knowing very well that my 6 hour goal was out the window. I did my best, singing to myself, aiming to catch people ahead of me, and being as friendly and positive as I could to the volunteers and to everyone I passed. I also tried to race as if my delay hadn't happened, and see if I could hit my 3 hour goal minus that time. Because I didn't hit the split on my watch during the flat episode, I'm not sure if I made it, but I think I worked hard and came darn close. One woman out on the course asked me to tow her back, so I must have looked halfway decent. I said yes, if she ran for me, but she declined. :(
Fun fact: I ended up with the slowest bike split of any (non-wetsuit) finisher!
Bike: 3:34:52 (15.6 MPH) Bike Minus Delay Estimate: 3:00-ish? (18.6 MPH)
T2 was pretty uneventful other than a quick bathroom stop. Meredith had given the excellent suggestion of putting my run shoes and socks in a plastic bag, so at least I was starting out with somewhat dry feet.
T2: 4:22
As soon as I hit the run course, my stomach tied in knots. I had a tough time getting as much gel down as I was supposed to, but I think I managed three during the run. My pace started off around 9:00-9:30, which was about right. I walked the water stops, and ran in between, which was a pretty successful strategy. Until mile 9 or so, I held onto that, and then I started walking a few of the rolling uphills and chatting with other runners. I imagine that if I was still challenging the 6 hour goal, I would have pushed a little harder, but as it was, I just decided to enjoy myself. My miles on the way back were closer to an 11 minute pace, for the most part.
One little girl at an aid station, after handing me a cold towel, asked the adults there, "Was he the last one?". I looked back with a chuckle and said "No!". Around mile 11 or 12, I passed the first person from my wave I had seen since the beginning of the bike, so I knew I wasn't going to be last after all...one little win in a long day. Finally, I saw Meredith up ahead cheering for me, and I knew I was almost done. I had resolved to run the last hill up to the finish, and I did. It was even the first race that I got my name announced at the finish line.
More than my first marathon, this finish really impacted me. For that race, I had to walk almost half of it because of knee issues, and so it was a little anticlimactic. In Muncie, I had to fight the elements as well as some rotten luck, and I still persevered through it and met 3 of the 4 goals I had set before the race. The only thing that really frustrated me was that the way things ended up, Meredith and I very well might have gotten to finish together, which would have been unexpected and nice. Still, I'm really proud of myself for getting through it, and despite everything, I enjoyed it.
We're off this morning to make the drive out to Muncie. The plan is to get in a workout on location, and then get some good pasta. (Read: Olive Garden)
My tentative goal is 6 hours, but I totally understand that anything can happen in a race this long, so it's only tentative.
Goals:
1. Have fun! This is a new experience, so make sure to enjoy it. 2. Finish. 3. Finish in 7:00 (0:50 swim, 3:30 bike, 2:30 run) 4. Finish in 6:00 (0:45 swim, 3:00 bike, 2:00 run)
My gut feeling is that the run is the most variable of the three, and it looks like it'll be a hot one. My bottle holder for the bike is as tight as I can get it, so the plan is to have some better hydration and nutrition than in the Deer Creek tri. With any luck, it'll be a fun 13.1 mile victory lap, rather than a death march. :)
So...what do you write about when it's time to cut back the miles?
Meredith and I went out for our last big ride last week - a three hour trip out into the countryside. Fifteen minutes in, my IT band was hurting. For anyone new to the blog, that's been my achilles heel in training ever since my first marathon. In fact, why does Achilles get his own body part? From now on, it's the Dave band.
Anyway, I did complete the ride. The soreness let up for a good portion of it, but came back by the end. I took a couple days off with ice, tried a run on Friday, and had to call it off less than a mile in. If I can't run evenly, I figure it's probably doing more harm than good, and I'm not willing to risk my race to get in one last 4 mile run.
Today, I went up to the lake for a last open water swim. It was my first time up there not in a wetsuit, and I was anxious to see how much difference it made. I was happily surprised not to feel all that much change. Maybe I didn't glide quite as much, maybe I need to concentrate a little more on body position, but now I'm more confident that I can do Saturday's swim.
Of course, now that I check their site, the lake temperature is down to 76°. Maybe the wetsuit is making the trip after all?
My swim was supposed to be a continuous swim. One problem, though? I forgot my goggles at home, a 30 minute drive away. To make the best of the situation, I swam with my eyes closed and practiced swimming in a straight line. I wasn't very good at it, ending up out by the buoys at the edge of the swimming area (or maaayybe beyond them if no local lifeguards are reading this) a couple times. Still, I think I got what I needed to out of the workout, which was more mental than physical.
My hope now is to get in a couple more light workouts before Muncie to make sure I feel okay, and to not make my Dave band feel any worse in the process. I know I'm ready - now I just need to make it to the start line in one piece!
