I want to say thank you to Aaron, Chad and Jeff for helping make it a great first event for me, it was comforting knowing I had others there to rely on in getting prepared for the race and share the experience with. You also helped make what could have been a really terrible day a little bit better with good camaraderie and providing me with just the escape I needed to help start the healing process.
We headed out a little after 3 for the drive up to Ames to pick up our packets, after some evasive driving due to some interesting driving like one person coming to a complete stop on the highway to make an illegal U turn we arrived safely to packet pick up. We got registered, looked over course maps and checked on rules for the race and then decided to hit up Pizza Ranch for a nice big pre race meal. Now I'm pretty sure a group of 4 guys has put a beat down on a Pizza Ranch buffet a time or 2 but I'm sure it's not every day it gets worked over the way it did Saturday night. Surprisingly it wasn't even any of the 3 guys who would be competing as Clydesdales (aka over 200 lbs or as I call it the Fat Guy division) but the svelte, lean, mean 150 lb professional triathlete did the most damage. After 3 or 4 or 5 rounds with pizza, salad, bread sticks, cactus bread and ice cream we finally tapped out and headed off to find our hotel in Boone.
We some how managed to cram 4 guys, 4 bikes multiple bags of all the stuff you need for a triathlon into a tiny room with 2 beds. I was perfectly fine taking a sleeping bag on the floor, Chad was smart enough to bring along an air mattress for himself and Aaron and Jeff each took a bed. I feel bad for Jeff he had been battling a cough and was overly concerned about keeping us awake and even though we all assured him he wouldn't bother us he did end up sleeping out in his car at one point. He said it actually was better for his cough since he couldn't lay flat, I know the only time he woke me up was when he left the first time and he had to step over me to get to the door. I was out like a light 5 seconds after the tv was turned off and slept very well all things considered. I woke up around 4:30 and got up shortly after to go find some coffee and get started with the day.
After a good breakfast which consisted of a peanut butter and nutella sandwich with 2 cups of coffee and about 16 oz of my own special chia fresca blend I was ready to head out. After getting parked and unloaded we made our way to the transition area, I wish I had taken more pictures to document but I didn't, oh well. I had a pretty decent idea of how I wanted to lay out my transition area to get me in and out quickly and I think it worked pretty well. Me and Chad took off for a brief warm up run and then made our way back to get in our wet suits and line up for the bus ride over to the beach for the swim start.
Swim
I was honestly most afraid of the swim, I hadn't done any open water swimming and I wasn't sure how I was going to react hitting the water with 50 other people all fighting for the same area to swim. My goal was to let everyone go and just stay out of the way, but as we were running in I couldn't help but get in the mix of things. I was crammed in to start and it was a little unnerving at first, but after awhile I was able to find some clear space and I just swam. Well much to my surprise the reason I was in the clear is because I was drifting off course and heading on the inside of the buoys that we were supposed to stay on the outside of. When I lifted my head up to spot I realized I was to the right and I could see a canoe heading my way to instruct me to move over, I immediately hung a left and got back on line. I was able to stay right next to and slightly behind another swimmer and just followed his feet the rest of the way. I remember at one point this guy has got to be getting tired of me slapping his leg but I really had no where else to go and I wasn't fast enough to pass him. I was really surprised at how calm I remained during the swim, it went a lot better than I had expected and I feel a lot more confident about my swimming now than before. Once I made it to the boat dock I exited the water to make the run to the transition area, it was quite a hike up and honestly I think the run from the swim to the transition area wore me out more than the swim itself. My transition went perfect I took my time but with a sense of urgency, got my helmet, shoes and sunglasses on grabbed my bike and was off.
Bike
The bike portion started off with an incline out of the transition area so it was a little slow starting but once I hit flat ground I was able to build some steam. There was a strong cross wind that was slightly in our face as we went out and it did make for some tough stretches, I got passed by a number of riders, all of which had fancy tri bikes, only a couple of people on road bikes passed me and I eventually re passed all or most of them. Once we made the turn around the wind was more to my back and I was able to pick up some speed and able to pass some more people. For the most part the bike was uneventful went very smooth, I did think a lot about my Grandpa and that helped to power me through some of the tougher parts. After making my way back into the transition area it was time for the run, I dropped of the bike switched shoes and was off.
Run
My legs felt surprisingly good coming off the bike, and I was very happy that the first 1/4 mile or so was on dirt/gravel, I love running off road and wouldn't have minded if the whole course was like that, but unfortunately it did turn to pavement. Going into the race I was most confident about the run, and I knew that I could pick up some time there. I immediately passed some people as they were getting there legs under them and just kept picking up steam. Once I made it to the turn around I opened it up and started to fly (by my standards of course), I was able to pass a few more guys and had one last person in my sights as I made it back on to the dirt portion. As we rounded one last turn the volunteers yelled at me to go catch that guy and I took off on a mission, as I got closer to him I saw the age group number on his calf read 60 and I thought to myself I can't let a 60 yr old beat and I made a final push to pass him and sprinted the rest of the way to the finish to cross the line at 1:22:55. Afterwards the 60 yr old congratulated me and commented that I sounded like a freight train running him down, I replied back Well I kind of am a freight train, and told him how I saw his age and thought I have to pass this guy. It turns out he was the 60-64 age group winner and from Bettendorf.
Until next time...Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.
Wahoo! Congrats to you! You did amazing.
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