Cambridge, MarylandSunday, June 12, 2011
Half Ironman: 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run
Weather: HOT, start was 70 degrees @ 6am and ended up around 85 with heat indexes in the 90’s by 3pm.
Swim: Water 82 degrees, warm, calm (except when fat boys swam by)..TIME: 1:15:56..
Garmin picked up 1.46miles (
that’s because I swam wide to get away from the fat boys)
Bike: Some winds, flat, warm… TIME: 3:28:11
(16.14 MPH avg)
Run: HOT, flat, no shade, did I mention HOT ..TIME: 2:32:25
(11:38 avg)
Motivation. What causes someone to wake up early, on their day off, so they can spend 7+ hours in the hot sun? Motivation? Dedication? Insanity? Because they are dumb as a board?
Sometimes I have to wonder WHY?..Why am I doing this....... and why do I continue to do this!?
Originally, I was going to qualify for
Kona...YEAH... that was 4 years ago...
REALity check... realized that after
Eagleman 2008, qualifying was going to take A LOT MORE then dedicated training and
hardwork, it was going to take a jet pack on my
arsh and a miracle.
That year, in 2008, was the hottest
Eagleman that I have done to date. The heat index were well over 100…with whispers of 107..… and carnage was everywhere..
I came back to race again in 2009 with “milder temps” and HIGHER winds for
Eagleman 2009... because I just
didn’t have enough PAIN...
THEN... I came back again in 2010 for the
Eagleman diabolical... not being able to wear wetsuits...the
buoys blowing off course....and having hundred’s of people
DQ'd off the swim time cut offs. ....BUT the best part was not getting pulled UNTIL riding the ENTIRE bike course of 56 miles ( 3+ hours later) and coming in to find a big “DO NOT RUN” taped across our shoes..
OF course what would any normal person do!?..... SIGN UP AGAIN and come back for 2011, my 4
th Eagleman attempt.
AND AGAIN I have to question WHY?...WHY do I want to do this AGAIN?!
I ended last year coming off a great full
Ironman, Chesapeake Man, and took a month of swim lessons and a few daily swims in January and then nothing.. huh?... nothing…NADA, NIL, ZIP ,
ZINGO...ZERO... I
didn’t swim from March through June... OOPS..OUCH..
OH and don’t even get me started on the bike… Since Chesapeake Man at the end of September.. I rode my bike.. um.. ONCE.. yes in the last 8 months I road my bike ONE TIME.. HOLY HELL.. !
SHHH...
So the weather this winter sucked, I played around too much with Derby, I just
didn’t allocate the time I needed to train... UM...
ok .. but to my credit… I did a couple marathons and half marathons, so I did at least run.. a bit. SIGH..
When the April 15
th REFUND date came and I had lost my “last chance” to back out of the race and get a partial refund of the $$$$ exorbitant race fees.. I had to question WHY.... even when a couple of my friends backed out...I just COULD NOT put my finger on the refund trigger... WHY!??
At this point I knew ....I must suffer from some sort of mental illness.
Poor Joe.... suffering the same fate…he
didn’t train adequately either and he too could not back out...
WTF!
As the last few weeks went by before the June 12
th Race... we both wrestled with what to do?!Should we attempt it with inadequate training OR not? What to do? What to do!?
Then a light...and a SLAP in the head from Molly, Claudia, and Jen
(our Bricks Tri buddies from Delaware)... who pointed out that the race cut off rules HAD CHANGED.. and that instead of a 1:10 cut off after each wave for the swim it would be 1:10 after the LAST WAVE....and since I was in the 4
th to the last wave
(something like that).. stay with me please.. I would have about 1:45 to finish the swim... I WAS LIKE WHAT!? SERIOUSLY!?? Hallelujah!!! AND WHAT NOT!!.. That means I would NOT get
DQ’d off the swim!!... I knew last year even with no wetsuit and floundering around I made that by a long shot!. Sweet baby Jesus! TOTALLY in!
Contrary to popular belief .. I LOVE to swim.. I love swimming in the
choptank because it reminds me of the summers at Port Herman on the Chesapeake. Chop
doesn’t bother me, dead fish
dont bother me, murky water don't bother me.. but being DROWNED BY FAT MEN BOTHERS ME!
Packet pick Up and Racking Bikes:
OK.. so now the Race Report:
4am: Wake up, (actually wide awake since 2am)...breakfast, coffee, and I AM READY!
4:45am: Drive to race, try to run a couple people over, heck its early, score a good parking spot.
5:30am: In transition, setting up, SO COOL to experience this with Joe. He did make mention that he
couldn’t do this without me and my “organizational skills”…
6:15am: Uh Oh… potty problems
7:30am: Joe and I sample the water and end up getting our feet cut. My toes get sliced on barnacles while Joe had the bottom of his foot sliced open. Of course neither of told each other of our bleeding feet TILL after the race.... I mean why worry the other! ?
7:50: (Approx): My swim wave
(women 40-49) gets in the water and I am ready…
7:55 (Approx): The swim wave behind us
(men 45-49) get int he water with us, HUH?.. They are not suppose to get in until AFTER we start...
congestion... Now I have a HUGE man standing in front of me!!! .. I take my arm and push him aside as he says, "OH I
DIDN’T SEE YOU".. UM, NO, really a-hole? Another man steps on me.. UM EXCUSE ME..HELLO!?? The whistle, its a go... I have to push away another man swimming IN FRONT Of me as I am proceeding to go forward.... he is blocking me…arrogant MEN!
The Swim: Seriously had a great swim for the first half of the course and made it out to the first buoy before I heard the FAT BOYS wave whistle go… BTW this is Joe’s wave (The FAT BOYS 45-49 Men).. they were scheduled to go off 8 minutes after my wave (which was 40-44 and 45-49 women). I almost made it to the second buoy before the FAT BOYS got to me…the lead swimmers stay to the inside and hug the lines, I never have a problem with the leaders.. I swim wide to make sure I don’t get in their way. BUT it’s the MID packers that kill me… these men
literary swim over me. Normally if you hit someone or something you move over.. not the FAT BOYS.. .they have no problem with the thought that they are the best in the world and that they are entitled to own the swim.
I was hit once, then twice, I moved further out and then some really large dude smacked me on the head and THEN continued to try and drown me. No amount of kicking to keep the beasts off helped.. I ended up having to stop swimming and turn around and DODGE them..the water is now a turbulent sea of waves...................
I swung out a little farther and got back into a rhythm. Then I felt something on my toe. UM.. I stop and turn around..nothing there…swim.. swim swim.. what the heck is sucking on my toes!!!! Of course this is why MAYBE my swim times SUCK… I spend more time fooling around in the water then anyone out there… BUT something was nibbling my damn toe!
I noticed that I was passed by the silver wave, then some in the pink wave with a really nice girl stopping her swim to see if I was
ok… what a sweet heart.... I am at the last buoy and I hear the boy managing the incoming wave trying to get my attention… I purposely was ignoring him because I
didn’t want to be told I was disqualified for any reason.. if I ignore him I cant get disqualified!
Finally, I understood what he was saying… PURPLE CAP (me).. you can stand.. ME: oh yeah! So I start to run in the water.. it was waist deep and I still had about 200 yards to go…kinda felt like I was cheating but F-ck that!!… swear to go God I make more of a production of the swim than it needs to be.
9:15am (approx): ok so I am in transition and I glance over to make sure I see if Joe’s bike is gone, of course it is..AS IS almost the entire field of 2500 racers.. all their bikes are gone.. sans mine and
LOOKY..smile …there are still two bikes in my 45-49 rack..
ok... thank god I was not last out of the water in my age group... Sweet!
Bike: So I grab ole crusty
(my bike) and head out for my 56 mile bike jaunt. AH...I was thinking between
Eagleman,
Chessyman, and our practice rides, I believe I have completed this course about 10 times… I knew it well... I hated the rumble strips they put in a few years ago, I was pleasantly surprised with the new paved portion, I saw the normal church, and said a prayer in passing for the graves, I saw the place I flattened a tire in a race a few years ago and said another prayer that it
wouldn’t happen again this year, and then I realized that this year their lacked a serious headwind!.. SWEET! HECK.. I
didn’t feel the need to crawl up in a ball and die! BUT MY
ARSH SURE HURT…
Around mile 25 or so I saw a leg.. yes a critter leg… at approximately the same place we had seen a carcass of WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT JOE? on one of our practice rides last year….EEEWWEE..like seriously EWE!...
I have my home on wheels... I am able to eat, drink and be merry on my bike and not break the pace... I started to pass a lot of people after mile 30.... LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this no headwind crap!
When heading down Egypt road I noticed a sign for a new development, uh.. oh.. and oh much sadness hit as I realized that the many dark days of running down Egypt road during
Chessyman may not be the same now.
SO around mile 50 a motorcycle official drove up besides me and I thought,
SHEETAH .. now what did I do!?
OMG, I hope I don’t get a penalty. He pulled up besides me as I rode “to talk”.. it appears he “seem to remember me” from other races… since I have done
Eagleman and
Chessy man quite a few times, interesting conversation.. I assume I vaguely remember him as well… but it was a good pick up line on his part... kinda enjoyed the company, glad he
didn’t mind the gummy worm that I was spewing out of my lips. I bet those elites don’t get this treatment!
As I was coming in from the last 3 miles of the bike, I saw Joe heading out on the run, he was at mile 3.. he waved and I think it perked him up to know that I was at least 6 miles behind him (3 on the bike and 3 on the run). My knees started to lock up a bit, and my
arsh SURE HURT A LOT and it was REALLY getting HOT now.
1:00pm: Transition time again, took my time and poured water on my feet to cool them off..
AHHHH... I got myself together for the run, walking out of transition until I hit the run start.. then I ran… something like a run… it was forward motion at least fora bit and then UH OH..
Run: NEED to get to a potty NOW! I literally sprinted to the first port–a-pot and almost passed out inside it… DAMN HOT in those things.. At the aid station I got a couple cups of ice and put them in my sports bra… I rattled…
I was very pleased with my run this year… IT WAS HOT.. I WAS SICK.. I hit every port a pot… with serious distress…. And at each aid station I filled my bra with ice. Thankfully I packed some Tums…
I saw Joe again perhaps at mile 9 but I was at mile 5? He had picked up the pace a bit. I also saw a bunch of my new
tri friends.. I totally was not alone on the course. I knew this was only a 13.1 mile run and that I had done 26.2 in just as bad, if not worse conditions last September, so I thought I CAN DO THIS… and I did.
I remember Joe cheering me in near the finish and then I was done.. 7 hours and 25 minutes. Not my best Half
Ironman Time but I’ll take it... I finished.. and with Joe...
Joe did amazing, nailing the swim in 56:26, bike in 2:24:08 (19.30 mph) and the run in 2:29:55 (11:26 mph pace).. total of 6:29:29.
After my finish, I was still feeling quite sick and needed a moment or so to regroup. But no one could erase that smile off my face. I had finished my 3rd complete Half
Ironman Triathlon
(would have been 4th had I not got DQ’d last year). AND I think this is it.
The training takes SO MUCH time and is such a personal commitment and I know that I don’t want to enter a race again untrained.
I have a lot of great ideas, and great goals.. and I can't wait.. until my next adventure..
AND OH HOLY HELL..
the mental illness did it again
Ironman New York, August 2012... just saying..
I'm IN!...Ironman New York, August 11, 2012: 
