Race Day

I did it! Took me 4 hours to go through, but I finished the whole thing (winner was just under 2 hours).

The swim was a lot colder than I was expecting. My wetsuit didn't have arms and my arms were freezing and I could barely move them. The first couple minutes I was afraid of getting kicked by the million of people in the pack... then after that I was afraid I would just stop working. I had to go most of it with my lame backstroke (just kicking pretty much).

After getting out of the water, I had the wetsuit strippers only take off my shoulders... they usually do the whole thing, but I was afraid my little bathing suit underneath would come off. At this point, I had accomplished 2 goals: 1. not drowning in the swim 2. finish the swim.

I took my time getting on the bike and going. My next goal was to reach the aid station at the top of the mountain. It took me a very long time to get there. The trail was much rockier than I expected, and was often steep where I'd have to walk my bike (well... I was going slow enough that I needed to walk). There was also a nice section where a bunch of trees had fallen across the path (this was mentioned in the pre-race meeting)... and everyone had to carry their bike and climb over them. This wasn't as bad as I was expecting, was kinda nice to get off the bike a little. At some point after the aid station and the downed trees (burned down trees from the rodeo-chedeski fire a couple years ago), there was a nice long downhill-ish part on a dirt road. Mostly downhill until one nasty uphill (which we went down before)... and then back into transition. At this point.... 5 goals finished... added "don't crash on the bike", "get to the top aid station" and "finish the bike".

So I ride into the transition and have some last water, then try to start running. I made it just a little bit out of transition before I had to start walking. My next goal was to just make it past "The Eliminator"... which is this super steep hill about 3/4 miles from the start. Since I knew I'd be walking up that, I figured I might as well walk most of the way to it (seemed to make sense at the time). I might've jogged a little, but not much. I made it down the hill and back up the eliminator, and shortly after was the first aid station.

I was super thirsty, so I asked for 2 cups of Gatorade... this was a mistake, and I was sloshing around for quite a while because of it. I also got this stuff called "Gu"... which is well named energy goo. It didn't taste as bad as I expected (I turned it down on the bike), and it did seem to help me keep going. I only ate a little at a time because it stuck to my mouth like peanut butter. So, after stopping at the aid station, I started out just walking, and would jog a bit whenever I felt like it.

After a bit of this, for some reason I started counting my steps while running, and decided I would do bursts of jogging of 100 paces. This was a managable distance, and whenever I started a 100-pace jog, I finished it. I just kept doing this whenver I thought I could manage (but still walking a lot). I went through the 2-mile aid station, past the turn-around, back to the 2-mile station, past the 3 mile mark, and back to the 1-mile station (which was just before the 4 mile mark on the way back).

After the 4 mile mark, they had a nice "treat" for us.... they decided it was funny to divert us from the path and make everyone run through a bit of the lake. It was actually kinda nice to cool off a bit, but not so nice to run the last mile with an extra 5 pounds and soggy socks and shoes. I kept up the running 100 steps until close to the end... then I saved up a little bit because I wanted to run through the finish line. The announcer guy mocked my baggy shorts and my mud-and-water soaked socks, and then I passed through and got my little "finisher" medal... and a popsicle for some reason (which I later forgot about and let melt in the door handle of the car).

So overall, I had a good time. It was very hard, but fun to just see if I could keep going. I didn't hurt myself or drown, which is always a plus. I would do it again, but probably only if I could lose 20 pounds or so before next time (<200 pounds was my goal for this, but I didn't come close).

So now, my "training" is done. I'm going to start playing basketball, and hopefully soccer and softball if I can find a place to do so. I will probably ride the bike once in a while, and the same with swimming... but I can't stand running just to run.