We staged a couple of informal swim practice sessions prior to the event, but overall, everyone was on their own.  In fact, we never practiced the transitions prior to race day and even then it was just a verbal communication of how we would pass the ankle strap (that held our timing chip) in the transition area.

Going into the days before the race, we learned that there were 12 relay teams that were registered to compete in the event.  Normally there are only a handful, so I was secretly (or not so secretly) hoping for a chance for our team to place in the top 3 for an award.  Now that we had 11 others to race against, our chances went down.  Not to worry, we had a decent enough team, and who knows how good the competition would be?

Also in the days leading up to the race, I learned that my bike (Felt B16) had been involved in a recall.  Apparently there have been 7 problems with the fork (the part that holds the front wheel and goes through the frame and holds the handlebars) that involves a construction flaw with the carbon fiber and has caused the fork to crack.  If this happens during a ride, a crash would be imminent.  I had been in communication with TrySports several times to get the fork replaced, but it wasn’t going to happen before the race.  I spent the last couple of weeks training on the trainer to prevent a crash, but I had to take my chances with the race.  Hopefully this issue will be fixed very soon so I can get back out there!

Other things special to this event were the many friends that had chosen this race to be their first triathlon ever.  Chris Bugart, Wendy Arias (both friends through Melissa) and Melissa McConnell (Melissa’s neighbor) all were racing their first ever triathlon!  And Scott Helms came out to race the event as well.  Scott made it his personal goal to beat our relay team by himself.  I also knew one other competitor, my chiropractor, Dr. Adam Cooper!

This was a first year race and apparently they had expected around 200 participants.  When the registration numbers reached 380, they were forced to close off the event.  The problem with this many racers in a triathlon with a pool swim is that only one swimmer can start at a time.  The first athlete entered the water at 7:00 and the last one not until 8:52!

I look a little evil this early in the morning!

Wendy, me and Melissa after setting up transition

Scott and I doing some "trash talking"

chilling before the race

transition filling up

Sally was fast, so she was seeded towards the beginning of the race, so we were to start our race at 7:20:30.  Scott was 1 minute behind us.  I knew that Scott’s goal was to beat us, so I did not want to let him catch me on the bike.

ready to go!

Melissa and I waited in our transition area until 7:24, when we expected Sally to come out of the pool area.  Once we saw her, I was ready with my bike and Melissa switched the ankle strap from Sally’s ankle to mine.  I ran out of transition area, mounted my bike and took off.  The course was fairly straightforward early on the course with some flat spots and some downhills.  I was able to pass several people, but there were a few that passed me as well.  Around halfway, the one I did not want to see on the course appeared and blew by!  Scott had made up the minute difference and was now gaining time on us.  I pushed to keep up with him, but to no avail.

I arrived back at transition area where Sally transferred the ankle strap from my ankle to Melissa’s.  She took off for the run course and I was told Scott was only a couple minutes ahead.  Fingers crossed Melissa would have a great run and Scott might hit a wall.

Our star swimmer having fun!

Melissa & Sally waiting in T2

T2

T2

Scott ended up finishing at 1:10:12 and Melissa came across the line with 1:13:36 for our team.  3:24 faster.  Well done Scott!

Melissa heading for the finish!

doing damage for next time...

doing damage for next time...

We saw the preliminary results with 6 relay teams finished and we were in 3rd place.  We were hopeful to hold onto that placement.  Unfortunately for us, a team came in 31 seconds faster than us and bumped us to 4th.

After all is said and done, I am extremely happy with 4th out of 12.  And with zero practice on transitions, we tied 3 other teams for fastest T1 and we had the fastest T2 of all the 12 teams.  Great job Melissa and Sally!

Oh, and Chris Bugart finished his first triathlon with a time of 1:49:47 (he was worried they would pull him off the course if he didn’t finish in 2:30!).  Great job beating his goal time by over 10 minutes!!!

Go Chris!

Chris heading for the finish!

Melissa McConnell finished with a time of 1:24:23 (she was worried about a 2:00 penalty for forgetting her race number on the run, but it doesn’t appear to have been assessed) and Wendy Arias finished with 1:35:49!  Great times and not just for first timers!

Dr. Cooper did great too, with a time of 1:14:46!

We capped off the morning by meeting up at The Flying Biscuit Cafe in Ballantyne, NC for food.  Jenn, Mia and Sadie met up with us for the delicious meal.

Mia at The Flying Biscuit

Next up is Assault on Cherokee International Triathlon and I am a little nervous.  I have not been swimming as much as I should be and I have having problems with my Sciatic nerve that is causing pain and numbness in my left foot and leg.  This is aggravated when I run, so I am under doctor’s orders not to do any running for a while.  This could get interesting and hard!

I came off almost a week of illness and the thought crossed my mind not to race it, and my wife even suggested that I shouldn’t.  I got so sad at the thought of not racing with Melissa, that I told myself that I didn’t have to be fast, just be there and finish.

To add to my troubles, I was up until midnight the night before trying to fix my bike.  You see, after I installed my bike on the new trainer, I realized that my rear brake was rubbing.  I tried everything that I knew, pulled the crank (with the hidden brake on the Felt B16, the crank has to be removed to fully access the rear brake) I had the rear tire removed, etc.  I should have taken a picture; this was a mere 6 hours before I had to be there!  Well, I didn’t get it perfect, but I thought it would be good enough.

5:15AM-

Wake up time.  Hit snooze.

5:24AM-

Getting up now (so I thought), turned off alarm.

5:35AM-

Jenn says, “Get up, you’re going to be late!”  I went into the bathroom for a quick dressing with tri shorts and top under “street” clothes.  Good thing I had prepared everything the night before.  I went downstairs, grabbed a granola bar and went to the car where my bike and all my gear were already waiting.

6:10AM-

I met Melissa and Jeff at the race site.  Melissa was already setting up and she did a great job.  I guess the practice and the REI workshop paid off!  I got my transition area set up and we went to get body marked and get our timing chips.  We saw Scott and then Alex arrived after that.  We then went back to transition to check over everything and grab our swim gear.  We went to the bathroom and then to the pool for a little warm-up swim.  This is the benefit of arriving early.  We were able to take our time and get comfortable.

ummm?

someone's missing something

Scott giving last minute advice

The Swim:

Once it was my time to get in the water, I was feeling pretty good.  The swim went well and I felt I seeded myself correctly.  I passed the person in front of me and I allowed two people to pass me.  The short distance of 300 meters was nice!

getting in the pool

starting the swim

on the swim

almost done with the swim!

Melissa, ready to go!

go machine!

The Bike:

As soon as I started pedaling, I realized that I had not fixed the brake as well as I had thought.  The brake was rubbing a good bit.  This not only slowed me down, but I realized it was a big mental hurdle as well.  It was very frustrating to have to give more effort than I was getting out of it.  As I made my turn around at the halfway point, I started to look for Melissa.  She was not far behind!  And she looked great!  About 3 miles before the bike finish, I saw Scott walking his bike.  He was not hurt, so I did not stop.  Apparently, his chain had problems and he could only coast down hills and was forced to walk up them.  This did not stop him though, he still finished strong!

out for a ride with a rear brake rubbing!

heading out on the bike

Melissa in T1

back from the ride

Melissa is all smiles!

The Run:

After a frustrating ride, I was tired and a little annoyed.  It was hot and I was not feeling well stomach-wise.  I ran and walked the entire 3.4 miles and made for a VERY slow run.  Scott passed me first, then I heard Melissa’s voice not too far from the finish say, “Don’t let me catch you!”  That was enough motivation to run the rest of the way, but I knew she already had me beat; she started 1:40 after me.  There was no way for me to make that up at that point.  Congratulations Melissa!  Next time, though, I will be better prepared!  Speaking of, Melissa had a great time and is hooked!  What’s the next race, Melissa?

Jenn and the girls ready to cheer us in

Sadie's having a blast!

starting the run

heading out for the grueling run

melissa's smile is bigger than mine at this point!

Melissa on the run

Scott passed us both on the run!

that's the smile of finishing with my girls cheering me in

finish

pain!

I am hurting!

Melissa finish - she actually beat my time with the delayed start!

congratulations, TRIATHLETE!

the trio

It was a great race and a fun time with family and friends.  Melissa got hooked on multi-sport and Scott, Alex and I fueled our fires.  My bike is now in the shop at TrySports, so hopefully I will be back in the saddle next weekend without a rubbing brake.  I did actually finish 3rd in my age group, but I can’t really count it since there were only 3 of us!  Next up is the Ballantyne Triathlon, where Sally, Melissa and I are racing as a relay team.  Should be fun and we should be pretty fast!

Results:

The swim:

I was running late to the race due to a faulty alarm clock (or perhaps it was my faulty hearing?) and arrived at the race with less than 5 minutes before they were to close the transition area.  Good thing I had picked up my race packet the day before and had my numbers on my race belt, helmet and bike.  I got my transition area ready in a hurry and went to get body marked and my timing chip.  Luckily there was not a line at this time and I was able to get in and out of there.  After that, I hit the bathroom to christen another special place and then headed to the pool side.

They were midway through the pre-race meeting, so good thing I had raced this event before and pretty much knew what to do.  I waited for my swim start (this year 57th) and the race was on.

I actually felt pretty comfortable in the water, as opposed to last year, and went at a steady pace for the 500 yards.  I must have seeded myself a bit fast as there were a few people that needed to pass me along the way, which required me to stop at the walls a few times to let them.  That slowed me a bit, but no big deal.

Swim time: 12:09

Last year: 12:06

The bike:

As always, after the swim I am glad to be heading out on the bike.  I had a relatively quick transition and hit it.  I was soon to find out that the weather conditions were windy and that wind was pushing against me on the way out.  This made for a very tough bike, but relented a bit on the way back.  I also realized that they extended the bike course by about a mile or so, which the extension was uphill and into the wind!  I didn’t beat my bike time from last year, but the conditions and extended course could explain.

Bike time: 51:42

Last year: 50:24

The run:

After the tough bike, I was tired.  I headed out on the (also changed) run course hoping to finish strong.  Early into the run, I had calf cramps.  I stopped and stretched.  I went on with a run/walk program for most of the remaining run.  I also didn’t beat my run time from last year.  I attribute that to under preparedness in addition to the tough bike.

Run time: 32:11

Last year: 29:40

Total time with transitions: 1:39:20

Last year: 1:32:09

Complete reults here.

Overall this was a very fun event again, and will most likely race this one every year.  Also, Jenn, Mia, Sadie and Melissa came to cheer me in!  Oh and remember my brother-in-law, Alex, who said he wasn’t ready for the race because he hadn’t run or cycled since Christmas?  He freakin’ won his age group.  Told you he would win it anyway!  Go Alex (aka The Machine!)

I will post pictures once I am able to get my hands on some…

Thanks Melissa for the pictures and for being there!!!

P.S. see Keith, I really did do it and have the pictures to prove it!

I only hope I can beat my times from last year:

Swim – 12:06

Bike – 50:24

Run – 29:40

I picked up my race packet at lunch today, and guess what?  Dry-fit event t-shirts!  More and more events seem to be moving away from cotton t-shirts, which is great so the participants can actually use them while exercising!  Plus it works for the event because it works as advertising.

As always I am looking forward to the support of my friends and family.  Jenn plans to bring Mia and Sadie to cheer me on (Mia already told me she wants to bring her pom-poms ), Melissa said she wants to come and my brother-in-law, Alex, who convinced me to race this triathlon last year will be racing as well.  He says he won’t do well, but I think he will win it in spite of the fact he hasn’t ran in months.

I will report back and let you all know how it goes!

On another wonderful note, I will be racing my first triathlon as part of a relay team!  Sally will tackle the swim, I will take the bike portion and Melissa will run to the finish!  We will race at the Ballantyne Triathlon on July 10th.  We are currently throwing around team names, so what do you all think?  Check out some of the names suggested on Melissa’s post today.

It all started early morning.  I was going to ride with Melissa, Jeff and Chris, but Jeff had to go back to his house because they had forgotten to grab my race packet.  Melissa had graciously picked it up for me when she got hers.  No big deal, I drove Melissa and Chris and Jeff did me a favor and went back to his house to get my packet and met up with us at South Park.

We got ready with about a minute to spare before the start.  I had decided to run with the beer helmet again, like I did in the Athens run last year.  They had half marathoners on one side of the street and 10K runners on the other.  I guess it has to do with the timing mats.  Well, they had mislabeled which side was which and with nearly 3000 runners, this caused great confusion.  I went to my side and Melissa and Chris stayed on theirs.

getting costume ready

still getting costume ready

ready!

Chris was freezing!

Melissa

We started, and I made my way back to see if I could find Melissa and Chris and run with them for a bit.  We stayed together for a little while before splitting up.  I got Gatorade at the first water stop, but then started to cramp a little.  So, I decided that I would get some water at the next.  But when I got there, they had no water ready!  I grabbed an empty cup and just dunked it in the water bucket.  I didn’t want to complain to loud because these are volunteers, but this is a race; you have to be ready!

I was able to run the whole time except for walking at the water stops.  I am proud of this because there were some good sized hills on the course and I was feeling it.  I ended up with a Garmin time of 56:54, a chip time of 56:54 (I actually remembered to stop it on time!) and a gun time of 57:28.  My time in Florence was 55:33, so this wasn’t a PR for 10K, but I was surprised to be close, given the lack of training and the hilly course.

After the run, I went looking for Jeff and my Dad (who came even before the start!) but didn’t see them.  I walked around, cheered some people in and got a free beer.  I was wearing a beer helmet after all!  Several people said they loved the helmet and one guy just started talking to me, cheered my beer and we ended up talking for a good 30 minutes.

I left and got my second free beer (hooray beer!) and looked for Dad and Jeff.  I saw them this time and I talked with them while waiting for Scott, Chris and Melissa to finish.  A guy came up to me and said he liked the beer helmet.  Then he paused and said, “Umm, I’m trying to figure out if this is creepy.”  I had no idea what to expect!  The he told me that he reads the blog and Melissa’s blog.  Then Jeff turned around almost on cue and took the picture below and said “Now you’re going to be on it!”  He said he ran Thunder Road ½ marathon in December and started to think about racing a triathlon.  Since he grew up nearby Cane Creek Park, he went online to find out more about the Cane Creek Triathlon and came across my race report.  Apparently it came up very quickly (thanks Jeff!)  He found Melissa’s blog through mine and is now a regular reader!  Thanks for reading Brian!  Now comment!  And let me know how I can help with your first triathlon!

new friend Brian

Scott came in first in the trio, then Chris and then Melissa.  She ran faster than she had expected too!  It must have been a great day to run!  After they finished, they made their way to the beer truck only to discover that they had run out of beer!  Tsk Tsk Charlotte RaceFest.  Tsk.  Read Melissa’s reaction here.

this pretty much says it all

Special thanks to Chris and Jeff whose cameras captured the pictures!

I did run my first 5K of the year last Saturday and it felt good to be in a race again.  It was the Alyce T Guettler Hunger Run in Rock Hill, SC and I mainly raced the event because they were doing it to raise money for a good cause.  It was cold and drizzling that morning, but it didn’t keep 100 people from showing up.  After I finished, I noticed that there weren’t many people cheering for the others as they finished.  So I stayed around and cheered people in, then went home to spend time with Jenn, Mia and Sadie.  As it turns out, I finished second out of four in my age group and missed out on collecting the award.  Oh well, hopefully there will be others.

Unfortunately, I think racing came at a price.  On Sunday, my back started to hurt pretty bad and after visiting the Chiropractor on Monday, I messed my back and shoulders up pretty bad in the wreck.  So I am forced to take it easy for a bit while I recover.  Hopefully the Chiropractor can work his magic the way he did before the marathon and I will be back at it real soon.  I will keep you guys posted!

The best thing was giving a good effort, relatively pain free (a little sore in my right knee) and finishing with a 10K PR of 55:35.

The crew (Brandi, Karen, Ryan, Crystal and I) - ready to rock!

Crystal & Brandi before startBrandi bringing it home!

Brandi rockin' her first 5K!

First 5K in 30 minutes! You go girl!

Karen heading to the line!

All smiles!

Great job Karen!

Me heading in!

I was trying to pass this guy the whole race!

He took off in a sprint and I couldn't catch him!

It's all good, still a PR!

Ryan & Crystal (she's behind him) about to fight it out

Ryan & Crystal starting full out sprint!

Ryan blocked her out to take it!

Karen & Brandi after race

Group after race

Group after race photo by London (Brandi's 3 year old daughter)

Brandi London & Crystal after race

After the race in the car minus Karen

Crystal in the car on the way to the race and wearing $400 sunglasses!

Ryan & Crystal

Karen & Crystal

Also, this weekend, I was fortunate enough to be able to give back to my fellow runner/multi-sport athlete community and volunteer at a local event.  It was the Inaugural Recon Double Trouble Off Road Duathlon at Anne Springs Close Greenway.  I had a blast working the event, but it takes just that – work.  There were several volunteers and they could have used more.  To all of those that compete in these types of events: volunteer all you can.  It makes the event not only more enjoyable, but even possible.  I hope I helped out with some great photos as I became a sort of unofficial event photographer and even helped hand out awards at the finish.  I provided all 1275 photos that I took of the event to the race director, Marcus Barton, so that he could use at his discretion.

I wanted so bad to race this event, but given the injuries I sustained after the BRR and Cane Creek, I have decided to keep my races to running only in an effort to continue on and finish my first marathon in December.  The next two Saturdays are preview runs so I will see what I am up against!

The Swim

This was my first swim in a wetsuit, so I didn’t know quite what to expect.  The suit did make me feel lighter in the water.  It also made the slightly chilly water a bit more comfortable.  I am not a strong swimmer at all and I felt especially slow on this one.  I had expected a time of 19 minutes on the swim and I crossed the mat at 25:27.

Glad to be out of the water!

The Bike

After a slow swim, I looked forward to getting on the bike.  I passed several people on the bike and that felt good.  I don’t think anyone passed me that kept the lead.  There were a few that would catch me on the up hills and I would pass them again going down.  I forgot to start my Garmin watch until about mile 5, but here is the last part of the ride.  Total time was 46:41, I had anticipated 45, so not too far off.

Going into transition after the bike

The Run

As soon as I got off the bike, I knew my legs were going to hurt.  My hamstrings and calves started to cramp.  As I changed into my running shoes, I stretched a little and my wife walked over to the fence and reminded me not to overdo it since I had to cut the grass later.  I thanked her for that and went on the run.  About a quarter mile in, my legs were yelling at me to stop.  I did some more stretching and continued on.  I managed to keep a decent pace for the rest of the run, walking at the water stops.  The last quarter mile was full of pain!  My final run time was 29:46, I had hoped for 27.  Here are the Garmin’s stats on the run.

Heading to the finish line - that is the biggest smile I could give!

All in all it was a fun race.  I shouldn’t have raced a week after the Blue Ridge Relay, but it was still fun.  The lake was beautiful and the bike course was scenic too.  The run was a very boring out and back two laps though.  They should think about changing the run route to something more interesting.  My final time with transitions was 1:46:34, good enough for 227^th out of 296.  I ended up 31^st out of 35 in my age group.  So nothing extraordinary or anything, but I finished.  The best thing was seeing my people that came to watch me as I am heading to the finish.  Mia yelling “Go Daddy go!” is always wonderful and my wife and Sadie were there too.  My sister, Melissa and her husband Jeff and my Mom and Dad came out too!  It is always wonderful when your friends and family come to watch.  And now two days after, my right calf is cramping and telling me I was stupid for doing that.  I got some IcyHot patches and hopefully that will help!  Thanks to Melissa for the pictures!  Check out her blog post here.

Friday, September 11, 2009

2:25 AM – I woke up to take a quick shower and get dressed.  I went downstairs and packed the few things that I had thought of as I was tossing and turning during the 4 hours of broken sleep the night before.  What a time for Mia to decide to cry twice during the night!  Chris made sure I was up and we got the car packed.

3:15 AM – Chris and I left my house to rendezvous with Alex and the Jasons.  We arrived at Alex’s house was dark and the Jasons were not there yet, but we were early, so we just waited.

3:30 AM – Alex came out and offered his bathroom, which I took him up on.  Then the van came around at about 3:40 and Jason Sutton was driving.  Apparently Jason Martin had forgotten a few things and he was to meet us in Charlotte.  We drove to Charlotte and picked up Whitney at her hotel and then picked up Jason Martin at a parking garage he has access to.  From there, we hit the road towards Grayson Highlands State Park in Virginia.

The team - ready to go!

7:20 AM – Our team’s start time.  Jason Martin starts us off and at a very fast pace.  He arrives at the first exchange zone way before I expected!

Let's get it started!

From this point on, everything sort of runs together in a sweaty, sleep deprived delirium.  I remember some details from each of my six legs which I will share below:

Leg 3 – my first run

Not a terribly difficult run, but along some gravel roads that on a few occasions scare me that I will roll my ankle on the rocks.  I did feel a little pain in my left ankle, but it worked itself out.  First run of 5.2 miles down, 5 more of over 20 to go.

Leg 9 – my second run

This leg was almost completely flat for the first 4 miles or so.  Then the course turns onto Big Hill Road and things got interesting and hard!  A big hill climbing up from the river I had been running along.

Leg 15 – my third run

This run started at the gates to Grandfather Mountain Park.  Jason Sutton had the task of running the 10 miles straight up to this point and I almost felt I was cheating since all I had to do was run 2.4 miles down.  It was my first night run, so I was in the van putting on my reflective vest and getting my two blinking red lights and headlamp on and Jason Martin came up to the van after changing clothes.  It was getting dark and I was very sleep deprived and I thought it was Jason Sutton.  I panicked thinking I was supposed to be running already.  I say to him, “You’re back already!?” and he says, “back from where?”  I am confused and thinking he is messing with me, but I can’t figure out why he would mess with me and cause the race to suffer.  It doesn’t make sense to me and I think he realized that I was confused and he explains that I am okay, that Jason Sutton is still running.  I calmed down and realized that the mental game is a part of this whole thing.  When Jason Sutton did actually come in, I ran down and enjoyed a good pace on the downhill run.  It certainly was eerie running in the dark of the night, but it was an experience that was serene as well.

getting ready to run in the dark

Leg 21 – my fourth run

Another short and downhill night run.  This run took me through downtown Spruce Pine.  The town at this early hour was deserted except for a few runners and their support vans.  Again, I feel like I am cheating with my short downhill runs, but the team tells me they are nice and easy, but they still have to be done, so I am contributing.

nightime in the van

Leg 27 – my fifth run

I am now back to the 5.2 mile distance again.  This run was mostly a slight uphill and at this point I started to notice the effects of all that was going on.  The run seemed pretty difficult to me and I know that it shouldn’t.  A guy passed me and I attempted to keep up with him for a bit.  I could not keep his pace.  A little while after that, I heard a voice come from behind after a dog started to bark and it was a female asking if she could run with me because she is afraid of dogs.  I said sure and she sprinted ahead to catch me.  We ran the rest of the leg together and I think she felt like I slowed down to keep her company, but in truth she probably kept me going a little faster than I would have on my own.  When I finished, I found the van and curled up in the back seat to attempt my first real sleep in over 27 hours.  I slept for about an hour while Alex was running and felt a little better.  We had stopped at the next exchange zone and I had to pee, so I got out of the van to find the port-a-johns.  A step or two into the walk I realized that my legs from my thighs down were in a world of hurt.  My right knee had the worst pain and this was the first time that I doubted my ability to finish.  I knew the run that I had coming up was a terribly difficult one and here I was having trouble walking 50 feet down a slight incline to the bathroom.  I decided to walk around a bit to try and loosen up and it felt a little better, but still extremely painful to walk.  At the next exchange area, there was a nice river that Alex suggested we go soak our legs in.  I thought he was crazy at first, but he convinced me and to my surprise it helped a great deal!  My legs were still fatigued, but the knee pain was gone and I felt much better.

Alex soaking his legs - I had just gotten out

Leg 33 – my sixth and final run

This is the only leg of the race that I had run prior to the race.  I knew what to expect and that was on one hand nice to know what I have before me, but also intimidating because I knew just how hard it was!  I started the run at the bottom and took advantage of the slight uphill and ran a fairly good pace.  I hit the steep part and walked.  A guy did pass me while running, but he may have only gained about 20 feet on me before he started to walk too.  It was so steep that you really do walk as fast as you can run.  It made me think that whoever decided to pave this road so steep either did so with no intention of anything non-motorized ever attempting to go up it or with a sadistic humor that they knew someone would try.  I reached the top and my team had stopped to cheer me up the hill.  I enjoyed the cheers and the 10 feet of flat before the road goes right back down the other side.  I ran down at a pretty good pace before I started cramping.  My legs from my hamstrings to my calves were seizing up at this point.  I stopped and stretched with about 1.5 miles to go.  I started to run again, but the cramps came back.  I ran it out, but in extreme pain.  I had set a goal for myself to complete this run in less than 1 hour and I cam close with a time of 1:00:34.

they should add "only attempt to run if you are nuts"

me walking up the extreme incline - the photo does not do it justice!

running down the other side

 Chris finished the last leg of the relay about 32 hours after Jason Martin had started.  We were all extremely exhausted, but completely proud of our accomplishment.  We all also had the opportunity to witness the first solo completion of the course.  How amazing is the determination that would have to take place to run 211 miles in 3 days!

the man in the white hat ran the entire course!

Melissa, Jeff and my parents came to Asheville to cheer us in.  It makes such a difference when you have support from your family and friends at a race.  Melissa, Jeff, Chris and I grabbed some burgers and beer in Asheville before heading to my in-laws cabin to discuss the events and to get some real sleep.

the team running the last few feet

2009 Team 4tunate (to have 2 more runners)

Read Jason Sutton’s blog post on the race here.

Read Chris’ post here.

Read Melissa’s post here.

From another team’s perspective here.

You can see all of my pictures here and Jason Sutton’s here.  I do have some video footage and will get on YouTube soon.

After that, we headed to Inside Out Sports and picked up my race packet.  They made sure that I knew that shoes are required to get from the lake to T1.  I asked what the deal was with that and they told me that the transition area was a little ways along a gravel path from the lake, so shoes would keep your feet from getting injured.

Jeff and I made our way to Kings Mountain State Park where I had registered for a campsite.  We found the site, set up the tent then drove back out to scope out the bike and run routes.  The first half of the bike course was pretty straight forward.  Then, the road turns to a narrow road that is poorly maintained and very hilly.  It continues to be very hilly the rest of the way back to the transition area.  The run is also pretty hilly, using the road into the camping area as part of the course.

I was then not only intimidated by the longest swim of my life of 1300 meters, but of a difficult bike of 27.5 miles and a hilly run of 6.2 miles!  I changed my official “goal” from finishing between 3 hours and 3.5 hours to “just finishing” with no regards to time.

Andrew and his daughter, Breanna, arrived early that evening and we all sat around and talked for a while.

That night I hit the hay early and tried to sleep in the muggy conditions.  We had a thunderstorm in the middle of the night which brought the temperatures down, but made everything wet.

I woke up around 4:45 and caught a shower.  I got changed and did some last minute prep for the race.  I mixed up my HEED and made sure everything was in my transition bag.  I drove down to the race area and unloaded my bike, walked over to the transition area and set up my area.

From there, it was mainly a wait as I was set up around 6:30 and the race did not start until 7:30.  I did get my timing chip and the body markings with my race number and age.  I found a toilet and did some last minute “prep” there too.

The Swim

At 7:15, I headed down to the lake.  When I was told “transition area was a little ways along a gravel path from the lake” I did not expect it to be mud and rock down a steep slope for about 1/3 mile!  That would surely be a tough climb after swimming that far.

I got into the water and did a little warm up.  I felt a lot of algae under the surface which would prove to be a problem in the water.  The race director made some last minute announcements, one of which was to warn us that he would have to consider the bike course “a little cruel, so have fun with that”.  We started in 3 waves, 3 minutes apart.  I was in the first wave.  I got in the back of the pack because I knew that I would be slower than the rest.  When the second wave passed me, I knew I was going to have a slow time.  I had such a hard time with breathing and the algae, that I spent the majority of the time on my back doing a backstroke just trying to calm my breathing.  I knew it was bad when someone swimming past me before the halfway mark asked, “Hey are you okay?”  I answered, “I’m fine”, but I knew that if I looked that bad, I am just hoping to finish!

I made my way from buoy to buoy until I was on the homestretch.  When I finally got out of the water, I realized there were only a few others still swimming and I had a 6 minute head start on some of them!  I ended up in 59^th place out of 60 that swam the course.  So not last, but close to it!  Then I grabbed my Keens and made my way up the hill.  I walked most of it, but when it flattened out, I started to jog.  Just before the transition area, I saw Jeff, Andrew and Breanna cheering me on!  I got to the transition area and dried off, changed into my bike shoes, put my helmet on, ate a Hammer Gel and took some Endurolytes.  I grabbed my bike and headed out on the course.

The Bike

The bike portion started off as I expected with it being relatively what I am used to.  It was just slight ups and downs, but nothing too crazy.  The one thing that I did not expect was that I was alone!  I was so slow in the water, that all but 3 others had a huge lead on the bike already.  In fact it took me 8 miles or so to catch up to someone!  I passed several people before I saw the first accident.  A guy took a wet turn too fast and wiped out, apparently slamming his knee and hitting his head too.  After I passed them, more ambulances passed me and were on their way to tend to him.  Although I did not see any others, there were apparently 3 accidents that resulted in DNFs for the participants.

The rest of the ride was very challenging with lots of hills.  I passed several more in these sections and had a good enough ride for 29^th out of the 57 that completed the course.

As I approached T2, I saw that Melissa and Great Mia had arrived and joined Jeff, Andrew and Breanna to cheer me on.  That people are there to cheer for you is a mental motivator more than anything else.

I spent the majority of the time in T2 changing shoes, trading my helmet for a HeadSweats visor and trying to get the cramping that had begun in my quads to stop.  I stretched for a bit and then headed out for the 6.2 mile run.

I ran by my “support crew” again and managed a smile and wave, although my body is already yelling at me to STOP!  As soon as I got around a bend and they could not see me, I started to walk while I ate another Hammer Gel.  Then I cam upon the race camera man and I told him, “If you are going to take pictures, I’d better run!”  So I did for a while and started to get into a rhythm.  Then I came across the hills at around the halfway point.  I finished the rest of the race walking up the hills and running down.  I was not alone.  Everyone that was around me did the same on the difficult course.  I finished the 10K, quads burning and cramping, with everyone cheering, with a time of 1:01:47, good enough for 43^rd out of the 57 that finished.

Overall, I placed 44^th, so I am not at all unhappy about it, but elated to have finished at all.  And to have my soon to be 93 year old grandmother see her first triathlon and my first of this distance was priceless.

You can see the event results here.  I will add pictures to this post as I receive them.

I am all smiles on the outside but inside is a different story... Photo by Andrew

finishing the bike - photo by Melissa

photo by Melissa

photo by Melissa

photo by Melissa

photo by Melissa

photo by Melissa

photo by Melissa

photo by Melissa

photo by Melissa

the campers - Jeff, myself, Breanna and Andrew - photo by Melissa

more support crew - Melissa, myself and Great Mia - photo by Jeff