Vineman

So Becca (new girlfriend) and I drove up to Santa Rosa together the day before the event and picked up packets and set up transition zones and all that sort of thing. It was a bit confusing since there were two different transition zones and I didn’t know about that. I ended up calling Sandy who did a KILLER job of coordinating all my friends to be at the right spots at the right times for the race. I definitely wouldn’t have been able to do it and she made sure that everyone found each other at the various times they showed up. She also picked Becca up in the morning to take her to the swim, bike, and run areas and kept her company and entertained for a lot of the day. The night before the race is kind of a blur. I wasn’t really that nervous. I knew it would suck, so there was no need to get nervous. I slept with no problems.

I woke up right on time and packed everything up and headed to the swim. I got there super early and got a good parking spot. I went down to the swim start area. I ran into some Ironteam people – some were cool, some ignored me, some were indifferent. I met a cool guy at the swim start and we talked till the start and kept our minds off of what was about to go down. I wasn’t really nervous and had decided to just have fun out there. The swim starts and I am going along at my pace, which means being at the back and continuously getting passed by tons and tons of swimmers. In the shallow areas I ended up running instead of swimming and I just swam at my pace and actually had a really good experience. I come out of the water just over 2 hours, which was better than I expected since I hadn’t trained in the water since Feb.

I come out of the water and look for my friends and I see my sign that Becca had made for me and I got a warm rush over me. I took my time switching into my bike gear and the whole bike zone was pretty much empty, so it was easy to find my stuff. I had forgotten to mention this before, but I broke my tri-bike a few days before the race so I was stuck using my road bike. I also forgot to mention that I had gained 15 lbs since Wildflower.

So, I get on the bike and feel good and confident. Unfortunately, that was the last good moment of the race. I start drinking out of my bottles, which both have Carbo-pro in them. I get sick to my stomach immediately. I had used Carbo-pro 200 times before, but this time it hits me wrong. I keep trying to drink it for 2 hours and I can’t get any of it down. So, that is 4 hours at race pace with no food or water. I stop at the next rest stop and drink a gallon of Gatorade straight in one sitting. I look like I am pregnant and I am not processing the water. Bad idea. That is when the cramping and dry-heaving starts. I push on thinking about what the guy told me at the swim start: “if it sucks it will only get better”. Liar.

In the mean time, during the first 2 hours of the bike ride I did get to do some good things. I saw a woman who was clearly frustrated and had a flat. She had used all her tubes and was stuck at the beginning of the ride. I stopped to give her a hand and a tube. She knew how to change a tube, but not how to look for the cause of the flat. I get her fixed up and on the road again. Then I came across another rider that didn’t know how to change a flat and so I stopped to change hers for her too. They were both from states away and spent all year training for the race and had their whole families there for them. I am glad that I stopped to help them as they both would have been out of the race otherwise. The last helping hand I gave was to a little mole that was trying to cross the road. He was super cute and barely weeble-wobbling across the road. I knew he would get run over so I blocked the part of the road he was on till he made it to the other side. I probably spent 20-30 minutes helping people and animals, but I am glad that I did in the long run.

So, I am riding and riding and getting slower and slower. The cramps are coming and going and I am a mess. I finally catch Kathryn at the end of the second lap, which should never have been the case. No disrespect to her, but I am a vastly superior rider. She was actually shocked to see me that late in the race and even caught me once before the end of the ride. I told her that I was proud of her for riding so well. During the last 5 miles of the bike I was cramping incredibly bad. I didn’t know if I would make it the last mile – it was really excruciating. It takes me 20 minute just to change shoes and shorts.

I start the run a complete wreck. I pass by Becca, Linsey, Chris, Mollie, and Sandy. Sandy sees what a mess I am and comes out with me on the course. I can’t say this strongly enough: Sandy REALLY saved my bacon. Keep in mind she has her own training and race to focus on, as well as a ton of other friends out there and she still jumped out there immediately to run with me for 16 miles. It was incredible. I don’t know many people that have a friend like Sandy. She literally fed me food and water the whole time and kept me moving forward and kept my pace up. She really motivated me and kept her eye on the time to make sure I made the time cutoff for finishing the second lap. It was super close and I would not have made it without her. I can’t express the pain I endured to make it those 2 laps in time.

After the second lap Sandy had to bail. Seeing my friends there made a huge difference and Meghan, Frankie’s girlfriend, jumped in to help me out. Sandy I get – she knows I am good to repay a favor. Meghan barely knows me and isn’t a runner. She kept me going the whole time. And WOW she can talk. I am crazy indebted to her, and will be sending her an email in a moment to remind her of my gratitude months after the fact. At the end of the second lap I passed Kathryn and and made a joke about us finishing together anyway (as we had planned to do months before), and I didn’t realize that started a race between us. She ended up passing me on the third lap. I initially wanted to chase her down, but with all the bad blood that we had going already I decided to let her go and enjoy her victory and let myself suffer at my own pace with my new friend beside me. The funny thing is that I had never expected to be out after dark so I didn’t bring a head-lamp and was out there stumbling around in the dark.

The last lap was sheer misery. I kept going because of the promises that I had made and the fact that I never quit. Ever. I run the last mile and cross the finish line a complete mess. I can barely stand. The people that hand out the medals are gone already. Mollie had snagged me a medal and a shirt, which I will treasure forever. I crossed in the vicinity of 16:30. I still haven’t gotten a straight answer as to whether I am an official finisher or not. At this point I consider the race a failure. I got what I paid for in training currency. I thank the people that were there for me at the finish and Becca and I load up my stuff and she drove me home. She was a real trooper for being there the WHOLE day and driving me home and then taking care of me that night and the next couple days. I will always owe her for her support.

I finished, which I take pride in, but I am definitely going to have a rematch.