Now What? (half ironman recap)

Well the Utah Half Ironman has been and gone, and I survived...sort of! So the day started off as usual, I slept like crud the night before and woke up feeling semi groggy at 4:30 AM. We went to the start line and got attacked by MILLIONS of mosquitoes in the transition area. The people who put on the race were fairly discombobulated, disorganized, and what ever adjective you would like to use that starts with dis. Anyway, my sister in law Melissa drove out from Colorado to race with me, so I had a partner in crime for all of this. They told us we were going to have wave starts, well if waves mean guys and girls then I guess they did that....would have been nice to do waves of 50 or 100 or something. Instead I started in the middle of the pack, got frustrated when I kept getting kicked and elbowed. I finally found a decent spot and swam most of the race on the sides of the crowds. I used 90% all arms, no kicking and still finished in the middle of the pack in my age division....what would have happened if I kicked, I might have been in the top 3! So after the swim there was a long run to the transition area, was especially bad for me and my bum foot. I gimped my way to the bike and off I went. My goal on the bike was to keep it at 21 MPH average. I know it sounds funny to limit how fast you go in a RACE, but I was trying to save some juice for the run. The bike was 56 miles, and at the halfway turnaround point I was averaging 22 miles an hour, so I slowed down a bit on the way back and finished at 21.5 MPH, pretty good considering I think I could have averaged 24 considering the wind was at my back for the return trip! Anyway, I got off my bike and I was more tired than I thought but still doing pretty good. I stole one of Melissa's 32 ounce Poweraids and chugged it (I ran out of drink with about 15 miles left on the bike) and off I went on the run. The run was surprisingly good...for about 1/4 mile. My foot felt OK, not 100% but still runable. Then at 1/4 mile the course had a hairpin turn and when I made it BOTH of my legs cramped at the SAME TIME! I tried to walk it off, no luck. I had to sit down and stretch out my cramping quads. They stopped and I took off slowly and tried to resume. Every 1/2 mile or so, or everytime the course had a turn in it they would both seize up. At 4 miles into the run a found Bridget on the sidelines and asked her what I should do. I was looking for her to tell me it was OK to quit or that it wasn't worth hurting myself. Um no. She told me to get out there and keep running. During our little pep talk I was sitting stretching my quads. So I tried running again, feeling a little dejected that my wife, the love of my life, wanted to KILL me on the run! About a tenth of a mile later both legs seized up again. I slowly chugged my way to the 1/2 way point and again I had the perfect chance to quit but passed it up thinking that if I returned to the transition area without crossing the line I'd be divorced before we returned to SLC! The final 6.5 miles were nothing short of brutal. My legs hurt so much, I had to sit and stretch...sometimes just sit and ponder life and curse at my hurting legs. But I am proud to report that I did make it, although I was no where near where I thought I would finish, and the time was horrible. I made it, I suffered, I got a cool medal, in retrospect I am glad I finished....don't think I had a good enough time to do another half ironman again anytime soon.

As for Melissa, my sister in law, she finished the swim 16 seconds faster than me and finished the entire bike course and then decided that she had enough. Melissa also admittingly didn't train at all for this race. She rode her bike twice and swam once, and that was it except for her soccer leagues. She had a good time, and she looks a lot happier than me today as she can move around freely and appears pain free. I on the other hand say "oh shit" every time I stand up and start moving!

Above, me approaching the finish line...the pain is about to stop.

Above, I grabbed the kids at the finish...they crossed with me!

Finally, the finisher medal. I did it, don't think I'll do that again...so this one is special!

Comments

One of my favorite pastimes is to read online news stories and then scroll to the bottom of the article and read the readers comments. I read an article about a guy here in SLC who tried to attack his family with a Chainsaw. When the chainsaw wouldn't start he picked up a weed whacker which also wouldn't start. When that failed he got in his car and tried to run them over, problem was it took him long enough to get the keys and get in and get it started that his family walked inside and called the cops. I realize the subject matter isn't funny at all, but the outcome is kinda funny...c'mon admit it...anyway, the comments of the story were pretty funny. One person commented that is why he does yearly maintenance on his yard equipment, "they always start on the first or second pull". Another person posted something about devine intervention, that a "higher force" prevented the yard equipment from starting. One person responded to that comment and said the higher force was called oxidation. Another called the higher force fouled spark plugs. And a third person said it was high gas prices, cracks me up!

Well I guess I better get going. I was having trouble with my chainsaw the other day and I just couldn't get it started. I pulled and pulled the cord an it just wouldn't go, so I had to use the weed whacker, but again it wouldn't start, so I had to drive to The Home Depot....I couldn't figure out why my family was running away from me as fast as the could.

More Sunflowers

As the sunflowers keep coming out I keep getting reminded of what I planted! I forgot that I bought a package of purple sunflowers, and when they started popping out a couple of days ago I thought something was wrong because they were black as night. I took a couple of pictures today, but they are clearly turning more purple than staying black. Anyway, it's funny to me that I forget what I planted and where I planted it....so when it comes up it is a big surprise!

Less than a week

6 days and counting down until the BIG race. I am really nervous. First thing is first I need to get my diet under control....quickly. The trip to Loveland really threw me into a tailspin, and somehow seemed to justify a few extra days off since we have been home! I don't know how that works, but it did! I ran 4 miles on Friday and was completely useless for the rest of the day and most of Saturday in terms of my foot. I really don't know how it is going to hold up for the race and what is going to happen to me post race. My taper schedule calls for me to do light runs and bikes as well as swim everyday. I think I might skip the running, unless I do some short 2 mile treadmill runs.

We'll see I guess. I am nervous to say the least, but I have a plan and I'll just have to stick to it and see how it goes!

My Sunflowers

A while back I posted about my sunflower seed that I planted and I was very concerned that I got them in the ground too late and wouldn't get any decent flowers....check them out today! They are about 6 feet tall and the sunflowers are just starting to come out.