Wow, what a RACE! It was all I ever expected it to, but with a little surprise waiting for me on my bike ride. In the end, it didn't turn out exactly how I wanted it to, but, really, what in my life does, right?
We started off with setting up for the race the night before. Joel Setzer, friend from Portland, was racing with me. Well, we decided ahead of time that would wouldn't actually race together, but we were cyber-training together and would be one another's support during the race. We set up, got our bearings and then took a bunch of race-eve pictures. Don't we look relaxed? I was a nervous wreck on the inside. 
On race day, we got all ready to go. My swim hat took off first, a whopping 4 minutes before Joel's. Thanks to friend, Megan Graham, my tooshie was nice and cozy in her NRS wetsuit. I did a pre-race warm up, which took my breath away (it was only 60 degree water!), and then got ready for the countdown. Once my heat started, I swam the entire course, struggling a bit to stay straight and not get kicked by other swimmers. The website said the waters were crystal clear, but there was no lane marker on the bottom of the lake to keep me going in the right direction. Swim, swim, swim, blah, blah, blah. Finished the swim and headed into the transition to get ready for the bike. 3 minutes later, I was off for the bike. I felt GOOD...had my energy shots, a granola bar, and two bottles of gatorade. As I got my speed up, I noticed that I was not able to get into my 6 fastest gears, those gears you use to go really fast downhill. I knew it was an 18 speed bike (again, Megan, thank you for letting me use your bike!), but I was not familiar as to making necessary adjustments to get it to work right. No biggle. I could deal with 12 speeds. At mile 12, there was a 3 mile section with a mostly uphill climb. No prob...I had trained on hills. I get to the top, and at about mile 16, my crank (which is attached to my pedal) falls off out of nowhere. What? And, how do I fix it? I know that mostly anything can be fixed with an Allen wrench and knew that there was one in my saddle bag. So I got pulled over, retrieved my crank from the road and attempted to fix it. I didn't pay attention to the placement of the crank, and when I got back on the bike, the pedals were not in a straight line, causing me to feel like I was riding a clown bike or something (insert circus music here please). I knew that I needed to fix it again, and less than a mile later, it fell off again. What?!?!?!?!?! Pulled over again, fixed it. Got going. fell off again. Seriously? Someone on the side of the road that was cheering people on helped me out. Thought I was golden. Yeah, right. Within 10 miles, my pedal fell off 8 times. EIGHT TIMES! At one point on the ride, I knew the pedal was about to fall off, so I stopped pedalling with my left foot (the loose side) and just pedalled with my right. I got over 2 miles that way (there was also a downhill to coast), but then had to get back to repairing it. At mile 26, the pedal fell off again, and it appeared that I had lost some sort of piece to put it back together again. So, with 2 miles of the bike portion, I got off and ran with the bike. People are passing me saying, "Are you alright? Do you need anything?" "Nope, just a broken pedal. I will be fine. Thanks!" At this point in time, it just became humorous. Obviously, I wasn't in it to win the race, but this was definitely slowing down my time. After the run (which was tortuous because I didn't have free arms), My bike time was 45 minutes longer than expected. INSERT RACE FACTS HERE: There were 580 bike finishers. I finished about 568th in the bike. Oh well. So, I finally make it to the bike-run transition area, park my bike, take a quick potty break (no toilet paper left in the porta-potty!), and head for the trail for the 6.4 mile run. By now, the trail is mostly covered with walkers. So here I am, running along, passing walker after walker, cheering them on to the finish line. The trails were covered with fans cheering us on, as well as spraying runners with makeshift showers they made specifically for the race and handing out handfulls of ice chips to help with the heat. This was the best part of the race. I love it when a community rallies together and embraces a race. It was awesome. 
As I near mile 5.5, I see a familiar person ahead of me...JOEL???? Yes! Joel! After racing for more than 3 1/2 hours apart, we meet up in the end! It was awesome to run the last mile together, encouraging one another to finish strong. I told him about my bike dilemmas, we laugh, pant, and keep running to the finish line. As we approach, the crowd thickens, and I hear, "Way to go Dana!" Scott and Megan (with Baby Leila) came just to see me finish the race. They waited over 2 hours at the finish line and were awesome support when I (finally) crossed. And of course, at the end were Jeff, Bailey, and Amy, ready with cold water, hugs, and high fives.
After our family celebration, Joel and I finished up, got our timing chips taken off our ankles, received our medals and sweat towels, and enjoyed a racer's feast of Red Vines, cheesy pasta, watermelon, pretzels, bagels, and strawberry shortcake. I had two plates.In the end, what mattered most happened: I finished the race. My bike might have wanted me to quit, but there was no way that I could. The feeling of crossing a finish line motivates me every time. I have a feeling that, when I cross the "pearly gates" into heaven, that crown on my head and the robe around my shoulders will be similar...but even better.
I have another race this weekend, a sprint triathlon with an added boating element. I am teaming with Scott Graham on this one, and it should be a fun time. Next race is the MAC Dash, sprint triathlon in Madras in September. Anyone want to join me?
No comments:
Post a Comment