Race Morning: (4:30am) Not that it hard getting up this early since I was already up. I started with a little Hawaiian bread and a little GU H20 and a couple of cups of regular water. Loaded up some of gear into the car and noticed it was a damp morning. On the drive over to San Dimas it was flat out raining, I was getting calls from my fellow newbies asking if the event will still go on, I assured them that short of a lightning strike, rain or shine. Besides its not like we weren’t going to get wet. 
(Dad, Cousin, Me)
(6:15am) I get to Bonelli Park and Luke (my cousin) and my Dad are already there with a parking spot reserved for me. Gotta love family. By the time I got there the morning was frigged but at least the rain stopped. We shoot the cold breeze and unload for about an hour. And Adam shows up. I give Josh a call…voicemail. I get a call back at around 7:20 saying that he slept in. Well the gun goes off at 8:30am so hurry.
(Adam, Josh, Rick [Dad], Me, Luke [Cousin])
(7:45am) Now everyone is in the transition area getting oriented or disoriented depending on how you look at it.
[I’ll be reporting the other newbie’s race reports as they come in: so today will just be mine]
Everyone is either on the shore in wading in water when the promoters put up and flag and have Witney Houston (recording) singing the National Anthem. The waves are sent off and I find myself in the corral waiting...I hate waiting, you start thinking. I'm an external optimist and an internal pesimist. So everything that can go wrong is flying through my head. The gun fires and off we go. I alligned myself to the outside as to not get in too far into the washing machine. I was behind my cousin for a while watching, he was doing fine so I passed on his left and kept going till I came to a guy who was breast stroking the whole way. When I went to pass on his right he kicked me right in the chest. He appologized but that didn't change the fact that I got kicked in the chest by a guy a foot taller than me (and I know this because everyone is a foot taller than me - see pix for reference). I was second out of the water behind my friend Josh, didn't think I was going to pass up Mr. Varsity Swimmer, but I didn't want to be too far behind.
I actually had some energy to jog a little out of the water. Next time I'll run all the way into transition. I got into transition and it took me about 4.5 minutes to get out. Which is what I was expecting given that this was the first time I would actually have to switch into clip shoes for the bike.
The bike was great...sorta. I actually passed a few people this time. Felt good, especially since they looked to be in better shape than me. They passed my later on the run, but I'll take my small victories. The only hiccup was when I was zooming down and straight around 35 mph and shifted too quickly and as soon as my thumb pushed down I know one more push on the peddle, and sure enough...POP goes my chain. Not into little pieces but just off the gear. So I coasted down and midway up the next hill till I came to a stop and put the chain back on. On the last hill of the bike I tried to get out of the saddle and finish it up strong but my calve wouldn't let me so I sat back down and coasted back into transition.
T2 went a lot better than I expected. I thought I was going to have a problem getting the clips undone in a hurry. It seems that whem I'm at home it take a while to get my clips off and that with no pressure. It was pretty seemless. My times will be posted on the bottom.
Like I said the transition was fine but the run had only just begun. Right when I started running out of T2 my right calve died on me. It took me about 1/4 of a mile to work it to the point where I could run on it. That coarse was HILLY. Up and down, up and down. Soooo many ups and downs that I was getting sea sick. Or just SICK. Basically I walked up most of the hills and ran down. Getting closer to the finishline I see my beautiful wife like a mirage. She ran up to me and ran with me across the finishline. I slowed my pace slightly before the finish so that I could cross the line smiling. Instead of another drunken puppet like Hermosa. I felt much better this time around.
It was great to have the support of my family and friends there edging my on. Running alongside me, I totally forgot about my legs at that point. A hilly course from hell, but a great race and a great day.
Live Long, Play Hard, Tri Harder!
Overall Rank 127 (Out of 137)Final Time - 1:40:41
Swim (200 yrds) - 0:04:35 (Ranked 64)
T1 - 0:04:24
Bike - 0:38:28 (Ranked 118) Avg Speed: 10.8 MPH
T2 - 0:03:09
Run - 0:50:05 (Ranked 133) Avg Speed: 16.09 Min/miles
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7 comments:
Woo hoo! Mr. Tri Vortex the triathlete!! Nice race report and excellent job. You managed to mix in some humor while keeping it real. I like that. I didn't know Bonelli was so hilly, but then again, I don't run there and Darrell makes it sound like a piece of cake. I suppose the next one will be even better, eh?
Congrats on your tri. Hehe, my first tri, I breast stroke my way. Defintely gotta watch out for those breastrokers...I do have many close encounters with them.
As for yoru comment about sugar drink not well with the stomach, have you tried Eload (http://www.eload.net/eHome.htm)?
Before Infinit, I was using Eload. It works pretty well with my stomach and not overally sweet (unlike Gatorade).
way to get it done!!
WoooooHooooo.
And you finished with a smile. That's what I'm talkin' about!!!
Wow - GREAT JOB!!! Loved the race report. Congrats on finishing your first tri!
You asked me so many questions, but don't have your email 'on' in your comments, so I'll answer with comments to your blog.
What are you using to track it?
- I have a Garmin and upload the data to SportsTracks, which is freeware.
What is your son doing in California? And what part? Is it a safe place?
- Band trip. Anaheim & San Diego.
Yea, you did it! And I love that your wife had sympathy anxiety. Now, sign her up for Danskin! It's at the same place. Come on, she can do it!
way to go! You did really great - the swim is always the hardest for me! also, on my first tri last year my chain was jammed between the gear & the frame - I was stomping on it to try to get it to give!
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