So taking Ragnar (more on that in another post) and the goodness that came with it, it was time to prep for Lake Stevens Half-Ironman Relay. Marc got to swim 1.2 miles and our friend, Tricia, got to bike 56 miles. That left me running 13.1 miles in the end. After running 14 miles the week before Lake Stevens and the experience from Ragnar, I felt ready thanks to Kim of TN Multisports and her guidance.
The drive up to Lake Stevens on raceday was uneventful, except for the fact that we were up at around 4:15am – 4:30am. Based on our calculations, Marc was going off in the water at 7:08am, and then based on Marc’s time, Tricia would be going off at around 7:40am (including transition). Finally Tricia was expecting to come in somewhere around three hours and 15 minutes, so that meant a start for me around 10:45am – 11:00am. So we had a plan until….
Marc was walking around in his wetsuit around the start and got a bunch of grass on his feet. In his haste to get the grass off, he rubbed his foot on the stage he was standing on and managed to get a monster splinter in his foot. Ouch! I went to go find a medical tent, but of course given that the race hadn’t started yet, it wasn’t open for another 15 minutes! Crap!
We didn’t pack tweezers, so we found a nurse outside of the medical tent who said she would take the splinter out if we could find a pair. Fortunately, I noticed the market across the street from the start was open AND they sold tweezers. Things were looking up! Bought a pair, and nurse Anne said it was one of the biggest splinters she has ever seen. Errr, way to overachieve, Marc!
Marc warmed up, and I hung around with some of my teammates from TN Multisports. We had a fair amount of athletes competing. A big tent was set-up right near a key point in the course. Saw another friend of mine, David, who ended up rocking the course. Eventually all of the waves started going off and the relays went off last. Marc had a lot of people to pass just because he is such a strong swimmer. Teresa (yes, the Teresa of Teresa Nelson Multisports) is an amazing swimmer and came out of the water 1st of all of the folks doing the relay.
Marc came out within a minute of his time, and then passed things off to Tricia. We had no way to track Tricia, so I told her that we would be there about 15 minutes before her target time. So off to clean-up Marc, eat and cheer on some folks. The time ended up going by pretty fast and before I knew it, I was changing into my race gear. The weather was being fairly schizophrenic with the temps and cloud cover, but I just decided to stick with my original plan of what to wear.
Tricia came in 7 minutes ahead of her projected time and I was off. I had to remember that my time didn’t start until I left the transition area and was out on the official course.
• Mile 1 (8:15): Whoa Nellie! Need to keep calm so emotions/adrenaline don't get best of me.
• Mile 2 (8:40): Solid on the gradual uphill. No complaints here.
• Mile 3 (8:22): Felt good. Maintained cadence.
• Mile 4 (8:20): Felt great after throngs of people yelled my name, including some unexpected support from people that I didn't know were going to be there.
That 1st mile was tough because I saw Kim and her boyfriend Rusty (another very well respected coach and triathlete) right out of the gate, so I was excited to see them and I needed to calm down (see split above). In the 4th mile, you pass by an area which is fairly chaotic. TNM set up their tent along the side of the road here. Because this course is a double-loop and then a double out and back, you end up passing by this area on the course 4 times. It’s hard to explain, but if you click on the Garmin link HERE (hit the play symbol and scroll down), you can get a better idea.
In any event, I turned the corner and sure enough I heard a whole bunch of people yelling my name. And then I even heard someone else yell my name across the street. It was one of my colleagues at Tableau! Brandon and his girlfriend were there cheering on another friend. Wow – double bonus for unexpected cheering section! I was beyond amped at this point.
• Mile 5 (8:26): Very solid on the uphill. Helped having Marc stationed at the top to keep me focused on getting to him so I could throw him a water bottle. :-)
• Mile 6 (8:24): Tried to keep things in check on downhill and return uphill. Saw Marc again. Woo woo!
• Mile 7 (8:19): Got massively pumped hitting the tent area and then got a bit amped having to run around the person hogging the lane. Fast.
I start the 2nd half and I am feeling pretty good. The legs are starting to feel a bit tired, but I press on. My paces to this point seem decent, but I wasn’t tracking as well as I should. I came back into town at around mile 10 and my shoulder was starting to ache. I knew I would see the TNM folks again, and there they were yelling for me. What an emotional boost and Kim was front and center. I just started high-fiving the team along the way. It was so awesome to have that support. Nice to see Eileen too!
• Mile 8 (8:43): Fatigue started. Tried to keep it close to mile 2 timing. Off by 3 seconds. Not bad.
• Mile 9 (8:40): Took foot off of the gas and didn't take advantage on the downhill/flat. The goal was "lost" here. Needed to be more aggressive.
• Mile 10 (8:24): 2nd wind coming into tent area. Stayed positive for remaining 2 "mini-climbs".
I saw Marc again and threw him another bottle. He asked how I was doing and I told him that I was doing the best I could, but he wanted to know if I was following Kim’s instructions of reverse splits. At this point, I knew I probably did the 1st half faster than the 2nd half.
• Mile 11 (8:41): Saw Marc again. Definitely felt slower going up the hill this time around. I expected that but 15 seconds was a big jump.
I approached the sharp turnaround and felt a pain in my left calf. It was a cramp of some kind and I just literally yelled out loud, “Oh no you don’t! In 20 minutes, you can do whatever you want! No cramps now!” When I told this story to Marc over dinner, he laughed and said that he heard some very interesting things on the course while waiting for me. It made me chuckle.
• Mile 12 (8:26): The calf and quads started to ache at the turnaround. Legs felt heavier, but I was pretty impressed with that mile split. Noticed at 11.5 that 1:50 was going to be really tight.
I looked at my watch for my overall time and saw it was going to be REALLY cutting it close for my goal time. Move, darnit, move! I saw the tent again, heard the cheers, sprinted around a couple of people and Tricia
then ran ahead to see me at the finish. As I turned the final corner, I saw that my watch had just turned to one hour and 50 minutes (my goal time) which bummed me out, but I still pushed as hard as I could.
• Mile 13+ (7:49'ish): Ignoring obvious pain. Even when I saw watch hit 1:50, I still pushed as hard as I could to finish.
Final time: 1:50:10 – 2+ minute PR, 11 seconds shy of goal.
Saw Marc and Tricia, got medals, hugs, etc. Found Kim and debriefed. Thanked the teammates for cheering me on. As I changed out of my sneakers into my sandals, I let out a huge scream because of my calf. When Marc saw the face I made from outside the car, he knew it was bad.
All in all, a very good day even without hitting the goal. The goal was lost on mile 9. I let up on a much easier stretch of the course. Lesson learned for next time.
And now the real miles begin for the full marathon. Here we go.
Numerous baseball players have complained that A-Rod gets to play while he appeals an unprecedented suspension. But they seem to forget that THEY voted on the collective bargaining agreement that grants players to RIGHT to play during an appeals process. So if they really want this to stop, they can call upon their union leadership to open up the CBA and change the process. Until then, they are sore losers since, somehow, the Yankees have started hitting again.
