Quest for the Capitol Triathlon

***June 29th, 1225 pm, In front of the Idaho Capitol***

The volunteer came up to me and removed my timing chip, while another one was popping open a cooler showing me a selection of water, energy drink, and chocolate milk. I politely... but very confidently asked for all three. I was smoked, but it had been a good race. I wasn't sure where I'd finished, but I was satisfied with my own personal performance. But there was one large thing missing.  Well... actually two things... one of them being quite small.

Marian and Rianna weren't at the finish.

So in spite of a good race for me, that wasn't what I was thinking about. Something had gone wrong (I hoped not horribly wrong). They'd never missed a race finish before. I walked through the crowd, sipping energy drink. After almost ten minutes of pacing around and not finding them, I asked a gentleman if I could borrow his phone to call Marian. As I was dialing her number, I turned and saw her wheeling Rianna in the stroller down a sidewalk towards the finish line.

Relieved, I thanked the man for the generous use of his phone, and ran over to them. Marian looked rather traumatized. Before I could say anything, she blurted out, "Oh you're done! How did it go!?"

"Fine," I said. "Are you ok? Is everything alright?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"But--"

"I. REALLY... Don't want to talk about it. Can we just talk about how you're race went?"

Pause... I'm not sure whether to push for details or let it go for a bit. I opt for letting it go...

***6:30 that morning***

You know those times when something you're really looking foward to someting, but you're trying to hold very few expectations in your mind for fear that it won't go as well as you hope? This was one of those races for me. So as we were getting ready, I was my own mix of nerves and attempts to help my very sleepy and tired wife and daughter get out the door for a long day of standing and watching me race.

After dropping my running gear off at T2, and marking the location in Garmin so Marian could find her way BACK to it, we zipped off to T1, unloaded, got checked in, and started to get settled. I grabbed a good spot in T1... which I'm still confused about, because plenty of people had shown up already. But I pretty much grabbed like... the VERY FIRST rack coming out of the swim. Confusing...

Bryant had also shown up earlier, and the spot I grabbed was right next to his. We stood there chatting... I fumbled around with my gear. Adjusted it.... Adjusted it again...... until Marian finally said.... "Hey, do you want to warm up in the water? Maybe see where you're going to be swimming...? Yes.....?" (Sometimes I don't think super clearly before races.)

We went down to the water, and Bryant handed me some spray-on sunscreen motioning for me to use it. The music was loud, so I couldn't hear his words very well... So after I sprayed it all over my head, he leans over and says, "It's transition spray! Makes it easier to get out of your wetsuit...."

Well at least it would be easy for me to get my swim cap off...

After more fumbling, we EVENTUALLY got in the water. I tried to get in the water and warmup, but my goggles started to fog... or rather smear. It was about this time I realized.... Oh, the transition spray got on my goggles.

So I wiped and dunked them in the water and scrubbed, and it wouldn't come off!! You know the whole, oil and water don't mix thing that they teach us as kids? Yeah... I didn't have any soap in my wetsuit, unfortunately, and the race announcer just said we were about to get started...

But then I had an epiphany! I remembered that saliva breaks down oil. So I started spitting on my goggles like a madman. Wouldn't surprise me if some folks THOUGHT I was a madman. After much spitting, I rubbed and rinsed them, and they were KIND OF clear. It would have to be good enough. The director said there was one minute until the start.

I hung out towards the front left. I wanted to be in clear water where I could sprint ahead and ensure I got in the front pack. They counted down... "3, 2, 1... GO!!" And we took! I'm not afraid of getting fresh with my fellow triathletes anymore, and I pounded my way through the flailing arms and legs. I find that the more confident I am, the less I get smacked around. It worked, and I broke free and saw that I was with the front pack on the left. There was another front pack about 10 meters to the right of us... They were moving a little faster to us, and since the buoys were on our right, they had the advantage. Nuts.

And then a little gift from God came out of no where. My group swam through a very shallow patch of water. I'm talking like.... 2 to 3 feet deep. PERFECT for dolphin dives. I didn't hesitate. I got up and dove once. Then got up and dove again! That gave me the boost I needed to get ahead of group to the right. Then I swerved over to the right, and started swimming with them! It worked! Alright!

We screamed around the buoys for a first fast lap. We were moving pretty quick, and just about to start the second lap when *BAM* I ran right into another swimmer, moving perpedicular to me... What the--

I look up to see a HUGE group of flailing arms right in front of me. Apparently, they'd started the sprint triathlon wave, just as we were starting the second lap.

Well, again this is where not being shy can play to your advantage. I went into bulldozer mode, and started swimming like crazy through the group. The front group I'd been swimming with for the first lap was splintered pretty quickly because of the swerving and maneuvering that we had to do. In a way, it was fun and gave me plenty of practice fighting my way through a slower pack.

After that point, I had no idea who I was swimming with. I just swam hard... and if the people in front of me were too slow, I'd pass them. Eventually, I found a fast group and went with them.

When we finished the second lap, I think I lost a little time swerving around trying to aim towards the finish. I couldn't see it... cause my goggles were fogging (or... smearing) a bit again. But I finally made it to the steep swim exit and charged out of the water. The run up to the transition area almost a half-mile. I ran as fast as I could, while still letting my heart recover...

I forgot to stop the swimming portion of my Garmin watch until I actually made it to the transition area. The official results told me that my swim was right about 22:40. Not bad!



Marian was there waiting for me faithfully next to Transition. It made me grin to see her there. I am so thankful to have such an amazing wife who follows me everywhere to these races, and goes through all the work to bring Rianna with her as well. After fumbling a bit in transition, I got to work on the bike! I knew what laid ahead on this course... it was one of the hilliest triathlon courses that I think almost any Olympic Distance triathlon has. A LOT of climbing. But the first 5-6 miles is smooth and flat (mostly) so I took advantage of that and tried to distance myself from the stronger bikers.

When I was nearing the first climb (about 600 ft) a guy caught me and made the pass. I thought, Ok he's not going super fast. Perhaps I'll just try to stay on his wheel during the climb.

So I did.

I saw that he was staying in the aero bars for all of the climbing that wasn't unbearably steep. I realized he was doing that to get as low as possible, because - yes - we had a headwind. I followed his example and found it made quite a difference!

Another guy passed us when we reached the top and then we had the downhill... Since I was on a road bike (and I'm bigger) I was able to descend faster than the other guys. I passed them just coasting.

When we reached the bottom, another guy made the pass on me again. I decided to use him as a carrot and kept him about 30 feet in front of me. After a few minutes of this, he gets up on the hoods and starts looking around and shaking his head... then he slows down and pulls up next to me (just as we're nearing another hill).

He said: "Hey! Where is Boise? We've gone too far for the sprint course right?"

I reply: "Well... we passed the turn for the Olympic about 4 miles ago. Way back before the first big climb. You might as well finish the Olympic Course now."

He then said: "#$*%!"

Feeling sorry for the fellow, but knowing that the other Triathletes are not going to wait for me to stop and give him a hug and pat on the back, I offered my condolences and forged ahead. The other guy passed me again, and looked at me quizzically. I explained...

So then we had another climb, but only a short descent, and then another climb with a BRUTAL grade. I ran out of gearing and had to stand up and crank for dear life. Just before the top, a guy on the side of the road shouted to me, "Eighth Overall, Seventh Male!" My first thought was, Wow... that's a tough girl ahead of us. Then I thought, SWEET! I'M IN SEVENTH! 

WE INTERRUPT THIS TRIATHLON TO BRING YOU THE LIFE OF MARIAN

SUPPORTIVE-YET-THWARTED-AT-EVERY-TURN

About this time, Marian is trying to get Rianna to nap in the backseat of the car while driving around Boise, searching desperately for a parking space near T2... not only is she unsuccessful at finding the parking space, but Rianna decided she doesn't want to nap in the back of the car and SCREAMS for the entire time.... Marian is feeling quite stressed and upset that Rianna is not napping, and is starting to feel panicky that she can't find a parking space...

[And oh by the way, another big reason she can't find a parking space is because she can't find T2!!!! Thanks to my expert-and -completely-3-blocks-off directions. This is yet another cause for distress.]

NOW BACK TO THE RACE

About this time, I was screaming down the final descent and then riding down the gorgeous residential avenues that would lead us back to downtown Boise and the Capitol - hence, the name. 

I was very proud of myself, because as I was finishing the bike leg, I was also downing the last few drops of my fuel in my water bottle. Score for proper nutrition!

Then it was on to the run!!

WE ONCE AGAIN INTERRUPT THIS RACE REPORT TO BRING YOU ANOTHER MESSAGE FROM THE WORLD OF MARIAN & RIANNA

So about this time, Marian had just decided to park somewhere. She was fed up with Rianna's screaming and wanted to just FIND T2 before I finished the race! She would then try to find the race on foot. To her credit, she parked in the vicinity of where I had told her the race was... NOT where our GPS was telling her it was. She is so faithful that she trusts my directions over our GPS. (Well, she USED to...) But when she parks, Rianna wants to NURSE. Well, there goes 10 minutes... then she has to unload the jogging stroller, large heavy thing that it is, and pull all 82 of Rianna's essential bags out and arrange them. THEN place Rianna in the stroller...

And THEN.... she embarks on a mission to find T2 on foot...

BACK TO THE RACE!!

I start the run at - what I perceive to be - a reasonable pace. When I check my watch at my first mile split, I see that I've run the first mile in 6:23. NOT a reasonable pace. I wanted to be a bit slower than that to give myself the chance to ease into the run after such a hard bike course.

But - like an idiot - I thought, Let's see if I can stick with this pace!

If you look at my mile splits, you'll see that I run the next in 6:28, then 6:40, then 6:48, then 7:00, and so on... I pretty much exploded. I'm not sure what faded first, my energy levels, or simply muscular fatigue from exerting myself so much on the bike. But the good news is I wasn't passed by anyone, nor did anyone pass me.

I brought it into the finish shoot - absolutely smoke - and put a big smile on my face anyways. Just for Marian! She deserves a big smile, and a whole lot more, considering how supportive she is... but as you saw above, she wasn't there. That was because her venture to find T2 on foot, carried her on her very own personal 5k jogging stoller race over downtown Boise, and she looked and looked. Not finding T2 where I told her it had been. She eventually trusted the GPS followed it, heard the music, and arrived about 5 minutes after I'd finished (the distance between where she'd originally parked and where T2 was located was only about three blocks). I've never seen her so frustrated.

I promised her that I'm no longer going to do races that have two transitions - if I can help it. Sometimes you just have to do it. But this was a disaster, and I don't want her to be miserable every time I drag her to a race. That's completely unfair.

But in the end, I got 4th overall, and got bumped to 1st in my Age Group because the other guy got moved into the "overall" podium. At first, I thought this would be good enough to qualify me for Age Group Nationals, but I later found out it wasn't. In the end though, trying to make it to Nationals this year would be pretty dumb because of our move to Ohio. Maybe I can qualify at a race later this year and go in 2014. We'll seeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

For now, I want to make sure I give another huge thanks to Marian, Rianna, and the rest of my family for being so supportive. But most of all, thanks be to the Lord God for giving me so much pleasure in racing like this. Being able to experience the thrill and pleasure of a fit and healthy lifestyle. May I never take it for granted.