As a wrap up to the year, I wanted to say a few things.
I had no idea I was going to do as well as I've done in my races this year. I won my age group three times at large local races, narrowly missing the podium several times. I won the Air Force 10k Active Duty division, and I even did pretty well at my first ever swim meet! It's safe to say there were definitely some breakthrough points this year, and I'm proud of that! The hard work over the last few years is really showing!
Since the last race, a series of events have caused me to do a lot of self reflection. In October, my wife and I experienced the miscarriage of our second child. This was devastating for both of us. It was our first miscarriage, and naturally, we were not expecting it. I still struggle to discuss it when people ask. It's a very sensitive topic for both Marian and I.
The same week we miscarried, I started my master's degree program at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT). And WOW... what a sucker punch. The amount of reading, homework, and studying necessary just to survive the course-work has been overwhelming. (Another reason why I hadn't made time to write this blog.) I've learned a LOT, but I've been stressed and REALLY busy, and trying to fit in proper training, while ensuring quality time spent with my family, has been a really big strain.
Along with all of these recent experiences, God has been impressing on me to think about where I stand with the sport of triathlon. After several months of prayer and self-reflection, I've decided to take triathlon (and competition in general) a lot less seriously from this point forward. I'm not a professional athlete, and sport isn't my livelihood. I once entertained delusions of thinking I could be a professional, but I've seen the level you have to train and perform at to be an elite. While I think I may have the potential, triathlon is a very time-demanding sport. It's also very mentally demanding. As hard as I continue to try not to let my mind get sucked into it, I still find that my family, friends, and my relationship with God remain unacceptably neglected.
I'm not quitting. I'm not giving it up. But these are the things I'm going to ensure are fundamentals of my hobby going forward:
1) It's about having fun. Enjoying the process.
2) If I make the Air Force team someday, then great. But I'm not set on it anymore. I can enjoy being fit and competing on a lower level without the fancy-schmancy "Air Force Athlete" title.
3) Changing my focus to things that are eternal - God has given me a talent for endurance sports. That much is clear. I need to remember that He gets the glory for ALL of this; and I'm going to spend more time ensuring other athletes know who He is, and how HE is my life. Not triathlon.
So if you've read this far, kudos to you. Now I'll talk about my last race of the season...
The Deer Creek Fall challenge was another VERY well organized race. HFP racing put it on, just like the Great Buckeye Challenge, and it did not disappoint.
As you may know, the week before this race, I also raced the AF Marathon 10k... and placed 5th overall, and 1st in the Military Division. I managed to recover quite well in the day or two following, but then caught a mild illness early in the week. Marian and Rianna had been sick for a week and a half already before that point, and - up until then - I'd remained untouched by whatever they'd caught. I spent Tuesday through Thursday thinking that I wouldn't be able to do the race (which was on a Sunday) but, as I started to shake the bug... something changed my mind on Friday/Saturday. I thought I could still do it.
But Marian and Rianna were still REALLY sick and confined to their beds... so they had to stay home. Bummer... it would be weird to not have my support team there with me.
When I got to the race, I kept to myself mostly. I was just trying to focus on getting set up in time to go warm up in the lake. When I got down there, the water was.... a BIT colder than the water had been at the Great Buckeye Challenge. But I'd swam in much colder water before.
They lined my wave up on the beach and sounded the blow-horn. I bolted into the water and did a couple dolphin dives to separate myself from the rest of the crowd. The swim would be two laps around a rectangle. Unfortunately, there were a lot of other waves already out in the water, which meant that only after a few hundred meters, I was having to work my way through all the stragglers.
This was where I got a song stuck in my head. Of course... it would be the techno version of the Legend of Zelda theme... heh.
I finished the first lap quite strong. I'd really put a lot out there to separate myself from the others... but the lingering strain from the 10k race followed by my illness started to pull on me like lead weights. Fortunately, a guy who'd been drafting off me for the first lap pulled up next to me, and let me get on his feet. (Thanks to whoever that was.) Nonetheless, the second lap was a struggle, and I exited the water pretty spent.
The hill we had to run up gave me a nice heart-rate spike heading into T1. But other than hitting the lap button on my Garmin one-too-many times (so the bike portion was recorded under T2) transition went fine. The bike was also a two-lap course, and pretty much mirrored the swim. I felt really strong on the first lap... but as I moved into the second lap, my legs started to run out of gas. Each lap ended with a couple short climbs, and I didn't have my normal "punch" when going up.
This didn't bode well for the run... but I told myself, "It's ok... just finish... You're here to have fun."
While it was true that I was there to have fun. Fun is exactly what the run would deny me.
As I took off into the run... I thought, "Ok! I can do this... I feel alright!" My first quarter mile was 1:26, and my second was 1:28..............................but that number would continue to climb. Still I felt "ok". I tried to maintain a pace just around 1:32-1:37 per quarter mile.
But when I neared the turnaround point, something happened. My core muscles started failing... I couldn't breathe normally. My back started to tighten, and I couldn't swing my arms as easily. Oxygen wasn't getting to my legs properly, and I couldn't stride properly because I lacked support from my core and back.
Then I hit the turnaround... Normally a 5k is a jog a yawn for me to do, this time it felt like I had to run a marathon to get to back to the finish line.
My quarter mile pace climbed considerably. 1:45... 1:47....1:50... 1:58.......
I could barely jog. It took every fiber in my body to not start walking. My mind faded in and out of control. It felt like my body was just plodding along because it didn't know how to do anything else but run. I knew that in theory I could stop, or even quit altogether. But that didn't seem on the list of options to me.
Besides... I'd still have to get back to the finish area. Might as well do it on my own two feet right?
Heh......
After what felt like eternity. I crossed the finish. 2:19:35. I wanted to puke. I'm surprised that I DIDN'T puke. But after letting my body settle, I ate a LOT of food. Then I packed things up and headed straight home. I needed a shower and a nap.
This was a testament to the progress I'd made over the years. Even though in the swim and bike, I felt sub-optimal, and then completely fell to pieces on the run, I still bested my previous personal best for an olympic triathlon. THIS was something to be proud of...
...that, and finishing at ALL.
I want to thank God for the opportunity to do these races, and then share my experiences. I also want to thank my enduring wife and daughter - with whom I'll be spending a lot more time with as a I learn to take this hobby less seriously. Thanks for my single sponsor, Trainer Road, and all my swim mates on the Dayton Area Sharks swim team. Without these two organizations, I wouldn't have made the incredible strides in cycling and swimming that I have this year.
Until next time!
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