Hey guys,
So i'm back from lake placid, boy what a weekend i tell ya, this was my first IM so i'm extremely happy with the way my experience went.
So as I live in montreal, I only needed to drive 2 hours to get to placid, infact, it was more like 4 hours with the traffic at the border, I now know not to come the day before but maybe 3 days before just to get comfortable, well setup, and feel good around the race atmosphere.
I got to the KOA camp site (10 miles from mirror lake) setup my tent, headed into town, made sure that I had all my gear ready for the big day, called record10carbon to go grab a bite. We ate at this awesome new sandwich place called simply gourmet on saranac road which was freaking awesome, sandwiches were amazing there it was definitely a good meal with record10carbon, rroof, a teammate friend of mine and tracy(R10C's wife), we spoke a bit about racing, steve larsen, life, running, leg problems, athlete jibber jabber and just had a blast. Time came to head out, and we all parted ways.
I drove to the site and spent some time looking at how the transition zone was setup from the top, I knew that race day was just gonna be awesome and a completely new experience for me, I was freakin stoked.
I walked around town for a bit grabbed an ice-cream at ben and jerry's, and headed back to my campsite at around 10pm (a bit late if y'ask me), another team mate joined us at around 1:20 am, kind of annoying considering it woke me up, but i was sound asleep again in no time.
All of a sudden my LATE alarm woke me up! OH NO I THOUGHT, I'm gonna miss the race, I grabbed all my crap and headed out from the campsite at 5:40, good thing i had my road bike there to give me a nice warming of the legs on such a cool morning.
I got to the swim start just 15 minutes before the cannon blew, I was geared up for the race and totally ready to start my IM experience, I tried to look around and see anybody i recognized but it just didn't happen, I wasn't gonna find anyone i knew with all the caps and goggles on.
I remember it like it happened 2 minutes ago, U2 came on the load speakers and the cannon blew, the feeling was so exhilerating, the kind that gives you the chills and everyone was off, a mass start of this caliber was just so incredible, absolutely amazing, all you could see was white water from the arms and legs kicking all over the place.
Soon after the start in just no time it felt like, i made my way through to transition and out onto the bike course, this day was just an absolute amazing feeling and the amount of people cheering and supporting just makes it even better, what a great ambiance if you ask me.
Out on the bike course it was cold n' wet for a bit, pretty chilly and all i had was a mear jersey and cycling short on. The bike loops went by in no time, it was just incredible for me to be there actually experiencing lake placid and it was everything that everyone had said about it.
Coming up the papa bear climb dev had passed me, so did kevin grogan, and well yes i'm embarassed to say so did chip (record10carbon) but still i had to focus on the race, i couldn't get side tracked. On the second loop rroof passed me but didn't recognize ol' ted m. even though i did call out his name, he seemed to be in his zone and just kept on climbing.
I soon finished up on the bike course and boy was it ever exhausting out there in the heat, I headed out onto the run.
I was passing everyone like crazy, i was encouraging people and trying to motivate those who weren't doing so great, especially since I know this feeling, I got almost at the turn around and made it to where dev was, I gave him a good word and stayed with him for a bit, he seemed to be going through a bit of a tough time but I told him to keep workin hard and just keep running, i reminded him that he was a 1:30 half marathon pace bunny and proceeded out onto the course, back up the hill, coming around a second time i saw record10carbon walking and i tried to get him to run a lil' bit again, he tried and thats all that i saw, I proceeded back out onto the course to finish the day.
I was there at the finish line. An absolutely perfect day for me.
I didn't race, I watched and I cheered, but it was totally an awesome feeling, It was amazing to see grogan, dev, rroof, record10carbon, and later in the evening Murphy's law and the polar rep, who seemed a bit tired by about 11pm.
The only STer that I made it in time to see finish was rroof, he was pleased, and was very happy to be with his family, an awesome cat he is.
I was exhausted by the end of the day, it was very difficult cheering all day for both teammates and others, one of my teammates finished 24th 3rd in his AG, and will be going to kona, which is just great for a team like mine and will motivate others in the team to start being a bit more competitive.
If those of you remember at the top of the papa bear climb a group of people in red and black jerseys I was amongst those, and we had a blast that day, and maybe you guys saw me out on my litespeed on the run course.
This was an experience I wont ever forget, and hopefully next year it will be even better, I'll see you guys next at timberman, but this time i'll actually be racing :)
cheers, and thanks for a great day!
------------------------------------------------------------------
"The aspect of sport that you learn is that you have your good times and your bad times, but you share it with great people." - George Gregan
So i'm back from lake placid, boy what a weekend i tell ya, this was my first IM so i'm extremely happy with the way my experience went.
So as I live in montreal, I only needed to drive 2 hours to get to placid, infact, it was more like 4 hours with the traffic at the border, I now know not to come the day before but maybe 3 days before just to get comfortable, well setup, and feel good around the race atmosphere.
I got to the KOA camp site (10 miles from mirror lake) setup my tent, headed into town, made sure that I had all my gear ready for the big day, called record10carbon to go grab a bite. We ate at this awesome new sandwich place called simply gourmet on saranac road which was freaking awesome, sandwiches were amazing there it was definitely a good meal with record10carbon, rroof, a teammate friend of mine and tracy(R10C's wife), we spoke a bit about racing, steve larsen, life, running, leg problems, athlete jibber jabber and just had a blast. Time came to head out, and we all parted ways.
I drove to the site and spent some time looking at how the transition zone was setup from the top, I knew that race day was just gonna be awesome and a completely new experience for me, I was freakin stoked.
I walked around town for a bit grabbed an ice-cream at ben and jerry's, and headed back to my campsite at around 10pm (a bit late if y'ask me), another team mate joined us at around 1:20 am, kind of annoying considering it woke me up, but i was sound asleep again in no time.
All of a sudden my LATE alarm woke me up! OH NO I THOUGHT, I'm gonna miss the race, I grabbed all my crap and headed out from the campsite at 5:40, good thing i had my road bike there to give me a nice warming of the legs on such a cool morning.
I got to the swim start just 15 minutes before the cannon blew, I was geared up for the race and totally ready to start my IM experience, I tried to look around and see anybody i recognized but it just didn't happen, I wasn't gonna find anyone i knew with all the caps and goggles on.
I remember it like it happened 2 minutes ago, U2 came on the load speakers and the cannon blew, the feeling was so exhilerating, the kind that gives you the chills and everyone was off, a mass start of this caliber was just so incredible, absolutely amazing, all you could see was white water from the arms and legs kicking all over the place.
Soon after the start in just no time it felt like, i made my way through to transition and out onto the bike course, this day was just an absolute amazing feeling and the amount of people cheering and supporting just makes it even better, what a great ambiance if you ask me.
Out on the bike course it was cold n' wet for a bit, pretty chilly and all i had was a mear jersey and cycling short on. The bike loops went by in no time, it was just incredible for me to be there actually experiencing lake placid and it was everything that everyone had said about it.
Coming up the papa bear climb dev had passed me, so did kevin grogan, and well yes i'm embarassed to say so did chip (record10carbon) but still i had to focus on the race, i couldn't get side tracked. On the second loop rroof passed me but didn't recognize ol' ted m. even though i did call out his name, he seemed to be in his zone and just kept on climbing.
I soon finished up on the bike course and boy was it ever exhausting out there in the heat, I headed out onto the run.
I was passing everyone like crazy, i was encouraging people and trying to motivate those who weren't doing so great, especially since I know this feeling, I got almost at the turn around and made it to where dev was, I gave him a good word and stayed with him for a bit, he seemed to be going through a bit of a tough time but I told him to keep workin hard and just keep running, i reminded him that he was a 1:30 half marathon pace bunny and proceeded out onto the course, back up the hill, coming around a second time i saw record10carbon walking and i tried to get him to run a lil' bit again, he tried and thats all that i saw, I proceeded back out onto the course to finish the day.
I was there at the finish line. An absolutely perfect day for me.
I didn't race, I watched and I cheered, but it was totally an awesome feeling, It was amazing to see grogan, dev, rroof, record10carbon, and later in the evening Murphy's law and the polar rep, who seemed a bit tired by about 11pm.
The only STer that I made it in time to see finish was rroof, he was pleased, and was very happy to be with his family, an awesome cat he is.
I was exhausted by the end of the day, it was very difficult cheering all day for both teammates and others, one of my teammates finished 24th 3rd in his AG, and will be going to kona, which is just great for a team like mine and will motivate others in the team to start being a bit more competitive.
If those of you remember at the top of the papa bear climb a group of people in red and black jerseys I was amongst those, and we had a blast that day, and maybe you guys saw me out on my litespeed on the run course.
This was an experience I wont ever forget, and hopefully next year it will be even better, I'll see you guys next at timberman, but this time i'll actually be racing :)
cheers, and thanks for a great day!
------------------------------------------------------------------
"The aspect of sport that you learn is that you have your good times and your bad times, but you share it with great people." - George Gregan
Last edited by:
Ted McGregor: Jul 24, 06 16:42