So, off I went to EpicMan Thursday, with a touch of reasonable doubt about doing this training event. I pulled in to Mirror Lake around 3 pm, and hauled the bike out for a short, get the kinks out of the legs after a five hour drive, ride.
There, I received the first omen that the spirit of St. Khai was with me. There were two young ladies standing in the water, and a coach on the grass directing them. The girls turned out to be training for the luge, and were alternating doing double pulls in knee deep water wearing oversized webbed mitts, and sprint starts on a surf board in a kneeling position. Now, these ladies were in form hugging long sleeve tops and bikini bottoms, and I don’t think you could find nicer upper bodies anywhere without an extended and lengthy search.
Back to business. My longest ride of the year was 80 miles, about two weeks ago. My longest training run over ten miles was last March. My swim workouts have been great, but we all know that doesn’t count on ST. So, after a nice morning dip (much too short in my opinion), it was off to the bike. A nice 6 hr pack formed for that pace, but alas, the 6:30 pace group failed to achieve solidarity or consensus, and I was left to ride pretty much on my own, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing at LP.
The day, however, turned out to be pretty warm. Furthermore, to quailfy for the “if you’re going to be dumb” part, I didn’t bring any cash with me for the refill stops at the gas station. Actually, that blows by dumb and attains the level of full blown stupid. I persevered, however, got some assistance, and finished the ride. Things felt like they would be easier once I got through the Wilmington gap the second time and said good bye to the three bears.
Ah, but it had gotten really warm by the time the run started. From talking with Dev, it sounded like this run was always hard at the start, but that people tend to clump together and pull each other through.
I started off alone, and overheated, and with nothing in the legs, but not overly concerned as I thought the legs would come around after a couple of miles. They didn’t. One of the gals from Canada went whizzing by me at about a mile and a half out, just flying with no problems. That was not encouraging. The first lead runners went by around the Horse parade grounds, a good eight or nine miles in front of me.
So, I found myself on the quiet out and back River Road stretch, and it came to me. I have to finish this run for St. Khai. He sacrificed himself at Oliver so that others could finish for him.
It wasn’t very pretty, I was walking a lot with no one in sight in front of me and no one behind. People coming back the other way appeared with greater regularity, MurphysLaw right before I reached River Road, Dev just after, ChrisG not all that far behind. Then it got quiet for a while and I figured I was Tail End Charlie.
But, after the turnaround, there were more people behind me, and every one of them was running when I saw them. I figured it was only a matter of time before that parade would come passing by. Only, they never did. St. Khai was with me.
I walked the big hill back into town and that totally cooked me. I walked past the finishers at the lake as I headed on down to the second little out and back without hesitation. I needed to make St. Khai proud.
My anticipated two hour run turned into a 2:53 heat fest, and almost 11 hours total for the day, not too far off from a full fledge IM. But, I finished, and possibly a workout and a day that I shouldn’t have even attempted.
Thank you St. Khai.
P.s. Oh, and I learned that I am not tough enough to do these kinds of things on a regular basis. I need to get back to the smarter ways.