Ok, here’s mine.
So 5 years ago I was a fat, out of shape 25 year-old ex-swimmer who got hooked on triathlon when I went 6:05 at Eagleman. 2 years ago I was diagnosed and treated for Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. 2 weeks ago I found another tumor on my throat which will be CT scanned and Ultra-sounded on Thursday after which my doctor will biopsy it by sticking a needle in my neck. This past Sunday I won my Age Group (30-34) at Ironman Coeur d’Alene and was 19th overall with a time of 9:34:59 and will be going to Kona in October. Here’s my race report:
Swim:
I’m a swimmer, so I loved the conditions. I got in the second pack about 2.5 minutes behind studs ‘drtommy,’ Luke McKenzie and Bryan Rhodes. About 7 of us (6 who were chasing their competitors and me sitting on their feet) swam together and I was out in 54 minutes and was off to transition. This was uneventful except for the fact that I couldn’t get my bike bib on but took my time knowing that the guys chasing me would be struggling with the swim as well, so at about 58 minutes, I was off. Here’s me heading out, looking focused, but crapping my pants–
Bike:
Two things i’ve changed in my bike training both paid off. I’ve done every long ride as hard as I can to simulate race conditions since my coach and I agreed that training to be a strong cyclist and training to be a triathlete with a strong bike are two different things. The second is I got rid of my old bike and got a new Cervelo P3C. I passed a couple pros and 2 age-groupers and moved into 5th or 6 until mile 9 when Michael Lovato and Swen Sundberg passed. I tried to stay with them and did while zig-zagging through town but had to let them go. I was alone. I knew that my bike training had set me up for this moment, and I had a decision to make. I went hard and tried to stay confident while changing my mind set from triathlete who is ‘front of the pack’ to triathlete who rides off the front. Actually, I thought about Chris Lieto and Normann Stadler. My competition (the Age Groupers) were about 3 minutes behind me coming into town after the first loop and as I started the second loop, Rich Strauss? or someone on a motorcycle pulled up and told me I was killing it! “There are a lot of pros behind you, if you stay strong you’ll have a great day, and you look awesome!” After being alone for 40 miles, that was it, I was going. I got my special needs back (with a full water bottle of coke) and decided that I was going to attack the race. I passed another pro at mile 75, and pulled into town in 5 hours and 2 minutes, 7 minutes ahead of the next age-grouper. Here I am heading out of town on my second loop:
Run:
Ok, now I was running. Scared. I’ve never run an open race and my PR at the half distance is 1:35 and full is 3:47. I’ve never run much in my training only because of lower back problems, but my coach and I decided to pull out all the stops. I upped the running to about 30-40 miles per week, and figured if I just relaxed I could run 2-3 hours before walking the aid stations. But here I was in the lead, so I made a promise to myself: look at your watch after the first loop, then get to two hours. At 2 hours running, see if you can run another hour, and at that point you’ll be 3 or 4 miles from the finish. That’s exactly what I did. At mile 15 I was passed by uber-stud age-grouper Mac Brown, which was funny. We were amidst all the other competitors doing their first loop, so I uttered my only sentence of the entire run as he passed—“are you an age-grouper? yes. Ok, you’re now in the lead, good job.” Hahah! I didn’t even try to up my pace because he was running so fast. At mile 18, I hit the wall. I knew it was coming, and when it did I was prepared. I started downing cookies and pretzels, coke, water, anything that wasn’t gel or gatorade. At mile 20, I thought of Cameron Brown and his quote of the marathon being “20 miles of hope, 6 miles of reality.” I thought of the 1hr loop in Newtown Square in PA that i’ve done a million times, and I thought of how everything i’d been through had prepared me for this moment and for these 6 miles. 10k to go, I started thinking “I deserve to win, I deserve to win my Age Group.” I’m not a big fan of entitlement, but that’s what I felt at that moment. I tried to mentally detach my mind from my legs, and by mile 23 I knew I was going to make it. In that last 10k, I was passed by 2 more Age Groupers, but I didn’t care. I made the left turn and started asking people “is there anyone behind me?” They all said no, and when I got to the chute, I stopped and held up my number (451) and enjoyed it. I had done it, I wasn’t going to fly across the line, I was going to savor every second. I finished the run in 3 hours and 29 minutes (a PR) and the race in 9:34, a PR from last year at Lake Placid (10:17). I had a magical day, and here I am at the finish:
Thanks to my best friend and Coach Brian Walton, all of the volunteers, Cervelo for making the P3C, Gatorade for making the Endurance formula, and God for making my doctor, Eli Gladstein at UPenn who lets me do these races instead of cutting me open. Here’s the last pic, thanks for reading.
