The San Diego Triathlon Challenge is a ½ Ironman distance: 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and a 13.1 mile run. I was totally under-trained so I had to consider my pace carefully. I set a target of 7:00 hours which I felt would ensure that I finish with minimal damage. My projected times were 50 minutes for the swim, 3 ½ hours for the bike ride, 2 ½ hours for the run, and 10 minutes for transitions.
The event begins at La Jolla Cove. My wife and I arrive at 6:00 AM. We find a parking spot and I haul my gear down to the site. The bike racks in the transition area are marked by race number. I find a spot and hang my bike. Now to get everything that I’ll need laid out in some sort of order so that I can pick it so I can switch from swim to bike and bike to swim easily and efficiently. While I’m doing this I hear my name called. I look up and see my friend Mike from the Cerritos Swimming Center. He’s on the same rack as me; a few spaces down. We chat for a few minutes then I’m off for the very important pre-race porta potty visit. On my way back I run into Ivan Stebler whom I haven’t seen since he moved to Arizona a couple of years ago. Ivan is a below the knee amputee. He’s also the person that got me interested in the CAF when he took off his leg and hopped up to the podium at a club meeting. He was fundraising for the organization. He doesn’t apply for grants because he says he can afford what he needs. But points out that most of the folks receiving money are of very limited means and would be in much worse shape if it weren’t for the support of the Foundation. I wrote a $200 check and the next year (2002) I did the event for the first time.
At 7:00 AM, a crowd forms around the stage as Bob Babbitt introduces the Challenged athletes. First the kids come up - from 2 years old through middle school many with birth defects that resulted in limb loss. Many of us can relate to having kids in sports and having to fork out a hundred bucks here and a hundred bucks there to buy equipment and such. What if they needed a pair of $12,000 legs? Who pays for that? The CAF does and that’s one reason that I’m here. There are also a lot of young adults ranging from high school through college age. Victims mostly of accidents or diseases like meningitis. Another large and growing group of grant recipients is soldiers who have lost limbs in Iraq. The CAF is helping 20 more this year. They come out one by one as their names are called to a standing ovation.
With the introductions over, it’s time to get start the race. I need to squeeze into my wetsuit and get down to the water. To get to the water at La Jolla Cove you have to descend a staircase to the foot of the cliffs. It’s not ADA compliant and some of the challenged swimmers have to be carried down the steps. We go off in four waves and each wave has a different color swim cap. My cap is green and I’m in the third wave. Soon it’s time for my wave to make our way to the beach. The water on my feet feels cool but not too bad. Around 70 degrees which is great for swimming in a full wetsuit. .
And we’re off. Did I mention that as swimmers go, I’m a pretty good cyclist and runner? There they go, leaving me in their bubbles. The course is one triangle-shaped loop. The first corner is maybe 800 yards from shore. As I approach it I see a formation of five swimmers in pink caps from an earlier wave moving very slowly and stopping frequently. Later I find out that this is a stroke victim and his escort team. A few minutes later the first swimmers from the following wave start passing me. Most of them will hit the sand before I do. Finally I get back to the beach. A volunteer starts to help me out of the water. I say “Thanks but let go of me. I’m fine.” And out of the water in about 45 minutes – 5 minutes ahead of my target.
Now up the stairs and back to the transition area. The wetsuit comes off pretty easily. After drying my feet off, I decide that socks are too much trouble to put on and decide to go without. After I get my shoes on, I don my helmet, gloves and glasses. Throw some energy gel packs in my jersey pocket and off on the bike. When I packed for the trip I forgot a few items at home that make the bike ride easier. My heart rate monitor is still in the garage attached to the bike that I ride to work. There are wireless sensors mounted on my bike that monitor speed and pedaling cadence. So basically I’m without a speedometer and won’t know how fast I’m going. Also on the commuting bike is a seat bag containing the stuff that I need to fix a flat. Except for 2 bad tubes that blew out at once, I’ve never flatted during a race on this bike in 15 years. I’m hoping the trend continues through this race at least.
The SDTC bike course has quite a few hills and you’re looking up the first one in a matter of minutes. I already know that the run will be very hard so I have to resist the urge to exert myself on the bike ride; especially during the first part. The first 30 miles or so go through the hills north of San Diego up to the southern part of Carlsbad. Remember Mike. He was out on his bike while I was still in the water. I catch up to him after about 20 miles. We exchange greetings and I go on ahead. We meet again about 5 mile down the road at a water stop; Mike’s coming in as I’m heading out.
A few miles earlier I noticed a clicking noise but neglected to check it at the water stop. Under the circumstances a mechanical check sounds like a good idea. What I find is that one of the zip ties that holds the cadence sensor on has broken and the pedal is hitting the sensor. I break the remaining zip tie and stuff it all in a pocket.
A few miles later starts the descent to the coast. A fast cool downhill then a left turn onto the Coast Hiway. This is great. A flat, fast ride along the beach through Encintas and Del Mar and into La Jolla. In no time at all it seems like I’m rolling down the rough pavement and back into the transition area.
I hang the bike up and prepare for the run. Going sockless was fine for the bike ride but they’re definitely going on for the run. The change goes quickly and I’m off. My stopwatch says the elapsed time is 4 hours 18 minutes so I’m still on pace.
It takes the legs a while to get used to running after pedaling a bike for nearly 3 ½ hours. It kind of feels like my shoes are made of cement. Like the bike ride, there are hills on the run and they start right away. Going up the first hill, it feels so steep that I’m sure I’m going two steps backward for every step forward. The run course is a loop and people are coming back in as I’m heading out. I’m looking forward to being where they are now.
The route takes me through the neighborhood just north of La Jolla cove then turns in towards the ocean for about a mile or so on a beach path. On the beach path an athlete, walking back with a towel over his head, gives me a few words of encouragement. It’s Rudy Garcia-Tolson, the young man who’s been on CAF posters since he was in grade school. Both of Rudy’s legs were amputated above the knee when he was 5 years old. With the support of the Foundation, Rudy’s become an inspiration for many young people both with and without disabilities.
My run is really a run/walk combination. When I’m running, I tell the walkers that I pass to hang in there. When I’m walking the people that pass me do the same. At this point in the event, the winners finished a while ago and the folks that I’m among are happy just to finish. The course goes through the Scripps campus and past the La Jolla golf course. Reaching the turnaround point is an especially good feeling because the course from here on out will be mostly flat or downhill. Another positive sign is that the people going the other way are now looking at me with envy knowing that I’m on the way back.
Working my way back is becoming more and more difficult and I desperately want to stop or at least walk. Doing so only provides a false sense of relief because it just makes it that much later until I reach the finish line. The slowest run is twice as fast as the fastest walk; in my case at least. So I try to limit my walking and only walk at the water stops and on the last steep uphill.
I walk up the first part of the last hill but the finish line is just around the corner. It won’t kill me to run the rest of the way. It’s been nearly 7 hours since I started the swim and I’m ready to relax. I’m also famished and there’s a BBQ waiting for me when I’m done.
Here’s the downhill, steep decline and rough pavement. I can hear cheering and see the pylons marking the finish chute. As I go through the arch, the clock says 7:13. Since my wave was 15 minutes after the first, my time must be around 6:58 or right on target. They just love me in San Diego. Everyone gets excited when they announce that Larry Himmel is crossing the finish line. But it only takes a glance to realize that I’m not the celebrated San Diego television personality of the same name.
Kathy is there at the finish line. I mutter something about water and she points to a table. There are cups of water on the table but there’s no one there and it’s roped off. I step over the ropes and grab a cup of water. I hear the lady who finished just after me saying she needs some water. I hand her my cup. Then another guy comes over looking for water. I hand him a cup. I pick up a cup and start drinking and he says something about wanting another so I hand him another.
After downing a couple of cups myself, I step back out and go looking for food. I ask Kathy if she knows who that guy was and she said it was just some guy who finished right after I did. “But the media’s all over him with cameras and microphones.” He turned out to be David James Elliot from the television show JAG. He does the event every year but I never bumped into him before.
Kathy points at the silent auction table and says, “That big, yellow thing is yours.”
“What? Where?”
“The surfboard. Happy birthday!”
I’ve lived in California almost 40 years and never surfed but for some reason my wife just bought me a longboard. I don’t even think we can get it in the car. But I’m hungry. I want chicken and beans and Coca Cola and cookies.
And that’s what I get. Most of the tables are full or reserved but we find a couple of empty chairs. Bob Babbitt comes up on the stage to do the post race program. His first announcement is about Lance Armstrong and the NYC Marathon. One Arm Willie, who usually wins the San Diego Triathlon Challenge, is in NYC running the marathon as well. It seems that near the finish, Willie heard someone yelling for him to get out of the way because Lance Armstrong was coming. Willie’s response was “No way is he gonna beat me.” Willie finished 10 seconds ahead of the TDF champ.
Having eaten, I need to take my bike and gear back up to the car. I tell Kathy that I’ll be back in 15 minutes or so. I get everything loaded up quickly and head back to the race site. I only take a few steps and I see Kathy almost to the car with the surfboard on her head. Now how do I handle this.
I insist that it won’t fit in the car but she insists that it will. The board is 9 ½ feet long and we’re talkin’ Saturn Vue here. There’s no way to attach it to the roof rack because of the bicycle racks and it’s about 3 inches too long to go in through the back. After several attempts it seems like the board will go diagonally with the nose laying on the dashboard. The hitch is that the only place for Kathy to ride is on the small rear seat and the surfboard will go across her shoulder. She’s OK with riding 100+ miles like that so we start on our way back.
The surfboard, Kathy, and I all made it back to Buena Park after a long eventful day in La Jolla. Who knows, maybe next year I’ll spend a few extra days there and catch some waves.
