This weekend I went up and raced a half ironman up in Lake Geneva. I really didn't want to race, but I had told Wanner a while back that I would race with him, and being his first half ironman I felt I really needed to be there. I'm glad he was there, and he had an incredible race! I had warned Wanner that this race was going to be a complete cluster and not to expect any bit of organization. Well the organization part wasn't as big of an issue as I had anticipated (I'm not saying it was good by any means though...more on that later).
A Special Thank You / Race Day: Started with a 3:30 a.m. wake up call. Ouch! I have to give an award out right now though...SPECTATHLETE of the YEAR = My MOM. She was up with me at 3:30 a.m. made breakfast, took the dogs out, and was ready to head up to the race with me knowing that odds are it was going to rain. We were on the road at 4 with the two of us, my bike, a spare set of wheels...I know I'm crazy, and two dogs. Yep a little packed. So why is my Mom freakin awesome you ask? Because she had my two insane dogs with her the whole day in the pouring rain while she was freezing in the 55 degree weather just so I could go out and do something I love to do. Mom I can't thank you enough!!! We arrived up in Lake Geneva at the race at about 5:45 and luckily for me Wanner had saved me a spot in transition. That's when it started...the down pour. Yep setting up transition in the dark and rain isn't fun, and I knew it was going to make for a long day.
Our race started with a "mass start" at 6:30 a.m. It wasn't completely light yet but they sent us off. My swim was nothing spectacular, I had a great start for about the first 1500 meters, and then things slowed down, maybe because we swam up on the slow olympic distance swimmers which started after us and swam on the same course...yep same course, oh yea and there was a sprint on the same course...and I must have forgotten to mention the super sprint on the same course as well. Like I said earlier this would be a cluster!!! My swim was in the 36 minute range and I was ok with that because I really never swam hard and knew the people I swam up on were slowing me down...and with this race who knows if the distance was right or not?
T1 was uneventful. I headed out onto my bike and was almost immediately scared. They had a bike lane blocked off with cones for us for the first quarter mile. Ok fine I can handle that, but then we had to take a left with NO ONE blocking traffic as we turned left. Luckily I didn't get hit...but one poor person did. That is just soooo wrong on behalf of the race!! Well that was just the start. So I'm riding and within the first 10 miles I have a volunteer tell me I'm in 2nd place. I had no idea where the leader was and figured it was some fast guy that I wouldn't see the rest of the day. Well I stayed positive and kept telling myself I was a strong rider, to ride within myself and to get ready for a show down on the run because it was going to be on. Well somewhere between mile 15-20 I caught the leader and took the lead over. After passing him I was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to match my speed, or come back to catch me. I was just wondering how much time I could put into him on the bike for the next 35ish miles. So here I am riding behind the lead van, well that didn't last long because he pull off to the side and I never saw him again. I was out riding just following arrows hoping I was going the right way. About 3 miles from T2 some guy comes riding out off of a different street who was in the race. I asked him which race he was in and he claimed the half ironman. What? I've been cruising for 35-40 miles and people are on a different course? So now I'm ticked, dropped the hammer and decided to run the first loop as a recon mission to see the damage...basically how many other people rode a different course than I did? I had no idea and started moving through the run pretty well. It was super hilly, hillier than Galena's run if you can believe that. I got to an aid station which had to be at mile 4 or so to overhear some guy claiming that he's winning the half ironman. Huh? I was a little ticked at that point and turned on the gas for a few miles to prove to this guy that he had cheated somewhere on the course. So to the guy who claimed that he rode a 2:05 bike split on crappy roads in the pouring rain...what the heck are you thinking? And who do you think you're fooling? A 40 minute swim and a 1:56 run...you really think you can ride 2:05? What you did was the olympic bike course...not the half ironman one, you rode 25 miles instead of 56, but do what you need to in order to sleep at night pal. I came through the turn around where my Mom told me she thought I was winning. On my way back out I wanted to see the damage that I had caused to this guy...it was substantial! When I went past him on the road (heading back out) I think he realized that he shouldn't have ticked me off. I set things on cruise control after that point and just cheered everyone on that was out on the course. People dealt with a crappy day and it's amazing to see them get the job done and finish!
The result...I got my first overall win at a triathlon. Yea I know it's not the most organized, but a win is a win and I'll take it. I ended up beating that cheater by 16 minutes and 3rd place (which really should have been 2nd) was 33 minutes behind me. The people at the finish line didn't even realize that I was the winner of the half ironman race. Oh well, I had a 36ish minute swim, 2:21ish bike (in the pouring rain with crappy roads and a lot of turns which weren't protected by race volunteers) and a 1:31ish run, which there were only 3 miles or so that I ran hard. 4:33 on a day like that is something I can live with.
Congrats to Wanner, and another thanks to my Mom and to Aunt Lou for cheering me on too!!!!
1 comment:
Congrats on the OA win! Good luck at IMAZ!
Post a Comment