Race Reports for 4/14, 15 and Encouragement/Kudos!

[Maherae]

We've got a busy weekend! Looking forward to your reports!

Our WISH racers for this weekend are:

14 - gatorphipps (Christa) & DSis Southpark Racefest 1/2 Marathon
14 - ohMom (Molli), ohiomom (Ashley), Dennyha (Denny) The LaSalle Bank Columbus 1/2 Marathon
14 - LittleMissMickey (Ashley) Minneapolis Running Opener 8 Miler
14 - Jen117 (Jen) Arts Alive 5 Miler
14 - Dennyha's DW The LaSalle Bank Columbus 5k


15 - TZAng ( ) and DH (Mike) Bun Run 5K (Austin, TX)


:cheer2: GO, TEAM, GO! :cheer2:

[Big Vic]

Good luck everyone!!

[Kristi1357]

:cheer2: Go Team Go!:cheer2:

[escape]

Oooh, lots of folks!

:cheer2: Good luck, WISHERS!:cheer2:

[cdn_gal_eeyore]

Good luck everyone! :cheer2: Can't wait to read the race reports.

[msblrobs]

Best of luck to all of our WISH teammates tearing it up this weekend!!!:cool1: :cheer2::woohoo:

[wtpclc]

Good Luck WISHers!!!!:cheer2: :cheer2: :cheer2:

[wfloyd]

GOOD LUCK TO ALL RACERS!!!!:cheer2:

[angietuck2]

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!!:cool1: :thumbsup2 :banana:

[skfulkers]

As of 5 hours ago, I now have a race this weekend, too. I was supposed to have a 15 mile LR tomorrow, and while at work today, a co-worker told me about a 5K he's running tomorrow. He caught my attention when he said there was a half marathon for the event, too. So......I'm now running the Loveland Challenge half marathon in Loveland, OH tomorrow. It's going to be cold and rainy, so I figured if I have to run long in those conditions, I might as well do it with a couple hundred other friends and plenty of water stations. :) I'll probably do a 2 mile warm-up before the race to get my total 15 miles in.

Anyway, I'll let you guys know how my "$40 training run with a free t-shirt" goes tomorrow. :) Good luck to everyone else racing this weekend!

Steve

[Tiger Lily 03]

WISHing our WISH Team to have Great Events

I look forward to reading the reports.

[ohMom]

steve -- where is Loveland? i had no idea there was another OH 1/2er today. did the rain hold out for you??

thanks for the kudos and this thread!! WISHers :rockband:

well i'll tell you that i was unsure if i'd be participating this year or not. the weather forecast was reminiscent of the "blizzard of 2005" as John Bingham refers to the 1/2 two years ago. we are leaving for the Magic this coming friday and i just couldn't see putting myself in the rain/snow mix for 3 hours and risking getting sick or whatever. not to mention -- been there done that. went to bed last night feeling 50/50 on my chances and woke up to a bit 'o sunshine peeking through my window. checked weather.com and it was only 30% percipation chance. i was ok with these odds and went.

like i just told my PM buddy friends, the big guy upstairs must've heard my pleas....i mean prayers as the weather downtown held off for 3 hours. the last 15-20 mins were in a light spitting rain, but nothing to stop me now. i finished in chip time of 3:03 which translated to a flat 14 min pace. my best yet! :yay:

the OSU pep band played for us at mile 3-ish at the Shoe stadium and there was one other musician out playing. i think the rest must've cancelled :rolleyes: the pengiun himself was greeting us all at the finish line :wave:

how did everyone else's event go?

[Dennyha]

Sorry, I initially posted this under another thread, and then saw this one, so I'll copy it here.

Weather looked like it was going to be an issue here today. Weather reports were calling for temps in the low to mid 30's, ran, and possibly snow. DW and I went to the expo last night, and aside from picking up our packets, we bought some cold weather running gear. She bought a long sleeve wicking shirt (in pink) and I picked up a windbreaker running vest (in blue). We listened to John Bingham and Coach Jenny talk, along with several other medical folk, and it was very informative.
Race start time was scheduled for 9am, with the 5K starting at about 9:10. Weather was cold, but the snow held off, and there was only sporadic drizzle the last half of the half-marathon. DW ran her first 5K, and finished in 37 minutes. Her goal was to finish in under 45 minutes, so she was excited.

The half-marathon course was nice. It started in downtown Columbus. We went north to The Ohio State University and did a loop around the "horseshoe". Part of the OSU band was there playing. Then we went south, past downtown, and through German Village. Then a turn back north with a finish at the same place that we started. The cold temps turned out to be perfect. I started out with a sweatshirt over a lighweight running vest over an UA long sleeve compression shirt. I was also wearing cheap gloves and a ball cap. I tossed the sweatshirt towards the end of the first mile, and I dropped the gloves at the base of the Mile 2 sign. I wouldn't say there were plenty of aid stations, but there were enough. I did miss the "extras" that Disney gives, like bananas, gel, etc. Running with shorts, long sleeve running shirt, and running vest was perfect for the weather, and I never felt cold, or too warm.

Although this was my 3rd half-marathon, it was only the second that I actually ran. When I did Disney 1/2M with my son, I walked with him, and it took us well over 3 hours. My first 1/2M last October, I ran in 2:10, so I was hoping for something better than that. I crossed the line at 2:06, cutting 4 minutes off of my time. I can't say this course was easier than the Towpath 1/2M that I ran before, but it did have more spectators; lots more. Hills were fairly gentle and rolling, nothing too dramatic. Towpath was probably flatter, but definatley more boring.

The post race party is a concert by "Under the Influence of Giants". We may stop in, or possibly just go out for dinner. All in all, it was a good day.

[Jen117]

I ma back from my 5 Miler Arts Alive for Comfort and Hospice Care. Very nicely planned event, this was the first year. There were about 200 participants and it was only 2 miles from my home so I knew the territory well.

The race started at 11:00am and I was a nervous wreck. I always am and don't know why. For those that were following the weekly thread, I am suffering from foot pain (PF) and wasn't sure I should even attempt to run. I ran on Wednesday and it wasn't good. So I rested the last 2 1/2 days and then used OTC Orthotics (recommended before I make the investment in custom) and that seemed to really help me. ALSO, I woke up with a chest cold. That on top of my asthma made it hard to breath.

All week we have been battling high winds and snow. That has since moved to the East (sorry) and I woke up to sun and moderate winds. I could have done without the wind, but it was ok. Then temp was about 45-50 degrees, but the sun helped. I started in the middle of the pack and stayed there. I used my Garmin and loved know how far I had gone and how much was left. It kept me going. Just before the 2 mile point, and annoying lady that was tailing me the whole way decided to pass me. Then she played games with me for a whole mile. I must have been her marker or something because every time I would get close to her, she would look over her shoulder and zoom off. Well, she had short jog periods so it was getting annoying to me. At mile 3 I zoomed past her and left her behind for the rest of the race.

About 100 feet from the finish, my DDalmost4 came running to me. Of course she ran straight at me instead of to the side, so I did trip over her. I DIDN'T FALL! WE then ran together to the finish. Some of the onlookers yelled at me to hurry up and finish, but who cares about the time, I only lost 20 seconds going with my daughter... geesh. So I crossed the finish and got a big hug from the volunteer taking my bib tag. She was the nurse practitioner that diagnosed me with asthma last summer and sent me off to my doctor. She also is the president of the local running group that I did some run/walk training with (I don't belong to the group tho). Anyhoo, she remembered me and congratulated me. That was nice.

Afterwards there was free beer and an energy drink called Lost. That was interesting. Not something I would drink for running tho. They also had a nice food spread of subs, chili, banana's, bagels (fresh ones, not the pasty frozen ones) and cookies. My DH and kids were able to pay $3 and have food also, so that was nice. I didn't drink the beer, but the main sponsor was the local beer distributer, so that is why beer. The race actually started at their business.

Here are a couple pics...

Me at the start of the race.

http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m213/jploucks/Jen/DSC00281.jpg

Me at the end of the race, DD is behind me and the lady in orange is the one that hugged me.

http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m213/jploucks/Jen/DSC00291.jpg

The great thing is that I am not even sore after 5 miles. I took a nap because of my cold, but the rest of my body feels good. OH and I finished in 61:30ish. I wanted to finish in 58, but with my cold I was struggling with breathing. I was very happy with my finish which was about a 12:30ish minute mile average.

[Big Vic]

OhMom, Denny and Jen - http://members.cox.net/bvbd1/congrad.gif

Great race reports!

[ohMom]

come to think of it Denny -- i noted this was the first year there was no gel on the course.

oh yea -- forgot to add -- i had cut out the back of my WISH shirt, the shirt was itchy to me around my neck -- and today I pinned it on the back of my windbreaker and had lots of folks comment on what a great saying it was!

[escape]

Great job, Molli, Denny and Jen!

Molli - congrats on the 14 min pace. :thumbsup2 I'm not there yet but I'm working on it.

Denny - oh, you're speedy! Congrats to your wife as well. I'm hoping to break 45 minutes in my 5k next week. We'll see how that goes. :rolleyes1

Jen - wow! You are getting fast too! Congratulations! I'm glad your foot did well for the race. Thanks for posting the pictures. :thumbsup2

[gatorphipps]

Hey All! My race with sis was WONDERFUL! I have included a link to the race report and pics. Hope you enjoy it.!:love:
http://journals.aol.com/gatorphipps/PhippsFamily/#Entry1746

[Big Vic]

Christa - http://members.cox.net/bvbd1/congrad.gif

Great race report!

[MouseDogMom]

ohMom - Great job on a 14 min pace! Glad the weather held off for you.

Denny - Congrats on your time.

Jen - Great job! Sounds like a fun race. Glad the OTC orthotics seem to help. (I'm almost wishing I'd tried that route first, but maybe these will be worth the money!) Hope you feel better soon!

Christa - Awesome race report! Hope looks like she had so much fun. Whose dogs (the shepherds) at the end of the pix? They're BEAUTIFUL!

Jackie

[escape]

Christa - great report! You guys had a great finish time even though you stopped a lot. Wow! I'm envious. ;) :teeth:

I can't get over, though, why some people would give you a lot of flak about taking pictures. :confused3 I wish I would have taken more pictures of the WDW half (my first race ever) but I was afraid to slow down enough from my 15 min pace for fear of being swept. :lmao:

Looks like Hope had a good time (fun) for her first half. Thanks for sharing.

[ohMom]

thanks everyone for sharing their reports!! how awesome!!!

hey -- i just wondered, am i the ONLY person who didn't know John Bingham and Jenny Hadfield were married??

[westcliffemom]

thanks everyone for sharing their reports!! how awesome!!!

hey -- i just wondered, am i the ONLY person who didn't know John Bingham and Jenny Hadfield were married??

I didn't for quite some time, then read something that said they were married! I was like "DUH"!

[Jen117]

I didn't know that either, but now it all makes sense to me. I just thought they were really good friends. Tho I haven't read all his books.

Christa - AWESOME race report. Don't you wish some people would just mind their own business. It's not hurting their time if you stop. Guess some people don't know how to have FUN!

[skfulkers]

Molli & Denny—good job on the Columbus half! Glad the weather held out for you.

Jen—way to go on the race! Great pics! How cute that your DD ran out to finish the race with you.

Christa—great race report! Glad you had such a good time with your sister. I almost laughed out loud about the guy with the baby stroller who dumped his kid out on the curb. It’s not funny, but it’s one of those things you just shouldn’t laugh at but can’t help. :)

Well, my half marathon “training run” went pretty well this morning. When I signed up last night and the lady gave me my race number, I was a little concerned that the number was #175. Sounded like a pretty small race and those things are notorious for having really fast runners. Then she told me that only 80 of those people were doing the half marathon, the rest were doing the 5K. Great, I feel even better now.

I woke up this morning to rain and wind and mid-30’s temps. Put on tights, a LS shirt and my new sleeveless windbreaker (which I LOVE, by the way). I brought my gloves and fleece hat, but ended up buying a technical running hat at the running store before the start (the best purchase I’ve made in a long time—running in the rain with one of those hats actually makes the run bearable). So I’m standing in line for the port-o-let and talking to the guy in front of me about the race. I told him I was going to take it easy and just do it as a training run and that I hoped that I wouldn’t be dead last as I was assuming everyone who dragged themselves out in this rain would be pretty serious and definitely fast. He said he was just going to use it as a training run, too, and he probably wouldn’t push past a 7:30 per mile pace or so. Excuse me?? 7:30? Ok, buddy, you’re in a completely different league than me if that’s your half marathon “training pace.” Needless to say, I still figured at this point that I would be dead last and was trying to mentally prepare myself for that.

All 80 of us lined up in the middle of Main Street right at 8:00, and the sheriff cleared the traffic on both ends of the stretch, the race director actually said “On your mark, get set, GO!” and we were off. It was actually a lot of fun. I had never run a “small time” half marathon like this, and it had a really intimate feel to it. By mile 1, we had all spaced out into our various paces, and I was happy to see that the entire field hadn’t blown by me at their “training pace” of 7:30 miles. I was definitely in the back third of the pack, but I didn’t have the last police cruiser tailing me allowing traffic to flow behind him. The entire second half of the race was on the Loveland bike trail, which is a pretty famous bike trail that actually runs from Cincinnati to near Cleveland. The only bad part about running on this trail is that it is very straight and flat, so it can be a bit boring.

I did see something pretty neat during the race. There was a guy running about my same pace pushing a running stroller with his two children in it. He had wrapped a plastic cover/screen around the stroller to keep everything dry, and he would stop every so often to make sure his kids were doing ok. At one point, he stopped along the side of the road, pulled out a bag of pretzels from the bag pocket, opened up the screen and said, "ok, who's ready for some pretzels" to which his son replied happily, "Me dad! I'm ready for some pretzels!" I thought that was pretty cute.

It rained the entire race, but I was ok with that. I figured it was good practice for preparing for nasty race weather, especially if things aren’t perfect in three weeks for the Flying Pig. The hat did help a lot. I may start wearing it for regular “good weather” races since those things really are pretty vented.

Crossed the finish line in 2:09 and I was completely fine with that. I grabbed some bagels and free Clif stuff from the post-race setup (no finisher’s medal, but I didn’t expect one based on the size of the race), threw the stuff in my car, and headed back out onto the bike trail for an additional 2 ½ miles. So when all was complete, I finished about 15 ½ miles today.

Overall, it was a pretty neat race and it made me appreciate all the extra “luxuries” we get at bigger marathons (like expos, medals, timing clocks at mile markers, medical tents, etc), since a lot of these features weren’t included in the race today. What was great, though, was the sincerity and generosity of the race organizers and you could tell when talking to them afterwards that they really hoped everyone had a great time. I’d definitely do the race again next year if schedule allows.

Ok, enough rambling for now. Good luck to everyone still racing this weekend!

Steve

[Big Vic]

Steve - http://members.cox.net/bvbd1/congrad.gif

[escape]

Great report, Steve! Good time, too! Now, if I had run that race, I would have been the one in the back......waaaaaaaayyyyyyy back. Everyone would have gone home by the time I finished. :rolleyes1 :laughing:

Good story about the dad pushing his two kids. :goodvibes

I think it's great to find a half to do a training run. I'm trying to find a few of those for my training for the full at WDW. I'm doing the Nike Women's Half in October and the ToT 13k the following weekend. Both (pretty much) correspond to the mileage in my training plan. Now, if I can just find something for my 20 mile run in December. :scratchin

[skfulkers]

Susie--yeah, good luck trying to find a 20 mile road race for that training run. Funny how you can't find too many of those around, huh? I guess they figure that if anyone is crazy enough to run 20 miles, what's another 6.2 on top of that, right?? :)

[Tiger Lily 03]

Great to hear from you all

Molli, ditto from the CDC thread...Great job, great pace, have a great cruise next week and be healthy

Denny, ditto from the CDC thread...good job on the pace, and congrats to DW. Hope you enjoyed your evening did you go to the concert or just dinner?

Jen, fun pics. Good job on the event and Whew! on no pain.

Christa, your pics are so fun! I laughed at hope in the pose taking a break reciting the mantra. Congrats to her on her 1st half and with blisters too. Good sis to be there for her 1st. That is special.

Steve, great report and good going. I didn't know of the OH event. I thought the CDC was the only half today. Small events sure do make one appreciate the bigger ones, but small ones sometimes have great offerings. Glad your "training run" was a success.

Yeah, I read somewhere about The Penguin and Penguinette being married. It made a lightbulb moment for me at the time too.

[Dennyha]

Hope you enjoyed your evening did you go to the concert or just dinner?


Lily, we left the hotel with intent to go to dinner, and then to the concert downtown. We went to Easton Place for dinner, and all of the restaurants were 1-2 hours wait time. It started raining also, so we decided to see Meet The Robinsons in 3-D, and catch a late dinner. We ate at P.F.Chang's Chinese Bistro (great food), and passed on the concert.

Steve, great race report. Glad things worked out well for you. I'm looking forward to meeting you and Krista in 3 weeks.
What's unique about the technical hat? I wore a regular ball cap today to keep the rain off of my face, but it sounds like the technical running hat is a step up.

[getnthinr]

Saturday, April 14th, I was in Chesapeake VA to do the inaugural Dismal Swamp Stomp Half Marathon (http://www.visitchesapeake.com/dismalswampstomp/index.html). The race is a flat out-and-back course held entirely on the Dismal Swamp Canal Trail (http://www.chesapeake.va.us/services/depart/park-rec/dismal_swamp_trail.shtml), a former section of Virginia State Rt. 17 that runs parallel to the Dismal Swamp Canal (http://www.albemarle-nc.com/camden/history/canal.shtml), the oldest continually operating man-made canal in the United States.

Trail rules
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/getnthinr/trail_rules.jpg
Bear Statue at Start
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/getnthinr/bear.jpg
I originally thought this race was actually a trail run, but in reality it is a road race on an abandoned section of highway.

Race finish
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/getnthinr/race_finish.jpg
Though I was expecting it to be boring, I found I really liked the almost completely shaded course through the swamp, listening not only to my iPod (which was “legal” because traffic is prohibited on the trail) but to the various waterfowl in the nature preserve. The canal was not visible most of the time because of the dense shrubbery and tree growth, but there were lots of 3-hour-plus folks on the trail so I had plenty of running “rabbits” to keep me distracted and on pace. The weather was perfect – cool (mid-to-upper 50s) and overcast. There was just a touch of rain late in the race, but I didn’t find it unpleasant, and I was so happy we managed to miss the nasty weather they were predicting in the area tonight and tomorrow.

Medal and me
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/getnthinr/dismal_swamp_stomp_th.jpghttp://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/getnthinr/medal.jpg

I almost feel I need to apologize for my finishing time (3:05:26) but because I’ve only been walking 1-2 days a week and learning to swim the other 5 days, I was happy to have maintained my fitness as well as I have. I felt great when I finished, and would probably feel a lot better now if I hadn’t walked straight from the finish line to my car and driven non-stop the 4.5 hours home. That left me a bit stiff. Next month is the Flying Pig Half, followed by the Danskin Tri at WDW.

This race ended a Spring Break vacation with my family at Shenandoah National Park in VA. We’d never been there before, as we tend to visit the NC mountains nearer to home. I was very happy we went, though. We attended several ranger-guided trail walks through the snow-dusted peaks, visited Luray Caverns, and held our own Stars Wars marathon during which we watched all six Star Wars movies back-to-back (my husband’s ideal vacation). It was the perfect combination of activity and lethargy.

Vacation photos
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/getnthinr/ice_falls.jpg http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/getnthinr/hike.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i132/getnthinr/mountains.jpg

[Big Vic]

Wendy - http://members.cox.net/bvbd1/congrad.gif

Cool pics!

[hockeygirl]

Oh Mom--Congratulations! WTG for getting your best time! Glad to hear the weather held out for your race!

Denny--Congratulations to you and your DW for great races!!! Again, glad the weather held up for your guys!

Jen--Congratulations on your race! I think it is so cute how your daughter ran to you at the end of the race, that is adorable!!! The pictures look great, way to sport the WISH racing team shirt, you look great!

Christa--sounds like you and Hope had so much fun in the race! That is an awesome time for Hope's first half and with only training up to 8.5 miles!! I can't believe somebody would say something about you taking pictures, as if you were really bothering them....some people just make no sense!! I love your pictures!

Steve--Great job on your race/training run! SOunds like a really nice race!

Wendy--Great job on your race! Sounds like a cool race! I love the first picture, with the list of wild life to watch out for. If I saw a bobcat or a bear, I may just have a heart attack and not be able to run!!! Hope you didn't see any during the race!

I love reading all the reports!! You guys are AWESOME!!

[TXAng]

Warning - this is really long-winded! DH and I just got back from our first race! We did the Bun Run 5K, though we did do a lot of Bun Walking, too. :)

I've been nervous most of this week, but when I woke up this morning, I felt a lot more calm. Strange. The butterflies returned when we got to the starting line, though.

Race start was at 8 AM, and we got to Auditorium Shores at about 7:15. We picked up our timing chips, then hung out around the area, waiting for a couple of friends who were going to walk the course in the untimed section.

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u121/DisTXAng/BunRunExpoAreaSmall.jpg

We found each other fairly easily, and before long it was time to line up at the starting line. :scared1: The UT Band was there to play a few songs as well as the National Anthem before the race started.

Pre-race photo right before we lined up:

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u121/DisTXAng/Pre-BunRunSmall.jpg

Side note - aren't these the funniest shirts? Running buns! Ha! I love it.

We started right on time, and proceeded to get so caught up in the action that we ran for about 5:30 without slowing down to walk. That's a new longest non-stop run time for both of us, by the way. :)

Mile 1 blew by, according to the Garmin we did that first mile in exactly 12 minutes. Another first!

Mile 2 also blew by. We enjoyed seeing the fast runners flying back past us at this point (actually not too far past the first mile marker). All of us slower folks started cheering and clapping for them as they went by. Who knew that racing was so much fun?

Well, toward the end of Mile 2, DH took his leave, because he decided he was going to run the last bit. I wanted to be able to run into the finish line, so I kept walking until right before the 3-mile marker, and then started running (downhill, yay!).

Post-race self-portrait by DH:

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u121/DisTXAng/BunRunPostFinishLineSmall.jpg

Gun Time: 40:56
Chip Time: 40:24 (Garmin time was 40:27 - not bad, eh?)
Mile Splits: 12:00, 13:21, 13:37

I know you're not supposed to set a time goal for your first race, but in my head I did. And it was to finish in 45:00. I made it in under 41:00! :yay:

Placed 1055 out of 1113 overall, 122 out of 129 in my age group.

We had so much fun! And none of the things I worried about happened. No getting lost, no tripping and falling, and I even finished ahead of a couple of people! Pretty satisfying for a first time out. :)

[Big Vic]

TXAng - Excellent report, and great pics!

http://members.cox.net/bvbd1/congrad.gif

[bekkiz]

That is SO awesome. Congrats on a fantastic first 5K. 4 minutes is amazing. You certainly have made me less nervous for my first 5k (not until June!).

[Dennyha]

TXAng, Congratulations on your first race. I'm glad it worked out well for you. It is a fun environment, and it's easy to get caught up in the excitement. May this be the first of many more.:banana:

[hockeygirl]

TxAng--Way to go on your first 5K! And that's awesome that you beat your time in your head by more than 4 minutes!! Keep up the good work!

[getnthinr]

TxAng, loved the shirts! So many race shirts are so boring -- that is a great souvenir of your first 5K! Congratulations!

[TXAng]

Ok, finally had a chance to sit down and read everyone else’s reports!

Molli – WTG on your pace! Glad to hear that the weather decided to (mostly) cooperate.

Denny – Congrats to DW for her first 5K! She did great! And congrats to you on your new PR.

Jen – Great report. Love the pics!

Christa – Loved your report, too! Fun photos. I can’t believe that guy would tell you not to take photos. Good grief. It sounds like you both had a great time.

Steve – Great report. Glad it was fun even with all the rain!

Wendy – Watching out for snakes and bears during a run? Eek! Great report!

Bekkiz - I was pretty nervous about the 5K, but it was really great. Can't wait to hear about yours in June!

[thndrmatt]

The Clermont Triamerica short course triathlon was .6 mile swim, 18.6 mile bike, and 4.7 mile run. Having never done a triathlon before, I thought it would be a good introduction and feeling out session for how things might go if I do attempt the Half Ironman at Disney next month. Distances there are of course 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run, so obviously it will be significantly more difficult.

I woke up at 3am randomly due to a nightmare of starting the race, and running the first mile at a great pace probably too fast, and then realizing the first leg was supposed to be swimming! Somehow I ended up at a concurrently running 5k on the wrong side of the lake! I ran another mile to the transition area for the correct race and they had closed it and wouldn't let me start or bring my bike in! :eek: Managed to get that nightmare to pass and the alarm eventually went off at 0400. Dragged the wife off (need a videographer for my first, they say you'll always remember it!) and we made the hour trek from our free lodging at her friends place up to Clermont for the race.

The star of the show was of course, the weather. Forecast was for the 70s which is nice, but close to 29mph winds from the southwest, and significant thunderstorms. Anyone who lives in FL probably heard/saw the rain and the wind that passed through Saturday night in the panhandle and Sunday morning in the center of the state. Initially it was dry however as I set up the transition area. Kept thinking I was ready, and kept coming up with stuff that I had left in the car. Things like race number for the running shirt (duh, have to wear it across the finish line) and even better the timing chip anklet (hm might want to get timed at some point). Eventually got everything into a waterproof bag I then stacked upside down next to the bike so no water could get in. I was as far away from the entrance/exit to the transition area as you could get, but I was on an end so that gave me some elbow room instead of being crammed between people.

I haven't yet purchased some of the "required items" for triathletes, such as a wetsuit. The water temp was 76 degrees which didn't both me at all, but some thought was beyond freezing for some reason. I'm the world's worst swimmer (or close) so I'm guessing the buoyancy would have helped though. So there I was in my running shorts, shirtless in my royal blue swimming cap (the starting waves went by color, all short course men ended up in the same one) while these hardcore guys have these elaborate two piece wetsuits and are off on their hundreds of meters of "warm up" swimming.

My first classic noob mistake was right at the horn. Get all excited, wave at the crowd, let the mob of people go first so you don't get clobbered, wade out a ways, and start swimming in your own little area. Get about fifty yards, and realize water is getting in your eyes. Hm, probably should have put on the goggles first.:laughing: Reach up for the goggles, no goggles. So my 8 dollar pair from college are somewhere at the bottom of the lake. This was just the beginning of the pain though. Picture a squared off U shape course. Running slightly NNE, then about WSW, then pretty much due S. Then picture 29 mph winds from the SW. That's right, two upwind legs, and only a partially downwind one. So on the way out to the first buoy I did alright, if you don't count the times I ended up heading for Mexico unknowingly before looking up and spying the correct direction to the buoy off my left at about 45 degrees. After the turn though, it was like every time you came up to breath someone threw a bucket of water in your face. I ended up having to breaststroke a lot of that leg, any time I tried freestyle I ended up basically making a U turn and going back where I came. Goggles might have helped, but it was real murky so you still had to sight, and I guess I need practice. At this point all the women started passing me (their wave was 5 min behind) so that was a little discouraging. That and shore seemed really far away. I'd swam 2100 yards just last week, but 960 meters in open water seemed just as difficult. I probably ended up doing closer to 1200 with all the zigzagging. Somehow I finally spotted the swim finish near the pier, and saw my wife cheering and taping as I alternated between frog kicking on my back, breast stroking, and occasionally freestyle. Swim split for 960m: 33:57

Coming out of the water though, I felt thorougly drained, but emotionally thrilled. I knew at that point I would at least finish the race. It might not be fast, but who cares? Several dozen yards of soft sand reminded me what it was like to be on two legs again, and then I was off down the path about a hundred yards to the transition area. I took my time here, making sure I got everything on that I was going to need and not rushing. It showed as I ended up the 3rd slowest out of the entire 150ish people for this split. T1 split: 7:39

A gnarly hill was right off the timing mat of the transition, so I got introduced to the easy gears and grinding up out of the saddle in a hurry. After one more quick downhill and tough uphill it was relatively flat for the remainder of the course. There were some undulations, but that mostly just made you use different muscles and kept it interesting. There was only a gatorade bottle exchange way out at the turnaround (9.3 miles) but I was wearing a camelback carrying 40 ounces and that turned out to be more than enough. Obviously the wind and cold helped me stay hydrated. I was very pleased with myself with how many people I started passing. I knew my swim was terrible and I was a stronger rider so I should be able to pass some, but I passed literally dozens. And the amazing thing is, nobody passed me for the entire ride! Not even the pros who were doing the loop twice managed to lap me. :) Right near the end of the bike is when the rain started coming, and we had some huge cracks of lightning as I shot back towards the transition area. Had kept up a great average even over the hills and it showed. Bike split: 1:01:25 18.2mph avg

Couldn't see the wife anywhere (turns out she was in the car hiding from the rain not realizing I was going to go so fast) so without a camera to ham it up in front of I moved a bit faster through the second transition. One thing I DID make sure to do was throw off my light blue under armour that I always wear and bust out my BRAND NEW WISH TSHIRT!:woohoo: I'd already put on the race number beforehand so other than that, losing the cycling shorts I had put on over the running ones and changing shoes there wasn't much to do. Surprisingly even with what seemed like a rapid transition I was still in the highest view dozen times for that area. T2 split: 2:17

Coming out of the transition area I got to discover what the "rubber legs" feeling associated with triathlons is. It was pretty bizarre, but I wasn't feeling overly tired or anything, just as if my muscles weren't acting normally. Then, the skies just opened up. I don't think I've ever even been outside much less running in rain like that. Still had the winds, which on the out and back course was great on the way out, but when you made the turnaround it was like being stabbed all over the place. Worse yet the water/gatorade stops with tables full of cups ended up some sort of gatorade/rain water mix because they weren't covered and made the stomach feel somewhat nauseous. Some people passed me here, including pros on their second out and back since the long course repeated the run as well, but I was pretty much in the zone. Sub 10mpm the whole time which is only slightly over my half marathon pace and way below marathon. Both the bike and run traveled a portion of the roads on the rim of the lake so the scenery was great. What wasn't great was the finish line. I guess the wind had tore it apart, all you had was the metal scaffolding over the timing mat, not even the word "finish." Worse yet you had people leaving already trying to get out of the rain, just wandering across the finishing stretch of the course with their bikes and strollers and what have you. Kind of killed the triumphant victory for me, but I posed for the cameras knowing my shirt would still be visible through the downpour and crossed the line. Think the clock had blown over too, had no idea what my time was, and didn't really care. Run split for 4.7: 42:42 9:17mpm

Wandered around looking for DW, and spotted her within feet of the finish looking out towards the course. :confused: Apparently she'd missed me completely, or just gotten there as I'd crossed and come from the other direction or something. So on video all I got was up to me leaving to go out on the bike, and that was it. But alas, I shall remember this one for quite a while. There was a guy a few bikes down who said it was his 53rd triathlon, and the worst conditions he'd ever been in.

Total time: 2:27:58

And now the funniest part. As I sit here looking at the age group results and see the note about the top 5 getting awards in each, I realize that the 2 next to my name means I was actually 2nd in my division. :rotfl2: I'm having to pay $8 for whatever it is to be mailed to me, so hope it's worth it! I should caveat that it appears I was 2nd of only 4, and the winner of the AG beat me by over 18 MINUTES. But I'll take it!

So now even though the swim still intimidates me given it is twice as long, I think I'm going to take the plunge and sign up for the Ironman 70.3 at Disney. You heard it here, first!

[MouseDogMom]

Matt - WOW! I have loads of admiration for you for toughing it out. And you still want to do it again! Congratulations on finishing and deciding to tackle Disney. And sorry, but I would have been with your wife in the car.

TXAng - Congratulations on a great finish! I knew you'd have a great time once you actually got there!

Wendy - Your race looked like so much fun. And I want to vacation with your family! DH and I spent a week (many years ago) on the Skyline Drive - camped from one end to the other - and absolutely loved it.

Jackie

[getnthinr]

Wow! Great going, Matt! What a terrific report -- and congrats on your age group win. Hey, there were probably only 4 of you because the others whimped out because of the weather -- You are the MAN!!! I hope I just manage to finish the Danskin Tri next month.

As an aside, I actually got a Mickey trophy from Disney one year because I was on one of two "mixed" category marathon teams. It is a very special souvenir. Can't wait to hear about your Ironman training!