Now I was back in transition. It had stopped raining, and now was starting to get warm. I changed out of the bike shorts, into running shorts. I put on some fresh dry socks, and my running shoes. I drank a little more Pepsi, kissed my wife, and headed out on my way for the 13.1 mile run. This transition took about 11 some minutes. Again, I wasn’t rushing.
The run started out pretty good. I was not planning on ripping out a PR on the half marathon (mine being about 1:42). But I figured I could take it easy and do sub 10:00 pace and maybe come in around 2 hours. The run course was a meandering hilly thing. Actually, the biggest hills were in the first half. After that, it mellowed out. At about about mile 1.5 I saw Eric coming in the opposite direction. I yelled out “RJ, you’re a rock star!” I have no clue what he meant. But I laughed. I thought he was close to the end of the half marathon, but when I passed that spot on the way back, I realized he was just approaching mile 5, and still had a ways to go.
I started talking to a girl named Kelly about mile 5 or 6 who was running a little slower than me. I decided to run with her, and just take it easy. I wasn’t too concerned about time. So we ran and talked. It was a nice distraction. My legs were tired, and my feet were getting sore. Especially my right heel. It felt kind of bruised and hurt on each landing.
As I said, the course was meandering passing itself in many spots. So we would see runners coming back the other way. One small section was on a dirt road that turned into a single track trail. And another part we crossed in both directions was a short soft sand trail that connected two roads, and crossed some railroad tracks.
The mile markers drove me nuts. I started my Garmin 305 when I crossed the mats. When I reach mile marker 1, my Garmin said 1.30 miles. When I reached mile marker 2, it said something like 2.35 miles. When I finally reached mile marker 12, my Garmin said 13 miles. I know that the Garmin can be a little off. Such as during a 26.2 mile marathon, it will often read 26.6 at the finish. But being a mile off during half marathon? But when we crossed the finish line, my Garmin was now reading about 13.4. So the first mile was marked long, and the last mile marked short. I am guessing the whole course was actually about 13.1 miles the way it was supposed to be.
I finished the run in about 2:25. Much slower than I planned. But I finished the race in about 6:56 which is faster than the 7 hours that I originally thought I might do. I had successfully finished my first half-ironman triathlon. 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run.
I kissed my wife, and headed back to the bike rack to get some more Pepsi. I needed sugar! Eric’s bike was still there. I found Eric in the pavilion getting food. I got some food too. Then we went and loaded up our gear and took it to our respective cars and said our goodbyes.
Helen and I went back to our motel. I saw some other triathletes hosing off their wetsuits. I borrowed the hose and hosed off my bike. We put everything in the room. I took a quick bath to clean off the road grime, then I took a nap.
Helen and I went out for a celebratory dinner at the restaurant next to our motel. I had a rib eye steak, and Helen had the prime rib. It had been a long day, and we headed back to the motel.
The drive home was mostly uneventful. We took the freeway instead of the back roads which made for a faster drive.
As for the pain in my right heel. The next day as I was cleaning up my race gear, I found a small hard pine cone wedged into the bottom of the right shoe, right underneath the heel. I am not sure when I picked it up, but I was probably landing on it thousands of times. Oh well!
I headed to my bike rack. Eric and Bob were still there. They seemed amused that I backstroked nearly the whole way. They were gone in a minute or two.
I took the transition slowly. I didn’t want to forget anything. I got out of my wetsuit. Dried off. Wrapped a beach towel around my waist and changed into bike shorts. I filled my water bottle with Pepsi, and drank a little. I shoved half a sub into my jersey pocket. It was starting to rain again. I hadn’t brought my cycling jacket, so I wore my Boston Marathon jacket. Socks, bike shoes, helmet. A quick trip to the porta potty. I spent about 12 minutes in T1. I walked my bike to the road, and mounted.
The bike course was an out and back course made up of rolling hills. I cruised along passing more people than passed me. But then I was towards the back. I saw lots of people with flat tires. I would inquire in passing if they were okay. They usually seemed to be. But around 17 miles, I passed a woman who was stopped. I asked in passing, and I caught the word broken. I stopped and went back. It turned out she had gotten her second flat, and was out of tubes and CO2 cartridges. I had 2 spare tubes and 2 CO2’s so I gave her one of each, and headed on my way. I can use all the karma points I can get.
It rained off and on for the first 25 miles or so. My bike picked up all kinds of dirt and grit, and was making many scary sounds. I kept thinking maybe I broke a spoke. But everything seemed okay. At one point I was riding through a drizzle that was collecting on my sunglasses and making it hard to see.
Along the way I ate about 3 bananas (grabbed from volunteers) and a Carb Boom gel. At maybe mile 24, I saw Eric riding the other direction. He gave me a shout out. I passed a general store around mile 25. I decided to go around the turn around at mile 28, and stop at the general store at mile 31. This is what I did. I stopped at the general store and bought a 20oz Pepsi. I carried a $10 bill in my jersey pocket for just this purpose. I asked if they got many Tinmen coming in. She said no, never. I told her she got one. I filled my water bottle with the Pepsi, and pulled out my sub. I started eating it, then decided to eat it on the bike. I was steering with one hand and eating with the other. As I passed through Cranberry Lake there were a few people out cheering on the riders. I waved with the sub in my hand. The ride back into Tupper Lake was fun. There were nice long downhill sections in the last 5-10 miles. I actually seem to feel stronger later in long rides. On one of the final downhills I managed to reach close to 40mph coasting down on the aerobars. I polished off the rest of the Pepsi before T2. I finished the 56 mile bike ride in 3:21 which was faster than I had thought I would do. I had guessed about 3:30 or even 3:45.
It stopped raining, and as race time approached, we donned our wetsuits, and bright green swim caps, and headed down to the corrals. I had bought a tinted swim mask as recommended for this race. But I hadn’t had a chance to swim with it yet. And since it was cloudy, I opted for the clear swim mask instead, that I have been using regularly at the pool.
Our wave was set to go at 8:30. We watched as the waves before ours went. Then it was our turn. We went into the water and waited. It wasn’t cold. I put my earplugs in, got my mask on. I lined up to the back and outside expecting to be one of the slowest people. Then the horn sounded. I started the timer on my watch, and started my first open water swim. I started off doing freestyle. I was running into people in front of me. I was not super comfortable having my face down in the brownish water. I couldn’t see where I was going, and the water tasted weird. I flipped over and did backstroke. This was much more comfortable. I just backstroked my way around the lake. I watched the other swimmers around me to make sure I was going in the right direction. Occasionally I would flip over and freestyle which was faster, but after a bit, I would flip back over and return to backstroke. I watched the buoys and the volunteers on the kayaks. I would see swimmers going 90 degrees to the course till they looked around confused and got back on course. Around 2/3rds into the swim, there was a heavy rain which came and went.
As I approached the beach, I did freestyle, and saw the bottom get closer. When my hand touched bottom, and stood up and climbed out. 47 minutes. I figured about 50 minutes, so I swam faster than I thought I would. Must have been the wetsuit. Not bad considering I really only learned how to swim about a year ago. 1.2 miles down!
Part 3: Tupper Lake Tinman – The Bike
Helen and I got an early start. I pretty much already had the car packed. I just needed to put the last stuff in, and mount the bike rack and bike on the back. We dropped the dog off at boarding kennel, and headed on our way.
We took back roads. I kept my speed down using my cruise control. Avoids tickets, and saves gas. I averaged over 40mpg on the trip. We stopped at McDonalds and got some breakfast to go. Along the way, we stopped at another McDonalds in Oswego (the one at 230 W Bridge St, Oswego, NY?). I have eaten here many times on our way to and from the Adirondacks. I needed to use the restroom. There was an employee at the door saying the dining room was closed. This was at 11am. I asked if I could just come in to use the restroom. She went to ask someone, then came back and said no. It was all actually kind of rude. I ended up going next door to a gas station/convenience store. I used their restroom, and bought some candy for the trip. I will never eat at that Oswego McDonalds again.
We continued on our way. We stopped at a Subway shop along the way. I bought a footlong ham sub. This would be for breakfast the next day. I always have to remember to have food for race morning. The rest of the drive was uneventful.
We got into Tupper Lake about 2:30. We checked in to the motel (Shaheens Motel), unloaded the car. Was pleased to find they had wifi in the rooms. The website didn’t mention that. Eric was planning to be at registration about 4pm. I took a short nap. About 3:45 I called Eric and found he was in the area. But there was a storm blowing through, and he was going to wait for it to blow over. Helen and I headed down to the park. The wind was blowing, and rain was coming down. The row of porta-pottys was blown over. Wish we had gotten a picture. I ran to the registration tent. There was no one there. I found they had been told to evacuate the tent during the storm. They were all under the pavilion.
After a bit, they reopened, I checked in, got my packet and got body marked. There was food there for the racers, but I passed, as we were planning to go to dinner with Eric. I called Eric, and found he was now in the registration tent. It was great to finally meet my friend Eric who I had never met. You gotta love the internet! I have many friends who I have never met. We went and explored our spots on the bike rack, and found our pre-assigned spots were next to each other. Very cool!
We decided to go to dinner in Lake Placid at a place called Pasta La Vista. Eric’s friend Bob was coming too. Helen and I got on the road and headed towards Lake Placid. We found Pasta La Vista but it was out of business. I called Eric, and they said go to another place called Nicola’s. Helen and I just walked there, and got a table. Eric and Bob arrived shortly. We ordered. The Caesar salad was very good. The waiter recommended the Bolognese Pasta, so I had that. It was just okay. Helen had the Vongole which had clams and linguine. She said the clams were good, but the pasta was missing something. I tried it and agreed. Other than the Caesar salad, the food was unimpressive. I also had to ask multiple times for a refill on my diet coke before I finally got one. The bill showed they charged me for the second coke. Pretty much, I did not like this restaurant and cannot recommend it at all.
We said good night, and we headed our separate ways. When we got back to our motel, I went through the race bag. Not much swag. I got a t-shirt, and a couple samples, and ads for a few races. I got a bib and another number thing that was supposed to go on the bike. There was another little card with my number on it too. I couldn’t figure out was it was for. The instructions didn’t say much about the numbers at all. My bib # was 415. Cool! It had a 5 in it. And the other numbers 4 and 1 added up to 5. Surely a good sign! I got my stuff together, and organized as best I could, and went to bed.
I set the alarm for ugly early. I slept poorly. I was not nervous about the swimming, biking, or running. I was mostly concerned about forgetting something, or screwing something up. So, my brain was going through the transitions over and over.
I got up in the morning. I drank a Pepsi (non diet), and ate part of half a sub. I can never seem to eat a lot before a race. Nervous stomach I think. But I need to eat something. Real food. I loaded stuff in the car. Loaded the bike. We headed down to the race.
I took my bike in. There was supposed to be a bike safety check, but he just sort of glanced at my bike, and let me through. No glaring issues I guess. I racked my bike, then went to the car and got the rest of my stuff. Eric was there now, and I set about setting up my space. Most of my stuff, I left shoved inside a big plastic bag as it was raining. I found the little card with my number on it was a sticker for my bike helmet.
Part 2: Tupper Lake Tinman – The Swim
Almost two weeks ago, I ran the 3.5 mile Chase Corporate Challenge race in the pouring rain. Three days later I had a raging cold. The cold has hung on. The first days were the worst, with me being barely able to sleep since I would wake up with coughing fits. And I was totally stuffed up. I have since been able to sleep without the coughing fits. But I am still coughing. I have toned down my workouts to easy rides and runs, and cut out the swimming. The running really made me cough.
A co-worker basically told me that I was going to the doctor. I tried to call the doctor Monday, but the office had already closed. So I called them yesterday morning, and got a 12:45 appointment. I went to the doctor, and he sent me for an X-ray which was right downstairs. Unfortunately, they were closed for lunch, and I had to wait until 1pm. And there were a couple guys ahead of me. I finally managed to get my x-rays about 1:45 or so. I went back upstairs to the doctor’s office. He showed me the x-rays. My lungs were mostly clear. Though he pointed out some faint lines. He thought these my be mucus blockages. He prescribed an antibiotic called Azithromycin. He sent the prescription to the Target store where I get my HCTZ.
The prescription was supposed to be ready in about an hour or hour and a half. So I walked over to the Target about 3:30. They had it ready. The girl rung it up, and it came to over $30. Ouch! She asked if I had insurance. I said yes, and gave her my card. The pharmacist said it would be at least 30 minutes before she could enter it. What? I already waited for them to fill it, and now I had to wait to pay for it? I told them I would came back after work.
I came back about 4:30ish. The pharmacist was totally apologetic. She had entered my card. The Azithromycin now rung up for $7. Way better. But the pharmacist gave the girl some coupons, and now it rung up for $1. Way cool!
There were six tablets. I took two yesterday, and I am supposed to take one tablet each following day until they are gone.
I asked a doctor friend of mine (who is a runner/cyclist) if I could exercise with this, and he said no. I need to rest. Ack! I take my last pill on Saturday. I have a very busy day on Saturday anyway. I am walking in a parade, and watching a black belt test.
Maybe I will do a bike ride on Sunday. I am scheduled to ride for 3 hours. Maybe I will do a nice easy 3 hours, weather permitting. Being sick, sucks!