Muncie Indiana Half Ironman

After not being allowed to finish at Kona in June, I had to have closure on the Half Ironman distance.  About 6 hours away in Muncie, Indiana, the Ironman series offered an event.  I had registered before our place even left Hawaii.

What was I thinking?!  Work got hectic.  I got lazy after coming back from Hawaii.  Work got hectic.  I got lazier.  You get the picture.  Training become non-existent and now I was scheduled to swim 1.2 miles, bike 56 miles, and run 13.1 miles.  Oh man, it's a good thing I'm not a quitter.

Meg joined me at this race.  "Joined" is the nice way of saying she had no choice.  She's my companion on all things crazy.  How in the world this kid managed to entertain herself is still a mystery.  Not even she knows the answer!

We met my parents and brother/sister-in-law in Columbus.  My brother and sister-in-law were visiting for the week and weekend and were kind enough to take Bridget for the next 36 hours.  Bridget was beyond excited to stay with her older cousin, Zoe, so it was a win-win for everyone.  Poor Meg, she would be stuck with me on a 36-hour adventure that would be one of the weirdest for her and I and that's saying a lot!

Pre-Race
We arrived in a little town outside Muncie for the triathlon check-in, mandatory event coverage session and a little expo shopping.  The event was held on the grounds of the Prairie Creek Reservoir.  Gotta love Siri, but she routed us to the opposite side of the reservoir, told us to park our car and walk to the reservoir.  Are you serious?!  We were separated by water...no way we could walk! Ugh, it took us nearly a half hour to find our way around all the county roads before finding the check-in.  The funniest part...there was a super simple direct route that I would eventually find later...and thank goodness.

This is a pretty cool race in a remote location and with a neat camping and RV lot the race start.  I started thinking that if I did this race again next year, we might have to rent a camper.  Might be fun to have an evening under the stores and then to celebrate with S'mores.  Don't you think?

We pick up my race packet, listen to the race announcements, fret, pace, you know the drill.  Eventually, I check in my bike into the Transition area.  This was a much easier, more traditional check-in.  I got to lay out my towel, organize my bike and run stuff.  Not a lot of space between bikes, but at least there was only one transition area.  Seriously, that ended up being so much easier than Kona. I also learned many lessons from Kona...including simplifying my transition set-up.  This would turn out to be a smart move.

We headed back to Richmond, Indiana, about an hour from the race, but the closest place to get a hotel.  I will make sure I book earlier for the 2015 race (and yes, I'll be doing the 2015 race!).  Our carb loading meal was at the Olive Garden (blech!), but when you're in a town of chain restaurants, you can't be picky.  We hit up Kroger to get some food and snacks for Meg's marathon wait and then headed off to the hotel for some shut-eye.

I tell you, Meg and I could have fun in a paper bag.  She's such a good sport of making the most out of a really boring location!

Race Day
Time to get up before the Sun! Phew, it was early.  The Hampton Inn was kind enough to prepare for us a to-go bag, except it was stuff that was so processed, there was no way I was putting that crap in my body.  And I say this "tongue-in-cheek" because the week prior to the race had included late night evenings of work and no healthy food.  I think I had the unhealthiest diet in my 48 years that way alone.  Not a good thing, but it is what it is.

Got to the race start around 6:00 a.m. I did a practice swim, made a quick trip to the port-a-potty, hung around nervously until my neon orange group of ladies entered the water.  Lots of people wore wetsuits because the water temp was slightly below the wetsuit cutoff.  I made the decision to just wear my swim skin, which was smart because you overheat after awhile in the water and I didn't want to dehydrate myself.  It was going to be a super hot and humid day so I needed to be smart about not overheating and drinking plenty of water.


Swim
I was scheduled for an 7:45 a.m. swim start.  My swim went well.  I shaved a minute off my Kona swim time.  I was super impressed considering I had only been in the water maybe 4 times since Kona.  I would have shaved another minute, but I got hit hard by another swimmer within 50 yards of finishing and it disoriented me a bit.  Overall, I was happy.

Now run to the transition area, not walk! Pulled on my socks, cycling shoes, a little lube, a quick bite of Gu, sip of water, slid on the sunglasses and helmet and busted out of that transition area.

Bike
While I did finish under the cutoff, my bike portion was disappointing.  Next time, I will include a steady workout of plyometrics to improve on my leg strength.  I also need to work more on better gear shifting.  I made some key/rookie errors.  My bike is a heavier one (I really missed that lightweight Cervelo I had in Hawaii!).  The course had a lot of rolling hills and was very challenging in the heat and humidity.  It was a bit of a boring course, which made it tough to take my mind off the fact that my legs were like jelly.  I had pulled over for about a 5-minute stretch and inner complaint session when a police officer came over.  She asked if I was ok.  I told her, "Yes, I'm just tired and bitchy, but I'll pull it together."  It was very nice of her to care, but I was 40 miles into a 56-mile course and, yes, I was tired and bitchy! But I'm not a quitter.  So I pulled my act together, got back on that bike and hauled my ass into the transition area.

Run
Well, I made it past the bike cutoff with about 20 minutes to spare.  Not a lot of time.  And I needed to finish the half marathon in under 3.5 hours.  Ok, in full disclosure, since mid-May, my longest run has been 10 miles and that was in mid-May.  My longest post-Kona run was 7 miles.  This half marathon was going to be more mental, than physical.  If I could get my mind to finish this daunting distance, then my legs would suck it up and do it, too.

At one point, I was pretty whiney.  I wanted to quit, but I couldn't because that would be selfish and unfair of me since Meg had been patiently waiting since 6:00 a.m. and I couldn't quit.  What kind of message would I be sending her - that it's ok to quit when things get hard.  It's not ok.  So I trudged along.  At the beginning of the run, I hooked up with another runner and we incorporated a run/walk method of 2 minutes run, 1 minute walk.  It helped and got us through the first half of the course.  We managed to beat the turn around cut-off by about 10-15 minutes.  It was a day of beating the clock.  I eventually had to go on my own because she was wanting to walk more and run much less.  I had to finish under the cutoff.  Disqualification was simply not an option.  So I headed off solo until I caught up with another runner around mile 10.  Funny thing is that he told me he did the whole swim course using the backstroke.  And I remember seeing him in the water. 

We ran two cones, walked one cone until we ran out of course cones.  At that point, we ran one full guardrail, walked a few mailboxes, until the awful hill.  We fast-walked the hill, but did so with a smile because we knew we were within a half mile or less of the finish line.  And we would finish well under the wire! We hustled through the finishing chute to the sound of the Black Keys playing.  The sound of the Akron band greeting me at the finish line was perfect.  But even more perfect than that was Meg greeting me at the finish line.  I actually cried and hugged her because this was one of the hardest things I had done and was so glad and proud that I finished!

Finished in 8:30 and change.  Unbelieveable experience.  I will definitely do this again next year.  Muncie, I'm coming after you!

Prologue
Best story ever from Megan.  I asked her what she did while waiting for me.  She said she wasn't sure, but she managed to kill about 10 hours.  I asked if she slept, she said "No."  I asked if she read her book, she said "not really."  I asked if she ate, she said "some." Hysterical.  Only a 20-year-old could waste 10 hours and not have any idea how.  She did meet the third place male, Andrew Starykowicz, and had fun celebrating with his group.  She got to hang out with some of the faster triathletes and enjoyed people watching.  What a sport!

What a Great Race Experience!

I'm not even sure where to begin - I loved everything about this race!

The Goat and the Gobbler was a small, local race with the proceeds benefitting the Ibex Leadership School, who was fundraising for a trip to Nicaraugua to work with youths. I liked that my race fees did not go to a corporation that really didn't care about a true race experience. I didn't get another t-shirt to throw in my t-shirt drawer. Instead, I got a cool ski cap and an even cooler travel mug! Woohoo - great race schwag!

Race temperatures was dicey. I started out in a beanie, only to shed that after 4 miles because the temps quickly warmed. We were so fortunate to have sunshine throughout most of the race and the temps never exceeded the low 50s during the latter half. Perfect running weather!

There might have been 200-250 runners for both the 3-mile and 10-mile races. The race started on time with instructions and a prayer, which, strangely, was nice. The volunteers were so friendly. At mile 4-ish, I had a volunteer ask if she could run alongside me. Heck yeah! Then at mile 6.5, a volunteer ran with me to the turn-around and I noticed he did that with the girls running a few paces behind me. At one of the water stops, several volunteers carried signs and shouted lots of encouraging words. Volunteers really are integral to a race's success.

The course was very challenging. Almost the entire course was on concrete with some tough rolling hills. I was worried early on that my hips or knees might talk back to me, but everything held up well. Most of the course was run through some absolutely breathtaking neighborhoods, keeping my attention with great landscaping, beautiful fencing (which reminded me I desparately need to stain our backyard fence!), and magazine-perfect homes. The last mile, however, was a bitch. No other way to put it. It was 3/4-mile of steep incline that I had to walk. I lost about 4+ minutes on the final mile due to the unforgiving ascent! I had never seen a hill like this in a race. Even with such a tough final mile, I still loved this event. My cramping calves...not so much love!

Oh, and this race had a great little finish line surprise - Chick-fil-a breakfast biscuit. I had never had one of those before and, wow, was that yummy! And I'm pretty sure that by completing 10-miles before the first bite, I definitely burned off the calories of that sandwich!

Thank you, Omaha, for the wonderful race experience!

I'm Now Over Half-Way

I'll be tackling the 26th state next week when I finish the Park City Utah half marathon. I figured a post on what I like/dislike about races as well as my favorite races might be good at this point.

1. Chicago Accenture Olympic Triathlon. My husband competed in this race in August 2005. It was during this race, cheering him on, that I got the incredibly crazy idea that I would do a marathon. For anyone who knows me, this is how I think: "today sounds like a good day to do x (like buy a car, get a dog, decide to run a freaking long race)." back to the triathlon, for an urban course Chicago really brings the beauty. The swim is in Lake Michigan where beautiful boats are docked; the bike is along the entire shoreway; and the run goes by Shedd's Aquarium and is FULL of loud, cheering spectators. The finish is at Grant Park. The host hotel is across the street and the entire event is spectator friendly. I was able to see Greg up close during the swim, at each transition, along the bike course and during the run and still could meet him at the finish line. I cannot say the same about the Marine Corps Marathon, which is NOT easy for families/support crew to get around. The expo set the standard for all subsequent expos - hello? Talk about over-the-top! The schwag was amazing and every detail was attended to for the athletes.

2. P.F. Chang's Phoenix Marathon in January 2006. Yep, my first marathon so it's going to be special. I was so excited when I crossed the finish line and got my free bright green Spenco sandals (aka "shower shoes") and a Crispie Creme donut. I was even more excited when Greg and Megan met me at the finish line with a present from Tiffany's for my accomplishment. The course was full of spectators of all ages, I loved seeing Camelback Mountain at every twist and turn in the road, and I still laugh at hearing the story of Megan "bonking" at mile 20 while "spectating" and needing a trip to the Bk Lounge for chicken fries! Super easy city to navigate as my crew saw me at 4 or 5 points along the course!

3. Portland Triathlon in August 2009. Loved the course, although I felt like a drowned rat when I was getting out of the Williamette River. In contrast to Chicago, I actually liked that the expo was nothing more than bag pickup an a couple wet suit vendors. This was also the place where I test road and eventually bought my Fuji road bike. But the finish line was kick-ass! I was greeted with a stainless steel water bottle, a pint of Deschutes amazing special brew IPA (it may have been the BEST craft beer ever), gelato, and an assortment of BBQ foods. My family could see me at all 3 points on the course; the event had arts and crafts on site for kids, and the race organizers really took care of the athletes. Can you believe on race morning, the local Calligraphy Society donated their time at 5am to write numbers on our arms and legs! Very cool. Also, best race shirt ever-long sleeve bamboo with 3 chickens for flail (swim), flee (bike) and flap (run).

4. Other events worth noting: IMT Des Moines for the great shirt with the course on the back; the Flying Pig in Cincinnati for the BEST finish line and post-race food; the Kentucky Derby mini-marathon to run a lap around Churchill Downs while they're getting it ready for the Derby festivities; and the Bill Luti 5-Miler for having a wonderfully giving former cross country coach to yell out splits.

I'm getting excited about Park City next week. I've never run in altitude, although I have lots of experience gasping and grunting for air while climbing steps in Breckenridge. But I just found out that the Tour of Utah cycling race will be comig through Park City the same day I run the half. And George Hincapie will be racing! Plus, let's not forget it's the home of Sundance. I would seriously pass out if I got to meet Robert Redford!

Stay cool in this heat!