What a Day!

Well I was up at 3:30 before my alarm clock and I felt ready to race on Sunday August the 1st. I felt rested I felt strong, and my mind was calm. I was able to go to use the bathroom before we left the hotel which was good because the line ups are always terrible. Since this race has a point to point cycle the start was an hour away. The course also uses one of Calgary's more major roads so they were starting the heats at 6:00 to try an minimize traffic on the course. Needless to say it was an early morning.

When we arrived it was cold and raining (5AM), I was scared I didn't bring a jacket or something for the cycle. I talked to one of the pros they said they might use arm warmers. I tried to stay positive and remind myself it was very early in the morning and it will warm up.By the time I completed my last minute bike adjustments, I still needed to wait in the line and use the bathroom one more time.

By this time it was close to race time. The swim took place in the ghost lake reservoir which was 16C. Freezing. Kelcie and I walked away from the crowds of nervous triathletes and did a grounding exercise to keep calm. I also got her to bring warm water to dump it in my wet suit before the race. Which really seemed to help with the shock of the water.

Before I knew it it was time to get in the water. As we were paddling around waiting for the gun a guy came up to me and said "Hey your from Manitoba, I saw you in Morden" his name was Les Freisen hes a sub 5 guy really nice. He was telling me about how much he hates the swim, hes a hell of a runner though I saw him run in morden this year.

After our brief conversation the gun went off I started near the front and the crowd was not that bad no kicks to the head or anything. We actually spread out quite nicely. about 500m in it seemed as though I was swimming in a group of my own there was a group in front of me and the majority behind me. Eventually a few guys came up and I was able to suck into there hip pocket and get pulled up to the lead pack. As I rounded the corners I began to pass some of the people that started in the heats before me. Overall I just tried to stay relaxed, long and smooth on all my strokes. I popped out of the water and ran over to the wetsuit strippers. I found them useful for the way transition was set up. You had to be ready to ride before entering transition. So I ran over to my bag and put on all my gear. My only slip up was I forgot to put one sock on so I had to put a shoe on twice. No big deal. Some comedy in transition I saw some women that got naked. She was older it was gross. Get your mind outta the gutter. I guess she didn't think to swim with her cycle shorts on??? I had a laugh and from there it was time to hammer down.

For the whole cycle I would say quote Bryan Payne " I turned in to pac man" I was crushing people. Flats, up hills, down hills, everywhere I was non- stop passing people. I was surprised how many guys I passed in the 30-40 age range. I made a little self note that I was not passing many people in my age category. I figured most were hammering off already I was focused on my race and my race alone. I felt good and it was a beautiful course. I really enjoyed it, I was smiling a lot of the course. I think it kinda pisses people off when you hammer passed them and your smiling.

About half way through I couldn't feel my left arm I couldn't open my cliff bar I had to put it in my mouth wrapper and all and then spit out the wrapper. But after that it kinda warmed up.

There were two other semi significant moments on the cycle. One where a kid in my age cat did pass me. But not for long as i reeled him in and that was the last I saw of him. Another time on this hilly section this guy would pedal hard and pass me on the down hills but I would easily catch him on the flats and then drop him on the uphills. Once the course flattened out he was gone for good. I learnt in muskoka its not worth it to really hammer some of the steep hills. The weird thing was this guy had a power meter, you think he would have noticed he was wasting energy??

Anyways I got off the cycle with a PB of 2:37:49 and that was 58.7 miles cant blame them because they were going point to point. I started running I couldn't feel my feet. As the feeling came back I noticed my right foot was hurting I didn't know why. The more the feeling came back the weirder it felt until I realised I had run 10k with 2 power gels in my shoe. The first 10k I was strong I felt good the last 10k was mostly uphill so it was tougher. I felt good all the way until the last 3k for those I was was just running aid station to aid station fueled by flat coke. For the last k I just closed my eyes and bit in.

I have to say it was the most enjoyable one I have done so far. It is true that the faster you go the easier they are.

After I finished Kelcie had some interesting news. The car was over heating. Just when I thought I could relax. WRONG. Luckaly we stumbled across some guys working on a vehicle near by and they were handi enough to patch the rad to get back to the hotel. But by the time we got it back it was now leaking oil. WHAT DO I DO I NEED TO GET BACK FOR THE AWARDS!!!! at this point I still didnt know where I finished. So we hopped in a cab I was devisated I though I missed my clearwater spot. When the cab got there I ran to the stage and asked if they had done my age cat yet. It was that moment when I realized I finised 2nd! And I GOT A CLEARWATER SPOT!!! I jumped in the air and almost cried. I had gone from being so depressed about the car to happier then I have ever been. All my hard work paid off.

After I paid up we got back the the hotel. Relax right?? Wrong. The car needed to be towed to a honda dealer and we had to book flights home. The morning was spent shipping our excess stuff on a greyhound bus and getting to the airport. Talk about a stressful trip. But we are home now safe and sound, and with A clearwater spot!!!!

Total Swim Bike(58.7miles)(run)
05:01:50 592 Sohor, Davis WINNIPEG MB CAN 33:48 2:37:49 1:44:11