RR part #3 (finally)

We are finally back home in Colorado and I have access to my computer once again....YAY! Lots of travelling, limited computer time and a little too much family delayed that "cutting and pasting" of the final part of this never-ending race report. So, if I still have any readers left, who can remember what is going on - I know that I can't - here is the bike/run portion of the race.

Part #3
The bike itself was quite uneventful….just long, really long. It was also somewhat chilly, so I was glad to have my arm warmers and gloves. The sky kept threatening to storm and start to pour as the winds were picking up more and more. I just wanted to be off my bike before this happened. Even though I grew up in Canada, I do not deal well with cold. Or wind. Or rain. Or being wet and chilly when riding my bike….you get the idea. For me, Kona provides the ideal racing environment and sadly, CdA just wasn’t it.

But back to the bike….since I hadn’t done a long ride for several weeks, and I think that I had only built up to around 80 miles before I had abandoned training, I wondered what would happen when I hit that point. I also didn’t use a HR monitor or bike computer, and obviously, don’t ride with power, so I was relying on perceived exertion to guide my bike effort. I also know that good bike fitness leads to a solid run – or so I’ve heard – so that was also cause for concern…but I tried not to think about it and just ride in the moment – focusing on good nutrition, adequate hydration and not riding too hard.
I think it is somewhat hard to describe what it feels like when I am riding at a sustainable IM pace – it is steady, I can feel it in my legs, but it doesn’t make me breathe hard. I tried to find that zone and just remember to let everyone fly past me on the first lap as they blasted the hills on the back side of the course. People love to fly up those “little” hills but I knew that any extra effort there would crush any hope I had of finishing the run(provided I was even able to start). These little hills also made me cough really hard and I think I was annoying anyone around me as they kept turning around to stare or ask if I was okay. Obviously, I saw lots of drafting on the bike the first lap – really stupid to do in any race, but especially stupid to do when your name is on your bib and it says something like Dr. Julie…..and as always, lots of aero helmets and compression socks. But does an aero helmet really help when you are riding over 5 hrs? Hmmmmm……

As I came in to town on the first lap, and was doing the little out and back section, I saw Rain wandering down the sidewalk…of course, I had to say hi! I was a little disturbed that they were out there so early in the day, and was worried about how much longer they’d be waiting. So I hurried on to my second lap. Things were much more spread out on the second lap. The only issue I had was with my left hip – still causing me some issues – and my left glute/hip was burning most of this lap and I could feel that I wasn’t getting the same “power” from that side. I obviously need to still keep doing a lot of strength work on that side until it catches up to the right.

I survived the ride and made it to transition. Since I didn’t have any clue really of how long the ride had taken and could just guesstimate by the time on my watch, I thought that I wasn’t doing too poorly and making a total fool of myself. After, when I looked at my time, I realized that somehow, I had actually biked 10 SECONDS faster than last year…I certainly was much fitter last year, without a doubt, so I can only attribute it to the fast bike – my Kestrel Airfoil – which fits me great and is quite light!!! But, still pretty interesting how you can end up with essentially the same time just going by ‘feel’.

I still wasn’t 100% sure that I was running as I hobbled from my bike in to the transition tent, so I took my time. I felt pretty crappy and was sure that my left glute/hip wasn’t working, but yet, I wasn’t sure that I would really need to use it that much for running. I was still hacking, but I had a fresh pack of gum, some hard candies and cough syrup waiting for me in my T2 bag. I took a swig of the cough syrup (totally legal stuff) – yum – and started to suck on a candy as I put on my shoes and made little bargains with myself. I decided that I would just do the little mile and a half out and back section, and if I couldn’t run, I would stop at transition when I passed back by and call it a day.

After a rather long pee, I hobbled out of T2. I think I looked scary. I think I probably sounded pretty scary….but at least I was moving and chewing my gum. There is actually a picture of me coming out of T2 showing a stick of gum in my mouth. Some people think that is some kind of running secret, but trust me, it’s not…it keeps my mouth and throat moist so I don’t cough as much. I even blow bubbles when I run.
So, I was hobbling out of T2, dragging my left leg, when I heard and saw a bike out of my peripheral vision as he shouted out 3rd place female pro coming through. My first thought was WTF?!?!, I have never been passed on a run before. That wasn’t going to happen yet I knew that I needed to face reality and control my effort….and as I ran, I did quick calculations in my head to sadly figure out that the pro women were a full hour ahead of me at that point. Sigh. I made it to the turn around, about ¾ of a mile away and turned around and noticed that I had put some time on the third place woman, who turned out to be Heather W., who had won the race last year. I assumed she was having a rough time out there too! I came back by transition and decided I could keep going – by now, I had bargained myself up to doing at least the first loop of the run. So I kept chugging away.

I wasn’t having any nutritional problems or tummy issues and was grateful as I witnessed several people rushing into or waiting for the porta-potties. I see this in every race I do but people never want to listen to nutritional advice! As I passed mile 3, I looked at my watch, and based on the time, I figured that the first three miles had taken somewhere around 22-23 min and that wasn’t too bad based on how wheezy my breathing was sounding. It didn’t feel hard, but yet it didn’t feel easy due to my breathing/coughing issues and bum leg, it just felt steady. Soon, I noticed that Kate Major, the second place pro woman was just up ahead of me. I usually don’t feel too bad passing people, but I felt bad passing her as she seemed to going through a rough patch. I could see the first place woman up ahead and wanted to tell Kate to just run with me but I figured that would be really dorky and sound stupid coming from some hacking chick as she went hobbling by. So I said nothing and tried to keep the first place girl in my sights, hoping that somehow her speed would pull me along. I almost caught her coming back into town but she turned to go towards the finish, and I still had another lap to go.

I also ran past Marit during this first lap…as I went by, she called out “Kerrie????” and I turned around and recognized her immediately. My breathing was so wheezy and rattley by that point that I could barely whisper out a “good job” but I was thinking it as I knew that she was one person that could truly relate to the struggles I had gone through during the last year. When I came back into town, I guessed that I went by 13 miles in around 1:40, and I knew I just had to keep moving and put one foot ahead of another and finish. I couldn’t DNF at this point just cause I wasn’t feeling well or just because I hadn’t been able to prepare for this race how I had wanted, I knew that I HAD TO finish just because I COULD. Last year, I promised myself when I was doing rehab exercises on a stationary bike at FAC, just trying to make my leg do a complete circle as I watched Craig Alexander run on the treadmill – several times – in the last part of his Kona prep, that when I finally regained movement, I would never take it for granted.

I wish I had something more dramatic to say – like I had a huge meltdown or started to crawl…yet the second lap was rather uneventful. Still lots of coughing and wheezing and even though the course seemed to be a lot more crowded, people gave me lots of room when they ‘heard’ me coming through. Not only did I sound ugly, but I know I looked horrible as I think I was pretty well dragging my left leg by this point. My friend Adam who was racing said that it looked like I was trying to “birth a watermelon” as I “ran” by…whatever that means, but it’s just not a pleasant visual. I usually zone out when I am running and am just focused on moving and taking in what I need at each aid station. This means that most often, I can’t even tell you what mile I am at – so in spite of the discomfort and ugliness, the second lap passed rather quickly. The best part was that I saw Rain twice on both laps standing out in the cold, having the best time, yelling like a crazy person. She was also there at the finish to hug me as soon as I crossed the line. For that reason alone, I’m glad I didn’t quit.

Before I knew it, I was directed towards the finisher’s loop, and I realized that I really was really going to finish. At that point, I started to sob. And it was such a release. I was sobbing for all that I had missed out on – not being able to do anything for weeks, not being able to carry my baby up the stairs to bed, not being able to race Kona last year…for all the struggles that I had had and for the long road that I still have ahead. By the time I turned on to the street to the finish, it was full on crying. I let a couple of guys (total douche bags, lol) sprint by me to the finish because I’m sure they really needed those extra seconds, yet I really just wanted to enjoy the moment and high 5 people as I ran down the street. And before I even knew what was happening, I was done. I had finished a race that I didn’t even plan on starting. How did that happen?

I didn’t even take a step past the finish before I had collapsed from total exhaustion and cold and was taken to the medical tent where I frightened more people with my cough. Not too long after, Marit appeared and when I was able, I went to lie down next to her on a cot where we tried to warm up under those silly silver ‘space blankets’ and rehash race experiences. Do those space blankets actually work? Very questionable. After a little while, GG found me and he wanted to get out of there. And since he was so chipper, and gloating, I made him go and collect all of my bags so I didn’t have to take another step and could put some warm, dry clothes on. What a thoughtful guy! But it doesn’t end there….all he wanted to know was how fast (slow) I had run and of course I had no clue. I just knew my finishing time of 10:42, so I could kind of guess. Other that that, I wasn’t sure how I had finished….so we called Rain, who had been following the race on my iPhone and all she could tell us was that GG was 2nd in his age group and she thought I had finished 7th. Of course, somebody(rather large) was soooooo pleased with himself and proceeded to rub it in all the way back to our cabin. Still dying to know just “how much faster” he had run, we had to look up splits on my iPhone(which took forever), only to discover that I had run my sloooooowwwwwest IM marathon ever – by a lot – with a 3:25(no surprise there though - oops), so the 200lb running fairy had run almost 3 min. faster. He ever so thoughtfully promised though that he would offer me all kinds of running tips and training advice. However, in the midst of all of this, I looked at the results and noticed a “1” in my results by my name, and to my surprise, I discovered that I had won my age group. Now that was a shock because I really hadn’t been paying that close of attention!! I doubt my time would have even placed in this age group last year, yet this year, it was good enough for the win. Very strange how things sometime work out! So now it was my turn to gloat, and when I get our trophies, I’ll be sure to post pictures to show how mine is bigger than GGs, after all, size is what matters, isn’t it?

Now what? Well, Kona in October where I have a serious date on the Queen K!!!! And I am very excited about that! As soon as I get healthy, lose my cough and get my hip back where it should be, I will start training. It’s on this time – no excuses and no regrets. And when I run GG down on the Queen K, I promise that I will slap his ass as I cruise on by…maybe I’ll even ask him if he wants to “run with me” ;).