Mountaineer Half Iron Race Report

Well, it had to happen eventually. I finally had a disappointing race. Oh, I’m sure I’ve had them in the past, but I just can’t recall them now. And I really am not that upset with the outcome, in fact, I had a blast and am looking forward to next year. I even tried to nail down next year’s race date Monday morning with Scott from HFP as we left Morgantown.

It began on Saturday when we arrived and just had time to check in, rack the bikes and meet Mark and Anne Durno for dinner at Oliverio’s – a great Italian place right by the river and transition. Anne graciously agreed to watch the boys while both Bill and I raced. Bill was doing his first International distance race and I was returning for the Half Iron distance. Mark was also doing the International race as his “A” race. We had a nice dinner, stopped to say hello to the other CTC members and walked over to the swim start/finish. Last year’s swim exit was right at the transition area, but this year it was 250-300 yards farther away – on pavement! I knew immediately that I couldn’t go that far barefoot with my heel spur either running or walking. After a short discussion I decided to put my running shoes along the rocks and have them ready to run to transition. I kicked myself for not bringing my other pair of shoes – those were at home along with my Met-RX shake I always have on race mornings. I bought some kind of protein shake in a can at the expo to use for breakfast (note: don’t do this --- this is a classic rookie mistake, but I continually try to do some goofy stuff). My last check of the race day weather forecast was cool in the morning and clear, sunny skies the rest of the day and a high of 75. After last year’s rain, I was excited to have a nice, clear day ahead.

Race morning was as beautiful as promised as we walked down to the transition area in the parking garage. On the way in, Heather Gollnick walked out and I automatically called her name. We met her in Hawaii the morning after the Ironman and I got to talk to her and her husband about 10 minutes. She was absolutely sweet then and either remembered me or was absolutely sweet about a stranger calling her out on race morning. I quickly wished her well and got my pre-race stuff done. She won the pro race, so at least I didn’t mess her up! I got my transition stuff all set, gabbed to the ladies around me, and grabbed my wetsuit to head to the start with Bill. After I got into my wetsuit, I decided on one more pit stop and ducked into Subway. When I came out, Bill was there and I adjusted my wetsuit bib and felt a hole in the back “Y”. There was no time to fret since I had less than 10 minutes until the start of my wave. Fortunately, the vest top covered it, so it wasn’t an issue.

I got down to the start and jumped in the water and made my way up front. I was thrilled with my 34 minute swim at Eagleman, so I would be content with a 35 minute swim here. Especially after last year’s 38 minute swim. I felt great in the water and saw a ton of girls flying ahead. After the turn to the backstretch, I stuck close to the buoys and had clear water. When I’d breathe to the right, I realized it was because everyone was swimming wide to the right. I kept cruising along and made my turns without running into any trouble. As I headed to the finish, I felt great but didn’t have any idea of my pace. At the dock, just as they grabbed my hand to lift me out, I saw my watch said 32 and change! I was stunned, but happy . . . even as I heard and felt my wetsuit rip the rest of the way across. I made it to my shoes and slipped my feet in and hauled up the ramp. The shoes made a world of difference. Even with the stop to put them on, I was under 4 minutes on transition.

I grabbed my bike and headed out for the road. The bike started the same as last year – choppy roads and a lot of twists and turns. Just before the “Y” where the half and international routes split, the roads smoothed out and I could get into a nice rhythm. I rode with Paul and Chris from CTC for a bit. Actually, Chris was near me for the entire bike, and then blew by me on the run. The climbs were nice and the turnarounds were much better than last year. I actually overshot the second turnaround and took about four guys with me, but we just turned behind the cones. I did spot Bill on his loop and it looked like he was having a great day. The water handoffs were good, except I couldn’t get the damn bottles open. I tried tearing them with my teeth (and thinking about all the money I spent on orthodontia) and had a heck of a time. Coming in from the first loop, I hit the choppy, Xterra portion of the course and held on for dear life. I was actually looking forward to the next loop.

Starting the second loop, I was thinking about the railroad tracks – I don’t know why, but the instructions I gave at the clinic the week before, “if a train is coming – STOP”, popped into my mind. As I turned to the RR crossing, the lights were flashing! I wasn’t sure if it was a live track and there only lights, no barricades, soooo I looked both ways and zoomed across! There were workers on the track, so I figured they were triggering the lights. The next thing I noticed was the smells. It was like I was in labor again and could smell everything! The river smelled like fish, someone was cooking bacon, . . . . it was crazy. It also went along with the urge I had to throw up. I never really felt nauseous, my stomach just felt full – not sloshing, just a few minutes of thinking about how I could throw up without stopping. Thankfully the feeling passed and I pressed on. Perhaps the funniest moment of the ride was when a cat wandered into the road oblivious to the riders in both directions. Just as I was summoning up my bark (my standard response when I’m riding and need to scare small animals in my path), the cat’s tail went up, its back arched, and it turned around and ran just as Jack Carney, heading in the other direction, nearly nailed it! We just looked at each other with goofy grins and went back to riding. I know that last year I began the run around four hours and I started to calculate that I would be about 20 minutes ahead of that this year. I pulled in with a 3:05:48 for 18.1 mph average. I slipped on my shoes and they were soaking wet! I figured a good three hour ride would dry them out, but no luck. Another quick transition – 1:26 – and I was out on the run.

I hadn’t run in a week since my hips were out of whack when I finally went to my PT, “Dr.” Tom, on Monday and again on Thursday. I dutifully wore my “butt band” around all week and hoped the running break would keep everything in place. I started out running the first three miles around 9:23 pace, before I hit a 9:03 on mile four. I felt good and just hoped to clip along and see how the hills felt. Rob Reddy flew by on his second loop and he looked awesome! There were so many CTC members out racing; it felt like a hometown Cleveland race. I hit the uphill section and gave the devil a high five. After the turn onto Grant St., some WVU guys had toilet paper strung across the road as a mock finish line, so I ran through the “tape”. The downhill section hurt the most, but I turned back into the park to start loop two. I felt ok but could tell my foot and hips were getting sorer as I went. Before the turnaround, I saw a lady from PA who was right behind me in Lake Placid and in my age group. I had made up a lot of time on her and I decided when I passed, I’d make sure my name on the bib was in front of me so she wouldn’t realize it someone in her age group – my numbers had long worn off my calf. I made the pass and realized just how much I hurt. If she had any challenge, I wasn’t going to be able to answer, so I was relieved that she didn’t. At mile 10 everything hurt and I was approaching the hill. The devil was having a lunch break, so he was on the sidelines. I was moving so slowly, I decided to walk, which was a bad move. As soon as I turned and started to run, my left knee started to “stick” or hurt in an IT band kind of way. I tried walking a bit then running, but every time I started to run, it hurt within a step or two. I stopped to stretch and watched some women pass and knew I was out of contention for a top five place at this point. I kept the walking and running starts and stops going for the entire two miles. I’m not exactly sure what I bargained to be able to run across the finish line, but my usual grin was replaced with a much different look.

I saw Liam and Conor in the finish area with Mountaineer shirts on and they handed me water, my medal, and Liam took my timing chip off. I thought of my friends, Naira and Chuck, and their half goal of going under six hours as I finished in 5:59:28. I finished with a 2:15:38 run – it was only 2 ½ minutes slower than last year, but it pushed me from a 4th place age group finish to 7th. As I talked to folks after the race, my disappointment in my race was replaced by pride as I heard several comments about how Liam and Conor had cheered people in and took care of them at the finish. Then I found out Bill placed 6th in his age group on his first International distance race!

Mark and Anne after his 1st place finish

The women pros are just to the left of Conor

So, while the finish was a little disappointing, I had so many positive things on race day that I’m definitely looking forward to returning next year. Once I looked at my times from this year to last year, I totally forgot any disappointment in the day. I had a great day racing with my family and my CTC family – it doesn’t get much better than that.

This year to last year splits --

Total time:

2007 - 5:59:28 7th place 40-44

2006 - 6:14:44 2nd place 40-44
Swim:

2007 - 32:38

2006 - 38:48
T1:

2007 - 3:59

2006 - 2:41
Bike:

2007 - 3:05:48 18.1 mph

2006 - 3:18:41 16.9 mph
T2:

2007- 1:26

2006 - 1:31
Run:

2007 - 2:15:38 10:21/mi.

2006 - 2:13:01 10:09/mi