Wow... what a weekend! Am I ready to sign up for next year's Ironman in Lake Placid? Not quite yet.
Anyway, after visiting with Mom and being a tourist in Seattle, Alisa and I headed across the mountains to drive across Washington and into Coeur d'Alene. What a beautiful drive! We got acquainted with CDA, saw some of the Team Z peeps, and went to our volunteer meeting. She and I were slated to work bike transition. Saturday evening ran late with the pre-race dinner, followed by Team Z support planning, and finishing off with chalking the bike course. (And chalking the course proved to be wasted effort, as it was all smeared by the time they actually raced the course, but our good intentions were there.)
Race day started early naturally, and we were all suprised with just how light it was by 4:30. A concern was the water. The water had been choppy and on race day it had up to 4' waves. They even offered a duathlon option to racers, basically cutting out the swim leg (no run in lieu of swim). It looked like 200 or 300 people opted to do skip the swim, but I'm not sure how that affected their results.
Anyway, working bike transition was a lot of fun. The transition area was too tight to deliver bikes to races, but we were able to direct people around and see all of our Team Z racers come into transition and cheer them on. One cool thing, is we checked all the bike tires while the racers were swimming in the water for flats. We found a total of about 6 flat tires. Alisa found one where the tire itself was partly off the rim, getting caught in the brake. We brought the problem bikes to the mechanic, who fixed them, and we returned the bikes. The racers never knew they had a problem with the bike. It was like we were mysterious in the night.
After everyone was on the bike, Alisa and I grabbed a bite to eat at the Team Z tent and then headed out for a long run. I cut my run a little short though, maybe 8 miles (plan was to run 10), as my knees are beginning to act up again. UG!!! Note to self- give knees some TLC!
The team tent was in a fabulous location, where the racers biked past us 4 times and ran past us 3 times. Very spectator friendly.
Members from our team finished one by one, starting with 59-yr-old stud, Chris Wren. As time wore on, the sun set, and the course got lonely. The AngelZ were out still racing. I walked out onto the run course to seek out Helen as Siri gave me word that she was throwing up and her spirits were flat. I found Helen, who had improved, and walked with her and Linda for a while to try and give them a boost. I knew they'd wind up finishing close to midnight.
As midnight approched, I headed toward the finish line to wait. It began to lightly rain and get cold and windy. I cried when I saw Helen and Linda finish together.
Absolutely inspiring.
The funniest story from the weekend was from Michael Warwick. I don't know him well, and I believe this weekend was the first time I've chatted with him. He's pretty cool. Anyway, at about mile 80 of the bike loop (out of 112), he experienced a major problem with his bike. I forgot what it was, but nevertheless, it was a race ending problem. Anyway, he hung out on the side of the road, waiting for the rescue wagon to come get him. A local guy out there cheering noticed Michael's picture of his daughter on his bike and they began to chat. The guy mentioned he had this old bike around the house and Michael would be welcome to use it. He accepted the offer. Out comes this dusty old lime green bike. It had one water bottle cage and needed air in the tires. They did some quick repairs to the bike and Michael was on his way. He actually finished the entire race. Anyway, he was on a mission yesterday to try and retrieve his bike from the mystery local guy. I hope he was successful.
And so yesterday, Alisa and I headed back to the west side of Washington. We nearly ran out of gas though. We stopped for lunch in Ellensburg, on the east side of the Cascades. I noted we were at 1/4 tank and made a mental note to fill up after lunch. That slipped my mind as we left Ellensburg. Going into the Cascades is quite remote. After all, the interstate runs through the Wenachee and Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forests. Not exactly towns along the way. We make it through Snoqualmie Pass and I finally look at the gas gauge and see it's BELOW E, with the warning light brightly shining. Oh no. I had no idea how long it was on. Luckily, though, we were through the pass and were decending. Alisa was half asleep and seemed unworried, as she said she'd just get out her sleeping bag and sleep on the side of the road. As for me, we were in the middle of NOWHERE... in the mountains.... with little cell phone service! Ok, so I wondered how long we could decend. I saw a sign for the next town, 12 miles away. There's no way we'd make it. I mean, we were BELOW E. And then a miracle occurred... a gas station! We actually made it to fill up! We were saved! So, second note to self... check gas gage twice before driving through the mountains!
Fun weekend. Back to reality though. Time to hit the bike.
Anyway, after visiting with Mom and being a tourist in Seattle, Alisa and I headed across the mountains to drive across Washington and into Coeur d'Alene. What a beautiful drive! We got acquainted with CDA, saw some of the Team Z peeps, and went to our volunteer meeting. She and I were slated to work bike transition. Saturday evening ran late with the pre-race dinner, followed by Team Z support planning, and finishing off with chalking the bike course. (And chalking the course proved to be wasted effort, as it was all smeared by the time they actually raced the course, but our good intentions were there.)
Race day started early naturally, and we were all suprised with just how light it was by 4:30. A concern was the water. The water had been choppy and on race day it had up to 4' waves. They even offered a duathlon option to racers, basically cutting out the swim leg (no run in lieu of swim). It looked like 200 or 300 people opted to do skip the swim, but I'm not sure how that affected their results.
Anyway, working bike transition was a lot of fun. The transition area was too tight to deliver bikes to races, but we were able to direct people around and see all of our Team Z racers come into transition and cheer them on. One cool thing, is we checked all the bike tires while the racers were swimming in the water for flats. We found a total of about 6 flat tires. Alisa found one where the tire itself was partly off the rim, getting caught in the brake. We brought the problem bikes to the mechanic, who fixed them, and we returned the bikes. The racers never knew they had a problem with the bike. It was like we were mysterious in the night.
After everyone was on the bike, Alisa and I grabbed a bite to eat at the Team Z tent and then headed out for a long run. I cut my run a little short though, maybe 8 miles (plan was to run 10), as my knees are beginning to act up again. UG!!! Note to self- give knees some TLC!
The team tent was in a fabulous location, where the racers biked past us 4 times and ran past us 3 times. Very spectator friendly.
Members from our team finished one by one, starting with 59-yr-old stud, Chris Wren. As time wore on, the sun set, and the course got lonely. The AngelZ were out still racing. I walked out onto the run course to seek out Helen as Siri gave me word that she was throwing up and her spirits were flat. I found Helen, who had improved, and walked with her and Linda for a while to try and give them a boost. I knew they'd wind up finishing close to midnight.
As midnight approched, I headed toward the finish line to wait. It began to lightly rain and get cold and windy. I cried when I saw Helen and Linda finish together.
Absolutely inspiring.
The funniest story from the weekend was from Michael Warwick. I don't know him well, and I believe this weekend was the first time I've chatted with him. He's pretty cool. Anyway, at about mile 80 of the bike loop (out of 112), he experienced a major problem with his bike. I forgot what it was, but nevertheless, it was a race ending problem. Anyway, he hung out on the side of the road, waiting for the rescue wagon to come get him. A local guy out there cheering noticed Michael's picture of his daughter on his bike and they began to chat. The guy mentioned he had this old bike around the house and Michael would be welcome to use it. He accepted the offer. Out comes this dusty old lime green bike. It had one water bottle cage and needed air in the tires. They did some quick repairs to the bike and Michael was on his way. He actually finished the entire race. Anyway, he was on a mission yesterday to try and retrieve his bike from the mystery local guy. I hope he was successful.
And so yesterday, Alisa and I headed back to the west side of Washington. We nearly ran out of gas though. We stopped for lunch in Ellensburg, on the east side of the Cascades. I noted we were at 1/4 tank and made a mental note to fill up after lunch. That slipped my mind as we left Ellensburg. Going into the Cascades is quite remote. After all, the interstate runs through the Wenachee and Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forests. Not exactly towns along the way. We make it through Snoqualmie Pass and I finally look at the gas gauge and see it's BELOW E, with the warning light brightly shining. Oh no. I had no idea how long it was on. Luckily, though, we were through the pass and were decending. Alisa was half asleep and seemed unworried, as she said she'd just get out her sleeping bag and sleep on the side of the road. As for me, we were in the middle of NOWHERE... in the mountains.... with little cell phone service! Ok, so I wondered how long we could decend. I saw a sign for the next town, 12 miles away. There's no way we'd make it. I mean, we were BELOW E. And then a miracle occurred... a gas station! We actually made it to fill up! We were saved! So, second note to self... check gas gage twice before driving through the mountains!
Fun weekend. Back to reality though. Time to hit the bike.
1 comment:
Marlene - you are the absolute best ironmate ever. Thank you for taking such good care of me this weekend :0)
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