The last few months

As you are fully aware, I have not blogged in a while.  There have been a few life events that have taken place, and a few races.  I will offer an update here. 

My last race that I posted was Waitsfield, Vermont back in July - state #41.

Since that race I have travelled to Seattle, WA twice, Park City, UT, Omaha, NE, Milwaukee, WI, Hill City, SD, Huntington, WV, and LasVegas, NV.  and run 5 other half marathons bringing my state tally to 46. 

In Nebraska, I travelled alone, but had a friend drive over from Grand Island and take me out to dinner.  I raced fairly well, finishing 2nd in my age group.

I travelled next to Milwaukee, WI - again alone - and ran through the Brewer's stadium toward the finish.  That was pretty fun.  Also had a decent race.  It was chilly, but not COLD.  I placed 2nd or 3rd in my age group there as well... and just off my PR.

Next up was Crazy Horse, South Dakota.  It was freezing, literally.  29ºF.  Valerie went with me on this one and we did some sight seeing.  We had a good time and I raced a PR.  1:34:54.  Also 2nd in my age group.  I was not supposed to run this one hard, but it was so cool and very few uphill segments.  I'll take it.

Then came Marshall University, WV.  I piggy backed this trip with a work trip to Seattle.  I messed up the flights, so it cost me an extra $900 or so to get there and back.  I was angry, but I am over it now.  This one was also a nice cool race,  Raced well and placed 1st in my age group.

Then came Vegas.  It was a night race down (or up) (actually both up and down now that I recall it) the Las Vegas strip.  That was fun.  It was a huge race.  There were 30,000 people in this one.  I had a bad race (for me).  I just did not feel good while running.  I wasn't sick or anything, just felt poorly.  My knee hurt.  My calf hurt.  My thigh hurt.  My IT band hurt.  I  started out OK, but quickly and steadily deteriorated.  Still finished in the top 5% (3.9), but I was not pleased with my race.  I suppose ya cannot race your best at every race. 

4 states to go... and Washington D.C. 

I won't present all of the details here, but I mentioned a few life events.  These events have not and will not help me to improve the way I had hoped.  We lost my dad in October.  Lost my mom in November and her husband six days later.  We moved, renovating the old house, making the new house a home, and we are getting a house for Keeley in Tallahassee as she goes to college in December.  Oh, and did I mention that I crashed my bike on my commute to work last week and broke my elbow?  ~ a few life events, but in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I am compelled to say that God has been ever present in all of these events and happenings.  He has been gentle and merciful and faithful through it all.  He has provided for us at every step.  I am tremendously thankful. 

This sphere on which we reside continues to spin around in circles, so we too will press on.

Next race is Dec 15 in Maryland.  My surgeon has not told me that I cannot race, but then again, I did not ask him.  Wish me luck.

Another Triathlon

As I mentioned in the previous entry, I had another triathlon scheduled about one month after the last one.  In this one, it was the same course, the same distance, run by the same company, Noble ran with me... and when I say he ran with me, I will "let the cat out of the bag" here early and tell you that he did not run with me... he ran much faster,  ahead of me.  Details to follow...

We drove over to Clermont after work on Friday.  Once we arrived, it was time for packet pickup.  We got our bibs and our T-shirts, and I even picked up my medal from the last event.  It was a much nicer medal than the one that I received at the finish of the last race.  Apparently they had a delay in receiving the medals from the company that made them so they had a local company make some cheaper ones on the quick.  So, now I have two medals for that race.  After packet pick-up I showed Noble the course and let him experience the hills.  We headed to the hotel, checked-in, changed into our swim gear and went back to the race course to have a little pre-race swim.  Nice and easy, just to get a feel for the whole thing.  After the swim, we went to dinner with our friend Tommy Medlin and our new friend Robert at Beef O'Brady's.  We had a nice meal and then back to the hotel.

We both got a great night's sleep and up about 5:30am.  We headed over to the race start and set up our transition station, received our ankle chip timers, and made ourselves ready for the race.  We had a very brief warm-up swim and then waited for the festivities to begin.  They started right on time again.  First the "open men", then the orange cap group three minutes later.  This group was ages 6-49, so Noble and I were in the same group.  We started off to the left, (the inside) of the start and avoided a bit of the congestion.  As I swam inside the first buoy, making my way to the turn buoy, I did not have any traffic.  I was able to see Noble as he was on my right and I primarily breathe to my right.  He was keeping pace with me.  I was a bit shocked and a little nervous for him because he does not normally swim that fast.  I was afraid that he might burn out before the first turn and struggle to finish.  I made the turn, but continued the turn a bit too long.  When I finally looked up, I was in the middle of the course when I should have been on the perimeter.  I began to redirect when I heard one of the safety kyakers yell, "Are you OK?"  I yelled back... "Yep!" and made my way to the second and last turn.  Just a little side trip.  I don't think it ate up too much time... maybe 30 seconds or so.  Once I made it to the beach, the end of the swim, I stood and started to jog onto the land, but I realized at this point that I was gonna have another long day.  I was winded and had difficulty running to the transition.  Once I reached transition, I changed with haste into my cycling shoes.  When I say with haste, I definitely do not mean fast or quickly.  I was still sucking wind, but made myself ready for the bike portion and headed out.  I made a concerted effort to save some energy for the run.  My overall bike effort was less, by a little over one mile per hour slower.  I was hoping this would leave me enough energy to have a decent showing on the 5k run to follow.  Up the second to last big hill, I hear from behind me, "Come one Dad!  Let's go!"  It was Noble who had caught me.  He made up a three minute swim deficit and was now overtaking me.  I said, and I am being vulnerable here with my direct quote, verbatim, "Seriously!!??!!??"  He responded with, "I guess so." I said, "You're the man!" and then he took off.   For a minute I was deflated.  Noble is only 14 years old and he did not adequately train for this race, and he is not a strong swimmer.... YET, so I figured there would be no way that he would catch me on the bike.... but he DID!  I stayed fairly close from that point and saw him as he was leaving the bike rack in transition, as I was entering the transition.  He had about 90 seconds on me.

I racked my bike and changed into my running shoes and headed out.  Last month I had to walk right from the start of the run because I was just winded and could not keep the pace until I rested a bit.  I remember walking at the beginning of the run and then for a short few seconds two more times.  This time, I was really hoping to have a better run, particularly after a slower bike.  As it turned out, I ended up walking SEVEN TIMES during the 5k run.  It was a major disappointment for me.  The run course is an out and back, so I was able to see Noble again as he had already made the turn.  He had a little over a mile and a half to go.  I gave him a quick high five and a "You're doing GREAT!" and I did not see him again until I was finishing.  After I made the turn and back over the little bridge, I saw Tommy Medlin.  He asked me where is Noble? and I said, "He is finished already".  Keep in mind that Tommy started on the wave after us, a full three minutes later.










I remember as a kid saying and hearing, he beat me by a mile.  Well, Noble LITERALLY beat me by a mile.  He finished 11:00 minutes faster than me.  He was nice enough to come out and run (jog) in to the finish with me.  It was really sweet to see him and to know that he did so well.  At the same time it was deflating and humiliating and upsetting.  I did not perform well, and you may recall from previous entries that my level of enjoyment is tied to my performance.  Noble's beating me in any kind of a race was/is an inevitability, but I sure did not think it would happen when he was only 14 years old and certainly not on his first triathlon.  BTW, my performance was not stellar, but he even finished faster than my time on the previous race, so he is simply faster than me.  Good for him.  That actually makes me proud and happy for him.

I will say that I intend to make it difficult for him if and when there is a next one... but who knows if I can pull off a win on any race at any distance?  We shall see.

After Tommy and Robert finished, we took some post-race photos and headed back to the hotel.  After getting all cleaned up and ready to go, we learned that Noble finished third in his age group, so we went back to the race and picked up his age group award, then headed home.  He did gloat a few times... that is he did not let me forget that he finished before me, and I imagine that he won't soon forget either.

TRIATHLON

Clermont Cool Sommer Mornings Triathlon

Sprint Triathlon

Not a half marathon and not a new state.  I thought I would try something new.  My friend Tommy Medlin who has run multiple triathlons, including Ironman 140.6 and Ironman 70.3 amongst others has been "badgering" me to "Come to the dark side" and race a triathlon with him.  He was kind enough to share his hotel room with me and drive me to Clermont and show me around and help me with set up and the logistics of racing a tri.  There are a lot of particulars.  It is definitely not as simple as putting on a pair of shoes and some shorts and just going for a run.  One must manage an innumerable amount of "things".

A triathlon is a multisport race with three continuous and sequential endurance races - literally translated from the Greek- three competition.  The most common form of a triathlon is Swimming, Cycling, Running.  There are different lengths and different brand names.  A full or an Ultra distance triathlon is 140.6 miles.  2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run,  The Ironman has one such race and it is likely the most famous and desired race... but there are several brand names with multiple distances, like the "half" which is 70.3 miles and the olympic distance (~32 miles) and the sprint distance (~14 miles).  Not all of the distances are exactly the same as others, which is why I gave approximate distances.  

This race was a sprint triathlon, and the distances were 0.25mile swim, 11 mile bike, 3.1mile run.  MUCH shorter than 140 miles, but having just finished this race, I will tell you that it was quite difficult none the less.

My friend Tommy Medlin filled me in on all of the things that I would need to have ready and offered multiple tips that I would not likely have thought of on my own.   

We woke some time around 4:30am.  I decided against any breakfast as I was feeling a little bloated from the day prior.  The race did not start until 7:23am, but there was a potential parking issue with all of the construction happening at Lake Minneola, and we wanted to get our transition area all set up and ready.  Getting there early helps to ensure a "prime spot".    As you can see it was still dark out.  Tommy helped me get all set up and to have everything in the right spot... even took some pictures for me.  Thanks Tommy.   

The sun finally came up and we were ready to go.   This is the before photo.  We have our triathlon suits on and our number markings all over our bodies and our chip timers secured around our ankles.  At this point we just need to put on our swim caps and goggles and get to the starting line.

The race started right on time.  First the elite men and then the orange capped group 3 minutes later.  I was in the orange cap group, Tommy was in the blue cap wave.  The waves were set up by age group.  The gun sounded and into the water I went.  I walked into the water.  I did not want to get trampled and beat up by all of the other orange capped swimmers.  So, I took my time and only began to swim when I felt there was enough room for me to do so.  Little did I know, it did not matter.  There was inadvertent punching and kicking and scratching and pulling.  While swimming to the first buoy, someone grabbed my leg and pulled me under water, maybe five times.  I was "bumped" from every angle.  At the first turn, I had to stop completely as everyone was trying to cut the corner and make the turn.  The next straight was no better, and the turn back to the beach was the same.  I could not go any faster as there were people in front of me preventing my increasing my speed, and slowing down did not seem a great option as I feared I would be swam over.  I finished the swim and exited the water.  From there we had to run to the transition area to get our shoes and helmet and bike, etc.  A quick re-lube and run with the bike to the start of the bike portion.  

After crossing the line, and only after crossing the line, we hoped on our bikes and began to ride - uphill.  Who knew there were so many hills and such steep hills in Florida.  Well, there are.  They are no joke either.  At one point I was traveling in slow motion in my slowest gear.  Then, a bit later, I was screaming down a hill at near 40mph.  I would tell you exactly how fast I was traveling, but I did not have my bike computer on and I did not punch all of the buttons properly on my watch, so my watch thought I was still swimming.  My watch thinks I am a super fast swimmer. (0:15 /100yd) LOL.

My intent was to grab a bit of a rest on the bike and be ready for the run, but with all of the hills and my competitive spirit, I road fairly hard.  Then, after 11 miles or so, before crossing the line, one must dismount the bike and run to the transition area again.   The guy just in front of me had a bit of difficulty controlling his bike while he was running and crashed his bike into the rails a few times, which was sad for him, but he was holding me up, and the guy behind me was getting impatient and bumping me thinking I was holding him up.  Then another quick change, store the bike and start to "run"... out of the transition area and onto the run course.  I put run in quotations because I was about dead already and my "run" was more of a limp/walk/jog.  My legs seemed OK, but my lungs were heavy and full and my heart was pounding.  I was out of breath and out of energy.  I walked a bit... twice, then decided to slow down and just keep moving.  The run was an out and back 5k.  

Mile 1 was a slow 10:28 pace and mile 2 was still slow at 9:14, then 8:53 through mile 3.  I was able to see Tommy after I made the turn and we both mustered enough to wave and say Hi!.  I was quite happy to see the finish line.  I wish I had run better, but some days are better than others.

I was really trying to smile in the below photo, but this is the best I could do.

It was good to see Tommy come in... remember he started several minutes after me.  He finished strong and we both completed the event.  Here is the after photo.  The smiles -- at least mine -- is more about the relief than the celebration.

In all, it was a good experience.  Official time One hour seventeen minutes.   I definitely did not place in my age group or any other group.  But, I finished.

Tommy and I will be running the same course again in August.  Noble will be racing his first triathlon with us at that event in August.  Should be interesting.  I hope, now that I have had some experience that I race better next time.  I'll update you then.  Thanks again Tommy for taking care of me.

Vermont - State #41

Waitsfield, Vermont

The Mad Half Marathon

(The world's most beautiful marathon) (so they suggest)

State #41

I have scheduled so many races which includes plane flights and hotel rooms or AirBnB rooms and race entry, etc... there are multiple logistics that have to be managed.  I only schedule the races 3 months out, in case I get injured or have a need to change plans or maybe they change the race -- it has happened.  Anyway, I mention this because I scheduled this race several months ago and I cannot remember why I scheduled it the way that I did.  I am certain there is a reason, but I just cannot figure what it was.  It was the July 4th weekend.  I was off work for the 4th and we also took off the 5th.  The race was on the 7th.  My flight was on the 5th and I spent the day in Waitsfield, Vermont on Saturday the 6th... alone.  I have no idea why I did that.  I stayed in an AirBnb apartment that was above a restaurant/bar.  It was a nice place, as much as I needed.  

The first night I arrived and went directly to the restaurant and had dinner.  I had a nice halibut, and it really was good.  Then I made my way to my room, and went to bed.  The next morning I woke up and went for a light jog, then to packet pick up.  - at the Waitsfield Inn.  There was only a tent with four older ladies and gentlemen handing out shirts and bibs.  Then I walked around Waitsfield for a few minutes.  There really is not a whole lot to Waitsfield.  It is a cute little town, but the operative word there is little.  it did not take me long to see the whole town.  There happened to be a farmer's market going on that day.  There was a band and lots of little tents where people were displaying their items.

There was also a store.  The Store.  

I decided it would be fun to go see the ski area as there were a few nearby.    I drove my little rental car over to Sugarbush to check it out and I got my first taste of the super duper hills in the area and I started to get worried that there might be some big hills on the run.   Not the largest ski resort I have ever been to, but I could see coming out here for the day if I lived in the area.  After that, I drove around the neighboring towns just to "see the area".  

Then I had dinner with the 50 states half marathon club.  I had the salmon, but it was not great.  It had been frozen... not at all fresh.

The next morning was race morning.  I woke at 4:30am and got myself ready.  Had a light breakfast and watched some HGTV until time to walk to the start.  I took the pre-race photo with the 50 states club and then realized that I forgot to get on my nipple protectors.... so I walked back to the room and took care of that and walked back to the start with plenty of time.  They played the national anthem and then it was about 3 minutes prior to the start time, then announcer announced that the race would begin right away, so the race director walked up and fired the gun.  Everyone looked at each other, as if to ask, "Was that the starting gun?  OH!!  OK... Here we go!"  And we started running.  The elite group had not even moved to the start line yet.  It did not bother me, but it was a bit sudden and a surprise start.  

The first mile or so was fairly flat or maybe even downhill, then all of a sudden came this mountain.  Then a crazy steep downhill, then a turn-around... which of course means that you are gonna have to go back up that screaming steep downhill... only now it will be an up-mountain.... and up we went -- slowly.  Then up and up and up and more up.  I kept waiting for the downhill to come again, but then it would go up again.  Yes, the downhill did come, but then ended on a mild uphill.  I admit that I had to walk part of the uphill three times.  But I think I made up the time on the downhill.  I was screaming down the mountain.  If only there were snow and I had my skis.

The race was very scenic.I did finish and actually finished 3rd in my age group.  Here is the before and after.

Then I received my age group medal.;36

Official time 1:47:36  Not my fastest, but I was not terribly unhappy given all of the steep hills.  The weather was great.  55ºF or so and clear skies, relatively no wind.  

Next race is the following week.  This time a triathlon in Clermont.  .25mi swim,  11mi bike, and 3.1 mi run.  My first triathlon.  Let's see how this goes.