A week ago today I was in White Lake, NC waiting on Justin Flint and Kurt Martine to finish their portions of our 70.3 relay, respectively. A few weeks earlier, Kurt, +Tara Martine and I had talked Tara's brother Justin into doing the swim portion of White Lake as part of a relay team. The three of us all pitched in some money for our entry fees as well as Justin's because it was his birthday present. Let's back up a minute, as you already know, a few weeks prior I had raced in Wilmington at the Azalea SuperSprint Tri (which Tara won in the Open Female division... yes, she's a force to be reckoned with. She even ran into a guy and knocked him off his feet on her way to victory.) My run has been coming along, but my swim and bike have been lacking. Especially the swim! Kurt, Justin and I thought it best that Justin swim, Kurt bike and I run the half marathon. (Lacing up and putting on shorts is easy when the rest of life is crazy!)
So, off to Wilmington after teaching a class at HPU and at least knocking off the rough draft of my paper on the Achievement Gap. (Yes, really inspiring stuff and has totally never, ever, ever been researched before. *pause to let the sarcasm sink in*). As a side note, I spent Easter in Asheville with my parents so I was almost doing the Murphy to Manteo this Spring Break! I arrived in Wilmington Thursday evening and Justin's pushing antics had already begun as we headed out for dinner at K 38, a Baha type restaraunt. J, T and K are all vegan/fruitarians so shakes and salads were plentiful, but dag-nab-it I got some tuna on my fajita! J-man decided that a few pitchers two days before the race was a great way to carb up for the coming war of attrition. (Tara did not partake of any.) The relay team of J-man, the Survivor and I had a few and enjoyed our time eating. We placed a bet that we would beat Tara as a team, but overall we just were enjoying some time off.
Friday
(You should never get new equipment before a race!)
We wake up Friday morning and prepare our respective breakfast. Shakes galore for the fruities and a fritta with veggies and grits for this here Egg Yolk. We have a few laughs and then go to prepare a few things for race day. Kurt and Tara go to clean their bikes because it rained and sleeted a good amount on their way down from Greensboro. Kurt notices that his rear derailluer is having some shifting issues. I take a look and get it shifting subpar, but it was still catching on a cog. We took the bike to Bike Cycles, a local shop owned and operated by Shawn Spencer (no not the awesome Pyschic Detective on the USA Network, but a pretty fast age grouper!) The wrenches at the shop take a look at Kurt's aging Fuji Aloha and state that the tires need truing, the cables are in great disrepair and his pedals are merely hanging on by the spindles. We are faced with some tough decisions after Kurt received this news whilst sitting in the Dick's Sporting Goods parking lot. A new pair of Speedplay pedals would cost close to $150.00 while getting the Shimano pedals would be around $60.00. Let us all take note that Kurt has ridden Speedplay for years and has not experimented with the Look style clipless system. After deliberating, Kurt chooses the Shimano pedals.
Kurt had left his wetsuit in Greensboro and we had to go to TrySports to rent one for Justin. They had a sleeveless 2XU available. Race report had the water currently listed at 53 degrees!
We finally pick up Kurt's bike and decided to go for a short spin to shake out the legs. Kurt clips into his new pedals with ease. (Whew!) We do around 15 miles at nearly 20mph; Kurt was moving and definately ready for White Lake!
Nadine made an awesome spaghetti dinner for us all AND J-man, Agent K and I all had some prerace delicious beverages that we got at this awesome little shop called The Lighthouse. They had an amazing selection, they even had Natty's Elm St. that was just released mere days ago. (Again, Tara did not have any, she's serious people!) We received a special phone call at dinner, The Shannon called to announce that Jordan and he were at White Lake. I asked Shannon if he would pace me on the half marathon and he obliged. (My PR plan began to take place.)
Race Day
(Two Bananas and an Egg Yolk take White Lake by storm!)
The water at White Lake was 54 degrees, needless to say it was bonecold! Tara and Justin suited up. Tara in his full Blue-Seventy with feet covers and Justin in his rented sleeveless. The vaseline was applied to both to keep the frigid water at bay. The wind was whipping upon the lake creating white capped sculls for those who dared to enter the swim. (The race director stated that people could do a duathlon if they were unable to stand the temperatures, but the points would not count.) The horn sounded and the racers were off. Tara's group charged out first while Justin still had about forty minutes of wait to ponder whether or not hyperthermia was a good idea. We watched the pros and masters head out and swimmers one-by-one were being ushered ashore by boat. I begun to wonder if Tara and Jordan, yep the super swimmer went in as well, were going to survive. Roughly thirty minutes later the two emerged from the water looking worse for wear. Off to transition they ran to prep for the 56 mile bike.
It was time for Justin! He entered the water and made his way solidly to the finish, and beat Tara's time. I shouted at him and sprinted with him into transition where the Survivor was locked and loaded with his newly wrenched bike. Kurt tore off like a flash. Now I played the waiting game. I took on calories and attempted to stay hydrated. Del, T and J-man's dad, was our sherpa and he hung out with J and I while waited for Kurt. He was highly encouraging stating that I was going to blow the doors off my previous 1:42 PR. A basketball game began while we waited and J, Del and I hopped in. We played for around thirty minutes (nothing like a little warm up before 13.1 miles) and saw The Shannon after he had just run around 14 miles while waiting for Jordan to come in. I asked him if he was still willing to pace me and in typical The Shannon style, he stated "No problem. We got this!" At this point I want to mention that he had finished running and had downed two Natty's Wildflowers. (The mercury was beginning to rise as the day waxed on.)
Tara reached transition and was off to the run behind only by four places. Del, J and I encouraged her as she headed out on the run with the Flint patented "Hoo!" She smiled and was glad to get the boost. I knew it was only 30 minutes until Kurt approached T-2. I began to suit up into my Pure Connect 2 racers and 2XU calf sleeves; I was ready for battle! Kurt flew into T-2 right on schedule and nearly took his bike out as he was sprinting to our area. The chip switch was made and I was off. I stated to Shannon that I wanted to maintain a 7:30 pace for the beginning and pick it up based on feel. The Shannon was like a metronome, 7:30 on the dot, I didn't even have to really check my Garmin. Our relay team was the first out of the gate and remained in first throughout the run. I was safely tucked in behind Shannon and he pulled me through. We reached the 8 mile marker and saw Tara. She had moved up two places and we noticed that the lead woman was in a world of pain after we passed her. We gave Tara the split and she picked up her pace, alas she would not catch the leader, but gave her a bit of a scare.
The Shannon and I passed a few friends, including Shawn Spencer, while we ran the course and saw athletes who were on the last leg in a world of hurt. Shannon picked up the pace on miles 9-11 and we were clipping around a 6:50 pace. He would shout back in his militaristic, Marine style, "Beer is waiting, son!" "A PR for Andrew, today!" These words kept my feet moving because after pounding the flat roads of White Lake my quads were aching and my Chi was falling to pieces! I attempting to pick it up on the last mile and saw Del, T and J holding out the "joust fist-bump" as I ran through. I mumbled, "can't do it." and ran through the finishing shoot at 1:32:32, a 10 minute PR! I began to stumble as I walked through the shoot and a volunteer was about to take me to the Med Tent and I stated, "Just get me some Dew!" I crawled into the waters of the lake and it was the best ice bath EVER!!
The crew sat and celebrated finishing this accomplishment and waited for the results. The results came through with Tara one minute and seconds behind the relay. Three Davids had vanquished Golaith! We also learned that we won the male relay by over 30 minutes and took every other relay division. Two Bananas and an Egg Yolk were victorious.
That evening we celebrated in downtown Wilmington as we gingerly walked through the streets.
Sunday
(Nessum Dorma and Do You Hear the People Sing?!?!?)
I awoke Sunday morning and prepped to leave. Everyone was still asleep and I was hobbling around the house packing and cleaning. I was out of the house around 8:30am on the road back to Greensboro. I was actually attempting to make it to Winston-Salem so that I could audition for the Winston-Salem Theatre Alliance's production of Les Miserables.
I had to stop a few times along the way to stretch my aching legs. (I HATE running flat races. They take the worst toll on my legs!!) I am sure people at the rest stops and McDonald's were laughing as I was hobbling up to order and stretching as I waited for my order. I made it in time for the audition and waited... and waited... and waited... (while others were singing multiple times) and finally sung my piece for the directors and once again the waiting game commenced. Who, or what would I be casted as?
***Side note*** WECOLME BACK HOME FOR GOOD, DEL!!!!
