70.3 Miles with Friendly Faces along the Way!!!

It seems like a ton of things have happened since I last blogged!  I really meant to blog after Race the Bar, but things sort of got a little crazy.  (In my life, NEVER!)  But, I'm back and in full recovery mode.

Race the Bar 8K on Walker St. was an amazing local event with free beer at the end.  As I tell one of the Race Directors Andrew Egbert, every race is really race the bar!  We went out fast with a 5:55 mile according to my Garmin.  Yes, we were flying.  The course itself is quite rolling one would say.  More like straight up hellacious hills!  Going out that fast took its toll on many of us and the lead group began to dissipate as it simply became survival mode.  I finished the race in 33:26, a better time than last year and still maintained 1st place in my age group!  One more pint glass and I'll have a full set.  I am looking forward to Natty's 10K!  Keep up the great work Setup Events and E3!

Do I really want to do this?!?!?

Ironman Raleigh 70.3, baby!  What an awesome event!  I have never done an Ironman run event and all I can say is that I WILL be going back to this race!  Before I even get into the race itself, the volunteers, the people on course and the expo were simply outstanding and extraordinary.  It was almost as if the entire city of Raleigh and surrounding suburbs came out to support us as we suffered through the day.  Each aid station had a different theme and there were so many cowbells that you simply couldn't quit even when the body said, "Please, why are you putting me through this hell!"  This a HUGE thank you to the people of Raleigh and the Ironman staff.  It is always great when you can do a race that is almost in your backyard.  I hope that Ironman seeks out more venues here in the Land of the Pine.  (Hint, Hint.. Asheville!)

The Expo

Brian and I at the Expo

An enormous thanks to my friend, Brian Lewis, for convincing me to sign up for this race!  It all started back in January when he said, "Buddy, we're doing this!"  He was an awesome host in his hometown of Raleigh and was a great brother in suffering throughout the race and the many hours of training.  Brian, let's do it again!

Aussie Dan with the Bonk Breaker goodness!

Honestly, was one of the largest Expos that I have ever attended, but in the same note there were way more familiar faces.  You all know that I love the Off 'n Running Pub Run group and that event has brought in reps from many different endurance companies.  It was great to see the 2XU rep as I walked in after check-in and it was also great to see speedster Aussie, Dan Matena cutting up the Bonk Breakers.  (I think he may have even padded my bag with a few of these delicious, nutritious treats for the long bike).  It is always good to see friendly faces when you are sort of freaking out underneath the cool exterior.  Believe me, you are always asking yourself before a race, "Did I train enough?  Did I eat right?"  Seeing these faces help take away the stressors.

The Night Before

My buddy, Eli, and I at the Chocolate Factory.

I was fortunate to stay with my cousins the night before the race.  My cousins, Jess and Rob and their awesome son, aka my buddy, Eli had dinner with my Aunt Diane at this cool vegan restaurant The Fiction Kitchen.  The cornbread and snap peas were delicious and the farmer's market plate was full of delicious veggies; all good before the long day ahead.  After filling out stomachs with veggie goodness, we went to The Videri Chocolate Factory.  Let's pause, yes, Jess and I both don't do dairy, but dark chocolate without milk, BRING IT ON!  This place makes their own chocolate!!!  It was incredible.  Now I knew I was ready for the long day ahead.

 We got home from our evening out and read Eli a bedtime story and then I knew it was time to get my mind set to prepare for the early morning.  Usually, I pack my tribag and leave it in transition, but this was a point-to-point race and Ironman provided bags to affix your race number to for every single transition.  (Yet, another reason I was blown away by the support!)  I prepped my bottles, had a chat with Jess and Rob and then it was off to bed for a 3:00am alarm.  The buses began to roll to Lake Jordan at 4:00am and it was a 45 minute drive from downtown Raleigh to the swim start.

The Morning
Alarm went off at 3:00am and I was in the shower.  Sunscreen applied, BodyGlide applied.  (Sorry, +Tara Martine I totally forgot my Trislide!)  I grabbed my transition bags and was out the door, BonkBreaker breakfast in hand.  I met up with my friend Roni Shoemaker and her husband and we grabbed a quick cup of coffee at Starbucks before getting on the bus.  I got on the bus and realized something immediately... I had forgotten my water bottles!!!  I thought and said several colorful words.  I quickly got off the bus and Roni took my transition bags for me and placed them by my bike when she got to the swim start.  I was totally freaking out!  I texted Jess and called her about this predicament.  There was no way I was going to make it back to there house and catch the last bus.  It is here where her husband Rob becomes SUPER ROB!  I sat on the side of South St. in Raleigh and waited for him to drop off the water bottles.  I checked Facebook and Twitter to pass the time and not beat myself down for making such a rookie mistake.  (Hey, it was my first Ironman event!)  He rolled up to the side of the road and dropped off the bottles and rolled off into the morning mist like a Super Hero who had just saved the day.  THANKS AGAIN ROB!!!

Water bottles in hand, earphones in, I quickly make my way to another bus.  I was a bit down that I wasn't going to be able to ride with my friend Roni and her crew, but fuel is just a TINY bit more important in these events.  I get on the bus and low and behold my friend from the Rev 3 Tri Team Rachel is sitting there and shouts out my name.  Once again, a friendly face.  This will not be the only time Rachel makes an appearance in this epic journey.  I find my seat, plug in and close my eyes while we make our way to Lake Jordan.  (Yep, I played some Wagon Wheel because it just seemed right!)

We get to the lake and as promised, Roni placed my bags by my bike.  Sweet relief!  I set up transition and wait in line for the restrooms many times.  (One thing about triathlon is most of the first part is simply waiting for the restroom A LOT!)  Time passes, I talk to Rachel while in line and it is time to make my way down to the swim.

The Swim
There was a collective cheer when the race announcer announced that the swim would be wetsuit legal.  As for me, no wet suit.  I think the one spot they found the water temperature to be low enough for wetsuits was around the second turn.  I made my way to the red caps and listened to the various inspirational stories of people who were about to go off into the swim.  There was a lot of collective noise chatter and joke cracking as we all were trying to calm our nerves for the upcoming 1.2 mile swim.  Finally, zero hour had arrived.  The horn went off and I was head down, streamline in the water... the is until water began leaking into my goggles.  I had to stop a few times and adjust the goggles and flip my contacts back into my eyes.  It was extremely aggravating!  I began to simply breath into it and find the joy of the moment.  Hey, I was getting to do something I loved!  Contacts secure, and goggles fixed I started to slog my way through the swim.  Freestyle, breaststroke, freestyle breaststroke.  It is so much easier in the pool.  There was an enormous amount of support in the water and I was tempted to grab onto a kayak every now and then, but forward I moved.  I was being swum over, around and under.  But, forward I moved (with a bit of side to side).  After what seemed like an eternity, I made it to the finish!  Out of the water, a little disoriented and straight to the restroom I went! I took my sweet time in transition eating some oranges, putting on my compression sleeves, shoes and helmet.  I walked to the bike mount, got some sunscreen put on and was off.

The Bike
The huge fear about this course was that it was nearly 2000ft of climbing.  I fumbled with my Garmin so I could gauge my speed and after resetting the bugger while on the bike, it finally got reception.  (This was nearly 3 miles into the bike!)  I got my legs spinning at a comfortable rate and began to monitor my nutrition.  According to my Garmin, I was cruising around 23-25mph.  I didn't try to slow down because I checked my gearing and I was in a fairly easy gear.  The whole goal was to spin and keep the legs as fresh as possible for the run.  While on the bike, there were three other athletes that began an unintentional game of cat and mouse.  We began passing each other on the hills, flats and downhills for the majority of the bike.  After a while it became a joke between us and we would wave and laugh as we saw each other.  As I sped down the roads, I would cheer riders as they passed me and I passed them.  It was great!  Not only that, but there were virtually people at almost every mile with signage and cowbells cheering us on.  What great energy!  There were amazing aid stations every ten miles, but the Pirate aid station takes the cake!  Their great "Grab some Waarrrgh-ter!" was too funny!  This bike course has to be the best course I have ever done, by far!  The only major issue was the last six miles as we would climb our way into downtown Raleigh.  The sun was beating down at this point and the last aid station was about ten miles away.  It was the last time I had grabbed water to douse myself with so that I might stay just a little bit cooler.

I got off the bike felt like I crawled to my transition spot.  Let me state here that I "gingerly" got off the bike hoping that I wasn't going to cramp up!  Yes, I took on my BonkBreakers, Gatorade, plain old water and NUUN, but 56 miles is still 56 miles.  I am happy to report that I averaged over 20mph!  But, back to transition.  As I fumbled to put on my shoes, race belt and Rev3 visor one of the staffers came over to see if I was all right.  I stated that I was just trying to loosen up a bit.  I walked my way out of transition, splashed some water on myself, got sunscreen reapplied (how cool that these folks even thought of sunscreen for the athletes!) and walked uphill for the first part of the run.

The Run
WTF was I thinking!?!?!?  It was hot, it was hilly and it was brutal!  I began to question my whole purpose at this point.  People began cheering for me by name if they saw my race bib or simply yelled, "Go Wisconsin!" based on the Rev3 visor I was wearing.  Finally, I began to run and 15 minute miles slowly turned into 9:00 and 8:50.  I finally caught up with a friendly face on the run course and ran up Hillsborough Street.  Then out of nowhere, her husband, Coach Matt Clancy comes blazing down Hillsborough Street towards the finish!  Way to go Coach Matt, you looked awesome!  We stayed together for a bit and as I passed each aid station I heed the great MACCA's advice and grabbed ice to cool the body, water for inside and out and sometimes drank a little Coke.  I began to actually go pretty well on the run and knew the streets because I had run them many times before NCAE Board meetings, but little did I know that monster hills awaited.  We had to do a double loop in order to get the full 13.1 and this double loop was on the greenway that overpassed I-40.  This greenway went up, up, up and away.  The field was littered with walkers.  I quickly blew up and became one of them.  It was at this point where I don't really have much recollection of what happened.  I went into survival mode.  I shut everything out except the essentials.  Breathing, check, legs moving, check, heart rate, check... keep moving forward.  There was a man stationed at the split saying, "Second lap uphill, third down to paradise."  I didn't quite follow his logic because even downhill felt up at this point.  At some point, perhaps it was at the Rocky Balboa poster I began to regain focus.  I started to run again, as well as quote Rocky's "Keep moving forward" speech.

The runners around me began to listen, laugh and join in with the diatribe.  Rocky Balboa inspired us to keep our legs moving.  Walk, run, walk, run.. keep moving forward.  I reached the bridge and ran into a friendly face.  It was Rachel.  She was decimated, but determined to finish even if she had to crawl.  We stopped for a second and chatted and then onward we both charged at our respective paces.  Let's pause here because while we are moving forward at whatever pace, people are chanting, "You look great!  Awesome job!"  I simply had to laugh because I knew I looked like death burned over!  But, thanks to these affirmations I kept moving.  Once I emerged out of the hell that was the greenway and Meredith College hill, more friendly face, it was Jess, Rob and Eli!!!  I was walking and Jess stepped out and gave me a high five and I fist bumped Eli.  Once again, SUPER FAMILY!!!  (A little while later Jess told me that Eli said, "I hope Cousin Andrew has a good race."  He is the sweetest.)  I entered Hillborough St. for the final miles and hit the bricks of the NC State campus.  These bricks that I had pounded out many a frustration on.  I told another racer to follow me and I would pace him to the end.  Together we charged on, grabbing aid and cheering for those around us.  Sometimes in silence, sometimes speaking out loud.  We exchanged names and his was Mark Bledsoe, no relation to my Bledsoe relatives supposedly, but good ole Uncle Larry sent a familiar name to me in these final moments.  (Who knows, maybe it was Larry running beside me in the final mile embodied in the embattled athlete.  I'm not one for mysticism, but hey, any help is better than no help.)  Together we forged our way back to the convention center.  As we charged to the finish, shook hands the energy was electric!  The course was carpeted, the announcer was calling out finishers' names and the crowd was throwing out high fives along the way.  I pumped my fists beside me, looked at the clock and realized that day was done.  70.3 in 6:32... finished!

I started an hour after the pro start.

Thank you to all who made this journey possible.  Now it is recovery time because Rev3 Williamsburg, my Christmas present is less than three weeks away.  I have no idea how the pros recover so quickly!  My legs were screaming and I could barely walk on Monday, but it is a great feeling knowing that you did something this amazing.  I suppose the only downside is that some people around you realize what you accomplished and for some it is simply back to work.  I, on the other hand, am thankful that I got to participate in the Inaugural Ironman Raleigh 70.3 and will definitely be returning!!  

Quick annoucement....

High Point runners, sign up for the Funner Runner Group at Off 'n Running Palladium.  Yours truly will be training you to race a 5K or half marathon as we Funner Run our way to Asheville!