Swim:
I had a hard time finding the buoys laid out on the course because of the
sun and the water current created from the wind. The course was
interesting- a small-based triangle, and we were to swim around the end of a
straight line of buoys that marked both the out and back of the swim. The
swim back to the beach was rough. Waves were making it tough to get a good
breath in without a mouthful of water. I pressed on and finished the swim
in 35 minutes.
Bike:
I knew to hold back on the bike for the first half and save some energy for
the hills at the end of the ride, and the nice tailwind helped me accomplish
this. Shortly after the turn onto Quincy I got a flat after rolling over some
glass on the course. I stopped to fix it and a course mechanic pulled
over and basically did it for me and I was on my way! Once I hopped back
on my bike I saw my husband, Matt, and we were both feeling good but looked
forward to getting off the bike. A minute after he pulled away my chain
dropped. I stopped and quickly got it back on my crank and was off again.
At the bottom of one of the hills it looked like a porcelain toilet had
exploded and there were shards everywhere. I managed to get past without
any more flats, but about 4 miles from the finish it happened again- another
flat! This time I didn't have another spare so I figured I would walk towards
the finish until someone could help me. Most of the people who passed me didn't
have deep dish wheels so couldn't really help with a spare tube since I needed
one that was either longer or could accept an extension. “It could be worse…”
I walked to the turn off to the reservoir and the crossing marshal
told me he had radioed for a ride for me. "But won't that end my
race? Will they have a spare tube?". "I don't know the
rules. I just saw you walking and called. You can refuse the ride if you
want to keep going though." "Thank you." “It could be
worse…”
A few hundred more feet and a guy stopped and handed me a tube that could accept
a valve extension. Now if I could just
get the original valve off…As I was messing with the valve the course mechanic
came to my rescue again! This time there
was a guy in the passenger seat and his bike on the rack on top of the
car. His race was over. Mine was finally
2/3 done, and it could have been worse.
Run
“I should have stopped at the Port-O-Potty in transition”, I thought to
myself. “At least I know there are some on the race course.” I ran most of the
way to the first aid station, grabbed some water and had a few salt tablets and
finally found the port-o-potty around mile 2.
I went in, did my business, and as I was pulling my shorts back up I
heard something in the toilet well. I
spun around to find a bat that appeared to be lying on the beach of the blue
sanitation liquid. I dropped some toilet
paper on him to see if he was still alive and he moved! Watching the bat closely, I finished pulling
up my shorts, got some hand sanitizer and got the hell out of there! I’m glad I saw it after I used the restroom
because I would have had to wait another 2 miles before finding another
potty.
The run was mostly a walk since my calves and what felt like my diaphragm were
cramping and my stomach was upset and gurgling. I tried to take in more salt
but the cramps persisted. After 3 hours
of walking I made it back to the finish and dove into the blow-up slip and
slide.
My husband was waiting for me at the finish and I gave him a hug and a kiss
and thanked him for waiting so long for me to finish. I explained to him what had happened after I
saw him on the bike. For most of the run I was thinking about him waiting for
me, but I realized it really could have been worse- I could have nobody waiting
for me at the finish after going for this long.
If that was the case I probably would have quit after that second tire
puncture and taken that ride back to transition.
Thank you, Matt, for keeping me going.
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