Subject: Newbie First HIM RR--Oceanside By: Heather N.
Written on: Friday April 06, 2012 Message: The alarm went off at 4-ish, and I started feeling
nervous. I am the type of person who gets sick on
the first snowboarding trip of the season, even
though Iâve been snowboarding for 15 years,
so you can imagine the type of sick this race was
eliciting. Luckily, I had packed Immodium.
Unfortunately, it takes a while to kick in.
Eventually, we packed up and headed
out.
This race had two separate
transition areas, and we were allowed to drop our
running gear at T2 on Friday afternoon, which I
opted to do. After dropping my stuff, we went to
IM Village and our kids and the BPW(Best People in
the World, B and R)âs kiddo raced in the
Ironkidsâ 1 mile run. Very fun! The
suggestion for race morning was to get dropped off
at T2 to set up your gear, and then ride with your
bike gear plastic bag, wetsuit, and morning
clothes plastic bag to T1. 1.25 miles. At 5am.
I didnât think this sounded safe; Will and I
decided instead that he would get as close as he
could to T2 and I would walk my bike and gear to
T1. We were not alone. SO many triathletes!
Some riding, some walking. It was crazy. I
learned later some woman had been seriously
injured riding from T2 to T1 when her wetsuit got
caught in her front wheel and she endoed onto the
pavement.
Got to T1 safely and learned
that I was on a rack with all the other 40-44
women. Everyone was very nice, very helpful,
zipping, answering questions, etc. It was a nice
distraction, and I was feeling a little better.
Will made it over, and I actually felt like I was
readyâ¦for a few minutes. I did
overhear a very large woman say, âIâm
expecting to finish the swim in 50
minutesâ¦so embarrassing.â I
felt like I would be excited to finish in 50
minutes, but whatever.
Swim:
Wave
start! Prior to queuing up with our wave, I
watched the pros start and saw something black in
the water. I should mention at this point that I
saw Jaws when I was 7 years old. For years, I had
troubles with open water, including fresh water,
for fear that something would bite me. So, to see
something black in the water I would soon be
swimming in was a little unnerving. It turns out
it was a seal! How cool is that? I did not see
any seals while swimming, but Will said they were
there with us! I lined up just in time to see
Andy Potts and the other pros run by us out of the
swim. We made our way to the boat ramp, and I
felt the waterâ¦58 degrees was
chilly! And I had left my neoprene cap and
booties in the hotel roomâ¦boo! They
announced our wave and we all got in. My breath
was promptly knocked out of me. I tried to put my
face under, let the cold water into my wetsuit,
put my face under again, but I started to feel
that same sort of shallow, tight breathing and
panicky feeling I had experienced at Lake Powell
in October. I laid on my back, tried to relax. I
was on the outside and toward the back, FREAKING
OUT! How am I going to make 1.2 miles of
this?!?!?! The saltwater was another
obstacleâ¦yuck. Gun goes off, women
swimming. There was some water commotion, but I
was at the very back, so it wasnât too bad.
I just could not get my face under water without
difficulties breathing. I swam breast stroke with
my head above water for probably 5-10 minutes. I
know a couple of other age groups passed me. At
one point, I looked behind me and saw a few other
women with pink caps struggling too. Finally, I
could put my face under, but try as I might,
freestyle wasnât happening. Is that water
in my goggles? Am I taking in too much saltwater?
Why canât I just swim straight? Why
canât I breathe? More age groupers passed
me while I continued to breaststroke. Breathing
was labored. A man grabbed my leg. I kicked
someone in the face. I stopped at a paddleboard.
The lifeguard was sooooo nice. âGrab on,
you can hang out as long as you like.â I
hung out about a minute and forced myself to press
on. Another buoy, another buoy. Stop and rest.
Another buoy, another buoy. Little by little, I
made it to where the breakers ended and the swells
began. Wow. I thought I would be more scared,
but really I was just worried about being taken
off course, swept away. Iâm pretty sure the
swells were 4-6 feet. There was a storm surge
moving in, expected to crest on Sunday afternoon.
The interesting thing was, the swells came from
various directions, as they moved in off of the
ocean and hit the breakers all around us. Rounded
the corner marked by red buoys, then on to the
orange buoys marking the second half. My neck and
shoulders began to hurt, and once I was out of the
swells, I decided to try freestyle again. It felt
pretty relaxed and easy, but I zigzagged a little,
so I mixed it up with breaststroke. Eventually, I
heard someone yelling my name and looked up to see
my beloved and my beautiful kids. It was exactly
what I needed. I got out of the water in 1:14,
totally disappointed, as I had expected to finish
in 55 or so. 20 minutes behindâ¦ugh.
All the bikes on my rack gone. Ugh. I am going
to be last, again. Ugh. Wait a minute, my goal
was to finish, right? And I finished the swim,
right? And I made it with minutes and minutes to
spare, right? Pull your head out of your butt and
get moving!!!
Iâd like to take
this opportunity to comment on how amazing the
volunteers were. Helping with my wetsuit, fixing
my sleeve, packing my stuff up, offering
encouragement. I am so
appreciative!
Bike:
I got on the
bike, encouraged by the cheering of Will and the
kids and the BPW, and Iâm thinking, âI
might actually pull this off.â A few miles
in, I remembered my bike computer and my watch,
realizing that at the end of the swim, I had
stopped my watch, rather than lapping it. I fixed
the watch and pulled my bike computer out, and it
flew out of my hands and into the weeds! Oh,
well, I guess Iâll have to wing it. Will
and the BPW had warned me the roads were slick,
and I had brand new tires, so I took it easy on
the corners. I passed some people, and some
people passed me, and the first 20 miles were
pretty uneventful for me, though not for the other
5 people with flats that I passed. Before the
30-mile mark, there was this HILL to end all
HILLS. I saw about 15-20 people ahead of me
walking their bikes, but I really wanted to ride
it, so I tried. About 1/3 of the way up, I got
off and walked, passed by a very large lady still
pedaling. Humbling. As I got closer to the
summit, I started to be able to make out some of
what the 2 âcheerleadersâ at the top
were saying, and it was not exactly positive, but
I think it was meant to be encouraging. Iâm
pretty sure they were Marine drill sergeants. The
female made some comment about my skirt and how
itâs important to look good, and I laughed
heartily and got back onâ¦fun
downhill, though I have no idea how fast I was
going. There were more hills after that, and I
was riding uphill with a 54-year old at mile 39
when we decided that we were probably on the last
hill, judging by the elevation map we had studied
online. WRONG!!! After the first hill, the rest
seemed easy, and because I was at sea level, my
breathing was good, so I rode them all, even
though others didnât. 1600 feet of
elevation gain! And I ate sooooo much hammer gel
on that ride, a little bit every 20-30 minutes,
which I think paid off on the hills and probably
during the run, as well. I started getting tired
at about the 50-mile mark, and about 2 miles out,
we rode behind a strip mall where I could smell
hamburgers cooking, so I started craving a burger.
And it was raining. I have never been as happy
to see a transition area as I was to see T2. I
had hoped to make the ride in 3:45, but alas, it
was a 4:06 ride. Simultaneously relieved and
disappointed, I dismounted and started running
into T2. Again, helpful volunteers pointed me in
the right direction, retrieved my bag, and racked
my bike, and I was off and
running!
Run:
Amazingly, I never felt
wobbly coming off of the bikeâ¦I had
tried to be conservative on the ride, having heard
horror stories about people who overdo it on the
bike and explode on the run. And I was so
energized by my family and friends being there,
cheering me on, that I felt like I was floating
for the first few miles. Best feeling in the
world. By then, Will and the kids and the BPW had
been joined by the LA transplants, hooray! On the
ride, I kept thinking about all of them being
there, waiting for me. About setting a good
example for my kids. About being tough as nails,
strong as an ox, fast as
a�
The beginning of the
course was flat and lined with spectators. Most
of the onlookers were great! Little kids yelling,
âYou can do it!â âGo
Ironwoman!â and adults cheering, âGo
1648!â âYouâve got this!â
Goâ¦[pause while said person looks
for my name on my race
number]â¦Heather!â There were
some weirdos out there, too: âJust remember
you CHOSE to be out here. You SIGNED UP for this!
You PAID for this experience! ENJOY it!â
or âStep it up! You gottaâ dig deep!
Itâs all mentalâ¦mind over
matter!â I just tried to smile and cheer
and cheer other runners on. It was both
energizing and demoralizing to run a loop course,
as I knew a lot of the people I ran by on the
first loop were about to finish. Those who stood
out: 2 amputees just ripping it up with their
cool cheetah-inspired leg, a 69-year old woman who
had calves like rocks, a dude in a wheelchair.
They all SMOKED me, along with MANY
othersâ¦old people, fat people,
walking people. Very humbling. I know this is
my first year in triathlon, I know I am 43 years
old, and I know this was my first 70.3, but I
think I expected to be more competitive. The good
news is there is nowhere to go from here but up.
And I am motivated to do better next time. And I
had to remind myself at this point in the race
that my goal was to finish under the cutoff time.
So I plodded along. The second part of the loop
was hilly, and I had to walk some hills in order
not to trigger my IT band issues too early in the
run. Onlookers saw this as a sign that I was
slacking or tiring and tried to motivate me. But,
truth be told, I felt pretty darn good during the
entire run. No blisters, no troubles breathing.
The temperature was cool and cloudy until mile 12.
It was nice. Will ran with me from miles 6-8,
which was very encouraging and took my mind off of
the run for a while. I made the 3:08pm cutoff at
mile 8 with many minutes to spare and knew I could
finish! And the woman who was embarrassed by her
50-minute swim did not make the 8-mile cutoff.
She was pulled from the race and had a DNF for the
day. My own doubts were triggered again at mile
12, when a very well-meaning volunteer yelled,
âYou have 15 minutes to make your age-group
cutoffâ¦STEP IT UP!!!!â Crap!
I thought we had until 4:18pm! It was 3:38pm. My
official 8:30 cutoff time would have been 3:51pm.
I didnât think I could run 1.2 miles, at the
END OF AN HALF-IRONMAN, fast enough to make it to
the finish by 3:51pm, but I thought I would try,
and I stepped it up. When I could see the finish
line, some man yelled, âWay to step that
shit up! You could pass 3 people before you
finish! Go! Go! Go!â And pass 3 people
before the finish line I did. And I finished.
And I heard the announcer say, âHere comes
Heather N from Flagstaff, Arizona. You did it,
Heather! Way to go!â I did it. Finished
that race in 8:34:37. I was last to finish in my
age group, but not last overall. I watched the
last person cross. Her name was Heather. She was
escorted across the finish line by 30 cheering
volunteers and an arch of balloons. It was a
beautiful sight.
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