I must post this blog post before I go see Cal.E. in rehab. I may need to stay there with her for a couple of days, until she has calmed down. She is REALLY mad at her dad for putting her in rehab. Now she is in solitary confinement until her case is heard. I will try to keep y’all posted on what is happening with her. IN the meantime, I will try to keep supplying excerpts from my biographical book: Beyond the Thirteenth Mile; The Iron Man Chronicles.
d.c. scot
CHAPTER 9:
X-TERRA
Bike Leg; Mile ninety: That’s IT! I cannot finish this race. And I thought that finishing an X-Terra was hard. That was NOT hard compared to THIS course. I will just get in the sag wagon when it passes by. I am sure that I will not be the only one in the vehicle that picks up stranded participants that are too tired or sick (or sick and tired) to finish a race. I will just lean my bike against this tree and rest until that happens. What a disappointment!
Hey, did that guy just get back on his bike? He looked as bad as I felt. Maybe, if he can finish, so can I. It is worth trying, I guess. I still have plenty of time to finish the bike course. What I definitely NOT do is qualify for the Hawaiian Iron Man..ever! That is the world championship. And I thought that the X-Terra was my ticket to Hawaii at one time..
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"There is," I said, to Nicole, “more than one way to get to Hawaii." I had noticed an advertisement for an X-Terra triathlon in a publication that I was reading. I thought it sounded interesting. Besides, I needed to do at least one triathlon before my first one- half-Ironman distance triathlon. The one-half Iron Man was scheduled in June. This triathlon was in May, about six weeks beforehand. Since both triathlons featured open-water wave swims, I thought that the X-Terra would be a good way to "get my feet wet" for the year. The specifications for the X-Terra seemed more suited for a larger triathlete since both the bike course and the run course were off-road. Adding all of the above factors together, I decided that this was the race for me.
Perhaps I had let my trophy go to my head, or maybe ignorance played a role, but I didn't do nearly as well as I'd hoped to do in this race. Diving for a ground ball while playing first base in a softball game a week before had left me with bursitis in my right shoulder (the one that I had also damaged in my accident).
Because I had not swum much for about six months, my lungs were not in as good of shape as they needed to be, either. The race also started late, making for a miserable run after I got off of my antiquated, abnormally heavy mountain bike. This led to my first experience with heat exhaustion in a race. Fortunately, I also learned a new trick from some of the volunteers at the aid stations. Noticing how distressed I looked, one suggested that I put ice in my baseball cap before putting it back on.
This little trick is probably the only reason that I even finished this particular triathlon. I did, however, see one familiar face (twice).
Michael Tobin, the eventual winner, was having a very good year. He was also having a good race (I was not). Tobin passed me not once, but twice. He passed me on the bike course and the run course. The whole course consists of two loops to each leg, and Tobin passed me on foot on the bike course and again as he was finishing his run and I was beginning mine (I did, however, manage to keep him from lapping me on the swim course).
I was as wrong about the size of the average X-Terra triathlete as well. Aside from the six-and-one-half-foot tall Tobin, most of the professional and elite participants were small and compact, much like the participants in most other triathlons.
No, this was not my path to Hawaii (the world championship for the X-Terra is done two weeks after the Hawaiian Ironman and on the same island). However, I would still jump at the chance to do another Xterra, if only to prove that this one was a fluke.
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