C.: Well, d.c. is still sick, and it’s Sunday, the day I usually read his manuscripts. I’m on chapter nine of his manuscript for BEYOND THE THIRTEENTH MILE: THE IRON MAN CHRONICLES. It’s a short chapter called “The X-Terra.”
CHAPTER NINE: THE XTERRA
1400: Bike leg; mile 90:
That’s it! I cannot finish this race. And I thought that finishing an XTerra was hard. That wasn’t hard compared to this course. I’ll just get in the sag wagon when it passes by. I’m sure I won’t be the only one in the vehicle that picks up stranded participants who are too tired or sick (or sick and tired) to finish a race. I’ll 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’s worth trying, I guess. I still have plenty of time to finish the bike course. What I definitely won’t do is qualify for the Hawaiian Ironman distance triathlon… ever! That’s the world championship. And I thought the XTerra was my ticket to Hawaii at one time…
***
"There is," I said to Nicole, “more than one way to get to Hawaii." I had noticed an advertisement for an XTerra triathlon in a publication I was reading. I thought it sounded interesting. Besides, I needed to do at least one triathlon before participating in my first one-half Ironman distance triathlon. The one-half Ironman race was scheduled in June. This triathlon was in May, about six weeks beforehand. Since both triathlons featured open-water wave swims, I thought the XTerra would be a good way to "get my feet wet" for the year. The specifications for the XTerra seemed more suited for a larger triathlete since both the bike course and the run course were off-road. Adding all the above factors together, I decided that this was the race for me.
Perhaps I let my trophy go to my head, or maybe ignorance played a role, but I didn't do nearly as well as I had 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 I had also damaged in my accident). I was playing first base because I couldn’t throw with that arm. Diving for a ground ball in a recreational game on a hard infield that was only being played “for fun” wasn’t a wise decision on my part!
Because I hadn’t swum much for about six months, my lungs weren’t in as good of shape as they needed to be either. The race also started one day and a few hours late because of a storm that blew in the day it was scheduled. The officials decided to delay the start to the next day until the storm clouds passed over. Fortunately, the race was being held on a holiday weekend. Most competitors were able to stay and compete in the race on Monday.
However, the late start, combined with the rising temperatures that accompanied it, made for a miserable run after I got off 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 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, while I wasn’t. Tobin passed me not once, but twice. The whole course consisted 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 I was about my abilities to excel in this type of race. 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 and distance running events.
No, this was not my path to Hawaii (the world championship for the X-Terra is done two weeks after the Hawaiian Ironman distance triathlon 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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