! was hoping to ride the Duc' out to Aurora Res. Saturday since ! didn't need any gear to volunteer. It was sprinkling when ! went out the door at 4:30a as ! muttered a few expletives. Oh well. ! arrived 30 minutes earlier than Teresa had requested. She sent me and Louis off to transition. Keeping non-racers out wasn't so tough after the first couple summary executions. We used harsh athlete profiling techniques and bar-end plug checkpoints to weed out the riff-raff. It started to drizzle and ! was glad to have my umbrella. For those of you who are Denver natives, an umbrella is, as Paul stated, a tent on a stick. You open it and hold it over your head to prevent rain from falling on you. Rain is what you get when you subject snow to solar radiation. It never rains in Denver, but it does in Aurora.
The rain fell from the overcast layer and it was cold. In the 50s. Several racers were putting on wetsuits before coming to transition. The rest were looking generally displeased and uncomfortable. Just wait 'til they got to the beach and heard the translator telling them to go for a swim. Some Aussie guy with a microphone. ! never quite learned to speak Aussie, but ! can write it. You just write English and turn the page upside-down. Then you read it counter-clockwise. Everyone was set up. Paul headed out to the bike course and my group decided where the mount line would be. We were pretty isolated. Couldn't hear anything from down on the beach. Finally the swimmers arrived and so did the rain. It just got heavier. Still they were heading out on the bikes. Nearly all of them got off when ! heard the Aussie announce the race was canceled for lightning. Bikes were being turned around and sent back. Cars and vans including Yon were dispatched to pick up bikes and riders. They trickled in and we took back the chips. Those people were cold and wet. ! put 2 in the ambulance to warm up. We got them all in and called it a day.
Sunday. Let's try this again. The sprint this time and it was my turn to race. The ground was damp, but no precipitation when ! left. Later than Saturday due to my late start time. A mostly dry drive and set up. ! wetsuited up and waded in. The water really was warmer than the air. The first swimmers were on the bike long before ! even started. Charley was in the water starting 195 behind me. He thought he could catch me. ! think he's getting Alzheimers. So ! queued up. They sent me off. Hardly anyone out in front of me but the guy who started just before. He was standing up not moving. ! went after the pack ahead so ! would have someone to draft. ! looked up as ! passed the first buoy and ! was in that pack. Before ! knew what was happening that pack was behind me and the next group was coming back to me. Around the turn and they were more strung out. Still ! was overtaking. A really good swim for me.
Ah, strippers. Every year ! hope there will be real strippers. Every year my hopes are dashed. Instead it's just a bunch of underage girls who want to undress me. Once again, not enough cooking spray on the ankles. The 2 little girls together outweighed me by 10 lbs and the grass was slippery. They dragged me a few feet before the legs popped off.
! flew through T1 and lept aboard my trusty steed. She carried me down the first bit then up the climb onto the park road. ! was hauling downhill. Tucked in and passing girls galore. Onto Quincy and ! kept moving fast. A couple guys flew by me. Not many. Paul was at the turn-around. ! didn't need a bottle so ! turned into the wind. Going back was going to be tougher. ! checked my time. 18 minutes. Could ! break 40? We'll see. A slight head wind and then the park road climb would make it tough. ! hit all the climbs hard. Still passing people. Mostly girls. ! may have been one of the earliest guys off and passed the others in the res or transition. As ! got to the ranger booth Seth came by. ! had seen a lot of the team kit out there. Seth got ahead. Not much space left to open much of a gap. Just under 38 minutes on the bike.
T2 went fast too. ! felt ok to start. The heel didn't scream like it has been. The steep ramp right out of T2 always worries me with wobbly legs. ! took it easy. ! could see Seth ahead so ! ran. It's only 5k ! can focus for that long. ! felt like ! was moving fast. ! was passing more girls. ! recalled that ! felt fast on the last part of the 5430 run. ! ran with the GPS Thursday and that pace turned out to be only 10 minute miles. ! set my goal under 1:30. ! estimated 0:55 coming out of T2. 10 minute miles would get me there. Still, faster would be better. ! could still see Seth's gap not changing. That's a good sign. ! don't think Seth could run 10s without falling asleep. ½ mile out Jenelle was cruising in the golf cart. Hi-5. Megan was on her way back. ! was hurting. Not an injury hurt. A real racing hurt.A girl asked me if ! was alright. Onward. ! saw Seth coming back. ! could see the turn-around. He had increased his gap just a tiny bit. Elizabeth was behind him. ! caught her just before the aid station. She picked up her pace to hang with me. ! kept moving.
That's when ! saw what made my blood run cold. A menace so menacing that even rattlesnakes were running for cover. Charley “the Mongoose” Perez was on the run He had already bitten Will and many others. This monster could not be stopped. It must be beaten. Many more would fall. ! redoubled my efforts. ! looked back. No sign of the Mongoose. ! could sense a disturbance in the timing chips. More and more racers slipped one spot farther down the overall results. Looking across ! saw him. He had bitten dot.nate and was moving on to the next victim. Then the next and more after that. When one lion asked the other lion why he had let the gazelle get away he replied. I was running for my dinner. The gazelle was running for it's life. ! was the gazelle now.
One quarter mile to go. ! could hear the Aussie. ! picked up the pace a little more. ! heard someone call for numbers to the front so ! spun mine around. 100 yards to go. Time to sprint. ! had been sprinting for 3 miles already. Still more must be left out on the course. My eyes crossed. My heart raced. ! nearly toppled two girls well beyond the finish line. Then to the post to hang on while ! paid off an oxygen debt nearly as big as our national debt. ! had survived a run-in with the Mongoose. Few others had been so fortunate.
! was feeling pretty good about my performance. Probably 1:20 or so. ! was willing to tell people that. Darin posted 5 pages of results. ! went to the 3rd page. Not there. ! went back to page 2. Not there. ! searched them both again. Nothing. Page 4 was 1:40 and slower. ! skimmed it. Not there. Back to pages 2 and 3. ! put a finger on every name. Not there. Page 2 started about 1:15. that would have been a stupendous time for me even if ! had trained all season. Could it be? Could ! Be on page 1? Not a chance. It's never happened before. Page 1 is the top 50 overall. Out of 600. No way. ! looked over pages 2 and 3 again. Still nothing. ! had given up. There would be RMTC on page 1. We are just that bad-ass. ! decided to see who ! knew there. 5 up from the bottom of page one. 45th overall. 7th of 33 in age group. 1:12:52. There ! was. ! freakin' made the first freakin' page. The first page. If only ! was 4 pounds heavier. ! beat all the Clydesdales and most of the children and old people. My run even beat my Belleview Chiro 5k time. ! thought that was a damn good day back when ! was in shape.
Charley won his age group of course. Seth was 3rd overall. RMTC picked up lots of hardware. That wacky Aussie forced me to get on the picnic table and dance to YMCA with the Smoky Hill HS girl's volleyball team. That never happened when ! was in high school. First freakin' page!!!!!!
!'ve been thinking some things over. Perhaps ! should focus on sprints. Beyond 5k ! just don't have the mental stamina to keep pushing.
|
