2009 Subaru International Half Iron
Photo courtesy of Meyrick Jones
Final time: 5:08:31, 2nd place in age group, 68th overall
Not a personal best for me as I was 7 minutes slower than at the Shawnigan Lake Half Iron however this bike course was 4 km longer. Therefore I am very happy with this result, especially since I there were so many times during the day when I really thought that I would not be able to finish at all.
Race day was also the first day of my 51st year on this planet and I was feeling every one of those years pressing down on me that morning. I was nauseous and could not keep down any solid food. This scenario was thanks to some very heavy duty anti-biotics that I had been taking for the past week in an attempt to clear up a nasty skin infection that I acquired at Ironman Coeur d’Alene 3 weeks ago. I was tired, dehydrated and low on calories; not the best place to be before a race. So I was seriously thinking about not going to the race. However I also happen to be ghetto poor which means that if I had shelled out $200 for a race then I wanted to get my money’s worth. Besides, if I canceled then I would have to go to the race site to pick-up my bike anyway so I might as well show up and give the race a shot. With that thought in mind, I chugged down my pre-race smoothie and then followed that with an Imodium chaser. Breakfast of champions!
I was feeling better by the time I got to the race site and seeing all the friends and athletes put a big smile on my face. I set-up all my gear in transition and then when for a last trip to the bathroom before the lineups became too long. I attempted to eat a few bites of a Powerbar but it came back up immediately so I gave up on that. It looked like I would have to rely on liquid fuel for the rest of the day.
The first lap of the swim went fairly well. The water was fairly calm, the sun was not shining in my eyes and I had a pretty good group to follow. Yes I went off course but fortunately not as bad as I did at Coeur d’Alene. The second lap was much more difficult as my lack of solid fuel meant that my energy reserves were already depleted and I was struggling to keep pace. I struck a deal with myself, I would get myself back to shore and then I could home if I wanted to.
Onto the bike I went. I was feeling better but I knew that I had a calorie deficit to make up so I started in on a Cliff Bar. I only took a few bites before I knew that was not going to work so I started in on my fuel bottles. I reached for a gel in my jersey only to discover that I had left them all in transition. This was bad news. I would need at least 1000 calories which meant that I would have to supplement my fuel bottles by picking up a gel at every aid station. This plan was working well until my full fuel bottled launched off the back of the bike on the 2nd lap. Damn. Now what was I going to do? I kept pushing forward on the bike and was making pretty good progress. In fact, I had a great “back and forth” going with one guy on the last two laps of the course which I really enjoyed. I was on the final lap when I noticed that the cyclist ahead of me had slowed and was talking to race marshals who were monitoring the turn around point. The other cyclist was not sure if he had completed all of the required laps therefore he went left to complete another lap while I stayed right to head to the transition area. I guess he decided that he had actually completed all of the laps because he suddenly made a hard right, crossing right into my path. I hit the brakes however it was too late. My only choice was to T-bone the other cyclist or head for the ditch. I chose the latter. I managed to control the skid along the shoulder of the road for about 10 metres before I went over the handlebars and landed on my back in the ditch. I opened my eyes to find myself lying on my back with my bike on top of me, immobilized because I was still clipped into the pedals. I looked over to to my left and saw three race officials running towards me. The other cyclist was standing motionless beside me as the gang of marshals quoted all of the rules and regulations that he had just broken. He looked at me and I said, “You are a stupid dumb ass muthaf*@*er. He did not say anything nor did he attempt to help me however one of the race officials politely told me that I was using unsportsmanlike language. I thought this was rather comical because they did not seem to be overly concerned that I was lying in a ditch on my back with a bike on top of me. A man who somehow knew my name managed to un-clip my shoes from the bike pedals which enabled me to get upright. I was sore and disorientated but nothing seemed to broken so I put the chain back on my bike and tried to push off however the race officials had other ideas. They insisted that I wait for a few minutes until they were sure that I was coherent enough to ride. Meanwhile all the other cyclists that I had worked so hard to pass were whizzing past me. Arghhh. The race marshals finally agreed to let me ride the last 2 km back to transition. It was a bit tricky because my co-ordination was a bit off which was made worse because my aerobars were twisted out of position. It was at this point that I bargained with myself again. I told myself that I had been through a lot of shit already today and if I things did not go well in transition that it would be ok if I called it quits and went home.
I made it through transition and headed out onto the run. I was starting to take stock of my situation. I had pain in my left shoulder, my left knee hurt and my right arm was sore. I noticed that one of the elite woman runners was coming up quickly behind me so yelled back to her, “hey, am I bleeding?” She replied, “Yah, you got some road rash on your shoulder and you have mud on your butt but hey, your stride looks good!” That was all I needed to hear as I now knew that there was a possibility that I might actually manage to finish this race. The rest of the run is pretty much of a blur. My focus was mainly on keeping my pace up, staying on the nutritional plan and not thinking about the pain. There were plenty of friends along the route who cheered me on. Some of them had already heard about my crash so they were cheering me pretty loudly when I came across the finish line.
After the finish I went to the medical tent and got my road rash all cleaned up. Then I went out and hung out with my buds and bored them all with my story from the day. I then packed all my gear into the car and got changed. I figured that I might as well head home as I was pretty much toast by then however I decided to check the race results before I left. I found my name on the list but I could not read my placing because there were too many people blocking my view (and my contact lenses were totally messed up with sweat and crap). So I turned to one of the elite guys who was standing in front of me and asked him to read my placing for me. He laughed at me and said, “Dude you came in 2nd.” What??? I couldn’t believe it. I had no solid food all day. I lost my fuel bottle. I forgot my Powergels on the bike. I crashed my bike. All of that and I still placed in my age group? Way to crash and win!
Big thanks to everybody who supported me throughout the day. It was great to see so many people that I knew from the local triathlon clubs and Triathlon BC. As well, an extra big thanks to the race officials and volunteers that pulled me out of the ditch after I crashed on my bike.
I am now going to take a break from racing for the next 6 weeks so that I can heal up and then begin the final preparations for Ironman Canada. This choice to rest is an easy one to make when one is wearing a splint on their right arm. Heh heh.
Happy racing.
Heading for the Finish Line
English Bay Triathlon Club
Post race meal. Finally some solid food!
Karen and I with post-race celebratory drinks
YOU EFFIN’ ROCK DUDE!
Thank you Emfonda. You are one classy gal. ;p)
Wow – your finish time is scary fast and one that I could only hope for in my dreams. Your competition should watch out when you come to the race healthy and make it through the bike ride with no crashes.
Congratulations Don!
Thanks Al. I was pretty surprised that I finished so early. I thought that if I finished at all, that it would certainly be a 6+ hour day.