The weather ended up being somewhat on our side. I believe the temp at start was about 60 degrees. Chilly at first, but I got used to it pretty quickly. There were a total of 747 participants, and I was bib #783. How does that work, eh?
I left the house bright and early this morning, well not so much on the bright side, I guess. On the road by 5:30 am. Wonderful. Someone please remind me why I am doing this again? "No seriously, I am actually asking you, what do I do here? Any suggestion will do..." Friends, anyone?
I arrived at the North Shore about 10 minutes after registration opened up, which gave me an ideal parking spot and a base locale to go back and forth from. Got my bib, timing chip, my SWEET dri-fit t-shirt, and got marked with my number. After all that hubbub, I got my bike to set-up my transition area, and was pleasantly surprised to find that I got the perfect spot to rack my bike, right on the end of the rail, practically in the lane, so I didn't have to waste any time moving between people and bikes. Good deal, I was stoked about that.
After I got all that set up, I just kind of milled around for a bit, walked the transition running lanes so I would know what to expect when coming out of the water, chatted with some other folks, and got my wetsuit on. At that point my folks arrived and I said hi and kind of explained to them what was about to happen. Also caught up with Dave, who was also in my wave and chatted a bit about the upcoming race.
At about 8am, they called the competitor's meeting, after which I had already taken out my hearing aids, so I had no idea what was said, but Dave assured me that none of it mattered.... yeah right, I think he was just trying to get a leg up on me. :)
It soon became race time.
The swim start was great! There were 78, I think, in my wave, which was a comfortable number, enough for a semi-violent start, but no black eyes or broken noses (that I know of). I positioned myself fairly conservatively, but ended up have to work my way around the pack. Once we hit the first buoy, I found myself toward the front of the pack and pulling away. Sweet. This is the moment everyone dreams of. I had to remind myself to calm down and breathe and keep my rhythm. It worked. I finished the swim in a touch over 8min, which isn't bad considering I had to work through the pack for about 100 yds or so.
Coming out of the water and into T1 I felt great, which was a surprise, but I still didn't want to rush it, I wanted to be sure to get everything right and not forget anything for the bike. Like my hearing aids. Gonna need those, buddy. I also grabbed my arm warmers which ended up being a good call, too, because it got chilly quickly.
This is when it went south. Before I could even mount the bike, the chain dropped off, forcing me to spend another minute fiddling with that to get it back on. Off we go, right? Wrong.
At some point between my test ride this morning, and the race, my front derailleur got bent. I found this out 50 yards up the first hill, when I couldn't shift into granny gear. Which was bad, because I needed that granny gear.
This moment, I think, was the defining moment of the race for me. Here I am, coming into the bike in pretty good position, as far as I could tell, I was still in the top 10 (behind the elite), and I am forced to deal with the fact that I will have to grind up these monster hills without my granny gear, and then not be able to use my big gear to take advantage of the downhills.
I knew I came here for the right reasons when it took me less than 2 seconds to make this decision. I recognized that I have no control over the fact that I can shift my front gears, but I DO have control over the fact that I can still have a great time. And I did. Every hill sucked, but I loved it. I was a true grind fest, and it tested my mettle, and I loved it, pure and simple. Never once did I say "I don't want to be here". Not once.
It was all worth it when we topped out the last hill and re-entered the park, and as you got closer to the parking area, you could hear the rising crescendo of the crowd waiting for you to come flying in. Awesome stuff and it totally gave me goosebumps. I soaked in every second of it. Every second.
T2 was blistering fast for me. So much so that I came out ahead of several people that passed me on the bike a few mintues earlier. I was expecting my legs to feel like bricks. That feeling never came. I guess the adrenaline from this atmosphere really helped me crank through it. I felt like I had a great run. Dave caught up with me, and we stuck together for the rest of the run, and were joined up with another guy, Jay, who said he was tired of chasing us to told us to bring him in. Awesome!
Coming down the chute to the finish was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. It was a great experience that I worked hard for, and it felt great to finally accomplish this. And I was feeling good enough that I could soak it in and enjoy it.
What an awesome day.
-J
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