Wow, where to begin? Well I dropped 35 minutes off of my race time from last year. This is one of the biggest rewards I've received from 6 months of training. I still have room to improve on that course, but I couldn't have been happier at the finish. I raced for Team Shadow this year, which was a blast. Team Shadow is my club triathlon team that is basically an "off-season" extension of TNT. We came in 13th overall, not bad for our debut. Our mascot, "Daisy" was supposed to be out on the course cheering us on, but she was attacked by a dog while riding James' shoulders. RIP Daisy...
The swim start was choppy as usual, but I started up front anyway. Kick or be kicked. I felt great in the water, relaxed, breathing on both sides. I was a little too far left going out, but I had fewer people to swim around. The turnaround buoy came quickly (I can't believe I'm saying that). At this point, I'd caught quite a few "yellow caps" aka old dudes. Don't get me wrong, a lot of these men passed me on the bike, but in the water, they were getting "chicked." Some were swimming blindly, meaning they were not lifting their head to see what general direction they were going so they'd cross my path at a diagnol, or they just weren't kicking, so they became floating obstacles. Like I said, a lot of them got their revenge on the bike. My swim time was 35 minutes, 1 minute faster than last year. I'll take it.
The bike ride was great. Dennis let me borrow his race wheels which is always a treat. I had a good nutrition plan, but my stomach had been upset since breakfast. I got through the ride ok, but I didn't consume as many calories as I had planned. The biggest difference I noticed from my race last year was the last 12 miles. Typically, once I get past "Nasty Grade," I start to wilt, and the next 12 miles really suck. There are lots of rollers, so you still have to work. This year, I decided what my average speed was going to be and I made it happen. My bike time was 3:41, 28 minutes faster than last year!
Running right after you get off the bike is never easy, but this year it was manageable. I stuck to my run/walk plan of 9:1 until I got to the hills. I'm not sure what it is, but every year on the run course, my heart rate gets really high and I have to back off quite a bit. Same thing this year. Around mile 4 or 5, the hills just get ridiculous. Somewhere along the way I came up behind an athlete who didn't have legs, he had bionic prosthetics, which are not built to run up hills. So he had to do this akward motion of swinging his leg out to the side in order to progress up the hill. After seeing him make his way up this long hill, I started to mini jog my way up behind him. I saw that he had an Olympic ring tattoo that said Athens 2004. Perfect conversation starter. It turns out that he swam on the Para Olympics in Athens, amazing! We wished each other a great race and I made my way up the hill. 
Somewhere around mile 9 I came into the presence of a celebrity. I had just passed this big guy running in a black cut off shirt (not good tri wear) and spectators started cheering for Dane, from the Biggest Loser! OMG, no way! I turned around and here is this big guy wearing the black shirt from the BL! I started gushing to this poor guy about how much I loved the show and how inspiring I find it while I'm riding my indoor bike trainer. Turns out that Dane and his cousin, Blaine, are still in the at home weight loss challenge. In the last month they had done an Olympic Distance triathlon, a half marathon, and a marthon. What!? It turns out that their long term goal is to someday do an Ironman. Blaine was also out on the course, but I didn't get a chance to meet him. I wanted to ask more questions about Jillian and Bob, but I had to keep moving, so I wished Dane luck and headed on my way.
At this point, I'm very familiar with the course, but it was still such a tough run for me. I decided that my run goal was going to be 2:50. I tried to really focus in the last 2 miles. Once I finally got to Lynch Hill, I knew I was going to make my time because the last mile was a fast downhill.
I was probably less than a half mile from the finish line when I saw another racer in front of me facing uphill and stumbling. Not good. When I ran up to her, I asked if she was ok. She told me she was fine, but she could barely stand. I told her she should sit down and she said 'No, I have to finish.' Luckily she was smaller than me because when I grabbed her arm to give her some support her legs just buckled underneath of her. I held her under her arms and gently let her collapse to the ground. She was now lying in the middle of the rode, with her head facing downhill. She was reluctant to give in though, so she kept her arms propped up under her. I squated behind her to support her head. This was just as akward as it may sound. Other racers jogged up to us and I urged them to have someone call the paramedics when they got to the bottome of the hill. My teammate, Les, eventually ran up to us and stopped. She kept saying, "Don't call the medic, if my hear rate is over 60, I'm goign to finish this thing." Les and I looked at each other like "Wow, she's either delerious or super determined." By this time, my watch alarm went off, indicating that I did not make my target time, "oh well, it's not like I'm here to win." Eventually, a support vehicle showed up and the race workers took over from there. I hope she was able to take a salt tablet or a gu and finish the race. Mentally, she was going to finish, I hope she did. I jogged my way down to the finish line. My run time was 2:58, still 8 minutes faster than my time from last year.
Overall, it was a fantastic experience. The run in particular was really special, I encountered 3 different people with significant obstacles to overcome. Stuff like that puts things in perspective for me. What did it take for the athlete with prothetic legs to get to Wildlfower? What did it take for Dane and Blaine to get to Wildflower? And even the woman who's legs wouldn't cooperate, how could she be lying in the road telling me that not finishing was not an option? While I'm on a mission to complete an Ironman, it's really more about the journey that it takes to get there than it is about crossing the finish line.
Condition: 7:27 - Best Wildflower Race yet!
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