Eagleman AquaVelo

I did this race completely on my own.  It's a little lonely doing these big races solo, not knowing anyone, not having anyone around to help ease the nerves or hug you when you're finished.  But this was just a warm up for me, a practice doing half iron distances in the swim and bike before the big event in September, so I didn't ask anyone to come.  In fact, I think I turned down offers from Jon and Joann, knowing I'd rather have them there for the big event.  This was just a glorified brick workout... or so I thought.

I made the drive to Cambridge for packet pickup not really knowing what I was getting myself into.  Up until now, all my races, while big to me, were just regular events.  I was not prepared for the hugeness that was this event.  The cumulative value of all the bikes was probably more than my house.  People were carrying their bikes so as not to have to roll them over the grass, protecting the tires.  What?  Definitely in over my head, I made my way to the back corner where all of the aqua velo people were assigned.  I racked my bike, took in the scene, and made my way over to Salisbury where I'd be spending the evening.

The hotel was a dump, but that really didn't matter too much.  I made a stop at the local Target and grabbed some dinner before settling in for the evening.  Morning came and I made the drive back to Cambridge.  It wasn't too hard to find a place to park and so I arrived in transition a little earlier than expected.  I started chatting with one of the girls -- Maria -- who's bike was racked next to mine.  It was her first attempt at these distances also and we shared stories of training (neither of us had done a ride greater than 40 miles).  I hung out with Maria in the hours that led up to our wave start (aqua velo went last) and met her family.  It was nice having someone to talk to since I didn't have any of my own crew around.  It turns out Maria's family lives right on the Eagleman run course about a mile from where we were, and were having a BBQ after the race, which they invited me to.

It was time for our start and Maria and I made our way into the water.  Soon we were off and I just took this swim one stroke at a time.  1.2 miles is not too much further than 1500 meters, the distance of Olympic distance races which I had done plenty of times before, so I figured I'd be OK.  We lucked out with the currents and the lack of choppiness (it's not called the Choptank River for nothing!) and I ran out of the river in 53 minutes to see Maria's family cheering for me.  That was nice. 

I hopped on the bike and I was off.  I passed a couple people and was passed by plenty others within the first few miles, but that was it.  This might have been the loneliest bike course in history as I didn't see another human being practically the entire time.  In fact, for the entire 56 miles, I think I only saw (and passed) 2 other people.  At times, I wondered if I had veered off the course since it was so quiet.  I kept expecting Maria to catch up with me as I had seen her bike still in transition and knew she finished the swim after me.  At about mile 45 I started getting really really tired and wished I could just coast along, except this is the flattest (and windiest) course ever, so anytime I stopped pedaling, I slowed to almost a stop, if not going backwards or to the sides.  My butt hurt and I kept standing up trying to shift my position. 

As I got closer to transition, there were already plenty of runners on the course and I had to scream to announce my bike coming through.  This obsticle course lasted the last few miles until I was finally on the home stretch.  Everyone was cheering me on, telling me that I only had 13.1 miles to go - HA, I'm not doing the run portion!!!  I pulled up to the aqua velo finish, got off my bike and sat down.  There was no way I could walk one step let alone run 13.1 miles.  How the heck am I going to do the full race in Oklahoma?  Well... that's not to think about right now.  Maria came in not too long after me and we were both so happy to be done.  We collected our medals and then Maria, who's car was closer, gave me a ride to my car and then we drove to her mom's house for the BBQ.  Good thing for the ride because I was really hurting.  Turns out I should have applied some more sunblock because I ended up with 2nd degree burns and had slight heat exhaustion.  

I stayed at Maria's for a bit before heading to Annapolis for my cousin's high school graduation party and then finally got home for a shower and a nap.  I did it and was pleased with myself, if not a little unsure how I was going to manage the full 70.3 a few months later.....

Columbia Triathlon

BUST.

Sometimes you wake up for a workout or a race and you just aren't feeling it.  I returned to this race hoping to drop some significant time off my previous year's 4.5+ hour result.  This course has defeated me and I was determined to tackle it.  Yet, I wasn't feeling it this day, and should've known the day wouldn't end well.

I actually had a really good swim, 0:33:25 for the 1500 meters.  Not bad at all.  6 minutes in transition is nothing to sing about, but I was dreading this bike course (see last year's race report for an explanation).  I headed out on the bike, slowly but surely making my way up the first hill, up the second hill... and on the third hill, just as I'm approaching the top, the person (I don't even remember if it was a girl or a boy) went to replace the water bottle in its cage... and missed.  The water bottle fell and landed right under my front tire.  I was too out of it from climbing up these mountains to have any chance to swerve and avoid it, and so my bike went down slamming my elbow into the pavement.  ouch.

I got my first ride in an ambulance back to transition, upset about the incident but I'm sure there was a part of me slightly relieved to have an "out" for the day.  It was raining and the ambulance dropped me off and quickly rushed out to another crash.  In fact, I later heard that many cyclists were held up as one crash was so bad a helicopter had to be called in.  Geez, dangerous conditions on that type of course no doubt.  I had Joann's car and the plan was that Jon, Joann, PD, Dan and Brock (Chris' friend, visiting from Atlanta) would come up later, and I'd be able to return home with Jon.  Well, this put a damper in the plan and Joann was the first person I could get in touch with.  She rushed out to Columbia to collect me, and eventually her, PD, Jon and I had breakfast at Eggspectations in Columbia.  Good food but what a terrible, rainy day.  Yuck.

Columbia Triathlon: 2
Jen: 0

Vegas Half Marathon

Vive Las Vegas!!
Only in Vegas can you...
(1) watch 2 runners lose $2K at the roulette table before the race start (I hope they at least got a good time!)
(2) stop at a water station that smeels oddly of urine
(3) watch a wedding, and be able to congratulate several pairs of runners with "just married" signs on their backs
(4) watch a woman get chased down and handcuffed right in the middle of the race course
(5) run a little harder just to avoid getting high-fived by a lady stumbling through the course the wrong way reeking of alcohol (at 8AM, mind you)
(6) take a break and watch the Blue Man Group perform mid-race
(7) run alongside Elvis for 13.1 miles....

The Vegas Marathon is definitely an experience, however a few comments...

• The course was very fast and flat with only 1 fairly insignificant incline around mile 6 or 7 (half marathon course just after the split from the full marathon)
  
• Running the strip is interesting, but once you get past the Stratosphere, the rest of the course is very boring (at least the half, I can't speak for the full marathon route), weaving somewhat through local Vegas and then a very dead strip of pawn shops, bail bonds, gentleman's clubs, massage parlors, etc...
  
• There was almost no organization at the start line. There were indicators for those looking to do a sub-3 hour or sub-4 hour marathon, but nothing after that, and with the large amount of people, there were walkers up front, 10 min/milers in the back.. just very mixed up
  
• The Blue Man group was performing at about mile 2.5 and it was great to have them there, but a note to race organizers would be to set up some type of viewing coral for those who wish to stop and watch. People were just stopping and standing in the middle of the course.. even spectators were jumping in with their cameras to get a better view.
  
• With only one exception, the water stations were all fully stocked. The one exception was around mile 9 where they ran out of power gels. Although, I couple of stations we had to pour our own since there weren't enough volunteers.
  
• The half marathon and marathon split off around mile 6, and then rejoined around the half marathon mile 11 and the marathon mile 24. Well, needless to say, but the faster marathoners (the sub 3 hour group) were not pleased to be merged in with us slower half marathoners.. there was a lot of yelling, and I can see their frustration, however there was no direction for separation of the course -- at the finish line, half marathoners were directed to the left and full marathoners to the right (which is how we were when the merge started), but for the final 2.5 miles, runners were darting everywhere and running people down. A suggestion to the race organizers would be to put up some cones or signs so that the halfers know to stay to the left and the full marathoners to the right.
  
• Interesting note is that this if the first race I've done when there was not one vehicle who seemed to care that the roads were closed. One car pulled over and asked an officer how he could get somewhere, and was very polite about it. Perhaps this was because most of the traffic there are shuttle busses and taxis.. and there didn't seem to be a lot of car ownership in the neighborhoods we went through.
  
• Not many spectators at all, especially when we left the strip (which only accounted for the first 4.5 miles), although one fire department came out to cheer as we went past the station.
  
• Nice finish line with lots of snacks and goodies.. even better if you stay at Mandalay Bay or Luxor and have just a short walk to your shower!

Overall, while it didn't get placed on my top 5 race list, it was definitely an experience and you do get some great discounts (i.e. half price tickets to Circue Du Soleil).