race

I definitely raced above my fitness and sustained a level of pain that I mentally have not been able to hold the last couple of years; all the while being pushed by Scottie in my thoughts [if you haven't done so, read my July 25th blog entry on Scott's tragic death]. I must have had at least 10 conversations with Scott throughout the race including one with Sam McGlone [I'll get to this later in the story]. I first heard Scottie egging me on when I wanted to slow down during the swim fearing I would overheat in my full wetsuit swimming in a 77° warm lake. It's funny how the mind finds "sensible" excuses to slow down. I heard Scott challenging me to overheat because according to him, I was going to win this race from the front. I exited the water first in my wave and in a season best swim time. After a lightening fast transition through T1 [again a Scott moment popped in my head because I used to stress quick and fluid transitions when I coached Scott and here I am doing it], I was on the bike and ready to continue my race at the front. A guy went screaming by me on a disc wheel and I said game on, I'm gonna race this guy. My senses came to me at least twice on the bike out and both times, there was Scott again reminding me to push the big gears and stay at the edge of just blowing up. At the bike turnaround, I saw that after losing some ground, I was starting to pull Mr. Disc back in. Also, I got a chance to see the guys chasing me down and I had to good cyclists pulling me in. I panicked somewhat and sensibility told me to back off and save it for the run. It was about this time that Scott must have invited another voice because I suddenly heard Sam McGlone egging me on. Three years ago, I got the unique perspective of hearing Sam's breathing pattern while racing on the bike course at California 70.3. Her breathing when she went by me on the bike told me that she was racing at a whole another level, and made me realize why it is that I will never be a pro. Well, with both Sam and Scott pushing me, I attacked every roller in an effort to emulate the breathing I heard from Sam that day. By the time I reached T2, I pulled even with Mr. Disc and held off the chargers behind me. The first mile of the run was crisis management as the effort on the bike left my legs twitching and threatening to cramp with every stride. An experienced cramper that I am, I took my deep breaths, did my funky cramp preventing stride, and just waited for my legs to adjust from the bike to the run. My legs did come around and I picked off every guys except for 5 who all had left 5 or 10 minutes before me in different waves. By the time I reached the run turaround, I was getting tired and the guys charging from behind caused me to panic again. I hate panic because I become irrational which leads me to lose focus, which results in my losing my form. I wanted to run faster but fast running comes from a stable core and strong legs, neither of which I had at the moment. So I started pumping, or more like flailing my arms to generate turnover in my legs. I must have looked so stupid, like Phoebe running in that one episode of Friends. It was about this time that the run course went from fire roads to single track trail with lots of turns, blind turns. Instantly, I heard Scott remind me of my cross country background [I coached Scott in cross country as well] and told me to push the part of the course because the guys would not be able to see my surges and react. It was at that time that I told myself this was my race to lose because this course so suited me. The last big hurdle for me was seeing the 4-mile mark because I was soooo expecting it to be the 5-mile mark. It was at this point in the race that I decided to respond to each mental breakdown with a surge. When I thought I was hurting, I would surge and make it hurt more. This tactic seemed to work as I actually started to feel better and thought I knew I had a good grip on first in my age-group, I aimed my site on something bigger, overall amateur winner. I ran with the purpose that I did not want to look at the results afterewards and see that I missed being first amateur overall by 3 or 4 seconds. I ran not to have any regrets and in the process picked off one more guy from an earlier wave. I crossed that line with an empty tank. I wound up second amateur overall, by a little over 2 minutes. No regret. This was a great day spent with my buddy Scott MacPherson Stapleton...and his friend Sam McGlone.