This past weekend, was my "A" race. To put it in a different way, this was my big race for the year. The funny thing is, when this year started, I had no clue about this race, and it wasn't even on the radar. The back story is that due to my performance in the Hammer Sprint Triathlon in Lenoir City this year, that I received an email stating that I had qualified for this event. Originally, the plan was not to go to this due to financial reasons and such, but after I let coach know about this, then she told me I HAD to do this as not many people have qualified even in their rookie season. So, at the urging of her, I made a go fund me page. After doing that, it took about all of 2 hours, and thanks to some VERY GENEROUS FRIENDS, I was able to get the trip funded and was set to go.
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Thursday was travel day. I was driving to Ohio for this event. After a final Chiropractic adjustment, picking up the rental car, and getting my stuff loaded. I headed out. This was going to be a full weekend and I planned to make the most of it. The trip was very uneventful. It took what seemed like forever to get there. The original plan was to stay in a fellow "Idiots" apartment and make home there for the week. However, sometimes things happen, and you have to deviate. That's just what happend here, but in the grand scheme of things it was all water under the bridge. I wound up in a hotel room for the weekend, which honestly , worked out just as well. Again, just a minor blip on the radar. It wasn't till after 2 am that I finally calmed down enough to go to sleep , after a long day of traveling.
Friday was packet pick- up day and pre- race swim day. When I rolled up to Edgewater , site of the race , and saw just how extravagant that this was, instantly, for the first time, the sheer enormity hit me. I was in awe. How was I, a rookie, good enough to be standing here. It was just beyond me. I had a conversation with my coach, and several folks on my team that are my friends, and they were like just soak this in and enjoy every moment of this. I only intended to stay for a short time, but then I remembered, I need to take this in , and also to get my racewheels put on for race day. Plus it was swim practice day in lake Erie. Erie had experienced sewer runoff earlier that week, so we weren't sure if we were looking at a Duathlon or a full on Tri. However, things cleared up during the week and on Thursday so we were looking good for the Tri. (more on this later on ) .
After packet pickup , I then dropped off my bike to get race wheels put on , and then got dressed, and walked down to the beach for swim practice to get a feel for the water and what was going on . I knew right away this was gonna be fun because there were foot tall swells, and massive current. Today, the water was NOT wetsuit legal, so based off that, I went without. Once in, I realized the current was massive and it was a struggle to swim. I only stayed out about 20 min or so, long enough to get some work in , and get out. I wound up meeting some people and we discussed best strategy for the swim. We all knew this was going to be tough.
I think If I remember correctly, I stopped at applebees and ate. Then I went on back to the room , and took care of cleaning up my bike in the HOTEL TUB !
Saturday- This was a day that I had REALLY looked forward too for a while now. Today was the day that I was getting to go to the rock n roll hall of fame. That's right. Music. I actually started off the morning by taking the chance to sleep in , because I knew that I wasn't going to get much rest, if any , tonight. So, I wanted to sleep in. Once I woke up, I then went down for a light breakfast , and then headed out to The museum after packing up "The eagle" to take down to the park tonight to check in .
Once I got there, I noticed I am right next to the Browns Stadium. So , I had promised some friends to make good on shooting the stadium a bird. Tennessee and the owner of the Browns, the Haslams, have 0 love loss. So, this was my payback for all the years of torture that Tennessee has been subjected to due to the haslams. BAHAHA!
The next stop was the massive Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. When I walked into this place, I can't begin to describe the sheer enormity of it all. It was almost indescribable. 6 floors of stuff to look at. Here are a couple of pictures of things I found interesting:
Again, the sheer size of this place is 6 floors just covered in stuff like this. I took as many pictures as possible . If interested in seeing them all , there are 3 albums of rock and roll hall of fame pictures on my facebook page. Feel free to look through them.
During that afternoon, I had a pre-race chat with coach. We talked about just going and having fun and racing hard and strong. I stated i wanted to go so hard that I hurt after multisport, which is so hard to do . We agreed this was how to proceed.
After the chat, I then spent another couple hours in the museum. Then , I got to really have a treat.
I am part of a dumb little club called "Idiots Running Club" (IRC) . One of the gals in this club, Amie, happens to be from just up the road in Menton, Ohio. Since I was within a hours drive at the RNR , I decided , heck, I am just gonna pop in and see her for a bit and see the new studio. Once I got there, I then got to meet Amie. We sat and talked , and I got to meet her son, tank, and then see her little quaint shop that she has. Shes super talented and super smart, and it was so much fun to get to finally meet her.
From there, it was off to transition to finally get to put "The Eagle" in its place and get ready for race day.
Once I was done with this, which took about an hour total, I then headed to Applebees for grilled chicken, veggies, and then also a small bite of desert. Then I noticed across the street, the biggest Home Depot I have ever seen.
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RACEDAY:
The first alarm was set for 230 am. I had basically a 90 min drive to Cleveland and I wanted to double check my gear that I packed and have time to eat and get ready. I had to get my race #'s affixed to each shoulder and each leg as well. Once I had this done and was dressed, it was breakfast time .
For breakfast was simply a chicken club sandwich from Walmart . It was the closest thing I could get to what works for me so that was what it was. To drink was a bottle of my lucky KONA flavored Nuun . A little caffeine to get me woke up and alert . Since it was still super early.
While I was eating, there was zilch on tv, so I decided on some music. What else but the one thing that gets me amped up ?! Turned on the Pride of the Southland playing rocky top. No kidding I probably listened to that AT LEAST 10 times.
By the time I got ready to head down, I was fired up and ready to roll. Today was it. It was time to let it all hang out and go as hard as I could and see what happened.
It took me till about 5:15 to get to Edgewater and then to get parked. My plan was to get transition setup and then lay back down in the car for a half hour. However, I was so jacked up , it was pointless.
It had been announced at 6:15 we were wetsuit legal. Whoohoo. With the water, I would need all the advantages I could get, so I was super excited for this. I then took a little more time to final organize everything, and drop my bag at bag check. It was business time now.
I stopped and used the restroom and then headed twoard the beach to get ready as I am in wave # 1.
However, I quickly noticed something not right. The water was rough, and although the Buoys were set, no one was in the water at 6:45 warming up in wave 1. I kinda shrugged it off, and got ready to step into my wetsuit to start getting ready. My brain knows , as soon as I step in there, it goes into anti-social mode and into war mode.
7:00 am- The supposed start of Wave 1- Just about the time we were thinking about getting loose, an announcement is made that due to water conditions, the swim had been cancelled and this would now be a duathlon. We were instructed to head back to transition and await further instructions at a 7:15 conference.
7:15- Were advised that due to water conditions, specifically very strong riptides, to the point that they couldn't get the boat in for rescue, that we would be running a duathlon. However, this would still be considered a Triathlon and National Titles would still be desided as well as Team USA spots.
After this announcement I knew I had to make a mindset change. Instantly, I decided that it was time to make this hurt and make it count. If it hurt, deal with it. This is approx 2 hours of pain and your done. You have suffered for 7+ before for marathons, so you can do this.
While I am getting ready for the first run, I am also topping off the fuel. I quickly eat my 3rd cliff bar I have in transition as a backup . Just to make sure I am ready.
At 7:20 I head over to the start area. The start was a seed yourself, lines of 4, time trial. So you don't know who your racing. Your racing the clock. Quickest overall wins. I made the decision to start 4th row. Was I starting with the big boys, you bet you . But , it was what I had to do .
Before I realized it, we were off. I came out hard and digging. I realized pretty quick, your off to quick, but what is done is done. I settled down into a more comftorable pace for myself and kept breathing deeply and it was going nicely. I felt SUPER STRONG and was just focused.
I soon was in my bike gear and out of transition on the road. Immediately I heard something that bothered me. I looked down and saw my shoes undone. I tried to refasten them as I rode, but kept trying to bobble the bike. I finally said F it, and just let it go. Wasn't worth stopping. The course was very punchy in bike terms , so it rolled quite a bit. I was glad I had ridden those hills with my friends in the last few weeks. as I got through about 1/2 of the ride, I was making sure to keep hydrated every few moments, and I knew I needed to eat on the bike to have a good supply of fuel for the sprint to the finish.
Once off the bike, my hands were totally numb. I tried to take my helment off, but couldn't get it. Fine. I got ready to go and grabbed my hat. and glasses. I had 2.1 k's of this race left and it was time to go. I finally ripped my helment off, snapped my race belt back on , and took off. One lap to finish.
I was hot by this point and hurting, but it didn't matter. I had to finish strong here. Period. For my team, for me, for coach, for everyone. I had to go. I walked up the first big hill, and grabbed some water and splashed on me. That got me re-juvinated and it was show time. I put the pedal down and ran .
Shortly, I came over the bridge,and down the carpet. It was here for the first time the whole race, I let my emotions show. I started grinning and waving as I was sprinting down the finish area with what I had in me. I heard my name and then came across the line. It was finished. I had done it. I had just completed my A race, and smoked it.
I then went over to the normatec booth . I wanted those boots to start recovery immediately. I then got some food but really wasn't that hungry. I never am till a few hours after my races.Call me crazy, but its what works. If I am, I munch on a cliff bar or some fruit. Its normally all I want.
I then waited to get my bike out of transition at the end of the event and to pack up . Once I had it all packed, I had to get my wheels changed back over to my stock wheels. Once that was done, it was snack time, and I knew just where i wanted to go. BREWNUTS! So I got loaded up and headed for doughnuts. I had decided I was going to awards to fully soke this in, so getting doughnuts would be a great way to reward myself.
Once I got my dougnuts , they were HUGE! And so tasty. Amie set me up with this, and goodness gracious. I had peanut butter crunch and strawberry cheescake and inhaled them.
Once awards were over, I was starving, and had a 2 hour drive to the room and needed food. It was time to eat. I stopped at buffalo wild wings to watch some of the nascar race and to fully let this start to sync in . What an experience. After lunch, I drove back to the room, and got out of my race outfitt, and got a shower. It was now 6 pm and I was starving and was tired. Having been up since 230 am. I got a quick shower , and then decided on Chilli's for dinner. I had a huge burger and a cookie for desert then headed to the room.
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I made the 4 hour drive back to Louisville, Kentucky and stopped for some lunch. Destination: Churchill downs , home of the KENTUCKY DERBY!
Once I arrived , this is what greeted me:
As I walked in, even before the front door, I was able to see the late Barbaro's grave. It brought back a flood of memories of watching this giant run. Although a brief life and career, he captured the heart of many many fans.
There are tons more pictures in a Kentucky Derby Album on my facebook page if you are interested.
Once I left here, I made 2 stops: one to get gas, and the other at Dairy queen for a burger and Ice cream. I then headed home to east TN to hang out with a friend of mine.
After hanging out with him,at 11:30 at night on Monday night I pulled back in. I had made it and was so glad to be home.
So, there you have it. That's it. 2018 Age group National Championships are history for this year. This will not be my last time competing at this event. Nope. I plan to be back , and even better in years to come. I had the conversation I alluded to with coach about what It would take to qualify for Team USA in the future. It's definitely got me excited, but I have some other goals next year to pursue , along with a few more races this season, and then we will talk about it again in earnest at the end of next season.
Before I conclude, even though I have done it once already publicly, I want to do it again here. There were a group of people who came together to really make this all possible, through financial support, self care support, coaching, etc. In no uncertain order, here are the names of these people:
Beqi Majors
LeAnne Taylor
Neil Richard
Jeff Kase
Miriam Cutelis
Terry Yates
Cindy Rausin & Facebookless Everett
David Murphy for being Murphy and helping out any way possible
Becky Baumer for the housing this weekend while i am away.
LeAnne Taylor
Neil Richard
Jeff Kase
Miriam Cutelis
Terry Yates
Cindy Rausin & Facebookless Everett
David Murphy for being Murphy and helping out any way possible
Becky Baumer for the housing this weekend while i am away.
The IDIOTS RUNNING CLUB (IRC)
COACH KRISTIE CRANFORD
The Rocky Top Multisports Club
Dr. Chris Talley at Healthsource Chiropratic , Knoxville Tennessee.
KRENDURANCE - My fantastic team, and support group.
Without this list and the thousands of others who supported me with good thoughts, NONE of this would have been possible nor occurred.
So, coming back off nationals, Ill continue to race . I have races booked through the end of the year. More immidate though will be the Redskin Romp Sprint Tri at home, The north Knox sprint tri, and then to wrap up tri season, My first OLYMPIC distance Tri, the Tennessee Tough man. So, thats kind of where were headed. My year concludes with 4 5k's after that.
So, that's it. Nationals in the book. Time to work twoards the Olympic distance race now. Another first this year.
So , until we chat again, like I always say:
From One "Idiot" to another:
-John
-IRC#2148
