Wildflower Long Course – Race Day 2003

Race day – May 3, 2003!

It rained all night. Not just drizzle, but thunderous, pouring, awful drenching rain. It was so loud I couldn’t sleep, barely even doze. I tried to go at least :30 without looking at my watch, and the hours kept creeping by. I finally fell asleep around 2 a.m., and soon after, our carefully hung tarp above our tent filled with water, causing the tarp to buckle under its weight. Water began pouring into the door of our tent, onto me and my bag of clothes. I threw the bag to the other side of the tent, and shook Minnie awake. We moved everything, and I peeked outside to see if I could fix anything. No way without getting drenched myself. Soon after, I heard another shriek, as water entered Sherri and Sue’s tent, and they encountered the same fate as me. After we moved the bags, I slept a little bit, for a whopping total of three hours for the night before the race.

Finally at 6 a.m. we started to get up. I unzipped the tent and informed everyone that I had raised my money and didn’t really need the glory of the race!!! (To which all my friends responded, “Nice try, Mo, now get out of the tent!”)

So I still had to get up. It was still raining. I put on my race clothes and the clothes I’d been sleeping in (which were still warm), and a ski parka over it all and got out of the tent. I huddled with some others while we made coffee. Made my oatmeal/sunflower seeds/raisins concoction and ate the first bite. I promptly wanted to throw it right back up. It was so revolting but I knew I needed to eat, so I carried it around with me for the next hour and a half

At about 6:45 a.m., we got all our race stuff together, grabbed our bikes, and began the long walk to Lynch Hill. I’d been hoping someone might steal my bike overnight, but it wasn’t to be. I’m not sure how we had all the stuff secured, but Minnie walked with me and helped carry my wetsuit and some other assorted things (I was not letting go of that damn oatmeal!). I had every piece of outerwear I own with me, since I had no idea what the weather would be like by the time I actually got out onto the bike. At the last minute, I had to leave my awesome Cookie Monster balloon at camp; as we were on the way out Coach Chris saw it and said they’d make me set it free if I brought it down to transition, as it could catch on some of the bikes and knock everything else over. So no Cookie for me!

We got down to the bottom of the hill, and entered into the “athletes only” transition. Heather, Wendy, Suna and I all had our transition area right next to each other, so it was reassuring to know that we’d hopefully see one another at some point. At the very least, we got to get ready together! We all put on our wetsuits right away to keep warm. I didn’t want to, because actually putting on the wetsuit meant I was actually going to do this race, and as time kept getting closer and closer, I kept thinking more and more that I wanted no part of this! I was outnumbered, so I put it on. We set up our transitions as best we could (garbage bags covering it all to keep out the water.) The four of us met up with Ellery and some others, and we went over to the ramp to watch the guys get ready. I was still carrying my (now cold and disgusting) oatmeal!

The race organizers announced that because of the amount and severity of the rain, they would be changing the run course so that it was entirely on paved roads (usually, the course is 60% trail and 40% road.) This meant the course would be altered from what we ran on training weekend, but no one was at an advantage since it would be different for everyone. Additionally, there’s a steel bridge at mile 38 of the bike, and they told us we would likely have to dismount and walk our bikes across (I was probably the only one in the entire field who was actually psyched for this, because it meant I could eat!)

Just after the male pros went off, the sun peeked through the clouds, so we ran back to our bikes and I changed out my yellow lenses for sunglasses. Optimism was the best I could do. Somehow I choked down most of that oatmeal! We ran back to the ramp to see the guys take off, and to see the pros start to exit the water. By this time, it was starting to rain again, and the feeling of nervousness in my stomach was more than anything I have every felt – even worse than my first race in Hawaii! I would have paid so much money for someone to tell me I could get out of this. I felt a little better after talking to Suna and realizing I wasn’t alone – we were all so nervous for what the day would hold. I knew I had the training to do it, but I just didn’t know if my mind was there! I kept thinking of Oleg, who would have given anything for the chance to be out there, and of Craig, who was going to kick some butt today, proudly wearing his “Cancer Free” shirt as he ran, of Louie, and because I still talk to him when I am scared, of Matthew (thinking of course how nuts he would think I am to see me doing this!!)

We watched all of the male pros come out of the water, Tim DeBoom, Peter Reid, Steve Larsen, all of these legends-in-the-making; they were closely followed by the women legends, Nicole DeBoom and some others.

We moved onto the ramp, and Suna, Wendy and I positioned ourselves so we’d have the most room to swim and the least chance of getting kicked in the head. Heather moved way to the front so she could get ahead on the swim! I still wanted to get out, and I contemplated what would happen if I just started sprinting up the ramp and away from it all. But I knew Coaches Dianne and Chris were not too far back, so they’d probably grab me and put me back on the ramp (I also didn’t think I could take the humiliation of people knowing I tried to run away!) I successfully peed in my wetsuit for the first and only time the entire season (it really does make you warm!). There were five minutes in between waves, so once the old guys (60 plus) took off, we moved down and could splash around in the water. It was pretty warm, and I didn’t feel that sense of panic I usually do from adjusting to the cold. Among many (many) other things, I was worried about my goggles leaking, but I decided just to worry about swim-related things for the moment. It was raining again.

The gun went off, and we all moved forward and started swimming. It felt pretty easy and I settled into somewhat of a rhythm pretty quickly. I knew I was going more slowly than I wanted, but I didn’t care. I didn’t care, until all of a sudden I saw a white cap (read: the wave that started 5 minutes behind me!!) start to swim on top of me. I thought she must just be a super fast swimmer…..until a million of them swam over, under, and all around me at once. I think I saw Kitty swim by! I could still see some blue caps, one of whom I’m pretty sure was Suna, so I just tried to make sure I stuck somewhat close to them. I don’t think I was sighting all that well (for one, there were swells in the lake, so it was sort of hard to see) and I was swimming off course and far away from the buoys. I finally caught sight of what I thought was the turn, and started to speed up – until I realized there was another buoy another 200 yards past it (it was probably 50 yards, but it felt like 200!) I made the turn, and I was surprised how quickly I could see the shore and the end again. It made me so happy to think I might actually make it out of the swim in one piece! I didn’t wear a watch, because I didn’t want it to catch on the wetsuit, so I really had no idea how slow I was. I staggered into the ramp, making sure I got some water under the wetsuit so I could slip it off as I ran, and I began to run up the ramp. Some guy took my picture (all I could think of was Coach Chris saying “make sure you wipe your nose on the way out of the swim so you don’t have funny things coming out of your nose in the pictures!”) so I made sure to wipe my nose. I struggled out of the wetsuit down to my waist. I heard my name being yelled a bunch of times, but I couldn’t focus on anything except getting my stupid arms out of the suit.

I got back to my transition area, and on the way I saw Amanda, Wendy and Suna. I wasn’t last!!!!!! This I was not expecting. I thought everyone would have been gone by now, so I was surprised and heartened to see some of my friends. We’d all made it out in one piece! I got out of the wetsuit, put on my shirt, helmet, watch, gloves, and glasses, and pulled my bike from the rack. It was drizzling, but figuring out which combination of arm or knee warmers, windbreaker, long sleeves, or whatever was just too much effort, so I just wore my TNT shirt and my shorts. Even though they’d been covered up, my shoes and socks were soaked.

I ran with my bike to the Bike Out sign, and got on…try as I might, I couldn’t get my foot to clip in. (the nice people at Brightroom made sure they took four pictures of this. One would have been bad enough, but FOUR? Come on, people)

I finally took off, only to find I couldn’t get the OTHER foot into the pedal. I knew I had to do it before I hit Beach Hill, too, so I slowed and tried to snag it in. Finally. Got to Beach and started to climb; I tried to visualize training weekend and how good this hill felt. Got to the top, went past camp (maybe there were people there, I have no idea!) and headed out past the pay station. On the next little hill, I was trying to eat and my chain fell off. No….no no no. I panicked a little bit, pulled over without falling off, and tried to fix it. A few people asked me if I needed help, but I said no. I had not even gone THREE MILES yet, so this did not bode well. I put it back on (I thought) and rode about 100 yards more before I pulled over again. Now I was pissed, so I slammed it back on, ripped my number off of my bike (it kept hitting my legs, and everyone else was losing them, so I thought I might as well, even though if I’d been caught I would have gotten a penalty!) Everyone I’d passed on either of the first two hills had now passed me back. As far ahead as I could see, the sky was BLACK, it was windy, and it was starting to rain again. I wanted to cry.

I didn’t cry, I got back on the bike, and tried to make up some time that I’d lost, and started talking to my Nana and to Matthew and to all of the people I knew were looking down on me and watching. We turned out of the park and onto some road I forget the name of. I remembered the ride from training weekend, and it actually seemed a lot less hilly this time. I saw a ton of people getting flat tires and fixing them; I just kept praying I wouldn’t have the same thing happen to me. I kept thinking I had a flat, and rather than pull over to check, I finally rode ahead of some guy from the LA tri club and asked him. It was raining so hard, but he didn’t think so. I kept on riding. At some point I looked up and saw a Honda on the other side of the road, and it was too late before I realized it was Mindy, Heather, and someone else inside the car! They honked and cheered but didn’t stop. I was so excited to see some people I knew, and for them to know that I was out there.

By the time I turned onto Jolon Road, it had sort of stopped raining, and I had hope that it would be gone for the day. But when I didn’t see Marisa and Michelle (where I thought they would be) immediately, my heart sank. I didn’t pull over, and even though I was really thirsty, I didn’t stop to drink. I kept riding, and about 200 yards later I heard U2 blaring out of the car. M and M!! They were out there in full glory, cheering for every cyclist out there on the course. They had a huge sign (that I didn’t really see til after the race) that said “Mo and Hezza are my American Idols!” They had a second sign with big pictures of Justin Timberlake all over it. Completely random, neither of us even likes JT, but when you find a big poster like that it is just begging to be put to good use! And I am so grateful for them being out there in the rain, making my day and that of the rest of the riders so much better. (They later said people were yelling “we know Mo and Heather!!” as they rode by. I am sure most of them probably didn’t!) I shoved some food down; don’t remember much else, except I think I was pretty grumpy, and I yelled an apology as I rode away. They said they’d see me at Mile 35.

I made pretty good time as I road along Jolon – it was super windy, but the rain was still stopped, and I wanted to get as far as I could before it started up again. I was so psyched with how I felt – so much better than I had on training weekend! I saw M and M again at the turn off of the main road, I stopped and took a picture with each of them (cause come on, I was not really going to win this thing, right?) and then headed off again. I was still trying to cruise, trying to get up and over Nasty Grade before the grain started again.

Instead, I snaked my way around the road and got to the bridge, where there were several volunteers flagging us down and telling us to dismount. I did, and started eating and drinking while I was running/sliding/shimmying across the bridge. I started talking with a few guys I’d been riding with, til all of a sudden three of them stopped to pee on the side of the road (“well, we’re already off the bike, so we might as well, right?”) I got back on my bike and started riding again.

I turned onto the slight grade that becomes Nasty, and the sky was black – so dark, black and rainy that I literally could only see about 5 feet in front of me (and of course, since I have the Death Grip on my handlebars, I was not about to take off my glasses!) But I love hills, I love this awful hill, and I was psyched to start passing people as we began to climb. As I kept climbing, I thought I heard some strains of music, but didn’t think there was any way that could be happening, since we were in the middle of nowhere, and it was pouring rain. But no. I listened again, and it was definitely what I thought I’d heard initially, and I started laughing. It was the theme from Rocky. So here I was, at mile 42 of the bike of my first Half Ironman, when three months ago I could barely ride a bike, and I am cruising up this hill passing people feeling like a badass in the pouring rain, and doing it all to the theme of Rocky. It was my favorite moment of the race. I got near the top of the hill to see Chris Holland and Mike Wollman screaming in the rain and blasting the music from their car (I should have known it came from someone on my team!) and I was so excited to see them. Coach Tom was there as well, and I yelled and waved to him as I passed.

I don’t remember much else of the bike ride – I hate the long downhill that comes right after Nasty Grade, and I especially didn’t like it in the rain, but I held on and did it anyway. I couldn’t remember if the bike was 55 or 56 miles, so I spent a while figuring that out (umm, hi genius, it’s ½ of an Ironman, remember?) I finally turned into the park, and the sun was starting to come out – the line of cars waiting to enter the park was about 40 long, and I had to navigate around them to get in. As soon as I went under the gate, I saw Sejal and her husband, and they screamed so loud I thought they would lift me right off of the bike. I felt like a rockstar!! I knew I only had about three miles to go, and I was finally getting excited. I rode past the entrance to camp, and right when I turned to Lynch Hill, I saw every person on the Olympic team…they’d been camped out there all day, cheering and screaming and taking pictures of everyone. I think I was the last one in off the bike, but I didn’t care – because I knew from that point on, I could even run down the hill in my bike shoes if I had to. I was going to finish this race!!!!

I flew down the hill faster than I think I want to know, cruised right into the transition area. I have never been so happy in my whole entire life to get off of that bike. As I ran towards my stuff, I realized I had absolutely no idea what my number was anymore, so I asked someone milling around (why weren’t they hurrying?) and they told me – still, I ran past my stuff twice – once going each way – before I finally slowed down enough to see it. I ripped off my helmet and gloves, shoved my feet into my shoes, and took off with my Clif Shots and my race belt.

My legs were sooo tired, but I still felt like I was flying – for about 200 yards. Then I felt like I was crawling, but I kept going, wondering how long this was going to take me. All of a sudden up ahead I saw Suna – and my heart leapt because it meant I still wasn’t last, and I wasn’t hours behind everybody else! I started calling her name, but she had on headphones and didn’t hear me til I got up beside her and tapped her on the shoulder to say hi. She was having painful shin pain and trying to pull through it. We ran beside each other for a few minutes, and then we headed up the awful Beach Hill, and I finally decided I was walking.

Of course as soon as I started walking, I saw Coach April and I am sure she was shaking her head in dismay. I got to the top more quickly than I thought, started running again, and headed onto the out-and-back part. I started seeing people I knew – George, Heather, Megan – headed back on their first loop, and it was fun to see that we were all still “alive”. I spotted Amy and Amy up ahead, and sighted on them til I caught up with them, and again walked a little. I headed down into “the pit” and saw a bunch of people coming out, which kept me going. By this time the sun was out, and it was getting pretty hot. I got out of the pit, and headed on back towards Lynch Hill – everyone from the team who was doing the Oly race was out cheering for us, and raised a huge cry when I went by – I felt like I was flying again! I was so happy to see everyone.

I sped down the hill, already promising myself I could walk again when I got back to Beach Hill the next time. I passed the transition area (for the last time!!! Next time I see it I’ll be finishing!), and headed back into the woods, where some Cal Poly students held out some pretzels (best I’ve ever tasted). Actually I sucked all of the salt off of them, and then wondered if throwing the now-unsalted pretzels onto the course counted as equipment abandonment.

I got back to the hill and immediately started walking again, just as I’d promised myself– I wasn’t even going to waste my efforts trying this time! Got out onto the road and started running with someone from this year’s Ironteam – she told me it would be the greatest thing I would ever do, and I absolutely had to sign up for it. Ok! I kept catching people as I headed back towards Lynch Hill, but I desperately wanted to walk, and I kept postponing it as lung as I could. I passed Coach Tom and Coach April (who this time said “you’re on your second loop already? Way to go!”) Finally, way far up ahead I thought I spotted someone who looked like Tyler, and I used him as my focus point.

I kept focusing on the guy in the purple, and finally realized it really was Tyler. I kept running, not walking, focusing on trying to get to him rather than on the fatigue in my legs. I got closer, and closer, and right before we got back to the TNT group, I got him. I tapped him on the shoulder from behind; I don’t think he was too happy to see me, but I have never been so happy to see him! We ran a ways together, including past the TNT group. It was so much fun, and I knew all I had was the downhill back to the finish and I was DONE!!!

Tyler let me go ahead, and I cruised down the hill- I passed Mary Colvig, who had some champagne that looked like it would be so fun to drink, but her running buddy who was carrying it wasn’t quite ready to open it. As I turned the last corner into the transition area, I saw a TNT Honoree (not one I knew) up ahead, and he gave me a great big “GO Team” and I have him a huge thanks and an even huger smile. I was flying that last mile – I wish I knew my splits, but I know it was FAST!! And as I came to the finishing chute, I saw David and Tricia Lacy and awesome Honoree Kevin Hudson on the end of the grandstands. They called out and screamed my name, and I flashed a huge smile. I kept the smile – so big the announcer even called out “and look at that smile!!” when he announced my name as I crossed. 7:04:41. It was a long day. So many times this season, I didn’t think I could do it. But I did.

And quite frankly, if I can do that race, in that rain, I can damn well do an Ironman.

I think.