All I had started a race report last night(although it was partially fueled by wine :) ) and fully intended to complete it today and find this in my 100+ emails that were waiting for me as I get back to the office. A little background prior to reading-Carmen, the boys and I spent a week in June up in Okoboji(a lake here in Iowa, for you out of towners) and while up there decided to do a bike ride sponsored by the community. While on the ride I meet another tri-guy that I spent the day with. We shared our names but never anything beyond that(that I remember)...
Here is what I got and my reply...I am using it as my race report as it is my thoughts in their rawest...in the unedited version you will probably "hear, see, and feel my day"-I hope this makes sense. I am including my friends email as it will help explain why I find tri precious...
In my inbox
Jeff-
This may come as a bit of a surprise, as you may not remember me. I rode the Lake Okoboji Classic century with you - I was the other 'mental midget' triathlete on the QRoo Tequilo that couldn't find my way around the course (like yourself). I was a bit disappointed that day as my odometer registered barely under 90 miles when we finished, but I digress - it was good to ride that day and it was great having you ride a majority of the way with me to break up the monotony of it all. I figured out from that day around Okoboji that triathletes are really unconditionally connected to one another during a ride or run, and there's always plenty of stories, etc. to share along the way. Regardless if the person next to you is your best friend or just some tom, dick or Harry that rode/ran up beside you, I think it's a untold part of what makes it unique.
That said, I remembered your name and had planned on tracking you as I spent some of the day watching the IM Wis video feed at the finish line. I didn't stick around long enough to see everybody finish, of course, but I checked the tracker tonight to see how you did. Looks like the mission was not accomplished in the way you would have like it (I saw DNF) and learned that it was somewhere after mile 13.1 on the run. Maybe it's a mistake and you finished with flying colors; maybe I checked the wrong athlete...
Wanted to let you know (if that's the case) that stinks, and I'm sorry to hear about it. Of course I have no idea what happened but I've had a DNF in my lifetime to know that it sucks (for me, anyway) - hope it's not to hard of a blow to you in afterthought.
What really grabbed my attention is the blog you kept up during the whole ordeal. That was cool to read through as time passed by. I trained with a would-have-been IM Wisconsin participant this summer until he broke his leg about a month ago. That's somewhat irrelevant because he screwed his knee up at Lifetime Tri - we started 2 apart from each other but I found myself waiting for him for about an hour after the race was over, totally oblivious to the fact that he was walking the course less than 1/2 way through.
Anyway, just wanted to drop you a line and let you know I admire your determination for starting to train, having second thoughts and then pulling it together to go the distance. I barely know you (for all of 4 hours on a hot Saturday afternoon), but still felt compelled to send you an email to say, in some odd, unexplainable way, I'd been rooting for you since that ride around Okoboji. Sounds odd, I know, but you were in a predicament I wanted to be in this year- I just didn't get registered soon enough for it. Overall, I'm glad you around, showed up and presumably gave the course hell on Sunday.
People really underestimate the mental anguish triathletes go through in a season (we bring it on ourselves). Yes, 140.6 is crazy, but you have to be a little crazy to get yourself through it all. I
Take care-
Jamie
My reply and race report...
Jamie
This is an amazing email as I really never thought we would ever "talk" again, but I too felt the connection you spoke of.
Sunday was an interesting day. Specifically my day was one that happens but is impossible to plan for. I will provide you a brief recap:
Get down to bike transition and find that my aero bottle is broken-no big deal. Go to "inside out" and get a new one. This was cause of a few moments of stress but well worth the new aero bottle. However it certainly cost me a few extra minutes of anxiety.
Swim-seed myself towards the front as I am a 1:02-1:09 swimmer. Swim starts normal chaos, then I get kicked in the head HARD. Think that my day is over there. But then realize that I can't have a concussion if I think that I have one...concluding my head just really freakin' hurts. Out of the water in 1:13'ish much slower than planned for but hey I got kicked in the head. Good transition and onto bike.
Feel great on bike. Really hold back on bike trying not to burn too many matches for the second loop. Really focus on hydration and nutrition. I feel total rock star, and have friends at Sauk Pass and Mt Horeb that really give me a ton of motivation. Headache gone. Start second loop still feeling great. Special needs- eat a bite of a melted snickers and a sip of a hot coca-cola. Off I go.
Get to ~ mile marker 70(this is simply a guess) I am tucked up in aero and a guy passes me and immediately gets in front of me. As he gets in front of me he flats, and slams on his brakes. I grab mine, unfortunately hit him, bounce off of him hit a guard rail, then bounce back into the road and lay it down for some nice road rash, and bruising as my top tube blasted my knee and really messed my day up. I re-composed to my best ability and focus in on getting to see my boys at sauk pass. I can't lie to you I was in bad shape as my knee immediately swelled, and I had a remarkable bruise on the inner aspect of my knee that really had me nervous as it continued to grow throughout the bike. I get to sauk pass and get through it, get to Mt Horeb and get through it until the crest of the climb and flat. Ultimately after 25 minutes of trying to change the tire I(with some outside help, yes I cheated and am not proud of it but I had earned a little variance due to my donation of skin to the course) finally get it on, inflated, and back on my bike. Between the two "incidents" I had 40-45 minutes of non-riding. Pedal back into T2 and push into medical tent looking for an orthopod. Well there wasn't an orthopod "in the house" so they send over two chiropractors, who tell me that without doubt I have torn my MCL, and they urge me NOT to run. I politely tell them they were not going to determine my success or failure as I hadn't been peeing on myself for the last 4.5 hours to have a bike crash preclude me from at least trying the run, and left for the course.
On the run course my first three miles were~8:15's which I was thrilled with because the pain in my knee was not good and getting worse. End of first loop I was really suffering physically, mentally, emotionally(this is a major life commitment and to see the wheels falling off when you have planned and prepped for a year is painful, probably more so than the physical pain) but decide that I have over 4.5 hours to finish and could walk the entire second loop if I had to. I get out of my second tour of Camp Randall Football stadium, and make it towards mile marker 17 and my foot was numb, the pain was intense, and decide that with all of the info I had the best decision was to pull it(My HRM stop watch stopped at 13:42 but I stood for 5-10 minutes) This was the hardest decision of my life as I knew that with all my friends on the course supporting, if I could see them I may be able to finish, but started asking myself: was it the best thing for my longevity as a triathlete, as a husband, dad, business owner, was I doing more damage, did I win without the medal, did I live as IronMan was intended, would the ghosts of IM understand my DNF(seriously not sure what I was thinking at this point)-ultimately I decided that I fought longer than many if not most people would have and then...asked for an ambulance ride to the medical tent. It was emotional, and as I think about it now get emotional again, but I am proud of my effort and realize I can't win everything. The MD that evaluated me said I present more like an automobile accident patient than a triathlete. He postulated that from the point of the accident 4 hours(maybe) up until hour 13 I had been going on adrenaline and my body had managed things as long as it could and finally said "you are done", however; no MCL tear.
What is really amazing about this IM was that I suffered more, hurt more, doubted more...but have found more joy(and pain) in this IM. I am not certain why the dichotomy but suspect it is found in the elation of pushing and becoming more IM in my heart, but find the pain in unrealized goals and dreams. Getting to the starting line of an IM is amazing; I now place more value on IronMan, and also understand what a DNF feels like-now. My wife thinks that I will cherish the journey more-she’s probably right. Wisconsin and I aren't done, we will have another day which will be mine. I am going to sit back, reflect, thank God for all of my blessings, and ride my mountain bike when my knee(and my wife) allow me.
Thank you for the note, it came at a time that was needed. Jamie, let's stay connected who knows where we may meet again.
EDIT/ADD
The other thing that was an amazing lesson was showering(no lesson there) drinking a beer and hobbling down to the course and cheering people on to finish. They earned their medals, and while I didn't I earned something a bit different but every bit as rewarding...
P.S. I hope you are able to read through the typo’s as I have decided not to edit this as it is my rawest, and true sense of my day.
Here is what I got and my reply...I am using it as my race report as it is my thoughts in their rawest...in the unedited version you will probably "hear, see, and feel my day"-I hope this makes sense. I am including my friends email as it will help explain why I find tri precious...
In my inbox
Jeff-
This may come as a bit of a surprise, as you may not remember me. I rode the Lake Okoboji Classic century with you - I was the other 'mental midget' triathlete on the QRoo Tequilo that couldn't find my way around the course (like yourself). I was a bit disappointed that day as my odometer registered barely under 90 miles when we finished, but I digress - it was good to ride that day and it was great having you ride a majority of the way with me to break up the monotony of it all. I figured out from that day around Okoboji that triathletes are really unconditionally connected to one another during a ride or run, and there's always plenty of stories, etc. to share along the way. Regardless if the person next to you is your best friend or just some tom, dick or Harry that rode/ran up beside you, I think it's a untold part of what makes it unique.
That said, I remembered your name and had planned on tracking you as I spent some of the day watching the IM Wis video feed at the finish line. I didn't stick around long enough to see everybody finish, of course, but I checked the tracker tonight to see how you did. Looks like the mission was not accomplished in the way you would have like it (I saw DNF) and learned that it was somewhere after mile 13.1 on the run. Maybe it's a mistake and you finished with flying colors; maybe I checked the wrong athlete...
Wanted to let you know (if that's the case) that stinks, and I'm sorry to hear about it. Of course I have no idea what happened but I've had a DNF in my lifetime to know that it sucks (for me, anyway) - hope it's not to hard of a blow to you in afterthought.
What really grabbed my attention is the blog you kept up during the whole ordeal. That was cool to read through as time passed by. I trained with a would-have-been IM Wisconsin participant this summer until he broke his leg about a month ago. That's somewhat irrelevant because he screwed his knee up at Lifetime Tri - we started 2 apart from each other but I found myself waiting for him for about an hour after the race was over, totally oblivious to the fact that he was walking the course less than 1/2 way through.
Anyway, just wanted to drop you a line and let you know I admire your determination for starting to train, having second thoughts and then pulling it together to go the distance. I barely know you (for all of 4 hours on a hot Saturday afternoon), but still felt compelled to send you an email to say, in some odd, unexplainable way, I'd been rooting for you since that ride around Okoboji. Sounds odd, I know, but you were in a predicament I wanted to be in this year- I just didn't get registered soon enough for it. Overall, I'm glad you around, showed up and presumably gave the course hell on Sunday.
People really underestimate the mental anguish triathletes go through in a season (we bring it on ourselves). Yes, 140.6 is crazy, but you have to be a little crazy to get yourself through it all. I
Take care-
Jamie
My reply and race report...
Jamie
This is an amazing email as I really never thought we would ever "talk" again, but I too felt the connection you spoke of.
Sunday was an interesting day. Specifically my day was one that happens but is impossible to plan for. I will provide you a brief recap:
Get down to bike transition and find that my aero bottle is broken-no big deal. Go to "inside out" and get a new one. This was cause of a few moments of stress but well worth the new aero bottle. However it certainly cost me a few extra minutes of anxiety.
Swim-seed myself towards the front as I am a 1:02-1:09 swimmer. Swim starts normal chaos, then I get kicked in the head HARD. Think that my day is over there. But then realize that I can't have a concussion if I think that I have one...concluding my head just really freakin' hurts. Out of the water in 1:13'ish much slower than planned for but hey I got kicked in the head. Good transition and onto bike.
Feel great on bike. Really hold back on bike trying not to burn too many matches for the second loop. Really focus on hydration and nutrition. I feel total rock star, and have friends at Sauk Pass and Mt Horeb that really give me a ton of motivation. Headache gone. Start second loop still feeling great. Special needs- eat a bite of a melted snickers and a sip of a hot coca-cola. Off I go.
Get to ~ mile marker 70(this is simply a guess) I am tucked up in aero and a guy passes me and immediately gets in front of me. As he gets in front of me he flats, and slams on his brakes. I grab mine, unfortunately hit him, bounce off of him hit a guard rail, then bounce back into the road and lay it down for some nice road rash, and bruising as my top tube blasted my knee and really messed my day up. I re-composed to my best ability and focus in on getting to see my boys at sauk pass. I can't lie to you I was in bad shape as my knee immediately swelled, and I had a remarkable bruise on the inner aspect of my knee that really had me nervous as it continued to grow throughout the bike. I get to sauk pass and get through it, get to Mt Horeb and get through it until the crest of the climb and flat. Ultimately after 25 minutes of trying to change the tire I(with some outside help, yes I cheated and am not proud of it but I had earned a little variance due to my donation of skin to the course) finally get it on, inflated, and back on my bike. Between the two "incidents" I had 40-45 minutes of non-riding. Pedal back into T2 and push into medical tent looking for an orthopod. Well there wasn't an orthopod "in the house" so they send over two chiropractors, who tell me that without doubt I have torn my MCL, and they urge me NOT to run. I politely tell them they were not going to determine my success or failure as I hadn't been peeing on myself for the last 4.5 hours to have a bike crash preclude me from at least trying the run, and left for the course.
On the run course my first three miles were~8:15's which I was thrilled with because the pain in my knee was not good and getting worse. End of first loop I was really suffering physically, mentally, emotionally(this is a major life commitment and to see the wheels falling off when you have planned and prepped for a year is painful, probably more so than the physical pain) but decide that I have over 4.5 hours to finish and could walk the entire second loop if I had to. I get out of my second tour of Camp Randall Football stadium, and make it towards mile marker 17 and my foot was numb, the pain was intense, and decide that with all of the info I had the best decision was to pull it(My HRM stop watch stopped at 13:42 but I stood for 5-10 minutes) This was the hardest decision of my life as I knew that with all my friends on the course supporting, if I could see them I may be able to finish, but started asking myself: was it the best thing for my longevity as a triathlete, as a husband, dad, business owner, was I doing more damage, did I win without the medal, did I live as IronMan was intended, would the ghosts of IM understand my DNF(seriously not sure what I was thinking at this point)-ultimately I decided that I fought longer than many if not most people would have and then...asked for an ambulance ride to the medical tent. It was emotional, and as I think about it now get emotional again, but I am proud of my effort and realize I can't win everything. The MD that evaluated me said I present more like an automobile accident patient than a triathlete. He postulated that from the point of the accident 4 hours(maybe) up until hour 13 I had been going on adrenaline and my body had managed things as long as it could and finally said "you are done", however; no MCL tear.
What is really amazing about this IM was that I suffered more, hurt more, doubted more...but have found more joy(and pain) in this IM. I am not certain why the dichotomy but suspect it is found in the elation of pushing and becoming more IM in my heart, but find the pain in unrealized goals and dreams. Getting to the starting line of an IM is amazing; I now place more value on IronMan, and also understand what a DNF feels like-now. My wife thinks that I will cherish the journey more-she’s probably right. Wisconsin and I aren't done, we will have another day which will be mine. I am going to sit back, reflect, thank God for all of my blessings, and ride my mountain bike when my knee(and my wife) allow me.
Thank you for the note, it came at a time that was needed. Jamie, let's stay connected who knows where we may meet again.
EDIT/ADD
The other thing that was an amazing lesson was showering(no lesson there) drinking a beer and hobbling down to the course and cheering people on to finish. They earned their medals, and while I didn't I earned something a bit different but every bit as rewarding...
P.S. I hope you are able to read through the typo’s as I have decided not to edit this as it is my rawest, and true sense of my day.
