walking tall....

Whew....Where do I start?

Ok so my prediction of sleeping on Sat night was accurate. I didn't. Well, 2 hours but nothing deep. I woke up or needless to say, opened my eyes at 4:13. Breakfast; 1 L of Endurox, 0.5L water, 2 Bananas, 3 GU's, 3 cups of Wheeties, 2 TBLS Honey, and 2 cups Skim milk, I was ready to leave.

We, {Mike and I} arrived around 5:15. We put our shit on our bikes and continues the AM checking process. 6:30 came quick, already I was standing over water ready to get into the 64 degree water. BOOM!!! Next thing I know I'm getting kicked in the face and realize I have been face deep for who knows how long. The start was a blur as I went into race mode. Following the initial plan of 350m sprint to get ahead and chill. That plan was dust.... Everyone around me seemed to have a similar plan. I figured rather then attempt to drown I better just keep it constant and use my friend Jeff''s advice. I paced myself. All of sudden I was around the 1/2 way turn and heading back. The swim course has a slight right turn/bend to it. So as we turned it became very difficult to stay to the right because everyone was fighting for position. It was not the most enjoyable swim ever, but I felt like it was an appropriate warm up. Transition went well and I was suddenly on the bike. My goal after much thought {Jeff} I decided to take some needed advice to abort my original plan of keeping a specific average and go with overall effort/ HR. I kept remembering reading Jeff's email stating, "Remember, DON'T go out so G#*DAMN fast! Your going to get passed by old ladies, but it will come back to help". Ok, I got both! My average of 18.5 going out of town, ended up being against the wind (which sucked) but with a HR of 140-144BPM. Until I hit a hill and dropped my speed to 13.3 MPH I was feeling mentally good. Then I turned around. 33.6 MPH, with a HR of 136 BPM I was flying. Turned out the wind was helping in this situation. And being large I was passing people like I was on tracks! (A-Train had some wheels!) I again knew then what to expect, I immediately turned again to head out of town, changed gears and began to spin. HR was cooperative. Averages stayed around the same. Looking towards the third loop I noticed my avg increasing. Hr was the same. Until the turn around. No 30 MPH splits, instead a head wind and a 25 MPH avg. Okie Dok, where's the HR I asked myself? {144 BPM}. Like a rookie card player in Vegas I waved my hand over the cards 'stay'!!!! I just wanted to come in below 6:00 and on pace to do that. Coming off the bike I was feeling, a pain in the neck from being in the aero position for so long, and my left foot had a rather large blood blister on the big toe. I tried to focus on transition keeping my focus on not sitting long. It went very smooth. After a quick lather of sun screen [by 2 ASU Girls] I was stunned to see I was starting the run at 7:17! So by a quick calculation I realized if I ran a 4:40 marathon I would be under 12 hours! A 10:30 would give me a 4:35 finish; and I was training at a 10:00 per mile pace! I was stunned! THis is do-able....

Ok, there was just one small detail. During the last 10 or so miles of the bike I began to feel rather fatigued. I had some sugar and felt a slight improvement but was very gassy. Off I went, remembering again not to; "go out so G#*DAMN fast". I saw a good constant HR of 145-148 BPM. Averaging a 10:10 pace. Holding my own I didn't feel so poopy until another couple of miles. 'DUM DUM DUMMMMMMM' Mile 7. Moderate shut down..... System not working as ordered. I re-checked the list. Sugar? check... Water? check... Gatorade? check... I knew and Coke might help but was afraid of a potential bonk if I was wrong. I survived the next couple of miles trying to ingest Power Gel with caffeine. And was able to jog a 11:00 pace. Really could figure out what was causing this reaction? My legs felt good and I was not tired, just felt really nauseous. Knowing I would be screwed if I puked I restrained my pace with every burp. Until about mile 17-19? Chicken broth!! Life's many secrets. A cup of that followed with a Coke, boom. Suddenly a 10:35 was attainable. I tried to contemplate how on earth I would be able to muster a sub 10:00 min per mile pace on the back side of a run course that seemed to have all of the hills? It was becoming apparent to me that a sub 12hour time was not going to happen. I would have to run a 10:05 to catch up and finish around a 9:15 for the last mile. Legs were not going to be able to do that. So I relaxed, smiled and decided to use the remaining miles to see what I could do regardless. I had spurts of 9:50 and then a hill climb of 13:30. Approaching mile 21 I realized I had a mear 5 miles and I was done. 5 miles? I was approaching the 1/2 way mark on the Mill bridge and that would give me around 4 miles to finish the run all together. Feeling well enough to maintain a 10:15 avg I was keeping a positive attitude. I hit the last hill and had to walk. Got to the top and told myself I was not going to walk again. I went through the aid station made a Left and started to charge. Looking at my Garmin I saw a pace of 10:05 with a HR of 155 BPM and I felt light-headed. Who do I run up on? Mike! Hey buddy!!!!! Apparently he had some issues as well. He declared truce and we agreed to trot into town together reminiscing on all of our races together in AZ. It was great. We used the remaining 2 miles cooling down and ran through the finish line with a time of 12:12:15. I was done!!!! Thanks be to God! I could lay down and not move!!!!!

Other than I couple of screwdrivers at the Hotel with my brother I could not eat a thing.

I drove back into town today and am feeling rather pleased with how I did. I am very excited to have a life for a bit. Not to have to worry about getting in the necessary time and mileage weekly. I get to sleep in! Drink coffee! Eat Ice Cream!!! And Harp beer! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Needless to say I am so excited to be home. I missed my fam. I love sitting here with them at my side.

Thanks to everyone for all of you support in calls, emails, multiple texts, and word of mouth. I thought about everyone online watching. Hearing people cheering me on. It made me feel successful! It worked. You are all awesome and I sure do appreciate it.

Other than a bad set bloody feet with no more skin to spare on either heel I feel great! Slightly stiff but overall good. Can't wait for this weekend. We are leaving for Palm Desert for Thanksgiving with the fam. Plenty of golf, cigars, and tequila to make up for all of the calories I burned off over the past 7 months. Some much needed rest and family time is in order. Plus I really don't like the thought of swimming, biking, and/ or running for now.

More later, after my 10th helping of turkey!!!!