Webster Lake 2008
I do this race every year and love the venue – only 20 minutes from the house!! I had been watching the weather all week as this race is notorious for being either rainy or really hot! Forecast was for rain after 10:00 am…cool…I’ll take that!
Met up with Suzy and Cake in the parking lot and went and got our goodie bags and body marked. Our rack was close to the bike and run out, but we couldn’t quite figure out how we’d bike in, oh well, I’ll just follow the pack… Set up transition area and went down to hit the bathroom and check out the swim course. The swim was a triangle, but it looked like it was short…which given my swim time, I was right.
By the time we got back up to transition area to get our stuff, there was a line which had to have 100 people in it waiting to sign up via race day registration!! Unbelievable! FIRM really was not ready to handle this and as a result, the race didn’t start on time and some people didn’t have chips before the 1st wave even went off. WOW! Rick and Dick Hoyt were there and their race was being filmed. Cool.
Suzy and I were in the 4th wave and as we watched the others go off, it was apparent that staying to the left, closest to the buoys was a good place to be. So, that’s where I went. Got into a pocket early and a decent rhythm and felt pretty decent. But for some reason, was having problems staying straight, so had to keep siting. On the second leg of the triangle, was doing well, passing some of the people in the prior waves, when I thought I heard someone yell. Look up and was literally 6 inches from swimming head on into a kayak! Ouch, that would have hurt…a guy was hanging on to him, resting and the kayak had moved in close to the buoy line for him. Sheesh…after that the swim was uneventful, and finished up strong. Swim time: 11:33
The run up to transition is always interesting as it’s a good ¼-1/3 mile! At least you get the blood going to your legs – but man it can be tough on your feet! Tried to get in and get out, but still took me a while. T1: 4:14
I love the bike course on this race despite the “killer hill” at ~4 miles…Legs were burning a bit, and tried to spin them out, but they wouldn’t loosen up. Hmmm, this ought to be interesting later on…I was making good time and getting psyched to start climbing…but what the? Shifted my chain right off the large front gear, but was able to shift and pedal it back on…phew. Kept going and started climbing, alternating spinning and standing…shifted to my smallest front gear and DANG IT! Chain came off…lost all momentum and couldn’t pedal it back on! What the @#$@#%!!! Pull off to the side before I fall over and take someone else with me, futz with it and finally get it back on…that cost me a couple of minutes, I think. And since I was at the steepest part of the hill, I had to run my bike up to the crest before I could get back on! UNBELIEVABLE! So, I’m covered in grease and totally frustrated but now riding and getting back up the hill. The rest of the ride went pretty uneventful and was able to regain some time. I had wanted to break 39 for the bike, and missed it by less than a minute…bike: 39:46 (18.3 mph)
We had to run down along side of transition and in the back to get back in and that was a major pain. Got back to rack my bike and noticed a yellow lens on the ground…whoops! Rode the whole course with only one lens in my glasses! Fortunately, lost it in transition and not out on the course…T2: 1:40
This was my first full race since my surgery and so far, the foot was holding up pretty good. The run is fairly flat and loops thru a neighborhood, with a couple of short rollers. Get out on the run course and my right Achilles started acting up, so tried to get my stride out and relax…told myself I would take a walk break if it didn’t start to loosen up after the 1 mile mark…1 mile came and it was fine, so kept going. On the way back, my foot started to get hot and sore, so again, made a bargain that I would take a quick break if it got unbearable…never happened, so was able to finish up running. Saw Suzy and tried to do a high five, but missed and only caught a few fingers. She looked good! After that tried to stay relaxed and pick it up a bit. Got passed in the last 100 yds or so by someone in my age group and just couldn’t get it back…she finished 4 seconds in front of me. Oh well. Run: 23:42 (2.8 miles)
So total time was 1:20:50, good enough for 15 out of 34. AND a good 1 minute faster than last year, despite my dropped chain. Run was about the same, but that’s ok considering I wasn’t even really running until March of this year.
Met up with Cheryl and went back to cheer Suzy in – she did awesome!!
It’s a fun race and by the turn out FIRM had this year, looks like it got popular overnight! They had a hard time handling all the race day registrations and timing was a bit messed up for a while after the race. But they finally got it sorted out, but not sure how it worked with the awards (not that it mattered to me).
Met up with Suzy and Cake in the parking lot and went and got our goodie bags and body marked. Our rack was close to the bike and run out, but we couldn’t quite figure out how we’d bike in, oh well, I’ll just follow the pack… Set up transition area and went down to hit the bathroom and check out the swim course. The swim was a triangle, but it looked like it was short…which given my swim time, I was right.
By the time we got back up to transition area to get our stuff, there was a line which had to have 100 people in it waiting to sign up via race day registration!! Unbelievable! FIRM really was not ready to handle this and as a result, the race didn’t start on time and some people didn’t have chips before the 1st wave even went off. WOW! Rick and Dick Hoyt were there and their race was being filmed. Cool.
Suzy and I were in the 4th wave and as we watched the others go off, it was apparent that staying to the left, closest to the buoys was a good place to be. So, that’s where I went. Got into a pocket early and a decent rhythm and felt pretty decent. But for some reason, was having problems staying straight, so had to keep siting. On the second leg of the triangle, was doing well, passing some of the people in the prior waves, when I thought I heard someone yell. Look up and was literally 6 inches from swimming head on into a kayak! Ouch, that would have hurt…a guy was hanging on to him, resting and the kayak had moved in close to the buoy line for him. Sheesh…after that the swim was uneventful, and finished up strong. Swim time: 11:33
The run up to transition is always interesting as it’s a good ¼-1/3 mile! At least you get the blood going to your legs – but man it can be tough on your feet! Tried to get in and get out, but still took me a while. T1: 4:14
I love the bike course on this race despite the “killer hill” at ~4 miles…Legs were burning a bit, and tried to spin them out, but they wouldn’t loosen up. Hmmm, this ought to be interesting later on…I was making good time and getting psyched to start climbing…but what the? Shifted my chain right off the large front gear, but was able to shift and pedal it back on…phew. Kept going and started climbing, alternating spinning and standing…shifted to my smallest front gear and DANG IT! Chain came off…lost all momentum and couldn’t pedal it back on! What the @#$@#%!!! Pull off to the side before I fall over and take someone else with me, futz with it and finally get it back on…that cost me a couple of minutes, I think. And since I was at the steepest part of the hill, I had to run my bike up to the crest before I could get back on! UNBELIEVABLE! So, I’m covered in grease and totally frustrated but now riding and getting back up the hill. The rest of the ride went pretty uneventful and was able to regain some time. I had wanted to break 39 for the bike, and missed it by less than a minute…bike: 39:46 (18.3 mph)
We had to run down along side of transition and in the back to get back in and that was a major pain. Got back to rack my bike and noticed a yellow lens on the ground…whoops! Rode the whole course with only one lens in my glasses! Fortunately, lost it in transition and not out on the course…T2: 1:40
This was my first full race since my surgery and so far, the foot was holding up pretty good. The run is fairly flat and loops thru a neighborhood, with a couple of short rollers. Get out on the run course and my right Achilles started acting up, so tried to get my stride out and relax…told myself I would take a walk break if it didn’t start to loosen up after the 1 mile mark…1 mile came and it was fine, so kept going. On the way back, my foot started to get hot and sore, so again, made a bargain that I would take a quick break if it got unbearable…never happened, so was able to finish up running. Saw Suzy and tried to do a high five, but missed and only caught a few fingers. She looked good! After that tried to stay relaxed and pick it up a bit. Got passed in the last 100 yds or so by someone in my age group and just couldn’t get it back…she finished 4 seconds in front of me. Oh well. Run: 23:42 (2.8 miles)
So total time was 1:20:50, good enough for 15 out of 34. AND a good 1 minute faster than last year, despite my dropped chain. Run was about the same, but that’s ok considering I wasn’t even really running until March of this year.
Met up with Cheryl and went back to cheer Suzy in – she did awesome!!
It’s a fun race and by the turn out FIRM had this year, looks like it got popular overnight! They had a hard time handling all the race day registrations and timing was a bit messed up for a while after the race. But they finally got it sorted out, but not sure how it worked with the awards (not that it mattered to me).
posted by zojmn151 | 8:04 AM
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