WILDFLOWER 08

This weekend was the Wildflower Triathlon and for a lot of us, our first official event. The long course or half Ironman was held on Saturday while the Olympic (or as Ironteam calls it "short course") was held on Sunday. We arrived on Thursday afternoon and set up camp, went to the expo to register, and mainly just relaxed. The race starts in waves based on age group. Each age group is assigned a different colored swim cap so that the officials can ensure that people are starting in their proper waves. Of all the colors in the spectrum, Men ages 40 to 45 drew neon pink...

The morning of the race started at 5:30am. Breakfast was coffee, oatmeal, and fear served by Trista!

This is me getting ready to head down to the starting area. How stressed out do I look here? The roads are closed to cars which means the only way to get down there is pack your tri bag on your back and ride on down...
Once in the starting area we found our assigned spots, set up transition, and got body marked. With a felt tip marker they put your race number on both hands, arms, thighs, and your age on your calf. For some reason I was able to relax and be more my usual self the closer we got to the starting gun. Weird...
We had about an hour to kill before the start which we used by eating, drinking, and having some laughs to stay loose.

When it was nearly time to start, we put on our pink caps and headed down to the boat ramp.

I started in the middle of the pack and got bounced around a bit, slapped a few times, and did some slapping of my own but I never got kicked as I feared. 40 minutes later I was running back to my bike. Man do I look silly in that cap...
I tried to get through transition 1 quickly but I sucked. 10+ minutes to eat, put my cycle shorts and shirt, gloves, helmet, Garmin bike computer, and give Jerald shit because he was beyond ridiculous in his transition. He got out of the water 4 minutes after I did and just look at him. I'm ready to roll and he is putting on Oil of Olay.
This is on the infamous "Nasty Grade" which really isn't that big of a deal to us on Ironteam because we have a cycle captain who takes us on insane rides from hell on a weekly basis. I saw people walking their bikes up that thing. Crazy...
3:28:27 later I am back in the transition area, hauling ass to my running shoes. This time my transition time was a bit better at 6+ minutes.
This is Jerald and I just before we headed out to run. He is faster on the bike than I am. Even after his makeover in T1, he caught me at mile 36 on the ride. I did manage to catch him in T2 before he left, apparently the showers ran out of hot water.
Finishing the run was a great feeling. 2:23:32 is a long time to run a half marathon, but not on that run course and after riding 56 miles and swimming 1.2. I am really happy with my finish time of 6:52:35

Jesus and I celebrating

Myself, Jerald, and Jesus

By far the happiest of the 4, Renee finishes with a huge smile on her face.

Half Ironpeople!!!!

The next morning we had pancakes, eggs, and sausage.

Later that day we all went to the expo where Jesus and I bought some kick-ass helmets!!!

It's becoming increasingly apparent that what we on Ironteam are doing is beyond what most athletic people would call normal. Just about everyone at Wildflower trained for that event, while for us it was a training day. We have covered these distances and then some, just not in an actual race setting which was a huge wake up call for me. I have a lot to learn about racing and nutrition on the course. I can't tell you how rewarding it has been to be going from being the guy expected to know everything to being a student with so much to learn. The relationships I have made along the way only grow stronger. As these workouts get longer and harder, I realize more and more that joining this team is one of the best things I have ever done for myself.

PS Jesus and I didn't buy those helmets, but I did keep my swim cap. It's kind of growing on me...