Where: Hurricane (pronounced "hurr-i-cun"), UT
With Whom: Ryan and I did the race. Crazy and Mark went with us down to St George. And Ryan's parents came down to support us.
By the time this week had arrived I had resolved myself to giving this race a shot without the benefit of training. Who trains anyway? Training is for suckers, right? After I worked a half day from home, we went down to St George on Thursday afternoon and stayed at Ryan's family's condo. We went for a short bike ride on Friday morning, but other than that we just kind of hung out for the couple of days leading up to the race. Including this little bike ride, I officially biked twice, ran twice, and swam twice in anticipation for this race. Don't you think that is enough? Neither do I. However, I did have a good fitness level and strength level built up from skiing, so I wasn't exactly starting from scratch.
The race was scheduled to begin at 7am. While Mark and Crazy slept, Ryan and I made our way over to the race site in plenty of time. Upon arrival the wind was howling. This is never a good sign when you are about to get in super cold water, ride a bike, and go for a run. We prepared our transitions and got ready for the swim. Then the announcement came that they were going to wait until 7:40 to see if the winds died down for the swim.
We waited.
When 7:40 finally rolled around it was no surprise that they had decided to cancel the swim as the wind had intensified if anything. They told us to get ready for a bike start. Once we were ready for the bike, there came another announcement... that we were going to start with the run. So we put our bikes back in transition and got our running gear on. The race was now going to be a run, bike, run. The 10K run that is usually at the end of the race was being split into two 5Ks and the bike course remained the same.
The gun went off and we started running. I was happy that they had decided to not just do a bike-run as this made it a little more exciting. I had a relatively strong first run, finishing the 5K in about 26 minutes.
I felt pretty good going into the bike. After about 4 miles of flat to slightly downhill riding, we approached the first big hill of the ride. It was a long sustained hill. I killed it on this hill. I must have passed at least 30 people going up this thing. In fact, I didn't see anyone going up this hill as fast as I was (understanding that the really strong racers were ahead of me at this time and had probably gone just as fast up it). It turns out hiking up mountains just to slide down them several times a week all winter does have it rewards. As the race flattened out many of the people I passed on the hill passed me as they are just better cyclists than I, but then we would come to another hill and I would pass them again. By the time I reached the first hill on the way back (this time going down it), I was confident that I was on track to get a personal record on the bike section of the race. I was booking it down this hill. At the very bottom of the hill we crossed a cattle guard - and the demise of my strong bike leg. My back tire popped on contact. I rode for a little while debating on what I should do:
I was not super confident that I even knew how to use the little pump in my bike bag.
I only had another 4 miles to go.
My rims are cheap anyway - needing new ones wouldn't be that bad of a deal.
I decided to ride it out. At first it wasn't too bad as there was a little air left and the tire was still on the rim. But as time went on the air became non-existant and the tire itself (or at least half of it) slid off the rim. Most of the people I had passed over the course of the bike leg now passed me and took it upon themselves to let me know that I had a flat. Yeah, I know, people. The ride isn't exactly as smooth as it has been the other 22 miles. I finished the bike after the nice rim ride and pushed into the final run.
My final run was only 2 minutes slower than my first one. This was good to know seeing that even after the run and bike, I could still push it. I finished the race in 1hr 18 minutes. I am happy with the results all things considered (training, bike tires, no swim, etc). Ryan came in shortly thereafter. He has a hilarious story of his own, but you will have to ask him about it as it does get a little personal.
It was a fun race to begin the year. We all went mini-golfing to celebrate that evening (Stacy's favorite activity). Enjoy the photos.
Crazy puts into the sunset.
Fashion mullet + mustache = Ryan Wells
Mini golf balls are colorful.
Fiesta Fun isn't exactly known for its up-to-date golf course.
Castles are essential to mini golf courses... so are Japanese Coca-Cola t-shirts.
Mark E-mazing plays the most psychadelic game of mini golf he has ever played in his life.
Beards + mustaches + glasses + E-mazingness + Fiesta Fun = St George 2009
Peace.
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