Completed Full Rev3!

Well... I guess I might as well do a write-up on the actual race.. We arrived in Sandusky on Friday, September 5th for the Sunday race. I met up with my friend Scott and his wife shortly after I got there.. We checked out the water.. Lake Erie was warm and pretty smooth that day.. I was starting to get a little confident.. We then headed to the expo to pick up our race packets. My friend was disappointed with the expo, but I haven't had quite the experience that he has had so I didn't know what to expect.. It did seem rather small and not too well attended on Friday. We picked up our swag, which I didn't think was really that exciting and picked up some souvenirs. Then off to the camp site I went to meet up with my sister and her boyfriend. We were planning on staying all weekend and hitting Cedar Point on Friday night. I was going by the athlete's guide from the previous year as this year's wasn't released too long before the race. And last year, you could go to the park on Friday for like $15. So my sister came up planning on joining me on Friday at the park. I didn't think that I should do the park on Saturday so I was really hoping to go on Friday. But this year it was closed on Friday! Argh.. So we had planned to camp out on Friday, and then I was going to move to the more comfortable settings of the Breakers hotel. But alas... our plans didn't work out.. It rained Friday night.. and I mean.. RAINED! POURED! STORMED! It was crazy.. the tents quickly filled up with water and we were left trying to sleep in our cars.. and it was loud. .and thundering and lightning.. I kept getting up at all hours of the night.. not good.. But then after a few hours of sleep, we woke up to more rain.. I had planned to get to the beach and check out the swimming clinic that was put on, but we did a late breakfast that took too long, and went to get tickets for my sister and boyfriend to go to Cedar Point on Saturday. Again, previously these were listed as $20 the year before but this year they were $40, with the promise of smaller lines due to a private party renting out the park. I think I heard it was Honda Days, or something like that. The line was much.. much longer at the expo this time, and it took forever to get the tickets. So I sadly missed the swimming clinic.. though I don't think tips at the very last moment would really have helped me.. ha.. but the water definitely looked rough.. Everyone promised that it would be much smoother on Sunday.. This is much more detail that anyone wants I suppose... Anyway.. mom arrived as I was headed back to the hotel and I scrapped thoughts of jumping in the water.. Wanted to hang out with her.. and get settled in.. So we did get an early checkin to the hotel and then I pretty much headed to the mandatory meeting.. It was informative.. I should shorten this.. ha.. long story.. shortened.. Saturday I had hoped to sit around and do pretty much nothing! but.. I don't know where the time went.. Running back and forth unnecessarily is one reason.. for instance.. my friend had some anti-glare for the goggles.. and I searched my suitcase and bags and ran to the car.. but couldn't find them.. started freaking out.. maybe I lost them in the rain the night before as I was digging in the suitcase.. maybe they were in a mud puddle now.. it was late.. how was I going to get goggles before 7am?? argh.. and then I found them on top of my wetsuit in the room.. a wasted trip to the car.. and I went to check the bike in around 5:45.. the cutoff was 6:30.. so I drove the bike to the check point.. and then realized that I left the handlebar plugs (not sure the correct name) back at the hotel.. so I booked it across the sand to get the pieces for the bike. .and screwdrivers and hex wrench in case they wanted me to tighten anything when I checked the bike in.. but.. nobody looked at the bike at all. They just confirmed that the name/id on the bike matched my all access write band.. so that was a waste.. ha.. and I turned in the bike around 6:15.. plenty of time to spare! For the race, they gave us 4 bags.. a bag for the transition to bike.. one for the transition to run.. One special needs bag for halfway through the bike and a special needs bag for halfway through the run.. So I was up kinda late putting stuff in each bag. And my brain was going crazy.. I really wanted to get some sleep close to 8pm or 9pm.. and I think I laid down around 9:30.. but my mind was racing.. I kept thinking of the swim.. kept thinking of the turns.. and transitions.. and the race.. and the bike.. and the run.. ha.. I have no idea what time I finally went to bed.. but it was rough.. So.. woke up at 5am. I set 3 different alarms but I didn't need them.. woke right up.. I ate some cliff bars and some energy bloks. I also filled up my water bottle with some Heed. I was feeling pretty ready.. though I didn't put on the tattoos on my body yet.. I went with Scott to the transition area to check on the bikes, and fill up the tires. We also had to bring the 4 bags and get those in their proper places.. so.. to the warm up swim.. well.. my sister and boyfriend arrived.. so we met them.. took photos.. mom and scott's wife came down.. took more pictures.. and took more pictures.. ha.. so.. we went to the water and jumped in.. got a little swim going.. I immediately lost Scott. He took off.. I was hacking and coughing.. I have been fighting off a cold and apparently it hadn't left. anyway.. I couldn't hear the man speaking on the bullhorn and apparently I was the last guy out in the water and holding up the start of the race! so.. I swam in.. only to really turn around and walk back out, past the start gate that initialized our timing chip.. and.. we were off! I started out toward the left side.. this was a mass start, but there were really less than 300 people.. my swimming pretty much sucks.. I was somewhat optimistic before the start.. I had bought new goggles. and used my friend's anti-fog on them.. so I was feeling confident! until we started the swim.. I immediately lost 90% of the participants.. I did swim over some girl though initially.. but then lost her. the waves were brutal out there. I couldn't find the buoy's that were used for spotting.. I thought I had gotten better at sighting, but every time I tried a big wave would hit me in the face.. so I was getting pretty lonely out there.. and I was just treading water looking for buoys. At one time, a guy in a kayak told me I was turning too far left and heading toward canada.. and at one point, I'm pretty sure that I did a 180 as I started seeing the rides on my left as I was breathing (and they REALLY should've been on my right side!).. so.. I finally got back into shore after an hour and a half.. Sadly the cutoff for the first lap (1.2 hour) was an hour and 10 minutes. I thought I might have been late but I really lost track of time.. so I was turning the corner to go back out there and a kayaker told me to go in and check with the race director.. man.. this couldn't be good! and the race director radio'd in to someone and reported my number as a DNF (the dreaded Did Not Finish!).. so.. that sucked.. though for the record, I would've done another 1.2 mile lap! He did give me the option to continue, so I gratefully accepted.. I had been training too long to just quit after 90 minutes! so I headed to transition... feeling happy and sad at the same time.. I hadn't packed up my transition bags well.. I was concentrating so hard on putting in my correct running socks, and my spare running socks for the special needs bag.. but I hadn't even considered socks for my bike at all.. argh.. so.. I went back to the bags and grabbed some socks.. and then i saw my running shorts in my biking bag.. oops.. I think I might need those for the run! so back out I went to the bags.. man.. this was a slow transition time! but..I was not in any real rush.. I didn't think I would fail at the bike.. so might as well make sure I was as comfortable as possible.. but sadly, when I went back out to put the shorts away, I forgot to put on the sun screen! argh.. so..I headed out on the bike.. fairly uneventful.. People were flying by me.. You can really hear when someone comes up behind you with a full disk on.. sounds like a train! I was passing a couple of people.. but mostly getting passed like I was standing still. Around mile 40 I got in a groove and did start passing a bunch of people.. Felt good.. though I was still getting passed of course.. I was holding 20 mph for a bit, but then people were still flying by me.. it was crazy.. but nothing really happened.. I passed a few people that had flats.. and some that had crashed.. a lot of the roads were on gravel.. it was basically a flat course, but there were a few hills.. As I did approach the halfway point, I was confused with the volunteers passing out the special needs bags.. I did have some tissues in there, but that was about it.. so I didn't want to go back and retrieve the bag. but later I definitely regretted not getting those tissues.. the cold was kicking in.. the ride was basically pretty good.. the last 6 miles of the 112 were tough though.. I was surprised by how much I tanked at the very end.. I was trying to get some gu in during the ride.. and had some energy bloks.. but I think the nutrition was really lacking.. And then we went in for the transition.. nothing too exciting here.. except that I decided to put on sunblock.. and it killed! I was almost screaming! apparently putting sunscreen on a already burnt neck is quite painful.. as I ran out to hit the port-a-john, my sister called out to me. It was the first I've seen of them since I started the swim.. I was worried that the only thing that would be displayed on the tracking website would be DNF next to my name. but apparently it was still tracking me! I felt good! I thought some people might be tracking me and I didn't want them to just think I had a DNF after the swim and didn't continue.. It was really refreshing to see them.. So I went to the restroom for a much needed stop.. And then as I took off on the run, I saw them again and Scott's wife Stephanie.. It definitely helped.. SO I started running and held up a good pace until i passed most of the people and the volunteers! and then I got into a walk.. ha.. I was hoping to do a 5 mile run and then a 1 mile walk and alternate.. this was during the last week of training of course.. I had injured my calf playing soccer and kept reinjuring it, so I really didn't run the last 3 weeks.. my max run was 10 miles a few months ago! I did an easy 8 mile run like 3 weeks before the race. so I like that plan.. but during the race.. the lack of nutrition and really the lack of brick training hindered that plan.. I was running at a good pace.. for a very short time.. and then walking.. and then running.. I would convince myself to run from a certain car to the next aid station.. or run from an intersection to another intersection. I really didn't walk a mile without running a bit.. I was pretty happy to see that mile 8 was done.. Made me think that if I was doing a half ironman, I'd be almost done! but .. I was doing the full.. so I kept chugging along.. At the halfway point, I did grab my bag.. Had some fresh tissues.. these were a blessing! so nice on the nose! ha.. and then I had to run into the turnaround so the family could see me running! :) at the turnaround, my mom, sister and her boyfriend were there! It was great to see them again! gave me a boost! which I needed. my feet were starting to hurt! just after the halfway point, I met up with a threesome that I had been tailing all day.. I'd catch up with them, and then they'd run.. I didn't ever pass them.. I could've really. but never bothered.. and then after the turnaround, 2 of the group went to the restroom, so I caught up with the third guy and started talking to him.. and then the other 2 caught up and we did most of the back 13 miles together.. At around mile 18, the 2 guys wanted to run more and so they said their goodbyes and left me and the girl (Caroline).. They had all met during the run portion.. so I finished the race with Caroline.. We'd keep spuring each other on to do a more frequent run/walk. During the back 13, some nice supporters came out and brought us some Yuengling in dixie cups.. and some guys came out of a bar and brought us some pepperoni pizza! I think we all had a slice (the small squares). and on the athlete's guide they said they would have some chicken broth, and no booth actually had it.. and each station the new group I met up with was begging for it.. so finally some race organizers (or supporters..) drove off to get us some! they were awesome! and at that time, sometime warm in our stomachs was good... Each mile we knocked off, we kept getting more and more excited! We were really going to do this! As I turned in to the final tunnel my sister came out to join me on the run and it was awesome! The race was awesome! Even if I technically did get a DNF, I'm still pretty happy with the results.. My hats are off to all those that did finish that swim. My mom said that there were a few people that turned around after swimming for a bit.. and I know that someone was pulled out of the water ahead of me (guessing they threw in the towel and nothing serious happened).. and it sounds like there were plenty that missed the cutoff.. so.. I'm happy to have survived and continued on! Thanks to everyone!!