Javelina, DNF

Well it had to happen sooner or later. DNF. I have been racing in some form or another for the last ten years. Adventure racing, Duathlons, triathlons, Mtn biking, trail running and my latest obsession Ultra running. All of these other sports are great but I think I found my niche in Ultra's. Why might you ask? Well, Ultra runners are just a bit off. My kind of people.

I went going in for a sub 24 hr finish. Was I trained for that? Not sure, but once I saw the big fat sub 24 buckle. I wanted it! Just wish I'd seen it three months ago. When I should have been training to run rather than biking.

We left home early and got to the park in time to get a nice spot to set up our camp. Driving from Redlands does not take long but it sure would have been nice if Arizona had open rest stops. Times are tough when the state can't afford to let you pee! We settled in to a great spot and were able to back the truck right up against our camp. I love this race for the shear fact you can set up and not have to move for the rest of the weekend.



Javelina was a last minute entry for me. I was supposed to run the AC100 this year and the Station fire decided I wouldn't. I like how life works out. AC would have crippled me. Not that JJ is easy it's just the downhills of AC would have reduced my quads to mush much earlier. The race was closed and Jamil was very cool to open 50 or so more spots to those of us that did not get to run AC. lucky for me I have the worlds best wife, she is awsome! Here is a quick example, as soon as I got in to the race she signed up to volunteer, and volunteer she did! She worked the registration table on Friday night, food prep and the main aid station all day Saturday! Not to mention making sure I had everything I needed throughout the day.



So when it comes to racing I can get a bit nutty. I pack two or three times, days before I go. And yes I usually over pack! Pants I forgot to pack pants. Turns out Friday night in the dessert was a bit chilly. Shana brought down! Smart woman. We hit the rack pretty early and the symphony of alarms and wake up farts echoed through the campsite. Tents aren't real sound barriers. Had a little coffee, some grub, a few trips to the restroom and I'm ready to go!

Napa 70.3

Does the wetsuit make me look fat?
So I've been feeling a bit squishy n the middle since Javelina. Back in January we were in Denver and I was working out in the hotel gym when I caught a view of the pudge. After I finished my first hundred mile run I figured I was entitled to eat what ever I wanted. Fine that would be OK for a week or two, tops. BUT I decided that I EARNED as much junk food as I wanted. Not too mention I just really did not feel like running. Throw in a twisted ankle and I was ripe for getting pudgy. Why? Cuz I like doughnuts.

Fast forward a bit and we are going to Napa for a weekend to celebrate my lovely wife's birthday. Me being one who cannot travel anywhere with out looking to see if there is an event I can compete/participate in found a 70.3 triathlon. Now, if I'm up north and Envirosports has something going on I will do my best to enter. The problem here was I had not swam regularly in, hmmmmm a while.

So I go down to the gym and crap out a mile in the pool. Not the best swim but OK. Now I know I can do the mile, the bike will be great, the run not so bad. Armed with this info (how ever bad it was) I am ready to register.

Three weeks out, I'm in. To short to do any real training so I refer to it as taper time. Works for me. I am watching the weather like crazy because my wonderful wife is running her first 21 mile race in Big Sur the week before. I even run out and buy ponchos for her and the group she is running with. What a delight to be on the sidelines waiting for my wife to cross the line. Woo hoo, she did it. I was so nervous that I only could get off one pic of her finishing. It was awsome!

One week later I'm up in Napa looking at RAIN. I get up and head out thinking OK, maybe it's a bit cloudy not too bad. I get a good spot to rack my bike. On the end in front of a dumpster, which had the added bonus of being next to a port-a-john.

The gun goes off and I start the swim. I'm suprised at the water temp. I thought I was going to freeze my butt off but it wasn't bad. I managed to pull off the swim in the time I had figured. It was a bit of a long run to T1 but it got the blood flowing. By now it's starting to rain and drying off seems kind of worthless. I don the arm warmers and vest and am getting ready to hop on the bike when the proximity of the john comes in handy. T1 was kind of slow but worth it!

I'm on the bike and ready to rock! But again it's raining. The short version is that it rained the whole damn time I was on the bike. I was hoping to enjoy all that Pope valley had to offer in the way of views and scenery. Not going to happen. Rain , rain and more rain. I was happy to not pop a tire as I saw many riders on the side of the road. I managed to pass many of the people that dropped me on the swim. I finished the ride feeling great about it.

T2 was much quicker. I hit the run feeling good. The run was a double out and back. I had mixed feelings about it because I don't like running the same things over and over. In a race it can be fun because you can see the leaders as well as the folks behind you. My run was not as good as I would have liked but, acceptable.

All in all it turned out to be a great race 05:28:32 not bad for a first attempt at the half Ironman distance

face book

Face Book has consumed all of my computer time. Which has been plentiful because I'm keeping my trail time to a minimum. A few weeks back I was on a 5 mile run that we do all the time. As we were cruising back to the truck, I rolled my ankle. No big deal? I roll it all the time. Well I just turned 42 and my ankle is my body's way of confirming my new age. It has been sore for almost a month. The most I've been able to run on it has been 8 miles., Not great for my training, but it keeps me from going crazy.