Betting for Better Health in Bolivia (Part 4)

I survived the triathlon! But just. Rather than sharing the results up front here so you can be spared of the tedium of my story, I thought I would share the tedium of my story…

Upon arriving in California by the skin of my teeth,* I learned that Auburn was having record high temperatures. Rather than the usual 70 degree weather typical of May, they were having a heat wave in the upper nineties, the peak of which kept inching closer to race day.

And then I met the hills. As we reviewed the bike route, I noticed that the general up hill was broken up only by several steep climbs. I tried to keep a positive attitude by reminding everyone that what goes up must come down. “Ahh” said the race director, “that’s generally true, except for a few hairy hills on the way back as well.” DOH!

I did not see the run route, as most of it was on trails. I had just completed a ½ marathon a couple weeks previous, so I was feeling confident. I knew there were going to be hills, but I was actually not bad at running hills. I got this.

Race day. Up at 5:15am, race begins at 7:30am.** The swim was good. I had a wetsuit on that sucked the life from soul, I couldn’t see more than about 6 inches in front of me, and only had a vague idea of where I was going. Nevertheless, the water did not feel as freezing as I thought, and I finished in 31 minutes. I came in 73 out of 167 racers. Well done.

Feeling rather impressed with myself, but realizing that the tough biking was next, I got focused and took off on the bike.*** The first 6 miles were going to be the toughest. All in all, though, the bike was not nearly as bad as I had expected. The hills were hard, but not killers. But my ego had a reality check as nearly 90% of the athletes passed me by. And by passed, I mean in a streak of speed. I came in 153 out of 167. Ouch.

Then came the run. Only a little over an hour left to go…I got this. Or maybe not. At 10:30 am it was hot…HOT! Only the first mile was in the shade. After mile 1.5 I hit a hill…or rather the hill hit me. Half way up it I realized that the hills from biking had turned my knees into some sort of gelatinous substances no longer resembling a skeletal structure. I gave myself permission to walk. “Only up the hills,” I said. And I had to power walk.**** The first hill was fairly short, so I thought this was a great idea. At mile 3 I hit a down hill, which was great, until I noticed that runners were coming back up it, and they weren’t running. That can’t be good. At mile 4 I was still going down hill. That was going to be a long walk up. My anticipated 11min/mile pace turned out to be a 12 minute 43 second mile pace. The run sucked.*****

So, after all this detail, how did I do? Other than pulling a hamstring, I completed the Auburn International Triathlon in 4 hours and 3 minutes.****** I came in 138 out of 167 men and women.

I just wanted to thank all of you for your support, both in your donations but also wishing me well in my first triathlon. It was a lot of fun and the added pressure of knowing that all of you were keeping tabs to a certain extent really helped to keep me motivated. Thank you!

Cheers,
Heidi


* I don’t really understand that saying, teeth lacking skin and all…but they had to open the airplane door on my connecting flight so I could make it. So all I’m saying is that it was really close. Skin-of-my-teeth close.

** Did I need to be up that early? Not really. I spent about 45 minutes wandering around at the race wondering why I had gotten there so early. I guess I could have warmed up a bit.

*** Well, it wasn’t quite that smooth. First I had to struggle out of the soul crusher, then put my shoes on, then get my bike off the rack that proceed to fall over, almost hitting another racer. I did not exude confident professional to say the least.

**** Ok, so to me it seemed like I was power walking. To others it may have looked like crawling.

***** Or should I say the 60% that I ran sucked. The walk was fairly pleasant, really, with lovely scenery.

****** Technically 4 hours, 2 minutes, 59 seconds, and 8 tenths of a second….thought I’d just round up.

Betting for Better Health in Bolivia (Part 3)

This is the last report before the big race. I did a mock triathlon this morning...mile swim, 22 miles bike, 6 miles run...and I'm happy to say that I did NOT drop dead at mile marker 4. I almost did at mile marker 5, I was quite delusional at mile marker 3, and I may have bribed a small child to push me up a hill at mile marker 2.* In the end, though, it may not have been pretty, but I finished and then collapsed in a pile of sweat.**

So next weekend is the big event. If you were interested in betting but were consulting astrologers or quantum physicists to determine the most accurate prediction for your bet but their analyses are not in yet....never fear...you have until Tuesday, May 13th at 5 pm EST to let me know your bet. Since I'm out of the office all next week, you can either provide a donation online, or hand me check or cash on Tuesday, May 20th when I return.

There will be more opportunities, however, to support the Rio Beni Health project after this event. This was just one of a series of fundraising fun I have planned.*** For now, I must concentrate on getting the feeling back in my legs before the actual race.

Deséeme la suerte!
Heidi

* I will not confirm nor deny the bribing of small children.
** ewww...didn't need that visual, did you.
*** And by "planned" I mean not planned. More like knowing that I need to come up with some more fun fundraising ideas, but haven't yet. Give me a break. I've been swimming and running and biking for the past 3 months!