Justin's Race Report

I don't remember how exactly I ended up getting on this road to Miami, but I am pretty sure someone tricked me into it! After many months, hundreds of miles, and a whole lot of complaining (sorry to Nick and Chris who heard it the most) it is finally over. This past Saturday Nick and I finished our goal race Miami 70.3 - It began in the dark. When I arrived at my transition area to setup and I couldn't see much. I knew what I had to do but the paranoia that I forgot something was really making me nervous and got my stomach turning. This is actually something that I was hoping for, a good cleaning out before the race. Two problems: one - the line to the 7 porta-potties was about a 30 minute wait, and two - there appeared to have been a shortage of TP. This was the first glitch in what proved to be a very interesting day. After sorting out this first issue I went to say goodbye to my cheering section/support crew comprised of my dad and went to find Nick and start moving towards race start. Now normally I would have started my race at 7:20, but since I opted to use my wet-suit they moved me to a new, 'wet-suit wave' starting at 8:00. This was a big decision for me - to wear or not to wear (a wet-suit that is). Wearing it would mean that if things went bad in the race, I would have 40 minutes less to complete to it. After some convincing from Nick that I wouldn't need that extra time I decided to go ahead. After being forceably thrown into the water to get ready for my wave start I was feeling good and ready to swim. The guys around me didn't look as threatening as the 25-29 age group crowd that I was supposed to be with so I was not too nervous. After the gun sounded I was off, and quickly found myself getting ahead of the other wet-suit people and catching up to the other swimmers. So far, so good. I rounded the first buoy, and when trying to sight the second one I ended up swallowing a gulp of salt water which almost resulted in me losing my breakfast. And on top of that I couldn't even find the next buoy, or the one after that. 3 buoys over 1900m is not enough. Long story short, the swim went well after I decided just to follow the crowd. I finished in about 44min and ranked about 555 out of over 3000 which I was pretty happy about. Onto the bike. Man I was feeling great for the first 45k, then after a quick stop at the turnaround to check to see if I had any penalties I started back on down the course. But something was missing... I was starting to run out of liquid and realize that the empty pickup truck and tables I passed a few km back was the second aid station... but it was apparently closed for business. Unbelievable, 1/3 aid stations does not actually exist. Despite this I am pleased with myself for not listening to Nick, and taking an extra energy drink on my bike from the get go. Even with this extra bottle, I am running very low by the time I hit the third aid station. I see a traffic jam as I approach, and as I get to the tables I quickly find out there is nothing but melted ice and bottles thrown on the ground. I yell for water and they give me a bottle with no lid, full of disgusting water from a garbage can. The clock is ticking so all I can do is ask for a cap for the bottle and take the vile liquid. The volunteer picks up a cap off the street and hands it to me - gee, thanks. The rest of the bike is against a strong headwind and my legs are starting to hurt, especially my right hamstring. I am starting to feel really low. The kms are passing very slowly and just to make things even better, Nick FINALLY passes me yelling 78kms! How ya feeling!? I'm pretty sure he was so happy and charged up that he caught me that he took off before I even could answer! Ok, finally the bike was over, I made it - took about 3:15 which was not bad considering the conditions. In transition my dad was waiting for me and had a nice cold bottle of water waiting! Thanks Dad! I used the warm ones that I left on my mat to hose myself down with and got ready to run. As I was almost ready to go my dad said "So it'll take you about 2 hours?" ummm no... not even close! I was still feeling low from the end of the bike, and knew what was waiting for me - 21.1km of running, and the cherry on top (or should I say the 8 cherries on top) was that I had to run across a long, steep bridge EIGHT TIMES. I have to admit I had my doubts that it could be done, but I managed to run up the bridge about 6/8 times. Not too bad. Overall the run was ok despite the intense heat, and with a combination of running and walking I made it. The first time I came into the home stretch it was misery, this was a two loop course and not being able to hit that finish line, with the crown cheering was heartbreaking. I was forced to go left to the turnaround instead of right to the finish. About an hour and a half later the finish was finally in sight and I rushed the line! I easily overtook a few old people and crossed the finish. Waiting there for me was my coach and training partner who gave me a Big 10 (up top!) and sweaty man-hug! And that was that... now its time to forget the triathlon world for at least a couple of weeks. So leave me alone about Louisville until at least mid November! (You know who you are). Thanks to all who have supported this crazy endeavor of mine especially my riding buddy Chris who taught me that 'Spinning is Winning'; Lisa, who let me train without too much grief - even on those rare days that we in the same city; my local cheering section (dad) who supported me all weekend during the race and for everything else; and finally thanks to Coach Niko who taught me everything I needed to know about training and racing - even about nutrition if you can believe it - which was more of a 'do as i say, not as i do' kind of thing, without his help, I never would have made it. That's the report, see you next year!