Race Result

Racer:	Kristin Adkins
Race:	Eagleman
Date:	Sunday, June 12, 2005
Location:	Cambridge, MD
Race Type:	Triathlon - Half Ironman
Age Group:	Female 30 - 34
Time:	6:10:27
Comment:	Team Where's Waldo?

Race Report:

Swim: 40:30
T1: 1:35
Bike: 3:08:04
T2: 1:18
Run: 2:19:01
Overall: 6:10:27

This is the first time that I’ve competed as a team, as well as at this distance. Since I wasn’t willing to commit to the whole race, my husband jumped in and rode the bike for me. This will be a joint race report. We came in 9th overall for the mixed team competition, not bad for our first ½ Ironman!

Team Where’s Waldo: The reason we were team Where’s Waldo is because a good friend of ours nickname is Waldo. Originally his wave was going to be 2 in front of ours, just 10 minutes apart, so we figured that we would be chasing him all day. However, when we got down to the race, he was moved to wave 3, over an hour before us. Needless to say, we weren’t really chasing him with that much of a lead, but we kept the name and wore the shirts anyways.

Race Prep:

We went down Memorial Day weekend to preview the course. We went on Sunday so that Corey could ride with the other bikers. I biked the run course, so that I would know where I was going, then after that I ran most of the run. Two things were determined that day, it was going to be windy and it was going to be hot and without shade for the race.

We drove down late Saturday morning. We ended up going to the expo 3 times, pick up registration and get bike inspected, went back for our free Spinerval’s CD, and then went back when we realized that they didn’t give me a bathing cap. I spent most of the day thinking about the race, whether or not I had made the right decision to do the race as a relay instead of by myself. We caught up with some friends from Tri Charlotte and ended up having our pre-race meal with them. They had gotten several houses which allowed us to spend less time at the Econo Lodge in Easton, which was not the prettiest of hotels. Had a rough night of sleep between the rock hard bed, the elephants who came home at 12:00 AM upstairs and the several sirens at the fire station. 4:30 came early!

Race morning food was the same as Columbia. Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich and energy drink. Drove down to Great Marsh Park and got a great parking spot. We were there very early because we were told that area fills up quickly and we had no interest in dragging our stuff further than necessary. Found our bike rack area, set up and got body marked. Our body marker had her daughter helping, so we had writing all over us. Got in the long port-a-potty lines and listened as the pro’s started. We found our Tri Charlotte friends and watched them all take off for the race.

Finally it was time for the relays to start. There were only 30 relays, not sure why they didn’t filter us in with another wave, but we got our own start.

Swim: (Kristin)
I’m a pretty good swimmer, swam in college. I’m used to the long distances, but I’ve never swam in water with waves before. Every race has been lakes up until now. I was feeling pretty good until the 4th or 5th buoy, then the waves started to smack me. I kept my head down and kept on pushing on, thinking that when I got to turn, that things would ease up. I was wrong. Made the first turn and realized that for whatever reason, I couldn’t see the orange buoy’s as well as the yellow. At each orange buoy, I would pull up my goggles, tread water and then head off towards the next buoy. The current still wasn’t with us, and it seemed like the buoy’s were farther apart. So, to resolve this problem, there were several wave runners out on the water, pushing us all back on track. About every 5 minutes, I would get the smell of gasoline to go with the tasty Choptank water. I started to get frustrated, felt like the swim was never going to end. I was really glad that this was a relay, so that I would get a nice break before I had to run! I was regretting telling my husband the fast time that I thought I would have, felt like I was going to disappoint him. Finally I started to catch up with swimmers from the 2 waves in front of me, which normally happens. I started to feel better, remembered that I didn’t have to bike, and really went hard the last 10 minutes. Once out of the water, I ran as fast as I could. My arms were pumping. I was laughing to myself, thinking that I would never run that hard if I had to transition to the bike. Saw my husband, ripped off the timing chip, threw it around his leg, gave him a kiss and sent him on his way. My first leg was done.

Bike: (Corey)
58/32. What is that you ask? It is the number of people I passed, and the number of people who passed me. I had to do something to keep me motivated and my mind occupied. The last thing I wanted was to get some trippy little song trapped in my head for 3 hours.

As a person new to the world of triathlon (I've cheered at several, including an Ironman), I was wondering how I would perform for the race. As my wife said earlier, I got shanghied into the bike portion of this race. Still not sure how that happened. I was sure I could do the distance, it was just a question of how fast. I was hoping to finish in the 3:15-3:30 range. After the heat and humidity checking in on Saturday, I was really concerned about the elements for Sunday. Good thing there was going to be lots of water exchanges.

I came out of the park pretty quickly and passed 3 or 4 people right off the bat. I kind of felt bad since most of the people I passed had done the swim and still had the run to do. The first 5 miles or so were hard as the wind was coming right at us. After that, I settled into my normal rhythm and pace. Everything was fine for the first 30 miles or so, then my back started to protest being in the aero position. I spent most of the second half of the race in an upright position trying various stretches while pedaling. I must have looked pretty silly.

On the whole, the ride was uneventful. Only one weird thing happened during the ride, at the third bottle exchange. One of the ladies handing out water bottles somehow had fallen or was knocked over by a biker, but I didn't see how. All I saw was her lying on the ground screaming with a couple of the other volunteers running towards her. I didn't see any blood, so hopefully she was ok.

The last 5 miles were hard again, mostly because of the headwind again. It's kind of deflating to be so close to the end, then to see your speed drop from 20mph to 18 to 16 to 14 in a matter of seconds. I had to keep shifting down to keep my cadence up. I passed another 3 or 4 people right in the last mile or so, and that felt great. I was glad to pull into the transition area knowing I was done for the day. I felt bad for my wife who had to run during the hottest part of the day.

Run: (Kristin)
I was sitting in the transition area, trying to hide under a tree to stay in the shade for as long as I could. There was very little shade and it was nice of the Race Director to put the relays near it so that we could hide from the sun while waiting for our teammates. My father in law screamed, “There’s Corey”. I hopped up and ran to the end of the racks and met him. Grabbed the timing chip, got another kiss and headed out on the run. I really liked this run, because it is an out and back. Plenty of chances to see your friends, get high fives, and keep motivated. All of those things are necessary when the temperature is in the upper 80’s. I have to believe that the first mile marker was wrong, as my first mile took me over 13 minutes, if that was reality, there was no way I was going to finish the race. I kept plugging along and the mile times started to be closer to my normal average. It was hot, so at every water stop, I would grab water and ice. Ice for under the hat, mix with the water, whatever I could do to keep myself cool. I was really happy with my times, when I realized that I had been going for more than 15 minutes on Mile 4. I never saw Mile 5 or Mile 8 markers, they must have been hidden by the water stops. Every time I saw I friend, I felt more motivated. When I reached the turn around point, I caught up with a friend and ran with her for about a mile. It was nice to have company for a little bit. Kept on running, and talked with random people. We got passed by someone who was hauling, and people realized that person was in a relay. No way that legs could be that fresh that far into a race. I’m betting good money that it was Aaron as I’ve never seen someone run that fast in my life! I’ve never been so happy to see trash trucks before, making that left turn back into town really picked me up. I had a Vanilla Gu every 45 minutes and was feeling great until the water station at Mile 11. As soon as I started running again, I felt a sloshing sensation. I realized that there was no way I could take in any more fluids without visiting a bathroom, and I just wanted the run to be over. So, I got a great ab workout, trying to keep the belly tight and kept moving. It felt so good to be able to see the finish line. As I was running down the last tenth of a mile, I saw the RATS tent, all the fast guys were chillin out, eating and laughing. That made me fired up, so I started to sprint. I saw my husband and his father and pushed it even harder. Ran through the timing mat and stopped running. Apparently I must have been weaving a little when I stopped running, so a race volunteer grabbed me and walked me through the tent. Corey and his dad found me, we got our finisher medals, I put his on him, and he grabbed me a soda. I convinced the volunteer that I was fine and was turned over to family.

Post Race:
Saw all the Tri Charlotte people, chatted about the race, destroyed some watermelon and soda. Couldn’t convince myself to eat solid foods, belly was still a little woozy. We headed over to the RATS tent, but nobody was there. So, we figured it was time to go home. We were getting our stuff when we realized why the RATS tent was empty, everyone was getting their hardware. Congrats to all the winners! But, once the thoughts of dry clothes is put in motion, it can’t be stopped, so we headed out of there for a post race McDonald’s burger, some beach traffic, and thoughts of a nice bed at home.