Pacific Crest Long-Distance Struggle

OK, it's a long-distance triathlon or a Half Ironman, either way, it's a struggle. I speak from experience. As Frohlein Maria would say, "Let's start at the very beginning"

In 2008 I ran a Marathon. In my training Coach James kept telling me the race doesn't start until mile 18 and for the life of me I couldn't understand. The race starts when the gun goes off, duh, what does he know? I remember mile 18 and I remember going "aha, James isn't so dumb after all." A marathon does in fact start at mile 18, or in the vicinity thereof. My other 'aha' moment also came at that mile post. "I will not be doing an Ironman.....ever!" So I did a half.

Pacific Crest Weekend Sports Festival is in Sunriver, Oregon and it is amazing. I love the energy of the Athletes Village, the weather and the beauty. It can't be topped. The race starts right above 4200 feet, and just goes up from there. Problem!

So what does my marathon have to do with this race? The day before race day I had an epiphany. You see, I was worried about the swim from the word "go" or "register," whichever you prefer. I figured I could at least limp through the rest, but swim with the fishies, this is a problem. However, I do have a lake in my backyard, and I can honestly say I had zero fear of the swim or the fishies during the race. Practice, practice, practice and little fear facing helps. I also got drug up enough hills by Ryan, Monte and James to survive cycling up Mt. Bachelor. My epiphany was regarding the run. For six months I prepared to run 13.1 miles. Not a problem considering I've ran a marathon, I can do 13, easy. I barely remember the first half of my marathon, it's a no brainer. The thought went thus, "you don't have to run the first 13.1 miles, you have to run the second 13.1 miles and those SUCKED! And that was when I started hoping for a mean stomach flu to attack me, thus enabling me to lie in bed all day Saturday. It wasn't to be!


Saturday morn, we loaded up and I was very mellow, even Monte's attempts to pump me up with various mixed music didn't work. However, when my request for Miss Miley and "The Climb" was played, I sat and cried. I don't think it was fear, but the line about there will always be another mountain to climb and I can see Mt. Bachelor ahead of me was just overwhelming. Even if I did bow out of the race, I would eventually sign-up for another and that would be yet another mountain to climb. I did freak out a little walking into the water before the countdown. I told Ryan I didn't want to do it and I was scared of being last (truly that was my biggest concern, I could just imagine all the race officials having to stay late for me). My loving husband, said he knew I didn't want to, but to suck it up and do it anyway, then he walked his butt out there and raced. (I caught him 7hrs and 58 minutes later.) So the tears were coming, I was freaking, 5,4,3, I put my goggles on 2,1, and I swam. The best part of the swim was about 3 minutes out, I was sighting and breathing and looked over and saw people treading water, panicking, off course, breast stroking, backstroking the wrong way, and here I was swimming. It was awesome, at least I was ahead of them. That was all I needed to boost my confidence and swim on......slow and steady.

My bike was good and I am very happy with my time. I came into the race extremely worried about it. I had recently rode Mt. St. Helens and the volcano kicked my butt. I let it get into my head and psych me out. However I was strong......slow and steady. I hoped for 4 hours, and was scared of 4:30 or more. 4:08 it was and I love it! 38 miles uphill and the rest is downhill. I was so proud of myself, I barely touched my brakes coming down and even pedaled most of the time. This was huge for me.

Then the run!

It sucked, it was hard, it re-enforced the prior conviction that an Ironman just isn't in the cards. The pain of running at 4200 ft. after cycling is intense. Some can pull it off, but for me, and most of the people I talk to, it's just something you have to experience to appreciate. The legs simply don't do what you tell them to do. There must be a disconnect somewhere because the mental can't completely override body. I did end up doing a run/walk combination. After 3 miles of mind and body arguing I simply solved the problem. My watch beeped at me every 20 minutes to eat. I simply decided that at the beeps I was going to walk for 5 minutes, then I had to run for 15. It worked great! I didn't have to negotiate anything anymore with the stumps because the mind was strong enough to know that we (legs + brain) can do anything for 15 minutes. Don't get me wrong, there was still arguing (it sounded like my kids whining) but the watch was in charge, and nothing can argue with a beep!

I did finish the run, slowly and steadily (race theme #1). It was awesome to come around the bend, hear the announcer, then to hear my family and friends yelling "go Carlie!" There is something about that moment that makes tears spring instantly to your eyes. I'm not sure if its the family and others yelling just for you, or the mere sight of the finish line and the end of the torture, but it is amazing! My girls, Isabel and Taylor, hopped the fence and crossed the line with me. That was definitely pretty cool. Hopefully they got a sense of mom's hard work and it can translate into some future success for them.

Now for the amazing part (yes, more amazing then me completing this race.) Ryan also raced. He and I had the exact same run time, 2:41:33. I don't think we could run together and have the exact same time, the finish would be a second or two off. I think that is pretty awesome! However, should I call AASports and see if they have our times to the hundredths? I think I won because I am listed first in the run time rankings? It would be nice to hold that over his head!

A huge thanks to all my "team" supporters, The Pope family for use of husband to train with and daughters to babysit. The Zobrist family for that awful St. Helens climb and daughter to babysit. James Williams, my trainer and Zing 3 coach. James makes me believe I can do things I have no business doing, then I go and do them, it's crazy. Also to James' wife Natalie for babysitting (race theme #2) and finally to Ryan. He kicked me out of the door to train more times than I can count and for making me start the race, I may have gone to breakfast otherwise.

BTW, 28 people finished after me, I wasn't last! Woot! Woot!