I finished the Quad. All 42 miles of it. And I went faster than I thought I could; faster than I planned. As a bonus, I feel I held back too much at certain points (the ski up, the ski down, the run down) and could have gone faster.
My “95% sure I can do this” time goal was 6:30.
My “maybe if things go really really well” goal was 6:15.
My “if the day is perfect, and I am surrounded by butterflies and songbirds” goal was 6:00. But don’t even think about that, because there is no way it will happen.
I finished in 6:06:25, which was good for 2nd in my age group. My award was a really cool engraved Nambe plinth.
I was not surrounded by songbirds (which might have been annoying anyway) but I felt good all day. No cramps. No stomach worries. I made a few mistakes. Some were minor - I forgot my nutrition three times; some could have been serious but for other people paying attention.
Before leg number three of the race (the uphill ski) I had help in the transition area. Which was good. K was there, waiting for his relay team to arrive. I was taking my sweet time, and he was trying to keep me focused to get out of the transition area. He practically force fed me some Gatorade, and I decided I was ready to go. Took me 3:56 to get through that area. So I headed up the trail. I was going along, thinking, “don’t waste too much energy here, but don’t dawdle. Work hard, but don’t cream yourself…” And I had this niggling notion that SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT. “Ok,” I think, “I’m just worried because I’m ahead of schedule. Let’s go through my next transition, ski to snowshoe. First, I get my snowshoes out of my backpack…” SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT! Suddenly, I became fuzzily aware that people from the transition area that I have left a minute or two ago are yelling. They are yelling “213.” Wait, 213 is my race number! “Oh sh!t I forgot my backpack with my snowshoes in it!!!” I tried to quickly turn around – no mean feet on x-country skis – and started skiing back downhill asap. Here was K, charging up the hill to split the difference with me. “I just about had a heart attack when I saw your back pack,” he said, flinging the pack on my shoulders. “Thanks man, that would have been bad.” About face numero dos, and back up the hill I go.
My favorite part of the race was the bike down – no surprise there, you might think? Mais non, I was dreading it all day. Actually all week as I watched the weather forecast. Come on, the forecast has got to change. It’ll be windy on Sunday, not Saturday. Come on, the weather guys are never right 5 days out…
It was windy. 20 mph headwind all the way back into town. “I’ll have to pedal hard the whole way, I’ll get to 3 miles from the finish and not feel like I can go any farther, I’ll be going 8 mph on the flats and wanting to die.” Wah!
You know when you get to the thing you were dreading, and it turns out to be not nearly as bad as you expected? It was kinda like that. Oh, it was still windy, but I was flying. I passed people right and left. I felt the wind tugging at me, but I felt like a hot knife through butta! (Have I mentioned how much I love my new bike? It rocks.)
My “95% sure I can do this” time goal was 6:30.
My “maybe if things go really really well” goal was 6:15.
My “if the day is perfect, and I am surrounded by butterflies and songbirds” goal was 6:00. But don’t even think about that, because there is no way it will happen.
I finished in 6:06:25, which was good for 2nd in my age group. My award was a really cool engraved Nambe plinth.
I was not surrounded by songbirds (which might have been annoying anyway) but I felt good all day. No cramps. No stomach worries. I made a few mistakes. Some were minor - I forgot my nutrition three times; some could have been serious but for other people paying attention.
Before leg number three of the race (the uphill ski) I had help in the transition area. Which was good. K was there, waiting for his relay team to arrive. I was taking my sweet time, and he was trying to keep me focused to get out of the transition area. He practically force fed me some Gatorade, and I decided I was ready to go. Took me 3:56 to get through that area. So I headed up the trail. I was going along, thinking, “don’t waste too much energy here, but don’t dawdle. Work hard, but don’t cream yourself…” And I had this niggling notion that SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT. “Ok,” I think, “I’m just worried because I’m ahead of schedule. Let’s go through my next transition, ski to snowshoe. First, I get my snowshoes out of my backpack…” SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT! Suddenly, I became fuzzily aware that people from the transition area that I have left a minute or two ago are yelling. They are yelling “213.” Wait, 213 is my race number! “Oh sh!t I forgot my backpack with my snowshoes in it!!!” I tried to quickly turn around – no mean feet on x-country skis – and started skiing back downhill asap. Here was K, charging up the hill to split the difference with me. “I just about had a heart attack when I saw your back pack,” he said, flinging the pack on my shoulders. “Thanks man, that would have been bad.” About face numero dos, and back up the hill I go.
My favorite part of the race was the bike down – no surprise there, you might think? Mais non, I was dreading it all day. Actually all week as I watched the weather forecast. Come on, the forecast has got to change. It’ll be windy on Sunday, not Saturday. Come on, the weather guys are never right 5 days out…
It was windy. 20 mph headwind all the way back into town. “I’ll have to pedal hard the whole way, I’ll get to 3 miles from the finish and not feel like I can go any farther, I’ll be going 8 mph on the flats and wanting to die.” Wah!
You know when you get to the thing you were dreading, and it turns out to be not nearly as bad as you expected? It was kinda like that. Oh, it was still windy, but I was flying. I passed people right and left. I felt the wind tugging at me, but I felt like a hot knife through butta! (Have I mentioned how much I love my new bike? It rocks.)
And crossing the finish line? It was sweet.
2 comments:
Top ten reasons I am glad you finished the quad:
10. Now the bike demolition is a great story.
9. Justifies multiple long boring car trips to Grants.
8. You can set your bar a little higher now.
7. You lifted the Mt. Taylor curse from people Kurt and I talk into the quad.
6. Winter can go away!
5. No more trips this year on the ski-bobsled run from hell.
4. You can go for it next year and not look so fresh at the end.
3. The great workout you get tearing duct tape of everything you own.
2. You don't HAVE to do it again. (but you will)
and the #1 reason I am glad you finished the quad:
1. I will not have to go through life not knowing what a plinth is!
Woo Hoo! Way to go, Flamin' Mo!!!!!
:)
Good thing there is no charge for Awesomeness...
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