Total Pageviews

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

45 in 45 - Updates (Race #10 completed)

The first milestone race in the pursuit of 45 races completed in my 45th year, I hope the next ones aren’t so crappy!

How can I get mad at him for a broken doggie bag?
This was easily the most stressful race (start) yet, and it could have been the worst one too, my first venture across the border, dog, tent, bike and broken wetsuit in tow, invited by a potential client to check out his new race property.   It was actually supposed to be an “easy” weekend, a short 5km run Saturday then the rest of the time, R and R in Niagara (drink wine, cycle, drink more wine, eat, sleep, more wine).  etc.     But I messed up my schedule and the 5km was a week later, so of course I scramble to find something else to keep this streak going, get as many races under my belt before (pick any) age, injury, boredom or worse slows me down.   Sarah was anxious and eager to put her wine tasting skills to the test, so when I found this neat little triathlon organized by a great guy (Dan Horan, pictured here), I figured why not?

Now the sales part.


Happier times before the race.....

“Oh, honey, why don’t we drive Friday after work instead of Saturday morning (at 5:00 am, that would never fly for a nite owl like her).  We can stay in the falls and act like honeymooners, then you can sleep in, go for a run and I will do this short little race (600 metre swim, 20 mile bike and 5km trail run).
Well, I at least I kept my part of the bargain!  (the honeymoon part),  after a hectic 60 minutes trying to find a hotel room of adequate stature, pet friendly, a low floor to lug our bikes in…. no easy task at 9pm on a Friday evening in high tourist season.

Race morning, Jefferson and I head out on another adventure, probably the 200th race we have attended together now.  Grab some Tim Horton’s, sweet talk the border guard (remove the MyNextRace magnets from the side panels of course).  He actually asked me why I was going across the border to do this “trathlon” thing anyway.  I asked him would he not drive across our border to go fishing?  (that was risky).  He looked like a fisherman.  Glad once again he did not open the van doors, we’ve been here before kids, several times trying to cross for the Boston Marathon when we have a van STOCKED with our Team Canada brunch items.



The drive was really pretty, Wilson, NY is on the shores of Lake Ontario, very close to the Niagara on the Lake side (Canada), but the drive through downtown Niagara Falls, NY is brutal.  It feels like the world abandoned these poor people, Detroit, Flint Michigan would be nicer….of course we are late, it takes longer than expected to get to the race venue, so we arrive at approx. 8:35 am, for a 9:00 am race start and I have a tent and table to set up, a dog, registration to take care of.  Oh, and when Jefferson finally did his morning business, naturally to make things more interesting the bag breaks and 2 of my fingers are covered in $%#$.

Thanks a lot, the “dog gift bag” from the Best Western lets me down……crap.  Literally and figuratively.   I hear the race announcer saying, “all triathletes down to the water for race instructions”.  Oh, and I forgot my bike helmet too, one more item to worry about, plus the wetsuit is broken but I wonder how bad is the water anyway, it’s been a hot month?  After I hurredly meet Dan the Race Director, get my entry, bodymarkings, set up tent, table, brochures, bring bike and stuff into transition, find friendly spectator cyclist and trade helmet for free sunglasses, throw tennis ball a few times to give dog some exercise.  Did I mention I also went to the washroom, did my business and cleaned the hands with anti-bacterial soap (for those reading and wondering, when did that happen)?


Anyway, none of this really matters except the fact that I did barely make it to the water in time for the last wave start, which was funny as my grey swim cap should have put me in the first wave.  I tried to explain to the registration lady (my time does not matter).  I walked over to the swim exit to put my sandals, shirt and race bib down on the ground (which I forgot to leave in transition in all the haste).  Then I jogged along the beach back over to the swim start and the spectators started yelling at me, thinking I was the first swimmer in Wave One out of the water (“this way, this way they yelled).   Looking back this was pretty funny, I could have skipped the swim altogether and been first out on the bike!


Finally, my race starts, 9:15 I think.  I am a very fast swimmer (in a pool),  but it’s 62 degrees btw, freak’in cold even for a Canadian.    I am sure the surfers and scuba divers on hand were eying me closely, thinking to themselves, this guy in the grey swim cap started in wave One…… ”hhmm, when is this guy going under”.   I seriously wanted to quit and turn around after 15 metres in, my balls FROZE and my brain CRAMPED.   I stopped and looked back at the warm, sandy shore, then thought what would Dan think of me now.  Here I am an Ironman Finisher and I can’t even stomach some cold water and 600 metres.  I plunge back in.  The last wave is always a gas as the real newbies, many first timers in open water, start panicking and freaking out, so no matter how bad of a swimmer you are, someone is behind you.  I actually passed some swimmers in the wave (4 minutes) ahead of us, that was a surprise.  Mark Spitz look out, Phelps II is coming….not.


I did survive the swim, my BALLS thawed and I made it to Transition One,  jumped on my Cervelo sans socks and bike shorts (I brought bike shorts liner instead of my tri-shorts by accident, so as I type this blog 4 days later I still have welts on my inner thighs from riding an hour in wet running shorts).  Go ahead, keep laughing…..my pain and discomfort were hidden by the scenic, NY State scenery, countryside and all the mtn bikes I passed!    That’s about the only good thing starting at the back of a triathlon, no one passes you all day.  In fact, you can feel rock-star’ish” especially on the run, passing folks left, right and centre.  The trail run 5km was awesome, even though I left my running shoes in the back of the van and had to climb the transition barricades to quickly grab them from my car, which fortunately was 20 yards away.   I made every mistake it would seem, including trying to clean dog #$@# on race morning.   The end finally came, and downing two frosty cold Red Bulls at the finish didn’t hurt.


Wiped out in Niagara on the Lake.

They helped ease the sting of the icy cold stare Sarah gave me 2hrs later when I picked her up at Starbucks by the falls, and was too tired all weekend to do much else…..

Race #10 down…, “how many more races in this stupid 45 and 45 to go again”?
—————————————————–



Race #1 – Huntington Disease 10km Run – June 26th
Race #2 – Tim Horton’s Peach Bud 5km (2 days later)
Race #3 – Canada Day 5-miler (2 days later)
Race #4 – Gay Pride Run 5km (4th race in 6 days)
Race #5 – Warrior Dash 5km Obstacle Course
Race #6 – Dowtown Dash 5km – July 14th (rode bike 50+ km’s first)
Race #7  – Run, Wine and Dine Half-Marathon (whine is a better word, for 45 minutes)
Race #8 – Durham 1/4 Marathon
Race #9 – Muskoka Rocks 5km
Race #10 – Wilson Wet and Wild Sprint Triathlon (USA)
————————————————————————————————————————————

Peter Donato
aka Jefferson Mascot

For those who care, here were my Triathlon splits…..

132   Peter Donato             1:57:36   (Total Time and place overall out of 227 athletes)
TM45-49    10/16   (age group placing)
185   (swim rank out of 227 swimmers)
16:27   (swim time adjusted as per starting in last wave)
2:45      (transition #1 – from swim to bike)
131    1:10: (bike time and rank overall)
17.0    (average speed on bike, mph)
2:30   (transition #2, bike to run)
54  (run ranking)
25:o6  (5km trail run time)