Wildflower Race Report

Wildflower Long Course. The end!

Ready for a weekend of camping/racing!

But seriously, if you know anything about this course, you know it's never an easy race day. Especially when it's hot. Which it was. That was the challenge, but the blessing was that at least it wasn't 95 like it was the day before the race...

So I have a lot to say about the race. Bottom line is that it was tough and I didn't do very well, but I finished!

SWIM (links to Garmin Connect)
At least 2 minutes faster than last time!
Challenges:
-It's always tricky trying not to get hit or grabbed in the water. I only got my feet grabbed a few times, and punched in the face once!
Blessings:
-I had been worried about my goggles fogging up, since they've been doing this in training. I got some advice and ended up using the old "spit & rinse" technique. It worked!
-The water was warm enough for comfortable swimming, and cool enough to feel refreshing after standing around in my black full-sleeved wetsuit waiting for my wave to start.
-Clear goggles and large buoys made for easy sighting. I actually looked over to the hills while swimming; such beautiful scenery at Wildflower if you take the time to look!

Transition before all the chaos...

Lake San Antonio - day before the race

BIKE
I don't want to talk about my average speed lol.
Challenges:
-I guess I've been used to standing breaks at lights during training, because my shoulder started hurting early on, about mile 15. My mind instantly turned to, "How am I ever going to handle 112 miles of being in the aero position if I can't even handle 15?"
-I got passed by many 60-year-olds. No big deal, they were probably elite racers back in the day...
-Nasty Grade. Ah, the mile-long 10% grade at mile 42. It's famous at this race. I inched my way up and was fine until I decided to stand up for a second. Tiny fists grabbed the insides of my quads and screamed "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING? SIT BACK DOWN RIGHT NOW!" I did, which shut them up.
-I had been drinking water on the course. A lot of water. Too much water. Yes, it's possible! I must have been flushing out all of the electrolytes that my body needed. Anyway, they ran out of water at the aid station at mile 48, so I drank some Gatorade.

I'll take a 4th cup of water, please...

Blessings:
-I maxed out at 42mph (fun!), and also managed to keep my bike upright for the entire 56 miles. This was not the case down the big hill for some racers.
-Once again, there was beautiful scenery. When I took a second to look around and was reminded of this, I was so thankful! Even though I felt terrible, I could enjoy the view.
-I kept thinking, "Just get me on the run!" And eventually I made it.

I'm smiling to mask the pain lol.

RUN
Well, I survived.
Challenges:

See, standing on the towel!

-Straight out of transition, I realized I had a rock in my sock. Umm, I thought I stepped on my towel to avoid this? Oh well.
-I still drank too much plain water, partially because I made a *genius* move and left my Infinit nutrition bottle in the blazing hot sun for 4 hours. Brilliant. Anyway, this caused me to have sideache from mile 5 to the very end. From mile 8 on, it was so debilitating that I would "run" (read: jog) for 30 seconds or until my side would scream at me "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING? STOP IT RIGHT NOW!" and I would let out what I'm sure was a very scary sound ("AHHOUCHYOUSTOPITRIGHTNOWAHH!!") and instantly start walking.

Look, I'm actually running!
(Oh, this is the first 50 yards...)

-There's a very nice downhill called "The Pit" which is about a 4% grade for almost a mile. I could barely manage a 9:45 mile pace down this thing. Coming back up (do I need to say it??), I was walking. The very last hill is about a 7% downhill to the lake, and yep, I was walk/jogging this one too. At about a 12:00 pace. This might seem fine, but normally I'd hope to fly down the hill at about an 8:00 pace...
Blessings:
-I'll tell you, the people with hoses/buckets were my best friends. I stopped and did a full 360 so they could douse me with as much water as possible. I even let the little kids try and soak me with their tiny squirt guns.
-The run is actually very scenic; big surprise right? There's the lake, trees, a beautiful meadow...what more could you ask for?
-Coming up The Pit, I saw a sign from FCA, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, with the verse "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). I stopped dead in my tracks. I sure was weak, and I sure was thankful that it wasn't up to just me to finish the race! There were a few times I cried out there on the course. The first was after the bike, and this was the second.
-Walking up The Pit, I met up with girl in my age group. Normally I would run right by her in this situation, fast enough so she couldn't see the age marking on my left calf. Not this time. As we chatted, I thought, "This is much more fun than trying to run thru my side pain! And don't I want to have fun instead of pushing hard knowing I'm not even going to come close to my time goal?" I knew that my body was depleted (evidence: crying and sideache, and dumping out half my electrolyte-charged drink because it just didn't sound good), and there was no use pushing to the point of hurting myself. I realized that whatever I was doing was all that my body could do at the moment. It was all it had to give. And it had to be enough.

Grimacing thru the finish...

So I finally made it down the hill, and I thought, "No matter how much it hurts, I'm going to run thru the entire finish chute!" As soon as the word "chute" entered my mind, it turned to "shoot!" because the tiny fists came back in my left calf. Sorry, you thought you were going to decide when you get to run? Ha! By some miracle, I managed to pull it together after a few steps and run to the line. A volunteer asked if she could take my timing chip. Sure, but I definitely can't lift my left foot to make it easy for you!
As soon as I could get in some shade, I leaned over with my head in my hands and just began sobbing. Emotional release. It was all over. If I had let this race be all about me, they would have been angry tears. Instead, they were thankful tears. I was definitely frustrated by the heat, my poor performance, and my inability to take in adequate nutrition. But all of that aside, somehow I remembered that this season of racing is about something bigger. My mind often went to the people from Up & Running Again, who were running the OC Half Marathon the next day. Many of them have never accomplished anything like finishing a race. Perhaps their Half Marathon finish would be even more difficult...and even more rewarding...than my Wildflower Half Ironman finish.

My lone bike, hours after the finish when I finally recovered...

I anxiously awaited news from the race. Even though we just met a few runners a couple weeks ago, I was nervous for all of them, praying they would be able to finish strong! I especially thought about Varsha and Ashley. I knew they would be running their race in probably well over 3 hours. That's a long time to be out on the race course. I thought about how they persevered thru their training, completing the 11mi training run last week:

I thought about how I'm so used to running throughout an entire race, and what a challenge it must be to be a slower runner. I always appreciated the people who finish the race last...the 8hr marathon finisher, the 17hr Ironman finisher...but after experiencing the struggle to jog/walk my own half marathon, I have an even greater respect for these athletes! Check out Ashley and Varsha's video race reports. Amazing. Way to go, ladies.

So there it is, in a nutshell. If I learned anything from this race, it's that IT SURE IS NOT ABOUT ME. And thank God, really. I am so thankful to have found a cause to run for, and as much of a blessing it was to meet the runners last week and experience the OC Half Marathon vicariously thru Facebook, I'm so excited to be a part of whatever comes of my fundraising for Up & Running Again throughout this Ironman journey!

P.S. For the number-minded among you, here are this year's results as compared to past years. A summary of Greg and my Wildflower experience:

Thank you to everyone who has supported me already through prayer and well wishes for my training and racing. It means so much to have your love and support!