Date/Location: | July 11, 2021 – Herald, CA |
Distances: | Swim 1.5K – Bike 40K – Run 10K |
Time: | 2:41:33 (31:44-1:21:34-48:15) |
Place: | 1st, W19 & Under |
Teammates: | Dana Haldeman, Troy Outman, Troy Soares |
SWIM
I walk down towards the swim and see Daddy take off. It's almost my turn to start the swim. I put my wetsuit on and by the time I have my wetsuit on the second wave is gone. Yikes, I'm in the third wave in 5 min. I quickly do some stretching to help my hip for the run and then get in the water. I put water in my wetsuit in order to cool myself off. The water is warm and I will most likely get hot. I get ready to start and I know when the race director counts down, he counts down super-fast. It's more like a 5-second countdown but he says it like a 10-second countdown. He counts down and we take off. I try to aim straight for the white buoy. Dad told me to keep my head straight when I lift it out of the water. That way the buoy doesn't look crooked making me go the wrong way. There's a lot of people around and we're all kind of bumping into each other. I started in the front of the pack so that I might find a good swimmer I can swim with.
As I’m swimming, my hip starts to feel sore. It seems every time I do an open water swim, my hip gets sore in the beginning. After a while though, praise God, my hip feels better. The buoy is finally getting closer. I can't find anyone to draft off of though, because they're either too slow or already way ahead. I finally get to the white buoy and turn around. I start swimming across but don't see the second white buoy in the distance. All I see is the sunshine in my eyes and a bunch of swimmers in front of me. All the swimmers make white splashes so I can't see a white buoy. I'm struggling to figure out where this white buoy is. They should have put more guide buoys out or something. I see an orange buoy up ahead but none of the swimmers are swimming straight towards it. It must be a buoy on the way back or a guide buoy that's way off track. I try to follow all the swimmers which is not always the best thing to do. Finally, I see a white pointy thing sticking up in the distance, I'm pretty sure it must be the buoy. Every time I look up though I kind of lose track of where it is. It's far in the distance and hard to see especially with all the swimmers splashing and making whitewater.
I finally get a good eye on it and keep swimming towards it. I'm swimming next to this other lady who's going about the same speed as me. She seems to zigzagging a lot or I'm just zigzagging. We're kind of bumping into each other as we each try to keep a straight path to the buoy. Kind of like we're fighting for the straight line there. I start to see seaweed underneath us and it's entertaining to be able to see something below instead of just water. I get to the buoy and turn. I can see the arch in the distance where the finish chute for the swim is. I start swimming towards it, keeping a good pace. Every once in a while, I keep bumping into people that I’ve seen before. It’s weird. As I'm getting closer, I'm thinking of a new technique to get my wetsuit off faster. Normally it takes a while for my wetsuit to get off because the zipper gets stuck. I come up with the idea of zipping my zipper down as I’m swimming in. When I get close I pull the zipper. It goes down super smoothly. This idea works really well. The only downfall is that I’m still a little ways from the shore and my wetsuit is creating drag. I get to the sand and stand up. I pull down my arms and start to kick my wetsuit off. I'm having trouble standing on the wetsuit and it costs me time. I finally get the wetsuit off and run up towards transition. In transition, I quickly put on my socks, helmet, and glasses. I now take off on the bike.
BIKE
I start the bike feeling good. I get my feet situated into my bike shoes, which are connected to my bike. This kind of takes a while. I'm finally all strapped in and get into aerobars for the bike. I'm feeling pretty strong right now and I'm trying to keep a 16.8 average miles per hour. That's what my mom did in her Ironman. Pretty impressive. I get across the levee and start heading down towards the main road. My miles per hour average is going up which is good. That way I have extra time to slow down on the hills if I need to. I turn onto the main road and it's just straight to the turnaround. I see a girl up ahead and I bike up passing her. After a little bit, she comes back to pass me again. An older guy passes me also. I stay where I am for a little bit then I catch back up to them. I'm biking for a while and then another biker passes me and then the old man follows. He is biking at a strong pace. I am biking along behind them and then hear pstttt. I hope nobody got a flat. I see the old man who passed me pull over. I ask him if he's okay and needs anything, but he says he’s okay. I guess he has the stuff to handle flat. I’ll look for him on the way back though, just in case he is having trouble. I also realize that I don’t have all the tools myself to fix a flat. Hopefully, if it's God's will, I won't get a flat.
I’m enjoying the bike right now and realizing how much I enjoy triathlon. It’s so much fun to go through transition fast and to move from one sport to the next. I’m glad God has given me a joy for triathlon. I start to see a few people coming back. I then go from the rough road we were on to a smoother road. This is much nicer! Hopefully, the turnaround will come soon. I've hit about 9 miles now. I see something yellow in the distance and I’m pretty sure it’s my Dad coming back. Wow, he's pretty far in front. I wave and tell him good job. He tells me “God is with you”. I know that even if I can’t keep a good pace on the bike or run, God will get me through it and give me a great race.
The road starts to curve into a small kind of town. I know we must be getting close to the turnaround. The downhills increase and I hope I'll still have the energy to make it up the hills on the way back. I start to stand up and stretch my calves as I go downhill. My calves are pretty sore right now but hopefully, they won't feel that bad when I start going uphill. I also try to massage my neck with my hand, so it stays loose and doesn't get sore. I also try to keep my head pretty far down to not strain it. I see a railroad up ahead and make sure no one's behind me. I bike over the railroad at an angle so my bike tires don't fall into the cracks. Last year, when I crossed, I wasn't looking behind me and there was a car there. It was far back, but I'm glad that God protected me during it. After making a few more curves, I see the turnaround up ahead. I get to the turnaround and unclip my shoe so I can make the tight turn safely. I don't think bikes we're made for turnarounds. It's always hard to make a tight turn and then get back up to speed.
I start heading back and realize I should have been looking for people in my age group ahead of me. Oh well, I'll just try to catch the people around me. It's uphill now but it’s gradual. I'm keeping an average of 18.3 miles per hour right now. I'm very surprised about that and thank God for giving me a lot of energy today. Hopefully, I can keep the pace up the whole way back. Every once in a while, I pass people and it's getting a little bit busier with cars around. The cars mostly drive in the middle of the road unless they see another car. I go to pass a biker and should have checked behind me because there is a car there. Thank God the car is just staying back and isn’t passing. I have to remember to check for cars more. Even though bikes have priority over the road, the cars can still drive on the road. I get to the railroad crossing again and cross over it. I make sure to check again for cars or bikes behind me when I swerve. I'm up to 14 miles on my Garmin now. Only about 10 miles left.
I finally get out of the town area and back onto a long straight road. I keep my eye out because I'm getting closer to where I saw the old man pull over to check his flat. I don't see him anywhere, so he must have fixed it and got back on the bike. That's good. A biker goes by me heading toward the turnaround. It’s a young girl, maybe 15 or 14 at the youngest. I am very impressed that she is out here doing this. I tell her good job and keep riding. All of the sudden, my stomach starts to rumble on the bike. I've been wanting food at random times these days and now I'm in the middle of a race and I'm starving. My stomach can be so weird. I'm at mile 20 now and I can see the two big nuclear towers that this race is famous for. They are getting bigger, as I get closer to the park. I take my gel hoping it will fill my stomach and give me energy for the run.
Up ahead I make the turn that leads into the park. I start to feel a blast of energy and thank God for giving it to me. I'm now biking very strong up a small hill to the levee. As I'm going up the hill, I see the runners running to the turnaround. One of the runners is my Dad! I tell him that I'm keeping an 18.3 average pace on the bike and he says “good job, God is with you.” I like how he always reminds me to keep my focus on God because I might not always get the pace I want, but the main focus is on racing for God. I keep biking towards the park and start to take my feet out of my bike shoes so I'm ready to change into my running shoes. I bike to the transition and hop off my bike pretty easily. I run with my bike in one hand towards my transition area. I've been practicing running with my bike with one hand and have it down now. I move my bike around the parking lot blocks and get to my transition area. I quickly get my shoes, hat, water, and bib number on, then head out to the run.
RUN
My Dad told me to try to keep an average of an 8:30 pace. I was surprised because I did a 3-mile race and it was hard to keep a 6:30 / 7:00 minute pace without it hurting for three miles. So to keep an 8:30 for 6 miles sounds hard. But as soon as I start running, I’m running at an 8:00 min pace. I am blessed to be able to run this pace even with my hip. I grab water and keep running. I get onto the run course and remember that it’s not my preferred run course. There are no trees anywhere and it's just a long dirt road. I finally get to the first-aid station and ask for ice. I fill up a sock that my mom gave me with ice and put it around my neck. I also fill up my water bottle that mom gave me at Christmas a while ago, with water for the Run. I take off completely ready for the rest of the run.
Up ahead to the left I see the connecting trail where the runners coming back join onto the big dirt road. I see my Dad coming off the trail! God keeps giving us great chances to see each other throughout the whole race. I ask him how he is feeling and he says he's feeling good. He starts running back to the finish line as I start running out towards the turnaround. As I pass people, I tell them good job, hoping not to tire myself out too much. But I know it's a good thing to cheer people on. As I'm running on a dirt road, I see the small trail on my left where the runners coming back are running on. I can see the different bridges that they cross and I start counting them. That way I know when I'm getting close to the last aid station. I count four bridges before I hit the gravel road that leads to the bike course. I run by the aid station on the corner and grab some water. I then continue to the road where the bikers are. As I get onto the road and am running down it, I see a young girl on a bike. She must be in my age group. She's doing pretty good for her age. I’m running down to the turnaround now and look for people in my age group. I don’t see anyone that is super young, but I keep running hard.
I get to the run turnaround and start running back up to the road to the gravel. On my way up, I see a kid in green who is running really fast down to the turnaround. I wonder if he'll catch up to me. I get to the gravel road and run onto a small little trail on the side of it. As I pass a runner, he asks if I'm going to keep this pace the whole time. I tell him I am. First, he says he’ll try to stick with me but then says maybe he can't. I tell him just to try his best and that’s all that matters. The trail turns and loops by the lake. If I wasn’t racing, I’d love to run right in. The trail then gets to the aid station on the corner. I grab some water hoping for it to sustain me till the last aid station because my water bottle is empty. I didn’t want to fill it up and lose time. Plus the boy in green is catching up fast. Now I'm on the trail that has the bridges on it. I can see the kid in green behind me. He's been catching up pretty fast. I’ve crossed one bridge so far and keep running. By the second/third bridge the green kid passes me. I tell him “good job for catching up to me” and “keep it up”.
After a while, I finally cross the fourth bridge. The trail then eventually curves back onto the main road. I'm so excited, I'm almost done! I just have to go to the bathroom now and try to run fast to hold it. I just need to get to the first aid station because I'm probably a little dehydrated. As I'm running, I watch my step so I don’t twist my ankle as I'm running down these rocky hills. I almost twist my ankle. I thank God for continuing to keep me stable throughout this race. I finally get to the first aid station, grab some water and keep running. I'm only a mile away but it seems like it's still so far away. I'm really tired now and I ask God to sustain me. It hurts to push but I can finally see the last turn towards the finish. I make this turn and can see where the grass leads to the finish. I can also see my Dad waiting there to cheer me on. This encourages me and I keep my pace up. I see Dad and smile pointing to God. I then turn onto the grass. I'm running pretty strong now and run across the grass to the finish chute. I see a runner ahead and use them to help me sprint hard. I hope they don’t mind. They are great competition right at the end. I point to God and finish. Instead of stopping at the finish line though, I continue jogging towards the bathroom. At least having to go to the bathroom the last two miles pushed me. I finished first in my age group, although I don't think anyone else is my age group or at least hadn’t finished in my age group. God still gave me an amazing race though and I’m glad I’m done!
Praise The Lord For He Is Good, His Love Endures Forever!
