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Post by margaret on Jul 31, 2014 19:26:16 GMT
Congrats Derek! Looking forward to the race report!
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Post by Derek1 on Aug 7, 2014 21:54:11 GMT
Hi Everyone, sorry it took so long to get to this race report . Seems so long ago now I can hardly remember what happened myself but here goes anyway. The swim started off ok I really like the new rolling start a lot more than the old mass start. After a couple of hundred yards I felt like I was swimming alone which was awesome. A little ways into the second lap the heavens opened up and there was torrential rains upon us and a few bolts of lightning too. It was a weird feeling having sheets of rain greet you when you turned your head to take a breath and weirder still when the lake below you lit up with each bolt of lightning. Yes my time was pitiful but I have a good excuse. My grandmother Lord rest her sole, said " if you only learn 2 things in life let it be these 2 things. Move in a zig zag motion during a lightning storm, and stay out in the open if you are been chased by a crocodile ". Words to live by indeed ! I'm sure you all now know about the second lap of the swim and T1 been subtracted from our total time so I won't go into that. Heading out on the bike was so disheartening . I had had a couple of long training rides in bad weather and the thoughts of suffering through 6+hrs of this thunder lightning and rain like I had seldom seen was enough to make a grown man cry. And we did. I've never seen so many men cry openly for their mommy's. It was cold too, how cold I don't know but I started shivering almost uncontrollably. On the downhill into Keene where you can easily go 45mph I couldn't get over 30 coz my bike was shaking so much. After 2hrs of this it eased into normal rain and the temperature picked up so I felt like I was having a warm shower, or I was peeing on myself , one or the other. Speaking of peeing on oneself, has any of you out there had the pleasure ? Reason I ask is I went from 0 potty breaks in 2012 to 8 in 2014 on the bike alone, figure I could save some time if the act was socially acceptable . Then the skies cleared and you could hear screams of joy up and down the road, they were short lived of course because then came the winds which were just another pain in the already painful ass. I was never so happy to be starting a marathon, the sun was shining and all was well. At least for a couple of miles anyway . Mile 3 my left calf went on strike, and a mile later my right calf went on strike in sympathy with the left. So that was a pain in the ass, a pain in the calves really. On I went mile by mile walking through the aid stations ever grateful every time I saw my support crew of Alex Joc Lexie and my Julie who I think covered more miles on the run course than I did .As the bike escort for the 3rd place pro female rolled alongside me momentarily , I said to her huffing and puffing "am I winning?" .Well this girl started to laugh her ass off freakishly, I thought to myself, what kinda whack jobs do they get to work these races . As I crossed the finish line I hear Mike Reilly announce "Derek Flood, from IRAN , you are an ironman" IRAN what the frack ! I met him the next day in starbucks and called him on it . He told me his family's entire Irish history because this in someway should make everything ok, ah what the heck , it did. So I know I might have made this sound terrible, and it was, but only in small parts. Overall it was an amazing experience I couldn't be happier and I can't wait to do it again.
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lisa
Junior Member
Posts: 87
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Post by lisa on Aug 7, 2014 23:56:06 GMT
Thank you for taking the time to do this, love your race reports, made me laugh out loud. And my grandmother told me if you only learn one thing in life, remember that laughter is good.
I heard you signed up again. Obviously the weather next year can't be any worse.
Congrats.
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Post by delogne on Aug 8, 2014 23:04:13 GMT
My Grandmother told me not to mess with Iranians. Love it. I wish you raced more often so we could have more race reports.
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Post by dblume on Aug 9, 2014 12:46:33 GMT
Derek, did you sign up for next year?
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Post by veronica on Aug 9, 2014 13:43:06 GMT
Congrats, Derek! Sounds like quite an accomplishment. I can't say for sure that I would've stuck it out.
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Post by jocelyn on Aug 9, 2014 16:53:25 GMT
Love the race report! Don't think I'd be so eager to sign up for another after racing in those conditions, but watching the racers made me think that I might possibly want to do another one (some day when Lexi actually sleeps through the night, ha)! And I know that some fellow Infinitris have peed on the bike... Was fun watching and cheering you on even in the midst of thunder and lightening and torrential rain!
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Post by Mkadlick on Aug 10, 2014 11:19:41 GMT
That was awesome!! Congrats on finishing and thanks for the entertaining recap!
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derek
New Member
Posts: 25
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Post by derek on Aug 10, 2014 13:19:19 GMT
Yes Dave I signed up for next year . Will you be joining me ?
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Post by delogne on Aug 11, 2014 0:27:30 GMT
I only pee on the bike after I lay it down in the grass.
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