Can thoughts be meandering or is that for creeks? Clearly, it is too late in the evening for me to BLOG. This post should come with a warning. Although, I now come with a warning — I’m taking a little break after Buffalo Springs 70.3 last weekend, and I’m probably already crazy.
Buffalo Springs 70.3 was the first 1/2 I’ve done for awhile. I jumped in the race because my husband, Michael, prepared for this race… and I was going to be his support crew, so why not jump in.
It sounds so casual; however, it was a major production.
1. Autumn
First, the caregiver for Autumn (8-year-old daughter). A few months back, I signed up my Mom to come visit us, then take Autumn to Chicago with her for a couple days until I got there. I had to work this with Autumn, too. The apple didn’t fall far from this perverbial tree, and she’s as high strung as her mother. So, she doesn’t always warm immediately to any new idea. She has her own opinions. Imagine that. After some massaging of the parties, it was set. I booked flights for my mom, Autumn, and finally me.
As a side note (of which there will be many because it’s late and I’m feeling verbose), I had this secondary agenda. I thought… hmmmmm, I’ll race in AZ, do some local short races, go to Lubbock, so I’ll be ready for a break right after Lubbock. Hey, I can sneak an extra day in there and ‘get stuff done’. This is a key phrase for all first-born (almost only child), intense, high-strung, over-achieving, OCDish people. Or mothers (don’t have experience as a father, so I mean no disrespect). The challenge is that my ‘get stuff done’ list exceeds the time available. No advanced math will help that calculation. I have 5 hours left in my time availalbe and still need to sleep, so we had better get on to item 2 and attempt to limit the number of items.
2. Michael
After IMAZ, Michael took ‘priority spot’ for workouts, as Buffalo Springs 70.3 was his priority race. I actually thought I was giving something up. Alas, his perspective, “Juls, we adjust to you. We don’t mind. It is what it is.” It’s good to know how he sees it. But, I did miss a few swim practices.
I thoroughly enjoyed watching Michael prepare for this experience. He became more confident; he enjoyed the journey.
Michael had a FABulous day at Buffalo Springs — he exceeded his expectations. He stayed in the moment. By the way, this photo is not in Lubbock, sorry.
3. Peaceful Warrior
I forced Michael to watch Peaceful Warrior. He ended up liking it — usually when I’m that insistent, he prepares to fend off chick-flick or British-flick or Subtitled-flick. Mostly the latter 2.
This is the best pre-race movie on the planet. If it’s your birthday, I might send it to you.
4. Food
As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, I bring my own food everywhere. This was no different. Food prep surfaced my organizational and short-order cook skills. I prepared lunches and dinners for Autumn as well as organized and pre-cooked (to the extent possible) for Michael and I. We were set. I even secured a plug-in skillet to heat things up and cook eggs in the hotel. However, I reached max capacity and didn’t plan for after the race. My stomach is still jacked.
I also did remember to pack my TP Massage stuff — which I used every day, including post-race.
5. Race nutrition
Still sticking to the rice bars and Clif bloks. No distress!
6. Race day
Yee Haw! Always so fun and an adventure.
A few ‘out of the ordinary’ things:
- Run then swim?
There was a bit of a run in the swim, which was amusing. There was a shallow section on the right, so the waves before me ran and ran before swimming. I asked Tim Hola what he was going to do… I hadn’t seen anything like it. I think my heart rate was a zillion.
- Where’d my bottle go?
There are three 180-degree turn-arounds on the bike. At the first one, physics were at work, and my not-so-secured Profile Bottle launched out of its home and flew into the scruff. I dismounted and took the Trek through the rough-grass-weeds-whatever to rescue it.
- Am I supposed to stop so many times?
Ok, I have come to a complete stop on my bike once in all my racing experiences — and I stopped three times in this race. The first (above) to rescue water. At the second 180-degree turn, a rider totally wiped out. If you read Tim’s blog, you know that the 100 degree Texas heat took a break and it was raining hard. Since I have better manners than to just run her over, I did stop. Karma! At the third and final 180-degree turn, a participant unclipped, stopped, and pushed the bike around the turn.
- Sliding and flats
Ok, I knew that the bike would be an adventure, as we were just barely not the last wave. The course is mostly flat with a few big hills. On a couple, where we had to descend, there was some serious carnage. On one hand, I was amazed at the number of people who crashed right behind someone who just took that same line with a similar rate of speed… but then again, only a few hours prior, I ran down the side of the lake because others did. Didn’t look like any serious injuries, just a bit of an obsticle course.
- Friends and Michael
Seeing Michael on the course was the BEST. He was so happy. I think part of this pleasure was derived from the fact that I didn’t catch him on the bike. Oh well. He even shaved his legs for the first time the night prior. He rode his speedy TREK and wore his TIMEX bodylink — he was totally dialed into heart rate for the race.
- Results
I ended up 2nd in my age group, although I didn’t feel it was one of my best efforts. Run down with a few miles to go and beaten by a mere 40 seconds. I am taking some positives from the experience. Amazingly, I think I like the IM distance best.
7. “Get Stuff Done”
Well, this is going to be the last thing on my ’get stuff done’ list that I accomplish – need to sleep for a few hours before I get in a quick easy swim and catch my flight to Chicago.
OMG - you made it to the end. Enjoy your day.
