The Gift That Kept Giving

My husband is a rock star, seriously. Not only because he is a great husband, dad, physician, athlete, the list can go on....but because he is a man who makes promises and keeps them whether or not he would like. A few years ago after the running bug hit me I approached him and offered to run a half marathon with him.  He cringed at the thought, and told me he had no interest in even going 6 miles let alone 13.1.  But, after nagging, begging and pleading he agreed to register and run one.  We trained separately due to schedules, and when race day came he ran.  And lets just say, he did it for me.  It was a race that didn't tickle his fancy and he was more than glad to check that off of his bucket list.  Deep down I was secretly hoping that he would get the runners high and actually like it, but running isn't everyones cup of tea.  

Fast forward to Mother's Day this year and after running several half marathons and a couple of fulls I was ready to give another sport a try.  I grew up competitively swimming year round and just recently took up cycling, what better thing to do than a tri?  I did several searches on triathlons and found one not to far from home, in San Diego.  It had several good reviews and the course looked doable.  I mentioned it to Doug, and asked if he wanted to do another race with me.  I saw his wheels spinning at the idea, and he replied with a maybe.  I really didn't want to do the race alone since it was something new and unfamiliar to me.  Mother's Day came and you can guess what I opened, a confirmed registration for the San Diego Classic Triathlon. Not just for me, but Doug too had registered. Most mothers probably would hate this gift, but I found it rather thoughtful and sweet.  He registered us for the Olympic size which consists of a 1500 meter swim, 40K bike ride and 10K run. I was beyond excited, we trained together swimming and biking.  As far as the running portion we both decided it was best we do that on our own.  Doug isn't a big "talker" when he runs, so I knew that I would annoy him to no end. For 12 weeks, a few vacations in between, we managed to pull some training off.  Unfortunately, 3 weeks before the race Doug's work schedule got crazy and he came down with the flu leaving him feeling not fully prepared for race day. But, that didn't mean he would quit, ready or not he was going to finish.

Downtown San Diego

We left our littles behind and headed out on the road to San Diego.  The night before the race we went over to the gas lamp district to eat delicious mexican food at La Puerta.  A gem that we found a couple of years ago.

People watching outside at dinner, fascinating I must say.

Surprisingly, my anxiety levels were nothing compared to the ones I have running marathon races.  Perhaps because I didn't have any sort of expectation other than to finish under 3 hours.

One thing is for certain, you definitely have a lot of stuff when preparing for such an event.  Wetsuit, cap, goggles, towel, tri-shorts, try-shirt, spy belt for your number, cycling shoes, tubes, co2 cartridges (in case of a flat tire), helmet, running shoes, Garmin watch, visor, and then of course food fuel (gels, gu's or cliff bars). Oh, and you can forget iPods, running gloves, or padded shorts.  Triathlons are so different from individual races such as cycling or running.

Doug and I rode 4 miles from our hotel, arriving around 5:30am to set up our stuff. The transition area was obviously new to me, bikes were lined up and we were packed next to each other like sardines. We all looked like a bunch of frogs getting our wetsuits on.  Definitely a new sight for me.  

Over view of area to the left is the transition area (photo courtesy of website)

It's critical if you want to be efficient to set up your equipment in a orderly fashion to grab it and transition as quick as possible. Volunteers came around with sharpie markers to body mark your number on your arm, age on your left leg and either an "o" for olympic or "s" for sprint on the right.  I was 703, 37, and O.  

Once that was done they herded us out of the area to the sandy beach area to prepare for the swim.  Luckily the people such as myself doing the olympic size event started off in waves.  They had us color coded by swim caps and each wave was 2-3 minutes apart. I was navy blue and began my swim at 6:15am.  Doug didn't begin until 6:25am. I feared the swim portion the most since it was my first open water experience. Murky, dark, ocean water just seemed frightening to me, not to mention I had never swam in a wetsuit before.  They called my group over and I set foot in the water.   The water was 74 degrees and with a wetsuit on, it was a perfect temperature. I was a little relieved, but still felt a rush of nausea come over me, knowing I had to swim a mile with hundreds of people around me kicking.  

(photo courtesy website)

Unlike running, you can weave through crowds with a clear vision.  Swimming, you must find a pocket and swim quickly to get to it before someone else claims that open area and it is not easy to see. I however managed to do that and my nerves finally calmed as the cannon went off and I saw paddle boarders/life guards  every several feet to keep everyone safe.  I used them as my land marker and with the buoyancy of the wetsuit I felt like I was gliding in the water.  It wasn't so bad after all. I managed to reach the shoreline around 30 minutes.  

Running up the stairs wasn't as easy as it looked on those videos I watched people online doing, I felt a little dizzy but ripped off my wetsuit and ran over to the transition area to put on my socks, shoes, helmet and grabbed my bike.  I never thought I would be able to manage not drying off before mounting on my bike, but I didn't care.  The bike portion was beautiful.  They had the course set up to ride around the Naval base which is off limit to civilians.  It was a closed course so no cars were allowed.  There was a pretty challenging 1 mile climb (which ended up being two because it was a double loop), but once you reached the top you could fly down.  At one point I looked at my Garmin watch and I was doing 32 miles per hour.   Crazy!

Ironically, my least favorite portion of the race was the running at least until about mile 4.  No one can ever explain to you what your legs feel like after dismounting from a 25 mile ride.  It plain just sucks.  Your legs feel like a thousand pounds and I felt as though I was shuffling like I had never ran before in my life.  The first part of the course they had us run around the USS recruit ship and then up over a rather steep bridge. The loop continued for 3 miles and which took us around through a park and adjacent to the finish line.  Once you ran parallel next to the finish line, the loop began a second time to get you to 6 miles. Mentally this was the toughest part of the race, running right by the finish line and seeing people cross the finish line, despite you having to run another lap.  Once I looped back around I felt a runners high and felt like I could finally run. My legs no longer felt like lead.  I would imagine this would be caused by my long distance endurance marathon training. At any rate, by the time the finish came I had a surge of energy and felt great. I ran in obnoxiously with my arms flying in the air. Yes, now I am hooked and I for see a half ironman in my future.

 Adam did the sprint distance (Doug's business partner), me and Doug

The finish line!

Now, onto the rock star business......Doug not only signed up for the triathlon with me, but trained with me for 12 weeks.  I quote him, "It was the Mother's Day gift that kept giving." I couldn't agree more. He not only knew how much I wanted to do this, but agreed to train and finish it with me. Doug finished the swim and bike portion ahead of me and lost it on the run.  I knew would kill me on the bike portion, but because of the flu that shut him down a few weeks ago he wasn't able to train as much as he wanted on the run.  This just may be another check off of his bucket list items. He didn't love it, although I secretly hoped he would.  I am sure he could do a play by play of his version of the race, but I can say that he quoted: Swim was okay, Bike was AWESOME, Run was Hell.  At any rate, I wanted to thank him for allowing me not only to experience this race, but have him at the finish line with me. I admire him in so many ways, but especially at trying things he wasn't very keen on. I would highly recommend this race to anyone, it was very well organized and had several helpful volunteers.

We spent the rest of the weekend, eating, lounging by the beach and just having a great time.  It makes me realize how much I really enjoy having time with just him and I.  Perhaps I just may have to convert to cycling races in order to keep up with him.  Tour de Tucson century ride may just be our next even together in November, until then....

Results: 

Jenny 2:57:19

Doug: 3:09:11