CASA Superhero 5K

This 5K was going to be my PR effort weekend race. However, recent events--mainly a recent car crash--had left me not quite ready to put out a PR effort. The recent week of rain leaving a muddy and mucky course also left the conditions shy of PR worthy. In the end this was still going to be a hard race effort but also one that I wanted to enjoy with some friends.

While this was not a first year race, it had first year race directors--and it showed. Fortunately, this is a smaller event with just a couple hundred runners or the general disorganization would have been a complete mess. This overall disorganization included parking mixups in the state park, not having a good setup in the race area, not being prepared to post run times, no preparations in being able to announce the winners during the awards ceremony and perhaps worst of all an improperly marked course that led to the leading runners running an extra two tenths of a mile before the organizers realized the problem.

As for myself, I ran a mostly even race this time around. I kept from going too hard the first mile out and this enabled me to keep a good pace throughout. Even though I was one of the runners who ran too long, I don't think it led to a different finishing place in the case of the 8-12 runners that it affected. I finished with a second place finish in my age group and 8th place overall. I think the special part of the race came by finishing just behind and just in front of tow great training partners, who finished overall women's winner and master's woman winner. The three of us are pictured below.

Next up for me is off season, beginning with a cruise on the Disney Wonder cruise ship. I have another 5K later this month and maybe I will go after that 5K then, or maybe it will be just for fun. Until then, however, I will have some fun.

Finding the Silver Lining

It was just this past weekend that I had my one year anniversary with a serious auto-bike crash that left my body broken and my spirit battered, but it was also a point from which I refused to back down and give up. With several months of recovery I began to live a normal life again, with several months of training after that I managed to complete an Ironman race, with a couple more months of training I managed to make it to the podium of a couple small races and finally began to believe it was going to come back to me.

It didn't seem to take too long after that to become the victim of a likely intoxicated hit and run driver who ran a red light at high speed and T-boned my new car just behind the driver's seat. I was spun several times and came to a stop just out of the intersection and facing the opposite direction of traffic in a road perpendicular to the one on which I had been travelling. A whirlwind of a night in the emergency room and following visit to my own doctor revealed I had some muscular damage and a concussion but seemed to avoid more serious injury. Air bag deployments may have also helped me escape more serious injury as well.

Even though I have only had this vehicle a few months, it is just a thing that can be repaired. Even though I was injured I can recover. I could have been seriously hurt and was not. I will recover in time and go on.

Running of the Bulls 2013 5K

The Running of the Bulls 5K is the official 5K race of the Houston Texans football team, with the bull as the team mascot and hence the race name. It seems the only bulls I saw all day were mascots and none of them raced.

I went into this race with the idea to lay it all out effort-wise and go for max effort. I figured a strong effort would put me in striking range of my PR, and perhaps a really good race day effort could push past that. I lined up pretty near the front of the pack since there was a beginner feel among many of the racers. The day was a bit humid and warm but not too bad. Although I was going into this race rested, I wasn't feeling at my best today and had an elevated heart rate as well.

I ran this race on a pure heart rate goal plan. I opened with a strong opening mile around 6:44, in which I hit my target heart rate around a half mile and then worked on not going too hard after that. Mile 2 went by at a slower pace in the mid 7:30 range. By the time the second mile was done I was feeling like I was just hanging on for dear life. Mile 3 went by at a slightly slower pace in the mid 7:40 range and I really did feel like I was giving it my all. I pushed past the finish line in a time of 22:46.

22:46 really did feel like all I had in me on this day, at least following the plan I followed. On this day it was good enough for 5th place in my age group, and I just missed my PR by 3 seconds. I'm not disappointed by just missing my PR as I gave my all and just didn't have more to give on this day. Certainly it is also a positive sign in my overall recovery that I posted a second best effort and a competitive time in a large field. I left this race feeling very positive about the next race or two a few weeks ahead of me before looking at an much needed and welcomed upcoming off season.

 

I snapped one quick photo of myself from the field after I had recovered enough to walk off from the finishing area to show that I was down on the field (at least without having to buy one of the expensive professional race photos).

333

333 days ago, at approximately 10:20 am, while feeling like I was at my peak of fitness and athleticism, I was cycling past a local park in the final miles of a successful practice training ride for an upcoming race and.......well, that's all I remember about that. The bright world around me went dark and the next thing I remember was about 10-15 later when an ambulance crew was attempting to get me onto a backboard. Somehow during that dark period I had managed to give a an assisting by-passer my wife's name and cell phone number, though I still can't remember that either. I don't know much about what happened other than it appeared that I was hit on the side by a passing motorist's side view mirror and then flipped forward over my handlebars head and shoulder into the ground. According to my GPS watch I was moving at 19.1 mph at that moment and was likely about to begin braking as I was approaching an intersection.

A lot happened to me after that. I spent over 5 days in the hospital, mostly on morphine to ease the pain of numerous broken bones and a bruised lung. It really wasn't until later that I realized how badly I was injured, including internal injuries such as a rib that was a fraction of an inch from causing a punctured lung, which was something they thought could still require immediate surgical intervention for the first few days I was in the hospital. Perhaps it is best I didn't know some of that at the time.

When I first met my orthopedic surgeon, I asked if I would be able to do Ironman Texas seven months later. His answer was hopeful, if everything went well, but his tone didn't seem so hopeful. It was at that point that I resolved to do everything I could to make the Ironman Texas 2013 starting line. I put so much effort into resting those first few months that it almost seemed like activity for the next few months. It was almost seven weeks before I could move my right arm out of a sling--something which happened on my birthday. It was close to another month before I could get close to thinking about a real workout and probably another month after that before my workouts began to resemble what a workout used to be. Through that time I got by on faith and the love and support of my family and friends. In time, things began to come together for me. I went on to make the Ironman Texas starting line and, with the enormous amount of support I had behind me, I made it to the finish line as well. The last 8+ mile lap of the IMTX marathon felt like the longest and most satisfying victory lap ever!

Fast-forwarding to now, I am periodically asked if I am fully recovered. The answer is that I don't know. While I sure don't feel like I am "back", some of my racing and training times indicate I am close to where I was in the months before my injury and some times might even be better.

Everything else aside, I am doing well today. While I wouldn't wish my injury experiences on anyone, it has helped me remember what is truly valuable in my life. Family, friends and faith were all strengthened because of my experiences and I was reminded how unimportant some other things really are. I met and made new friends who most likely never would have been more than casual acquaintances otherwise. There are parts of my experience that I may have never fully shared with anyone, though I know there are those close to me who know this and undertand. As I recovered while having to live a sedentary life for the first time in years, I had time to reflect on all the wonderful challenges I had been a part of in the past several years.  Before this event I was certainly on my way to becoming a still improving athlete. somewhere in all this I have lost some of that drive and perhaps even some of that ability. Maybe I will never be able to live up to the thought of the athlete "I might have become" but I may be a smarter athlete and a better man as a result of what I've been through. Because of what I went through I've been able to offer support and inspiration to several other athletes in ways I never could have before this experience.

I came to feel that if I had suffered a much harsher fate that day, then I would have at least known that I had lived well going into that event and it would have happened doing something I loved. It is true that I could have died that day, but that can be true for any of us on any day. Do we all feel that we live well enough to not regret our lives when viewed in hindsight? I hope that I never face that question again, but if I do I hope I can answer it the same way.

2013 USAT Age Group National Championship

Although I had previously qualified for the 2012 National Championship race, I was unable to attend. Therefore, I looked forward to the 2013 race with anticipation. Given the events of the last 9+ months, beginning with the injuries I sustained from being hit by a car while training on my bike and culminating with a second place finish in a local sprint triathlon early last month, I was anxious to give this race a try. I knew I wasn't going to be able to do this distance at my "best" (meaning as good as I was before my injuries) but I also viewed it as being a good marker to gauge my recovery. My previous best time for this distance was 2:58:12 from almost two years ago and I was pretty sure I should be able to beat this time. However, thinking I could do it and doing it are two very different things, especially considering the multitude of things that can go wrong on race day. I was also looking forward to lining up next to the best athletes the sport has to offer. I wasn't expecting to compete for any awards, but that also wasn't going to stop me from doing my best and seeing what would happen.

When I first got to check-in I identified my top priorities: checking in and getting by the TYR test to see Chrissie Wellington. I was able to quickly do both since I was there early. Chrissie sure seemed as friendly and vivacious as she always does.

 Since I had driven to the race, I offered to pick up my coach, Michelle, at the airport after she flew into town. We also went to packet pickup together later so she could get her race packet. She is pictured below. I am very proud of her race effort as she won and is now the national champion of her age group.

After check-in, Michelle and I met with some other athletes near the race site. I went for a practice swim to see how the water was and then went to the athlete rules briefing while Michelle took her bike out for a training ride. Later on we brought our bikes to be checked into transition and Michelle snapped the photo I was hoping to get of myself with the Texas flag. As it happened, the state flag wasn't all that far from my racking location.
  

After this was all done we were ready to head our separate ways for the night and come back ready to race the next morning......

On race morning, transition was open at 5:30 am with a 7:30 am race start time. Unfortunately, my wave of athletes was not scheduled to start until 10:02 am, which gave me a lot of downtime but not enough to feel comfortable about going back to the hotel to nap. After getting everything ready, I sat with several teammates near the swim start and chatted and rested for a while. The race was delayed for 15 minutes for unknown reasons, but then started and went smoothly after that. I wasn't really happy with such a late starting time, though I didn't worry about it since there wasn't anything that could be done about it. About an hour before my start I began to warm up with stretching and some light running. Then about 20 minutes before I got my wetsuit on and moved to join those in line for my group. I got in the water early and did some light swimming as a warmup, and then I waited until it was time to go.

1500 Meter Swim: I lined up just to the outside of the main group to avoid getting caught in the pack, which seemed to work pretty well, especially since I was far from the strongest swimmer there. My goal here was to put in a solid swim without hurting myself. That is pretty much what I did. I hadn't been as comfortable with swimming since my return from injury and I haven't done as much swimming as I should have been doing recently. However, I have also started to feel "normal" again while swimming. In a normal situation for me, I would have (and should have) had a better swim time, though for this race I did just what I hoped to do. I did stray off course a bit on two occasions, but not too badly. I finished with a swim time of 33:25.

T1: The goal was to get in and out quick. Coming out of the water and up the ramp I feel my right hamstring tighten up. I slow to a walk for a moment and then back to a trot as I take my wetsuit down to my waist. When I get to my bike, I finish stripping of the wetsuit and then grab my cycling helmet and head out. T2 was a bit slow in 2:32 but I got out without my hamstring being a serious issue and headed out on the bike.

40K Bike: As soon as I got going on the bike I knew I was feeling good and a couple miles later, even up the first hill, I knew this had the makings of a great ride. About 10 miles into the ride I was beginning the largest hill and heard a loud metallic popping noise. This was cause for concern and as I continue to ride uphill safely I look over the bike for potential issues. I discover the rear wheel is spinning out of balance but also know there isn't anything I can do about it and suspect a broken spoke to be the culprit. As I head down the hill, I can tell I am not able to get as fast as I would expect and figure the rear wheel is the culprit. I make the decision to ride on since there isn't anything else I can really do for the wheel at this point. Unfortunately, my speeds are now a bit lower and it feels like the wheels are a bit harder to push but I keep going--even with suspecting the wheel was rubbing the brake pads slightly, I didn't have any way to adjust the brakes at this point. Even with all this I still pass more people than pass me on the bike. On the way back to transition, probably near the mile 18 mark, I hear the same metallic pop. Upon inspection of the rear wheel, still spinning unevenly but still allowing me to ride, I continue on. I finish the bike in 1:14:58, a 19.9 mph pace, not exactly a slow pace but less than I'd hoped, especially since I was probably averaging 21-23 mph much earlier and felt like I should have finished 4-7 minutes quicker. Then again, I very easily could have been unable to continue by that wheel and am also thankful for still being racing at this point. I did later confirm the broken spokes and that the wheel was rubbing lightly against the brake pads.

T2: I had a pretty good T2 other than one minor issue. While preparing to get off my bike I didn't quite get the Velcro strap completely undone and when I tried to slide out my left foot the whole shoe came off, so I ran into T2 with a shoe on my left foot and nothing on my right foot. Ugh! In any case, I was in and back out of T2 in 1:42.

Run: I was hoping and planning on a good run today and was looking forward to this part. I quickly was at my upper heart rate for the early run and kept myself at the top of the zone. As much as I tried to hold an even and strong pace, my running pace slowly got a bit slower each mile. I had hoped to kick things into a higher gear for the last two miles but found there was no higher gear there. I had felt good running but I was also maxed out in terms of what I was going to be able to do on this day. It seemed that the extra effort I put into keeping the bike going took an extra toll on my legs before I got to the run. I had figured I would run in at least the mid- minute range but ended up finishing the run in 58:29.

Overall: My total finish time was 2:51:08, which easily beat my previous PR time of 2:58:12 from a couple years ago.

I was very pleased to see that even with the problems I had, I still met the basic goals I had set forward for this race. If I had gotten through the whole race without any problem, I might have been a good bit faster (which will be what I aim for the next time!!!). Part of my would normally want to feel a bit disappointed over the "failed" parts of this race. However, I do not feel that way at all.

My goals here were always twofold: 1) Do my best, and 2) Enjoy the experience. I did those and still had a great time with the overall experience. I will always be able to know that I competed in a national championship event (and am a two-time qualifier for the event as well). Both before and during the race, everywhere I looked I was surrounded by awesome athletes who were all there sharing a great experience. It reminded me of the run up to an Ironman event, but was different in its own way.

I left the USAT National Championships feeling good about what I had done and hope that I can have the opportunity to return again some day--perhaps even on a day in which I can attempt a more competitive effort. I also left knowing that I can continue working towards my full recovery and start thinking about resuming my efforts towards accomplishing my long term goals which include, but are not limited, to future triathlon goals as well. For now,I have some serious rest to do to allow my body to recover; then after that, I will look to resume some serious training and maybe look at going after some aggressive goals in the process.

Loose Ends

The end of July is allowing me to finish up some items and look forward to other. I previously mentioned a possible job change. As I understood it, I was one of two finalists for a dream-type of job for me. In the end, I accepted an offer to remain where I am. The offer includes a substantial salary increase as well as the opportunity to keep working on projects I enjoy. Perhaps the one thing I had possibly lost sight of was that over th last six-plus years, I had transformed my job into one where I was dealing with dream-job types of projects and that I am quite happy where I am now. Sometimes the grass really is greener on your side of the fence! In the end the other guy got the job; whether it was because I pulled out or he was destined for it anyway.....that's hard to say and doesn't really matter.

Now, I am looking forward towards my next triathlon in less that two weeks. Before last October's injuries, I qualified fr the USAT Age Grop National Championships for the second time. Tough I did not attend in 2012 I have decided to go this year. While I won't be at my ultimate best shape, I have recovered better than expected (at least in some ways) and I look forward to giving it my best effort and having a lot of fun, and then let the results just be whatever they will be.

I think that after this race I will be wrapping up my triathlon season to get in a bit of extra rest and turn to look at concentrating on a fall/winter running concentration. My goals will include some long trail races again. After we make it back to spring, we will see me looking back towards another Ironman Texas in 2014, and maybe this will line up to be the race I had hoped IMTX 2013 would have been before my lien juries and surgery.

Texas Star Triathlon 2013

I did this race last year and had a lot of fun. It was also the first race where I had a podium finish, winning first place in my age group. It might seem obvious that I would look forward to this race, though for this race my goal was not to win my age group but to get a good assessment of where my fitness is compared to this point last year and how far my recovery has come along. My plan for this race is best described in the words of my coach: "Focus every minute and PUSH, PUSH, PUSH." While my expectations for this race may have been more modest, my desire to get the most of this race was high.

The race opens with a 300 yard pool swim. I seed myself at a 5:55 pace, and have a pretty good swim that finishes at 5:44. This was just 15 seconds behind last year. I passed one or two other swimmers in the pool and was passed by none. At this point things are looking pretty good.

Next up is the 10 mile bike through the hills of Montgomery. I find a good groove and I push--or perhaps as Coach Michelle said, I PUSHED!--and I kept on PUSHING. Some of these hills felt tough, especially at this effort level, but but I kept it going. I finished the bike in 30:05 and feeling pretty good. This was just 24 seconds behind my time from last year, so I know things are going better than expected.

Now the run comes up and I take off giving my best effort. Most of the first mile is paved before running along grass fields and then through wooded trails. Because of the drought the ground is cracked in places and I have to watch my footing in places. Although the run feels tough in spots, I keep PUSHing and finish my running 23:05--31 seconds faster than last year. Now that surprises me more than any part of this race!

When you factor in my transition times being slightly slower this year, my final finishing time is 1:01:11, just 36 seconds slower than last year, which is also quite the surprise to me. Clearly I am farther along in my recovery than I was giving myself credit since I was hoping to finish within a couple of minutes of last year's time. This year, however, my age group included a much faster athlete who blew past me early in the run and finished about seven minutes ahead of me, but I was able to finish 2nd in my age group this time around. Given this result I am feeling more encouraged as I continue to go forward in my recovery. Perhaps even more important than that, I have been considering moving away from triathlon recently, feeling like I have lost my drive to keep going in the sport. For now, this race seems to have rekindled my old spirit somewhat, and I hope I keep feeling that way.

Now for some past race photos:

Karen and I. She won her age group.

 

Getting my award from the race director.

A fun photo with several of my teammates. Will (far left) was 3rd in his (and my) age group, Sasja (left) was the overall female winner, Lori (next to me) was first in her age group, and myself on the far right. We had a lot pf fun after the race!

 Next up for me in four weeks is the USAT Age Group National Championships in Milwaukee. I'm looking forward to going out there and doing my best, and having a lot of fun.