Or How a Girl With Two Bad Knees Conquered the World
For those of you who want the short version of the story. It went good. If you want the long version, bless you. Keep reading.
Preface
My journey to Hawaii started almost five months ago. I signed up for the King's Trail Triathlon because I wanted to participate in a triathlon while raising money for a good cause. The proposition seemed simple on paper. Follow the training schedule and raise the designated amount for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society and you'll go to Hawaii and participate in a world class triathlon. The day I signed up I didn't know which idea was more daunting, the $5400 I needed to fundraise or the 32 miles I would be covering during the tri.
Training for the tri was a no brainer. A simple equation;
Great coaches + training 6 days a week = a successful triathlon.
But there was an X factor in my equation.
I have bad knees. So technically I had two X factors. I've been living with my baddies (or Jack and Jill as I like to call them) since I was a kid. It was absolutely a possibility in my mind that I might blow one or both of them out during training. I was hoping that they would hold together until at the least the day of the tri. If I had to, I was prepared to crawl across that finish line. Irresponsible? Yes. Do I recommend it? No. Would I do it again? Yes, but only because Jack and Jill held together. I think the training made them stronger. Don't get me wrong, they aren't healed. They still give me trouble and they still make really fun noises whenever I bend them. But I don't feel like they are worse today then they were the day I signed up for the tri in February.
King's Trail Triathlon......
Two weeks before the triathlon I was getting ancie. I was ready. I wanted go and do it. I was excited and nervous and prepared.
Friday June 6
thUp early to be at LAX for 9am flight to Maui. Most of our team was on that flight. Everyone was pretty excited. We have an amazing team (I'm not using the past tense because we are all still in contact and planning on racing again together). Very cool people with great attitudes. Most of the five hour flight was spent discussing race day strategies with one another.
We arrived in Maui after a very rough landing. Wind = turbulence = an unhappy Cat. By the time we got to the hotel, we had just enough time to change into our swim gear and meet on the beach for a team swim (The triathlon start and finish was on the grounds of the hotel. We didn't have to go very far to check out the race course). The water was amazing. So clear and warm and full sea turtles. Swimming in LA will never be the same.
Our first swim in Maui
After our swim we picked up our bikes from the hotel parking lot. Our bikes were shipped over before we left. We hadn't seen them in two weeks. It was an emotional reunion. We hopped on our two wheeled friends and went for a ride along part of the bike course. Our coaches wanted us to have as few surprises as possible. Did I mention we had great coaches? More on that later.
Bike pick up
We had dinner as a team that night. We were ravenous. My cheeseburger never stood a chance.
Waiting for food. These smiles aren't genuine. We were moments away from eating a tourist at the next table.
Saturday June 7th
On the beach for another team swim at 7am, the approx race start time. This was our chance to experience the water conditions before race day. Nice and calm. The rest of my day was spent preparing for Sunday. Our head coach (I love you Brad!) advised us to stay out of the sun, hydrate and not to eat anything too heavy. And, because I do whatever Coach Brad tells me to, that's exactly what I did. That night we had the Team In Training Pasta Party. We carb loaded while listening to a fellow triathlete and cancer patient tell his story. We left full and inspired.
Post Pasta Party
Practising our big finish
Sunday June 8th , D DAY
My alarm went off at 3:30am. My roommate and I ate breakfast (hmmm, instant oatmeal) and suited up. We met up with our LA teammates in the lobby and headed to the transition area to set up our gear. We also had to get marked. Race officials wrote our numbers in black marker on are arms and legs. After being tagged, our team headed out for a quick run so we could check out the beginning of the run course. Side note: I hate running. Running is a punishment. That being said, this short run felt good. Which for me, meant I didn't want to stop immediately after starting. I took this as a good omen.
Meeting with the team in the lobby at 5am
Transition Area pre-race
We took off our running shoes, grabbed our swim caps and hit the beach for a warm up swim. The calm water the day before was no more. We'd be in for a choppy swim to start the race. As we made our way out of the water, the rest of the participants were making their way to the beach. It's a tradition of this triathlon to start the race with the blessing from a Hawaiian priestess. We all gathered together, all 378 of us. As the priestess spoke of the water and the Earth and wished us all a safe day, it allowed me to relax. Take a deep breath. You're surrounded by friends. You're in a beautiful place. Enjoy every minute of this.
Yellow cap = old
The last few minutes before all hell broke loose
The Swim – 1.5K (.9 miles)Mine was the 5
th wave of racers to hit the water. All the men's waves went first. Ours was the second wave of women to start(every wave wore a different color swim cap). The horn sounded and my wave hit the water. The swim was going well until I was about 15 or 20 minutes into it. Almost half way. The choppy waves were getting to me. I was getting seasick. And the fumes from the Sea Doos that the race officials were riding in the water weren't helping. I was fighting nausea for the rest of the swim. I did see two sea turtles as I was heading down the last stretch. My hard shelled friends helped to distract me from my discomfort. After I popped out of the water and hit the beach, I realized one of my teammates, Jen and I were swimming together during the entire mile. Swim caps and goggles make us all look alike. We made our way through the cheers from coaches and supporters to the first transition.
Swim time 40 minutes, 33 seconds
(my goal for the swim, 40 minutes)
The Bike – 40K (24.8 miles)It took me over 9 minutes to transition from the swim to the bike. That's a long time. The one part of the race I realized I wasn't prepared for was fast transitions. But I got my bike gear on and hit the road. The bike course consisted of two hilly, 12 mile loops on the roads and streets around the hotel. We had the local police stopping traffic and lots of volunteers pointing us in the right direction. My bike ride was uneventful, which is good. This was my favorite part of the race (besides finishing). The bike does most of the work (except on all the hills) and I used this part of the race to prepare for the one thing I had been dreading for 4 and ½ months. The run (cue the dramatic music). I kept hydrated and ate my Gu gel (see gear clinic for definition of Gu). Some of my teammates had some serious bike problems. I got lucky. No flat tires or crashes, thank the gods. My swim buddy, Jen, made it out of the transition 4 minutes faster than me but I did catch up to her on the second loop. We finished the bike course together.
Bike Time – 1 hour, 58 minutes and 46 seconds (the fastest female on our team did the bike in exactly 1 hour and 40 minutes)
The Run 10K (6.2 miles)The bike to run transition took me almost 5 minutes. Again, kind of a long time. I hit the run course at about 10:30AMish. It was already at least 80 degrees farenheit. Don't get me started on the humidity. Thank god for sponges. There were water stations along the course with sponges full of ice cold water. God, those felt good. The run course consisted of two 3 mile loops. The loops were along a road made up of rolling hills. Let me explain what rolling hills are. They weren't particularly long or dramatic, just constant. As soon as you get to the bottom of one hill you are going up the next one. The first loop of this
run course was demoralizing. It went on forever. The heat and hills made for a tough combination. Three things made it bearable. Ice cold sponges (probably saved a lot of us from heat stroke), people cheering along the way (nothing like hearing somebody say "nice job number 49"
to make you want to keep going) and last but not least passing teammates on the way. The team aspect of this whole thing becomes very important on race day. You've been training with these people for months. They've seen you at your best and your worst. You have each other's back. It means so much when you're out there, sweating together, giving each other high fives as you pass along the way.
The run was demoralizing, as I said before, except until I got to end of the first half of the second loop (confused?). Because at that point I knew I only had 1 ½ miles to go until the finish line. It was at this point that I stopped to wring out my socks. Water from the sponges had soaked my feet completely. By some miracle I didn't get any blisters. Jen and I ran the two loops together until I had to make my sock stop. She kept going. I never quite caught up to her. She ended up crossing the finish line 1 minute and 12 seconds before me.
As I got closer to the finish I could feel this intense sense of euphoria building inside of me. With less then a quarter of a mile to go I saw Coach Brad. He was waiting for each of us and would run each of us into the last hill. Brad knew the run was going to be a challenge for me. As soon as I saw him, both of my arms went into the air and we exchanged "woohoo!"s. He ran out to meet me. I started to get chocked up. He ran with me until I got the top of the last hill, at the bottom of which was the finish line. His advice was to enjoy it because this is what I've been training for. I have to say, trying to describe how I felt at that very moment is impossible. I'll never for got it. As I made my way down to the finish, I could hear my teammates cheering me on. And as I crossed the finish line? Pure joy. Happiness. Relief. Pride. You get the idea.
Run Time – 1 hour, 28 minutes and 51 minutes (my fastest 10K to date)
Cat's Stats
Finish time – 4 hours, 22 minutes and 8 seconds.
Overall finish – 295 out of 378
Age Group finish - 31 out of 42
In Closing
Our coaches trained us to be over prepared for the triathlon. Brad and Erica, I love you! Our team was the only one at the pool relaxing after the tri. All the other teams were completely wiped out. I never wanted to quit or give up. I was prepared. We partied that night as only triathletes can. With Mai Tais and lots of dancing.
What an amazing ride. It's hard to sum up 4 and ½ months in a few sentences. I'll never for get this experience. Luckily I have the teammates turned friends and the finishing medal to remind me of what I did on June 8th 2008 in Maui.
Jazz Hands!
My name is Crimes. And I'm a dude.
I had company on the bike.
I love my team mates!
Thanks to everyone who supported me. This wasn't easy. I couldn't have done it alone. Thanks to my team mates, coaches and our campaign managers. Team and Traing and the Leukemia Lymphoma Society are both great organizations. If you'd like to get involved, both websites are linked below.
A special thank you to the Xenites of the world. I have now experienced the world renowned generosity of the Xenaverse and it is overwhelming . I am proud to call myself a Xenite. Thank you.
Cat Crimes
www.leukemia-lymphoma.org
www.teamintraining.org