2017 Double Anvil Triathlon

Course Overview - 1 PDF	Course Overview	Swim Overview	Swim Lake Cafe	Swim Course
Bike Course	Run Course	Anvil Village Overview	Anvil Village	Cabin Loop

10/31/2017:

t wasn't easy looking for crew. As I said, it's a very big ask. First of all, they have to take off from work and family to be there for you. Second of all, it seems like they really aren't doing anything while in reality they are. I didn't ask Hammad straight out but I got the feeling that he would do join me. I reached out to anyone I could think of. I reached out to the Francis Kwok who went to pace Micharl Fred at Beast, but he was racing that day. Same goes for Mary Harvey. I asked Tomas from the YMCA if he knew anyone from around there that could help since he hails from Virginia. I asked... And I asked. I finally gave up and decided that I would be alone. I sorta had a plan in my head and was going to make it happen without help. I've been there before. I also make friends and I read that crews will sometimes "adopt" racers so maybe...I reached out to Steve Kirby, the RD, and he also told me about adoptions. I gave up. I had an internal joke when I decided I would be Double-C: Crewless & Clueless. I told that to Mike, Kate and Jamey and Kate changed it to Triple C which was fitting since I was doing the Triple IM. That stood for Crewless, Clueless & Cute. I upped it to Quad D or Crewless, Clueless, Cute and Dumbass. Get it? I got a kick out of that one. Cue the laugh track please... Steve told me that I could pay someone there to crew me but I was resolved at this point of my Quad-C status and said no. Steve, by the way, kept trying to convince me to downgrade to the Double. By yourself and never doing the distance is really stupid but I kept saying to him: Go big or go home. He finally stopped. Meanwhile I finally made the connection that Dipak is from Virginia. Perhaps? I reached out and I could not believe it but he said YES!

The previous paragraph doesn't do justice to the stress I was going through. The ups and downs of the maybes and the perhaps and the final resignation to being alone.

Did I mention that there was only going to be 3 weeks of recovert from the Hundred miler before this started? That means that I have one less weekend to ride. Also, I felt like I wasn't really ready for the swim. I knew I could wing it but the math was tight.

I finally told the family about this and Elizabeth was not happy. There was a Hundred miler then 3 weeks later the Triple IM and then 2 weeks later another Hundred. She was not happy at all. Besides the sleep deprivation argument she also said that it doesn't make sense to go from a single to a triple. Do a double first. She gave as an example of how you would do a 50 mile first before a hundred miler. I didn't think it made sense to tell her that I did my first 50 AFTER my first 100. I finally asked her if it would make her happy if I switched it to a double. She replied with "Happy? No... Just less angry". I hit Steve and apologized and asked him to dumb me down to a double. He asked if I was sure and I replied with "happy wife happy life or perhaps in this day and age happy partner happy life even though it doesn't rhyme. He got me right away and dumbed me down. Sucks... Oh well.

Meanwhile Donald throughout this kept saying that he might come with me to keep me company. He wouldn't crew me per se but at least would drive down with me. He would take his bike and ride there or hang out at the local YMCA. I really need crew but at least the drive wouldn't be by myself so...

The weekend before the race I rode long on Saturday and ran. The Sunday came and I was going to ride 25 and then run. About 5 miles away from home, I got a flat on tne back tire. I'm not great at changing flats but I couldn't find the reason for the flat which sucks because there's no point in putting a new tube in if there's a nail in there. I finally found the problem. Someone patched my last tube which I did NOT want. The patch broke off. Then I had trouble putting the tire back on the rim. Then I had trouble getting the wheel back on the bike. Felt does the back tire differently. Instead of vertical drops where the bike drops on the wheel, it uses horizontal drops. I don't know why. All I know is that I strained my back and my confidence was shattered as it took me almost 50 minutes to change. This is time that I CANNOT AFFORD! Hammad drove to meet me when suddenly I had an idea. The problem is that you need 1 hand to hold the bike up, 1 hand to hold the wheel and 1 hand to pull the chain back. My hands were all black from grease and I got no where. I finally had a great idea. I stradled the bike backward facing. This way I could stabilize the bike with my legs while using 1 hand to guide the wheel and the other hand to pull the chain back. I finally got it done as he got there. I was so pissed at myself. Those last 5 miles home was angry riding even though I knew it was the wrong thing to do. Still ran with him and Amer but I was pissed (at myself).

I took the bike into the shop for a tune up and mentioned the tire. Ed ended up changing the tire for me.

The Monday before the race, I finally reserved 2 rooms at a local motel. I reached out to Dipak to confirm things and to tell him that I switched to the Double and that it would be Friday/Saturday instead of Thursday/Friday/Saturday. He told me that he would get there at 10am Friday and leave around 6pm Friday. OK... Cue the stress again... He wouldn't be there for the swim. He wouldn't be there for the night bike. He wouldn't be there for the run. Basically he would only be there for some of the bike. Oh well. Donald meanwhile said he will definitly come. At least the drive would be good and if he's there at all, then that's a bonus for me. Can't stress...

Ella initially said she would go if I would need her. I asked again. Unfortunatly last minute her Ex-husband reared his ugly head and no joy. She felt terrible. She thinks she owes me. I don't work like that where someone owes you. Told her it's ok.

Wednesday I picked up the bike and Elizabeth and I went to Jessie's swim meet at Bayside High School. When we got home, I got all my stuff together. I had a list but I wasn't really packing. I was just gathering. The temps were going to be cold at night so a lot of gear had to come together.

Thursday, Donald came over and picked me up. He wanted to take his car. Even better for me. This way, we didn't have to disrupt the family or rent a car. The drive down was uneventful. Pretty smooth sailing until we hit the DC area. First time I saw the Pentagon and other stuff but there was traffic. We were in the express lane and flying while the local lane was slow. Unfortunatly I needed to pee and we stopped but couldn't get to the express lanes again. Oh well.

We got to Lake Anna State Park and entered it. Right away we started seeing cyclists ride. These were the triples. I was wondering if I'd see Michael Ortiz but didn't. I will explain the course a little later but right away it seemed we were climbing something long... Not happy. We got to the shelters and asked where to go from there. From there we drove down to the lake house, I think that's what it was called, and parked.

Checked in and filled our more forms. I was supposed to hand in my Medical Form allowing me to participate but no one asked me so oh well. This was the first race tho where I had to give a drop of blood. They wanted to make sure you had enough hemoglobin but not too much. Too much counts as doping. Wow! That was new for me. Also, a random person was picked for a random urine test for doping. Sheesh... Did the pre-race meeting where we all introduced ourselves and listened to what was going to happen the next day. There was food but I brought my own. We ate and talked and listened. Finally, we left there and headed to the motel. I checked in and got our keys. Donald was going to the near bar and I purposely took the room furthest away. His room smelled like smoke but he didn't mind that much I guess. I unloaded my stuff, ate a little more and took a nice bath. I should have let the water run first, so it was brown water but I didn't care. I figured I would take a shower the next day anyway. Went through my stuff too a little and organized it and eventually went to sleep.

11/01/2017:

very dog has his day... That much is true. I bought at BJs a USB tower so I can charge multiple items in 1 shot. I juiced up both bike lamps at the same time and also plugged in my phone. I had already tested it on my phone so I wasn't worried. Still, my phone was at 32% and something didn't seem right. Still, set multiple alarms for 2am and also set a mental alarm for 2am. The alarm went off at 2am and the phone immediatly died. It did not charge at all at night. The drain on the tower from the bike lamps was so much that it didn't give the phone too much. Oh my God... That was close. Move on.... You're awake.

Oopsie: Small thing I forgot to mention before... A week before the race, I realized it's only 1 week before the race and I only own 1 bike lamp. It won't last the whole night! I was panicing all the way home from the YMCA still I figured I can potentially borrow 1 from Amer. Love amazon.com. Ordered it and got it the next day or the the following day. Who cares...

Did my thing. Got ready. Finished last minute packing stuff. We were going to leave at 5:30 so at 5am, I made sure Donald was awake. At the meeting I met Matt, who was one of the guys who was doing the double, and his wife. Turns out they stayed at the same place. As we were loading the car in the morning, he was busy doing the same. I asked if his wife would mind taking my bag after the swim along with his and bringing it to the shelters and he told me to ask her. It was weird. The night before he was so friendly. Later, I found out that he was just so focused... More on that later tho.

We drove to the Park and on the way saw a huge 4 legged thing on the road. Donald thought it may have been a black bear. Are they nocturnal? I don't know but that did NOT make me happy. I don't want to potentially have to swerve on the bike to avoid a bear.

Double Ironman?

guess it's really about time to talk about it. So double ironman is 1 of 2 possible races. You can do 2 single Ironmans back to back or you can do a double (continuous) ironman which means multiply everything by 2. You swim 4.8 miles, ride 224 miles and then run 52.4 miles. Whereas you have 17 hours to do an Ironman, a double gives you 36 hours. There are also sub deadlines to finish the swim and bike but I don't remember what they were. Here's how I "broke" the time into. Unfortunatly, I had to do it backwards. I figured I would need 13-14 hours for the run so I assumed 14. That leaves 22 hours for the swim/bike combo. Next since I usually take anywhere from 7.5 to 8.5 on the bike, I assumed 18 hours for the bike which leaves 4 hours for the swim. I have done 3 hours for 5.25 miles so that should, in theory, give me an hour for T1 and T2 which are transition to bike and transition to run respectivly and any other issues I may have. My T1, transition from swim to bike, is usually "slow" (10-15 minutes) as I want to be comfortable but I have been seeing T1 times of 30-60 minutes which worried me. As you can see, the math kinda works as long as there are no major issues.

The Course...?

ow that you sorta understand it and the timing behind it, let's delve into the course. Loops... I HATE LOOPS! But I do see their usefulness. Let me start first by saying that loops is the biggest mind screw there are but they can be useful. In a race like this, loops are your best friend (and of course best enemy too).

The Swim...

he swim loop consisted of 0.2 miles out and 0.2 miles back. Each 0.2 miles was delineated by 4 buoys. Go out for 4 and turn. You turn on either hand of the 4 buoys. We were told that the 3rd buoy while going out had very shallow water and to be prepared for it. The triples, who started the day before, had 18 inches of water there. We had about 10 inches. We were told NOT to stand up as it was very rocky and will tear our feet up. Michael Ortiz apparently did an army crawl there but we were told not to do that either as it will rip our hands. Hm... At the start buoy, they had a floaty where you put any food you may want (liquids or otherwise) and anything else perhaps. I was hoping to have a crew there for me who perhaps would fill my bottle up and also have my spare goggles just in case. I didn't have a crew so I just placed my bike bottle there with Gatorade. I didn't use it tho. The first and fourth buoy had waist deep water which was great for the shoulders but more on that later. We had 12 loops of this.

T1...

1 consisted of coming out of the water, walking or running to the lake house and potentially into the restrooms/lockerooms. Besides indoor plumbing there were also showers there and benches. Usually once you get on the saddle, T1 is finished but not here. We had to ride up a 1/2 mile hill to the shelters, make a hard U-turn and onto the timing mats and then T1 officialy ended. That's why the longer times for T1.

The Bike...

his consisted of 40 Loops of 5.48 miles. Yes you read right... 40 Loops. You leave the shelters, AKA the AnVillage, and go down a long up/down false flat hill for about a mile and a half, turn around and come back to the shelters. You pass them, screaming instructions to your crew, and go down this nice area where you can get some speed. You eventually reach the "cabin loop". This is a stop sign that you blow through making a hard right turn. This loop is really a circle if you will and by taking the right turn, you descend down the hill through a left turn, make sure you either feather your breaks or lean hard to the left (preferable). At the bottom, it continues to the left and now you have to climb out out of the circle. and back to that stop sign where you make a right turn again and head to the shelters where you must cross the timing mat again. That is 1 loop. The pictures/maps make this more understandable. The pictures show that we don't do the cabin loop but that picture is wrong. We do do it.

T2...

2 is easy. At the shelters, get off the bike and do whatever you need to transition to a run. Whatever works for you... Obviously you switch bike shoes to sneakers, helmet for hat but also includes grabbing a headlamp and whatever else. I must add that some people did not use his shelters but instead brought their own tents including a changing tent. I will talk about the shelters later.

The Run...

K, I guess I should freak out about the distance here. Originally it was a 1.75 mile loop as you will see from the maps but he changed it to a 1.04XX loop so that we had to do 52 loops. Normally I would add "kill me now" but I guess I am used to running loops so I dealt with that. For some reason, I was convinced the run was flat. I really don't know why I thought that. It was leave the shelters and make a left down the hill. Run 1/2 mile, make a hard U-turn around the cone near the aid station, and head up the hill for 1/2 mile. Make a right turn at the top of the hill and pass the shelters and another U-turn across the timing mat.

Back to the story. So we drove down to the AnVillage or what I call for ease of typing, the shelters. It's an area where everyone sets up. It's like the transition area you have during a triathlon, just bigger. You can either bring your own or rent a shelter from the RD. Michael Ortiz brought his own along with 3 crewers with 1 crewer always resting. This way he always had 2 people taking care of him. One guy worked out of his car. Another brought his own huge tent complete with a changing tent and a huge tarp so people can sit on it instead of the grass. I rented a shelter which was basically a table, 2 chairs and a communal roof. There was supposed to be an area to charge devices (i.e phones or more importantly bike lamps) but I don't know where it was.

We dropped all my stuff there except what I needed to do final set up for the bike as well as what I needed for T1. It was cold so I put on my PJ shirt on top and felt much better. Donald helped me with the wetsuit and to the beach we went. Everyone had a crewer who was gonna stay with them. I didn't. I should have brought flip flops anyway trusting that they will wait for me but I didn't. That was a mistake.

We walked down to the water. It was surreal. They explained how we would count laps. There were 2 primary counters. I was assigned to John. They each had help but there were 2 primaries. We were told that at the end of each lap, to stand up and scream our name out until they recognized us. I took it further and yelled out lap number because I wanted confirmation. I don't want to do bonus laps. The anthem was sung and we headed into the water.

The anvil was struck and we were off. I found myself in front which is not where I wanted to be. I settled into my own pace. The first buoy to second was uneventful. The third was shallow as hell. I did not expect it even tho we were told about it. I did a breast stroke scull thing. The fourth, turn around, was waist deep. Back to the shallow third. Third to second was nothing but second to first seemed a little hard. Not sure why. There was a guy there making sure to provide help if anyone needed. I didn't need but said hello to him nonetheless every lap. I took the opportunity to stand up and shake out my shoulders at each end of the course.

Some people were drinking at the end of each lap. I didn't. Didn't see the point especially as I am one of those who will never pee in his wetsuit. Not trying to judge those who do, but I will not. Yuck...

They mispronounced my name but at one point it got better. The sun came out and it was beautiful. The laps went by quickly.

The big rock or did I just break my foot...?

don't remember which loop it was and it really is irrelevant for the story. I had just cleared the 3rd (shallow) buoy and was heading to the turnaround. Small tangent alert: I have a very strong breast stroke and I will switch to it during long open water swims (OWS). I can actually go faster than most people during free stryle while doing breast stroke. The other positive is that it helps me sight easily and lets me switch things up. I have also told that I have a very strong breast stroke kick in particular. Anyway, I had cleared the 3rd and was on the way to the 4th when I decided to switch to breast stroke. I switched and suddenly kicked a big rock hard. In a fraction of a second, I was going through all sort of things. After the rock, I immediatly went into systems check mode. Is the foot ok? Is it broken? Ankle? Toes? Is my race officially over before it started? All systems reported that they were ok. This took a tiny fraction of a second. It hit me that there wasn't any rock or boulder there before. I stopped and turned. Another swimmer, David Jepson, was there and we both stared at each other. The conversation:

EH: OH MY GOD! I'm so sorry. Are you ok?
DJ: (Looks at me with a dazed look, shakes his head to try to clear it)
    Yeah. I'm ok.
EH: I'm so sorry. You sure you ok?
DJ: Yeah. I'm good. It's ok.

We both start swimming again. I'm all freaked out. Let me explain what happened. In triathlon, you are allowed to draft on the swim and run and usually you cannot draft on the bike. Sometimes you are allowed tho. Drafting means you stick close to the athlete in front of you and let him do all the work breaking through the wind or water. The athlete in front of you saves you energy. If you ever drafted, you know what I mean. Well that's the positive. The negative is that you have to be careful not to hit the person in front of you. It works better if the person in front of you knows that you are there. I didn't know he was there. I switched strokes and kicked him hard in the forehead. He could have gotten a concussion. If I would have hit lower, then he would have had a broken nose and the race would have been done for him. We were all lucky that day. Spoiler alert: David Jepson ended up winning the double. Sheesh...

I eventually came out of the water right near Brad Peterson. He and his wife walked to the lake house. I ran. Feet were muddy but I rinsed them off and got dressed after a very fulfilling pee. I don't pee in my wetsuit!

11/06/2017:

n the bike. Always worried about the bike in triathlon. So many unknowns. So many variables. I bike up the 1/2 mile hill and approach the timing mat. Still not sure what I was supposed to do even tho it was explained to me down at the lake house. I ask again. They direct me to U-Turn and T1 is officially over. Time to start knocking loops off the bike. I go do the hill with the false flats. I go around the toll booth house (not sure what to call it) and start climbing. At the top, I make a left at the shelters and I go straight toward the cabin loop. No one is at my shelter. My bag isn't there either. That's ok. The cabin loop is both dangerous and fun. I'm doing sub 30MPH down that hill while expertly leaning to the left to make the turn. Later when I'm tired, I also feather the brakes when I'm not sure of myself but initially it felt great just leaning. I enjoy the rush but I could see the danger in flying down a blind turn downhill. If someone is there... If there's a car... Don't think... Don't think. Just ride. I use the momentum to help climb but it sucks. At the top of the hill, the cabin loop ends and I make the right turn out toward the shelters. Part of that is up too. Still, the timing mat is there...

On the second loop, I set of the mat while going toward the cabin loop so when I finish the loop, Steve asks me NOT to go through the mats. It would mean an incredible short and perhaps a long loop interval (gotta think about it). They make some adjustments tho to the mat. Cool.

Riding... I see Triple people and suddenly I start recognizing Double people too. They look fresh and awake and have a hunger. The triples are more tired. Mad respect...

I don't remember when but I do suddenly see Dipak at my shelter. Cool. I stop to thank him. He gives me some chocolate. Cool.

It is such a good feeling to also have someone like everyone else does. I feel bad for Dipak. He sits there alone for 20ish minutes before seeing me. Boring. I am very thankful tho. Every so often, he refills my gatorade or water, gives me snack and the most important thing is the anti-chafe to use. I don't want to get chafed. He also, not sure he realized because he kept doing it, constantly almost got hit. He would look at me and cross the road without paying attention to the other side of the road. Bikers going at speed in both. Gotta look both directions dude...

Riding and riding...

I ask Dipak to get my bag from Matt's wife and he does. Cool.

Matt was laser focused which is a nice way to say he was kinda anti-social. I get it but it was a little off-putting. Everyone else, even the people that won, were all very social. If not waving and encouraging then they would at least smiling. No matter how hard it was and how tired they were, they were all smiling. Whatever...

I ran into Michael Ortiz and encouraged him to continue. Pulled him a little. Left him. Passed him again which means I guess he took a break.

I wasn't worried about the swim and run as much as I was on the bike, so I had a plan and I was determined to stick to it. Again, let's recap. I'm not fast on the bike. I am slow with mechanical issues on the bike like flats. I get chafed. With all that being said, I knew I had to have a plan.

My plan: The bike was 40 laps. I toyed with how often to stop, to feed, to stretch back out and to deal with the impending chafe. I finally came up with the following schedule/plan.

Lap Multiple	Objective
Every 5 Laps	Get off saddle but stay on bike, fill up Water/Gatorade/Food supply, eat, apply anti-chafe
Every 10 Laps	Get off the bike, stretch back/neck, fill up Water/Gatorade/Food supply, eat, apply anti-chafe, lube chain and check air in tires

Obviously this plan was dynamic. If I felt a hot spot, it would be immediatly dealt with anti-chafe at the end of a lap. I was determined to try not to get chafed.

It was dynamic and sometimes Dipak stopped with me with chocolate and I made sure it was a quick stop. Still, every 5, I got off the saddle, ate, filled up stores and anti-chafed.

The ten lap multiple was much more interesting. Lots of things happened in between and I don't recollect when exactly they happened but I will recount the 10 lap multiple as 1 unit.

Loop 10: I stopped and got off the bike completly. Stretched my back and neck. At this point, I have only ridden 50ish miles so nothing should be horribly wrong. Dipak filled my stores. I wasn't sure what to eat. I knew the race management would have some food but I wasn't sure what and where and well, I should have asked Dipak to investigate. All the racers, had people making them food. Did I really want to have bars for 224 miles. I knew, I wouldn't eat that much which would be bad. Hm... Not sure what to do. Also, Dipak doesn't know how to lube chain or check tires so decided against that. Hm... What to do...? Luckily my olfactory sense kicked in. Hm... What's that smell? Locate the source of the smell. Hm...And me being me asked the shelter next 2 doors, "Are you making grill cheese?". The answer was "Yes. Do you want one?". I lit up and answered "YES Please!". Within 2 minutes, I was eating an amazing grill cheese. OK - Anti-chafe and right back to it.

Loop 20: This time, I guess I was a little more bold. Hopefully I wasn't rude. They took me in stride. Remember that people get adopted all the time here. I plain asked for another and was rewarded with another grill cheese. I don't remember when Donald showed up but at 1 point, Dipak and Donald were both there and I think Donald was shocked that I asked and shocked when I got rewarded but hey... At this point, I was almost at the most I have ever ridden in my life in 1 shot.

Loop 30: Really didn't take too much to ask again. Yummy goodness.

Loop 40: I don't remember if I asked or of they offered. Didn't really matter to me. I was enjoying my grill cheese.

Other things that happened on the bike... There were 2 photographers out there. Debbie Sidol (sp?) and she was awesome. She was volunteering at different spots on the course and was taking pictures. Sean Kelly was there and he kept moving around the course taking shots. He would just appear somewhere. Only indication was his little car.

On the bike, I talked to Laura Knoblach who was a very interesting person. She contacted Steve when she was under 21 because she wanted to do his race(s) and he told her that she's too young. When she turned 21, she became the youngest female to ever do a double and a triple and a quintuple and a few weeks before she finished her first deca in Swisserland. Today, she was doing the double. By the way, she was used as an example at the pre-race meeting. She apparently took advil during one of the races and didn't hydrate well. Once she finished (yes she finished) she was driven to the ER for a lot of banana bags (IV) since she developed Rhabdo. Awesome. She was riding and riding well. I rode with her a little here and there.

I talked to Toni Butler who hailed from NY (Manhattan) and encouraged her too. She was lead female after the swim. She didn't smile much, very intense, but at least talked.

Michael Ortiz was a blast too tho he was losing steam and focus.

Shanda Hill... I was riding and came up behind Michael Ortiz with a female rider squeezing his butt while riding. I immediatly yelled out "no feelsies" and they both laughed. Shanda was awesome. She is a wild child no doubt. I rode with her a little. She told some jokes that would make a drunk, old, perverted sailor blush. Her mouth... Wow... In a positive way I say it. We rode together a little and then she continueed to help Michael a little more. She also did the Deca in Swisserland 3 weeks pre but unlike Laura who was doing the double, she was doing the triple.

At 1 point, I come through the shelters and what do I see? I see Michael Ortiz down on the ground with medical on top of him while his bike is getting looked at. Not good news. Michael Ortiz is an awesome athlete and an awesome runner. He is a crappy swimmer (his fault since his only swimming is at races) and also not a good biker for the same reason. I'm going to talk about him more later since I found out more info later but I want to talk about this for now. I was very worried about him and thought that he was done for again. I don't think he has ever completed the distance he signed up for except for a single Ironman. For the double, he has done a single plus. For the triple he has done a double plus. Again, I will explain that later but for the hear and now, I thought he was done.

He wasn't. Proud of him... I saw him on the bike again later. In any case, during one of my multiple of 10 stops, I spoke to Donald and Donald was pissed. I finally got it out of him. He saw the whole Michael Ortiz thing unfold and he was livid. I wasn't sure how much he exaggerated until Michael Ortiz, in his own words, later told me the same story. Here goes... As I said, Michael is not a great rider. He just doesn't train on the bike. Too boot, he has a new, very aero aggresive bike that he wasn't used to. He was also very tired and sleepy. All that is background to the real issue and why Donald was so pissed. Apparently, Mike was riding in aero passing the shelters when someone wanted to high five him or rather low five him since he was in aero. Well, you don't do that. Especially to an inexperienced rider. To a tired rider. To someone in aero. Mike low fived him and by doing that, his body weight shifted and the front tire turned right in front of him and well, Mike did an Endo or End Over Heel. In other words, he flipped right over the bike, praying the whole time that his bike shoes would unclip. He landed in front of everyone on his back. Actually, if you're gonna have an accident, do it in front of everyone especially medical. Medical rushed over to him while others rushed to his bike. He was patched up and the bike was patched up and he was sent on. Crazy story.

Later I met Georgeta Gruescu who was determined that Mike would make the bike cutoff. She pulled him on his last 6 laps. Everytime he slowed, she yelled at him. When he stopped at the uphill on the cabin loop, she stopped and rode back down to get him moving. She was the reason he made the bike cutoff.

Georgeta Gruescu did the Swiss Deca, was doing the double with us and was going the following weekend to Mexico for the next Deca. She, later I found out, swam the course with the Triples just for training. Wow...

11/07/2017:

little TMI doesn't hurt anyone and I guess it's part of the story. So, everyone on the course was hydrating and eating. You just have to. Even I was drinking, tho I probably didn't drink as much as everyone else but I was drinking. These people also took pee breaks when they got off the bike or perhaps just peed while on the bike (another thing I won't do). In any case, the last time I peed was when I finished the swim. Here I was riding for a while and I still haven't peed. I just didn't feel the need to. I just continuued. At 1 point, I felt like the need may arise but it wasn't a reason to stop. Eventually, sometime in the middle of the night, I decided to stop and pee. It was a two-fer really. Dropped some weight that just doesn't need to be carried around and took the opportunity to, even tho unscheduled, to get off the bike. Trust me, I wanted off that bike. Still, I also figured it may be a smart move as I haven't peed in over 14 hours. Probably even more than that. I was at the bottom the false flat hill and as I passed the 2nd timing mat, I stopped to talk to the person manning it. The conversation went like this:

ME: So... Can I ask you a question?
THEM: Sure. What's up?
ME: How do you feel about me watering those dying trees over there?
THEM: (confused then light turns on over head) You need to pee?
ME: Yup.
THEM: Go for it.
ME: Can you hold my bike?

The kind woman from South Africa, this is the second South African white female I met in 2 consecutive races mind ya, held my bike and I walked away a little. She told me that she won't look and I told her I frankly don't care too much as I'm at the point of who cares anyway. I'm pretty sure I had a mini-orgasm as I moaned very loudly for a while. She asked if I felt relief and it took a few seonds to answer yes. It really felt good.

I should mention that Dipak did leave around 6pm and Donald was there for a while at night and then left. At one of my 10 loop multiple, I asked Donald to lube the chain and check the tires. He lubed the chain and as soon as I got on the bike, the chain dropped. Without missing a beat, he put it back while I was on the bike getting his hands filthy.

I don't remember if I was almost done with the bike or already on the run, when a race official passed by and I asked her if they will have eggs for breakfast and she said no. What a bummer. I mentioned how sucks it is to my gril cheese dealer. This is important for later.

Again, some of these thoughts and memories are kinda jumbled time wise. It is hard to tell when things happened and sometimes things make more sense to tell together as opposed to chronologically. My apologies if it's confusing.

Dangerous Moments...

here were 3 incidents if you will, that were scary. Coincidentally, they were all at the same exact spot on the course. The first was when I saw a fawn on the side of the road as I was about to fly down the cabin loop. Thankfully it was on the grass and I think I scared him more than he scared me and I never saw him again. The second was when again, I had just turned into that downhill when I noticed a car climbing the wrong way. I swerved and that stupid woman swerved and well there was my cardio moment of the day I guess. Once I climbed out, I stopped to talk to the volunteers there and told them what just happened. They were shocked. They saw her and tried to stop her but told me they would try to catch her next time. The theory was that she was renting a cabin down there. I told the race officials at the main timing mat as well. Later I saw more signs at the beginning of that cabin loop informing people of which way traffic is flowing and that there is a race. I purposely say "more" signs as there were plenty of signs through out the bike route letting people know that there was a race going on and plenty of cyclists and runners around and urging drivers to be cautious. The third time was when me and 2 other cyclits approached that same place. A car was ahead of us and while we didn't deserve right of way, it kinda made sense to give it from a safety sense. She didn't. She just slowed down in front of us which was worse. She should have moved to the right. We were all screaming at her. She just slowed down. Still, passed her and again thanked my guardian angel. At the top of the loop, I stopped again and apparently the volunteers did realize it was the same stupid woman and stopped her to tell her about the race and that she almost hit me earlier. Her defense was that she didn't know there was a race. Hm... Plenty of signs as soon as you enter the park. Plenty of cyclists and runners to be seen. The shelters and the timing mat could have been a clue but the final argument is: she drove up the hill against traffic. Even if you didn't know there was a race going on, why are you driving against traffic?!? Oh well... No one got hurt and I guess that's all that counts.

Bike lamps: As you may remember, I had 2. My grill cheese dealer was charging one for me at all times which was awesome. When the first got low, I switched. When I felt like the second was getting low, I switched again. Matt's light completly died on him during a loop so he rode with a headlamp which freaked him out since it wasn't strong enough. He rode with a kind soul together until his wife finished charging his lamp. Bike lamps are so cheep these days. Why only have 1 and expect it to work the whole night? I don't get it. Perhaps an oversight. Toni's light also completly went out and one of the volunteers, same guy who was there during the swim, happened to have one and at the bottom of the false flats he hooked it on her bike.

I was almost done with the bike and looking forward to getting off. This was the most I have ever ridden. I spoke to Toni who still had 5 loops to go and she was not happy. Spoke to a different guy and well, he had 15 more loops to go. Apparently, he had major stomach issues and stopped to sleep. Lost a lot of time but he just could not function. Ronnie Gidekel and me both finished the bike together. Awesome.

11/08/2017:

sense of relief washed over me at this point. Yes, I still had to deal with 52.4 miles or 52 laps but at least I'm on a more familiar footing. Yes, things can still go sideways but at least I "think" I know how to deal with them.

As I ate my last grill cheese, I grabbed my towel and changed out of my bike bibs. I normaly would never do that but doing this kinda breaks all the rules anyway. I got ready, grabbed my headlamp and left. Had to figure out the run loop. I, for some real stupid reason which is still unclear to me, was under the impression that the run loop was flat. It wasn't. Wasn't terrible hills or anything but still. You leave the shelters and make a left turn down the hill. Go straight down the hill to the aid station. The turn around was just a little past them. Turn around and climb the hill(s) all the way to the top. Make a right and pass the shelters to the timing mat. Make a U-turn and there's your first loop. Repeat 51 more times. Yeah, that sucked pretty much the moment I actually said that to myself as now when I wrote it. Whatever... Been there - done that.

I came up on Shanda and we ran together. She is truly awesome and our personalities just clicked together. She is a free spirit or perhaps a wild spirit and the conversations we shared... At one point, she needed to pee and got so excited when she saw one of the volunteers car near the aid station. That car meant she wouldn't need to squat and then try to get up. She simply leaned hard against the car in a 90ish degree squat and peed. Getting up was not an issue. Did this a few more times in the 11 miles we ran together. At the shelter, her male friend (not boyfriend but someone who can put up with her) was there and he took care of her while her father slept. When he asked how her chafe was she responded with "my crotch is nice and wet now. Wanna feel?". To his credit, he just pointed at her liquids, told her to drink and then to take fruit. Dude didn't even bat an eyelash.

She peed a few more times and when the sun came up, it didn't stop her. She didn't even go to the side. She literally just squatted and peed. Funny thing did happen. She was peeing at the side of the road, when a car drove by. It was driven by a cub squad leader whose cubs were in the car. He was shocked. I'm sure the kids were not. It was funny.

As I said, we did 11 miles when suddenly Toni showed up. She had just got off the bike and wanted me to pace her. I told her on the bike that I would help her and she wanted it. She ran with us. We did the math for her. She could do it. She wanted to know exact pacing per mile needed. We kept trying to stress to her to keep moving and that this was doable. She was so serious. She never smiled. Her face was so set but she moved. I can deal with that.

I think she eventually rubbed on Shanda in the wrong way with her seriousness and we seperated. That's ok. I stayed with Toni for 11 miles. Pulling. At that point, Toni was fixated with the TV monitor showing laps and last lap and she freaked out. I kept on telling her to keep moving. Not to stop. The race officialls also told her that. She just couldn't. Now, I don't mind helping people. I don't mind sacrificing my time but you gotta listen and make an effort and if you don't then why should I just stop. I left. She caught up and stuff but the mental side of it was freaking her out and she just couldn't. She went her own way.

Laser focused Mat? Well he was still focused and almost at 1 point went off course. I yelled to him to come back and thanked me profusely. After that, he was much nicer and actually smiled.

At 1 point, I came across Georgetta who told me that she got Mike off the bike with 15 minutes to spare. Well, I knew when he started running and that didn't jive. In 3 or 4 hours, he only did 7 miles. Turns out he took a nap or rested. Dude... She was pissed.

Mike... Well, I'm not sure he ever conquered the distance he set out to except for a single Ironman but he was getting better in that he was learning. I had a conversation with him. Let's see. His swimming sucks. The fact that he can't sight well doesn't help. Apparently that has to do with his goggles fogging up. So, he brought a whole bag of goggles and put it on the floaty. When 1 pair got fogged up, he switched. His swimming was 30 minutes faster. His T1 is terribly slow. Whereas people end up with 30 minutes over there due to the run to the lake house, transitioning and then biking up the hill, his was more like an hour. I thought he showered. Turns out that after the swim, he needs sometime to clear his head. Ok I get it. Perhaps more swimming will decrease his time, teach him to sight and help his recovery. During the bike, he took a 20 minute nap that last 3 or 4 hour. His crew could not wake him up. I told him and later his crew my thoughts. I think (who the hell am I anyway?) they need to have a conversation and an understanding whether he needs the carrot or the stick. If it's the carrot, then define the carrot. If it's the stick, then his crew should give it to him. Let them clip electrodes to his testicles, throw acid in his face, ice all over him, flog him with a cane or whip BUT get him up! He knows that he's slow on the bike so he bought a brand new bike and got it the day before the race. How about some training rides pre-race??? After the Bike, he napped again. Oi... I get that he's tired but he just can't afford that. More on him later...

At one point, they refused to let us see the miles since there was a problem. That was annoying. I was chasing Chris Calimano and he was constantly 3 laps ahead of me. I closed the gap to 2 and he noticed and kicked it up a notch. At that point, I was trying to help Mike out so I let him go. Beat Knechtle or Mr. Beat from Switzerland was funny and asked me in his accent if I was chasing him. I was not.

Every so often, we heard the anvil. As people finished their almost last lap, a special bell was heard at the timing mat which people cheered for. It was fitting as it meant that you were running your bell lap. Your family and/or crew could go with you. When you finished and were almost at the shelters, your countries flag was awaiting you. You ran with it while your national anthem was playing to the mat and you crossed it. You then, hit the anvil as many times as your race was. The singles hit 1, the doubles hit and the triples hit 3. I saw people finish. I heard them too. Shanda finished. It was sad to see her stop but it felt good too.

11/09/2017:

gain, I know some of these memories are out of order. What can I say...So, remember how I told, complained actually, to my grill cheese dealer about that there won't be eggs? Well, the race official was wrong. Breakfast was served and they had pancakes and eggs and bacon and other some such. Well, I did grab some eggs and wolfed them down. That was good. I was still with Toni at that point. Later, coming into the shelters, my grill cheese dealer gave me a cup. I thought that was strange. I didn't ask for a cup. I looked inside and EGGS! She was kind enough to go and get me eggs. I love this person. Totally love this person.

Later, I took a pancake and it was horrible. OK so I have to admit that if I eat pancakes then it's without syrup or butter. Well, maybe these pancakes would have been decent with syrup or butter but they were horrible and dry and I just couldn't chew it. As it so happened, I passed my dealer and I told her that the pancakes were terrible. I wasn't expecting anything. Hell, those grill cheese sandwiches were amazing and the eggs were awesome. Still, she managed to floor me. Here's how that conversation went:

ME: These pancakes are terrible. Can't chew or swallow them. (I spit it out)
GRILL CHEESE DEALER: Do you want me to make you some pancakes?
ME: (sputtering, stuttering, eyes bulging) Hm, ha, hm...
GCD: It's not a problem.
ME: (still sputtering, stuttering, eyes bulging) Hm, ha, hm...
GCD: Really...It's not a problem.
ME: (still sputtering, stuttering, eyes bulging) Hm, ha, hm...
HUSBAND OF GCD: (Yelling at GCD) Can't you see the answer is yes?!?
                (Yelling at ME) GO! She'll have it ready for you when you come back.
ME: (still sputtering, stuttering, eyes bulging) Hm, ha, hm...
HOGCD: GO!
ME: THANKS!!!

I left there with such joy in my heart. Wow that sounded corny but it really made my day. I don't think you can truly appreciate it unless you are in that position.

I hurried through that loop not really sure of what I was going to find. I got back and she handed me a plate with 4 pancakes. OH MY GOD! They were so moist. I put 1 in my mouth and the damn thing just melted in there. They were just out of this world. I love my grill cheese dealer/egg bringer/pancake maker.

A few more laps go by.

McFlurry

ello. My name is Elik and I never had a McFlurry before. Yes yes... I never had one. What the hell is a McFlurry? It's a milk shake that has a topping blended into it. Why am I describing it here now? Well, I was in one of my loops, climbing back up toward the shelters when I see a runner walking down the hill with one. I immediatly stop her and ask her where she got it and she told me up at the shelters. I run faster. Another runner has one and again I interrogate. Again I'm told that up by the shelters. I get to the shelters and yell out "who has the McFlurries?". Everyone points to a car that just started driving away. I yell out "HEY!" and the driver apparently hears me and slams on the breaks. I run over to it and when I am almost there, a hand sticks out of the window holding a McFlurry. I'm shocked. Joey, my new BFF, says here you go. Do you also want some chicken nuggets and fries? I tell him no but I am eyeing that McFlurry. Again he tells me to take it. I ask if he's sure and he says yes. My new BFF!

Most people saw this exchange and as I take it, a cheer goes out. Joey drives away and I start running to the timing mat, holding this like the olympic torch while chanting out loud Eye of the Tiger from Rocky 3. I cross the timing mat and Sean is there to document my first virgin sip of this nectar of the gods. It's a vanilla milk shake filled with crumbled Oreos and it is delicious. Sean took about 40 shots!

During the race, I was asking people to text Elizabeth status messages. For example "Done with the swim. Vertical" or "Half done on the bike. Vertical". When asked if they need to sign it with my name, I would always tell them that the recipient would figure it out. The word vertical at the end would signify that no matter what I am doing, I am ok. Well, during the McFlurry, at the turnaround I felt a text msg should be sent. It read, "14.5 miles to go. Eating my first McFlurry. Loving it. J2 is not having one. Vertical". The woman sent it not sure exactly what it is that she sent. I explained to her that it was my first (she was shocked) and that my daughter loves it and always wants one and that she's not having one right now but I am. Yes - I am mean. I left there with an evil laugh.

I finished that awesome thing fast but the goody feeling lasted 3 laps. When that feeling ended, I got back to the shelters and yelled out "who's got the Filet Mignion?". They all laughed but no one jumped up. I tried... As I continued, a different perspn asked me if I want some eggs. I turned around and ran to her. She told me she also has bacon and I apologized and turned away from her. She told me that they were seperate and I turned around again. She gave me 4 omelettes and I thanked her profusely. Later, my grill cheese dealer asked me if I want more pancakes. Again I started yammering. Again her husband intervened. Again I left all giddy like only to come back to a plate with 4 delicious pancakes. Awesome!

Yes folks - my mission was to try to gain weight during this race.

Later, as I was running down the hill, a pickup truck caught up to me and drove next to me. The woman who gave me 4 omelettes, stuck her head out and asked if I want more. I said YES! and they stopped. I went to the back where her son was holding the tupperwear container. Soon, I had 4 more delicious omelettes.

Am I making anyone hungry just by reading this by the way?

Donald showed up at one point with cut up fruit in a container and I took watermelon constantly from him.

I tried to pull Mike but he was too slow. He told me at one point that he was going to change shoes. I finished a lap and a half while he did that. Tsk tsk tsk... Not good. By the way, his crew was awesome. They were constantly feeding him on the run with icicles and fresh cut watermelon and whatever worked. He actually had a list of things. They were awesome.

I tried to help him and others but at 1 point, I had enough and it was time to finish. I left them. I did the last 3 miles under 30 minutes.

At the end of the almost last lap, my bell went off and they celebrated. I was kinda hoping to finish quietly but it didn't seem that it was going to happen. When I finished my last climb up the hill, Debbie was there with the American flag. Steve apologized to me that he didn't have an Israelli flag. I would have run with both. I grabbed the flag and ran. He did find a copy of the Hatikvah (wiki of it and youtube song which has both hebrew and english subtitles) and that played which confused many. Many asked Steve about it and both Joey and someone else came to me telling me that it brought tears to their eyes.

Still, I had buisiness to take care of. I crossed the mat but now it was time for the hammer to drop. Usually the athlete rings the anvil letting his crew/family do the last one. This case, I gave both to Donald to ring making sure he uses his left arm as opposed to the arm he just had surgery on. Yes - he almost used the right one which is the wrong one ;)

11/10/2017:

t was done. Finished. I did it. Something that I stressed about and agonized about for months was done in a split second. People came over to congratulate me. To hug me. I'm just standing there. What do I do now? Normally, it's a quick pack up and perhaps a shower but what do I do now? There's a lot of stuff to put together. Also, there was an award banquet the next day. I had permission to come home later but I just wanted to be home. Sucks. I kinda wish to have stayed but it's time. So, back to the shelter to pack up everything and to inquire about showers. I was told that at the cabin loop, there was an area with showers. Cool. At the very least, I would have changed clothes but this is much better. I wasn't starving (D'oh...) but food was a consideration. I also wanted to try to find an indoor plumbing just in case. Back to the shelters we went.

What the HELL are scabies?

hen we got back to the shelters, Donald broke the news to me. He didn't want to tell me during the race. He woke up at the hotel with bites all over. He thought bed bugs. Wonderful... He didn't check the bed the night before. I forgot to check as well. I didn't have any bites whatsoever. He had them all over. He yelled at the motel management. We took my stuff and put it into big garbage bags and into his car. He slept in his car at night. With his shoulder, it could not have been comfortable. He arranged a hotel but decided against it. I would have paid for it... I was high on life for finishing the race and suddenly hit bottom. We found the showers and I showered and used the indoor plumbing. We left. We saw Mike and Toni still out there. They could still make it...

I stayed awake and talked to Donald on the drive back. It would not have been fair in my opinion to sleep. At one point tho, I had a hard time staying up. I was up for over 43 hours and I started feeling it. I apologized and asked if he minds if I take a few minutes nap. He stared at me and said, "You have been up for so long, I don't understand how you're even functional right now. Of course go to sleep.". I closed my eyes and took a 20 minute power nap. I was fine after that. He told me I could/should sleep more but it was enough for me. We talked. Eventually we stopped to eat and I paid for dinner. He kept protesting and said I shouldn't. Please... This is the least I could do. I told him to let me know gas/tolls as well. We drove and the food made me sleepy and again I asked if he minded. He didn't. We got home and I put everything, still in their bags, in the back porch. Tomorrow I would start the laundry cycles including the actual cloth bags I had my stuff in.

Before we got home, I spoke to Jeremy and asked him to turn the house alarm off. Lee thought I would get home much later. I wanted to surprise them. I had another brilliant idea. Instead of going up to the bedroom, I would just crash on the couch. As much as I wanted to go up to bed, I knew that if I would go up it would a) wake Elizabeth up and she would know how much sleep I got, b) it would potentially wake the dog up who might wake her up early and c) potentially I would have to move Jessie out of our bed which would wake her up.

I slept on the couch without a problem. I went to sleep somewhere between 1am and 2am. No one needed to know that.

Since the dog is losing his eyesight due to cataracts, we usually turn the lights on downstairs first and then slowly lead him down the stairs not letting him jump whenever he thought he was close to the last step. At around 5am, Elizabeth came downstairs to turn the light on. I heard her and woke up. As she turned the light on, she suddenly saw an intruder in the house. It was me but she didn't expect it, got startled and gave a small yell. It was kinda funny tho. I asked her how many intruders come in in the middle of the night and sleep on your couch. She brought the dog down and told me to go sleep upstairs. I went up to bed and slept a few more hours. Eventually came down and went to do my 1 mile run for the streak. It felt good to be home tho I really wished I could have stayed for the banquet.

So, the good news was that the bed bugs weren't bed bugs. They were scabies. Not great news but better news. Why you ask? Bed bug infestations are hard to get rid of. On the other hand, getting rid of them is a pain in the butt. Scabies apparently burrow into your skin and lay eggs. You need to take meds and to put a lotion on your body for 2 weeks to kill them off. Since Donald slept in Jamil's bed, Miriam and Jamil both also had to put the lotion on. Sucks...Luckily Celine wasn't home so she was spared. I felt very guilty. Still do. I can't make up for it but I did take care of them in another way and that's not needed to be documented here.

I had a lot of thoughts about the crews and I'm not sure who has it worse. The athlete or the crew. Those people without a crew certainly have it even harder. I had limited crew but was adopted to an extent so that helped.

Toni had no crew. She had a lot of supplies. She was organized. She had a coach but they weren't there. I was told she was so organized because she was a Doctor. Still, she was alone. People tried to help her. Apparently she didn't eat at all, according to Donald, but rather just filled herself with Mountain Dew. If that is true, then that probably screwed her up or at least helped to screw her up. Oh well. She didn't finish the Double. Instead she finished the Single Plus which means she swam the double, biked the double and ran the single. She was short by 3 miles...! Sucks. Two weeks later I saw Michael Ortiz at the Ghost Train 100 miler and he told me what happened.

That volunteer ran with her and eventually drove up and down the hill to help her. I told him I tried and he appreciated it but told me that she's got it. Well, she had to finish 3 miles and had 30 minutes to do it. I know that sounds easy but it was doable if you had enough drive in you. I would have tried to get as close as I can. I'd rather "fail" with 2 minutes to go. Well, apparently at that time, she was incoherent. They asked her questions and she was answering gibberish. It didn't make sense. They pulled her out and drove her to the ER where they stuck her with a banana bag until she felt better. Jade, the medical, stayed with her until she felt better and drove her back. I'm sure she was disappointed.

Mike got the Double Plus. He just didn't make the run. Sucks...

A few days ago, Donald told me that he was sure I would beat a lot more people. That I looked the most comfortable on the run than anyone out there. I was in my element he said. Well, he was right. I could have passed more people. I could have done better. Still, a PR by definition and true to my nature I helped people out on the run even tho I sacrificed my time. I don't care. It's who I am. I accept it.

This race report took a long time to write and took a lot of me. I was re-living the race constantly through it. I "think" I finished. I'm sure I will add more details at some point.

back...

Double Anvil Triathlon!

10/25/2017: