He found this picture of himself and posted it himself. I'm sure he'll be back next year. Sucks for the guy behind him. Projectile vomiting at its best.
Saturday was the usual crazy stuff. Jeremy and Elizabeth swam from 10 to 11. Jessie and I watched. Went to get pizza for the kids for lunch and accidenttaly closed the car door on my right calf. OUCH. Open sore and bleeding before a Hudson river swim. Great. Liquid bandaged it as soon as I got home. Had lunch and headed back to the YMCA. Jessie had gymnastics and Jeremy had tennis. It was hot! Afterwards, waiting (and waiting and waiting) for Dom to come over. We had to make a quick run to the city to drop off the bike. She finally got here. As we parked I realized we forgot to bring garbage bags to use to cover the bike in case of rain. Figured we drop the bike off and then go look for a deli. Dropped off the bike and in transitions found some bags and used them to cover the bike. Got home late! Kids already had dinner. I usually eat my pre-race dinner at 5 and it was already 6:10.
Sunday, the big day! Woke up at 2am and started getting ready. Picked up Dom at 4:10 and headed out to the city. Transition is only open between 4:30 and 5:30. You MUST set your stuff up at that point. Parked and got stuff ready. Met Steve P and Curt from SunRise Tri. Also met Greg, Jeremy's old soccer coach. The three of us, Dom, Greg and me went toward swim start. The Pros were supposed to start at 5:50, Dom at 6:30, Greg at 7:24 and me at 7:31. On the way to swim start, we looked at the water and realized it's full of HUGE jelly Fish. YUCK! I'm talking about 6 inches in diameter, redish/brownish things. Said goodbye to Dom and watched her go. Saw the P.C athletes and then Greg and I went to put our wetsuits on.
Dom rented a wetsuit but didn't get it till monday, didn't try it till wednesday and then realized it was too small. Oh well.
Greg went in and then it was my turn. Little confusing because the 30-34 had 2 waves with the same swim cap color. That was stupid. Before I knew it I was in the water waiting to start. Swim started and it was choppy. Way more choppy then I remembered. Last year it took me 17+ minutes and I was curious. Glanced at my watch and noticed I was already at 15 minutes and no end in sight. Man! Oh well. Got kicked in the face but since goggles were inside cap it was not an issue. I usually catch the previous wave and some of the previous-previous wave but this time the swim finish was a mess. Total chaos. What happened is this. We knew that the earlier waves would have a great current and we would have less. Fine. We pretty much had zero current helping us. More like it the tide was starting to come in and the water was very choppy. People assumed that they would only have to swim about a quarter to half a mile and the current would do the rest. NOPE. Didn't work like that. My swim time was 10 minutes slower than last year. It was more like Patriot (1.2 mile swim). Can't let it get to you. Keep going.
At swim end, they had medical staff offering help to anyone who got stung badly. I knew I got stung but I wasn't going to stop. Got stung on my right cheek and my right calf/foot where it's exposed. Everyone bitching about it in transition. Had a fast, looooong run to T1. Changed and went out with the bike only to be re-directed a little by NYPD/Volunteers and EMS. Someone was being wheeled out on a stretcher.
The bike started ok.....Thought I might have a flat tire in the back which annoyed me. Got to the Bronx and still I did not see Greg or Dom. Man, were they having a great day or was I having a bad one?!?
There is an awesome downhill on the way to the Bronx. Went down it at 40 MPH. AWESOME. Of course later you gotta climb it back too which always sucks.
Saw Dom struggling up this looong hill in the Bronx not to far away from the turn around. It's a 180 degree turn at the top of a hill. Passed her while yelling encouragements. She did NOT look good. She looked like either she was about to get off and walk or get off and quit. I feel for her.
Back in Manhattan and heading right into a bad wind. Sucks. Past Transition down to 57th and the second 180 degree turn and the last climb of the day on the bike. Straight into T2.
Made sure to pee before the run. No one likes to run with a full bladder. Was able to pee but it was a bad yellow. I was drinking too but at least I had something...
The run started and I felt good. Bad short hill to 72nd from the water and then straight to Central Park. It was 95+ degrees and hot and humid. No shade. Volunteers were great making a path for us. I was next a group of 10 when this stupid older guy decided he's gonna cross our path. This volunteer tried to stop him nicely saying to him "excuse me" twice. At the third time, she actually put her hand on his chest and pushed him backwards. I was screaming to her that she's the best. That guy would have been run over - she probably saved his life and ours too.
Central Park is Central Park. I got no love for it. I personally like Alley better. Less crowded and more enjoyable. Every hydration stop, not only would I drink but I would also wet down my sponge from Patriot and cool my chest and back. It helped! At one station they had a firemen type hose that everyone went through.
Somewhere as I was running through people, I hooked up with a TNT mentor. We ran together and talked. He always trains in CP so he told me what was coming up hills wise. You'd think I would remember by now but I truly don't.
Because of the heat the water stations were getting hammered. No longer were they handing off water. They were struggling to get it in cups on the table. You had to grab your own. At about mile 4, we both stopped to get water. I stopped quickly and run. He joined me about 20 feet later. I joked with him that I was waiting for him to finally catch up. At about mile 5 he never did. Lost him. Felt good to lose this guy: Low 20's and trains regularily in CP. Good for your own morale tho I missed him. That final turn came with about 3/4 mile to go and I went for it. Ran hard really picking people off now. Finally that statue and then I heard someone scream at me only 100 meters to go. That was enough for me. I sprinted hard ; everything was a whirl. Got to a tight left turn and I came very close to scraping the fence. This spectator actually moved back off the fence and that was good because I probably would have hit him. Crossed the finish line. It's over.
The tri was over but there was still a lot more to go and a lot more to tell. Got my medal, water and the worst bagel I ever had. Got my special need bag and made my way to Tavern on the Green for a pedicab back to transition.
Spoke to someone on the way who told me that someone right before he got out of the water, grabbed his ankles and pulled hard. Soon as the guy did that, he felt his hamstrings cramp. Then the other guy swam up and punched him in the head. I told the guy that it must have been an accident but apparently not only did he punch him, he also tore the goggles off his face. On purpose! Never heard of that. Don said, that he should have got him DQ for that BS.
Back to Transition and packed up my stuff. Food was very dismal and I was jonesing for food and drink. Walked back to car. Called my friend Sarah who was supposed to meet me at the car to get something. I asked her to buy me some water. Her husband got there with water and I started recovering. The drive home had me drinking a chocolate protein shake, drinking water and eating some stale pretzels from Patriot. Thank god.
As I was driving I heard a voice mail from Don saying that his friend has the WII for my son and I had to get there by 2pm. Sucks...Got home, showered (no time to rest or eat), tore out of the house, picked up Lee and the kids at my in-laws. Ate a sandwich Lee made me while driving and got the WII. From there to BJ's, then unloaded then quick dinner (no strength - made a salad) and before I knew it, it was night.
I kept telling my wife that I was gonna have to crash. If I would have just sat down on the floor at home or even laid down on the floor, I would have fallen asleep. I have done it before. Just no damn time.
And now for more stories......
Dom finished in 6:02. Her swim took 28 minutes and she suffered on the bike. When she finished the bike, she said she could not move her legs and had to walk the run. She sounded wiped. Truthfully, she did NOT train at all and this was sheer will. Should not have been that way. Her longest ride was 20 miles. Race was 25 miles. Her last bike was 16 miles 2 weeks before the race. Her last run was 4 miles a week before the race. The race was 6.2 miles. Her last swim was 1700-1800 the day before the race and included IMs. What good is butterfly gonna do for her? Don't know why but her time is still not listed.
Greg had a hard time on the swim. Took him over an hour but he finished. Twice he went to the cayaks and told them he wants to quit. They told him he was only 300 meters away so he finished. I must off passed him somewhere in the water. He finished in 4:37.
A 32 year old died in the water. Pending an autopsy, they think he died as a reaction to JF stings. I saw an interview with the race director who said there were JF but they cleared out. That was BS! We saw so many of them in the water. Almost everyone got stung.
From one of the forums, I got this gem:
I, also, just got back and had a pretty good race. Jellyfish
everywhere. Jumped in the water and was immediately stung on the
neck. Started the swim and was stung on the foot. Halfway through, had
the pleasure of being stung right on the face, it was as if I was wearing
two pair of goggles. Then I was paranoid, thought everything I touched
was some sort of sea monster so I swam my butt off just to get out of that
brackish misery. That being said, I can't think of anywhere else I would
have rather been.
Overall there was 1 fatality, 8 faintings, numerous swim DNF's and other DNF's, broken bones and tons of JF stings.
It was chaos. It was NY.
The second overall male collapsed 20 feet from the finish line. Got a cramp and went down. Looked bad. Looked like the guy was altered. I have heard that parents did not let their kids look at what was happening. He kept refusing medical attention and ended up crawling and banging into stuff across the finish line. Made it in 5th place overall. I'm sure they stuck an IV into him ASAP. Here is the link to the clip.
This is a great picture of a guy finishing. This is NOT ME!
He found this picture of himself and posted it himself. I'm sure he'll be back next year. Sucks for the guy behind him. Projectile vomiting at its best.