Moses Lake Tri: Part 2 of 2

In life there are rare opportunities, there is no question about that.  In the rare instance that you are face to face with what you want, something that you have asked for, the true questions is what will you do?

*Someone once told me that "patience is a virtue."  Well, so is seizing an opportunity.

I know that most, if not all, of you have heard the saying, “Be careful in what you wish for.”  Well, leading into this race I found myself secretly (in a self punishing mind frame) wishing that I had some people to chase down during a race.  I love to go off the front and lead, but I wanted to chase some peeps!  I was also wishing for a good finish that involved a good finish kick and a man-to-man of “who wants it more?” Brodacious needs to be careful what he wishes for…

*Doing the fly during my late/modified warmup

*Earplugs!

*Your guess is as good as mine...

The swim started in the cold water on a cold day.  If you can mentally get past the cold water, a temperature in the mid to high 50s is actually a great temperature to swim fast.  Dense water is always fast, and cold dissipates all your body heat.  After 20 seconds or so of a fairly rough start I found myself jostling around the first buoy in 5^th place.  Before settling down I took a pretty hard hit to the head that knocked my right ear plug out.  I use ear plugs in open water because the cold water gets in my ear and gives me headaches and upsets my balance for a few hours. 

*Men's swim start getting rough

*Leading my buddy, JM, to the inside line. 

*Taylor starting her race

Down the back stretch of the swim my right ear filled with water and I could feel the mounting vertigo.  To combat this I swam with my eyes shut and tried to relax.  I would open my eyes to sight, but then go back to relaxing.  I held a pretty good pace through the first quarter mile and slipped away from the chase pack.  A really fast triathlete, Keith, had gone off the front and began putting time into all of us.  When my hand hit the bottom and I stood up a little wobbly from the water in my right ear, I saw Keith exiting transition.  His amazing swim was about a minute faster than mine.  I wished for someone to chase, my wish came true.

*Making my move on the outside

*The swim gaps

*Sighting my exit

*Is that Swamp Thing?

*Checking the chase pack

 My first transition was smooth and fast, the fastest of the individuals in the race (three teams had faster transitions, but all they have to do is touch hands.  Plus, isn’t a “team triathlon” an oxymoron?)  I flew aboard the Murder Machine and set course to chase.

*Quick change

*Special color scheme; red on the wheels, red shoes on the run, flashy!

*JM through T1

*Taylor doing her thing

*Ayla out of transition

The race was tough this year.  It was cold with a very stiff wind that opposed us on the way out.  I don’t think that anyone would dispute that you ride much harder when you have someone to chase.  I could see Keith in the distance and used him to keep the pressure on.  The worst thing you can do is try to make up distance all in one shot, so I focused on a steady squash of the gap.

*Let's do it!

A really tough head wind on an out-and-back course presents challenges in itself.  For one, the race becomes heavily focused on the ride into the wind.  That is the time when stronger riders will make up time, and when weaker riders will get themselves into trouble.  The return trip with the wind at our backs would be considered a wash as we all would be averaging 30-35mph and screaming into transition 2.

At mile three I found myself pushing hard into a really tough head wind.  I focused on being still in the aero position, keeping my head down, and keeping the pressure on the pedals.  I slowly shrank the gap to the leader. At mile 5 I made the pass, as I rode by Keith I said with a smile, “Heck of a swim, dude!”  It was a heck of a swim.

We made the turn around and I took time checks to the chase pack.  With the exception of Keith, the gap was very comfortable at about 2 minutes.  As I said, we all zoomed back to transition without the bike gaps changing significantly. The one thing that did change is I went from hunter to the hunted; there is a very different feeling between the two.  Without sounding like a me-monster, it’s nice to say that the Murder Machine did me proud by setting the fastest bike split on the day…charge it with one count of  bike split muuuuurrrrrrrrrder. :)

*Mug shot of the Murder Machine, guilty.

 When I hit transition 2 I had just under a minute on second place.  I chose fashion over function with my footwear so I opted to wear socks with my newer running shoes.  By the way, thank you to Evan for the shoes, they are crucial to the sweet outfit, red is power.  My transition 2 wasn’t as fast as my transition 1 and I lost a little time.  All said and done I left for the run with second place about 40 seconds in chase.

*"This is what you wanted..."

*"...So go get it!"

*The Master at work

*Ayla earning her age division medal

My friend, Johmark (JM), has been training me to run like the wind.  I am not there yet and my legs really felt the fatigue of the training I had done before the race.  If you add in the hard bike ride, I was suffering fairly early into the run.  Mile one came and went.  I was running steady, not super fast, but steady.  A few cheerleaders offered support, problem was I passed them before they could cheer-spell whatever it was they were intending to. “Go runner! “R…U…”  It reminded me of Billy Madison, when he was asked to spell the word risotto (or something like that).  He spelled, “R…U…going to the movies after school?”

*R...U...going to the movies after school? 

At the turnaround I felt a little urgency because my gap was coming down; second place was now 25 seconds or so behind me and set in chase mode.  In making my way back, I was able to get a good look at the chasers.  3^rd place looked strong, JM was in 4^th place and really screaming across the pavement in his lime green kit (nice outfit).  My Hammer Teammate, Richard Ling, a guy who beat me pretty badly in a race in 2010 was also making a move through the field.  There were other great runners who seemed set to move up as well.  It’s safe to say that everyone in the top 5 looked to be running very fast.

This was a special point in the race for me because it was now going to come down to “who wanted it more.”  Now that I had my wish of having someone to chase, and the opportunity for a close finish, what was I going to do with this gift?  I had three options, fold, bluff, or man up.  Folding was an option, this was suffering. I settled for a little bit of option 2 and little of option 3. 

I shut out all distraction and focused on keeping my legs moving, and broke the remaining course into small chunks.  First I am going to run hard to the corner, then to the main road, then the bridge, then over the bridge, then to the finish line.  “THIS IS WHAT YOU WANTED, SO GO GET IT!”  I told myself to stay in the moment.

*Hide the kids, it's scary-face time!

The gap was shrinking, I could feel it.  I was running as fast as my long ol’ legs would carry me.  I made the corner, and then the road, and then the bridge.  It was getting close now.  I was really hurting, as everyone does at this point and I knew second place would be making the move soon.  At this point we had 400 excruciating yards to the finish line.

On a good day, I have about 100 yards of full tilt finish-sprint, 200 if I am feeling super-duper and fully tapered.  With 300 yards to go I heard my mom and my friend, Jess scream, “Come on Bryan!” with undertones of what I perceived as bloody murder.  I interpreted this to mean that second place was making his move, he was on me, and he was making his finish kick.   

I knew 300 yards was too far to start the finish sprint.  However, if he was going to make his move I would make mine.  After all is said and done, I go for the win so I dropped a couple gears and took off with all that I was worth.  I worked my arms and forced my fading legs to keep moving.  I crested the last hill to the finish with 100 yards to go.  I was cooked, my speed powered down and I hit the wall.  I glanced back with “the look” Lance Armstrong style to see if I had to go for broke and make another move.  If I had to, I knew the wheels would be falling off soon. To my satisfaction (or relief) I saw the gap to second had stuck with my finishing kick, and I knew I had the win sealed up. 

*One last look...

*...and it's all mine.

*So close I can touch it.

*Yes, finished!

*No celebration, no nothing, there was nothing left.

JM’s wife (and run coach and arm charm), Leanne, dogged me pretty hard about looking back and letting up at the finish line.  I feel a little sheepish about it now, but I was so fatigued and so tired that it seemed like the thing to do.  Racers do it all the time to gauge finishing moves.  It all worked out, so no harm, no foul.  I coasted into the finish line on fumes, no energy to celebrate, no energy to pump my fists, no energy to give high fives, no nothing.  I had just enough energy to cross the finish line and go hands-on-knees, totally thrashed.  

*Celebrate?  I could barely stand up.

*Pat on the back from 2nd place.

*Keith ran hard too.

*JM finishing up in style

*Taylor finishing

*And she is down, way to run hard, girl.

My race wasn’t pretty, but I loved every second of it.  Like I said, sometimes it isn’t about winning, it’s about competing, it’s about hanging in there, it’s about finishing, it’s appreciating your strengths and weaknesses, and it’s about respecting your competitors and the race.

It wasn’t long before I was giving fives and handshakes to the chasers who all had great races.  Keith finished a great day in second place, JM had a great day decimating the field with the best run split in the men’s field to finish 4^th.  Richard finished up his day in style.  He shook my hand and told me “good job,” just as I had done when he beat me in 2010. 

*Two great racers, Jonmark and Drew Magill.

*My proud mom, she still thinks I'm the coolest guy at the pool.

Overall, it was a fantastic day.  The weather made for a great adventure; it was great to share the race with my family and friends.  It would be easy to forget how lucky we are to have our health, and each other. 

What will you do when you get your opportunity? 

Thanks for reading.