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Post by Charlie on Jun 9, 2008 17:16:54 GMT -5
Another hot day on the dam. I didn't see much CTC gear. I had a good day. It was fun.
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Post by Steve Wilson on Jun 9, 2008 19:53:51 GMT -5
Charlie, there were at least two more CTC'ers there; my son Jeff and I. You said it all: hot and fun.
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Post by MarkD on Jun 9, 2008 20:52:41 GMT -5
I'm insanely jealous of all of you. Deer Creek is one of my favorites... I guess I'll just have to sign up for the 1/2 Iron in September !! Hope you all had a good race (and enjoyed the post race pasta)...
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Post by mgorris on Jun 10, 2008 6:12:56 GMT -5
Well done out there on Sunday. That run course has ZERO shade and crossing that d**n four times......OUCH. Well done putting up with the heat.
Steve, big time congrats to Jeff. He is smokin' fast. I was out at Clays Park on Sunday and Shawn Acker, Dave Garret and I were commenting on how fast he is getting [he won CP a few years back]. Perhaps going pro down the road???
Great job to all who raced Deer Creek
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Post by Steve Wilson on Jun 10, 2008 7:06:04 GMT -5
I'll pass your kind words along to Jeff. It looks like he took my genes and is doing a lot more with them than I have.
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Post by MattCollister on Jun 10, 2008 7:12:50 GMT -5
hot dam n!
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Post by kfoster on Jun 10, 2008 20:37:13 GMT -5
yeah - the heat kind of killed me on the run - and apparently I have ZERO cross-country legs!! But I was pleasantly surprised to be 37th out of the water overall in the sprint for my very first open water swim of the season... perhaps there will be more of us out there for Maumee Bay in two weeks - an equally shadeless run course from what I remember from last year.
Awesome job out there everyone!
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Post by kfoster on Aug 6, 2008 19:03:31 GMT -5
Okay - this is a bit of a long race recap from my dad, who joined my brothers in this event as a relay, but I think it's a pretty good read...
I noticed her for the first time about an hour before the start of the race.
She set up her competition bicycle and transition gear about three rows down from my assigned spot.
She was very young, late teens or early twenties, with a golden tan and summer blonde hair done up in what looked to my unpracticed eye like a combination of corn rows in a french twist. And an intriguingly light green pair of shorts that circled a waist about as big around as my wrist.
I took it as a sign of my advancing maturity that I did not bother to suck in my tummy when she glanced in my direction.
The two of us, plus more than 490 other competitors, had gathered on a warm, humid June Sunday morning for the running of the Deer Creek Triathlon/Duathlon event at Deer Creek State Park south of Columbus, Ohio. Most were hard-body types (check out the 70-plus-year-old triathlete driving into the parking lot in his old Ford) who looked like they really deserved to be there. But sprinkled among the crowd were a few hardy souls who more closely resembled The Old Guy, a dumpy overweight dude with gray hair who gives the impression he's lost in the '60s somewhere.
Turns out the girl in the green shorts--who was conspicuous even among all the other hard bodies--was competing in the Olympic-distance version of the Duathlon, a race that combines the disciplines of running and bicycling. Start by running 10 kilometers (six-plus miles), then bicycle two 20K laps around a loop of county roads adjacent to the park, and finish by running another 10K.
I know about the Duathlon because my sons Nate and Ryan and I were competing as a team in the "sprint" version--half the Olympic distance--with Nate running the first 5K, then The Old Guy bicycling one lap of the county roads, with Ryan running the anchor leg to the finish on the last 5K (He was selected for that honor by beating Nate in rock-paper-scissors, but as the morning air turned warmer and more humid, he began to question his "good" fortune.)
Elsewhere, son Kevin was competing on his own in the sprint Triathlon; he would swim half a mile in the muddy, freezing lake (sans wet suit), bicycle a lap around the loop of county roads, and finish with the same 5K that Nate and Ryan would traverse.
An aside: because the three sons all ran the same distance over the same ground, it should be possible to compare their times to find out who performed best on that day. I won't bother, of course, because it would be pointless. There is no competition, in any form or degree, among them.
Same for the bike. Same reason for not bothering.
After a couple of delays to accommodate late registrants, the first set of duathletes set off on their run (Nate in a pack of about 80, including Ms. Green Shorts) and the first triathlete swimmers began freestyling around the large inflatable orange buoys. (Kevin got squeezed at the start, but finished the leg and his first transition strong.) I settled down to the preparation for my turn on the bike, warming up, conferring with my teammate(s) and trying out some pre-race imaging. After half an hour, Nate jogged up through the transition area and I finally headed out on the windy initial down leg of my rural loop.
I noticed her again about an hour later.
With a small number of fellow cyclists, I was now walking my bicycle (oh, the shame) up the last hill (about an 80 degree grade as I recall it) at the end of my lap, before returning to the transition area to hand off the timer to Ryan. Ms. Green Shorts whizzed by us almost without breaking stride. At the end of her second lap.
You go, girl.
After the race, a casual comment about getting my butt whipped up the hill by the tanned youngster occasioned a few comments from the others in our group. Oh, they had all noticed her. And especially, there was one prominent feature about her that struck us all.
She was alone.
She had nobody to discuss strategy with. No one to help calm her nerves. No one to cheer her on. No one to hug. No one to stand in line with, or even to drive with her to the park site. Now I don't want to judge in ignorance; maybe she's fiercely independent or just prefers to be alone. Maybe someone important ran "alongside" her that morning, in a deeply spiritual sense. Maybe she has--in fact, I'd bet she has--a wonderful family and people who care about her, somewhere. But for some reason, they were not physically present with her that day.
Team Triple Bypass was not hobbled with that disadvantage. We enjoyed the camaraderie of what could only be called an extensive, intensive, extended support group.
Count 'em up: Nate's wife Erin; Kevin's wife Lisa; Ryan's wife Aly, plus son Drew and daughter Maggie--some of the most attractive company (and some of my most favorite people) in the world. Also there was Aly's good friend Erin and her boyfriend Tim, plus Tim's aunt Becky, his cousin Rob (competing in the triathlon) and Rob's wife Kristen. If my mom were alive, it would be easy to imagine her there, too, with her patented cheering voice which penetrated and superceded all other sound. Plus all the other riders/runners/sheriff's deputies who spoke encouragement as they passed The Old Guy on the course -- "Way to go, man;" "Keep going, you're almost there;" and "Good job, Triple Bypass!" An enthusiastically joyous gathering of family and friends old and new! And about as many great hugs as you'd see at the finish line of the Special Olympics' hundred-yard dash.
And all that, to paraphrase Robert Frost, made all the difference.
While Ryan ran, I got a post-bicycling check-out from the EMTs from the first-aid station (blood pressure 109/58; heart rate returned to normal within ten minutes and one of the most beautiful pacer patterns the EMTs had seen; temperature at 99.1, which was judged normal for the heat of the day; plus some dehydration and elevated blood sugar--these quickly addressed by grabbing some Propel water and insulin from the van).
After his finish, Ryan brought by the gold medals we had won for finishing first in our division. Yes, I kid you not, gold medals.
Now, for the sake of complete honesty and full disclosure: Ryan, Nate and I finished both last and first in our division. (Bright ones will do the math in an instant.) But they actually gave us medals--surprise and yee haw--for the first-place half of that equation.
Kevin beat our combined efforts by more than half an hour (he was done before I was), but he finished sixth in his division. No medal for sixth, but he's very happy with his time, a significant improvement over last summer's inaugural race. Plus the fact that he beat us all, both individually and collectively.
None of us had any expectations or imaginings that included medals. And, as I have said, in this group the competition's not the thing.
In truth, it's not about the order of finish. It's about finishing, period. And to do it with and in the presence of dear loved ones, well ....
My (semi-lapsed but returning) marathon-running son Ryan summarized our situation quite well, I think. A year ago, he noted, he was more than four years removed from any kind of running at all. Nate was recovering from knee surgery needed to repair a torn ACL. And I was at the Ross Heart Hospital, just days after my triple bypass surgery. The chance that any of us would be here with Kevin was only an incredibly remote possibility. His-and our-principal goal was just to enjoy the opportunity to be together, and in this setting.
...Dancing (and flying kites) with my grandchildren...an encouraging full-in-your-face smile and a quiet time with sons and daughters.... Celebrating second chances is a great way to observe an anniversary.
Ryan's words: What a difference a year makes. Followed by some Episcopalian words: Thanks be to God.
And finally, some Latin words, specifically, a phrase which appeared in the 1985 movie American Flyers and also on the back of the coolest team shirts at the Deer Creek event: res firma nitescere nescit. To purists, it translates as "A firm resolve never weakens." As loosely translated in the movie by Dr. Conrad (John Amos): "Once you get it up, keep it up."
I for one am going to try.
So, for the record: June 2, 2007. Triple bypass coronary artery surgery at the Ross Heart Hospital of The Ohio State University Medical Center: $ xx,xxx.xx.
June 8, 2008. Participating as the "bicycle specialist" with my sons and all the rest of Team Triple Bypass at the Deer Creek Duathlon/Triathlon: Priceless.
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julia
Sprint Member
Posts: 44
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Post by julia on Aug 7, 2008 9:04:03 GMT -5
Thanks for sharing this story, this is exactly the thing that makes my day and inspires me to keep going.
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Post by erinj on Aug 7, 2008 11:47:58 GMT -5
well done!
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