Trip-Tips

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The Thousand Dollar Port-A-Potty Stop

[update: February 24, 2007]

Arriving back into Austin on Saturday night I was grouchy! Traffic on my way home from Houston was not what I wanted it to be and the big trucks on the freeway going 80 plus miles an hour were freaking me out. I was worried the whole time about the marathon the next day. I got home and put on my running clothes right away, to get out the door for a short run, hoping to jog out the drive. I looked over at my bed and it looked soo comfy and I was exhausted. I layed down and 30 mins later my phone rang with a text message from Paul…’how was your run?’. Now I was even more grouchy! Life at that moment just seemed so hard. Waaaa!

I set out for a short run and then asked Paul to pick me up for dinner. Getting back in the car was just not an option at this point. We went to eat at the ever so accommodating Galaxy Cafe. I ordered my food but because of the marathon the next day, wanted to be extra sure there was no flour in the sauce. Hence began the often embarrassing process of the..”well I can go check with the cook”, etc etc. All the while I felt myself getting more and more grouchy.

Translation being: over tired and way too hungry girl extremely nervous about her race= HUGE GROUCH! Paul received the brunt of this in that moment because I accused him of looking embarrassed while I was ordering my food. Meanwhile he had not said a word and probably didn’t even look embarrassed. 30 minutes later the food had been eaten and I felt the monster suit fall off. Good thing for me but much better for Paul :)

Race morning arrived and I went down to the race site with a small backpack with shoes, extra sweats and uhh, that’s it!! No bike, bike pump, flip flops, bike shoes, wetsuit, goggles, body glide and on and on….marathoning is great!

The gun went off and I had decided I was going to go out at 6:15 pace, and stick with that pace throughout- landing me a nice 2:45 with some room to grow :) After a few miles at around 6:10 pace the women’s pack in front of me was just too close to let go of. The plan to watch the time went pretty much out the window. New plan: Stick with the women and run in their draft, blowing up would probably still put me under a 2:47. Running all through the streets of Austin the support was incredible! I was running with four other women, two Russians, one Ethiopian and one Kenyan. As the race went on, the first few miles were pretty flat and easy. The main set of hills came between miles 9 and 12. Some of these hurt quite bit but we had gone over them several dozen times in training the last few months so I was ready for them. I heard a few loud exclamations in Russian and I did not blame them. I would not have liked to see those hills for the very first time that day!

The crowd support continued to be incredible…the miles were ticking by and we went through the half right around 1:19:30. I was still unsure as to what would happen to my legs but at halfway I was feeling really good. I was relishing in the feeling of having “bike free” legs. While contemplating these thoughts, I noticed our pace picked up pretty significantly. The Ethiopian woman who ended up winning obviously had a plan to take off at halfway…and she did just that with a vengeance. One of the Russian women had fallen off through the hills so there were now three of us running together with one woman ahead up the road. I could also see Paul and Adam running together about a minute ahead. I took great comfort in seeing them up there.

The miles went by and there were some spots of good feelings, some spots of not so good ones. In general I was making sure to be very good about taking in my gels and fluids, the sun was out and I was finally losing the numbness I had in my fingers for the first half of the race. Cindy and other friends from Jack and Adam’s were on bikes with the lead women so I had even more reason to stay there. To lose the women meant losing my friends!

Mile 20 came along and I was feeling strong but I REALLY had to go to the port-a-potty. I knew I would be well under the trials time barring any disastrous collapse so I really wanted to stop and use the restroom. I could also see Paul and Adam getting closer and closer. We ran a little harder and I found myself running unexpectedly next to Paul. I explained my dilemma as we could see a beautiful string of bright pink port-a-potties at mile 21. His exact response was “Don’t stop. It will cost you a thousand dollars. It will pass”. Oh to let those port-a-potties go! I wanted to cry from the discomfort but I knew he was right. I kept running and sure enough the feeling passed a little. Phewww! I am so glad i did not concede to the Thousand Dollar Port-a-Potty Stop.

The course turned for a grueling gradual uphill. The pace must have really picked up because I looked back and Paul and Adam had popped off, I also noticed the Kenyan woman was behind now out of range. The Russian woman(Firaya Sultanova) and I were in a battle for second place. We passed through mile 22 shoulder to shoulder and the pace felt harder with a fierce headwind. My friend Lance Parker was on his bike and was yelling encouragement. I had flashbacks to mile 22 in the marathon in Hawaii and have to say luckily I was feeling MUCH better at this point than I was at the same point out there.

I knew I had to stay with Firaya and then try to outkick her…we went on to probably the most painful point in the race- a huge downhill at mile 24. My quads were shot and to run downhill that hard at this point- YOWEE! The last few miles, however, were so exciting! We arrived to the back of the Capitol and my girlfriend Sarah was there yelling at me to “Drop her now!!” Lance was yelling “Drop the bomb Des!!”. I decided to go for it. There was a slight uphill leading up to the Capitol and then it was all downhill to the finish from there.

Trying to sprint on dead legs always brings on hilarious visions. I was imagining I was wearing a chicken suit as I felt like my legs were buckling and flinging outwards at a rapid speed. Luckily the chicken run worked as I glanced back and could see she had receded. I went “sailing” down Congress with friends Lance and Drew on bikes yelling for me- just awesome guys! There was a looooonnnnggg tunnel of people behind a barricade on each side that we were to run through, finally reaching home sweet home of the finish line. I could see the form of Moges Zebenaye, the winner of race up ahead. She was closer than I thought! and it was encouraging to be that close to the winner. I was handed an American flag at the finish and ran backwards up the chute to see Paul come in for his finish very soon after. I ended up in 2:40:28 and was very happy and encouraged by this time. Paul was first male Austinite 2:42:50, Adam in a solid 2:45:25. Well done team!

Thank you to Gilbert Tubahoyne and Paul Pugh for getting me ready for this marathon, to John Conley for picking out an excellent, challenging course and to every single person who fueled me to the finish line last Sunday. Your support was outstanding.

I am recovering well with swimming, biking and minimal running.

xoDes

Vineman 70.3

[update: August 03, 2006]

This weekend at Vineman there were moments of highs and lows. Unfortunately most of the highs invovled everything outside of my race performance!

There were plenty of things to be cheery about. First of all Dave Latourette and Russ Pugh put on an incredible race. Everything from the fun and informative “meet the pros” night on Friday through to the awards ceremony on Sunday afternoon was well done- like a perfectly wrapped present with fun prize inside. My best buddy David and I had the pleasure of staying with the most generous and helpful homestay- Jeff Mitchell. He was outstanding- the night before the race he spent an hour detailing my dirty Guru making it sparkle like it was ready for a Mr. Clean commercial. He even awakened with me for my 4:15am (ouch) departure even though his start was 1.5 hours later than mine. Not to mention the luscious Thai dinner he cooked us our last night in town after working all day after his race. His two miniature greyhounds Levi and Lola, provided us entertainment all weekend long. Thank you Jeff!

Back to the race- Worried thoughts started to creep in little bit on Friday. Usually I feel pepped up and ready to go by this day. David and I woke up and headed out to the swim start, we had a lovely run through a forest of Redwoods- one being 1300 years old, just up the road from the start and then went down to the race river to swim. We had planned to ride part of the course but all I could think about was taking a nap (insert worry right here) so we drove it instead. Wow! This was going to be a fuunn day on the bike (notice worry got a little less here). The sweeping vineyards lining the entire bike route provided a multitude of terrain- sharp curves and gentle ones, winding climbs and straight desents, roads through hooded thickets and open fields. It was breathtaking.

Saturday began and my dad arrived wearing matching tye dye shirt and matching tye dye fuzzy dud shorts (check www.fuzzyduds.com), they could probably use some business, that way maybe I won’t be the only being embarassed by her dad :) It is pretty amazing how supportive he is, coming to all my races, but tye dye??

David and I rode backwards on the bike course and did a short run, getting stuck in a construction zone and fence hopping- never a dull moment for the traveling circus! My legs were feeling much better but I was already looking forward to crossing the finish line (bad sign #2).

We all went out to an early dinner at an Italian place that served gluten free pasta- ya! David and I had been there on Thursday night and it was lick your plate good. David remarked to the waitress that he was glad to see they had “glutten” free pasta. The waitress was having trouble saying “gluten” after that and we were all cracking up when I ordered the “glutten pasta” on Saturday. We ate early, around 4:30pm, and headed back to Jeff’s to get our bikes ready to go….excuse me, for Jeff to get my bike ready to go!

Race morning began in the dark and I had a good warmup up a dark windy road towards the Redwood forest we had gone running in a few days previous. Before long it was time to gather at the bouys for the 6:25am start. I was shivering and couldn’t wait to get going, the air temps were in the 50’s and quite different for the heat we’ve had in Texas all summer! The gun went off and I had three prominent sensations throughout the swim. 1) my legs were being pulled down towards the bottom of the river 2) I was barely moving forward and 3) elation upon seeing huge strings of colorful balloons marking the turn around buoy. Sorry to be so negative but I was not feeling good at all-yuk.

Exiting the water I really expected it to be my worst swim all year- I think it may have been close but I was very happy to see Kate and Wendy in the transition area. Maybe they were having bad swim days also or maybe my swim felt much worse than it was, regardless, I knew I had better get moving and onto the bike.

The first 15 miles went allright, except for the fact that I was feeling the chill of the No Cal marine layer….brrr momma…The miles went by and I wasn’t feeling snappy, jazzy, floaty, any of the adjectives you would use to describe a fast day. My legs felt heavy and I was having a hard time staying focused as there was no one around me. The vineyards were gorgeous all around but they provided little solace as they just weren’t willing to bike for me! I was trying all kinds of crazy techniques to get myself to get going, some involved words I cannot repeat here. Kate passed me somewhere around mile 30 and I was really glad to see her. I thought if I can just keep her in my sites I will come off the bike ok. This plan worked perfectly for about 5 miles until it became more than apparent that our energy meters were traveling in opposite drections. Ug! I started feeling really negative again and all kinds of horrible thoughts were flooding my mind-I just couldn’t believe how slowly I was moving- darn it. I took in more nutrition and kept thinking just get to the run, get to the run. I find it is moments like these to be the hardest part of what I do. There is a little devil that comes out with his stop sign and holds it in front of me. In the other hand he has all the other things I would rather have at the time- a lounge chair, a bowl of ice cream, in this case a grassy vineyard lawn.

Refusing to give into the nasty urge to quit I made it up to the last climb, at the top I spotted Mike and Tony from Tri Dubai. I was still disparaging but I was VERY glad to see them. They shouted words of encouragement and it was right then and there that I decided to suck it up and take one for the team. They had traveled all the way there, they believed in me and I was going to finish this sorry sally of a day no matter how sally-like I was.

Heading into the tranisition I saw Kate heading onto the run out well in front of me and she looked great. Becky was so far ahead she was nowhere to be seen, and she was on her 5th race in four weeks- awesome. I knew I was in fourth/fifth in tranistion with Linda Gallo who seemed to be in pain. Later I was to find out she had done the entire bike before getting 19 stitches in her foot- talk about tough. I was hoping to make a fresh new start on the run, as I slid on my running shoes my optimism returned somewhat….for the first half I was running very strong. I enjoyed seeing the men coming back on their way in – Tri Dubai was 1-2-4….awesome…..Michael Lovato who somehow always manages to be fully verbal shouted some words about catching everyone on the second half. Wouldn’t that be nice! I tried as hard as I could at that point, I really did. Somewhere in all that trying I was passed by a flying Natasha. I managed to pass Kelly Couch, who was also very encouraging- how cool is that?! In the last few miles I saw David , who was having a great day and went crazy yelling. I was actually really enjoying running despite the mediocre effort. I was enjoying it so much in fact that I crossed the line and didn’t stop running- I ran directly into the port o potty…...!

The best part of the race was yet to come- and that was heading out to look for David and to watch the other racers coming in and going out on their run. I saw many friends, Austinites and other racers- some were smiling, some were suffering but all were so admirable in their efforts. Congrats to all of you!

I am onto a much needed rest week before I start my buildup for Hawaii. Meanwhile I will be eating plenty of glutten free cookies :)

Pretty in Pink

[update: July 26, 2006]

This weekend I had a the opportunity to compete in the Irongirl Triathlon in Irving, Texas. I had been looking forward to the event as it was to be an all women’s sprint, low pressure and fun! Michellie Jones was lined up to be there but in the end she was sick so it would be me and 600 other irongirls….many competing in their very first tri ever.

After tracking Landis’s win in the Tour on Saturday….wow! I drove the three hour drive from Dallas to Austin…the first thing that caught my eye as I drove into the race site were the pink sparkly ribbons lining the swim exit. I gave a little talk that afternoon at the expo, the women were extremely receptive and asked intelligent and astute questions. That evening I met up with Brian Hasenbauer’s group of 18 or so women who would be racing and we all had a delicious Italian dinner.

Race morning began with Marti Greer starting everyone off on the microphone, we walked down past the pink ribbons and towards the lake. My “wave” wich was more like a splash because there were only two of us! took off and I set out on the 500m swim. The race went by quickly, Mario was with me for a while on a Harley taking pictures and after the turnaround I could yell for the women coming back at me the other way, the run was very much the same and what seemed like no time I was crossing the finish line.

The best part of the day was going back onto the run course and watching and cheering the other women on….one women, who’s calf read a spritely 67! jumped up in the air and clicked her heels after I yelled for her. How cool is that? There was also an adorable 11 year old out there duking it out in the heat. They were all so appreciative of the cheers, many thanking me along the way. Judy Molnar was at the finish and she is just so full of life. I proudy wore my pink Irongirl medal the rest of the day! Congrats to all those who made it through their first triathlon, they only get easier from here. I hope to see you all next year…...Girl Power rules yeah! xoDesiree