Miles for Meso 2012

So here I am another year older and I’m not sure much wiser, you wonder why I say that, I guess because I continue to take on more and more hobbies, I mean you would think that adventure racing, mountain biking, running and even an Ironman this year, would be enough to keep me busy, but nope, I need to add race director to my list of hobbies.  I mean for the last 4 years I have been working as one of the 3 race directors for the Miles for Meso race.  I know, where do I find time, but I always do.  This year was no different, we started planning about 6 months out, getting ready for an even bigger and better event than the previous year.

So I guess, I should really start by telling you what a race director does.  From the outside looking in, you would think, well they get some people together, have a little race and give out some awards, but heck it’s way more than that, especially when you put on such a professionally planned race.  Ok, so I make it sound oh so hard, right?  Well in some ways it is, it takes tons of work by so many people, a race with a race director alone, would never be, it’s the tons of volunteers that pull the race off.  Race directors, are strategic thinkers, leaders, organizers, and engineers.  The Miles for Meso race has 3 race directors, Mike, who is the strategic thinker and has way more communications skills than should be legal, Robin, who is the organizer and let’s get it done type, and Terry, who is the technical guy who can map out and build anything.  So if you put that in corporate terms, Mike is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Robin is the Chief Operations Officer (COO) and Terry is the Chief Engineer. 

Now that we have that straight, let me tell the tale of the 2012 Miles for Meso race.  After months of planning, not just by the race directors but by what I would call the project team, (Todd, Mark, Andrea, Sarah, Greg), we made it to the day before the race, which is almost as crazy as race day.  Mike spent the day running to the airport and bus station picking up pro athletes, Terry and I spent the day riding around on a Spider, marking the course for race day signs and mile markers.  Terry and I had the better job, you would have thought that Terry was Benjamin Button, if you had saw him, he had aged backwards to about 16 years old when he got on that spider. He zipped me all over that course, my only job was to be a backseat driver and tell him where to stop and mark each intersection at. It was actually kind of fun, Terry was waving and talking to everyone, I was just sitting there looking good on that bike.

Terry and Robin setting the course up

After we finished our course marking, we did one last inventory of our sings and cones then hooked up with Mike and a couple of the pro athletes and headed out to Chubby’s, one of Terry’s favorite burger joints, and had lunch.  Surprising to me, the pro’s ate burgers the day before the race.  We had some good conversation then dropped the athletes off at their hotel and Mike went on another airport run. 

Later Friday evening, Mike had 2 of the athletes over to his house and some of the Metro Tri club members stopped by to meet them.  We had some great conversations and got insight into the life a pro. 

Phillip, Robin, Christian, and Mike

Sleep didn’t come easy for me and I found out later that Mike had the same issue.  We both got about 4 hours sleep and were up worrying about what we might have forgotten to do.  At 6am I was at race headquarters, Terry and Todd were next to show up and then Mike rolled in anxious and worried.  Things were quiet and deserted, but that would soon change.

The calm before the storm

The volunteers were showing up just as scheduled and the course marshals were picking up the course marshal tool that Terry build for each intersection on the course.

Terry's course marshal invention

This is a cool little tool that has caution tape and duct tape on it, it is attached to a slip of paper that tells the marshal where their position is. All the marshal has to do is walk out to their position, place the barricade on the marked spot then tape the caution tape up.  It’s a really great idea that Terry came up with and it works perfectly.  Mike is trying to get him to patent it and sell it to warehouses that sell race supplies.  I think Terry doesn’t want to deal with the money and fame, so he will just keep this contraption under wraps.

I had a meeting with the water stop volunteers, otherwise known as the Marquette High School Cheerleaders and pulled some of them to be mile split readers.

Marquette Cheerleaders, awesome water stop girls

They seemed to have a good grasp on their jobs so I moved on to the kid zone volunteers, otherwise known as the Edwardsville High School Cheerleaders.  Todd was in charge of all the kids zone stuff so I delivered the girls to him and he got them setup with games, popcorn, balloons and too much more fun stuff to list.

Kid's Zone

Next I ran around doing odd tasks that popped up and watched as the drinks were iced down, the sponsors booths were setup, and food was put out.

Setting up race headquarters

I went over to check on the starting line and discussed last minute details with Mike.

Robin and Mike

I checked on the 2K finish line.

A fun 2k finish line

I helped hang some signs and checked on the ones that were already up

Terry was busy with course setup, it’s just a good thing he had some super volunteers to help him with it, Mike, Russ and Jim were awesome and did a great job.  As soon as the course was set, Terry held a course marshal meeting and sent his marshals out to get into position, then he zipped through the course one last time to make sure everything was set.

The course is set to go

I watched the professional film crew that had came in from California just to film the race. They got video footage of all aspects of the race. Really I was trying to spy on what equipment they were using, because I love taking photographs and video and making movies out of it.  I’m very much an armature, so I was really trying to watch them and get some tips.  One of the guys was using the same camera and lens that I have, so after I saw that I puffed my chest out like a rooster for a while, thinking, yeah, I’m almost a professional.  Well not really, but some day when I retire, maybe that will be my retirement career. 

Getting Emmy caliber video here

It was soon time to start the race, Mike was fiddling with the race gun, trying to make sure he knew how to use it.

How does this gun work

The film crew was in place and ready to get some Emmy caliber footage.

Camera Ready

The police were out in arms and ready to make this a safe race for all.

The national anthem was sung by someone, I’m not sure who, but it was a great rendition of it.

National Anthem

 Then the race was off. One thing about being the race director is that I get first dibs on the best jobs.  I wanted to take photos from the lead truck, so while my driver Larry zipped around the course I stood up with my head sticking out the sunroof of Todd’s truck taking photos. Oh, sorry Todd for standing on your seats and console with my dirty shoes on.  I probably owe you a truck detailing.

This was the line-up, bikes first to tell everyone to get out of the road, police next on a four wheeler to make sure no random traffic appeared on the race course and to add a little authority, and Larry and I in the truck next followed by the racers. And of course the film crew where ever they needed to be.

Bikers ready to roll

Police all set and rolling

Getting the best shots

It seems like it only took minutes to fly through the course, I was getting some great shots and of course talking to all the course marshals as we passed.

Awesome course marshals

We pulled off the road just before the finish and I jumped out and got some great shots of friends finishing.

Bruce, the Clydesdale winner

Garrett 4th Place overall

Scott

John

Alex

Bob

Andrea

Gregg putting the hammer down

Kerri

When most of the field had finished, a Tumbling exhibition was put on by the Jesse White Tumblers.  They are from Chicago and they are an awesome group of athletes.  As they tumbled people watched in awe, they were just that good.  I was standing next to John Simmons, he was thinking about running out and doing a somersault, I said, why not go all the way and do a cart wheel into a somersault.  In the end, he decided, maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to go out and show all those boys up like that.

Jesse White Tumblers

Next up was the pro race, it started quickly and finished just as quickly, it’s amazing how fast those pros can run.  Again, I had the best job of all, I was back in the truck taking photos through the sunroof. 

Pro Race Start

It was a quick ride through the course this time the course marshals were trying to get some picture of their own.

I want to get a good photo

As we pulled to the side of the road just in front of the finish, I hopped out and tried to get a few more shots of the pro’s finishing the race.

1st Place Male Pro

1st Place Female Pro

I know what you are thinking, an entire race report and not one word about who won the race.  Well that’s because you are getting this report from a race directors view, not an athlete’s view. If you want to understand a race from an athlete’s view, you have to read my race report from Ironman Wisconsin, that one covers my race point of view as an athlete.  If you want to read it, just click here.  You can also view the full Miles for Meso race results on the Fleet Feet Sports website.

Next up was handing out the awards and the best thing we did this year was having the MC read the results rather the CEO Mike. Mike has the gift of gab, so we would have still been there today waiting for him to finish the results. Oh and the awards were some awesome glasses, if you were over 21 they were beer glasses, if you were under 21, well they hold soda and milk quit well too.  I love competing in races that give away useful awards.  I have boxes of trophies and medals just collecting dust, but every time I use an item I have won, I just smile because I know I worked hard for it. And even better than that, when someone says, oh what a cool glass that is, I say yeah and I won it. Of course the big winners got cash, cash is always a welcome prize.  I never complain about cash.

Cleanup started, again another big job that couldn’t be done without the help of many volunteers.

Terry and I stopped to talk to Todd, we are kind of like the 3 amigos, I thought I was the cutest of the three, but then again, some guys out on the course kept eying Terry up and giving him the old “nice bike” line.

Terry, Robin, Todd - The 3 Amigos

Here’s where I want to THANK everyone who made this race possible, not just because it’s a great race, but because it’s for a great cause.  This race raised 25K for Meso Research, that’s pretty darn great. A race is just a race, but research that may one day help millions, that’s something to be proud of.

So THANKS goes to all the volunteers, there are way too many to list, but you all know who you are.  I have some shout outs that I want to give also.  To the Race Project Team, (Todd, Mark, Greg, Andrea, Sarah), this would have never gone off without your months of hard work.  To the Edwardsville Cheerleaders and the Marquette Cheerleaders, you girls ROCK, the Kids Zone, Water Stop and Mile Splits were well done and it looked to me that you girls were having as much fun as the kids and runners were having. Plus I know girls your age would have rather been sleeping at 7am on a Saturday, so thanks for getting up early.  To the #1 CEO, Mike and the #1 Chief Engineer, Terry, it is always an honor and pleasure to work with you guys.  To John Simmons, “who would have thought that our phone conversation 4 years ago would turn into something this big”, thanks for continuing to support this cause and this race.

Mike, John, Robin, Terry

So the carpets were all rolled up and all the people were gone, and we were starving. We headed out to Mac’s for some lunch and hashed out the changes for the 2013 race.

Ahhhhh.... It's over

BTW, I was just about to give up my feud with Terry, and even forgive him for beating me at the Wood River Triahtlon this year, I mean after spending all that meaningful time together on the spider, I decided maybe we could be friends, but you see, I found out that he found a younger girl (it may have been his granddaughter, but that’s not the point) to take my place on the spider.  I mean one day I’m his princess and the next day I’m just thrown out like the trash.  Game on Terry, you’re going down, I’m a runner scorned now.

See more photos from the race here.

Ironman Wisconsin 2012

How many times do you think it will take before I say NO when someone suggests I do something stupid with them?  So this is how the story goes. Just over a year ago, my friend and teammate, Chuck suggested I do an Ironman with him.  Of course at first I was like “no way” then after a while I gave in and said yes.  Chuck said I found the perfect race, Ironman Wisconsin, it’s a 5 hour drive, it should be cool by September and it gives us all summer to train.  So we had a plan and the minute registration opened for the race, we were online and both in.  Now this is something you need to know in case you ever want to do an Ironman race, registration fees are awful, $650 dollars per person and don’t even think of backing out, not for any reason, because they already have your money and they don’t care.  I mean even if you break your tailbone, still not a good enough reason to get your money back.  So once you’re in, you may do what I did, start thinking this was not one of my better choices.

Chuck and I got a training plan from our friend Jeff. It was a 25 week plan, in just 25 short weeks we would be called Ironman!  Then about half way through the plan, we started to hate training, every day, every weekend, our whole life revolved around Ironman training.  We had to miss races because we needed to do long workouts, we had to schedule early morning workouts to fit all the training into our day.  It was grueling.  Next thing we knew every time someone would ask, “how is Ironman training going”, we would both say, Ironman sucks.  By the time race weekend got here, we were both just ready to get it over with.

I say IM weekend because that is what it is, an entire weekend. 

 

You have to sign in on Friday, attend the IM dinner and pre-race meeting on Friday night, drop our bike and transition bags on Saturday, and of course hang out in IM village fulfilling all your IM needs.

Ironman Village

Loot I bought, but said I wouldn't use unless I finished

Chuck and I met in Madison and went through all the motions to prepare for the race, We stood in line to check-in. 

Line to check-in

We went to the dinner/meeting and were more nervous after than we were before all the stories were told and the race information was given out.

The Voice of Ironman

On Saturday we got our gear and bikes checked in while Rob and Lori took photos. 

My Beautiful Bike

Awesome Spectators

We had pizza for lunch, and then had dinner at noodles, carb loading you know.  Andrea, Russ and Madison came to cheer us on and they graciously helped out by bringing my China doll with them.  If you don’t know who my China doll is, it’s my daughter, and between her and Madison, I knew we would have a great cheering section, since they are both varsity cheerleaders at their high school.  But it all comes at a price, I also had to go to the local mall and buy a homecoming dress for China while I was there. Good thing I had Madison along, I’m not good at this dress thing and she helped China pick out the perfect dress.  Oh and they got some encouragement from a close friend while at the mall too.

A little dress shopping

So I guess you can say I had two great accomplishments over the weekend, I made it through dress shopping alive and finished a simple little Ironman.

Back at the hotel I double and triple checked my gear, I set the alarms on my watch, phone and the alarm clock and then went to bed.  At 5:15 am on race day we were off to do what so many people have never done.  I felt like I was going to puke, and was having a hard time eating, so I took some little white donuts with me, you know that is the breakfast of champions.  Chuck and I did a final check of our bikes, then dropped our special needs bags and headed to the water. 

Bike Transition

We put on our wetsuits and were standing there ready to go when I realized that I still had my socks and shoes on.  I hurried and took my shoes and socks off, then we headed for the water, and I still felt like I was going to puke.

Why does Chuck look so happy

The swim took a long time, and I found myself off course more than a few times, I was just trying to swim the entire lake.

"And They're Off"

As I stood up to run out of the lake, I heard the voice of Ironman say, “Chuck Vohsen from St Paul, MO is out of the water”, then the next words out of his mouth was “Robin Rongey from Edwardsville, Il is out of the water”.   

Chuck is out of the water

Robin is out of the water

Chuck beat me out of the water by about 10 seconds.  I caught him on his way to transition, we both ran in to change clothes and I just couldn’t seem to get things working right.  I finally just let the volunteer help me with everything, she pulled my clothes off, helped me pull the dry stuff on, got me water made sure I was eating, helped with my shoes and sent me on my way.  Chuck was much faster and he was ahead of me when I got on the bike.  As I was running to my bike I could see China and Madison above me hanging over the wall screaming.  It’s really hard to explain the feeling you get when you know the people who are cheering you on really love you and want you to succeed.

I headed out on the bike leg and was passing people, and at about 5 miles I passed Chuck, I didn’t even see him, but I heard him yell, “Go Robin”. I yelled hey Chuck and kept pedaling hoping I wasn’t going out too fast, but I felt pretty good, I was pushing the small ring and not working too hard. 

 

What came next was probably the downfall of my race.  I know you think it was the crazy hard hills, but it wasn’t, it was the awful wind.  I heard the wind was 15 to 20 mph, and I believe that to be true, if not worse.  It was a head wind for most of the race and it never let up.  At one point I was on a steep decent that should have pushed me to 35 mph and I was going 18 because the wind was so strong.

Ah How I love a Good Headwind

At Least My Bike Looks Fast

By now I was feeling so mentally distraught because my average speed was much lower than I had planned, but all the spectators on the course really helped me get out of my funk, they were everywhere, cheering like I was their best friend.  On the big hills they were 3 and 4 deep, and some were dressed up in costumes, and they would run up the hill next to me screaming that I could do it.  The hills were steep and long, and these people I didn’t even know were running beside me doing everything they could to help me get to the top of that hill.  The spectators were giving me crazy, unimaginable support.  Then at about 45 miles, I see Russ and Rob, then further up the road I see Lori and China, and that came at just the right point, when I was feeling mentally drained and I needed a boost.   

China Cheering us on

I started the second loop, stopped at mile 58 for my special needs bag, where a grabbed my can of fruit juice and some pretzels then headed back out.

As I rode I saw signs posted all over the road, some encouraging, some funny, all helpful.  One guy was holding a sign that said “smile if you’re not wearing underwear”, of course I smiled. 

A Supportive Sign

The MDot on a Building

Then it hit, disaster, the last 40 miles of the bike leg my quads started cramping, and I was having problems seeing out of one eye.  I thought the eye thing was just salt getting all over my glasses, but later found it to be something else.  Oh and I saw a unicorn, I thought for sure my race was over when I saw that, but then I realized it was just some guy in a unicorn costume.  I finally finished the bike leg by riding back up the same parking garage ramp that I rode out on.

IN/OUT Bike Transition

I had a little problem getting my leg off my bike, but I got through it. 

Off the Bike heading for the Run

I ran into transition and got through it pretty quick, the volunteer helped me get my jersey on, got me water and found me some Vaseline to put on my chaffed arm.  I was heading toward the run out, when a guy yells down to me from above, to make sure I eat and drink.  I think it was because I was looking so skinny, I needed food, ok, probably not, but that’s what I want to think. 

 

I started out on the run and came around the first corner that runs right by the finish line.  Standing there was Andrea and Russ cheering me on, then I made the next corner and saw Rob, China and Madison.  I stopped and hugged the girls then took off. 

 

First Lap

My legs were cramping, but I just kept running, thinking I would just get some salty foods at the water stops and work it out.  Then I kept trying to wipe my eye because I couldn’t see out of it, it was just blurry grey, when I finally figured out there was nothing in my eye, I realized it was a low sugar thing, I needed to get my sugar back up to get it to clear up.  So now I was trying to eat grapes for the sugar and drink chicken broth for the cramps, while fending off my upset stomach. It wasn’t going well, but at least I was still running, stopping only to walk through the water stops.  I did walk up observatory hill too, but I think everyone was walking up that hill.  At mile 13.1 I started the second lap and knew that there was no way I was going to finish in my goal time, but I just thought, goal or not, I’m going to finish this.  I paid $650 dollars to do this and I’m going to get my money’s worth out of it.  I ran through the Wisconsin’s badgers stadium for the second time looking at all the empty seats and thinking that what I have been feeling on the streets with thousands of people cheering me on, is probably what it feels like to play football in that stadium.  The feeling was so amazing.

 

I had passed mile 18 headed for 19 and Chuck comes up next to me and he says “hey, aren’t you that Trek Mountain Girl, I read you blog all the time”. I just acted like I didn’t know him and said “yeah I am” and started laughing.  We were just getting to observatory hill for the second and last time, so we started walking it and Chuck just about saved my life, he gave me some ibuprofen which I really needed.  At the top of the hill I could tell Chuck was ready to go, I told him to take off and not wait for me, so he took off. I was soon at my lowest point and feeling like I might have to crawl to the finish line, when out of the blue, a guy cheering on the side of the road held up a sign that said “Hey Stranger, I’m proud of you”. Wow, I almost started crying, and then I thought, if he thinks I can do it, then I can do it.  The ibuprofen kicked in and I started feeling better, then at the mile 22 turn around, I saw Chuck ahead of me, but not as far as I would have thought he would be, we yelled at each other and kept going. Oh, and my eye was getting better, although still foggy I could now see things through it.

Chuck headed in and crossed the line about 20 minutes ahead of me, enjoying every minute of it.

Chuck is about to be an Ironman

I soon came to the last half mile and saw Russ, he jumped in and ran with me for a couple minutes then headed to the side of the road to cheer me to the finish.  

Robin is about to be an Ironman

I came around the last corner heading to the finish line.  Everyone was reaching out giving me high fives, then I saw China, Rob, Lori and Chuck, I stopped and kissed China and then ran through the finish line, with a smile on my face, and a feeling of relief that it was over.

My Mom's an Ironman

Then a volunteer put a big honking medal around my neck, it was so heavy I couldn’t hardly keep it from pulling me to the ground, ok, maybe not that big, but pretty darn big.

I was walked through the finish line by the volunteer, handed a finisher hat and shirt, taken over for a short photo shoot.  Those are the pictures they later sell to you for a million dollars, but you know you have to have one.  Oh and I asked the volunteer to make sure I looked good, I wanted a good photo, so the photographer made sure it was good.  I walk out the end of the finish chute to see China standing there wrapped in a blanket waiting for me with a big smile on her face, which was exactly what I needed at that second.  I knew I did it and not on my own, I did it with the help of so many. 

Call Me Ironman

"Let's go home Mom"

So a BIG thanks goes to my family for putting up with all the long training hours, to my workout buddies, Jenny, Russ, Jim, Carl and Chris, who came out at 5:30 am everyday to train with me and swim in a hot green lake while it was still dark outside, to Russ who drove a boat around the lake following my slow butt so that I could get long swims in, to Mike for letting me swim off his dock in his lake, to Mark who’s training consisted of pulling my butt around on long bike rides, to the guys at the Cyclery who rushed to fix all the code blue problems that I ran into the bike shop with, to Andy who figured out how to setup my bike and shoes so my foot quit hurting all the time, to the St Louis Cycling Club for their continued support and all the good advice I get from Louie and Jim, to John and the Wednesday night gang for allowing me to ride with them all year, and of course to Chuck for talking me into one on the biggest events of my life. Wow that was one big run on sentence. BTW, Chuck I hate you!

Oh and I can't express to you how great the volunteers were and the spectators too, I want to say THANK YOU, YOU ROCK!

Now I know you’re wondering, so what did I get for my $650 dollars, well I got a ton of great loot, backpack, license frame, hat, shirt, book, medal and I earned the right to use them and show them off.  Best of all I can be proud to be called an Ironman! In fact Chuck and I just go by the name Ironman now, when he calls me, he just says “hey Ironman” and I say “how’s it going Ironman”. 

All the Loot

So would I do it again, well if you would have asked me between miles 55 and 90 on the bike I would have said “NO”, if you would have asked me between miles 16 and 20 on the run, I would have said “HELL NO”, if you would have asked me after I ran across the finish line, I would have said, “NO WAY”, if you ask me today, I would say “One more time, then I’m done”. So look for my next report in 2014.

Ironman Wisconsin Pre-Race

Robin Rongey a 48 year old mother of 3, has climbed up through the ranks, starting out as a runner and transitioning to a triathlete, from triathlon she moved on, to bike racing, both road and mountain, and finally finding her way to Adventure racing.  The world of triathlon has not been an easy journey for her. Although, she was a good runner and picked up the bike quickly, she was never a swimmer, she worked long and hard trying to make the swim work for her, but even after years of training and working with top notch swim coaches she still struggles with the swim. Her ability to come back on the bike and run has allowed her great achievements in racing, which has spurred her to move to the challenge of Ironman. An Ironman that starts with a mediocre swim can prove to be heartbreaking in the end, so that pushed Robin to work toward, becoming a better swimmer. 

 

Although, 2011 started out well, with Robin’s Adventure racing team, “ROCK Racing”, holding at 2^nd Place in North America in the National Adventure Racing series, it came with injury, leading to heartbreak. After suffering a broken tailbone just 5 days before the National Race, Robin had to bow out of the race and with tears in her eyes, watch her teammate and her team replacement head out for an adventure of a lifetime.  It took a big effort for her to watch her team finish in a cloud of fog hanging over the water as they canoed to the finish line of the national championship race without her. 

Now on the mend and just 22 weeks back into training, Robin prepares for the ultimate race of her 2012 season, the Ironman.  Ironman Wisconsin is on the horizon and Robin is just 3 weeks from race day.  She is training for the event by swimming, biking and running using the equipment and nutrition she plans to use on race day.  The Pinarello FT1 is the bike of choice, and she wouldn’t attempt it without her xx2i sunglasses and a jersey pocket full of honey stinger waffles. Her Metro Tri Club teammates along with her ROCK Racing teammate Chuck, have kept her grounded and on track, helping her come back from injury and attempt to succeed at the challenge that lies ahead. 

Chuck Vohsen a 45 year old father of 2, has exploded onto the Adventure racing and mountain biking circuit. A late starter into the sport, he has only been racing for 5 years, but has amazed the race world with his smoking fast times and spot on orienteering in many races across the US. Chuck started his career in the area of Martial Art, as his fitness built, he looked for something more challenging, that is what brought him to adventure racing and then onto mountain biking and trail running. Now that Chuck has risen to the top of his field in the Midwest race world, he is ready for an even bigger challenge, the Ironman.  Ironman Wisconsin is his choice for his first attempt at an Ironman race.  Chuck is banking on his heightened fitness level to propel him through the bike and run, but still struggles in the swim. He says “his biggest challenge will be to complete the swim in his goal time”.  

2011 started out well, with Chuck’s Adventure racing team, “ROCK Racing”, holding at 2^nd Place in North America in the National Adventure Racing series, but it came with injury, his teammate suffered a broken tailbone, just 5 days before the national race. Chuck quickly found a new teammate, which happened to be his wife, Lori.  Lori gave it her all, and they completed the race, but Chuck’s hopes of winning were washed away in the foggy finish of the race. The effort put forth by Chuck to race with such a advanced field of athletes with a new teammate, who was also, a first time racer was tremendous, but Chuck ever the competitor finished with determination, perseverance and honor.  

Now Chuck prepares for the ultimate race of his 2012 season, the Ironman.  He is just 22 weeks into his 25 week training plan.  He is training for the event by swimming, biking and running using the equipment and nutrition he plans to use on race day.  The Specialized Roubaix is his bike of choice, and he wouldn’t attempt it without his xx2i sunglasses and a jersey pocket full of honey stinger gels. His Metro Tri Club teammates along with his ROCK Racing teammate Robin, have kept him grounded and on track, helping him train and attempt to succeed at the challenge that lies ahead.     

 

Color Run 2012

Jade, Jenna, Robin

More and more these days, crazy events are popping up everywhere and I have to say the Color run can be categorized as one of these crazy events.  A month ago my daughter asked me to race the color run with her.  Well, you know me, I can’t pass up an opportunity to run with one of my kids, so I said sure I’m in.  Really I think she just asked because if she goes with me, I pay her entry fee.

So the problem was, this race fell on one of my long workout weekends and it was the last long weekend before my Ironman race, so I had to move some workouts around to fit it in. 

That meant I had to run 17 miles on Friday push my 100 mile bike out to Sunday to create a hole so I could do the color run on Saturday.  No problem though, other than I would have to run a short fast race the day after a long run, haha, as it turns out, it wasn’t that fast. 

  

I really didn’t know what the color run was, I knew that I would be running a 5k in downtown St Louis that benefited autism, and that I would be covered in paint along the way, but who knew it would be so much fun.

What could be more fun!

Jade, her friend Jenna and I arrived at the race venue along with a few thousands other people, I heard someone say there were 60,000 people running.  I don’t know if there were that many, but it sure felt like it.  

Standing on the starting line

We waited in line for the bathroom and grabbed bandanas from someone giving them away. The Johnny on the spots were out of toilet paper, but lucky for us the girl in line in front of us had some wet wipes and shared them.  Then we looked around at the vendor tents for a few minutes.  Oh and we found a pair of shoes for Jade’s boyfriend, Zach.  If you don’t know Zach, he is 6’8” and wears a size 18 shoe, so as soon as we saw it, we knew it was his size.

"Zach, I found your shoe"

We went over to line up, getting in what we thought was about the center of the pack.  The race started at 8 am, but we did not move,  pretty soon it was 8:30 and we still had not moved.  Since it was going to be a while I snapped a few pictures with my adventure cam while we waited to start.

Lets get this race started

The crowd was getting restless and people started throwing the paint packets that were in there race bags, I decided to throw mine too, but it went kind of wrong and I ended up coved in purple paint. 

A little paint never hurt anyone

Jade and I were wearing safety glasses (don't ask where I got them at) in hopes of keeping the paint out of our eyes. Jenna had on sunglasses, I kind of wish I had sunglasses because it was really a bright day out.  We couldn’t have asked for a nicer day to take a paint bath on. 

Jade in her stylish safety glasses

We finally started moving and at 8:50 am, we crossed the starting line, we could see people finishing across from us when we were just starting.  It was hard to run because there were so many people, so we tried to get to the outside to get around the crowd.   We made it to the first paint station, where volunteers squirted us with big bottles of powdered paint, every paint station along the way had a different color paint.  When you ran through, there was so much paint in the air that you could hardly breathe. 

Girls just want to have fun

There were so many people as we ran by a building with windows you could see the crowds of people in the glass.

Look closely at the windows you can see all the runners coming by!

I decided to run ahead of the girls and do some video, so people could see how cool the race was, you can see some of the different color stations on the video.

It seemed like no time and we were at the finish line. It took us 40 minutes which is slow for a 5K, but considering the crowd and how slow it forced us to run, I didn’t think that it was all that bad. 

Jade & Jenna at the Finishline

The race was really fun, but if I do it again in the future, I will plan on lining up at the front of the crowd, that way we can run faster and get more paint. I mean I don’t mind sharing paint, but I would rather it be with a few hundred friends, not a few thousand. 

Oh and on the way home we stopped at McDonald's, you should have seen everyone looking at us.  A lady asked if we were in an accident, I said yeah with a paint truck.