The weekend started with Penny and me making our way to Noxapater, Mississippi to the home of Mary Darby, my only surviving aunt. We stayed with her and the stay was enjoyable indeed. My cousin, Paul Darby and his wife Leesa, came by and visited. That was nice. Also nice was the pulled pork they left which was put on the table for supper. I ate three sandwiches. Yum.
We were at the lake at 5:30 a.m., not a moment too soon. I still only barely had time to warm up before trhe 6:30 a.m. start. The water was low and as a result the swim course was changed a bit. That meant wading in and out of the lake was more difficult than usual. To add to that, I was not in as good of shape as last year. I had shoulder flare ups several times.
Once the race started, I felt the familiar panic. I always feel it: my heart rate goes through the roof, my breathing is labored and panicky, and my muscles feel weak and achy. Despite that, after a few minutes, I settled down, the panic left, and I got into a rythm. I passed a lot of swimmers and put what I had into it. When I climbed out, Shay met me and yelled, "This way, this way!" to make sure I got to the right spot at the transition area. He took the chip off my ankle and was gone in a flash. I love his competitive spirit.
 |
| Coming out of the water, looking for Shay. |
Considering my training, I felt like my swim was OK. But compared to last year, it left a little to be desired. Last year, I clocked 13:36 for the half mile open-water swim. This year, I could only manage a 15:00. But I did my best.
Penny and I then hit the road to make our way to Transition 2 where we hoped to see Shay come in on the bicycle and Ben Carr go out on the run. Some jerk in a pickup truck, however, was holding up traffic. He was driving fifteen miles per hour and the cyclists were passing us and leaving us behind. We barely beat Shay to the transition area so we did get to see him come in. Ben Carr left like his tail was on fire. I don't know where Shay found this guy, but he is a runner.
 |
| The finish line of the Heart O' Dixie Triathlon |
We made our way to the world-famous Neshoba County Fair and into the stands at the half-mile horse track to watch the miserable souls come in. I have been down there as an individual competitor maybe twenty times. I felt sorry for them and envious at the same time. Poor guys and gals. I observed when they came struggling by the finish line only to have another half mile around that red clay track to do without a trace of shade in sight.
Penny went out to shop, and when I saw Ben on the track I went down to the infield to watch him cross the line. We clocked a 2:23 and changed for what we thought was probably good enough to win. But you know what that baseball player said, "It ain't over till it's over."
We bit our fingernails and I chatted some with Brett Freeman who was there with his team. Micheal Boler, his runner, I found out, had suffered a full patellar tendon tear ten months ago and he ran those hilly seven miles. Not only that, but he must be 70 years old now. His pace was 9:02 per mile. I told him that he gets his Man Card punched for that. Finally all the relay teams were in and knew for sure that we had won.
 |
| The winning relay team: Ben Carr, Zane Hodge, and Shay Darby. |
When it was all over with, Penny and I drove back to Louisville with Vicki Jee in tow. She was there alone so we picked up her bicycle and took her back to the lake. Vicki was not happy with her performance, but I was and remain proud of her. She did the whole thing, and I respect anyone who crosses that line. I've done it. I know what it takes.
To sum up, I learned to just keep plugging along and always do your best. Several times while training, I felt like giving up. I had at least three shoulder flareups that reduced my training to baby stuff. I tried to train smarter not harder and to some extent that worked. Anway, we three did what we could and it was enough. Thank you, Jesus.
No comments:
Post a Comment