Toyota Challenge at Deer Creek Race Recap

This story begins friday morning while at work.
Ray the building manager pokes his head into Rocco's to let Zac know his car is leaking transmission fluid. The car was now grounded for the weekend and Deer creek was a uneasy maybe. I got home and threw an SOS to the CTC. Good news. JenC answered the call and offered me a ride down. I secured a campsite online and met Jen Saturday at the Caribou.

The ride was good, however I am terrible with directions. At least I am terrible at communicating them. We never got lost or missed a stop, but I was often late with the facts.
We arrived in Grove City at Jens Hotel in the early after noon and met up with Sam, Joe, and Paula before heading to the packet pickup.

After checking in and getting our race essentials, We drove the bike course. We took two cars and Jen suggested Paula act as the navigator. I rode along with Joe and Sam and got to talk Ironman with them. They will be heading to Lake Placid next July and completed their first half distance yesterday.

The course was a little different than advertised and offered no shade or protection from the wind. The back section had a few climbs. Some of the roads were less than smooth. Flat and fast was a relative description.

After the course drive I was dropped off at my camp and the others went back to Grove city. I set up my tent and rode to the park lodge for dinner. The restaurant was great. The waitress got really excited about my diet request and said that the cook loves creating vegan meals. Unfortunatly I wasn't after creative, just simple. I had pasta and marinara with a side salad and rolls. The photo at the top of the post was shot from my table. I sat and gazed at the lake for while. the waves and ripples were quite trippy.

Following dinner I went back to camp, talked to Nichole on the phone, checked the tribe score, read and went to bed. The sleep was mostly fine sans my neighbors partying till 3am.

Race morning I woke at 6am. I rode to transition and was greeted by a sea of red.

Joe, Sam, Ryan, Jen

The Cleveland Triathlon Club was in full force. The weather was a little cool and it looked to be a great morning for Triathlon. With my preface rituals all taken care of I headed for the beach. My wave was one of the last. We went off around 8:50 or so.

When the horn blew I hit my watch and began swimming the two loop course. I immediately had to secure my watchband and just kicked as I dealt with that. I fell back and got tossled a bit. by the first turn I was back with the mass of swimmers. It was a chaotic swim that was rougher than the Ironman swim. Full contact was on. I was punched clawed, kicked, pulled, and elbowed. I swallowed a bit of water and swam into a few bouys and rope. Aside from that, it was a good swim with an unofficial PR of 35 minutes. I spent the other 4 minutes wrestling my way out of my wet suit on the grass before entering transition.

In T1 I couldn't find my bike. My rack had a card that said "Y". On the other side it said"J". I searched for Y and got freaked out thinking my bike had been pulled from Transition. I eventually found my gear and quickly got on the road.

The bike course was 3 loops. I pushed hard through the hole 56 mile only letting up to eat or take salt. The hills, wind, road surface, and heat were all strong factors. We had 6 turn arounds forcing near complete stops. My time was 3:04. I was disappointed, but knew I could still go sub 6 hrs with a 2:10 run.

My transition was smooth,except for forgeting my visor. After 20 steps, the sun reminded me to get my visor. I took in some gatorade, hit the loo and began running. By mile one I was at 9:25 and feeling comfortable. I settled in.
after leaving the park the run course went over the Deer Creek Dam. The view was awesome. The wind was gone. The sun was hot, and the course had no shade. my plan was to maintain my pace from aid staion to aid station. The tempurature hit 91. We were roasting. I was going strong through 11 miles and following my plan perfectly. The problem was that I could not pee, and was taking in a lot of fluid. A began to feel sick, and backed off quickly. The last thing I wanted was to vomit in this heat. I was close to the finish and on pace to break 6 hrs if I continued running. The decision to slow was tough, but ultimately my life means more than a PR. Aftter walking the better part of mile 12, I jogged easy most of the final mile and picked it up with a few hundred yards to go to protect my position of 98th place from a pursuant runner.
Finish time 6:11. No PR, but not bad in the heat.

Victory was mine, I was not the last double digit finisher. I tried to shake his hand, but no. 99 would have none of it. I spent 30 minutes looking at food in recovery while trying not to puke. I couldn't eat, so I sipped some Pepsi and cleaned up my gear.

Paula drove me back to camp where we got showered and I packed my camp up and waited for Jen who was still cheering on Sam and Joe.

Jen and I drove back to Cleveland and talk about all kinds of stuff. She has a great sense of humor and a fantastic collection of metalica and Abba. I had fun.

Final thoughts
I pushed myself every inch of this race. The conditions were downright dangerous. MY time goal was sub 6. My real goal was max effort. I did that. I have to expect IMKY to be as hot if not hotter. What I received at deer creek was what I needed. It was a very tough race. I feel successful.
I missed Zac and Nichole, but having so many club members down for the race really made me feel at home. CTC is an incredible club with great people. I am lucky to have such a good tri club in my town.
Thanks to the Collisters. Matt was the Lone spectator on the course, and Jen made the hole experience a reality by providing me with a ride.

I am going to rest for a couple days. I hurt and am tired. I left myself out there.

Next up, The Columbus Marathon.