Race Recap

What?!?! How bad?!?! These are the words that came out of my mouth Saturday afternoon during a phone call from Rach. She first told me to be calm, don't get mad or yell...but that she is at the ER for a dog bite. Now if Jack, our fat 7 lb Yorkie bite her that's fine...nope a 65-75 lb German Shepard pulled her off of a couch by her right hand while she was attempting to paint her toenails. I will try to post a few photos of the puncture wounds that she suffered. The worst part is that she can not start her externship in North Carolina on time now and will be there into November. Needless to say, I did not stay calm; I yelled, swore and was more than likely not real comforting for her. Sorry dear....I'll try better next time.

This past weekend I again carpooled to a race. Not with the Bates' family though, this time it was a long lost racer, C Millner. We meet at the butt crack of stupid (sorry Kate, I love that line) in Eden Prairie and started the drive to Annadale for the 23rd running of the Heart of the Lakes Triathlon. The weather was little goofy, AGAIN. Can't we just show up race day and have clear blue skies with a temp of about 70?? The fog was so bad during the swim warm-up you could not see the long course turn buoys in the water. The short course were bearly visible and we had to swim past those. I started in the elite wave again, making this swim a non-wetsuit one. The water temp was said to be at 72 and that means no wetties folks. So at least everyone was on the same playing field in my wave, no worries. I was told earlier in the morning that my stellar swim in Waconia would not happen again because I was not able to wear a wet suit for this one. Again no worries, the assface that informed me of my luck in Waconia, I was able to draft him in the water and come out on his feet; I didn't beat him to the finish but it was a huge mental victory for me. I jumped on the bike and took off down the road for the 21 or 22 mile loop. The roads in the past for this course have been terrible. Not anymore, they repaved them and they are great. I held a good pace and was able to pick off a few of the better swimmers. About half way into the bike I take my usually Hammer Gel feed break, get what I think is all of it out of the package and stuff it into the leg of my suit. Wrong, I didn't get all of it. You know when you see a little kid with sticky hands ans you want to stay away from them as they do the "sticky hand claws" move. Pretty much what the back side of my knee and calf felt like. So the last 8-10 miles of the bike I had Raspberry Hammer Gel running down my leg, not overly pleasant; note to self for future races. I dismounted and racked the bike, it felt like a fast T2 and that was confirmed by results as it looked to be 4th fastest. Really happy about that. I heard someone yell "Go Mark, your looking good, run hard" while racking my bike. Voice didn't sound real familiar around a race venue and I was in a hurry, you know its a race, so I didn't look in the direction of the voice. Kind of a mistake. A big one. Yeah, it was Rach. She had left EC early in the morning to come and see the only race she was able to make this year and I didn't even see her, not just in T2, but the entire race. She was cheering in about 4 different spots. I'm a jerk, I know...okay now lets all say it together...Mark's a jerk. Anywho, on the run I knew that I was going to push myself and make it hurt the entire time. Enough of this running 6:45-6:55's miles to finish a race. These times are killing me at the finish. So I put my head down and went for it. I was past by 2 younger people, they are runners so I was not feeling bad. I was able to keep them in contact for about 2 miles before they went a round a corner and than another and I lost them. I had a gentlemen pass me with about 1/2 mile left, I felt like hell and didn't even contest the pass. As we entered the finishing area I heard a few people yell "he's right behind you and coming quick." So I increased my pace and started to recatch the guy that had just passed me. I ended up repassing him and out sprinting him to the line by 1 second. The guy behind me, no, I was the guy that was coming fast on the gentlemen that had passed me already. Anyway I got the spot back and had an awesome race. I am super happy with a 20th place finish and how everything went. Now a few weeks off and than Turtleman. Again, another one to leave everything on the course.

Back to Rachel's hand; its healing nicely. She went to the doctor on Tuesday and got the packing pulled out of the teeth marks. 3 of the 4 holes are starting to scab over and the 4th one, which is a big deep sucker, is looking good. Today when I was home for lunch she showed it to me again and flexed her hand, it looks like a hand puppet's mouth. A little disgusting but for her medical lifestyle she was able to laugh and chuckle about it.