Jockstrapper's Race Report: Beach2Battleship

I am going to assume that a racer's support crew is called 'jockstrappers' because, well we are providing the essential support. At any rate, last weekend was my turn to be the cheerleader for Paul's Irondistance race, Beach2Battleship in one of my favorite all time cities - Wilmington, NC. For those of you not familiar this was an Irondistance (2.4 m. swim, 112 m. bike, 26.2 m. run) race, but not an IRONMAN which is an actual company with trademark for the cute little red M with the dot over it. There wasn't quite the same amount of hoopla and it was 1/4 the size of an m-dot race but it was done first class and SetUp Events did a great job.
We traveled to Wilmington on Thurs. & picked up Paul's packet, shopped the expo and got checked in at our Wrightsville Beach condo.
After a quick dinner at a pizza place close by we were ready to crash. Ruthie & Bobby (my sister & b.i.law) arrived later that evening & we all crashed together in the condo. I can't say enough about how much help it was to have them staying there & helping out with the kids!!!!!! Friday was a relaxing morning, we went out and got some cool orange poster board & had some yummy Firehouse Subs for lunch, then the kids and I got ready to go to the YMCA Halloween party. We left Paul at the condo to lay around. After the YMCA shindig we met up with Renee, Scott & Hailee and had dinner all together at O.T.B.
We drove around a bit looking for neighborhoods to trick or treat, and finally found a very nice near the beach. I was once again reminded that I would love to live at the beach. Sat. morning at 4:45 Paul got up & got ready, I drove him the half mile to T1 (it was a point to point swim so I drove him there, but then he had to take a bus to the swim start) and dropped him off. I drove back to the hotel, met up with Scott and we ran the mile and a half or so to the swim start (no cars were supposed to be allowed). We found Paul eventually and waited in the chilly morning air to cheer him off. There was a nice current running so I figured I'd better get running back & get Ru, Bobby & the kids right away. When I got back they had already left so I ran over to T1 and met up with them.
Paul had a smoking 1:05 swim (ok, some of this was the current : ) and after bundeling up he was off on the bike. We went back to the hotel for some down time and I was surprisingly relaxed for a little while. t2 was at the USS North Carolina in downtown Wilmington. Around 11 am we parked downtown and took the water taxi provided by the race folks across the river to the battleship area. Our plan was to hang out, see Paul come in off the bike then head back over on the water taxi to the downtown area to see Paul run the loops over there, have a nice dinner, etc. That was before we saw the 2 hour line to get the water taxi back over - uh oh.
So we spent a lovely afternoon w/ Renee, Scott, Haliee, Ruthie & Bobby touring the battleship, playing outside and cheering on Paul (that only lasted a few minuites) All in all the kids were great.
Around the time that Paul was starting out on the run I was lucky enough to get a parking pass to bring my car to the small parking lot right at T2 that they had said was not for race participants. The thought of Paul having to wait in line for 2 hours after completing and Ironman was more than I could take. So, after a lot of stressing I watched Paul start on his second loop of the run after a blazing 2:12 first half marathon (and he looked great!) I ran the first 3.5 or so miles of the run course to get back to the car (folks were cheering for me, aid stations offering me drinks - I kept having so say, no, I'm not racing, just trying to get my car!) I thought I might catch Paul but no luck, he was just running too darn fast!!
Got the car and some subs and got back in plenty of time to wait for him to come down the finish line. I was waiting about 300 y. from the finish line, and was going to call Ruthie & the group at the finish line when he was coming. He blew by me running so fast I never caught back up to him & he made it thru the finsh line in an awesome 12:51. He looked great (ok, a little tired) and had a fantastic race.
It was really different to be there as the jockstrapper. I dont' know that I do as well since I tend to be a *wee bit crazy and over the top about the races. I think Paul is better suited to stay calm and relaxed about what's going on when I am racing. I am VERY, VERY proud of how wonderful he did & was glad to have the whole family (and great friends too!!) there to share the experience with!!

Beaming with Pride

I was pretty nervous about allowing my 9 year old daugher to do the Rambl'n Rose triathlon. She didn't really enjoy the training that much and found every excuse not to, the bike course was on some major roads that were open to traffic and she is still very tenative on her bike and she has the tendancy in races to bring on the tears - all of which I had to weigh pretty heavily with her pleas to do the race. I gave in and thought she would, in the least, learn a lesson about the need to properly train to prepare for a race.

It was cold outside and very, very early when we arrived at the Huntersville Aquatic Center in Charlotte on Sat. A. was half asleep and very cold. We got our transitions set up and went looking for the other women that I had trained for the race in our Mother Daughter Training Group. (a 12 week program I led at the Kirk Y). Everyone was very excited and a little nervous.

The 250 yard swim was a pool swim so we were seeded based on our times. I decided to swim at my own time, then just wait for Anna to bike together. I was the 31st woman to start and probably should have put in a bit faster time as I quickly ran into the 4 women ahead of me and lost about 30 - 40 seconds waiting and trying to pass. I ran out to transition and dried off, threw on my Garrett's Wings jersey, left my chip on my towel and ran back into the pool area. I got to see Nicole and Natalie (2 of our training group girls) rock the swim, then headed over to watch A. swim. I think all the race excitement might have made her go out a little too hard on the first 250 so she did breaststroke fo rthe majority of the swim but hey, she is a great breaststroker and she smiled for the whole swim!!

We ran into transition together and I threw on her shirt and helped to get her shoes on as she stood in a daze. Off on the bike we went!! On first try she fell when mounting her bike and got a little teary and flustered but a wonderful vounteer ran over and helped her mount and she was all better! There was a lot more traffic than I expected on the 9 mile ride and since this was A's first ride on the road with cars I was a wreck! I rode just behind her and out a little so that cars had to go around me. I was fully prepared to throw myself and the new bike infront of a car to protect her!!! She rode much faster than she had in our few training rides that we did and she did FANTASTIC on all the hills, even crushing the last hill and passing a few women on the way up!!

She didn't cry, complain or fuss for the whole bike ride so I thought I would up the ante a little. I told her that I would take her straight to the bookstore after the race to let her use her yardsale money to buy the 5th Harry Potter book if she made the full run with a positive attitude and no tears for the entire run. (yes, bribery and questionable parenting, I know) She was looking so good coming out of transition I upped the ante and told her that if she could run the full 2 miles without walking I would pay for the book for her. Those that know A. know that she LOVES to read, especially Harry Potter. She has been waiting and begging to read the next book so for me to buy it for her, quite a big deal. We ran and talked and ran and ran. She was fantastic and I don't even think she broke a sweat! We ended up running the 2 miles in 21 min. which is a 10-ish minuite mile!!
I cried when we crossed the finish line, no big surprise. It was a fantastic day and such a great experience to share with A.! When asked if she would do it again she said YES! and she thought she would probably stick to 9 miles on the bike! Swim and run could be longer she thought, but 9 miles on the bike is long enough! I am THRILLED that she enjoyed the expeince so much and can't wait for next season to race along with her!!!