Robin flew from Winnipeg to come and do the beast with us. It was Jordan, Robin, Liam, and Jarom. It was Jarom's first Beast. Look how skinny the kid is. I'm now sure how he did it. He beat me though.
0 Comments
Some how I let James talk me into doing a Tough Mudder. James and Emily had told me about the crazy obstacles they had, ie being electrocuted at the end.
Emily drove us out to the race. It was a miserable day. It had been raining for days and today was no exception. Emily dropped us off and it was an obstacle to get from the muddy parking lot to the start. We met up with some of the Dukeshires' friends who we were going to run with. All I have to say is I'm not sure who's idea of fun this race is. They had obstacles like the arctic enema, the gas chamber and yes getting electrocuted at the end. The arctic enema is one of the first obstacles. You go down a sloped board into ice cold water. There's a board so you have to go right under the water. Our experienced team mates told us to take off as much of our clothes as possible and for the girls to go last so we didn't get cold waiting. It was so cold!! I came out screaming and got out as quick as I could. As the day went on I kept getting colder and colder. One of the girls that was with us was shivering so bad. Her husband wanted her to quit but she wouldn't. I talked to her and told her there was no shame in quitting. She really wasn't doing well. She ended up getting taken out. The race was in Drumheller and part of it were so pretty and the course was really challenging. The only part that I liked was having to go up and down a really step hill. You couldn't run up or down. You had to use a rope and scramble up and down. So lets get to the end. The last obstacle is the electrocution one. You have to run through this area that has thin ropes coming down that have electricity running in them. Emily and James had warned me not to hold hand with anyone going through it. If you do this and the person next to you get shocked then you do too. Some how, the group that I ended up with (our group had spread out) persuaded me to hold hands. Yup, the person next to you gets shocked and so do you! Two seconds in to the obstacle and the person next to me is thrown to the ground. Another two seconds and the person on the other side of me gets thrown about three feet forward. I tried to slowly go around the hanging strands of death but still got shocked. Seriously what is up this obstacle??? We finished the race but if you can believe it, it's not timed and there are not medals! Lame Also, no pictures. This was absolutely the craziest race I have done. It was pouring rain and cold. Just look at the pictures...so much mud. Emily was only a few months post partum but wanted to do the race. I told her I would stay with her if she wanted to do it. James couldn't do the race, he was with the kids. Megan, Robin and the boys did the race too. Everyone else got ahead of Emily and I. We were ok with that. We just went at Emily's pace. Well we went at her pace for awhile but then it got just too cold. She would walk and run but I finally told her she needed to keep running so we could try to stay warm but mostly so we could just finish the race. Emily got to the point that she would just skip the obstacle and keep running or walking. I would do the obstacle and then catch up with her. We were so glad to be done. Robin was waiting for us at the finish line. Megan and the boys were in an outhouse staying out of the rain and trying to keep warm. Emily went straight to her car. Robin told me to go to the van and he would get everyone and they would meet me there. I went to the van got in, started the van and sat there shivering. I called Melissa to warn Jordan how bad it was. He had an afternoon start time. I could hardly talk I was shivering so bad. Everyone else got to the van and asked me why I hadn't gotten out of my wet clothes. I hadn't even thought of it. I'm sure I was getting hypothermic. I tried to get them off but couldn't. I was shaking so badly. The boys had to undress me. Awkward! For some reason I didn't have dry clothes, I wrapped myself up in a blanket and drove home that way. We stopped at Timmies and got some hot drinks. Honestly the craziest race to date! This was to be my first half ironman.
swim-2km bike-80km run-21.1km I'll cut to the chase. I didn't finish the race. In fact I didn't finish the swim. I had to get pulled from the water. Here's what went wrong: I trained hard, but I don't think I trained smart. I didn't really know what I was getting myself in to, I was over confident and didn't respect the distance. I was really smug about the open water swim, so much so that I didn't do any open water practices. I told people, I love swimming and I am not afraid of open water. I'll be fine. I rented a wet suit a few days before and only swam about 200m in it, in the pool. If you've never worn a wet suit let me tell you it's tight and it's restricting in your chest. It takes some time to get used to it. I went up to Sylvan lake on Friday night, I was by myself. Jody, Jarom, Melissa and my sister Karen were going to come the early Saturday morning to catch me on the bike. It wasn't good for me to be alone that night or in the morning getting ready. I got in my head too much. On my way up to Sylvan Lake I bought a big bag of cherries and ate them all. My stomach didn't feel great that night or race morning. I didn't get to Sylvan lake soon enough to go for a practice swim in the lake. I was busy buying cherries and remember I am fine in open water. The race is a start from in the water. At the appropriate time I got in the water to wait for the start gun. I thought I should probably warm up a bit, stuck my head in and that's when the problems started. The water was sooo cold! It took my breath away. Actually as soon as I put my head in the water it made me want to breath in. I tried a few times but it didn't get any better. All of a sudden it was time to start the race. I just hoped for the best. Well the best did not happen. I could not do front crawl. I couldn't breath. I tried switching to breast stroke but that didn't help. I doggy paddled. Panic started to set in. Everyone passed me. One person called out to take a few deep breaths and take it slow. I tried again but could only do a few strokes and would panic again. I finally made my way to a paddle board and said I couldn't do it needed help to the shore. I was so embarrassed and disappointed. When I got out of the water I just hung my head. I couldn't look anyone in the eyes. I got my wet suit off and went to the car to call Jody to tell him not to come. He was already on his way though. I told him to turn around but he said he would come to be with me. I called Melissa and my sister and told them to turn a around. I had to wait for a long time to get my bike out of the transition area. I found two race officials and explained what happened. These two amazing ladies took my race chip and gave me big hugs. I started to cry. They comforted me told me of the times they DNF'd and the professional triathletes that had DNF'd. They told me to not give up and invited me to a race they were running the next weekend. I've never forgotten these two angels. I tried to find out who they were to no avail. Fast forward to 2018. I was shopping at my favorite triathlon store, Tri It Multi sport, and there they were, Rose and Richelle. I found out they were the owners of the store. I had seen them several times before but when I saw them together it clicked who they were, my angels. It took me awhile to appreciated my first DNF. With perspective though I have been able to see the lessons I needed to learn. Things I learned: -Respect the distance. -Be humble. -Practice for the conditions. -I need to practice in open water with my wet suit on. Three years later this is still true for me. It takes me a few swims every spring to get comfortable in the cold water and in my wet suit. -I need to have someone with me race morning. -Don't do anything new before the race, ie eat a bag of cherries. This was my first year to do the Olympic distance in Strathmore. James, Missy and Jarom joined me. Emily didn't do it this year as she was 9 months pregnant. I guess that's a good excuse. Results
Swim Time: 34:41:05 Overall:13/27 Gender: 6/11 Age: 1/1 Bike Time: 1:30:11.90 Overall: 16/27 Gender: 4/11 Age: 1/1 Run Time: 53:40.90 Overall: 16/27 Gender: 5/11 Age: 1/1 Overall Time: 2:58:34.05 Overall: 16/27 Gender: 5/11 Age: 1/1 Some how Robin talked me and Liam into doing the Montana Beast. He convinced us it couldn't be any harder than Sun Peaks and we had survived that . He was wrong, It was way harder! The race course designer showed no mercy. If there was a creek we ran in it instead of on the nice clear path. Just when you would dry off there was more water. I loved every minute of it. The morning started out a bit chilly but I knew it would warm up so I only kept on the bare minimum. As our heat time drew closer we decided to get in the start corral. To get into the corral there was a six foot wall. It was pretty embarrassing but I needed help getting over that obstacle. I admittedly don't have very good upper body strength so most obstacles are hard for me. Walls and the rope are the most difficult. My finish time was 6 hours 22 minutes. This was the one and only race that Liam stayed with me the whole time. I did it!
A year of challenges. It was a great way to celebrate turning 50. What's in store for 51? I'm not doing a challenge each month but have some plans for the year. I'm doing a few half marathons, a marathon, and getting my spartan trifecta again. I'm considering doing the ultra beast in September. I am going to do a few triathlons, sprint and olympic length. I will definitely be doing a bike road trip. One burning goal is to learn to climb a rope. What doe the future hold? - Half ironman summer 2016, I was going to do it this year but I couldn't find a race that worked out. -Dopey challenge, January 2016 a multi day race in Disney World, 5k Thursday, 10K Friday, 1/2 marathon Saturday, Marathon Sunday Future Dreams Ironman ultra marathon |
AuthorMy greatest accomplishment in my life is my 8 children. I have 6 girls and 2 boys. I also have 8 grandchildren. I am blessed to love my job as a labour and delivery nurse. Archives
September 2015
Categories |