More Than Our Story
How I Got Bitten by the Tri Bug
I have fallen in love with Triathlons. Well, those are seven words I never thought would come out of my mouth but it’s true! Don’t get me wrong, there are days I dread the training and trying to balance a full time job and family seem impossible, but the high of completing one is pretty incredible.
So how did this happen? How did I get bitten by the Tri bug? Allow me to share…
It started almost one year ago when Dan and I travelled to Indian Wells in California’s Palm Desert for him to compete in his first Ironman 70.3 since his surgery. I thought I had a relatively good idea of what this experience would look like as a spectator but, low and behold, I knew absolutely nothing.
We packed up all of his gear, flew to LA, jumped in our Jeep, drove 2 hours to the desert and settled in our home for the next 5 nights. The day before the race, we went to the athletes village for the mandatory briefing and I couldn’t believe the number of people who were there – of all ages and all physiques. It also seemed as though most people had the iconic Ironman tattoo on their calves which was intimidating, to say the least, even as a spectator.
The next morning we woke at 4am to head to the meeting point to take the shuttle bus to Lake Cahuilla where the swim was taking place. I remember so clearly as we rode the bus, countless conversations about nutrition and who was going to take salt pills, what the strategy for the 91K bike was going to be and how they were going to tackle the rolling hills of the two laps through the golf course. Despite the fact that I wasn’t participating, I was so incredibly overwhelmed, stressed out and kept reminding myself that Dan was going to head out on this race and I wasn’t going to be able to see him or know how he was doing. I thought I was stressed at this point but I assure you, it got far worse!
It was pitch black when we arrived and as the over 2,000 participants got suited up for their 1.9K swim in the ice cold reservoir, we all watched the sunrise. They organised all of the athletes into heats based on when they anticipated they could finish their swims and then the countdown was on. As swimmers entered the water and Dan’s time grew closer, I became an emotional wreck. I was crying while taking photos and videos of him, SO incredibly proud but also terrified.
The air horn blew and off he ran into the water. Shortly after his swim began, I had to give up trying to figure out which green swim cap in the distance he was, but – I had an idea. I decided I was going to take videos for him throughout the day to document the event from a very passionate and stressed out spectator desperate to catch another glimpse of the absolute love of my life.
As I waited by the swim exit – far earlier than I thought I needed to, I was almost certain I had spotted him and indeed I had. He came out of the water with the biggest smile on his face and ran through to gear up for the bike. One event down and two more to go was all I could think.
I looped around the barricades and watched him clip in and take off on the bike for what I knew was going to be the longest part of the race. As I waited for the shuttle bus to take me back to the next transition zone, I was made aware by someone that there was an App that you could track the athletes on and naturally, I was fixated on getting it set up. Little did I know at the time that this was going to become one of the single most detrimental things I did that day and you will know why shortly.
With my app tracking Dan around the bike course, I couldn’t believe how fast his pace was. It looked as though he was going to be finishing his ride in far less time than he had anticipated. I bopped around the bike exit with so much vervoer waiting to cheer him on as he came around the corner. It showed him less than 1K away but 10 minutes, 20 minutes and then 30 minutes passed and the most incredible level of fear and panic set in.
The riders who were coming through were reporting several crashes, one of the pros was hit by a car, and I freaking lost it. After talking to any race volunteer who would listen, and basically everyone one else waiting at bike finish, it turned out the app had CRASHED! Go figure, you have thousands of people trying to track their loved ones and the volume rendered it frozen. Fuck!
After what felt like an eternity, Dan whized around the corner, dismounted and began his run. Finally in the home stretch, I felt a sense of relief. While he made his way through the first loop of the punchy hills on the golf course, I began the mission of collecting his swim and bike gear to bring to the car before the transition closed. I hadn’t thought far enough ahead as to how I was going to manage his bike, and the two bags containing his helmet, bike shoes, wetsuit, goggles, etc. and make my way across the field, over the main street and to the massive parking lot.
The fun part, and I say that very sarcastically, was that the huge green field we were all parked in looked alarmingly different than it had at 4am in the pitch dark. Where I was confident we had parked the car, I soon realised we had not. Fun fact – black Jeep Wrangler’s are apparently a very popular rental car so this was not going to be easy. Why didn’t I just use the panic button on the remote? Because there WASN’T ONE. Have I mentioned yet that we had unseasonable weather in Palm Desert for December and it was 32 degrees? Blistering heat, too much gear to handle, I couldn’t find the Jeep. Theme of this story, but what felt like longer than ideal and after three people had asked how they could help me, I found where we had parked.
Loaded the gear, jumped in the car to charge my phone and get some reprieve with the AC cranked – and it was time to check how the app was working now and track my man. Thankfully, it was working again and I devised another master plan to run through the spectator permitted parts of the course and wait for Dan to cheer him on through the end of his first loop and into his second.
I found him. Rightfully exhausted and out of steam. So I began to run. Technically against the rules, I ran alongside him. It was encouraging and frustrating all at once. He was tired, chafed, just finished with it all. But I would like to think my pushing him also encouraged him. I cheered him on right to the finish line and watched as they placed his medal around his neck.
What an incredibly proud moment. My goodness. The feat that these athletes accomplish is just astounding. So I brought my Ironman home, got him set up on the couch, picked him up some In and Out for the first time, but that is a whole other article. Needless to say, he didn’t love it like me and I’m certain the other 200 Ironmen finishers who lined up there with me would surely disagree with him.
Fast forward through the remaining 10 days of actual vacation we had galavanting around Cali and we found ourselves waiting to catch our flight out of LAX. Dan said, “I’m going to sign up for this event next year.” All bright eyed and inspired, I said “I am going to do it with you!” We booked our Ironman right then and there.
I had absolutely no idea what this was going to involve, how taxing and also rewarding this was going to be, and I still don’t fully know.
Countless hours of training, five open water races, one Olympic Tri, one Half Distance Swim-Bike, but the Ironman 70.3 is still ahead. More to come from me on that!
I had absolutely no idea what this was going to involve, how taxing and also rewarding this was going to be, and I still don’t fully know.
Denise
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