Thursday, May 31, 2012

St. George and the Strangest Race


I call this race the strangest race because I always considered myself down, out, and nearly dead for the majority of the race.  Only in maybe the last half of the marathon did I think anything good would come of this endeavor. It was just so funky, windy, treacherous, hot, scary, and crazy, that it was easy to get negative.  I don’t think anyone that raced really felt good or in control for the vast majority of the race.

Apparently M-Dot has decided to change this race to a Half-Ironman next year.  Given that it is considered too difficult and too early in the season (for a full distance race), that the attendance has suffered over the last couple years.  Well, I think the 2012 edition really put the nail in the coffin on that one!  One nice part is that since the marathon course was changed from the previous year, and will never be run again in the future, I am the proud owner of a run course record that can never be broken!

Pat “Nope not enough” Sheeks, my coach and soigneur, roadtripped down with me to St. George.  We felt good about our journey, my preparation was very solid coming into it, I had my race strategy mapped out, and we thought it might even cool down a bit on race morning.  We also had an amazing homestay family to show us the ropes in St. George and treated us like royalty. 

But little did we know what awaited us on race morning…

This news article from the Salt Lake Tribune gives a pretty good description of the days events:  http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/sports/54055727-77/race-didn-george-athletes.html.csp

My Own Stats:

Swim - 1:04 (10th elite)
  • Even with the nasty chop, this was still my fastest IM swim by about 10 mins.  Apparently I have a nasty chop stroke!  I tossed my race strategy about 20 minutes into the race and went into “just don’t die” mode.  Even though I am not afraid to die, I figured I would save it for another day if possible.
Bike - 5:48 (9th Elite)
  • It was super duper windy, with 20 mile stretches at 8-12 miles/hour.  This was the windiest ride I have ever been on, much less raced in.  My IT band got sore just from trying to stabilize the bike!  My time was so slow, I assumed incorrectly that there was no way I could eek out a good placing.
Run - 2:55  (1st elite, results incorrectly have me at 5th).
  • Thinking I was down and out, I asked my brother how far back I was while leaving transition, wondering if I should even start the run.  Oh, only 50 minutes; No Big Deal!  I only realized how much ground I made up by about the 15 mile mark, and proceeded to take some names.  Coming into the finish chute with a lead bike by my side, high-fiving spectators was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life.  Apparently I accidentally denied my brother a high-five though!

I’ve had some amazing support leading up to this race, mostly from local sponsors such as Sports Reaction Center, Elite Sports and Spine, Run 26 and Woodinville Bicycle.  I am super blessed to have these guys 100% behind me.  As an example, I stepped on a rock while on a training run in Klamath Falls, which inflamed my foot pretty badly.  A last minute dual-threat treatment from Sports Reaction and Elite Sports and Spine totally extinguished the pain and got me through the marathon.  Thanks guys!!!

Matt

 Pre-race, looking sleepy but really I am jacked to get started!

Fastest run split of the day

Never been happier to have a race be over!

 In the money

 Eventual winner and outstanding guy Ben Hoffman 

The Dynamic Duo - Matt with Patrick "nope not enough" Sheeks, the ultimate manager.  

Matt:  "Hey Pat, I put in 5 hours of training today.  Is that enough?  I was kind of thinking I still have enough energy for a shake-out jog."

Pat:  "Nope not enough."


Name
Country
Swim
Bike
Run
Finish
Div. Rank
Overall Rank
USA
00:52:44
05:10:01
03:01:24
09:07:04
1
1
DEU
00:52:42
05:10:35
03:18:23
09:25:58
2
2
BEL
00:51:22
05:26:52
03:12:53
09:35:33
3
3
USA
00:59:19
05:33:54
03:12:14
09:49:00
4
4
USA
01:04:09
05:48:41
02:55:37
09:52:03
5
5
AUT
01:04:52
05:39:00
03:16:58
10:04:07
6
9

No comments:

Post a Comment