I call t his race t he
st rangest
race because I always considered myself down, out ,
and nearly dead for t he majorit y
of t he race.
Only in maybe t he last
half of t he marat hon
did I t hink anyt hing
good would come of t his endeavor. It
was just so funky, windy, t reacherous,
hot , scary, and crazy, that it was easy to get
negative. I don’t t hink
anyone t hat
raced really felt good or in cont rol
for the vast majority of the race.
Apparently M-Dot has decided t o
change t his race t o
a Half-Ironman next year. Given t hat
it is considered t oo
difficult and t oo
early in t he season (for a full dist ance
race), t hat t he
at t endance
has suffered over t he last
couple years. Well, I t hink
t he 2012 edit ion
really put t he
nail in t he coffin on t hat
one! One nice part
is t hat since
t he marat hon
course was changed from t he previous year, and
will never be run again in t he fut ure,
I am t he proud owner of a run course record t hat
can never be broken!
Pat “Nope not enough”
Sheeks, my coach and soigneur, roadt ripped
down wit h me t o
St . George.
We felt good about
our journey, my preparat ion was very solid
coming int o it ,
I had my race st rat egy
mapped out , and we t hought
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
await ed 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
|
1
|
1
|
||||||
DEU
|
2
|
2
|
|||||
BEL
|
3
|
3
|
|||||
4
|
4
|
||||||
5
|
5
|
||||||
AUT
|
6
|
9
|
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