I Beat Peter Vidmar: Utah Half Race Report 2012

Yes, Peter Vidmar, Olympic gold medal gymnast was at the race yesterday, and yes, I beat him. I’m sure he’s just doing the race for fun, but it was still kind of fun to beat someone, anyone really.

The best parts of this race:

1. Doing it with the family. Matt and I did the individual race. Then the kids did a relay. Originally, Hope was going to do the swim, but she went off to MIT early for a job, so Faith had to pinch hit. At 12, this was her first open water racing experience and it was tricky. We asked Grandma and Grandpa to come along so that she could have someone there to help when she got out of the water. Sam (15) did the bike, in 3:16, about 4 minutes slower than Matt, which is pretty cool. Sage (16) did the run in sweltering August heat from about 12-2:30. All the courses were a little long, by my calculation, which was frustrating for the kids.

I got to see Sam on the bike, Sage on the run a number of times. I tried to look out for Faith in the swim, because she started out before me, but I never did see her. The kids made their goal of finishing under 7 hours by 28.5 seconds and I got to announce them as the youngest relay when they crossed the finish line. So cool!

2. Surprise! A bike flat was one of my favorites parts. (Matt had one, too.) Mine happened about 7 miles into the course, after I’d seen about 6 people changing flats. I thought about the fact that I hadn’t had any flats in racing or training this year, and really, even though no one likes a flat, this wasn’t my A race, so I wouldn’t be that unhappy about it. The tire went flat in about one second, and there I was. I calmly got out my tire changing kit. It was the back tire, which is a little trickier than the front, and took a little longer. I can do the front in about 5 minutes flat, but this time the back tire took me 8:40. A number of racers called out condolences as they past me. I was actually so proud of myself that I handled it without help, without cursing, and had everything I needed. I got back on my bike, kept my head in the game, and finished in an awesome time, considering.

3. For the first time in my life, I was able to finish a half Ironman run without getting so nauseated I was reduced to walking. This is mainly because I took in a lot fewer calories. For years, I had been listening to the advice that you need to take in lots of calories to do a long race. Well, it isn’t true for me and it especially isn’t true on the run. I did experience some nausea on the bike, and taking in more calories actually solved that. But on the run, I took about 150 calories total, mostly drinking water rather than gatorade and sticking to my tried and true Gu Chomps. It was so great to feel the fun of running. I admit, I did not push myself hard. I wanted to make sure I had energy to the end. So that made it a lot more enjoyable than most races. I just kept at a steady running pace that felt easy.

4. After the race, I got to talk to a number of the women who had passed me while I was out dealing with my flat and whom I passed again. One was a woman who has beat me in every other race I’ve been in with her, but this was her first longer race. She beat me by about 40 seconds this time, but with my flat, I’m considering that a win. They all seemed impressed that I handled the flat just fine and got back out there. A lot of racers end up giving up after a mechanical because it does make it hard to come back from. I ended up getting 2nd in my age group, 9th overall. The finish time was 5:26.11 (37:32 swim 2:45 bike 2:00 run).

5. The race director. There is always a “mandatory” athlete meeting before the race starts. Usually, the meeting is useful for people who are first time athletes. For me, I feel like my time is being wasted. Nonetheless, I end up listening to it, and wondering at the strange renditions of the USAT rules about drafting, etc. This time, the race director was pretty hilarious, insisting that this race was for many of us, “the meridian of your lives,” that we were about to embark on a dream that “for many of your family members would be impossible” and that “less than 1% of the history of the human race has ever accomplished such a feat.” It got us going pretty good. Laughter=the best race pump up.