Professor Boz: 70.3

Boz: “Home stretch…wow…he is awesome” came the reply when I let Jodi know that Nick had only two miles to go. I drove to the park with my windows down and the Rocky music blaring, hopefully inspiring, and not deafening, any runner within earshot. When I arrived at the finishing area, I saw a much more joyous sight. There were massage tables, as well as loud music, beer, and a gigantic ice bath.

After failing to locate Nick’s family, I found a spot at the bottom of a hill near the beach, looking back at the homestretch of the run. Yes, I said “at the bottom of a hill,” as the sadistic race organizers made the athletes run up a steep and winding hill at the end of their intense journey.

I stood at the bottom of that hill and waited...and waited…and waited some more.

Nick: At this point on the course, we were back in the city and in a residential area. I started walking on the sidewalk under the cover of the trees as much as I could.

I don’t remember seeing the mile 12 marker, but I passed some people who said that I was close to finishing. I asked how much further, and they replied “less than a mile!” I gave the obligatory last mile effort, but didn’t make it more than a couple minutes before I realized I still had a ways to go.

I came around a corner that I recognized from when the run had just begun, and I decided that there couldn’t be more than a half mile left. The switch flipped and I went for it. I attempted an 8:00 pace, but quickly found out that wasn’t happening. My calves weren’t working anymore, and I was feeling a twinge in my left knee similar to when I slightly tore cartilage a few years ago. So, I took it easy and tried to minimize my feet clapping on the pavement the best I could. Eventually, I saw the finishing banners across a little bay of the lake, so I knew I was so close.

Boz: Every time another runner round the bend, I hoped that it was Nick. And each time I saw someone else, I felt a bit deflated. I knew what misery he was experiencing in these final miles and just wanted him to be done with it. Plus, I needed him to finish before he died, because then, I wouldn’t have to be the one who informed his wife.

Nick: I turned a final corner and passed the point at which I saw my cheering section when I started the run. The street was now filled with athletes walking their bikes back to their cars, their medals lightly swaying around their necks. I noticed that many had their shoes off and were walking barefoot in the grass. My feet felt really, really hot at that moment.

I made the last turn into the park between the blaze orange tape ropes and was met with a steep downhill that I totally forgot about. I then ran past the beach where I started this thing nearly 6 hours ago.

Boz: Eventually, Nick came into view and I breathed a huge sigh of relief; he was going to make it. He smiled at me at the bottom of the hill, and this time, solely due to the winding nature of this final stretch, I beat him to the top. When I arrived at the finish area, I ran into his family and we cheered him through his final steps. Five hours and 49 minutes after he began, Nick crossed the finish line.

Nick: I took a quick left up a big, big hill. My cheering section was on the right side of the trail as I neared the finish line. I tried to force another smile, but as trail began to go uphill, I needed to focus on not tripping over myself.

After a hairpin right turn, I was in the short finishing chute. I didn’t attempt to sprint, and as my family shifted up the hill to the gate on the right side, I reached out and smacked a high five to my 6-year-old son. I crossed the line and was smiling. I felt my smile and it was so big, and it wasn’t even forced.

Boz: “Daddy!” his two boys called out as they ran to him. His two year old daughter, however, was more cautious, seemingly not agreeing with Nick’s assessment that he had stopped sweating.

After I let his family greet him, I asked if it was easier or tougher than he expected. “About the same.” came his reply. “That was the best I have ever felt on the bike. I have never ridden that fast for that long. I didn’t cramp, and just my knee is stiff. I probably pushed too hard. But, I don’t care, I had fun.”

Nick: I walked right past the volunteer handing out medals, as I didn’t see her at first. I quickly realized I walked right past everyone, so I had to go back in the finishing chute, remove my timing chip, and receive my medal. There was no way I was going home without that!

After walking out of the finish chute for the second time, I strolled over to the hill where I had put my wetsuit on that morning and looked out over the lake. I actually got a little choked up for a second. I was so happy to have finished this thing. I was hurting, I was tired, but I felt so amazing.

I caught my breath right away and turned around to find my cheering section. They hadn’t seen me sneak out of the chute and were still looking for me. I hollered, and they came over. My 6-year-old came in for a hug, but backed off at the last minute when he realized I was soaked from head to toe. Instead, I gave high fives to everyone else except my 20-month old daughter, who smiled but shrugged away when I reached for her, way too smart for her own good. We lined up for a few pictures and then started talking food.

Boz: After a few family pictures, Nick’s family discussed where to go for some post-race grub. “McDonald’s!” called out his eldest. “After 5 gels, 7 shot blocks, and a bunch of Gatorade, I don’t know if my stomach is up for that, buddy.” Nick replied.

His family walked to their car while I hung out with Nick as he packed up his belongings. When we were leaving the grounds, volunteers were pouring free beer for the athletes. “I’m not a triathlete,” I inquired, “but can a freelance reporter get a glass?” The kind lady simply nodded, smiled, and handed me a glass. After several hours of chasing Nick around the course, it was a very satisfying end to the closest I will ever come to being a half Ironman triathlete.

As we reached his car, I asked Nick the obligatory question of whether he would do this race again. “We’ll see. I have a year to decide. I won’t do more than one per year though. This kills you.”

Nick: After making my family wait much longer than I expected, I urged them to go ahead and get out of the park, telling them I’d meet them as quickly as possible. They didn’t push back, so I started to walk back to my transition spot with Boz.

The race director was already handing out the hardware to the age group winners when we passed the post-race festivities. There was a modest spread of food and pastries, as well as a beer trailer with free beer for the athletes Boz pulled out his “I’m a journalist” card with the beer ladies and without saying it directly they said, “Yeah right, buddy, but here you go anyway,” and gave us both a beer. I took a sip but didn’t trust my stomach quite yet.

We packed up my stuff, and Boz graciously walked me back to my car with a bag or two over his shoulder. As we said goodbye, I gave him the remainder of my beer in what seemed like a gesture of thanks, but it was really more of a “get this thing out of my sight, because I’m sick of carrying it, and it really doesn’t taste good at the moment.”

Boz: I bid Nick goodbye and walked back to the Rocky-mobile. For the first time in quite a while, I looked at my phone and saw that I had received four anxiety-filled texts from Jodi. “Sorry for the delay, all is great, he finished.” I replied.

Jodi simply replied with the universal symbol of happiness: a smiley face.

Nick: I met my family at a café and ordered eggs and hash browns. They sounded amazing, but I couldn’t eat very much. My stomach was a mess and all I really wanted was water. I drank 4 glasses of ice water at the restaurant and both of my sons’ leftover apple juice. I finished the eggs, but only about a third of the rest of my meal, so I packed it up for later.

Boz: Exhausted, I went home and took a two-hour nap.

Nick: We ordered pizza that night and I was able to eat two pieces, but I was still feeling a bit off. I had one beer with dinner, but that only made things worse, so I just stuck to water the rest of the night. If you’ve made it this far in the report, it will probably be hard to give out too much information, so I’ll tell you that I didn’t urinate until just before bed at 11:00 pm. That means that I went from mile 4.5 of the run at about 11:15 am until 11:00 pm without urinating, despite drinking well over a gallon of liquids over that time.

I stretched a few times and actually wrestled around and gave the boys “airplane rides” on the floor that night. I had to keep moving because I knew once I stopped, I was going to be down for the count, and I was right. Once the kids were in bed, I iced my knees, popped some Aleve, and passed out.

Epilogue

Boz: People look at me like I am kind of unusual when I tell them I am heading out to spectate an endurance event. Truth be told, I wasn’t always of fan of racing. I played football while growing up, and when it came time for track and field, I threw the shot put. To say I thought distance runners were a bit odd would be a fair statement.

However, back in 2001, I found myself unable to control my weight, and my wife suggested that I take up running. Later than year, I entered a 5 mile cross country race through an apple orchard, and I was hooked. I then ran my first marathon in 2003 and was amazed at how powerful of an impact the spectators had on me.

In 2004, I attended my first marathon as a spectator, and have been hooked on attending endurance events ever since. Over the past several years, I have spectated many marathons and a few Susan G. Komen 60 mile walks. Watching people push themselves, simply to see if they can accomplish a goal, is an amazing experience. And I understand that whether or not I know the participants, they love to hear my cheers. So, as soon as Nick told me he was planning to participate in this half ironman, I wrote it in pen on my calendar.

Nick: I actually had to work the following morning, but was in no rush to get up early. I woke up quite refreshed and surprisingly not very stiff at all. My legs were tired, but my knee felt fine and the rest of my body just needed a good stretch. I drove into work for a couple hours, came home early for lunch, and then caught a plane to Chicago for a business trip. I brought my workout clothes “just in case” and actually ended up going for a short swim at the Ohio Street Beach in downtown Chicago, just to loosen up. The next day I went for a nice 3 mile run on Lakeshore Drive, and it felt great. I didn’t push a pace and just went to sort my body out a bit.

I had really intense craving for salty snacks and foods, but my appetite didn’t get better until about Tuesday…at which point I at an entire full size order of pad thai and pot stickers by myself. And then it wasn’t until Thursday that I actually felt hydrated and balanced out again.

The half ironman distance triathlon is everything I imagined it would be: exciting, painful, tiring, mentally exhausting, rewarding, and exhilarating. The atmosphere of a triathlon was very similar to a marathon in that people were everywhere cheering for athletes that they only knew by the number on their bib. Athletes joked with each other on the beach to calm each other’s nerves, and then continually urged each other on during the run. Volunteers gave you high fives as you passed through the water stations.

The cliché “It’s not the destination; it’s the journey” is the best way for me to describe this experience. I trained with the mentality that my goal was not to finish a half ironman race, but rather to learn how to incorporate distance and intensive training into my daily life

I made training for this race a part of my regular life without making it my entire life. I incorporated rest time into my weekly plans and kept those plans very flexible. Having children, a home, a full-time career, and a healthy relationship with my wife took priority over playing on my bicycle and running in circles around my neighborhood.

I learned how to make time to train without sacrificing any of those other things. In fact, I think it taught me how to make more time for my family and focus harder on them. My wife is also getting back into running so it taught us to communicate better to take turns training - granted, we had to learn the hard way through a miscommunication or three here and there, but we learned!. I’ve also learned to eat better and actually now crave vegetables, a food group which I’ve neglected my entire life.

Will I do another half iron? Now that it’s sunk in for a week or two, I definitely think I will. How will my approach differ? Race wise, I need to cool it on the bike. I burned all of my matches on the wheels without remembering that I needed to run a half marathon afterward.

If I were asked which part of my training paid off the most, it was definitely my swimming. My swim was the most comfortable I’ve ever felt in the water. In the future I’d like to get faster (like anyone does), but I don’t think I could ever feel better during the event.

I’m truly disappointed in my run time because I know I trained well enough to do better than I did. That’s just a result of my lack of discipline on the bike though, which I learned the hard way this first time around.

Will I bump up to the full Ironman distance? I’m not sure yet. I rushed into distance running when I first started in college, got burned out, and I don’t want to see the same results with triathlons. Could I double the distance and essentially double the training? Unless I get even more efficient with my time, it’d be very hard to do without sacrificing time in other parts of my life. I’d like to be able to finish a half ironman more comfortably before I decide to double the effort on race day.

But I have plenty of time to think about the future. For now, all I can say is this: I did 70.3!

Boz: Thanks to Nick for letting me stalk him for the day, and thanks to all of you who followed our report. Perhaps this is the last you’ll read of Nick and me together. But then again, maybe Nick will decide to run a full triathlon, and I’ll tag along to tell you all about it.

At first glance, it looks like a hot tub. But those are ice cubes in there with the runners!