Yes Jamie- I was one of the 800 virgins of 2800 in this race. I always said people who did Ironman races were extremists who had an unusual desire for self-abuse.
Q2. What did you eat the night before and what did you eat for breakfast @ IMCan?
Hmmmm. The night before I had a juicy chicken breast, pasta, salad and garlic bread. I passed on the Skor Ice Cream offer.
Breakfast consisted of oatmeal, a PC Chocolate Ultra Shake, coffee, an unsuccessful attempt at a bagel, half a banana and a couple of gels right before the swim (along with some eload,Gatorade TM and water).
Q3. You had an amazing time. What was your focus ?
My focus was I had to do well enough that Nat wouldn't lose her job for letting me wear the Gatorage tri top! Otherwise, my focus was on going hard but having fun, enjoying the scenery, staying social and being safe. I felt pretty grateful to have the chance to do the race. I didn't know how my body would react to the distance and the conditions so I wanted to try to keep it all together for the duration. I am happy about all aspects of the race but I realize I could have pushed myself harder the second half of the run. There were a lot of people really struggling and I was afraid I might become one of them.
Q4. What was your biggest surprise about Penticton ?
It was astonishing to see the numbers of people lining every km of the bike and run course. People literally pulled you up the lllooooonnnnnggggg bike climbs with their cheering, genuine comments and antics. The spirit, heat, hills, beauty of the course... were all very pleasant surprises. Vineyards everywhere and fresh fruit to eat all around you. Lake Okanagan is beautiful water to swim in.
Q5. Tell us about the swim start & the swim itself ?
The group hug on the beach was the best. I managed to find Kevin and Shawn and we shared a moment. Christian- couldn't find you but you were likely up with the pros! Then we headed our own ways- Kevin to find his special place, Shawn to relieve himself (AKA warm-up swim) and me to my chosen spot towards the left end of the diagonal line where I thought other people around my predicted time would be. It was terrific to run into Nathania (Gatorade Girl) and her Mom Jane. We shared a group hug, got into the water to warmup and then didn't see each other until later in the day.
After the warm-up swim some incredibly inspirational music was playing that was pretty moving. I thought I would need to be slapped before the start but I felt a wave of calm that was reassuring. The gun went off and it seemed like there was me and the blue caps everywhere. Once everyone got in deep enough to swim it got crazy but not too much so. You just had to keep moving and watch for flying fists. The difficulty was in the broad shoulders of all the men, as well as those around me who liked the zig-zagged approach. By about 1 km my right eye was burning. It seems the normally water proof sunblock wasn't quite so waterproof- learned a valuable lesson there as I had to do the rest of the swim with one eye and have been treating my eyes ever since. Making it around the first house boat felt great and the swim across to the next house boat went quite well. I had a better rhythm going by then. The swim back in seemed longer than I anticipated but the long pull/glide really helped. When we got about 300m from shore, you seemed to catch a nice current that helped you along. It was great to see people standing in the water cheering you up to land. I didn't even think to look at the clock when I got out of the water.
Q6. Did you see anyone on the course from Barrie ? What exactly did you say to Shawn Patton when you passed him on the bike.
I saw several people at different points in time (surprisingly as it's really all single looped). I saw Shawn on the out and back at Cawson towards the special needs area so technically I DID pass him on the bike! That was the hottest area at 34 degrees.
I saw famous firefighter Kevin on the run, as well as Nat, Andrew, Shawn and Jane, all with team Gatorade. Shawn had to pick it up for the second half of the run because I saw him just before I hit the turnaround in OK Falls. It was very impressive to see Christian on the run as he was out front and looking good! Also very impressive to see Andrew even earlier on. He would have been under 10:00 but unfortunately ran into some nutrition issues shortly after I saw him.
Q7. What's next ?
Hockey season, training (getting my run back), skate skiing, snowboarding, time for fine wine...
I signed up for Placid for 2010 and if all goes well, Switzerland in 2011. Maybe next spring I'll run that full marathon I was planning for last fall before that "knee" incident at the rink. I'm planning on doing the Rideau Canal speed skate, ski, snowshoe race this winter.
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