It was a dark and stormy night...but the dawn broke dry and overcast
in the Wyoming Valley on Father's Day. I was in Wilkes-Barre with my
wife Karen for the 5k/16m/5k duathlon. We'd arrived the afternoon
before in plenty of time to pick up my race packet from the YMCA and
check in to our hotel.
Just as a side note here; if you ever find yourself hotel camping the
night before a race, I highly recommend finding one within spitting
distance of the race venue. There was one other hotel closer, right
at the start/finish, but I chose the other because it offered
breakfast with the room. In hind sight, it didn't really matter since
I was out the door before breakfast was made available. Karen,
however, was able to take advantage of the twice-warmed-over pre-
packaged breakfast-like foods and tepid coffee.
I'd only been to W-B one other time and that was just a brief foray
into the outskirts of town, so this was the first time Karen and I
experienced the city. At the risk of offending the natives, our first
and lasting impressions were that all the stop lights are timed so
that you have to stop at every single one, and that it has to be the
most pothole-ridden city in our collective memories. Our drive of the
bike course cemented our impressions. The condition of the surface
streets paled in comparison to the truck-torn pavement in the
industrial park which comprised the middle 1/3 of the course. I swear
there was one sinkhole-sized car killer that was growing as we
watched!
Okay, okay...just one more observation before I move on. Our youthful
waitress at dinner unwittingly introduced us to the colloquialism
"yous", as in: "Are yous ready to order?" Now don't misunderstand me;
I'm not saying it's bad, it's just different and we'd not heard it
before. Personally, I'm a "you guys" and "y'all" sort of guy; the
first from my upbringing around Chicago and the latter from my days
roaming around the southern states.
A walk of the run course followed dinner and we made it back to the
hotel just before the storm hit. The two runs followed the same
course: across the bridge, through the park, uuup the ramp to the top
of the levee, down under the bridge, along the river, uuup the ramp to
the top of the levee, back down under the bridge, uuup the ramp to the
top of the levee, across the bridge and back home.
It was a pretty sweet race set up; the race started and ended at
Public Square and the transition was two blocks away in a parking lot
at the base of the bridge. Things got off to a slow start as the race
crew waited until that morning to number the bike racks. After
racking my bike and getting in a good warm-up run, it was a matter of
hanging at the square until the start. And that's when I spotted
him...speedo dude. No, not the same guy from Pinchot, but a much
older, well worn fellow wearing one of those TYR jungle print speed
suits with the matching skimpy singlet. The kind that were popular
back when I first started this craziness about a dozen years ago. I
have to give the guy props because he ended up doing his outfit proud.
The race finally got underway with a big gaggle of folks fighting to
be first across the bridge. I started mid-pack with a plan to run an
easy first 5k at around a 7:40 pace. I knew the second run would be a
slogfest if I didn't save something. As I'd figured, the runners
quickly strung out and it was kind of cool to watch the leaders duking
it out at the top of the levee as I headed for the first ramp. I went
into T1 still solidly mid-pack with a 7:38 pace and smoothly got on
the road. The bike was definitely my leg and I started spitting out
all those faster runners like so many discarded watermelon seeds.
Again, I thanked Mark for the Ironmasters Time Trials as I cruised
past them on the hills. Although nobody passed me on the bike, I did
battle back and forth for a time with a local road racer on a straight
up road bike. He finally cracked on the last climb and I never saw
him again. I passed speedo dude just after we left the industrial
park headed back downtown and he gave me some encouragement as I went
by. I finished the bike in 41 minutes and got myself up into the top
20.
The second run was just pure survival, trying to find a pace I could
hold onto and not get passed by too many folks. I met the race leader
and eventual winner, Jeff Miller, at the far end of the bridge as he
was headed across to the finish and I was just getting started. I
counted eight runners as they passed, including speedo dude. I reckon
I can't talk trash about the guy's choice of kit, especially since he
kicked my butt!
I did have a moment of clarity on that run; not really a life-changing
moment, but more of one of those "nobody told me about this"
realizations. It happened at the drink station, which was at the base
of the second ramp so that you'd hit it coming down and again just
before going up to cross the bridge. I was feeling a little
overheated so I grabbed a cup of water intending to douse myself with
it. What happened instead was that I pitched it right over my
shoulder, soaking only the ground and possibly the race volunteer. We
both got a pretty good chuckle out of it and that's when it hit me:
it all seems so simple but I've never read or heard anybody talk about
how to douse oneself with water while running. I mean, I thoroughly
visualize my races, but apparently not that niggling little detail. I
also visualized, or it could have dreamt, t-boning a car that blew one
of intersections. Thankfully that one didn't come to fruition.
Fortunately I had plenty of time to ruminate over the water thing
before my second pass at the drink station and managed a thorough
soaking.
I floundered to the finish for a 1:29 finish despite the bystanders'
pleas for me to "Sprint it out!" the last two blocks. Here's where
that hotel near the venue thing came in handy. I was able to cool
down, go take a shower and change, and get back long before the awards
ceremony. Much to my surprise and delight, the race director gave me
a medal for 3rd place in the male 45-49 age group. I ended up 25th
overall out of 111 competitors and had the 8th fastest bike split; my
runs were 22:54 and 22:20, respectively.
All in all, it was a great race put on by great folks. Karen and I
had the chance to chat with one of the senior lady volunteers
afterward and it was our pleasure to meet her. I'll be putting this
race on my calendar for next year. Next on the schedule is the
Harrisburg triathlon/duathlon in August and I'll be burning up the
roads in the mean time to get my run times down. So if you see me out
there running and dumping cups of water over my head, don't forget to
give a shout!
Paul
