If you ever have a day that goes perfectly — from the second you wake up to the second you go to sleep — watch out for it to literally rain cats and dogs the next day. The reality is that something will not go accoring to plan for you today. Whether it’s something small (like your dog eats part of your breakfast while you’re looking at a text) or something huge (like someone t-boning you on the way to work), it’s going to happen. It’s how you deal with what happened and then how you readjust your Tetris for the day.
While it was going to be an early start and long day, I had everything planned out. Lombard > Chicago > Lake Forest > Vernon Hills in about 2.5 hours by public transportation so I could attend a Bears Training Camp event with Achilles Chicago.
The reality of what happened was that I was left at the “annex” of OTC instead of the main entrance. There wasn’t a safe way for me to walk to the main part, either along the rails or outside in the dark. So it then became Lombard > Chicago >Vernon Hills. And then an accident and them not paying attention to traffic reports caused me to think I’d miss it (as I arrived in Vernon Hills about 30 minutes late).
But it all worked out, and it was an amazingly fun day. The moral of the story — when life gives you lemons, chuck them back at life and keep moving forward. Oh wait, that’s not the right saying… but it’s probably the right sentiment. 😀
I’m grateful for the Chicago Bears inviting Achilles Chicago to attend, and for Achilles Chicago extending an invite to me!
This is how chaotic my year has been. I completely forgot that one of my “stalker”s was lurking until they popped up pre-race. 😀 😀 Apparently I am now not only a Golden Retriever, but also the worst “one and done” athlete. 😀 I guess that the first caused the second, so…
As I’ve mentioned, the Napervills Sprint was my first public Triathlon in 2015. It was also supposed to be my “one and done” Triathlon. This year’s Naperville race was Tri #107 overall. Oops… I guess I missed that “and done” part. LOL
In prior years, the swim has always been a struggle. Not just from my swim stroke in the beginning, but from the overall flow. For the first year, we were at the front, but quickly got swum over by the elites who could legitimately do 45 – 60 second 100s. After that, we moved to the back, where the issues because more of us being used as flotation devices by other swimmers who were struggling. This year, they (RD/Andrea) set things up so we were starting 5 minutes before the elites. In theory, this should mean the elites wouldn’t catch us until about the very last part of the swim.
Also, going into the race, I was excited to see Max and his son out on the course again. It had been about 5 years since I had raced with them last (I believe in Goshen). So with the new swim setup, the four of us (me/Scott; Max/his son) headed into the water for an early start.
I am very glad that the swim start was changed. This year’s swim seemed much cleaner. No one tried to physically climb over us or use us as a personal flotation device, and the timing worked out perfectly. While I don’t have the exact point, I would guess the elites caught us at 325 – 330yd, meaning we had 50y or less of traffic. And all of those were experienced, strong swimmers, who could easily navigate around us.
After a slightly longer than usual T1 (I had to toss on a jacket in addition to a longer run in transition), we headed out on the bike. As in Pleasant Prairie, the chain acted up. While we lost some speed on the bike, it seemed like some of it settled down as we got further into the bike.
At some point in the bike, I asked Scott if he had seen Max. I remember him telling me that they were only on loop 1 as we were about 1/4 of the way through loop 2. So I was really surprised to see them headed out of T2 as we were racking the bike.
After a normal T2, we headed out on the run. Even though I knew there was absolutely, positively no way that I was catching them, it still helped to have a “rabbit”. I had some of the normal issues (more with breathing) I do on the run. But having that “rabbit” out there helped me to keep those rest periods as short as possible.
After the race, I was surprised to see another Dare2Tri teammate (Molly). I was further surprised to later learn that there was a fourth Para. The reason that it was so surprising is that typically I’m the only Para. It was wonderful to finally have a FULL Para podium (photo on IG @nocrappyexcuses)!
Thanks to so many who helped this race to be a success — including Coach Joe, Dave, Andrea, “Quiet Chris”, and others! Thanks to Scott for guiding and all his help / support throughout. It will be a VERY short turnaround before Adaptive Mixed Relays and ParaTriathlon Nationals. Hope to see a lot of you in Milwaukee!
