Spirit of Racine Half - Racine, WI

"I will finnnnnd you!" - Ronald

This was probably my most interesting triathlon experience of my life by far. I was pretty hesitant about signing up for two races on back-to-back weekends even before I realized I would be doing them alone. Regardless, I thought I would give it a shot and see if I could make a story out of it. At least I was able to convinced Mark and Jimmy to make the trip with me to Milwaukee.

The race was Sunday morning, so we left friday after work so Mark and Jim could spend as much time as possible at the breweries of Milwaukee. Nick Deprey was nice enough to let us sleep in his rommates bed and bathroom for the weekend as well as being our official Milwaukee tour guide. The weather was pretty pathetic. Im really not a big fan of Milwaukee in the first place - unless it involves milk at the state fair. One McGarry brother once described Milwaukee on the same depressing level as Toledo, which was really funny because I dont think he knew we were from Toledo at the time. I dont really remember the way he actually said it, but something to the effect of "don't ever go there." Anyway, all of Saturday was pretty gloomy and full of drizzle. Nick joined me to the weak expo Racine held while the meatheads visited all the breweries in town for the free beers. We eventually met up with them at the Miller brewery so we too could enjoy living the high life. I recommend going - great gift shop!

Sunday morning I woke up at my standard 3 hours pre-race and felt pretty good. I was not as mentally focused as I would have liked to be considering everything. The weather really gave me a bad feeling, and the travel and anxiety of races on back to back weekends wears on ya. But still, I was ready to go.

The weather all weekend was pretty bad for a race - it wasn't cold but it was muggy and very foggy. People weren't too happy when they kept delaying the start time because of the fog. I don't think they cared that you couldn't see a thing in the lake, and we more worried about their fragile triathlon diets. But this was just when I started to have a little fun. I didn't get the racing kit (triathlon top and bottom) in the mail like I was expecting, so I gave my stinker suit another run for its money.

Story time - the water temperature was 56 degrees, cold enough people were complaining about it even though they had full body wetsuits, head wetsuits, and even sock wetsuits! I was really just trying to ignore the water temperature and pretend that it really wasnt that cold, but it was pretty difficult when hundreds of people are staring, pointing, and talking about the idiot in the stinker suit. It didn't help that we had to wait on the beach for over an hour to start because of the fog, and the whole time people were getting in the water and talking. It was fun for me though - I made lots of friends. Even though none of my original friends were there, I met a nice filipino man, Ronald, who was just there to watch and take pictures. I mean, that sounded semi-normal, until he stood there in front of everyone and starting snapping away at me in my stinker suit when I was just standing there. Its kinda weird to have your picture taken when your not doing anything, when your the main focus, when lots of poeple are around staring, and especially strange when its another man and your only wearing a stinker suit.

--This guy didnt want to get anywhere near me.

After I escaped Ronald, I made my way to the start and kept running into more people who felt like telling me - "You're an idiot." So, I guess it was a bigger deal than I initially thought when I decided to wear a stinker suit in 56 degree water. But, it created a buzz all around the race so I was trying to let that carry me.

Finally, our wave was up and we hit the water and I immediately could not breath. It was pretty amzing how fast your body goes numb and how quickly the cold affects you. I had goosebumps the whole swim, had to do a lot of breast stroke to catch my breath, and had some gnarly leg cramps that were kinda worrying me. The swim was not smooth - it was crowded, cold, and I could barely get in a rhythm. It was longer than last week, so i was in the water for 38-39 minutes, and they zig-zagged the last buoy so I had to go back just when I thought I had finished.

The swim actually went faster than I thought. I was just glad I made it, and the swim finish line came sooner than expected. When you have several people come up to you and express their basic concern before the race, and hundreds more giving you worried attention, its hard to block it out and not think about all the things that could happen. My favorite part though was when we were running into the water and it was still too shallow to swim so we were running for a good 100 yards. From somewhere behind me in the water, i hear "WHERE'S THE GUY IN THE SPEEDO?" So i turn around and look at him and start yelling and cheering. Everyone was freezing and began yelling and slapping fives, so it was a pretty funny start to a serious triathlon.

When i exited the water I began to realize something wasn't quite right. I'm always a little dizzy when I run out of the water and loosen up, but this time I could barely run, and lost all coordination as I stumbled to transition. Apparently, I put on my bike stuff and got on my bike. I do remember not being able to click in my shoes and swerving so much on my bike I almost knocked over someone. I couldnt stop shivering, but figured I would warm up after 56 miles on the bike. Turns out, I only got about 2 miles on that bike before my tire exploded. I have never popped a tire while on my bike, not once. So, I didnt even have my saddle that held my extras and had to walk back to my car. I was done. It took too long to get back and I am not any good at changing tires, plus I wasnt interested in just finishing this race. I really wanted to do well, and I was racing for time, not to finish.

After i realized my tire popped and preceded to fall over on my bike because I couldn't get my feet off the pedals, I walked back to the transition. Soon, I was approached by volunteers that kept asking me if I was okay and that my lips were purple. I look at my hands and my hands are all blue and numb. My whole body was numb and shaking actually. That may have been the reason why two random women walked me back to the car and made me put on her husbands t-shirt and carried my shoes for me. haha - i felt like i was completely wasted drunk trying to talk sober, but it wasnt working. I could barely make words and the volunteers made me go to the medical tent - tempting me with blankets. When I picture a blanket I think of a wool, green sheet that I can wrap around my shoulders while sipping on some hot, soupy broth. Instead, they lay me down like a dead corpse, cover me in this tin foil looking things they called a blanket, and put hot pads in my arm pits. Their first two attempts at taking my temperature didnt register, but the third time was the charm - 96.4 i think it was. Anyway, an empty cup of delicious suop broth and the fear of them taking me into custody and performing more tests and leaving me to bake in this oven looking scenario prompted me to get the hell out of there, fast! Unfortunately, I had no time to say goodbye to Ronald.

Well, that was that. All the preparations, tapering, anxiety, not drinking, etc. all for a good 1.2 mile swim. Half of me was mad as hell, while the other half of me was just happy to get out of Milwaukee. I picked up Mark and Jimmy and we headed home to Melrose. Thankfully, the sun came out and warm up our spirits. We made it a couple hours before we stopped at Buffalo Phil's for some great Texas style food and some bowling. Bowling is the right answer to everything.

Looking back, I don't know what I was thinking really. I guess I should have invested in a wetsuit, but I really dont have the motivation to spend that much money on something I am only going to use a couple times a year, I dont even have proper racing clothes. I think Pants should buy me one so I don't die of hypothermia. That would just be sad.

Its stranger though, I really dont remember much of the race - maybe thats why the swim seemed to fly by. I don't remember the transition, and was pretty dilerious from the cold. I couldnt stand still and had lost all coordination. Unfortunately, I didnt get the chance to warm up on the bike and greet Ronald and my friends at the finish line. Im guessing everyone think the idiot in the stinker suit probably died during the swim.