Pace to Race

Last weekend was a pretty eventful trip to the land of St. Lou. I got into town around 6pm and made my way to the softball field to play a game with a friend who had caught up with me the day before to see if I was available to substitute. My plans were pretty loose, so I stole off for an hour or so and chipped in at Center Field. I love playing the game, so it didn't bother me that I wasn't able to bring their team a win. Later I caught up with an old friend to quietly watch the hockey game, while at the same time eating Imo's pizza and checking out his new pad.

Saturday was just a day for me to hang out with family. Since I was in town to do a race on Sunday - more on that later - I wanted to get in a pre-race mountain bike ride in the morning. It was a great 6-mile ride and I felt ready after that, so I went to visit some family who lives near the trail I went riding on. After that I took a dip in my mom's pool to cool off and then finally got cleaned up. I went to my nephew's school picnic just in time to dunk my brother-in-law who volunteered to sit in the tank. That was pretty good and he got soaked, but kept a good sport about it and did a little trash-talking along the way. Kissed the niece and nephew good bye, enjoyed a few adult beverages, ate Whitey's, and then I needed some shut eye for the impending race.

Sunday morning I crawled out of bed, walked Jake, got dressed, and prepared mentally and physically for my big race. Coined "Conquer Castlewood", it is what's called a Team Adventure Race and held at Castlewood State park in Ballwin, MO. It consists of three legs - a 1 mile canoe, a 6+ mile bike ride, and a 3+ mile run. Obviously you do the canoe as a team with your partner and then the other two legs are individual events, but your overall combined time is taken and that's how you're placed at the end.

As we did last year, I entered the race with my friend and riding partner Steve who is also my friend Justin's dad. At 50+ years he is still a great outdoor athlete and finished strong this year, after putting up a DNF last year due to a rolled ankle in the third event. I personally had a slower race than I would have liked, but was actually able to shave about 7 minutes off my total time from last year. I considered that a win and a fine accomplishment. We finished combined in the bottom third of the rankings, but just finishing felt pretty darn good. There was some serious athletic competition out there!

I knew I was going to have my hands full after getting winded from the canoe leg. The mountain biking leg was really the icing on the cake because some of the vertical hills are just so rough terrain and such a steep incline that I got gassed about half way up and had to break for a solid minute and a half to walk my bike over some loose rocks and stumps and catch my breath, all while trying to avoid vomiting as I was taking large sucks of thick moist air. I finally got my second wind and got back on pace on the back half of the bike ride. Onto the run I still felt good. I made the run through the flat woodlands pretty steadily, then again hit the monster hills up the mountain where I was forced to choose between walking or passing out - I chose the former. I felt like I made up some of this time on the way back down because the gravity helped me really haul ass and keep my feet moving rapidly under and in front of me. That was it, I crossed the finish line at about 1hour 37minutes and met up with Steve who had finished about 8 minutes before (he built a good lead on the biking portion).

All in all I had a great time at the race. I am bound and determined to shave even more time off next year and turn in a more competitive time. The whole weekend was actually a success. I got in some good working out and had a good time catching up with family and a few friends, albeit brief and spontaneous. Next time I come in hopefully I can have a little more time without commitment to see a few more people I haven't seen in a while and have another all-out good time!