Gonna ride around in style...gonna drive everybody wild. That's what Johnny Cash once said...and I did listen to his crazy stories all the way from when I left KY till I made it to the Atlantic coast. On the way south, I drove past lots of places that sparked my curiosity. Lake Junaluska hot springs, Biltmore Park, KY Music Hall of Fame and KY Fried Chicken Museum. Apparently Ashville, NC has some of the most beautiful country side road biking...
While driving, I asked myself, why haven't I explored more of this beautiful land? No answer. So, before October is over I want to visit all of the KY Bourbon Distilleries and hit up some of the horse farms. By the end of November I want to explore hidden paths wherever I end up, hike in the Smokies and go line dancing crazy in Nashville, TN. Lots of ideas start floating around when in the car for 12 hours alone.
So, back to the tri-part of this adventure...
This past weekend, marked the end of 2011 triathlon season. My parents joined me for the weekend, which was much appreciated. We followed eachother to the beach and back. As I did my warms ups, checked in and organized my gear, my parents were able to hang out on the beach all day long. They rented a beach wheelchair, which was awesome and my mom was able to touch the ocean water for the first time in many many years. I smiled as I walked out on the balcony, looked down to the ocean and saw my parents having fun in the sun. It reminded me of the last time our family had a beach vacation all together which was over 15 years ago. I was happy and I joined them for a little bit before I had to go back to the Marina Inn for the athletes briefing. After the athletes briefing, I figured I should gather some supplies for a pre-race dinner. Many of the restaurants in the area offered up fast food, fried food, sushi, pancakes, steak, pizza.... I wanted to play it safe, so I went to the market for a piece of fresh salmon, a sweet potato and salad. The seafood man was very friendly. He shared with me that he recently came back from Florida. He went down to visit his sick brother who passed a few days after their visit. He mentioned that he cried while watching Monday night football last week because last time he was watching Monday night football he was with his brother. He mentioned that he was very grateful to be able to spend those last few days with his brother, enjoying eachothers company, doing what they liked to do. We actually had a meaningful conversation with the buffet of iced seafood between us. He thought I was crazy for wanting to cook salmon in the microwave...but with fat free Italian dressing, plastic wrap cover, 5 min on high and 5 min sit...we get a perfectly cooked piece. I organized everything after dinner and was sound asleep by 10pm.
I woke up at 5am, took care of morning business and was in transition area with Dad by 6am. Prior to race day, my dilemmas included: race wheels vs no race wheels and wet suit vs no wet suit. Final decision was to keep the double 808 Zipps on and leave the wet suit behind in the tri bag. My swim wave wasn't scheduled to start until 7:49, so I had plenty of time left to wonder around, stretch, hydrate. Dad and I walked down to the swim start and waited for the gun. I realized then, that I was the only female and one of the few athletes overall not to be wearing a wet suit...oh well. 
My wave is called to enter, I jump in. It was an in the water start...so we had a few minutes to tread. First thoughts were brrrr and the water is the same color as the Steelers! Well...mostly black with just a hint of gold near the top. Oh! And it smelled like gasoline! So, we swam. We swam against tide and then turned around to swim back to down for total of 1.2 miles. I sure was happy to get out of that water. Made me appreciate the good ole' Ohio River. Moving on to the bike. It was a windy ride on the highway. Two loops of the course to equal 56 miles. Double 808 race wheels were difficult to control in the cross winds...which means more upper body tension and increased use of energy. Most of the time the course had either head wind or tale wind though. So after getting beat up by the wind, it was time to run! I was actually excited to get off my bike and have my feet on the ground. The run course consisted of 3 loops to total the 13.1 miles. During the middle/end of bike and in T2, I was feeling frustrated due to my swim/bike times, the wind and lack of sweat (meaning increased bathroom usage). I was getting out of 'the zone' because things weren't going my way. Fortunately, I was able to snap out of it and remember how awesome it was that I was able to be there doing this race. I fluctuated between frustration, worry and appreciation during the first 4 mile loop and then thoughts improved. I took in the aide station fluids and my Perpetuem (which treats me better and provides more stability than gels). I started to sweat and smile once again and finished out strong to meet my parents at the finish line. My overall time was 5:38 + a 4 min penalty = 5:42. Yes...I also got my first penalty...which I of course disagree with. The distance of 3 bike lengths is so subjective. I was thinking of a different time, but it doesn't matter...the situation worked out to my advantage and placed Spain on the Tri-Adventure map for 2012. 
We stayed at the Sands Resort, which was about a 5 minute drive to the host hotel/race site. The host hotel was the Marina Inn at Grande Dunes, located next to the Atlantic Inter Coastal Waterway. Athlete check in, meeting, start, finish and transition areas were all located on Grande Dunes property. If I'm going to the beach, I want to stay on the beach of course, so we stayed at Sands. It ended up being a good choice. Post race recovery involved watching a beach volleyball tournament that was at the resort. Sands was also a pet friendly resort, which means lots of cute puppies running around. On top of all that...Sands Resort has an entire conference room in honor of the US Military. The room is titled the 'Hall of Heros' and includes military memorabilia from current and past wars, the traveling Vietnam Wall and several other tributes. The resort also offers discounts to active service members and Veterans. How ironic the hotel I pick to stay at ends up having this entire hall dedicated to those who have served our country. Props to Sands Resort for their appreciation, dedication and service of giving back.
Post race, we had a good seafood dinner, a walk under the almost full October moon and the night ended with sitting on the balcony watching the greatest triathletes of the world cross the Kona Ironman finish line. We spent most of Sunday on the beach and near the pool. The adventure continued with my first 911 call. A man went down at poolside and his wife yelled someone call 911. By the time I called and got over to them he was alert. He stayed on the ground until the paramedics arrived, which was about 5 minutes later. He ended up having heart arrhythmia so they went to the hospital. Not the best way to end a vacation, but at least he was alert and breathing. Anything can happen at any moment...so all moments, souls and bodies should be treated as precious. Enjoy the October sky this month wherever you may be and always take care,
Spike
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| Cheers to the Tri-Adventures of 2011 |
