"Perseverance is not a long race; it is many races one after another." -Walter Elliot
(Walter Elliot never did an Ironman! - me)
On July 2nd, I got the anxiously-awaited call back from my cardiologist’s office: “Mr. Hight, Dr. V says to tell you that everything about your stress test looked ‘normal’ and that he would see you in a year.” That’s it – no changes in my medications, my activity level was good, and I had apparently gone further in the test this time than I managed last year… I guess so! As much as I already don’t like running, getting the treadmill up to the 20-degree incline was freaking ugly! Still, very good news and a big relief for me.
This past Saturday, I went up to Dallas to check out the hotels for the wedding weekend, and drive the bike course I had laid out for the morning of the wedding (no, a little wedding in the mix is NOT going to interfere with Ironman Arizona training! – don’t tell Amanda I said that). Last week I figured I may as well see if there is a triathlon or bike ride in the area, and do that Saturday morning. I did find a sprint tri at Joe Pool Lake put on by the same folks that put on the Waco Tri last year (this should give you a hint of how my day went…just saying). So I got a hotel room for Friday night and headed up after work.
On the way up, I had a phone conversation with Dave and Ellen about DILIMS being a fiscal sponsor of the HEART: Flatline To Finish Line documentary. With the film framed as an educational, inspirational effort to get more people off the couch, the storyline fits well with the mission of our non-profit. I have some reading to do about fiscal sponsorship, so we don’t complicate things with the IRS, but it sounds promising.
The race Saturday morning went okay, mostly. It was overcast so it never really got too hot. The swim start meant getting into the water at the boat ramp and standing waist-deep until the gun goes off, and then waiting for the people in front to quit walking and actually start swimming. I think this race director has it in for me, because he again put my age group in the last wave. I had one guy come from my left side across in front of me, and he kicked my goggles off as he went by. Fortunately, I was able to retrieve them and didn’t lose a contact! So I was one of the last out of the water. But once on the bike, I passed a number of folks. It was a 2-loop course across the dam and back, but what was weird in the ride was that about midway across the dam on the second loop, I was literally pelted by a cloud of gnats. I had to keep spitting so I wouldn’t get a mouthful of bugs. A number of people were having flats on the ride, so I felt really blessed to roll into T2 without any issues.
The run actually was not too bad. I didn’t give back on the run to everybody I had passed on the bike, so I felt good about that. I walked a couple of short bits because it felt like the tightness in the right thigh was creeping back in, and I wasn’t about to risk injury. All things considered, it wasn’t too bad an experience… not a bad way to get in the training on a Saturday morning. Plus – I had enough time to get back to the hotel and shower before I had to check out!
Lunch with Amanda and Matt, check out the two hotels, and then off to drive the planned bike course. That changed in a hurry when I realized how much construction was along the route; so I headed back to the east and managed to find much better road conditions. Looks like the course will be re-designed.
Interesting drive home…the Austin area has been really dry the last month or so. But as I finished up on the possible new bike route, it started raining on me. The rain continued all the way to Temple. Just south of there, I stopped to get gas and a drink. It wasn’t long before the rain caught up with me, and followed me all the way home.
Saturday will be the 4-year anniversary of my triple bypass surgery. I thought about doing another triathlon to celebrate, but will more likely just do the planned bike and brick workout, then have dinner with some friends…maybe I can drag some of them out for the ride first!
Train on, friends. We are 130 days away from Ironman Arizona.
