Eagleman 70.3 Race Report

PARTICIPANT: RONNIE D. MICHAEL
SWIM: 42:56
SWIM TO BIKE TRANSITION: 4:02
BIKE: 2:50:48
BIKE TO RUN TRANSITION: 6:45
RUN: 2:02:39
FINISH: 5:47:08

My first HIM was not a disappointment. My family and I traveled up to Cambridge, MD on Friday morning arriving around 2pm. We stayed in Salisbury which is approximately 35 minutes away from Cambridge and the race start. We arrived early enough on Friday to head out to the race start and catch some of the set up preparations. I walked the transition and then drove the bike course. To my delight 50% of the course had been recently paved. It just looked smooth and fast.
On Saturday morning, I woke early, fed the butterflies in my stomach and started preparing the gear. That afternoon I drove to Cambridge for packet pick up, the pre-race meeting and to rack my bike. Coming from a marathon background, the HIM expo was not as spectacular as I had expected. There were fewer than 10 vendors and most were selling the same stickers and products.
The packet pick up was flawless. The volunteers were great. I stepped up to the first table where my USAT card and personal ID was checked. I was given my packet and amenity bag. At the next table I was given an Eagleman transition access bracelet and my race shirt. At the third and final table, my chip was scanned, all the information was verified and packet pick up was complete.
The pre-race meeting was brief. The race director briefed the course and the dos and don'ts which was no different from the instructions provided in the packet. One point that caught the participants by surprise was that the large race number had to be worn on the back during the bike leg. Following the pre-race meeting the race was on to rack the bikes.
On race morning, I woke at 4:15am (my wife says that I never went to sleep) and arrived at the transition area just after it opened at 5am. I was lucky to have plenty of room to set up my transition area. After setting up my area I walked through the course several more times and identified the features for my transition area.
My swim wave started at 7:27am. I sited to the first buoy and made the turn. The second turn buoy was equally as uneventful. As I reached the third turn buoy, something happened, a stinging sensation ran up my arm. I realized that this must be what a jelly fish stings feels like. My son only mentioned jelly fish no less than two dozen times the night before after hearing someone come out the water on Saturday saying that the jellyfish are terrible. I came out of the water at 42:56.
My transition was anything but smooth. I spent just over four minutes getting all my trash together. Plus, I dumped all my chow out trying to put my jersey on and scrambled to get everything together. The big mistake here was having too much stuff in my pockets and having a clutter in the transition area.
As I mentioned earlier, the bike course was smooth and fast until I hit the head wind at mile 38. Up to this point I was averaging a 22 mph pace. Once I hit the head wind, my time and legs suffered. At mile 42, I was getting ready to pass a bike that I had been following for the last three miles when I heard a motorcycle coming up from behind. I delayed my pass in order to give the motorcycle time to pass. However, it seemed like he was staying right off my rear tire. This was not uncommon since several vehicles had come up on us, followed along and refused to pass. After about a minute, the motorcycle (or race official) pulled up alongside flashed a red card identifying a four minute penalty and told me that I had been drafting off the lead bicycle for over 30 seconds. My irritation at myself for being so stupid and the realization that I was going to have four minutes to rest gave me the motivation to push my pace for the next 14 miles. The penalty tent for my infraction was just past inside the transition; hence, the six minute transition time at T2.
After the penalty, I was ready to get started on the run. I increased my pace out of the transition to almost 8:00/mile pace. At mile 3, I felt the stomach cramps coming on. Luck was on my side, at the next water stop there was a table of potato chips and saltine crackers. I grabbed what I could carry and started forcing myself to eat. Starting at mile 4 I had to walk every mile until the cramps subsided at mile 8. At mile 10, I decided to push it in. By mile 11, my legs gained a life of their own. I finished the run in 2:02:39, just two minutes over my goal.
This was a great experience and one that I plan to do again, real soon!