She did it!
Apr. 27th, 2010 02:14 pmLast Saturday was Team in Training Race Day for ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hotpantsgalore. On Friday, we packed up OsCar & headed back down to good old Galveston. It was nice to see the island again, even though Broadway looked awful without all of its live oak trees. We ate with the team on Friday night & then HPG spent a fretful, sleepless night while I slept like a hibernating bear.
On Saturday morning, we were up WAY early to get her gear set up in the transition area. She was scheduled for one of the later waves, so we wandered back to the hotel to use the bathroom & to check out the race course from one of the upper floors of the hotel. The water looked ROUGH, with whitecaps visible. HPG was getting really nervous.
When we got back out to the race course, we learned that due to the high winds, the race officials had cancelled the swim. This caused pandemonium, as hundreds of athletes now tried to shift their mental focus from Sea to Land & everyone crowded into the transition area to take off their wetsuits & get ready for the bike. HPG burst into tears from the mixture of adrenaline, relief, & disappointment. But she bucked up quickly & headed into the transition area.
Unfortunately, in all the tumult her crew chief (umm, that was me) forgot to give her her asthma meds before she went into the transition area. And no-one but athletes are allowed in there. I didn't even realize my oversight until later, but this meant that HPG did the bike leg of the race without any asthma meds in her system.
Anyway, my friend D* & I walked around to find a vantage point to watch the bikes come out of the transition area. The racers were let out in waves, & we had to wait for bloody AGES until we finally saw HPG go shooting by with a beautiful smile on her face. We screamed her name & waved our signs & then sat down to wait for her return.
TWO HOURS PASS.
All the other bikers have come in. We think the course might be closed. My mind was a knot of worry, imagining my beloved fiancee crashed somewhere on the course. We keep waiting, & waiting...
... & then we saw her, the last biker out there, no longer smiling, but looking determined as hell. She didn't even acknowledge us as she biked into transition. We ran around to find a spot to see her coming out for the run, & when she saw us, she shouted to me, "Inhaler!" My stomach dropped when I realized that she hadn't had any meds until that point. I jogged alongside her & handed her one inhaler after another. She managed to gasp out, "I had two flats!" then she was on her way 'round the run course.
The run course was two laps so D* & I found a shady spot & waited for HPG to come around. We cheered for her again, & noted that at least four people came by AFTER her. Then we saw her again & I ran alongside her, cheering as she crossed the finish line. Once she came across, she took multiple hits off of all her inhalers again & told us about her bike ride.
At mile 5, the tube in her rear tire blew out. HPG had never changed a flat before (in fact, my bike Valentina had never HAD a flat before), so she had to wait for the race tech support to show up. She said she was so upset & stressed out that she threw up, kicked the bike, & cursed a blue streak while waiting. They patched the tire, then put something between the tube & the tire to prevent a second blowout. But HPG said that whatever they put in the tire made a lump, so from mile 5 to mile 13 she had an uneven rear tire. At mile 13, the rear TIRE blew out (not just the tube but the tire itself). Again she had to stop & wait for race tech support. At this point, she was way, way behind the rest of the pack. When the tech support guy showed up, he said, "Well we can either give you a ride back in the wagon [which would mean the end of her race], or I can give you a new tire, but I'll have to charge you $50." HPG replied, "My pride is worth more than $50. Change the tire." And he did & she took off after the pack.
When she told me all of this, I tried to imagine being in her shoes. The race has already been partially ruined by the cancellation of the swim. This is the SECOND flat. No asthma meds, miles behind any other competitor. I'm pretty sure that, if that had been me, I would not have finished the race. I don't know what that means for the price tag on my pride.
But my girl, my redheaded Irish-Texan dynamo, not only finished the race, but she overtook several other competitors before the end. It wasn't the way she pictured the race, but I think it was an amazing accomplishment. And if that's not enough, she also raised over $3,600 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, an incredible accomplishment considering the economic times. I am just so proud of her!!
And just to show the world that she can do all THREE of the events in the triathlon,hotpantsgalore is planning to do the CapTex Olympic triathlon over Memorial Day weekend, right here at home in Austin. And THIS time it will be perfect, bitches!
I'm thinking about doing CapTex, but only the sprint distance...
hotpantsgalore. On Friday, we packed up OsCar & headed back down to good old Galveston. It was nice to see the island again, even though Broadway looked awful without all of its live oak trees. We ate with the team on Friday night & then HPG spent a fretful, sleepless night while I slept like a hibernating bear.On Saturday morning, we were up WAY early to get her gear set up in the transition area. She was scheduled for one of the later waves, so we wandered back to the hotel to use the bathroom & to check out the race course from one of the upper floors of the hotel. The water looked ROUGH, with whitecaps visible. HPG was getting really nervous.
When we got back out to the race course, we learned that due to the high winds, the race officials had cancelled the swim. This caused pandemonium, as hundreds of athletes now tried to shift their mental focus from Sea to Land & everyone crowded into the transition area to take off their wetsuits & get ready for the bike. HPG burst into tears from the mixture of adrenaline, relief, & disappointment. But she bucked up quickly & headed into the transition area.
Unfortunately, in all the tumult her crew chief (umm, that was me) forgot to give her her asthma meds before she went into the transition area. And no-one but athletes are allowed in there. I didn't even realize my oversight until later, but this meant that HPG did the bike leg of the race without any asthma meds in her system.
Anyway, my friend D* & I walked around to find a vantage point to watch the bikes come out of the transition area. The racers were let out in waves, & we had to wait for bloody AGES until we finally saw HPG go shooting by with a beautiful smile on her face. We screamed her name & waved our signs & then sat down to wait for her return.
TWO HOURS PASS.
All the other bikers have come in. We think the course might be closed. My mind was a knot of worry, imagining my beloved fiancee crashed somewhere on the course. We keep waiting, & waiting...
... & then we saw her, the last biker out there, no longer smiling, but looking determined as hell. She didn't even acknowledge us as she biked into transition. We ran around to find a spot to see her coming out for the run, & when she saw us, she shouted to me, "Inhaler!" My stomach dropped when I realized that she hadn't had any meds until that point. I jogged alongside her & handed her one inhaler after another. She managed to gasp out, "I had two flats!" then she was on her way 'round the run course.
The run course was two laps so D* & I found a shady spot & waited for HPG to come around. We cheered for her again, & noted that at least four people came by AFTER her. Then we saw her again & I ran alongside her, cheering as she crossed the finish line. Once she came across, she took multiple hits off of all her inhalers again & told us about her bike ride.
At mile 5, the tube in her rear tire blew out. HPG had never changed a flat before (in fact, my bike Valentina had never HAD a flat before), so she had to wait for the race tech support to show up. She said she was so upset & stressed out that she threw up, kicked the bike, & cursed a blue streak while waiting. They patched the tire, then put something between the tube & the tire to prevent a second blowout. But HPG said that whatever they put in the tire made a lump, so from mile 5 to mile 13 she had an uneven rear tire. At mile 13, the rear TIRE blew out (not just the tube but the tire itself). Again she had to stop & wait for race tech support. At this point, she was way, way behind the rest of the pack. When the tech support guy showed up, he said, "Well we can either give you a ride back in the wagon [which would mean the end of her race], or I can give you a new tire, but I'll have to charge you $50." HPG replied, "My pride is worth more than $50. Change the tire." And he did & she took off after the pack.
When she told me all of this, I tried to imagine being in her shoes. The race has already been partially ruined by the cancellation of the swim. This is the SECOND flat. No asthma meds, miles behind any other competitor. I'm pretty sure that, if that had been me, I would not have finished the race. I don't know what that means for the price tag on my pride.
But my girl, my redheaded Irish-Texan dynamo, not only finished the race, but she overtook several other competitors before the end. It wasn't the way she pictured the race, but I think it was an amazing accomplishment. And if that's not enough, she also raised over $3,600 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, an incredible accomplishment considering the economic times. I am just so proud of her!!
And just to show the world that she can do all THREE of the events in the triathlon,
hotpantsgalore is planning to do the CapTex Olympic triathlon over Memorial Day weekend, right here at home in Austin. And THIS time it will be perfect, bitches!
