Double Event Weekend--> December 3-4, 2011

Oh, how do I begin to describe the fun.  I have to tell you naysayers, I will absolutely be doing this sort of INSANITY again.  What sort of insanity.... read on.  This was my double event weekend. I had the Polar Bear Triathlon at White Sands Missile Range (7K run, 35K bike, 500M swim) on Saturday the 3rd and then the City of Las Cruces 1/2 Marathon on Sunday. 

Normally weather in southern New Mexico in early December would be in the 40s, not this weekend. The forecast was for severe winter storms all across the state, and the doubters among my friends and family were quite concerned about my pressing on to finish this adventure. Even my local triathlete friends were telling me I was an idiot; hey, I'd paid my entrance fees and unless the race directors were cancelling the events, I was showing up. I did decide that if there was snow on the bike portion of the triathlon I would not do it because I have no idea how to ride a bike in snow and no desire to risk my beloved bike, Grace, to that sort of wreck. I do understand that there are tires that people in the northern climes use for riding bikes in the snow that have little bits of knobby metal on them; I was not purchasing special tires for the triathlon.  It was hard all week hearing gloomy weather forecasts read with a cheerful voice from my husband who thought the whole idea of this was pretty disastrous from the get-go.  It isn't that Les is less than supportive, it is just that when he finds out that even my triathlon friends respond with, "You're doing what?  You're an idiot," he feels vindicated.  Now I did tell him that my Outlaw buddies, and my Ontri buddies all said that I should go for it because you never know what you can do unless you push yourself, which I thought was eminently wise advice. 

The forecast for our County, as I left that afternoon, was for 3-6 inches of snow that evening.  Yeah, snow all over the 5th largest state in the Union.I arrived in Las Cruces to a freezing rain on Friday night, but while it was foggy and freezing on Saturday morning, the was no rain.  I gave myself plenty of time to get a coffee and egg McMuffin (no cheese with a Z please) and get through the base gate on to the White Sands Missile Range.

The snow on the mountains was absolutely lovely and enhanced the beauty of the venue. I was the first one to set up in transition and my timing and getting out of the bathroom was impeccable, so I was also first in line to get my packet picked up.  We got the bonus of an extra t-shirt from another event (cool) and I had plenty of time to use my nebulizer since my asthma is not too happy about running in the cold. We took off on the run, and while it was cold, it was not bitter. The bike course was dry enough, but the wind picked up to have a steady 15 mph with gusts into the 20s on the way back, so the return to transition was tough going directly into the headwind.  Getting into the pool felt like a warm bath once I got back and stripped off my layers to get down to my tri-suit.  They always host a nice luncheon for the athletes after the race and it was good to get a bite and collect some swag.  It was gratifying to get first in the Athena category. It pays to be a big girl who isn't afraid to brave the cold weather :-)


The rest of the day was playing around town and doing errands with my daughter and son-in-law, and we cooked dinner.  I did get a nice warm shower first though because it took a while to get the deep chill out of my bones, and I spent some good time hydrating all the rest of the day, making sure that I had a cup of herbal tea or bottle of water most of the time.  I had a great night of rest and planned on getting up at about 6:15 so I could have a repeat of the previous day's successful breakfast of champions; you've got to love McDonald's skinny latte's and McMuffin's without the cheezzzzze.  I just toss away half the muffin and I am good to go.

Sunday for the City of Las Cruces 1/2 marathon the sky was overcast and it was also freezing (literally) and it was raining. Everyone was staying in their vehicles as long as possible. Frankly, I am a pitiful runner on my best day, so I was pretty sure I would be one of the last ten finishers, but I really didn't want to be the absolute last person to come in on the race. I didn't have rain gear (poor planning on my part) and it was breezy, so the damp and the cold made for less than wonderful conditions to run, but there was no ice on the road. The course is a nice one in that it takes you out into rural Dona Ana so while you are on pavement it is still scenic and bucolic. I was quickly relegated to the back of the pack. When it started raining the second time, and I was getting pretty damp, I was not quite as optimistic.  My internal communication was, "Really, this is the way it is going to be?"  The whinemeter was getting going, and that is not how I usually function, so I was trying to STOP IT RIGHT NOW, when I looked down and there was a beautiful gift from God. You know how they have two pair of gloves for $1.99 at Walmart?  One pair is solid and one pair is striped?  Well, there was a pair of rainbow striped gloves on the side of the road.  I looked at them and knew that the Lord was gifting me a pair of rainbow gloves to give me warmth to make it to the end of the race :-)  I thought for a moment about whether anyone was coming back to get their lost gloves, and decided there was absolutely no way anyone would drive the route looking for their lost gloves.  I put them on under my other gloves and my hands, while not warm, were bearable.  Les could not believe I STOLE gloves and would be telling people about it.  I told him when God give you rainbow gloves to shut the whinemeter up, you had better tell people about it.  So, if I owe you some rainbow gloves, send me a message, and I thank you very much. 

At this point in the race, I was not seeing anyone but volunteers at the water stations, and some of those were now unmanned.  They were all quite encouraging and solicitous.  I was fairly confident that I was securely in last place.  I tried not to get too grim about that and just kept reminding myself that I was doing things that I NEVER imagined would be possible even three years ago when I did my first triathlon, when that seemed like a huge accomplishment. 

The last four miles, I found I had to give up on my "Galloway Gallop" method and just walk. My thighs were pretty seized with the cold and effort, and pain was with me as my companion, so we chatted. Some friends (Marcy and Grady Oxford) who'd done the race came by and offered to just take me back as a DNF, but I told them I wanted to finish. I am pretty much a "plug away" kind of person, and while my pace was stupidly slow, I wanted to finish. Of course as soon as they drove away and I could smell the lingering aroma of the heat from their car, I wished momentarily that I was more of a quitter.  They were going to get coffee.... Hmm coffee.  I would get some when I finished.   I ran the last 1/2 mile because I have enough pride that I didn't want the anonymous timer guys to see me trudge across the finish line. You would of course wonder why I care about the anonymous timer guys unless you've done a race, and then you would understand.   My dear treasured friends had come back, and they cheered me across the line. I apologized to the timer guys for being so incredibly slow and pokey.  I thrilled to discover that there were still people on the course, so I was third from the last in the 1/2 marathon. Yes, I know you would like to drum me out of the athletic corps that I am celebrating how far I am from the last, but that is just what I have to do since I am such a lame runner at this point in my life. The timer guys needed my timing chip, which I'd cleverly laced INTO my shoe laces.  I no longer had the ability to bend over, or sit down and get up, so Grady ever so graciously sat down and unlaced my shoes for me so he could take my timing chip off and then relaced my shoe.  Then he and Marcy shared snacks, I was famished from running four hours in the rain and cold, and drove me around to my car.  Yes, I was too worn out to walk to my car.  How stupidly tired does that sound?

I headed to Mary and Dave's for a shower and then we were able to go get lunch.  I had to "celebrate" when we got back with a thirty minute nap.  Oh, my, the exhaustion.  Then it was off to Target.  I told Mary I needed to use the cart as my "walker".  She asked if I wanted to use one of the electric carts.  I told her, to my shame, I was actually considering it and the only thing keeping me from doing so was that there might be someone who genuinely needed it who had not self-inflicted their pain.  I'd had to borrow flip flops from Mary because I could not get my feet into my boots.  My toes, feet and calves were so swollen that there was just no way to put my boots on my feet and zip them up.  Who wears flip flops in the rain and snow?  Me after a 1/2 marathon.


After shopping at Target, I felt pretty good, so I packed up my gear and got on the road to head back to Fort Sumner.  Of course when I got on the road, just past Ruidoso, it was clear I was driving into a nice winter storm.  By the time I left Roswell, it was a serious snow storm with white out conditions, and when I made the turn on to Highway 20, there were no other cars on the road.  I was going 20 mph and it was truly winter driving conditions.  I just called Les and told him it would take me two hours to cover the 45 miles. Excellent planning for me.  Here I was exhausted, and driving in a snow storm.  I did have a sleeping bag and I really sort of wanted to just pull over and go to sleep, but it was 22 degrees.  I kept thinking how VERY cold that van would get and how fast it would get that VERY cold.  I kept driving and got home at a little after midnight.

I am telling you that I would definitely do a double event again. It is so worth pushing myself this hard. I like it. I kept telling myself how blessed I was to be able to do something I would never have even fantasized this was possible years ago when I weighed 405 pounds. Shucks, I would not have believe it was possible to do two events back-to-back even three years ago when I did my first triathlon.  The only more amazing thing that my body has done was maintain the pregnancies that brought Stephen and Mary into the world, and in those cases that felt more "automatic" because I think God set my body up to know what to do along the way.  Here I have to be much more involved and must train and learn how to be an athlete.  All of this is new.  In this case I feel more participatory, and I know that sounds funny since you are REALLY involved as the pregnant woman, but so much of pregnancy is just magic.  These endurance events amaze me because I can do more than I ever dreamed or imagined.  I keep thinking, "Well, can I do XXXXX" and then I try to fill in the blank. What if I really can live a life where I keep growing and expanding the limits of what my body can do?  It is working so far, and I am so very happy.  Thank you all for being with me and sharing in my adventures.  I know some of them may seem crazy to you, but sometimes joy is sort of on the edge of crazy.