9/12 10:30 AM – Just got our race leg assignments. Looks like I’m the slow guy this year – I’m estimated at 7:30 pace. Most everyone else is at 7:15 or better. Hope I can hold 7:30’s. I’ve got two “easy” and one “moderate” legs totaling 18.2 miles. I predict I’ll run at 7 PM, 3 AM, and 11 AM.

9/13 10:00 PM – Gotta pack. Weather’s not looking great. Rainy. 50’s. Hitting motivational low. I’m committed though – so I need to pull it off. Better go pull clothes together.

9/14 3:00 AM – Must remember towel. Watch. Extra socks…

9/14 10:00 AM – Working final logistics. Email to project teams at work – a few “Good Luck” responses. A few “are you fookin’ nutz?” responses. Things are changing around picking up vans and departure times and we’re down a runner or up a runner or… Did I pack those extra socks?

9/14 9:15 PM – Settling into the couch of a gorgeous condo across the street from Bretton Woods. Been a long day, but we’re here.

Left work a little after noon and met up with a few others at the Lawrence U-Save Auto Rental. Picked up two 15-Passenger vans and headed for the beach. We’ve got three teams working together – 36 runners – meeting at the finish line. Two more vans coming from Manchester, NH and two more from Lowell. First six runners are here so we take one van and head north. A quick stop at the Hannaford’s grocery to stock up on bananas and bagels, a nice pub feed in North Conway, and we arrive at Bretton Woods around 7 PM. We check in to our three condos and then head to the base lodge for beer or two at the pasta feed. We retire early so the next arrivals will find someone home. It was a fun ride up!

9/15 7:00 AM – Up and ready to go!!! Let’s run!!! Oh… We don’t start until 1:30 PM. OK… Hurry up and wait. There will be a lot of this.

9/15 2:00 PM – Finally underway. Our first runner has lit out at a blistering pace up the Bretton Woods ski trails, turned, and come flying down on a dirt and gravel access road. We see him approach the bottom trying to hold on to the lead, arms and legs flailing and contorted, skin as white as ash, holding out the baton. “Are you OK?” “No.” Team members rush for support. The handoff is made but Runner 1, an Ironman triathlete and perhaps our strongest, is down and we’re all worried. I rush Runner 3 ahead to the next transition while the remaining teammates find EMT, blanket, support. Turns out, all the heal pounding coming down the mountain has ripped the entire heel callous from the bottom of our runner’s foot. His attempt to run through the pain has left him shutdown and hurting. A few anxcious moments, a few bandages, a few percocets, and a many hours later, he’ll be limping and disappointed, but OK.

9/15 8:30 PM – I finally get to run! The fog is starting to roll in challenging visibility but the weather, except for a few sprinkles, is great. I start at the Brass Heart Inn on a downhill dirt driveway. The only other runner I see for the entire segment is one from the previous leg coming in as I go out. There’s a good climb for the first mile but I’m fresh. Mile 2 is downhill and I’m feeling pretty good about my 7:15 pace rolling down. Team van at mile 2 for a drink and to make sure I make the turn. I veer left and… Where’s the road? Just a black wall! A little pointing and yelling and I realize the wall is the road heading uphill. I drop my legs to granny gear and short-stride up the hill. So much for feeling good about the pace – I can’t hold 9’s on this! I recover after the hill but this is the darkest damn road! No lights anywhere; no white line for guidance; and the thickening fog is starting to play tricks with the headlamp. I run on hoping there are no potholes. I survive. My Garmin measures the 5.5 mile leg at 6.04 miles and gives me an average 7:35 pace. Close enough.

9/15 10:00 PM - We finish our six legs at T12. There’s supposed to be lasagna but since we started so late, we’ve missed it. They’re closing down. We decide to pull ahead to where we next have to run and rest there. We pass our team’s runner from the other van on the road with many cheers and continue on. We pull into T16 to rest and wait for the other team. The Girl Scouts are selling chili. This can’t be a good idea for 6 guys in a van but it’s hot, homemade, and hits the spot.

9/16 3:00 AM – We get about two hours of fitful sleep in various confined positions in the van until the phone rings. The other van’s last runner has just started and we’ll need to run in 45 minutes or so.

I wake and groggily peruse the maps. Now wait… We had 12 in the first round and they ran five… That’s 17… We gotta be at T17!! We realize we’re in the wrong place and quickly start to get ready to scoot ahead one more leg. As we pull from our parking spot – we spot Van 1 just a few slots over. They giggle at us as we move ahead. We pass our runner not far out – we’ll have plenty of time.

T17 is an eerie site. Totally enshrouded in fog. Lights make a glow rather than a beam. Everyone is spooked about running.

9/16 5:00 AM – Time for my second leg. I get dressed and ready to run. We get to the transition only a few moments before the runner – just long enough to hit the porta potty and get to the handoff spot. I start out in pitch dark on a lineless road. I think I see a faded white line to follow only to realize it’s a granite curb along a sidewalk. I recover from the stumble and plug on. I’m soon on a more major road with a white line to follow and the first bits of twilight begining to appear. After relative isolation early on, we’ve begun to catch slower teams. Finally there are targets on the road. People to set your sights on. I see a blinky light not far ahead and begin to stalk. More rolling hills and I’m working.

About half way through, I felt the blinky on the back of my vest fall off. I take a moment to go back and look for it but, not finding it, I run on. No steep hills but plenty of rollers – I’m definitely working harder than the last leg. By the end, twilight is just cheating its way out into the sky. I picked off two runners on this leg – no one passed me. 5.5 miles at 7:39 pace. Half of my van mates are asleep as I arrive.

9/16 8:00 AM – Our second shift finished, we scoot ahead a few transitions to the Sandown Town Hall. What a great place! A huge feed in the town hall basement – soup, fruit, baked goods, coffee, juice, bagels, etc. Donations accepted. Awesome. We get an hour of sleep in the van before we wake and start getting ready – at least we’re in the right place this time.

9/16 11:00 AM – Road Warrior approaching!!! We’re on again. The weather’s gorgeous! Clear skies – but it’s heating up more than we expected. It’s gonna be warm on the roads.

9/16 1:30 PM – My final shift. With a runner down , we’ve all moved up and I get a shorter (4.1 mile) last leg. That’s good cuz’ my legs are tired. We get stuck in traffic going through Exeter so we arrive only moments before I gotta go – the porta potty stop will need to wait. I’m off and my legs are tight. They start to loosen and I’m holding a good pace for the first couple miles of flat. It’s a “target rich environment” and I’m gaining positions. I think I got 7 on this leg. I was holding 7:30’s for the first mile but when I hit the long climb up and over route 95, I’m slowing on the hill. I manage to keep chugging and bring it home at 7:45 pace – a bit below my target and slower than I felt – but OK.

From here to the finish we’re scrambling. Our deal with the rental company was we could keep the vans later if they had no rentals. They call us to say they need one back so we shuffle gear and drivers and one heads to the finish and on home. We see our next to last runner off and sprint to drop off the last then sprint to the finish for one runner who has to get home and then back to pick up the next to last runner and finally back to finish in time to see our captain and anchor runner coming to the finish.

9/16 4:00 PM – 26 hours, 30 minutes, 17 seconds. Thirty minutes faster than last year. Up from 34th to 26th overall. Not too shabby. We beat our second team “Road Warriors II” by a minute and a half. Our third team, the "Ridgerunners", was just ten more minutes back. 212 miles and three teams within 15 minutes. Wow.

Cold beer waiting at the finish line. A BBQ meal. One last chance to thank teammates and then we scatter again. We were tight for 26 and half hours. It was a blast. Even though my average pace was a bit slower than the overall pace of the team this year – it was OK. Thanks teammates!

Summary: My first Triathlon. Lost a wetsuit. Survived swim. Rode well except when falling off. Ran OK. Had fun.

Breakfast:: Wheat bagel with cream cheese, banana, OJ.

Statistics:

Swim: 1/3 mile
Time: 13:27
Pace: 40:45 min/mile
Rank: 774/949

T1: 3:14

Bike: 15 miles
Time: 47:51
Pace: 18.8 mph
Rank: 199/949

T2: 2:00

Run: 3 miles
Time: 21:30
Pace: 7:10 min/mile
Rank: 216/949

Overall:
Time: 1:28:00
Rank: 314/949

Commentary:

It was a family Triathlon weekend as we headed to the Timberman Triathlon Festival where my wife and I would partake in the Sprint event while my oldest son, 11, would tackle his first Timberkids event. DW would be working to overcome her DNF in last year’s event when the big lake got to her.

DW and I left our respective offices at noon, grabbed the kids at camp, and headed North. Quick stop at the Tilton Hilton (aka Super 8 Motel) to grab a room key and we arrived at the lake around 4:00 PM for a swim. Donned my wetsuit (scuba-specific shorty, but functional) and splashed for a while with DW and our two sons. Was a bit intimidated by the afternoon chop but, having trained mostly without my wetsuit, was eager to exploit the added buoyancy and add confidence for the swim. I can do this! I think.

Next it was off to Gunstock for Timberfest and packet pickup. I found my neighborhood running pal and she and I listened in to the First Timer’s seminar. It was given by a guy from Final Kick Sports (didn’t catch his name) who was a hoot. He was clearly knowledgeable and experienced but kept it light and fun for the no doubt nervous crowd. Best advice – if you’re gonna have to walk on the run, do it a mile out so you can sprint the final stretch and look good at the finish line. This guy was good.

Back to Ellacoya to rack bikes. Dinner at Applbee’s. A stop at the supermarket for Gatorade and breakfast food and then back to the Tilton Hilton. Unpack and… Uh oh. No wetsuit. Panic!! In retrospect, I think I set it on the roof of the family war wagon (e.g.: Dodge Caravan) before making a porta-potty stop after our practice swim. And there it stayed – at least until it blew off someplace. OK… So the swim will be without wetsuit. After a few moments of anger, I resolve to not let this stop me – but I’d spend much of the night thinking about it.

Lousy night’s sleep ended at 4:45AM and we were off. There’s a lot of “hurry up and wait” in this sport – and we did. Set up in transition and then walked around a lot waiting for race to start. Things were delayed about a half hour after a truck reportedly broke down on the bike course and had to be moved. We all stood around nervously on the beach, exchanging tips and jokes and trying to stay cool. Or warm.

Race day is perfect. Overcast. Warm enough but not too hot. And the lake is calm and a pleasant 73 degrees. Awesome.

First timer’s wave is last. I hang with my running club pal Ann who’s in her second Triathlon. So we stand there watching the other waves go off and getting more and more nervous until it’s our time to wade out to the in-water start. (I’ve decided that in-water starts are a great way to reduce porta-potty lines!!) Count down… And we’re off. 200 or so in our wave. I decide to start not far right (shortest course) and not far left (thinnest crowd) but in the middle. A few collisions but nothing major and I’m able to get a rhythm going pretty quick. Another tip given at the seminar was “one buoy at a time” and I start ticking them off. Right turn at buoy one and we’re swimming parallel to the beach. It was maybe 6-8 feet of water most of the way which means you could see the bottom for welcome feedback. Though I resorted to breaststroke here and there to get some space, check course, or catch a little breath, I managed freestyle most of the way, had no major panic attacks, didn’t drink too much lake, even took a breath or two on the “other” side, and soon enough had sand under my feet, a smile on my face, and a bead on the swim exit gateway! I was NOT last out of the water. (Check off goal one.) Wetsuit?? We don't need no stinkin' wetsuit!!

T1 was a celebration. I stopped to high-five my kids, congratulated adjacent first timers, added singlet and shoes, sucked down one Tri-berry GU, and was off.

As soon as I mounted my bike I seemed to be passing folks. (One advantage to starting in the last wave – lots of targets!) It seemed to me a lot of folks were casually peddling but I wasn’t here for a ride in the country - I was gonna hammer! For the next 15 miles, I was passing scores of bikers and having a blast!! It was a hilly course with lots of ups and downs and I seemed to both climb and descend faster than the folk around me. Bolstered by increased confidence, I pounded away until the biggest climb around mile 6. I’m spinning along picking them off when it comes time to move to the little chain ring and, as seems prone to happen on my borrowed bike, the chain goes too far left and is off! Having experienced this many times in training, I don’t panic and keep spinning while adjusting the derailleur. It’s on again! But… It’s off again! It’s on again! It’s off again! And.. Uh oh… I’m no longer moving up the hill! Not having clipped out, I make a slow motion fall to the right into the turtle position. More pissed off than hurt, I disengage myself from the bike and maybe six riders I’ve just passed chug on by – at least a couple asking if I’m OK. (Thanks!) I get the chain back on and resume the climb, quickly re-passing the six and more. I see DW coming back from the turn-around “peddling like a clown” as her seat post has fallen and she’s not taking time to fix it – but she’s gonna make it and I’m glad to see she’s overcome the swim demons. I crank the last miles picking off more bikers and having fun!

Into T2 for a quick shoe change. My friend Ann is leaving as I come in – she comes back a few seconds later for her number belt – Doh! I get it together and take off after her. As I leave, I hear tons of cheers from our triathlon club – they’ve been all over the course and tremendously supportive – what a boost!! They report DW just a bit ahead and I’m on a mission. I catch her about mile 1 (check off goal two!) and run a few hundred yards with her. Her knee is hurting a bit but she’s confident in finishing and I crank it back up.

The run course is fun – gently uphill for the first half, nice down coming back. (I think it’s a bit shorter than its claimed three miles.) Once again, I’m passing a lot of people. A couple young bucks passed me, but for the most part I’m gaining ground, picking up speed as the legs loosen, and having fun. I came up on one guy walking about a half mile out and encouraged him - he’d get back in it and surge ahead. About the same time, I came up on another runner and the three of us were together for a while. The second runner I’d met turned on his kick and was gone but I got the first guy on the final turn and cranked it to the finish – arms in the air and happy!!

Doing the math after the finish to subtract the wave start time, I realized I’d even broken 1:30 – my secret inner goal! (Check off goal three!!) I waited for DW, found DS1 and DS2 and we all celebrated. It was great fun.

DS1 completed the weekend with a great showing in the Timberkids event and the ride home we were all snoozy smiles!

I was proud to have gotten through the swim adequately and have finished soundly mid-pack. Next year the Half!!!