Muddy Buddy Race Report

4AM the alarm goes off. Thank god for the extra hour of sleep coming off of Daylight Savings Time here in California (aka GST-8). I rolled out of bed and into a pair of black tri shorts, dark blue swimming shirt, and black cycling socks. In the bathroom I flipped on the light and was greeted by monster eyes: red, puffy, itchy, watery, stinging. What the heck? Pink eye? Great, how am I going to crawl through mud with pink eye? Well, a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do, so I headed downstairs to mix hydration drinks and pack things up.

I opened the garage door just before 5AM and 30 seconds later my neighbor Craig (who you may remember from the Father's Day Mock Tri and the Malibu Tri) came walking up my driveway. We loaded up and into the night we drove.

First stop: Long's Drug Store where I picked-up a bottle of eye-drop anti-histamine that did the trick.

Next stop, 50 minutes later: Bonelli Park in San Dimas, this morning's home to the Muddy Buddy race series and 2,398 of our soon-to-be closest friends.

Parking wasn't nearly as bad as we had feared and was made all the more enjoyable by the site of two girls in flourescent pink tights and tops over which they had reflective silver bikini outfits. The day was looking up!

We unloaded, got our jungle-man outfits ready, and headed down to the main race area. There were guys dressed as prisoners, 6 people dressed as Crayola crayons (with different colored soccer cones on their helmets), the "Team in Trannies" guys dressed in drag, the "referree" girls, and a whole lot more. After the race announcements we all lined-up by wave, bikes in front, ready to go. Craig and I, dressed as jungle men complete with leopard print togas (our team name was "The Boys from TZ" - we live in Tarzana - get it?), were in wave 4.

Craig's a stronger mountain biker than I am so we put him on the bike first, which of course meant I was running first. The countdown hit and he was off. Two minutes later the runners were released and we started the trek up the initial hill. Thinking it was time to walk, I looked down at my watch to find that a whole 2:50 had elapsed. Wow, this was going to be a long, rainy, wet morning. I kept plugging along however.

The first psuedo-obstacle was to go around a fence that jutted out into the lake about 5 feet. So, at 1/2 mile into the 5.5 mile race, our shoes were soaked through. This made the first real obstacle, a short climbing wall with a cargo net on the other side, insanely difficult due to wet shoes sliding off the grips. The trick was to get your hands over the top and pull yourself over. Whew, 1 down!

I ran to the bike pile and found our bike in 2 seconds flat: we had attached a big mylar balloon to it. Off I went, Craig already ahead on his run of this leg.

First up was a medium hill which I rode up, passing a guy who was peeing over the edge (heretofore known as the "pee guy"). Down a hill I went, being very careful as the brakes were slipping when I caught-up to Craig, who told me the brakes were slippery. I got to the transition area and parked the bike, standing up for easier visibility and pick-up by Craig, at the second obstacle: a set of bars in a triangle shape that we had climb, weaving ourselves through and over the bars on both sides. Completing that, I was off on my second run leg.

Wow - this leg (3rd) had a lot of hills. By this point 99% of the people were walking up hills, including the bike riders. I caught up and passed the pee-guy. I ended-up walking next to a guy on a bike and his daughter (a teen) walking next to him. He was trying to reassure her that this was the last hill and that the top was "just around the next corner." I and the others around me gave him a hard time about that: we all had friends who motivated us with talk like that, and we had a great time educating his daughter about how full of it he likely was. She smiled and groaned, but trudged on with the rest of us. If it sounds like this leg felt every bit like a death march, you'd be right on.

The next obstacle was walking over a metal beam. We were allowed to use two beams (wide legs) and that proved to be the fastest way (for me at least) to get across. Miraculously I had beat Craig who was on the bike, and waited for him in the transition area. I grabbed the bike, told him to use the two-beam method, and off I went.

This leg was much easier: a bit of uphill and then a long downhill ride on a paved road. The leg ended-up in a grassy area where we had to climb a rope ladder and slide down one of those kiddy blow-up slides. Fun! Given that I knew I was way ahead of Craig, I downed the "emergency" gel in the saddle bag and availed myself of the facilities.

Having done the slide thing a few weeks earlier with my kids and suffered through "slide burn" on my elbows for a week, I threw my legs and arms up in the air as high as I could and took the plunge. Of course doing that with tri shorts and a polyester shirt meant I was nearly frictionless and I sailed through the bottom into the far side of the "landing pit." Fortunately it was padded, so I got up and hopped over and started running.

The last leg to the mud pit was short and easy with a slight uphill. As I had to wait for Craig to arrive before we could crawl through the mud (teams had to cross the finish line together), I meandered into the transition area to wait for him. It was literally a forest of upside down bikes!



Craig showed up and off we ran to the pit, first leaving sunglasses and bike gloves with the bike. We were forced to crawl under a heavy rope net and then on elbows, stomachs and knees to swish our way through 50 feet of mud, egged on by army/ROTC guys who delighted in throwing mud on our backs while yelling "get down!". We made it to the end, stood up and slogged through the last 20 feet and we were done!

The "Beer Garden" overlooked the mud pit and for $5 you got a couple of beers (at 9 in the morning!). One of the funniest parts was the crowd of people yelling "wrestle! wrestle! wrestle!" every time a pair of girls came through the mud and cheering or booing depending on the outcome. Here are some shots of the pit (not us, obviously):









After getting our picture taken we headed to the "shower area" where about 30 hoses were available (but all being used of course) to get cleaned-off.



Following that we went to the car, changed clothes, threw away our shoes and costumes, and went to take some pictures and soak-up the post-race vibe. Our final time was 1:10:55, coming in 23rd of 24 teams in our combined age group (at that point at least, we're hoping there was an extra page that wasn't posted yet) but overall, from the looks of things, we did average.

This was a great time, we'll likely do it again next year, and I encourage everyone to give it at least a try - it's really a ton of fun.

Keep in mind though that it is decently difficult: the hills are tough, the obstacles are easy, it is uncomfortable in spots, but overall it's a great deal of fun. Definitely train for a 4 mile run and a few miles of mountain biking, up and down loose/muddy hills, before attempting this. You will share the path with runners and some of the trails are relatively narrow and steep, threading through trees. We witnessed several wipe-out's, including a 3-person crash at a road/trail transition.

More pictures here

Next up: the Calabasas Classic 5K with my son then either the Turkey Tri at the end of the month or the Solvang Century ride (100 miles) in March.

4th Try at a Tri

Yesterday was the "Day at the Beach" sprint triathlon at Hermosa Beach, CA. I was late getting there and parking was filled, so I ended-up 1/2 mile away from the transition area at 6:30am; the first wave was scheduled to go out at 7am with a "mandatory" pre-race meeting at 6:50am.

In a rush I chowed down a tupperware-bowl of corn flakes standing in the street, pumped-up the bike, threw the tri bag on my back, and pedaled to the transition area in my flip-flops. First time for that!

I setup during the pre-race meeting (me and about 6 other people among the 1,000 setups) and being in wave 4 (going off at 7:28 as my new friend Derek told me) I headed down to the beach.

The sand was so cold that my feet got numb! I hit the water, which was warmer than the sand, and got in up to my knees. I looked over and saw a bunch of blue caps getting ready to run in and realized that Derek's estimate was 7 minutes too late so I ran and joined my fellow wavemates and the gun went off!

Not having warmed-up, the swim (1/4 mile) was atrocious. The water felt very cold and it wasn't until the second buoy (and heading in) that I started to feel comfortable. From start to the first bouy, about 100 yards out, took me 5 minutes! Awful.

The bike was a 3-loop course (10 miles) in a single, small lane. Billed as a "tri designed for beginners" it was tough to pass and get passed. Constant yells of "Left!" were the norm as people kept passing each other. Guys with $8,000 bikes shared the road with women on beach cruisers - in small lanes and some tight turns - it was crazy. As far as I know nobody got hurt though so all was well.

The run stared off badly: it felt like I had something wedged in my shoes. I finally stopped at around mile 1 to see what was up and all looked fine, so I threw them back on and continued to run. At about mile 2 everything started to feel good in my shoes, and it was at that point that I realized that my toes had been numb from the cold on the bike and swim! The "stuff" jammed in the front of my shoes had been my hypothermic toes!

Of course, after the fact I find out that either I missed the mat or my timing chip was malfunctioning as my split times were either missing or garbage (I wasn't the only one). I was timing myself on my watch, but as I've got a new watch I'm still working on figuring out how to retrieve the times!

I completed the ordeal in 1:18:06.5 (apparently the chip worked at least at the beginning and the end, which is good), 51st in my age group out of 66 and 294th overall. Top male time in my age group was 0:51:23.3. Obviously I've got some work to do. It's going to be a long, hard, indoor winter of training!

Race Day!

Whoa - it's been two weeks since the race and I haven't updated this yet - sorry for that! Here's the play-by-play:

2,000 people competed on Sunday, September 14, 2008 in Malibu, CA for the Nautica Malibu Triathlon Presented by Toyota. It consisted of a 1/2 mile swim parallel to the beach, an 18-mile out-and-back bike ride along the Pacific Coast Highway, and a 4-mile run along the walkway next to the beach (known as "The Strand").

To cut a long story short: I did it! Really! I did a full triathlon. Longer than the Castaic sprints, shorter than an Olympic. Pretty much in the middle. I did it! And I only drew blood from two wounds, but more on that later.

Now for the long story.

Sunday morning the alarm went off at 4am. 4am. The team was checked-in to the Holiday Inn in Santa Monica and told to meet at 4:50am (yes, 4:50am) in the lobby to board buses for the 30-45 minute ride to Zuma beach in Malibu, a short distance north. I arrived in the lobby, late as usual, at 4:55. Turned out to be a good thing as I was last on the first bus. Why a good thing?

Think about it for a sec: how do you get 65 people on 3 school buses, with their bikes? Really, get creative, because our staff sure did. We sat one person to a seat (two per row) with the bikes stacked two-to-a-row across the aisle. These were long school buses. Being last on, I sat in the front row, not in the claustrophic, bike-barricaded, prison-like dark of the back of the bus, or even the slightly less cruel second row, for that matter.

We arrived at Zuma at about 5:45 and headed into the transition area. Dark, subdued noise, spotlights, sounds of waves crashing. 2,000 people unpacking and setting up. Chilly out, but not bad. My rack was in the middle. Nice.

My family (wife, daughter, mother and Craig my next door neighbor) showed-up around 7:00 and I met them in the Expo area to hear the pre-race talk.



I was in the 40-44 age group, wave 9, which went off at 8:00 (first wave went off at 7:20). The picture above doesn't show my wave as I was in a navy blue swim cap, but does show what it was like running into the 64 degree Pacific Ocean at 8:00am with 150 other guys going through their own mid-life crises.

Prior to jumping in, and hitting the bathroom "one last time" (so I told myself) I took a warm-up swim (well, as warm as you can be in 64 degree water). It actually felt good! I swam out about 100 yards and back in, giving me a great feel for the water and more importantly, something to do while I waited for our wave to go in.

I completed the swim in 00:18:56.9. Not bad. Not good, but then again, no panic attacks and no hanging onto a surfboard for dear life. I actually drafted in behind two guys I was trying to pass, when I figured out that I might as well take it easy and let them do the work.

T1 went very well, after I stumbled out of the water. Gotta work on that. T1 took only 00:02:23.4 as it also included running in and out of the (large) transition area. I was easily as fast on the change as I was at the mock tri, so all was good there. And this time I had my family cheering me on!



The bike ride was great! I mounted using a skateboard mount and enjoyed the ride, passing a bunch of people (ok, not all of them had flat tires), and getting passed by guys with woo-woo wheels (rear discs make a woo-woo sound as they go by). The guy playing drums at mile 10 was awesome. Total bike time: 01:04:34.2 Again, fair to middling, but completed almost without incident...

I came back to the transition area and underestimated where the dismount line was. Fortunately I was already out of my shoes but had to dismount going too fast. I banged-up both feet, my right losing a bit of flesh, dinged my finger, lost a shoe, but otherwise got off before the line. I hobbled to my transition area for T2.

T2 went fine, given that my feet were on fire. T2 took 00:02:22.2. Not too bad considering I was hobbling around with my feet on fire most of the time.



The run was great too! Saw tons of TnT people, all of us yelling "Go Team!" every time we passed. I ran the whole thing, no walking or stopping (except for a 45-second bathroom break at the beginning - gotta work on that). Three guys ran by me in pink speedo's with the text "Deb Won" (or something like that) written on their chests (ooooh, bad bet to lose!)

I dinged my finger on the dismount. Turns out it bled all over my hand. So as I'm running out of the area and see my coach, he yells "Hey Steve!" and I return-yell "I drew blood!" and hold up my hand - laughs all around.

The run was otherwise uneventful and I made it back in 00:37:14.0 (really about 00:36:30 as I had the 45 second bathroom break). Wait a minute, that's pretty much a 9-minute mile, for 4 miles, after swimming and biking: awesome!



Here I am crossing the finish line. Total time was 02:05:30.7. I was number 608 out of about 1,400 age-groupers, 113th out of 164 in my age group. Not too shabby for a first, big tri. Next year I'm going to kick it up several notches, that is for sure!



And here's the medal we all received for participating.

How did the fundraising go? Amazing:

I raised $2,850 with your help!
The three teams, Eastside LA, Westside LA, and Orange County raised $250,000 for LLS, just for this event.
The Malibu Triathlon ended-up raising $950,000 for the Children's Hospital of LA.

I ate 3 Roctane gels and about 32 oz. of Gu20 during the race.

Thank you to everyone who donated to make this such a charitable success:

Bruce and Elaine Mark, Michael Berns, Kevin and Michele Berns, Greg and Patty Bourdon, Gerry and Cary Philpott, Robert & Dalia Messinger, Willie and Lois Sakai, Alicia Calvo, Michael and Lisa Nocita, Rick and Diana Mark, Yan Huang, Josh de la Cuesta, Craig and Ellen Rubin, Keith & Lisa Breton, Rob Cohen, Chris and Jennifer Hardin, Kevin Lasky (Big O Tires/Tarzana), Antoine and Carmen Gabriele, Neil Einbund, Karen Van Tassell, Andy Brauer, Scott Sachs, Kevin and Nef Bromber, Darryl and Deanna Silver, Steve and Robin Ligerman, Darryl & Lisa Ballin, Phyllis & Sandy Beim.

I'd also like to thank my family for putting-up with the wacky training schedule and endless talk of triathlon training and equipment.

My "home team" of competition-training buddies: Craig for being a running-buddy and egging me on in our Father's Day Mock Tri, and Kevin for providing some great competition in the Castaic tri's.

Of course, I couldn't have gotten to this level without the help and encouragement of my Team-in-Training team and our awesome coaches and staff: Scot Harvey ("One more thing..."), Alison Jensen, Joy Rosenstadt ("Seriously, 65 degree water is warm!"), Peter Chandler, Kim Katz, Felix Dacumos, Debbie Robbins, Dominique Bianco, Hector Alfaro ("Thai or tacos?"), Louis Provost ("Write my age, not A-G-E!"), Nadia Valliani ("No refunds!") and my mentor, Gerry Philpott, who got me into this mess to begin with.

What an amazing experience all-around. I highly recommend it! And this is just the beginning...

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So why did it take so long to post this? Monday I came down with what must have been food poisoning. Medium-level case, but debilitating as all get-out. My outer right leg and knees were hurting, and the orthopedist says I now have two runner's knees and a strained/tight/whatever IT band. I've been given some exercises to do and am making room in my week to handle that. Tuesday wasn't much better, but I got a lot of rest. Wednesday was work-catchup day, Thursday I backslid, and that brings us to Friday, at which I was feeling almost normal. Then I just delayed things a week, no real excuses other than that.