PumpkinMan

"You get credit for what you finish, not what you start."

- Unknown

As mentioned in the previous post, my body decided to stop working with only a week before my race.  Now, usually I'm not a fan of pills and other pharmaceutical drugs.  Some things have happened in my life that have given me somewhat of a phobia of those types of medicine; however, at this point I was desperate.  I gathered up anything I could find; every ounce of vitamins C and D, Zinc, plutonium, just anything that would get me back to 100% come race day.

I was juicing every day, loading up on spinach and soup, and praying I'd start to recover.  In triathlon training you generally want to "taper" your workouts a week or two before your race; you tone it down a little bit to let your body recover so you aren't burnt out for the event.  So technically I would be tapering anyway, but I still felt like a slug not being able to work out like I had been.  I felt like I had taken several steps backward.  

Twenty four hours before the gun and I wasn't feeling any better.  I was coughing every other minute and my whole body felt weak.  I was starting to wonder if I was going to be able to do this race.  I kept reminding myself that I was doing it for Judd Kemp; if he could battle cancer for 18 months then I could suck it up for a couple hours and compete in an Olympic distance triathlon.

My dad agreed to drive down to Vegas with me.  Originally the whole family was going to come down, but things changed because of Judd's passing.  It was a very emotional week for our family.  For most people, driving 6-7 hours with their dad sounds like a form of torture.  I honestly love long drives with my dad.  I know that these moments with him are precious so I try to cherish them and make the most of the experience.  He is truly my hero and if I end up half as good as he is I will have succeeded at life.  I told myself I was going to take advantage of the long drive and sleep; that never happens.  My dad and I ended up talking and laughing non stop for the entire drive.  I don't mean to create this idealistic image of some perfect relationship with my father, I just want to express my gratitude that he and I can be friends and talk.

Vegas here we come!

We eventually arrived in Nevada and went to packet pickup.  I got all my race bibs and info, and started looking at the maps and details of the race course.  My dad started to worry.  He thought it wasn't smart of me to do the Olympic distance, being as sick as I was.  He agreed that I shouldn't quit, but maybe that I should switch to the Sprint.  He thought it might be dangerous to attempt the Oly.

I seriously considered his opinion and was getting a little anxious and unsure of what my body was capable of.  I decided I'd get a good night's rest and see how I felt in the morning.

I loved the race packet for this one.  The bibs were cool, and we got this awesome shirt!  It's great that such a competitive and challenging race can still be fun and creative.

That night we stayed in a small motel in Boulder City.  We went and set up T2 (bike to run transition) because it was a long distance from T1.  After that we stopped by a little restaurant and had dinner.  After that, we stopped by a grocery store to pick up some orange juice and other stuff.  My mom's brother and his family live in Henderson, NV and we were hoping to stop by and see them but ran out of time.  Well, as we were leaving the grocery store, we went to grab some cash from the ATM and found that someone had left their credit card.  It was late so there weren't many people in the store, so my dad and I took the card to the closest worker we could find.  The closer we got to this woman that was working, I recognized her as my aunt!  She didn't recognize us at first and then we all realized what was happening.  We ended up chatting for quite a while, it was so good to see her and catch up.  My mom's side of the family is small and her siblings both live far away from us so I'm always grateful when I see them.  I thought, "had we decided to just leave the card there and not do anything about it, we would never have seen my aunt and been able to catch up with her!"

That night as I was sleeping, I woke up in the middle of the night to my dad's laughter.  I looked over and saw him giggling as he watched YouTube videos on his iPad (that sentence would have been nonsense 10 years ago haha).   He was just watching old SNL videos and trying not to laugh too loud.  I love my dad haha.

***

Race Day

I woke up feeling really strong.  It was like my sickness was completely gone!  Okay, I'm lying.  To my dismay, I was still weak and sick and coughing.  I wanted to wait as long as I could before deciding whether I'd do Sprint or Olympic.  I ate a small breakfast as we drove to Lake Mead.  Once we got there I realized I had forgotten my bike tag (with the race number) back at the motel.  I started to panic a little, but my dad drove back as fast as he could to get it.

I checked in and started setting up T1.  This one was different.  The exit from the swim came up a steep, narrow ramp that stretched pretty far.  The transition area was unique in that the bikes lined the ramp on each side as you went up the hill.  It was a long run on gravel in my bare feet to my bike from the water.  As I was setting up, I started to see more and more of my BYU Tri Team buddies, one of which was set up right next to me.  I got everything ready to go, got inked up, put on a breathe-right to open up my nose as much as possible, and started suiting up in my wetsuit.  

The most popular place before a race.

Another gorgeous race morning!

I was getting more anxious every second my dad wasn't showing up with my race tag.  Time is basically gold when it comes to triathlon.  Every second -- before, during, or after the race -- is precious.  Finally my dad came running to give me the tag and I got everything ready. 

I took a Sharpie and wrote "JUDD KEMP" on my arms.  I decided I was going to do the Olympic, despite feeling 50% of my normal health.  I wrote his name on my arms so I could look down at any point in the race and remember why I was doing it, and who I was doing it for.  I had a feeling this was going to be a very challenging but important race for me.

Trying to breathe through my nose haha

I put on my wetsuit, stretched, and started walking down to the swim start.  I was talking to my dad at the top of the ramp.  The racers were gathering down to the right on the beach.  I looked at my watch and realized I had a good 5 minutes.  My wave was all yellow swim caps.  I hadn't even put my cap and goggles on when I heard the gun go off and saw hundreds of yellow heads running into the lake.  I heard no count down, and I was a good 100 meters from the beach.  There was the sudden bang and while saying some less-than-rated-G words under my breath, I started sprinting to the water.

to be continued...