Okoboji Triathlon

Yes, I know this is ridiculously late...and there aren't any pics. I'll have a new post with pics and sweet (obviously) commentary about said pics later.

Anyhow, we started off departing from West Des Moines around 2, in the pouring rain. There were eight of us (six leaving at 2) heading to Okoboji. Droid, Amy, Kate and myself were in one car and the second car was none other than The Stokes and burrito. Like I said, it was pouring and I was a little worried that the weather wouldn't be that great when we arrived in Okoboji. Eventually, we arrived with burrito a little late, since he was driving roughly 38 mph the whole way. I think he and Stokes were immersed in conversations about why Marshmallow Rice Krispies and Surge are nowhere to be found. If this is true, than I cannot give them a hard time for driving so slow. Did I mention that Stokes flew in from Virginia to attend this event? Little known fact, Stokes is from Richmond, VA, which has the second oldest sewer system in the U.S. On another note, I just got done eating a four pound rice krispie treat. It would have been better in a bowl with milk and marshmallow's but I digress.

We arrived in Okoboji and the weather was gorgeous. The Accelerade Warrior was already up there as was dsm 911, who was coming from his wingnut conference in Minneapolis. We soon found out that the water was awesome and I went for a two minute warm up swim while dsm 911 was showing (not trying to) everyone how not to do a front flip. Hopefully his back isn't still red. (Disclaimer), I am typing this on the go, so if I miss any important details I apologize.

Shortly thereafter we hopped in the boat to go to Fisherman's Wharf for dinner. It concerns me that I can't remember whether or not I had a Bud Select yet. Probably on the ride over. When we got to the Wharf, the outside was crowded (right on the lake) but the inside had quite a few tables open. I inquired how long the wait was for outside. Being that it was about 8:30 or so, we didn't want to wait too long to eat. We were told about an hour. I then asked about inside. About an hour. I looked around and there was about 10 people waiting to sit outside. I politely asked the hostess about the tables inside. Her response. "There's a ton of people ahead of you and we're trying to get the waitresses caught up." I have no problem with the latter portion of her answer, but at least sit us in the tables and let us grab a drink for a while. Nonetheless, burrito saved the day. He slowly took his shirt off and did 8 push ups, which quickly got us a table outside. Either that, or his Aunt that worked there got us tables outside right away. Maybe someone else can help me out here.

We ordered some drinks and for some reason I ordered a Pina Colada instead of a Bud Select. Most likely because that's what a man's man would order in this situation. Definitely a Pina Colada, then another. Dinner was great, with one exception. We got some appetizers and the table next to us, with burrito, informed me that they ordered an appetizer just for me. Quickly I glanced at the menu and deduced that "my" appetizer would be the mini corndogs. I love mini corndogs. My problem with the corndogs is that dsm 911 informed me that I could only eat three of them, because of the race tomorrow. Taken aback by this, I was forced to share the corndogs, eating only three. I could have eaten 17 of them. For the main course, I ate the mixed grill, three different kinds of fish. I also pleased dsm 911 by getting the steamed vegetables as a side.

There was a moment of tension however, as Stokes was trying to decide whether to go the straw or glass route while trying dsm 911's mix of strawberry margarita/pina colada or something. Not really sure. He opted for the straw. I think it was a Virginia bonding experience. On the way out, while The Accelerade Warrior was untying the rope to the boat, he dropped his sweet shades in the water. I think he did it on purpose just so he could get in his boxers, stand on the boat and then get in the water to look for them. I volunteered to help right away, but was not really hurt when my services weren't used.

Got back home, had a couple of Bud Selects and went to sleep.

RACE DAY

Got up around 5:38 or so. In my room was the Accelerade Warrior and Stokes. I was disappointed that Stokes didn't want to have that awkward nightime conversation where you don't really want to keep talking, you just want to sleep, but someone always says something. Must have had something to do with Stokes getting up at 2 a.m. the previous morning to fly out to DSM. Back on track, The Warrior and I turned the light on (Stokes wasn't racing) and Stokes got up or did something and mumbled a few sentences in I'm guessing an Incan language before going back to sleep. I think he did a little shimmy dance as well.

Went downstairs and had a piece of toast and drank some pickle juice. Droid, who was staying at his brother's came over and asked me if I needed a soda. Nope, I'm good, however, next thing I know he comes back and pounds a coke. It was a quarter to 6 and for reasons that I know way to well, this did not surprise me.

Luckily, we were about 1/2 mile from the transition, so we rode our bikes over, after a few pictures that I will post later. Got our transitions set up and we did our usual ridiculous chatter making anyone within ear shot wonder in amazement that we actually were able to get out of bed, let alone complete a triathlon. The Warrior and I decided to wear our wetsuits, which hurt my pride a bit, but quite a few people, including about 18 of the first 20 out of the water had wetsuits on.

I did a short swim warm up and then spoted Ironman. He was standing on the beach watching. Knowing what I do, I quickly asked him what he had on underneath his shorts. He smiled and showed a speedo (said speedo was hanging by a thread, literally). Ironman chose to do the swim. I got towards the front and off to the side a bit. The guy next to me kept talking about all the races he had done this year. I wanted to ask him whether he knew what city had the second oldest sewer system. Pop quiz people, were you paying attention earlier. Can't blame ya if you weren't. The gun went off and I started off pretty fast and angled towardt he rope. This was the roughest swim I've had yet. People were elbowing and grabbing my feet, etc. Someone almost tore my chip off and I spent the majority of the swim thinking it was going to come off. Once I reached the halfway point, the water opened up a bit. I tried to draft for a bit, but couldn't find anyone, either too fast or too slow. I found out later that a certain individual in a dingy speedo was drafting off me. So, my swim was the exact same time as someone without a wetsuit who had a few beers with burrito on the dock at 2:30 a.m. I'm not sure if I'm really impressed or kind of mad at myself. Not with my swim time but that my last beer was around midnight.

Anyways, I exited the .6 mile swim at 14 minutes and made my way up the hill to the transition area. This is about 200 yards or so. I saw the Warrior's dad at the top of the hill and he said I was at just below 15 minutes. My swim time + transition was 16:08, which put me right around 9th overall. I'll take it. I got the wetsuit off pretty easy except that it got stuck on my chip for a bit.

Off on the bike, I was ready to roll. Unfortunately, so was the storm coming in. The bike was 18 miles around the lake and it started raining shortly after I started riding. I quickly passed a couple of people and then got passed by a guy riding a sweet Specialized bike. We saw this guy coming into the transition before the race and were pretty envious of the bike. I tried to draft off of him for a bit, but couldn't quite keep up, either that or I'm just a weenie. Probably a weenie. He stayed about 75 yards ahead of me the whole time. Passed a couple more people and about mile 10 it really started to rain, lightning and thunder. It also got really dark. I did manage to pass a car on the right. Not sure if this was a good idea or not. Whatever though, I was Feeling Good, Lookin Better. Yes, I'm fully aware of how lame that last sentence was. I actually thought they might call the race when I rolled into the transition.

The bike course was fairly hilly with one really crappy long hill at about the 17 mile mark. Not really fun. My bike + t2 time was 47:12, so I'm guessing I averaged about 23 mph. Really good for me and I'm not sure I believe that, but I did only get passed by one person and passed about 5. After the bike portion, I was in 5th place...but I still had the dreaded run, my worst part. I did see burrito and Stokes at the transition and yelled way to loud how fantastic it was to see Stokes. This was time #17 that I said that this weekend.

I started running at a pretty decent clip, no idea how fast. There were a few races going on (half marathon, marathon) so I wasn't really sure which mile markers were for me. About a half mile into the run, some dude passed me going way too fast, at least in my opinion. I tried to keep up and when I saw the first mile marker, my watch said about 6:35 or so. Not good for me, I can't keep that up. I still pushed it pretty well thinking just hold off people. About 1 mile in another guy passed me running pretty well. Also, at this point, I felt my new shoes (really sweet Hawkeye colored, but new and hard in the back) start to dig into my right heel. Not good, with about 4.5 miles to go. Nobody passed me for the next about 1.5 miles when all of a sudden I could hear cheers. Some guy with a Des Moines Tri Club shirt was catching up to me fast. He weighed like 150 pounds and these are the people I don't really like, because they run really fast and don't even look like they're breathing hard. He went by me and I said good luck, go get'em or something like that. Didn't acknowledge me...jackass. I probably should have told him I was the Homecoming King, thus really ridiculously good looking with a great personality and full of wit.

Then, about 1 minute later, a pack of four people passed me. Not cool. At this point, a top ten was out of the question for me, unless a rabid dog was up ahead of the pack and helping me out. One thing I am mad about is that I got passed with about 300 yards left. All in all though, a pretty good run for me. I finished the 5.5 mile run in 39:36, or about 7:12/mile, which is really good for me. My overall time was 1:42.56, good enough for 14th place out of 206.

I think the best performance of the day went to Stokes and Dogman. Dogman ran the 1/2 marathon in 1:29 and got 7th overall. Stokes forgot the video camera and sprinted back to the cabin, then back to the start. I think he also got about four numbers. Speaking of which, I think Stokes' phone rang 109 times the night before the race. He's in Okoboji for one night and he's already got ladies calling him at all hours. Nice work Stokes. This is starting to get a little long, so I won't detail everyone's races, but suffice to say the Boji Tri Team was definitely representing. If need be, I can give my opinions of everyone else later. Also, the rain stopped a little after I finished and it started to look like it would clear up.

After everyone finished and got their stuff, we went back to the Cabin for some food and beers, Bud Select of course. Ashamedly so, I did also take a nap for about an hour. Went outside for a bit and then out of nowhere, it downpoured for an hour or so. We started playing Euchre and the Warrior and Droid totally dominated. Then, the sun came out and we went waterskiing. It was a perfect night, picturesque sunset...couldn't be better and the night was just beginning. We grilled some burgers, had some beers and then got ready to head to Captain's.

As soon as we got into Captains, we found my cousin, who was the shot girl at Captain's. Burrito quickly ordered her entire tray of shots, roughly 20 for about 8 of us. Kate's camera had a low battery, so I let her use mine, since she likes to take pictures. My next post will describe the festivities at Captain's, with pictures. This is already getting too long. To summize however, lots of drinks, Stokes and his lady friends, Dave, the self-proclaimed best lawyer from MN that likes to buy drinks and Bob's inquistory tactics of the cab driver on the ride home.

For some amazing reason, everyone woke up the next morning without really feeling the effects from the night before. We got up and went water skiing ate some food and unfortunately had to head back to Des Moines. One good thing, I made it back in time to catch a Jonny Lang concert outdoors.

I promise that my next post with pictures will be really funny. I will make fun of people, myself included. Cheers. Please feel free to comment on everyone's favorite Stokes moment. I will start. Stokes closed the door when he used the restroom and did not sink the wave runner. Two firsts for Stokes. Congrats.