SDTC + Team Tsunami

If you're not smiling, watch that video again.... it was made by Aspen Medical products for Challenged Athletes Foundation at the San Diego Triathlon Challenge. And it perfectly illustrates why I requested my CAF grant take me to this event. My first big triathlon. Probably the only one. It was comfort to know I'd be surrounded by many athletes of all abilities and crew that knew exactly how to help.. or was at least comfortable enough to ask how.

To start off, I got some help to get my stuff from the hotel across the street to the start area (and caused quite the stir with a wheelchair and a regular bike), then got to see some friends that I generally only see when I head down to Southern California, aaaaand made a couple new friends. They even tried to calm me down a bit after I admitted I was still excited and terrified all at the same time.

Soon enough we were taken across the front of the stage as a parade of athletes, then over to the swim start. A volunteer helped me down the stairs and my swim handler sat in the sand with me until about 10 minutes before the start when I wanted to get in the water. And that's when the fun started; the current started pushing waves at us, rocking us onto the sand.. my handler and I were having trouble keeping me upright, so we headed a bit farther out so we could ride the waves instead of fight them.

we're on the left bobbing in the water a little before the start

I've become a lot more comfortable in the water since the sprint in June, but I was still afraid of the distance, so instead of sighting the buoys I just kept an eye on my handler and was comfortable just following him as he cheered me on and told me that I was doing great. The first time I stopped for a break, I was surprised to see that the first buoy wasn't too far away. I was quite proud of myself at how well I was doing.

But then we turned around the buoy and straight into the rolling waves. I made the joke at one point that we were on the "uphill" section and realized it was probably true when there were points that the waves were so high I couldn't see the next buoy. It was a hell of a fight to get me to the last turn, but we made there eventually. The waves were coming from the side now, until about halfway back on that side when the current turned to push into the cove, which was nice, but I was done. My handler coached me in with doable distances (it's only "this many" yards, which is only "this many" laps in the pool!).. always a good strategy with me because I announce that, of course, I can do that!

We did finally make it to shore with some extra cheering and a couple cameras videoing me. My handler tried to help me stand and that didn't work so a volunteer came over and grabbed my other arm. It was still a struggle to pull me up as I announced I wasn't going to be able to walk.... then a bunch of people were calling for me to look up and I did just in time to smile at a bunch of cameras. They helped to the stairs, where two other volunteers took over and carried me up the stairs and into my chair. I pulled off everything I could while another volunteer helped me pull off the top of my wetsuit.

We headed over to the transition area, where I started switching to my bike stuff while my handler went to find out who would be taking over for him. When he came back, I had just found the guy assigning handlers and was meeting my next handler while I was eating and changing all at the same time. My new handler made sure I had water and liked that I was already eating. We soon headed out and almost immediately had to go uphill. A few weeks before, my fear had switched from the swimming to the bike.. I wasn't sure if I would be able to handle the distance and/or the hills, but I had been doing really well so I headed right into this hill. It didn't last. I had to walk up most of it. That took a lot more out of me than usual, but we kept going.

Until the next hill. I had to stop entirely about halfway up. The course monitor came down and insisted he didn't want to discourage me, but reminded me that it was going to get harder. We hadn't made it to the big/long hill yet. Less than a mile out and not even out of the town yet, and I felt like I had already done at least half the ride. My handler came back down as the course monitor suggested we go ride the wheelchair course.. she reiterated that it might be bad for me to be out on the roads and I agreed that I didn't need to kill myself or anyone else, so we headed back through the town and picked up the wheelchair course. After falling into a bit of a rhythm, I was able to make it up some of the small hills without too much struggle and especially liked the downhills. We stopped at the top of a pretty steep one and I turned to see the wheelchairs coming at us, I even got to cheer for a friend as he passed by me.

On the way back in, I lost my uphill again. There was a point where I had to stop; my handler leaned our bikes against a tree so we could sit on the sidewalk and look out at the ocean for a bit. I finally decided I could make it back and I did pretty well this time. The volunteers tried to make me finish, but I eventually convinced them I still needed to run and we made it back into the transition area. I switched what I needed to, ate a bit more, and got to see a friend as my handler moved Tsunami into an open area. Being excellent at the cheerleader part of her job, she asked me if I was ready to do this! I immediately said no! She waited a few more minutes, then asked if I wanted to head out.. and I said absolutely not.. but did it anyway. It was a bit of a false start though because after we got out the gate I realized I hadn't taped my fingers; the tape was flapping on the bar I put it on earlier, so we just pulled over real quick.

The street was lined with so many people for the finish, they cheered loudly for me when they noticed me heading out. I really did need that as we went back out onto the course.. I was more tired than I should have been after swimming the swells, then fighting with the bike so much, and I needed help on the hills much earlier than I should have. I asked my handler to make sure I at least didn't tip backwards, but there were a few points where others came off the sidewalk to help. I found out later that she was waving people over to help push me up the hills. Right before we made it to that steep hill, a member of the crew stopped and said he had taken down the markers because they thought all the wheelchairs had finished, which is when I found out I must have been the only individual wheelchair participant (the rest were on relay teams) and I was even more glad I chose to shorten the bike portion. He felt really bad and offered to follow behind us. Neither one of us could pass that up and he started off with helping me up the hill, then caught up in the car. We made quick work of the course, the crew guy jumped out of the car whenever there was a hill that might dump me over (on one, he asked if I wanted to go fast then ran me up the hill, and on the next one he decided he needed a friend in a wheelchair to help with his workouts), and a little after we made the turn to come back, I made the comment that I was going faster in the chair than the bike. My handler agreed and also added that I look much cooler in the chair, especially on the downhill turns. Which os all I strive for, really ;)

After one more push up, we headed down into the finish area. I turned onto the grass and through the finish, where they loaded me down with a medal and water. It was so crowded I had to ask someone which way to turn for the transition area. A volunteer pointed me in the right direction and one of new friends helped push me over the grass and into the transition area. I changed my shirt, asked another new friend to take my picture, then cleaned up my area so I could go into the festival area to look for a friend and my handler, hoping to be able to thank her. I didn't find either one, but did grab some pizza and one of the last appointments at the massage table. My masseuse asked what I needed and I asked her to just make it all better (I did finally specify definitely my shoulders and back, and if she could get into my hip). We worked together to get my hip worked out and I ended up doing pretty well; doctors have not been nice over the years, so I jump away anytime someone touches my hip.. she very patiently earned its trust and was able to make it feel quite a bit better. And even more with my upper body.

I made my way back to the transition area and asked for some help with Tsunami and Raptor... a woman came with me to take Raptor, and someone else ended up taking Tsunami from me. They took me all the way up to my room and stored them for me, with much thanks. I took a quick shower then headed back down for one more round through the area. I happened upon the friend I was looking for earlier, along with another one and got to talk to them for a bit then was pointed in the direction of more food. I never did find my handler, but I did run into a few more friends as I made my way back to my room.

Finally settling down in my room, I was glad to have chosen this triathlon. It was one of my better ideas lately. During the sprint, I was part of a team and it was great to be in that environment, if only in small part; this was the same feeling on a larger scale. Everyone there, athletes, crew, handlers, volunteers, spectators, were there to support and encourage challenged athletes wether they were one, with one, or not. It makes for an incredible environment where everyone believes anything is possible. Despite the trouble I was having, everyone I came across worked to make sure I got to finish. It may not have been what I planned for the last six months, but with everyone's support, it didn't matter. What I did was a feat in itself. I didn't give up and everyone believed in me.

Complete strangers believed in me the same way all my cheerleaders in spirit did, to the point that I actually heard those familiar voices mixed in with the crowd, pushing me through each transition and into the finish. In the end, I did about 22 of the 55 miles in just over 4 hours. And I'm calling that a big win for me..... aaaaaand the next time I go to the #bestdayintri I'll go with a team.

Anyone interested? I'll take the swim.... and that's gotta be the biggest win for me out of the whole day! ;)


(Sorry for the sudden lack in pictures... I didn't take any except the last one, so I've been relying on the awesome photographers that were there. The finish line photos are still forthcoming and I may have ended up on some friends cameras, I'll post them if/when I get them!)