Thursday, June 14, 2012


EAGLEMAN 2012…. It came together for me this year!

As usual, I’ll try to be brief, and as usual, I’m sure you may wonder why it is so long.  I am upping the ante here and adding pics.  Honestly, even if you don’t read this, scroll to the last paragraph and pic.

First off- the morning started off great with the most spectacular of sunrises.  Seriously.  The day was already made for me by this.  Spectacular, miraculous, and one of my favorite things… speaking of… as I sat next to phoebe before the race on a rock waiting for my wave to go off, she asked me “What is your favorite thing about the world?”  Ok ok so… NO.. she doesn’t usually as such thought provoking questions, but then again it was super simple to answer.  I told her my favorite thing was all the people that I love in the world.. and that just started the day off great,  reminding me of things that really DO matter.. that this was just a race.  I had a great, very settled attitude going into the race.  Which reminds me why I love training so focused, hard, and disciplined:  I love going into a race with no questions- no worries.. it’ll play out how it does, and I know I have done EVERY SINGLE THING I can to prepare.

 So.. my wave started.  I missed hanging out w/ Catherine during the 6ish minutes we are out there treading water (among other things)!! The race started and I had probably 3-4 minutes of PUMMELING.  I hated it.  I was getting kicked and  BLEGH – started in a bad place apparently.. people were all coming INWARDS from both sides.. I should have chosen one of the SIDES.  Ok.. lesson learned.  My wetsuit was also bothering my neck, I was like getting choked by it.. so I had to stop and PULL it out away from my neck to get more breathing room.. and it was better, I got into my groove and it ROCKED—I hung onto a pretty good swimmers feet for the swim portion and I KNOW this helped me.. I was very happy.. I felt strong, but I have also felt strong in other years and havne’t gotten the time I thought I would, so I wasn’t sure if I might be under 40 minutes or … please please don’t’ let me be over!! And I was under in 36 minutesJ  YAHHOOOOOO!

Up to transition, wetsuit off good since I cut off the bottom calf part more last year, helmet, sunglasses, race belt on and OFF, put my shoes on AS I biked.. and it was good, very good… I started immediately strong.  I had gone over 5 ways during the bike portion- each to cut off 60 seconds that just “sneak up” on you.  One of these ways was to not “dilly dally” (thanks Dad for the great word) through the neighborhood section.  So I went strong and didn’t take seconds off of the corners.. started strong (I figured, 6 turns here, it’s easy to “let go of” 10 seconds each.. and there you have it- 1 minute.  I knew I wanted my best time- 2 years in a row I did the whole 56 miles at 2:35 and a few seconds… and I did nOT want anooooooother of the same result.  Then settled in, and felt great from the get go.  I felt strong, on top of my legs, I drank only water for 30 minutes, to let my stomach settle from the swim, then did 30 minutes of eating 4 fig newtons plus water, then 1 hour of perpetuem.  Then the final 30 minutes of water plus power bar (yum.. although I was TOTALLY FORCING myself to eat… I’m glad I did.. I had realized in my training I wasn’t eating enough to PERFORM—yes.. there was a reason ryan had to come pick me up 2 weeks ago- and if that reason was because I wasn’t eating enough, then I needed to elarn from that.  So hopefully I have!  The bike this year was much better than last year in terms of people staying RIGHT when needed- except one time on the course I had to tell some guys to stay right unless passing/ repeated it 2x, then said “I’m serious- GET OVER!”… I do not want to use my brakes on a flat during a race!  It was windy, but I was prepared mentally- sometimes the wind  combines with the rough road and I feel like GRRRR.. just want to be OFF bike already.. but today I reminded myself to WELCOME IT- that is where I can really thrive- is pushing the bike, and that just gave me a good opportunity… every bit of suffering adds up to show what you’re made of, right?  Well, I at least convinced myself of that!  Every 10 miles, I also stood up out of saddle and powered through the road for about 1 minute.. I hate sitting down so much on the saddle..  Ohh, and I had to go pee also.. but didn’t, I knew I didn’t want to stop.. and the course was too crowded, and I also don’t know how to relax enough to do that.. (TMI, sorry).

I knew the last 10 miles I just had to keep steady to get my goal:  2:30 for 56 miles.  I stayed strong, kept focused even on the small aspects, form, stretching, and continuing to RACE, not just push har, but truly RACE IT.. and I did.. 2:30 bike time, OHHHHH happy happy day!!!!  22.3 miles/hour… YES!

T2: ohhhh, so much so much fun!  DYNOMITE song was on.. and honestly couldn’t help myself had to sing a few “if I told you once” and “dynomite’s” and maybe a quick little shoulder boogey while getting my fuel belt and shoes on! But of course I was serious and mostly just trying to keep myself mentally “light,” upbeat, and patient.

Run: but that DYNOMITE attitude was quickly a bit squelched in the first few steps—I was a bit worried- I didn’t feel super strong running the first 5 minutes.. and it was… HOT.. of course… right, it is eagleman, so it HAS to be around 95, right? So I was hot and worried I would overheat.. but knew right away.. DO NOT RUIN IT.  The race has not even started yet (my goal was to not “mentally start” my race until mile 10 of run… I know I know… 4:30 in, right)..so I kept steady.  There was a girl that passed me and I was like NOOOO… she looked fine.. but then I passed her in somehow the next minute and never saw her again.. I think this helped w/ my confidence and reminded me:  do not ever give up… mile 1 in 7:50.  So it wasn’t as bad as I thought.. it just felt HOT

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Miles went along and of course I just made it mile by mile- averaging between 7:45 to 8 min mile pace… one ice stop to the next- every one, I would get 1 cup of ice to put down my sports bra swimsuit, and at least 1 ice water cup to take a few sips of and douse my head with.  I found this probably saved me- the pouring it over my head- I always have done this at EM.. not like it is something totally new.. BUT.. I really try to freeze my body with this as much as possible.. so that it actually hurts from the cold… and a few times it SO SO did.. and I really used that frozen feeling to focus on/ to visualize me just thawing from that “freeze”..

I found my form,, and my cadence was ON.. I could feel it.  I was passing people through the miles. Was great.  I drank 1 water flask to start with (in addition to stops) and at mile 4 had my first clif block.  I actually ate it with an ice chip from my swim suit, and it ended up being nice, like a “frozen treat”, so I kept adding ice chips to prolong the block!  During those first 4 miles, maybe 5.. I also kept taking a piece of ice from my suit and holding it and squeezing it in one hand, then when I couldn’t take it too much  more, put it in the other hand, and that also helped me feel like I was cooling off (or frankly maybe just gave my mind something to focus on)started at mile 5 doing HEED sports drink and kept this up through mile 10, then back to water (I brought 3 of my own flasks) and also had water from the aid stations.

I was worried so much at the beginning of the run, but really kept my mind focused with so  many tricks that I had planned previously to help with the run:*first, at mile 3, I was “happy” to get to the 3rd mile, but I reminded myself.. that is just another step, just another mile.. I reminded myself to think of it like a Haiti adoption and being “happy” about one step, but also knowing that there is sooooooooo much more….. yea, we are in IBESR.  Plod along people.  3 miles in.. fantastic..  continue.  And I reminded myself to NOT  STOP EVER.  This was NOT meant to be easy – I told myself to not walk a step—I knew my goal was UNDER 5 hours for total time of race.. and I said over and over to myself “people who go under 5 do NOT WALK”…. Run along. 

I reminded myself of the people I was doing this for…of the chance that I had to be moving.

I reminded myself of the breeze I felt every once in a while, and that I didn’t even have that breeze when I had been training on the treadmill w/ no fan.. I reminded myself that I had PREPARED FOR THIS.. and there would be NO REGRETS.. and I sped up. 

Made it to 8 miles.. another block/ice chip mixture. Yum.

Mentally set myself forward to look for 10 miles (where the race started, right)…  and there it was, a 5K left, and 26 minutes to get UNDER 5 hours…  ok.. this is what I have been training for- all those runs where I made myself eek out a HARDER INTENSITY at the last few miles.. bring it on…  I reminded myself of how much it would suck to be like 1 minute or 1:45 OVER 5 hours..  My legs were beginning to scream, and I mentally screamed right back at them… .lovingly.. but let them know that they WERE.NOT.DONE.YET.

I asked myself every step, “is this your BEST, Sharon Adams.. is this your BEST”, and I made sure it was.

I knew it was going to be close.  1 mile to go, I generally knew I could do it, it was possible if I WENT NOW. Go go go… go go go.. too close for comfort.. so I did.. I ran like my ass was on fire… I also couldn’t wait to pee… my arms had a steady cadence, I reminded myself to lean, to move my arms and my body would follow, to breathe, to ROCK THIS… I couldn’t look at my watch for last ½ mile, I did not want to waste even that one second!!  I knew one of my feet had been a bit rubbed raw- my shoes are the Zoot tri shoes, but with the amount of water you pour over yourself in 13 miles, it still gets wet and sloshy a bit in there… but I knew there was no comfort in slowing down anyway, so I made a conscious decision to just not feel that…..

I picked up everything I had left for last ¼ mile, saw Ryan, Phoebe and Forrest along the fence- gave phoebe a high five and HURRIED to the finish, looked down to 4:59!! (to find out later 48 seconds)!!!  I WAS SO HAPPY!!!

Oh yea.. and this year, they had DIET soda’s… so I got twoJ

I feel so great after this race- I feel a huge sense of satisfaction that IT ALL PAID OFF.

EVERYTHING:  the past YEARS of doing this race, learning about this race, plodding through some years just suffering and surviving…  everything including all the workouts, on tired days, cold days, treadmill runs with no fan, boring REPEATS of a flat 6 mile bike loop (the only one I could find with not many hills to prep for a flat course—yes doing 9x this 6 mile loop)… everything meaning learning from my disappointments, learning from my journey… connecting this Eagleman journey to my life journey- presently our adoption journey.. and the symbol I see is that it all does matter.  The little things, the sacrifices, the perseverance… It reminds me to NEVER GIVE UP.   It reminds me that persistence, passion and hard work lead to good things… that results CAN COME!

I finished the race, found out I got 8th!!!!  So happy to break into the top 10!  We left, got some food (I didn’t think I could keep any of the food that was at the finish line down.. ) and we went to a little beach area….  And … in MY opinion… bear with me for one more paragraph… but in my opinion, I got another “sign.”  I saw a little girl getting out of her car as we arrived.. who looked JUST LIKE VERLANDE.. looked like her, but no… even more: she MOVED like Verlande, which is very low/bent knees/hips moving and busy body-ish.. always on the go with a bit of personality in her movements… I said, “ry- look at that girl- looks like Verlande.” And he smiled and said he had already thought that.  So we go down to the beach area, after a few minutes of getting set up/not even in the water yet, something gets my attention from the side, and there she is.. the little girl with beads in her braids.. coming to me smiling, outstretched hand (no friends,, I am NOT joking) saying, “come.”  I would have loved to see my eyes.. I swear they just got wide and this little angel girl is coming up to me, showing me to have patience… to KNOW and KNOW FULLY…. Things are good and they WILL happen… honestly I can’t even remember what she wanted to show me!  (I told her mom why I looked so AMAZED by her approaching me)….Phoebe and I went to swim in the water, and on our way back in, looked up to see…. A bit of our future….

PRESS ON…

Have Persistence,

Stay patient…

Work hard…

One step at a time.. it all does lead to big things..

Keep true to what you know is the right thing… don’t have doubts… it is and will be good.  Maybe not every step, but in the end.. it is as it should be.

THE journey continues…  Thanks friends, for always letting me share my stories!