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.
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
>
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….
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!
Love this story! Such a God thing!!
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