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Race Report – Susan Farago St. Croix Half Ironman May 1, 2005
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A few years ago I heard about the St. Croix triathlon. It is supposed to be one of the hardest half-Ironman triathlons in the world. It boasts a tough open water ocean swim, a technical bike course including a hellish climb up “The Beast”, and a challenging run – all under hot, humid, and windy conditions. Last year some of my friends did the race and they confirmed everything I had heard. The race wasn’t about “thriving”, it was about “surviving”.
So of course I just HAD to go and find out for myself!
I started training in earnest in March. I had three goals for the race:
1. To climb “The Beast” without getting of my bike and walking.
2. To run the entire run course and NOT walk, despite any hill I encountered.
3. To cross the finish line on my own two feet (as opposed to crawling or being carried).
Jamie, my coach, set up my training schedule to include a lot of hill work. This included running hill repeats up Wilke Hill behind Zilker Park, and biking hill repeats up one of Austin’s infamous hills – “Jester Hill” (when the first time I climbed the 13% grade half-mile hill, I was hyperventilating so badly that I actually threw up when I got back to the base of the hill – and of course I got back on my bike and climbed the hill again). In addition to all of this, Austin had a very windy spring so many of the long bike rides I did on the weekends included dealing with head or side winds to the point where I was riding at darn near a 45 degree angle. Rather than curse the wind, I considered it a blessing in disguise and good training for the trade winds in St. Croix. Then there was the rain storm and cold front that came out of nowhere on one of my rides in April, leaving me on BeeCaves road, shaking my fist into the freezing downpour and yelling, “BRING IT ON!” to Mother Nature. I’m sure the motorists thought I was psychotic.
By the time the end of April rolled around, I was ready for “The Beast”, ready for the winds, and more importantly, ready to enjoy a week of Caribbean relaxation with Leary and friends!
We arrived in St. Croix mid-afternoon on Thursday, April 28, and we were looking forward to getting to our hotels, unpacking, and sitting by the ocean while sipping rum. We didn’t have to wait that long for the rum. The airport had a “Welcome to St. Croix” rum stand and Glenn was the first to get a free sample J
Rum stand at the airport.
We loaded up the cars and just as we were heading out, Danny mentioned to Leary that cars drive on the LEFT side of the road in St. Croix. Huh?!? In Leary’s usual excitement to try anything new relating to cars, he was ready to give it a try. My job was to “help” – which consisted of shrieking, “LEFT!!! LEFT!!” whenever he got into the “wrong” lane. We didn’t make it out of the airport parking lot without my first shrieking episode. This was going to be interesting.
A sticker on the inside of the windshield in the rental car. Very helpful – NOT!
Leary and I stayed at the DiviCarina hotel on the other side of the island, and Danny and Glenn were staying at the King Christiansted hotel in downtown Christiansted. Armed with a really bad map, confusing roads and signs, and the whole “drive on the left” issue, we somehow managed to get to our hotels. At one point we lost Danny and Glenn, only to run into them (almost literally) 10 minutes later when we were trying to find our way through downtown Christiansted.
Once we got out of the city and onto more rural roads, the island opened up and we could see the amazing blue colors of the Caribbean ocean. The shades of blue water made the sky look dull and lifeless even though the sun was out in full force.
The many shades of “blue” in the Caribbean sea – overlook from the Buccaneer Hotel.
We arrived at the DiviCarina Resort, checked in, and hauled all our luggage (including the 2 bike cases) up three flights of stairs to our hotel room. Our room faced the beach and ocean and I was just dying to put on my bathing suit and get down to the water to feel the sand in my toes and the salty water on my skin. So that’s exactly what we did.
We met Danny and Glenn for dinner at the Brew Pub on the boardwalk in Christiansted. Our first night in the Caribbean – ahhhh!!!!!
Drinks and dinner at the Brew Pub on the boardwalk in Christiansted.
The next few days were filled with all things “Triathlon”. On Friday we picked up our race packets, we went for an “organized” swim in the channel (where the swim would take place), and everywhere we went we saw many other triathletes.
The Team: Glenn, Susan, Jen, Danny, Jeananne, Leary.
This is a “working” harbor where ships come in, so we only had an hour to swim before they reopened the channel. The water was so clear we could see the bottom 30-40 feet down as we swam in the 80+ degree salty water.
We met up with Jamie, Andrea, and their friend Peter. We headed out to “Cheeseburgers in Paradise” for lunch and then we “drove” the bike course. While we were at Cheeseburgers, we watched a tornado form on the far side of the island. It was amazing to just sit there and watch it come down from the clouds, pull back up, and then reform again.
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The group at “Cheeseburgers”: Danny, Glenn, Jamie, Jeananne, Peter, Jen, Leary, Susan, Andrea |
Andrea “pinching” the tornado. |
Having filled up on burgers, we were off in two cars to check out the 56 mile bike course. I was amazed at how technical the course was: twists, turns, fast downhills, blind corners, crappy road surfaces, speed bumps, and I found out that we would be riding most of the course in the LEFT lane – which meant intersections would be “interesting”.
As we approached mile 20 of the bike course, we knew “The Beast” was coming. As we drove along the coastline, enjoying beautiful ocean views, we came to a stop sign and Andrea said, “There it is!” We pulled over and looked to the left. There it was – “The Beast”. And in case there was any doubt it our minds, it was reaffirmed by the fancy artwork on the road at the base of the hill – “THE BEAST” in red, yellow, and green. “Holy crap!” I exclaimed, to which Danny replied, “Oh this is nothing, wait until we get further up and into the switchbacks.” Always willing to show our ferocity and might (no matter how real or imaginary), we posed for a photo – conquering “The Beast”.
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Susan, Peter, Danny, Jen, Jeananne, Glenn, Jamie, Andrea, Leary conquering ”The Beast” – or at least the first 25 meters of it J
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The Beast artwork – right at the 4/7th marker.
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We got back in the cars and began climbing the .7 mile hill. As we continued to climb the hill, it got very quiet in the car. We came upon the second switchback and took a sharp left. This was the steepest part of the hill – 21% grade. My eyes got big and I exclaimed, “Holy sh*t! You have GOT to be kidding me!!!!” Suddenly, Jester Hill in Austin looked like the flatlands of Nebraska. Shortly after the 21% grade, it “flattened” out to about 14% grade just before we reached the top. This was going to hurt…and hurt BAD!
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They marked the varying hill % grades on The Beast. It ranged from 10%-21%. |
They split The Beast up into 1/7th segments so you knew how much farther you had to go until the top.
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We continued driving the remaining 36 miles of the bike course, seeing hill after hill after hill. The good thing about having the crap shocked out of you (i.e.: steepness of The Beast) is that everything else suddenly looks different (i.e.: the other hills that would normally get my attention now looked “flat”). We saw the back side of the island where the winds would be an issue, and we drove past the DiviCarini hotel where Leary and I were staying. The thought crossed my mind that I could always just pull in, get off my bike, and hide in the hotel room during the race. By the time we got back to Christiansted, I was so turned around navigation-wise that I just decided to rely on the local race officials to tell me where to go during the race.
That evening, we hung out in Christiansted. Leary got propositioned by a prostitute while parking the car. When he met up with the rest of us, he had a big grin on his face and he announced, “Well, if anyone wants to know where the red light district is, I think I found it!” He said a woman approached him and in the words of Leary, “She was being all…you know…” After several propositions and Leary responding with his usual polite, “Thank you…no”, it became obvious that she wasn’t going to get anywhere with Leary. So she just flat out asked him for five dollars. From that point on, Leary became known as “Mr. Fi Dollah” (“five dollars” with a Carribean accent).
“Mr. Fi Dollah” in Christiansted.
We enjoyed another evening of drinks and dinner on the boardwalk. Since it was the Friday before the race, Christiansted treats the athletes to “Jump Up” – a Caribbean street party complete with a free pasta dinner at select restaurants, food vendors, and musicians!
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“Jumbies” dancing to music by a high school steel drum band. |
Leary buying a “water coconut” from a guy out of the back of his pickup truck. The coconut water tasted like very mild coconut and was almost fizzy. |
Saturday came and we were all pretty much in “race preparation” mode. We went to the pre-race meeting, got all our gear together, and Leary and I dropped our bikes off at Danny and Glenn’s hotel room, which literally overlooked the transition area. It would be one less thing we would have to deal with on race day.
Pre-race meeting in the transition area.
We had a relaxing day, prepared all our “race stuff” (water bottles, gear, etc.), had pasta for dinner (of course), and went to bed early.
*** Race Day – Sunday, May 1 ***
I don’t care how early I go to bed, getting up at 3:45am always feels like death (ok, getting up ANYTIME before 6am feels like death). I dragged myself out of bed, got dressed, body glided and sunscreened myself, and wrote my own race numbers on my arms and legs (beats standing in line for 15 minutes at the race while someone else does this to me). I ate my oatmeal, a banana, and a Clifbar. NOW I was awake and raring to go. We got to Christiansted 20 min later and found a great parking spot. Heck, it wasn’t difficult since there was very little activity that early in the morning. I was ready to march up to Danny and Glenn’s hotel room at 4:30am – as we agreed the day before. We saw from the street that their room light was off. I said, “Come on! Let’s go wake them up!!” to which Leary responded, “Let the poor guys sleep!” So we opted to sit on a bench for a few minutes. By 4:40am we were on our way up to their room. KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!!! A rather sleepy-eyed Danny opened the door and I let out a loud and cheery, “GOOD MORNING!!!!” I love pretending to be a cheerful, awake, morning person J
Leary and Danny – race morning.
By 4:45am people were lining up to get into transition, which opened at 5am. The whole area went from being completely empty to many triathletes with gear and bicycles in the span of 20 minutes. Athletes staying at the hotel across the channel were arriving via boat shuttle and it looked pretty funny to see them unloading their bikes from the boat.
Athletes arriving via boat.
By 5:30am we were set up in transition, gear ready to go, and we were just waiting for 6:00am to roll around. At that time, all athletes would jump into the water, swim across the channel, and start the race from the island where the athletes arrived with their bikes earlier that morning. As we stood around waiting, I kept looking up at the sky. It was already extremely windy for it being that early in the morning AND there were storm clouds all around us. We could see the sheets of rain falling in the distance and I kept saying to myself, “Just go around us, just go around us…please!!!!” Someone must have been listening because we ended up getting a little sprinking of rain and that was it. Whew!
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Ominous wind and weather – photo taken from transition area at 5:45am.
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Leary and Susan in transition. Ready to go!!! |
6:00am rolled around and all the athletes made their way to the channel for the “pre-race warm up swim” to the island where the race would start. The water was wonderfully warm and clear despite the big waves and chop caused by the wind. This was going to be a challenging swim and we didn’t have the “security” of wetsuits because the water temperature was so warm. Luckily the salt water would help keep us afloat.
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Athletes getting into the water for the “pre-race swim”.
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View of swim start from across the channel. |
Once we got across the channel, we sat in a bar on the beach and waited. They had water and Gatorade available for us – much appreciated given that Jen, Jeananne, and I would be in the last waves to start – approximately 45 minutes after the pro athletes kicked off the race.
While we were awaiting the swim start, the skies cleared and a rainbow was visible over transition area.
One by one the waves went off. We cheered for Jamie who was in the first wave – pro men. We cheered for Andrea who was in the second wave – pro women. And from there, one by one, we all went into our respective waves and whoever was left standing on the beach cheered until all the waves had gone.
As my wave was called to the swim start, I walked out in front of the group and lined myself up with the buoys on the left. As near as I could tell, there were about 30 women in my group. A nice size group – much better than some of the men’s waves where there were 60+ people in the wave. Since this was a beach start, I tried to remember all the things Jamie had taught me: run into the water, keeping high knees until the water gets too deep, then do a few dolphin dives – swimming under water as far as you can, and then once you get out into the deeper water, start swimming! So I did just that. The airhorn went off and I found myself running, high kneeing, and dolphin diving, until I was swimming. And to my amazement, I was actually leading the pack of women in my age group. I knew this wouldn’t last long but I enjoyed being “first” for a few minutes anyway J
I swam past the first 3-4 buoys and then hung a hard left which would take me out into the open water. This is where the water got extremely choppy. It reminded me of the “Escape from Alcatraz” swim I did a few years ago in San Francisco Bay – except the water was MUCH warmer! I would swim up a wave, and then down the back side of it. Then I would get hit cross-ways by a wave and instantly have to close my mouth and hold my breath so I wouldn’t take in water. No doubt I was going to have to pay attention to what I was doing! I swam as tightly to the buoy line as I could but sometimes it was difficult to see the next orange buoy because of the waves. As I would pass by a buoy, there would be a scuba diver under the water looking up at the swimmers. How odd! It made me smile to think of their vantage point – what it must look like to see all these swimmers going by overhead. I swam by one diver who actually had a camera and took my picture. Alrighty then – again very odd! I didn’t take the time to stop, pose, and smile…I had more important things to do…like get through this swim that was making me feel like I was in a washing machine. As I rounded what must have been the far buoy on the swim course, I could see people in boats, kayaks, and jet skis all watching the swimmers and making sure everyone stayed safe.
By this time I was probably 25 minutes into the swim. I noticed another woman from my age group. We had been swimming near each since the beginning of the swim. I could tell she was a stronger swimmer than I, but she would get way off course and I would lose her for a few minutes, and then she would re-appear to my immediate left, and then she would disappear again. I wanted to grab her arm, get her to sit up and stop swimming for a minute so I could say to her, “You know, if you focused on swimming the buoy line you would be making much better progress.” I decided against this and opted to just call her “Ms. Fast and Crooked” in my mind. This was one of those times where it became quite clear that racing “smarter” definitely paid off much more than racing “harder”. Just after thinking about this I was surprised to swim into a big batch of floating green stuff. What the heck is this?!?!?! Without breaking my swim rhythm, I tried sighting to see what I was swimming through. Weeds? Didn’t feel like the weeds I was used to when swimming as a girl with my best friend Bridget in Lake Jane. Green worms? Oh man I hope not! That would be so GROSS!! I finally swam through whatever it was, only to be bombarded with another batch of this “stuff”. I took several strokes and it wasn’t clearing up. I finally sat up and looked ahead to see how much more of this crap I was going to have to swim through. Sure enough I realized it was some type of floating sea weed and the next approx 50 meters of the water was full of this stuff. So I decided to get onto someone’s feet and try to draft off of them and let them clear a path through the muck. Good thing Ms. Fast and Crooked was near by. I hopped on her feet and swam behind her for about 3-4 minutes. Once we got through this last batch of weeds I saw she was heading off course again so I reoriented myself, aimed for the next buoy, and fell back into my swim rhythm.
“Textured water” – a small sample of the type of weeds on the swim course. Yuk!
The last stretch of the swim course was along a pier in the channel and it was fairly scary to see the waves (and some of the swimmers) crashing into the pier wall. My plan was to stay well clear of the pier and continue to follow the buoy line until the last minute where I would take a hard left and swim into the swim finish area. I swam until my knuckles hit the swim finish platform. At that point I grabbed a volunteer’s hand, he pulled me up, and I ran for transition. One event down, two to go – and The Beast was next!
At the swim finish, checking out my time. UGG! That took awhile!
As I made my way through transition and to my area, I noticed that many of the bikes were still racked in my 35-39 age group. Hmmmm….maybe I didn’t do so bad on the swim after all?! No time to think about this…gotta focus on the bike. It was sure nice not having to peel off a wetsuit after the swim so all I had to do was put on my helmet, socks, shoes, and sunglasses. Given the rough road surface in transition, I opted to wear my bike shoes rather than going sock-footed (and leaving my shoes clipped onto my bike). It proved to be a wise decision. I was passing people on the road out of transition, running alongside my bike, saying “ON YOUR LEFT!” as people were either walking or not paying attention to where they were going. I hopped on my bike and in no time I was pedaling along while the wind was drying me off.
For the first 20 miles of the bike course I was obsessed about The Beast: “Slow down, you have The Beast to deal with yet; Take it easy up this incline; Save your legs; Yes you can go faster but don’t…not until after The Beast”. I was holding back and it was hard because the bike is my strongest sport of the three, and seeing other women pass me made it even more difficult. About 6 miles into the bike, I saw a familiar figure up ahead. Just as I came up behind him, I rang my bell. (For those of you who don’t know, I have a bell on my bike and I sound like an ice cream truck when I ring it – it’s fun and is very amusing to everyone who hears it – thanks to Ed for getting it for me last year!!!!) Leary turned around, smiled, and said, “Hi There!!!!” We chatted for a few seconds and then I was off. He later told me that there were several “high powered” women behind me with disk wheels and fast bikes, and they looked pretty serious. He said he got a big laugh out of seeing me with my “bell” being pursued by these serious women with serious equipment.
A few minutes later I was back in town and starting the second bigger loop of the bike course. As I rode through the streets of Christiansted, I came upon the “Hot Spot” – a narrow street with a 90 degree corner. If you overshot the corner, you would end up in a big, cement planter. If you undershot the corner, you would end up hitting the corner of a building. Not a lot of room for error here! So I slowed way down and took it nice and easy. The good thing is that I was by myself so no other cyclists to contend with. As I was heading out of town, I came upon a young girl (maybe 12-13 years old) who was riding her bike on the opposite side of the street – but going the same direction I was. She saw me coming and started to pedal faster and faster, a big grin coming over her face. As I approached, I smiled at her and said, “Come on! Come on! You’re doing great!!!” I quickly passed her and as I did, she sat up and, still smiling, yelled, “Go get The Beast!!” I responded with, “I’m going to give it a try!!” I decided that she would be my inspiration to get to the top of that *%#^&*% hill.
Finally, after 19 miles I was on the familiar coastline drive leading up to The Beast. It didn’t help my nerves that a few minutes earlier a group of spectators hollered, “The Beast is just up ahead!” Oh great! I rolled through the intersection we stopped at just a few days earlier, and I began the climb.
The first
30 seconds weren’t too bad. There were spectators walking up the first part of
The Beast. As I passed one woman spectator, I asked her if she could give me a
push. I think she thought I was serious. Shortly after that I got into what I
refer as “rhythmic stalker breathing”. My breathing becomes extremely loud and
heavy as it gets into rhythm with my pedal strokes. It actually cracks me up
because I sound like a heavy breather (or at least what I imagine a heavy
breather to sound like). I saw the marker on the road – 1/7. OK, one seventh
down, six to go. I continued to climb, making sure I was going slow and steady
- like I could actually go any faster if I wanted to!!! Before I knew it, I saw
2/7. Just keep looking down and concentrate on your pedal strokes. At this
point people were starting to walk their bikes up the hill. I couldn’t look at
them – it broke my concentration too much. Not gonna walk… I rolled past 3/7.
Good - and I haven’t even had to get out of the saddle yet. I approached the
first switchback and I knew the road flattened out “relatively speaking” at
that point. I saw the painted dragon on the road and the marker for 4/7. I
veered right and continued to climb. As I headed towards the next switchback, I
knew that immediately after was the 21% grade – the steepest part of the hill.
I just kept grinding it out…pedal stroke after stroke after stroke. I think I
was averaging somewhere around 4 miles per hour but I didn’t want to look at my
cyclometer. I was too focused on the 3-5 feet of pavement immediately in front
of me.
The road surface was bumpy so not only was it difficult to climb, but the rough road surface made it even more uncomfortable. As I approached the second switchback, I took the corner wide, veered to the left, took a few pedal strokes, and then it was like I hit a wall. I was very quickly coming to a hault. I looked down and saw the dreaded 21% grade marked on the road. CRAP!!!! As a last resort, I stood up out of the saddle and using my handle bars as leverage, pulled up against them as I mashed down on the pedals. It was enough…and I started to roll forward. Left…right…left…right…pulling, pushing…I saw 5/7 slowly roll by on the road. I could also see the hill was about to let up – just a few more pedal strokes and I would be done with the steepest part of the climb. This was NOTHING like Jester – it was worse!!! As I looked up I could see 4-5 cyclists in front of me – all “delivering the mail”. This is a term used to describe zig-zagging from one side of the road to another in an attempt to climb a steep hill. If you zig-zag, then it’s easier to climb a hill because you’re not riding directly up it and consequently, not feeling the full impact of the hill’s steepness. My approach had been to ride straight up The Beast – right in the center of the road. And that’s what I continued to do. I could see one woman starting to zig-zag her way back across the hill and our paths were about to cross. I decided that she was just going to have to zig-zag around me because there was NO WAY I had the wherewithal to steer clear of her at this point. She must have come to the same conclusion and she yielded to me (it was probably my rhythmic stalker breathing that scared her off – ha!). I made it past the 21% grade and saw 6/7 on the road. Yehaw! Only one more “seventh” to go!!! Again, the road “flattened” out (approx. 14% grade) and my legs had a small reprieve. I sat back down in the saddle again and continued to grind out the last stretch of the hill. Spectators were lined up along the road’s edge, cheering and whooping at all the cyclists. At this point, that consisted of me and only a few other cyclists. I was feeling pretty good until I could see the hill getting steep again just before the top. Oh crap again!!!! I looked down and the number 18% painted on the road. Are you kidding me?!?!?!?! I continued to grind it out on the pedals and then it was like I hit a wall again. I started coming to a stop. Oh for crying out loud!!!!! I got out of the saddle one more time, and with every fiber of my being, mashed down on the pedals again. At this point, my legs were completely beyond fatigue and were directly into lactic acid overload. This was a whole new bodily experience – and I didn’t like it. I thought of that little girl I saw earlier – “Go get The Beast!” Well G** D*** it, I didn’t climb 6/7 of the way up this &^$#^%@ hill only to get off my bike and walk now! And so with my last bit of energy and a little anger (which always helps), I cranked it up to the top of the hill. When I crested the hill and crossed the red, yellow, and green lines on the road, I yelled “YEHAWWWWW I DID IT!!!!” I rang my bell a bunch of times and shook my fist in the air! The crowd went crazy and cheered and hollered along with me! I don’t know my exact time, but the whole climb took somewhere between 7-9 minutes. I managed to take a water hand-up at the top of The Beast and enjoyed a few sips of icy cold water before I started the descent. What a ride!! (I would later find out that Leary’s sun screen went flying out of his bike compartment part way down the back side of The Beast and that he would actually climb BACK UP the hill to retrieve it!! For that, he won the Texas Iron “Dumbass Award” of the week – for climbing both the front AND the back of the Beast! And yes, I nominated him for it!)
It took only approximately 5 minutes of easy spinning to get the feeling back into my legs. And by mile 24 of the bike, I was ready to go! I continued taking in calories every 15 minutes and focused on staying steady and strong. In order to make up some of the time that I was being conservative leading up to The Beast, I now flew down hills, took corners fast (one a little too fast as I felt my rear brake let loose), and I even got a little air over a series of 10 speed bumps on the road in front of the local police department (yes there were 10 because we counted them when we drove the bike course a few days earlier J ).
The back side of the island, near the DiviCarina resort. Having a GREAT time now that The Beast was behind me!!
Once I hit the back side of the island, I felt the winds – average 7-10mph with gusts up to 20mph. It wasn’t as bad as last year (according to Danny), but definitely enough to get your attention. It required steady effort to crank through it and since drafting wasn’t allowed during a race, there was no opportunity to ride on someone’s wheel while they did the majority of the work. However, the idiot in the “Texas” jersey (didn’t know who he was) must have missed the “no drafting” memo and he sat on my wheel for 4-5 minutes. I finally got fed up with it, abruptly sat up, and hit my brakes. I saw him swerve as he nearly ran off the road to avoid me. Then he passed me. I smiled because I knew what was coming next. It was only a matter of a few minutes before I caught back up to him. Funny how he was going much slower now that there was no one pulling him along. I blew past him and the only time I looked back was to make sure he wasn’t there. And he wasn’t.
I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the bike course. My legs felt great, I was climbing hills with little to no difficulty. I found myself back in town and I turned left at an intersection that took me back towards transition. Many people were already on the run course as I rode opposite them. I passed the colorful rock wall on the left, I passed “YB Dirty’s Car Wash” on the right, and then I could see the bike dismount area fast approaching.
YB Dirty’s Car Wash – signifying that the transition area was just ahead.
Out of habit, I got out of my bike shoes while leaving them clipped to my bike. I did one of my flying dismounts and ran from the street up onto the stretch of road leading through the park and back to transition. Right after my feet hit the bumpy transition road surface I knew taking my bike shoes off early was a bad idea. I “ouched” and “ooched” my way through this area, trying to run more on the grass than on the road. There was a bank of porta-potties immediately to my left and I kept waiting for someone to swing a door open and take me out. Luckily this didn’t happen. I made it back to my transition area and racked my bike. I noticed that only one other bike was racked in the 35-39 age group. That struck me as being odd but I didn’t really spend too much time thinking about it as I was trying to simultaneously put on my running shoes and slather on a layer of sunscreen on my shoulders. Up to now, the sun had been behind a thin layer of clouds for most of the morning. But high noon was fast approaching and the sun was starting to peek out. It was ~82 degrees with 65% humidity. Not sure how this was going to “feel”. With running cap and gel flask in hand, I exited transition and headed out on the run.
The run course consisted of one ~6 mile loop done twice. The loop was 2 miles out to the Buccaneer Hotel, 2 miles around the hotel grounds and golf course, and 2 miles back. The first mile of the run was fine. I spent the time trying to find my “running” legs and just get into a rhythm. I had to stop and use the porta-potty which threw me off because I RARELY have to go to the bathroom during a race – I think my body just reabsorbs J. The next mile was OK and I was doing a bout a 9 minute mile. Not great but not too bad either. I was also keeping an eye on my heart rate. It would start to climb and then I would try to back off to keep it under control. The heat wasn’t helping either. Around mile 2 I turned left and entered The Buccaneer Hotel. The roadway into the hotel was lined with 2 water stops – one on either side – and a bunch of spectators. Since I wasn’t carrying water with me (as I normally did) my plan was to stop at every aid station to ensure I was getting enough fluids into my system. After the aid station, I continued to run and entered the golf course area. It was beautiful with flowers and amazingly green grass with the ocean as a backdrop. My scenery enjoyment was short lived as I looked to the right and saw some pretty big hills that were INSIDE the golf course area. Oh crap! I bet the course runs through that area and we’ll have to climb up one of those darn things! Luckily, one of the race volunteers directed me to the left, away from the hills. I would soon come to discover that it WAS too good to be true. The run course wove its way through the golf course and parts were even along the ocean front. I was starting to turn into the “rhythmic heavy breather” again. So I slowed my pace a little. I ran between a bunch of single level condos, and past a beach area with guests lounging in the sun on lawn chairs as wait staff brought them drinks. Oh to be sitting in a lawn chair with a fruity rum drink in my hand right now! I looked down at my watch – I still had about 90 minutes of running to go before I would be done. Ugg! I rounded a corner and was very surprised to find myself at the bottom of a short, steep hill. There were two women sitting there cheering. “Who put THIS here?!” referencing the unexpected hill. “Come on! You can do it!!” they cheered. And so keeping my second race goal in mind (run the entire run course), I ran up the hill. When I got to the top I had to slow down so I could get my heart out of my throat and back into my chest…but I was still running!
Running in the Buccaneer Hotel and Golf resort. Note the lawn chairs and ocean view behind me - THAT’S where I wanted to be!
Along the run route I eventually saw some other team athletes. Andrea was heading back towards town – on her last loop of the run. Jen was several minutes ahead of me and I saw her as she was heading back towards town – finishing up loop 1. I finally made it out of the Buccaneer and back onto the road – 2 miles back to town and then I’d get to do the loop all over again. At this point I was starting to have a mental melt-down as two conversations took place in my head:
“I don’t want to be here….I don’t want to be here”
“Yes you do. Now get moving and quit complaining”
“I think I’m going to cry!”
“No you’re not! You didn’t come all this way to survive a rough swim and climb The Beast just so you could cry on the run course!!”
The heat and hills were really getting to me. I was having this “conversation” about the time I saw Danny. He smiled at me and said, “Good job!” It was at that point I nearly lost it and tears started forming in my eyes.
“Damn it you keep running and don’t you start crying!!!!!” (this was me, not Danny talking.)
Danny would later tell me that he’s never seen me look so bad during a race. I knew he was right. Thanks Danny J
I started making deals with myself: just get to the next aid station and you can have an orange, just another mile and you’ll be half-way there, keep going and you should see Leary in a few minutes. Sure enough in a few minutes I saw Leary running towards me. YEAY!!!!! We encouraged each other on and I even told him that I wasn’t sure I could keep going. He gave me a short pep talk and that really helped. Before I knew it I was back in town and at the turn-around. I headed BACK out towards the Buccaneer hotel (which at this point I had renamed in my mind – the new name replaced the “B” with an “F”…because I now really hated this hotel and the hills on the golf course).
Again I had to stop at the porta-potty. Good grief – twice in one race??!!!! After a quick stop I continued along the road back towards the “F***aneer Hotel”, past “YB Dirty’s Car Wash”, up and down the rolling hills, past the cheering spectators. I turned left into the F***aneer Hotel and immediately hit the aid station. As I ran by and grabbed some water from one of the volunteers I heard a girl’s sad little voice say, “No girl athletes have taken any water from me at all today.” My fatigue instantly went away and I spun around on my heels and ran back to the little girl. As I ran up to her I said, “Can I have some water?” She burst out into the biggest grin and stuck out her hand with the Gatorade cup containing water. I took it from her, drank it, and said, “Thank YOU!!!” She looked up at the woman beside her (probably her Mom) and was still smiling ear to ear. Her mom thanked me and I said, “Hey, we girls need to stick together!” And with that I was off to deal with round two of the hills on the golf course. For some reason the second loop in the golf course didn’t seem as bad. I think it was because I kept telling myself, “Well I won’t have to run by this pond again, and I won’t have to run up this hill again”.
Round two on the Buccaneer golf course. The smile is a lie – I wanted to croak at this point!!!
Before I knew it, I was back on the road leading out of the “F***aneer Hotel” and only had about 2 more miles to deal with before the run would be over. I saw Jen and Danny again and I saw Jeananne for the first time! As I was coming back into town I saw Leary again – YEAY! He looked like he was doing OK. I told him to load up on ice before he got to the Buccaneer Hotel because last I heard they were out of ice. As I ran a little farther I came up on Glenn. He was having a GREAT race and I was very happy to see him. We chatted briefly and then I was off to get myself across the finish line.
As I approached downtown I was directed to veer left and here is where I would run up a few blocks cut over a street, and then run back to the finish line. I should be done in just a couple of minutes! At least that is what I had in my mind. In reality, it ended up being about another mile (because had I done the math earlier, two 6 mile loops only equals 12 miles, not 13.1 miles). So I ran block after block after block. It was rather depressing because there were very few spectators, the streets looked dingy, it was a gradual up hill, and WAY at the end I could barely make out what I though was a water stop. Ugg! So in the words of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I said to myself, “OK, we’ll deal.” And I dealt with it. Block after block, finally the right turn, another right turn, and block after block on the way back.
The last right turn before the finish line.
At this point, the message on the street seemed a lot easier “said” than “done”.
I could finally see the finish line and I kicked it into high gear. Mind you, “high gear” was quite the relative term by now and it likely meant that only I noticed the slight increase in my running speed, and I can tell you that my body certainly noticed! Just before I crossed the finish line, I kissed each bicep (a joke with the team), and as I ran under the “FINISH” banner I heard that wonderful “beeeeep” sound coming from the timing mat – it meant I could stop. And I did!
YEAH!!! Flexing in-between bicep kisses just before the finish line.
Right after I finished I saw Jamie and Andrea. They had been done for quite awhile by now and they looked refreshed and ready to go again. We chatted about the race, what went well, what didn’t. Then I headed over to the food tent and proceeded to drink a ton of water and eat Oreo cookies and oranges. I ran into Jen and we congratulated each other on a great race.
Susan and Jen – post race – with MUCH EARNED finisher’s medals
After a quick soak in the ocean, we headed up to Danny and Glenn’s hotel room to use their shower. We didn’t have a room key but asked a maid if she would let us in – which she did. Gotta love the security in St. Croix! We showered (and left ample weeds behind – not realizing we had carried the weeds from the morning’s swim in our tops during the entire race) , put on some dry clothes, and hurried back to the race site so we could watch everyone else come in.
I was waiting to see Leary at the finish line. I finally saw that familiar figure in the distance…there he was!!! I whooped and hollered and cheered for him as I ran towards the corner he would have to turn on to go down several blocks, turn, and come back up before he finished. A few minutes later I saw him coming again. He crossed the finish line and I was right there to congratulate him!
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Leary on the turn heading down several blocks before turning again towards the finish line. |
The home stretch – Leary seconds before crossing the finish line. |
That afternoon, we all hung around the finish line area. Glenn and Leary soaked their bodies in the ocean water while Danny and I sat on the edge of the pier and ate, and ate, and ate. We all agreed to meet up for the awards ceremony at our hotel room (since the dinner would be at the DiviCarina resort). Leary and I packed up all our gear and headed towards the car. Just out of curiosity, I checked the preliminary race results. The results were posted by time so I couldn’t exactly tell how I did within my age group. Funny thing was that I saw a “2” next to my name. 2? After studying the results a little more, it occurred to me that the 2 was for “2nd place” in my age group. Surely they made a mistake. SOMEONE made a mistake! I turned to Leary and said, “I think I got 2nd place in my age group?” Leary started whooping and hollering!!! I told him to calm down because I think someone made a mistake. But I figured we’d find out tonight at the awards ceremony. Despite a really tough run, I had an OK race and I felt good about it. So to actually place in my age group would simply be icing on the cake.
We got back to the hotel, showered (me for the 2nd time) and relaxed before dinner. Jamie, Andrea, Danny, and Glenn soon showed up at our hotel room. As they came in, Andrea said to me, “You know you got second place?” So it was true!! I was so thrilled!!!!!!!!! I told her I thought it had been a mistake but she confirmed that I indeed got 2nd. So the icing on the cake was official. She followed that up with, “You know, you may have a shot at a Kona slot.” My reaction was simply this - No way. Impossible. First off, there would need to be two Kona slots delegated to my age group and I didn’t think my age group was big enough (there were approximately 21 women in my age group, 18 who finished). Secondly, there was a slim to none chance that the winner of my age group would “decline” the Kona slot and have it roll down to me because St. Croix was such an early season race and people were still trying to qualify for this year’s Ironman Hawaii. I was so thrilled to have a) met all my race goals for St. Croix, and b) finish in 2nd place in my age group that it was enough for me. Kona was literally the furthest thing from my mind – heck it wasn’t even on my radar screen!! So I was totally OK with not getting a Kona slot. Sort of like not missing something you never had.
We headed down to the awards dinner and got a great table by the beach. We ate, drank, and recounted funny stories during the race.
The team in St. Croix – Jen, Danny, Glenn, Leary, Susan Jeananne, Jamie, Andrea
Later that evening, the awards ceremony got underway and we all cheered and clapped when Andrea got up on stage to claim her award amongst the pro-women. Jamie got the “King of the Beast” award for being the first up The Beast – but we were all bummed that he wasn’t officially recognized for it. Well WE recognized him for it anyway J. And after my age group, Jen would go up to claim her 2nd place award for women 40-44.
In the mean time, Leary was getting all excited for me to go up on stage and get my award. He was making me nervous! Then he started asking me, “OK, so if they do offer you a Kona slot, how are we going to pay for it if we don’t have a check blank? Do they take cash? Visa?” I finally told him to stop worrying about it because it wasn’t an issue. Right after I uttered those words, the announcer began calling out the top 5 awards for my age group. When he got to 2nd place, he said in a big, booming, microphoned voice…
“AND IN SECOND PLACE, WOMEN AGE 35-39, SUSAN FARAGO. SUSAN, WOULD YOU LIKE TO GO TO KONA?”
I whipped my head around to Leary and said, “WHAT?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!????!!!!”
Everyone at our table started hollering and yelling and cheering as I shot up from the table and ran towards the stage. Jamie knocked over his drink from pounding on the table so hard. We were sitting way in the back so it took me a minute to get up to the stage. As I ran from our table I heard Andrea exclaim, “That’s the fastest we’ve seen her run all year!”
I got up to the stage and Karen Smyers (one of my FAVORITE female pro triathletes) was there to put a leigh around my neck. I accepted my 2nd place St. Croix award plaque and my Ironman Hawaii slot for 2005. Un-flipping-believable!!!
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Getting “Leigh’ed” by Karen Smyers.
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Top 5 – women’s age group 35-39. |
I got back to the table and I must have just been GLOWING! I hugged everyone and when I got to Jamie, as I hugged him I said, “OK, you’ve got to get me ready for this thing!” He responded with, “Will do.” Then I had to ask Andrea when IM Hawaii was. She said, “October 15”. Oh crap! This was a week before the Great Floridian – an Ironman I was planning to do with my good friend Ed. I turned to Leary and said, “Ed’s going to kill me!” Leary said, “No he won’t”. I knew Ed would be nothing but totally happy for me and completely supportive. But he and I had planned to do The Great Floridian together and now it looked like he would be doing his first Ironman “solo”.
Right as I sat back down, Danny handed me his cell phone. “Hello?” I said. All I could hear was shrieking and screaming on the other end. This went on for about 10 seconds. I finally had to ask Danny who it was. “Robbie” he said. I laughed and after Robbie calmed down, we were actually able to talk. I told her briefly about the race, the awards, and the Kona slot. She was thrilled beyond belief and it meant a lot to me that she was so excited. She asked if I minded if she told a few people and I said, “No – go for it.” Robbie is extremely well connected in the triathlon community so I figured that by the time we got back to Austin (in a week), the whole of Austin would know I was going to Hawaii. As it turned out, it wasn’t the case. Only a few close friends knew about it before we returned. She must have been holding back J
A few minutes later Leary and I were up in the “Kona room” in the hotel. I was filling out the paperwork for Ironman Hawaii and Leary was counting out $450 in cash for the race entrance fee.
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Just sign on the dotted line and I’m going to Kona!
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$450 dollars later...and I bet this is just the tip of the expense iceberg for this trip!! |
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Kona certificate and St. Croix award. Unbelievable!!! |
Kona certificate – It’s Official! |
As I signed my name on the certificate, the guy helping me said, “Here are the on-line instructions for registering for Kona. Go to this website, enter in your certificate number here, and you’ll be set.” How strange that the race entry process seemed so easy once you survived the blood, sweat, and tears of actually earning a slot.
We called it a night shortly after. Leary and I were exhausted and I was to the point where I just wanted to drop over. That night, just as we were going to sleep, Leary whispered, “You’re going to Kona”. I corrected him – “WE are going to Kona”.
Race results….next page
RACE RESULTS
Overall ResultsWomen 35 - 39 Awards – Top 5 Place Time Numb Name City Pr Cnt Swim Bike Run
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1 5:48:31 673 HEATHER TAGG Miami FL USA 46:29 3:06:30 1:55:33
2 6:06:56 649 SUSAN FARAGO Austin TX USA 42:51 3:14:08 2:09:57 3 6:14:57 666 Roma Kusznir Arlington MA USA 34:20 3:25:32 2:15:06 4 6:38:57 661 Janine Herweijer Apeldoorn NLD 47:35 3:17:46 2:33:36 5 6:41:18 663 Jennifer Samway Miami Beach FL USA 42:49 3:41:10 2:17:20
Detailed Results
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SWIM |
1.2 Mi |
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Bike |
56 Mi |
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Run |
13.1 Mi |
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Position |
Time |
Name |
Plc/Tot |
Race# |
Cat |
Overall |
Time |
100/m |
Cat |
Overall |
Time |
Mi/Hr |
Cat |
Overall |
Time |
Min/Mi |
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219 |
6:06:56 |
SUSAN FARAGO |
2/21 |
649 |
5 |
264 |
42:51 |
2:09 |
2 |
217 |
3:14:08 |
17.3 |
3 |
230 |
2:09:57 |
9:56 |
St. Croix Half Ironman
2005 Hawaii Qualifiers
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M18-24 ROELS JONAS - BEL |
M60-64 FREZZA MARTIN L. -
USA
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