First thing first I have to give a huge thanks to my Dad and Brother for being my support crew for this race (Without them I would not had finished), and second a big thanks to all the volunteers and organizers.
August 3rd @ 2am I was awaken to thunder showers and rain on my skylight it continued until I left so I knew that it was going to be wet I was just hopping that the wind would be going my way.
I arrived at ghost lake around 4:45 half way on my way I realize that I left my nutrition at home so had to turn around and pick that up but had left early enough to no big deal.
When I got to ghost lake it was raining still and muddy, I got my bike ready and the rain started to end, at the same time all the buses started to arrive with the other athletes so it got a little busy but I was pumped, I met Cheryl a race official she was super helpful in getting me organized and was a super support the whole race.
6:10 the race starts I am in the water swimming freestyle well I suck at that and cant sight to save my life, I end up way off coarse so I switch to back crawl I still cant swim strait but better then freestyle only real problem is its so slow, at about the halfway point I get caught by the next wave then around 3/4 of the way through I get caught by the wave after that.... I hate swimming I was slow and frustrated but kept on going, I finally got it done in 50:45
Get up to my bike change and get on the road, transition was 6:13
So I am on the road and I feel good there is no wind so that makes me happy, I had done the first part of the ride so knew what to expect the only thing I was not ready for was the mosquitoes I was attacked by them it was brutal, I was also passed by many people but was expecting that and everyone was very supportive.
When I got to around the 50km mark I was ahead of schedule and still felt really good, headed up the Cochrane hill and still felt good my average speed was just right....But then I started to crash well not so much crash but just got beat down the climb out just kept going and going and going and to top it off I could feel a head wind coming up.
I got to the top and was happy that I was on my way to the "fast" section of the coarse well I got a head wind so the section I was counting on to make up time was a huge fail, the closer I got to the finish the more I new I would not make the cut off, now I did not know for sure what the cutoff time was I assumed it was at 12:00 and knew that I would be in around 10min after that but would be close to finishing in under 5hours.
I pulled up to the last right were my brother was waiting for me, I had missed the cut off, I continued to T2, I was not able to cross the timing mat due to the cut off but with a quick call to a race official I was told I could keep going so off I went total time for the bike was 4:53:40
So onto the racing chair I went nice downhill to start then a slight uphill, I then came to the first big down hill, I met up with my dad and brother here I was able to get down no problem, off across the bridge to the south side there are some very large hills at over 9% and one at 15%. On the big hills I received support from my brother to get up them (with the RD Approval) the run was had definitely not a good coarse for a racing chair way to hilly and narrow so had to watch out for runners but being that I was so far behind there was not as many of them on the coarse, also a thanks to Tony my police escort.
I approached the finish slowly it was on an uphill grade (nothing but hills all day), I started to get tunnel vision and started to break down I was physically and emotionally done I crossed the line and it was over, got my belt buckle and finisher shirt.
Total time for race was 7:53:16 under the 8 hour cutoff!!!
The days that followed I felt pretty good not overly sore but definitely fatigued.
Unfortunately due to not making the bike cutoff I officially got a DNF seems lame as they let me continue and I ended up finishing under the official race cutoff so I guess I will just have to kick some bigger ass next year!!
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