Danskin Race Report from Tory

[Guest guest]

This is going to be long. I wrote it to post on my blog, but I'm sending it

to you because you may...or may not, be interested. I had an incredible

experience, though...so I share it!

Danskin Race Report

For me, the Danskin started in April of 2003. I was in the hospital after my

Whipple Procedure (or the other surgery, don't remember which one) and I was

thinking, " I want to do something amazing that I never, ever dreamed I'd be

able to do. What should I do? " I had a LOT of time to think about this as

hospitals are not so much the laugh-a-minute carnival of fun that one would

have you believe. I remembered in the back of my head someone talking about

the Danskin triathlon. I was laying there with tubes sticking out of my

oh-so-sexy belly, able to walk maybe 25 yards without needing to sit down,

and I'm thinking, " Triathlon? Oh yeah, I could do that! "

Color me delusional!

I knew it wasn't going to be in 2003, but that was my goal in 2004. I

started reading as much as I could about triathlons and that particular

triathlon. I started biking in the gym. I went from walking to running. I

thought a lot about swimming, sure I'd need to do that at some point as

well. In March I was one of the first people to sign up for it, the very day

registration opened.

In April I started training in earnest. I found out that despite the fact

that LAST time I was in the water, I'd swam just fine, I could no longer

swim very well. (Never mind that " last time " was probably when I was 12.)

Roy bought me a cheap mountain bike and I started putting in the miles on

that. (And have the scarred knees to prove it!) I kept on running, my

favorite of the three sports. I joined discussion boards. I set up a

training log. I read other people's race reports. I was SO excited!

I trained, and trained, and trained some more. When I found out that my

father-in-law had scheduled a trip to Norway for the two weeks prior to the

Danskin I was not happy. Not that I didn't want to go, but I didn't want to

go THEN. I wanted to be prepared and I worried that I wouldn't be able to

train in Norway. Never fear, I ran in Norway, I swam. I didn't bike, but I

was okay with that. I was ready to go!

T-minus one week to the Danskin I wake up, in Norway, feeling horrible. Not

to worry. I'm sure it's just a 24-hour flu thing. I'll be fine. Monday,

still sick.no worries, it'll be fine. I pushed myself to get out of bed. No

stamina to run, I walked. I still had 6 days. Tuesday, still sick. I tried

to push the worry from my head. We walked from Gravdal into Bergen and

around town that morning, about five miles. I denied that I was going to

have to give up the Danskin. I'd worked too hard to let some bug or troll

get me down. Wednesday came and I was still sick. I shed a few tears and

finally faced up to the fact that I was probably not going to be able to do

this. I rested. I prayed for a miracle. Thursday was the trip home and while

I felt better, I was still sick. Friday I would decide if I could do this or

not.

Friday came and I felt a little better, but after a morning of shopping and

re-stocking the house, I was sick again. That was it. No Danskin for me.

With a heavy heart I emailed friends and family and said " No Danskin. " I was

sick about it, but what could I do?

Saturday morning I woke up dark and early.about 2 a.m. As I lay there

cursing jet lag I started thinking about Danskin and about why I wasn't

doing it. Was I really THAT sick or was I bagging out? How would I feel

about myself Monday morning? How many other women would be there still in

treatment for cancer, weakened, ill, tired with bodies that had betrayed

them. Was I going to let some stomach troll keep me from doing something I'd

dreamed of and worked towards for over a year? I prayed about it a LOT. I

thought about all the possibilities. I knew that there would be on-track

support through every leg of the race. I knew NO one would think less of me

if I had to stop. I knew that Roy would be there supporting whatever

decision I'd made. I knew God would be with me. I also knew I'd be in some

GREAT company. Right there at 2:30 a.m. the morning before the Danskin, I

decided to go for it. I got up and went online and looked up the schedule. I

found my swim gear and assembled it. At 3:30 a.m. I threw on the lights in

the bedroom and announced to my blinking, confused husband, " That's it! I'm

doing it! "

" You're wha??! What time is it??! Are you sure? Are you feeling like you're

up to it? "

" I'm sure. I'm doing it! "

" You are aware it's 3:45 in the morning, aren't you? "

" That clock is fast. It's actually 3:30. "

" You're sure? "

" I'm sure. "

Fast forward to the expo. This is my first Danskin and this place was crazy!

Roy, the pterodactyls living in my stomach, and I made our way through the

lines. I looked up my race number; 170. Cool! Was that a good number? I made

my way over to the sign that said what time my swim wave would start: 7:03.

WHAT?!

Looked again. I was hoping for 8:00 or so.I couldn't go in the third wave!

I got in line for body marking, Roy pointed the camera ready to shoot. I

convinced myself that I'd made a mistake. I whipped out of line back over to

the wall to re-check my number. I heard Roy call " Tory!? Where are you

going? "

Damn. I wasn't wrong. Okay, it is what it is. Maybe there is a benefit to

starting to so early, but I swore I'd signed up in the recreational

category!

Got body marked and then entered another winding line to pick up my race

packet. Then another line to have my chip checked (what a great idea with

almost 4000 women competing, to check the chips). I knew I had a course

review at 12:30 and a First-Timer's clinic at 1:10 so I wanted to get over

and get my goodie bag and check out the rest of the expo. I was standing in

line waiting to pay for anti-fog solution when I saw Kathy Kaleb, a great

lady I had taught with at the junior high. I said hello, we both talked

about how darn NERVOUS we were and how glad we were to find each other. I

wish we'd made arrangements to meet the next day, but we didn't.

While we were talking Roy disappeared only to reappear with a Women's

Danskin 2004 hat for me! I wear a blue Nike hat when I run (to cover the

scary hair from swimming and biking) so when he saw a Danskin hat of the

same color, he knew I had to have a new hat for this. Don't I have an

awesome guy! I hugged him and kissed him and thanked him for the 8,000th

time for being such a wonderful, supportive guy.

We headed over to the course review, which was interesting. When that ended

I wanted to move closer so I could actually see Sally . I'd read two

of her books and I was so fascinated by this woman who was a 16 time Ironman

champion, but dedicated herself and her life to making little people like me

feel like we can accomplish anything AND raising money and awareness for

cancer. I hung on her every word. When we did the little cheer " I am an

awesome swimmer! I am an awesome cyclist! I am an awesome runner! " I swam

and I cycled and I ran with a big grin on my face. I ignored the

pterodactyls, who appeared to be salsa dancing, at this point, with the

trolls and bought into being an amazing woman. I cried with the survivors

who spoke. I clapped. I cheered. I was PUMPED!

After making one more trip around the expo where I picked up some lace locks

and a race belt, we headed out to Genesee Park to rack my bike. I tried to

coax the trolls and giant pre-historic birds out of my intestinal tract but

it was a no go. We got to the site and parked in the first parking lot that

said " Bike rack parking " and walked my bike to the park (discovering we

could have just driven UP to the park.but oh well). I got my rack placement,

A, and made my way up to the front of about 6 million bikes. Whoa! Maybe

there is a benefit to starting so early.but wait there are signs. There were

four racks in A and one rack said " Elite " . Yeah, so NOT me.passed that one

by. The next two said " Team Survivor " . Well, I am a survivor of Hank, but he

was only pre-cancer, so not me. Then one wasn't marked so I looked and was

dumbfounded. Every place was taken! Finally a lady said " You just need to

move a bike over. That's what I did. There's supposed to be ten to a rack

anyhow. "

I hated to do it, but I did. Whew. That's done. I was right in A4, directly

in front of the walkway to the swim entrance. Prime real estate, if you ask

me! Roy asked if I wanted to go look at the swim course, and I said I did.

We walked out there and I said bravely, lying through my teeth, " Wow, that

doesn't look bad at all. I can totally do that. " (What did Dr. Phil say

about " fake it until you make it? " Well I was faking it BIG time!)

We headed to the hotel, checked in, then realizing we had not eaten since

breakfast, we went out to dinner where I talked about tomorrow and Roy

reassured me, and the trolls and pterodactyls ordered fish tacos and bread

and then fought over the bits and pieces as they went down. Took a short

swim in the pool until some cigar smoking, teenie weenie, cannonballed in

right on top of me. We shared our piece of cheesecake we'd brought with us

and I fell deep asleep.

Woke up dark and early once again! I always say, if you're going to do an

endurance sporting event, it's best to get like 3 hours of sleep a night for

the 3 nights prior to the event! I listened for the trolls. They seemed to

be quiet. Maybe the pterodactyls, who were there but sleeping, had eaten

them. After lying in bed wide-awake praying, going over and over the race

course in my mind (especially the swim), I woke Roy and we got up.

Quick breakfast of oatmeal and tea at Denny's and we were off to the site! I

wanted to be at the transition area an hour and a half before my start, for

some reason. So we headed to the parking area and were on the first shuttle

out. We got there before the transition area even opened. By then the

pterodactyls were WIDE awake and doing fly bys in my stomach, but no sign of

trolls at all. I set up my area while Roy took pictures from outside the

transition area. I had brought my " My First Triathlon " medal for good luck,

but not a lot else. Less is more, they say! That took about 2 minutes of my

hour and a half. I sweet-talked Blue, my bike, and told her what was going

to happen and that I'd missed her the night before. I checked and rechecked

my gear. Two more minutes down. I walked over and talked to Roy then we

walked around. I went back into the transition area with my thoughts and

left Roy outside. My doubts were surfacing. I can't do this. I can't. I

can't do the swim. I'm crazy. I have been flat on my back, can't walk for 20

minutes without sitting down sick for a week, and I think I'm doing a

triathlon? What am I insane? I made up my mind to tell Roy I wasn't going to

do it. I couldn't do it. I started to cry. I stopped crying. I said " Knock

it off you big baby! Grow up! " I prayed. I gave my fear to God. He took it.

I felt better. I wrestled it back from him and caressed it a little more. He

waited patiently with his hand out, ready to take it back. I handed it

back.snatched it again and held on a little more, then finally gave it over

to Him and said " Here, I don't want this. Keep it. " He promised He would be

my swim angel and nothing would happen. I thanked him and squeezed out a few

more tears, but this time tears of love and joy because I knew He was with

me, and I knew He gave me Roy and Roy was with me, and I knew I could do it.

At about 6:30 I put on my brave face and shouted down the pterodactyls and

Roy and I walked out to the swim course for a look-see, and then a warm up.

No one was warming up. Was that normal? Finally someone walked into the

water, so I went in after her. We laughed nervously. The water was WARM!

Whew, that was a relief. Another lady joined us. We joked a little about how

this was going to be so great. One lady dove in. I dove in. I swam a few

strokes and turned around and looked towards Roy (blind as a bat, you know).

I swam out to the buoy line, and back in. I stood up and shouted, " I can do

this! This is AWESOME! " People smiled and a few laughed. I didn't care. The

pterodactyls flew out my ear and my personal swim angel settled on my

shoulder and whispered, " I never had any doubt. "

The announcer explained how things were going to go. A lady started a warm

up. I couldn't see her, but I warmed up with her, the women around me

bobbing and jumping and stretching and smiling nervous smiles. She pumped us

up. Soon it was time. We counted down, ten.nine.eight.the elite group, wave

1, went out. Ten.nine.eight.the first group of Team Survivor went out. Now

it was my wave, group two of team survivor. I have no idea why I was put

into the TS group, but I figured it was either a mistake or God's way of

telling me, " After all We went through together last year, my dear, you are

a survivor so I've put you here. "

Sally was in a boat to meet us as we entered the water. Our secret word was

" fantastic " and we were the best swimmers.

Ten.nine.eight.seven.six.I.five.am.four.a.three.fantastic.two.swimmer.one.

We're off!

The swim went relatively well! I started to swim the crawl. I started to

pray. I remembered the verses I had brought with me. I tired quickly.that's

okay, you've been sick. Just roll over and relax some, get back in. I spent

the first half swimming backstroke half the time and crawl half the time. I

think my illness hit me most in the swim. The first buoy came up and I

shouted " Woo hoo!! " and went around it. I realized I hadn't panicked! I

prayed thanks to God and headed out. About halfway into the swim I thought,

" Okay, time to challenge yourself. Swim ten sets of crawl without stopping. "

" Is it stupid to do this while in the race? " " No, just do it. "

Did it.

Then I thought, " Pray and be thankful for as many people as you can without

stopping. " One-two-three breathe. One-two-three-Roy-breathe.

One-two-three-Janny-breathe. One-two-three-Angie-breathe.

One-two-three-Greg-breathe. Who's Greg? No idea. Oh well, he must need my

prayers today! I thought of everyone who needed prayers and everyone and

everything I was grateful for. Soon I was rounding the next buoy. Woo hoos

around! Got kicked in the chest, oh well! The shore looks a long ways away!

Oh well! It is what it is! Kept going kept going. Looked for the plants I

knew I'd be seeing underwater as I got closer! There they were! For some

INSANE reason decided " I want to take one home as a souvenir and put it into

the pond. Kept a few in my left hand as I swam in the rest of the way. About

50 meters charley showed up.as in horse. I told him " Horses don't swim. Get

out of here and bug someone else, but not another competitor. Someone on the

shore. Go! " He did, so if someone on the shore got an unexplained charley

horse, sorry about that.

Remembered the words of the lady from the swim clinic, " Keep swimming until

you touch the bottom three times, then RUN! " Touch, touch, touch, up run!

Saw Roy and screamed " I did it! It was AWESOME! I did it! "

" You DID do it! I love you! "

" Glasses! " He handed me my glasses, I ran off to transition one feeling like

I was running on air. I did it! I did it! I did it!

I took over six minutes to get to the bike start. Hopped on and got going.

The first part was beautiful, right along the lake. We woo-hooed and cheered

" The swim is over! It's all easy from here! " I got passed. I passed. I got

passed a lot. I didn't care. Uh oh, big hill! It is what it is, right? I

shifted down, but not enough and ended up hopping off and running up the

hill about 50 feet or so, back on the bike and onto the I-90 floating

bridge. Into a tunnel, lots of " Yah! " and " Woo hoo! " and " You go girl! " The

I-90 stretch was long and straight, slightly hilly but not bad. I thought a

lot about the swim and I prayed and I cried. I knew that God had seen me

through it in a way I could never have done on my own. I said prayers of

thanksgiving for nne who was my swim coach through the last month or

so.

Turnaround time. I thought I heard my name, but no.who would know me out

here? Going going going.passing on the left, being passed on the left. I

could tell my time wasn't great, but that was okay. I'm not a fast cyclist

on a good day and my quads were complaining about the complete lack of

exercise in the last week. It's okay. Did a body inventory; legs.good,

quads.sore but good, shoulders.wow, didn't but me once in the swim! Great!

Big goofy grin.firmly in place. Attitude.A++. It's a good day to be alive!

Rode in down the big monster hill.nice on the way down. Lots of spectators

cheering. Called out thank yous to people on the course and complimented

some guy on his beautiful dog. Came around the corner. Could see the bike

finish. Remembered the words from the swim clinic about dismounting, throw

one leg over, and coast in until you have to dismount, then run in. Hopped

off, started to run, jelly legs! Whoa! Laughed a HUGE guffaw " Okay, running

in is NOT going to happen today! " Walked in! " Wooo hoo! Bike is over! "

Found my legs and loped into transition. Dropped off the bike, grabbed my

hat, stuffed my gel into my tri suit and took off. Much faster than T1!

This was MY leg. I love running. I really do. I had acknowledged going in

that there was going to be a chance that I might have to walk, but that was

okay. Jogged over to the start and took off amid cheers. Roy called my name

and snapped a picture! I slowed and yelled, " I love you!!!!!!! " then ran

off.

Oh it just felt great to be alive! The sun was shining! The lake was

gorgeous. I was on this course with 4000 other amazing women! I ran past

many people, calling out " You've looking great! " " Way to go! " " Only THREE

miles to go! We're nearly there! "

I came up on a lady running ahead of me and noticed she had a Lance

Armstrong bracelet on. As I ran up to her I called out " Live strong! I have

my bracelet on too! " She said, " I'm not feeling very strong right now. " I

slowed and I said, " You know what? You are doing something today that 99% of

the people out there would never even DREAM of doing. "

" I know. " She said wearily.

" You're living strong. We all are! We are awesome! Keep going! "

I stayed with her a few more paces and then picked up. I saw a lot of ladies

struggling and called out encouragement. Like in my last triathlon I figured

I may not be the best triathlete, but I was going to be someone who made

others feel GREAT about what they were doing.

Mile one, looked at my watch.whoa! Under a 9 minute mile? Is that right?

Can't be. Looked at the lake on my left.how beautiful. Wondered if the

people who lived there took this amazing site for granted. Yelled, " It is a

wonderful day to be alive! " Cheers from other ladies. " Beats a day of being

dead ANY time! " Laughter.

Thanked the course support.passed a guy playing bongos and said " Thank you! "

He yelled out " Looking awesome! " I said " you have NO idea how much your

support means to all of us! " Running.running.turned the corner, mile

two.wow, about 9:40 mile. That's great! Woo hoo!

" Ladies! You look incredible! " " Woo hooo! " " Oh my Lord, look at that hill!! "

It is what it is.headed up a nasty hill. Why did that they do that to us!

After half a mile swim, 12.4 miles of biking, 2.75 miles of running, they

give us this hill???

Came over the top of the hill and said to the lady next to me, " Well that

kind of sucked, didn't it? "

" Yup, it kind of did! "

" Ah well, we're home free now! "

The spectators were getting thicker, yelling, cowbells, air horns. " You're

almost there! You're almost there! "

My heart leapt into my throat as I turned into the park. Lots of cheers.

Blessed shade.it was getting toasty! I turned a corner and saw the finish

line, oh my God. I did it. I did it. I did it. I started down the finish

shoot and started to cry, couldn't breathe " Don't cry yet. You can't breathe

when you cry. It wouldn't do to pass out before you hit the finish line.

Buck up little soldier! " Fought back the tears and ran hard, let the cheers

fill my ears, crossed the mat, heard the beep, started to cry.ran up to a

volunteer who placed a medal around my neck and said, " Congratulations. You

are a triathlete. "

I stumbled through the cheers and found my wonderful Roy and hugged him and

cried and cried and said " Thank you.thank you. " He said, " I'm so proud of

you " and laughed at my tears. We hugged and hugged and hugged. I was so

tired. I said " A week ago I couldn't get out of bed. I can't believe I did

it. " " I can't believe you did it either! " My swim angel on my shoulder said,

" I never had any doubt. "

<file:///W:/teechur.gif>

~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'

Tory Klementsen, MCP A+

Career and Technology Educator

www.teechur.com

www.msteechur.com

-The successful person will do the things that the unsuccessful person will

not.