the race was good. i started the swim in a great way. as rough as the water, i thought it was part of the challange and i took it in within me. i felt good in the beginning and as i look down and see that the bottom part of me change from dark to light, i was glad and i truly felt great. i was expecting to be in the swim for an hour, and it turned out as i walked towards the shower and look at my watch, it was 47 minutes. so, i thought, WOW.....THIS IS GREAT.....THIS IS WHY I LOVE THE SPORT....i am solo the superfan......
then, i got to my transition area to prep myself for the bike. i took my time to eat half of powerbar and drink to wash all that salt in my mouth, then i took my bike to the start of bike line. as i got on my bike, i said to myself, here we go...!
as i started on the bike, mike caught me and gave me a pat on my behind, that definitely was encouraging. thanx, mike. then, i started to see my teamates along the course, one by one passing me going to the other way, unill i got to the highway and i saw mike neill flying through and i thought, hey, i'm on the same team as that guy....at the same time, i realized, hey, i got to eat and drink, so i took my the other half of the bar. then i looked up and saw the bridge. and i said to mysef, hm..... after going up through the bridge, i thought to myself, thank GOD i was at the camp in portsmouth, since i was so afraid before with hills, but now, i think i kind of get an idea of how to handle it, not entirely though. then after the bridge, i saw a speed bump and one of bottle came off the cage, but wait, it got hold up between my legs, since i put my feet position at 9 and 3, again, thanx mike. so i said to myself, bottle, stay, stay, and YES! i was able to get it and put it back in the cage, yeach......!!!
as i get to the turn around for the bike, this truck in front of me hit the brake, so i yelled, come on....!!!! but then, she got off the road, as this one guy beside me said, retarded....!
so i thought, oh well, let's move on, we are racing....
as i was at the end of the bike leg, i said to myself, all rite, just keep pedalling until transition, even though my behind was pretty uncomfortable, but i knew what i had to do. so, i got to transition, unclipped my shoes and walked my bike to be racked. then, i took everything off that i needed from the bike, to put on everything that i need for my run. again, i took my time to eat and drink beforehand. as i started running, i looked down to my watch. i was thinking of being on the bike for 3 hrs, instead my watch showed 2:52:30. so i thought, YES....THIS IS GREAT......
as i started on the run leg, i felt ok. i was able to keep on running for the first 3 mile, then something hit me, now sure what and not sure why. so, i thought to myself, is it the heat? is it the food/nutrition? so i started to take another leftover powerbar and some drinks from the aid station. and i started running again. after i saw rach coming back at about mile 4, or 5, not sure, something hit me again, then i realized it was definitely the heat. i started to feel the sun was actually frying my skin. after that, i started walking, running, walking, running, until i passed mile 6 in the park, then my teammate tim caught me and he was asking whether i was ok or not. i told him, yes, i'm ok, but just not sure why i can't run at the time. so he suggested to run and walk with him. i took his suggestion and it actually help. until about mile 11, then i started to feel the same as i was at mile 5. so, i thought to myself, i know i can finish this, and i will finish this. then, at mile 12, i started to think about what i had done, what had been happened to me, what i had been doing that whole day from 7 am that morning. i started to get emotional, but i hold it back. until at the last run/walk session with tim, he said, all rite, run all the way to the finish?! so, i said, YES.....! so, i kept on running from the stoplight all the way to the turn and as i promised to myself to always do a sprint finish, i sprinted all the way to the finish line.
as i crossed the finish line, i pumped a fist to the air and hit the ballon on the side, then i kneeled down, kissed the finish line and high five to it. after that, i just couldn't hold back my emotion anymore. i cried, cried and cried for a while. got my medal, sit on the sidewalk and just kept on crying, thinking about what i had just done.
all in all, i was happy and even amazed to myself. 5 weeks ago, i thought i had to pull out of the race. in the end of this race, i thanked GOD, mike and mike, all my teammates of Human Powered Racing, that are racing and also the ones that are not racing in the GCT'08.
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