Mike Brown's St. Anthony's PledgePage
May 4, 2001
I just wanted to take a moment and thank everyone who helped me out in the last six months as I trained and prepared for this crazy race. The race was last Sunday, April 29, and it went better than expected. My time of 3 hours, 38 minutes and 45 seconds certainly isn’t going to threaten the pros times (or the 75+ women’s age group for that matter!). My intent was to complete it, alive, and still willing to speak to those who got me involved in the first place (you know who you are!) I not only realized these goals, but the sense of accomplishment was immeasurable.
All of this would not have been possible without the amazing support of my friends and family. Without your generosity and encouragement, I never would have made it, either from a fundraising standpoint, or a physical standpoint. As an individual, I met my goal of raising $4000.00. As a chapter with 32 participants, we raised a total of over $150,000.00, and 370 Team in Training members from around the country donated an amazing 1.2 million dollars to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for this one event. To say this was remarkable would be more of an understatement than saying the swim was easy. (More on that later!)
Now for the gory details. Saturday, we had practice first thing in the morning. This was the first time most of us were in the open ocean in our wetsuits. The water was rough and choppy, the wind was blowing, and to say the least, it was a little unsettling. The next task was assembling our bikes, and taking them for a quick test ride to make sure everything was working properly. The rest of the day was spent watching the men’s and women’s pro races, which made us realize what true amateurs we were, but it was a great source of information and inspiration to watch them. Then a couple laps through the expo to see who could spend the most money in their heads building the ultimate dream bike. (It’s a good thing my credit card was at the hotel; I’d be riding a very expensive new titanium bike right now, because it was “on sale at special expo prices!”)
Saturday night we had our pre-race pasta party, complete with speakers ranging from one of the greatest triathletes of all time, Dave Scott, to a woman who has fought for her life against cancer since she was 18. Her story made us realize just how insignificant the waves were during practice earlier that day. Loaded up on carbohydrates, we attempted to get a good night’s sleep, since we had to be up at 5:00 a.m. Sunday morning.
Sunday arose with a stiff wind blowing straight in off the water, ensuring the “smooth as glass” conditions we were promised were nowhere to be found. After a quick breakfast, we headed to the first of several stops before the race started, body marking. For those of you not familiar with the sport of triathlon, this is where a swarm of volunteers descend on you armed with thick black magic markers, and put your race number and age on your arms, thighs and calves. 6 days after the race, there are still reminders of this on my body. After this, we went into the transition area to set up our gear, then we made our way to the swim start.
Thankfully, being in the Clydesdale category I was in the second wave to start. Waiting around would have been torture. The downside was, my swim was so slow, I saw swim caps of every color of the rainbow (each group has a different color) pass me before I was done. My six months of practicing a smooth, efficient freestyle stroke went right out the window as I resorted to a modified breast/side/survival/doggie paddle stroke to get me through the waves. The next leg is the bike. This was my part of the event. For the most part it went very well, except I realized after a while that my rear brake was dragging due to the lever slipping down the handlebars. As one of my biking friends said, “Didn’t you smell the smoke?” It wasn’t quite that bad, but I did ride about 6 miles with the brake on, then the last 15 miles with no rear brake at all after I disconnected it. Feeling pretty good after the bike ride, I started off on the run. That good feeling wasn’t going to last for long. I never truly appreciated the term brick workout, referring to running immediately after cycling. Now I know. I was pretty sure someone implanted a softball in my left thigh while I wasn’t looking. I kept telling myself, run to the end of the block and around the corner, then you will be out of site of all the spectators. Then you can walk until it feels better. Well, I did that, only to find Katherine, our coach sitting on the curb immediately after rounding the corner. The next 6.2 miles were a combination of running and walking, trying to work the cramp out. It finally left as I rounded that corner again coming back to the finish line. The exhilaration of running down the final 100 yards or so in front of cheering spectators, and hearing your name and time announced as I crossed the finish line made the whole thing seem worthwhile. There will be pictures, take a look.
When I came out of the swim, I swore if I lived through this day, I would never do this again! Today I sent in my membership to USA Triathlon, the sponsoring body for most races, and I have at least two more races I plan on doing this summer, along with plans to return to St. A’s next year.
Thanks for all of your support,
Mike
I just wanted to take a moment and thank everyone who helped me out in the last six months as I trained and prepared for this crazy race. The race was last Sunday, April 29, and it went better than expected. My time of 3 hours, 38 minutes and 45 seconds certainly isn’t going to threaten the pros times (or the 75+ women’s age group for that matter!). My intent was to complete it, alive, and still willing to speak to those who got me involved in the first place (you know who you are!) I not only realized these goals, but the sense of accomplishment was immeasurable.
All of this would not have been possible without the amazing support of my friends and family. Without your generosity and encouragement, I never would have made it, either from a fundraising standpoint, or a physical standpoint. As an individual, I met my goal of raising $4000.00. As a chapter with 32 participants, we raised a total of over $150,000.00, and 370 Team in Training members from around the country donated an amazing 1.2 million dollars to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for this one event. To say this was remarkable would be more of an understatement than saying the swim was easy. (More on that later!)
Now for the gory details. Saturday, we had practice first thing in the morning. This was the first time most of us were in the open ocean in our wetsuits. The water was rough and choppy, the wind was blowing, and to say the least, it was a little unsettling. The next task was assembling our bikes, and taking them for a quick test ride to make sure everything was working properly. The rest of the day was spent watching the men’s and women’s pro races, which made us realize what true amateurs we were, but it was a great source of information and inspiration to watch them. Then a couple laps through the expo to see who could spend the most money in their heads building the ultimate dream bike. (It’s a good thing my credit card was at the hotel; I’d be riding a very expensive new titanium bike right now, because it was “on sale at special expo prices!”)
Saturday night we had our pre-race pasta party, complete with speakers ranging from one of the greatest triathletes of all time, Dave Scott, to a woman who has fought for her life against cancer since she was 18. Her story made us realize just how insignificant the waves were during practice earlier that day. Loaded up on carbohydrates, we attempted to get a good night’s sleep, since we had to be up at 5:00 a.m. Sunday morning.
Sunday arose with a stiff wind blowing straight in off the water, ensuring the “smooth as glass” conditions we were promised were nowhere to be found. After a quick breakfast, we headed to the first of several stops before the race started, body marking. For those of you not familiar with the sport of triathlon, this is where a swarm of volunteers descend on you armed with thick black magic markers, and put your race number and age on your arms, thighs and calves. 6 days after the race, there are still reminders of this on my body. After this, we went into the transition area to set up our gear, then we made our way to the swim start.
Thankfully, being in the Clydesdale category I was in the second wave to start. Waiting around would have been torture. The downside was, my swim was so slow, I saw swim caps of every color of the rainbow (each group has a different color) pass me before I was done. My six months of practicing a smooth, efficient freestyle stroke went right out the window as I resorted to a modified breast/side/survival/doggie paddle stroke to get me through the waves. The next leg is the bike. This was my part of the event. For the most part it went very well, except I realized after a while that my rear brake was dragging due to the lever slipping down the handlebars. As one of my biking friends said, “Didn’t you smell the smoke?” It wasn’t quite that bad, but I did ride about 6 miles with the brake on, then the last 15 miles with no rear brake at all after I disconnected it. Feeling pretty good after the bike ride, I started off on the run. That good feeling wasn’t going to last for long. I never truly appreciated the term brick workout, referring to running immediately after cycling. Now I know. I was pretty sure someone implanted a softball in my left thigh while I wasn’t looking. I kept telling myself, run to the end of the block and around the corner, then you will be out of site of all the spectators. Then you can walk until it feels better. Well, I did that, only to find Katherine, our coach sitting on the curb immediately after rounding the corner. The next 6.2 miles were a combination of running and walking, trying to work the cramp out. It finally left as I rounded that corner again coming back to the finish line. The exhilaration of running down the final 100 yards or so in front of cheering spectators, and hearing your name and time announced as I crossed the finish line made the whole thing seem worthwhile. There will be pictures, take a look.
When I came out of the swim, I swore if I lived through this day, I would never do this again! Today I sent in my membership to USA Triathlon, the sponsoring body for most races, and I have at least two more races I plan on doing this summer, along with plans to return to St. A’s next year.
Thanks for all of your support,
Mike