A race entry without a PR
The streak was bound to end. After the breakthrough I have been experiencing the last several months, eventually there would be a race without a new best.
This past Saturday was the second race in the BFAST series. On May 6, I had set a PR by almost 10 minutes in the first BFAST. Since I had been on the road for much of the previous week, and with the hotter temperatures, I wasn't sure what to expect. Ironically, my race number for this week was the same number I had the previous week at the Harpoon 5-miler, I was number 213 again. Weird.
I picked up James and Josh at 5:50 am for the drive out to Mickler's. I checked in, got marked, and set up in transition. Time to make a quick stop at the potty and head for the beach. Maybe not. The line at the port-o-lets was pretty long, and the line at the permanent facilities (2 bathrooms) was also long. At the permanent facilities, the ones I usually frequent, folks had created a line for the guys and a line for the girls. All of the guys in front of me had yellow caps, meaning their waves would start 5 minutes after mine, and it was getting close to my wave start. There was even a guy in front of me that was only doing the bike leg of the race. To make matters worse, the relays are the last wave to start, but he must've had to go that very instant. Arrgh. This is always a frustrating game of chicken. Do I really need to go, or is it a mental thing? Well, let's put it this way, I started the race a little heavier than I wanted to. But, if I hadn't left when I did, I would've missed my wave start.
The ocean was a little rougher for this race, but not terrible. Just some little swells to get through. I didn't have a good swim, coming into T1 around 11:03. That's 2:07 slower than the last race, then again, I wore a wetsuit in the last race. Still, not the end of the world. I decided I would focus on picking up time in other parts of the race. The first place to pick up time was in T1. Last race it took me 2 minutes to get through T1. This race it took 1:19. Woo-hoo! Like the last race, I saw my friend Sheri as I ran through transition.
For the bike, I knew there was time to be saved. I was racing on my friend Mike McLamb's fancy HED aero-wheels. Always good for speed. Immediately after crossing A1A after coming out of transition, I couldn't believe my eyes. A guy was driving down the middle of our lane in a pick-up towing a giant trailer. It held up a couple of the other bikers, but I was a bit more brazen in riding down the middle of the double yellow strips with a car coming in the opposite direction. Where are the cops that are supposed to be controlling traffic? How did this guy get past the 3-4 cops at the A1A intersection? Once past him, I launched into the big ring and starting spinning at about 95 rpm. I was passed by a couple of guys, the second one wearing an aero helmet. Whatever. I then proceeded to watch the guy with the aero helmet ride the other guys wheel the ENTIRE course. When we popped back onto A1A, an official came up on a motorcycle. I though for sure the cheater was going to get nailed. He didn't. I ended up finishing the bike in 28:42, an improvement of :18 over my assumed finishing time of 29:00 at the last race. I took my feet out of my shoes as I approached transition. This week, no problems finding my rack. I made it through T2 in :42, an improvement of :50 over the last race (again, I'm assuming since my bike and T2 times were messed up in the last race).
I now head into the run, 17 seconds behind last year. As I head out of the parking lot, I hear Guy Cuddihee yell "Marshall Butler you run boy!" Then as I run onto Ponte Vedra Boulevard, I hear someone yell "Go Marshall!" I didn't recognize the person in the crowd. My friend Kevin Wallquist was directing the cyclists into T2 and gives me a high 5. Time to push. @#$%! This hurts. And man is it hot. I pushed as hard as I could, but was running alone for much of the run. I kept the drafter cheater in my sights, but he was running at a wicked pace. Of course, he had fresh legs. Josh passed me a little before the 1 mile mark and told me to make it hurt. He was in 3rd place for the first wave. At the 1 mile mark there was a nasty dead racoon on the side of the road. Stinky! A little while later, I saw James running hard heading home. I made the turnaround and started giving it everything. Not much in the tank. Maybe I should have taken a gel. By this time, there were lots of people on the run course heading for the turnaround. As I approached the curve to the finish line, I gave it everything, but I ended up with 1:04:44. The run took 23:00, :50 slower than the last race.
I grabbed a cup of Gatorade, and the mystery cheerleader appeared. It was Bill Bishop, in a sling. He had messed up his thumb last week, and had to have surgery last Friday. He tried to convince the surgeon to let him race first, but the surgeon didn't go for it. Nice try Bill. I found James and Josh. James had finished 8th overall and Josh had snagged 14th. Good race guys!
While disappointed that I didn't get a PR, I am satisfied that I broke my 2005 goal of going under 1:05:00 in the sprint for a second time. Of course, going into the race, my mindset was to break 1:02:00. I also heard rumbling from folks that the swim might have been a little longer this time. You often hear that, but the swim times were slower for most folks. Overall, I am pretty happy with the race.