NOLA Ironman 70.3 Post Race

>> Monday, April 13, 2009

(Thanks for all the great comments on my race report. It was a hell of a day! I’m glad I was able to share that whole story with you. Thanks again for the comments!!)

So, when we left off, I had just finished the New Orleans 70.3 in 5:28:25, which was a PR by 5:33. My left hammy was still sore from whatever I did to it on the bike, but I was THRILLED that I was able to have had such a great run! I remarked in my race report that I had been flying when I hit the line - I didn’t track my splits, but I’m SURE I negative split the half marathon. I have proof of how much I was booking it. Here’s a photo from just before hitting the carpet, which signals the start of the finishers chute. Note where I am (I’m the one who’s legs look duck-like), and note the man in black on the right:



Compare that with one of the photos I showed in my race report when I’m about to hit the line. Note how far ahead I am of that same man in black:



Like I said: bookin’ it like a librarian.

There was still a little more drama left in my day. A volunteer bent down to remove my timing chip. She took off the 2 safety pins (I’m always paranoid that I’ll lose it) and un-did the Velcro. She took it off and looked at me. “Uhh, sir... there’s no chip....”

What.

Long story short: I had a slight pedal-to-pedal collision with another biker at one of the water stops on the bike, and we hit on the side where I was wearing my chip. I told the lady that it must have busted the chip right off. She quickly had me go talk to someone in the tent next to the line, and they confirmed that they had manually recorded my number when I crossed the line, so I was good! WHEW!!

As it turns out, I had an official bike split and T2 time, so the crash must have just broke the chip’s little “arms,” but it didn’t fall off until sometime during the run. A day after the race, I snapped a photo of my scratched ankle that shows the only remnants of that little chip-breaking encounter with a stranger:



So once that was taken care of, I talked with a few bloggers in the finishers area: Chloe (who I walked with before the race), Melissa, and Amy (who I passed on the bike - but I failed to mention before that she passed me back with about 8 miles left), among others.

In the food and drink area, I ran into Chris McCormack and got to touch him AGAIN! I told him, “Hey, nice job out there.” (I didn’t know how he finished, but I figured, hey, he’s Macca, so it must have been OK.) He asked how I did. I told him I PRed. He said, “In this heat? Way to go, man!” Praise from Caesar himself!! Thanks Macca!!!

Wil had my camera and was snapping photos of the finisher’s chute. Here are some shots she got of the pros doing their thing. Here’s the winner, Brent McMachon:



Here’s Chris McCormack (Macca) finishing hard in 2nd place:



It’s nice to see that even the pros are in pain once they finish:



Chris McDonald, who I got to talk to 2 days earlier, and who’s mantra helped get me through the run, finished in 13th place overall:


Pharmie thinks this photo’s pretty “hunky”

Natscha Badmann finished first for the women:





Linsey Corbin, who we also met 2 days before (and who is known for finishing races while wearing a cowboy hat), finished in 7th for the women:



Finally, Heather Gollnick, who we also met 2 days before, finished in 11th:



Wil didn’t get any photos of Desiree Ficker finishing. Sorry Des fans. Here are some great photos of everyone in our group finishing the race:


Sweet came in first


Then Robby

I came in next, but Wil missed me at the line and felt horrible. Ain’t no thang. So she snapped a photo of me when I was talking to her:



JP, the one who I ran with for a bit, came in next:



Then TriSaraTops finished:



Stu gave me a thumbs up as I was standing next to Wil who grabbed a shot of him finishing:



Rural Girl finished strong:



And soon enough, my lovely Pharmie crossed the line:



We all gathered in the shade just outside of the finishers area, and then we decided to leave pretty quick because JP had to get back to catch his flight. So we didn’t get to see TriCajun and his wife, Lisa, finish the race. They did the whole thing together:



The sweetest thing is that they DANCED across the finish line together:











(OK, off the record, can I just say that Lisa is SMOKIN’ for having 4 teenagers! Nice work Lisa! And way to go TriCajun! OK, now we can be back “on the record.”)

While we waited for the bus to take us back to transition, Chad found me and said “hi.” We chatted for a minute as I tried to avoid the sun. We got back to transition (after a great, air-conditioned, cushy-seated, charter bus ride), Pharmie and I took our bikes to the Bicycle World tent so they could be shipped back to us, helped the Evotri gang haul their stuff back to the van, and we all went back to the house. Pharmie and I compared sunburns. I did NOT have a watch line a few hours earlier, but now my arm looked like this:



I was also “tattooed” with my race number, 1169:



Pharmie had the most impressive burn lines. She had a DOUBLE line on her legs - her bike shorts covered quite a bit of her legs, but in T2 she took off those bike shorts, and she just had shorter tri-shorts on under that. So she’s got 2 lines on both legs:



But her back was the worst. This HURT:



Yawouch. We DID apply A LOT of sunscreen before the race, but I think we needed to reapply in both T1 and T2. We’re pale Minnesotans, we’re not used to the sun in early April. Lesson learned.

We all showered up and hit the town. We were STARVING. I ordered a ton of big, rosemary-BBQ shrimp:



I had to shuck them and pull off all the body parts I didn’t want to eat. Here’s the pile of shrimp “husks:”



They were SO GOOD! The strong rosemary with the spicy BBQ was a great flavor combination. They were quite messy to eat though:



Then, all of us hit Bourbon Street:



Pharmie and Rural Girl were “boozin’ it up” in the streets:



We popped into one bar that had a mechanical bull. Sweet had ridden it a few days before, and someone said I needed to try it. Ya don’t have to ask me twice:




I’m NOT falling off here. Really.

Pharmie was taking a video. I didn’t want to put up the whole thing, so I took some screenshots. This is Pharmie’s favorite part when I mounted the bull for the second time and got some sweet, sweet air:





Well, after going up and down Bourbon Street, it was time for all of us to hit the hay. We got up early the next day (Monday) to load up and catch our flight home. On Tuesday, I was back to teaching. I tried to eat pretty healthy right after the race to help my recovery. Here’s some great cheese pasta and a mixed berry Monkey Shake from 1010Wellness:



That night, I iced my butt in bed. Don’t be looking for an ice-pack in this photo - it’s practically up my butt:


(but notice my red arms and nose)

My sunburn on my face started peeling on Wednesday. It was nasty. A few days later my arms and neck started peeling. Here’s what my left arm looked like on Saturday morning:


It’s harder to see my number, but THANKFULLY
“69” is still VERY readable. Great. Thanks Mother Nature.

Later on Saturday when I was sitting at the table grading projects, I started to peel my arm. Here are some of the bigger chunks I got off:



If you know me REALLY well, you’ll know EXACTLY what I did with this skin. I didn’t tell Pharmie what I did with this, but I know that she’ll know exactly where that peeled skin went. Do you have a guess as to where that skin ended up? Be specific. The first correct guess will win a prize. I can’t guarantee that I won’t just mail you a wheat penny or some crap, but hey, a prize is a prize. So quityerbitchin. ;)

Anyway, that concludes the massive story of our trip. We’re SO GLAD we went and did this augural event, but we don’t know that we’d do another long course, far away, early season tri like this again. Here are the links to all the great buddies we hung out with during our trip: Pharmie, Stu, Rural Girl, Robby, TriSaraTops, Tri-Cajun, JP, Wil, and Sweet



My butt/hammy is still a little sore, but I think I’ll try running for the first time since the event either tonight or tomorrow. I’m thinking about a 4 mile “Mud Run” this weekend, and then a group of 5 of us are going to the Winter BeGone Duathlon in just under 2 weeks! YAY for “Multi-Sport Season” in MN!!

53 comments:

FLATOUT JIM 5:00 AM, April 13, 2009  

So dude, what's up next for STEVE IN A SPEEDO?

There is a whole summer of swimmin, bikin and runnin ahead.

MizFIt 5:10 AM, April 13, 2009  

VERY VERY COOL.
Love your post competition posts as I feel as though I were there.
right down to the throwupabitinmymouth skinpeelage.

oh
and if I conpeted I would SO be the woman in the cowboy hat.

love that---

Miz.

Julia 5:32 AM, April 13, 2009  

I bet it's now worth all that winter training 'cause now you're in top shape at the beginning of season!

C 5:38 AM, April 13, 2009  

Love the picture-packed post. As for your dead skin, I hope you put it in the nearest bio-hazard receptacle. Otherwise, I just don't want to know. :)

duchossois 6:17 AM, April 13, 2009  

Great race report and wonderful photos. Very impressive finish photos showing you dusting the guy in black.

joyRuN 6:17 AM, April 13, 2009  

Awesome pics - so inspirational.

Except for the lobster-red peeling burn pics - it hurt just looking at them!

Mike 6:30 AM, April 13, 2009  

Nice job again!!! Great photos as well!!! I bet it hurt like a son of a gun scrubbing those numbers off your sunburnt arms! lol

Shannon 6:31 AM, April 13, 2009  

It sounds like you had a great time. You sure your not sponsored yet? LOL...

Maggs 7:00 AM, April 13, 2009  

I agree with Pharmie. That is a hunky picture. And damn! Rural Girl has some guns on her.

Diana 7:01 AM, April 13, 2009  

What a fun report to read and great pictures to look at!
My guess on the dead skin is that you ate it?!

Anonymous,  7:02 AM, April 13, 2009  

Ouch on the sunburn; still impressed with your race! Looks like a lot of fun and like your hard work was definitely rewarded. I think someone ate your skin.

Steve Stenzel 7:04 AM, April 13, 2009  

Nope, no one (or nothing) ate my skin...

Missy 7:28 AM, April 13, 2009  

OH, I can wear out real NOLA BBQ Shrimps, I tell ya...I actually have a recipe you can make at home BUT I skip the shirmpies with the heads...don't want them lookin at me.

Great pics! (like that's a surprise) Hope you've shed your outerskin!

Kim 8:29 AM, April 13, 2009  

i was going to ask if your cat ate the skin!

holy hell of sunburn! you poor things! but it looks like you and pharmie had an absolute blast!

Jess 8:35 AM, April 13, 2009  

Oh my gosh Pharmie's back!!! Get that girl some aloe! And you too!!!

Congrats again on an awesome race!

tfh 8:53 AM, April 13, 2009  

Ewwww...thank you for confirming no one ate the skin. Still no correct guesses?

Anyway, great photos. I did think the sunburn looked painful, but no more painful than just finishing the race!

trimybest 8:59 AM, April 13, 2009  

im guessing you rolled your skin in a ball and kept it.


YIKES I hope you get pharmie some lotion, aloe vera and some ibuprophen! Holy crap that looks painful!

Brian 9:15 AM, April 13, 2009  

gotta put the dried skin in a scrapbook. next time some good sunblock before race start might help.

awesome blog and photos.

I have the same shoes as macca. Will that help me? Doubtfull

X-Country2 9:33 AM, April 13, 2009  

Awesome race report! All 3 parts. Congrats to the whole crew.

Although can I just squee for a secong that Chris McCormack races in Under Armor shoes! I wear Under Armor shoes too! We are so meant to be.

Marlene 9:54 AM, April 13, 2009  

Awesome report and great pics! Congrats all around and happy recovery to all.

Those sunburns look BRUTAL.

Also, I love Natscha Badmann's moves crossing the finish line. You need to wiggle your hips next time!

K 11:13 AM, April 13, 2009  

Great pics and story. Wow. I am really inspired to start competing again. The burns look awful--seriously get some aloe. As for the skin--did you put it in a special commemorative box full of NOLA stuff--like with your bib #, etc???

triguyjt 11:14 AM, April 13, 2009  

wow...3:50 winning time...yikes.....
fun post steve.....
glad you are peeling so well..haha

Heather 11:23 AM, April 13, 2009  

That's some nasty sunburn! Please tell me you're not going to eat the skin peels.

John 11:40 AM, April 13, 2009  

Wow... Great race report, looked like everyone had a great race day! Loved the pictures!

My guess is that you put little smiley faces with a sharpie on the skin chips.

Velma 12:21 PM, April 13, 2009  

Great report - thanks for the hunkie pics.

I have no idea what you did with the skin - did you put it in the compost pile?

Kelly 2:27 PM, April 13, 2009  

I think you put them on your nightstand so you could have sweet sweet dreams about them every night. That, or you fed them to the cats.

Carolina John 2:28 PM, April 13, 2009  

i totally thought your pic of rosemary shrimp was another sunburn pic at first. freaked me out for a second there. ha!

Melanie 2:51 PM, April 13, 2009  

Definitely great to read the rest of the story and I'm so glad it was a great race for you all. Sorry about the sunburn! Let me guess.. you're keeping all of the peeled skin from the burn in a container as a momento of the race?

Unknown 3:07 PM, April 13, 2009  

Never a bad thing when Macca congratulates you. Great race report and I loved all the photos. Take care of those sunburns and recover well.

Lisa,  4:54 PM, April 13, 2009  

I bet you ate that shit (the skin)!

Tracy 6:17 PM, April 13, 2009  

Yeah sorry again about missing your finishing shot!! UGH I still can't believe it. Desiree snuck in there just like you too; by the time I saw her cross and got the camera aimed she was already engulfed by the finish line people.

What a FUN weekend though, and I can't wait to see you guys again at WIBA!

Michelle 7:02 PM, April 13, 2009  

Ok two guesses

Either you are making a skin ball OR you stuck it up your nose!!!!

Either way GROSS!!!

But I love this post!!! Such great vibes coming from you and your inspiring TRI!!!

The Boring Runner 7:48 PM, April 13, 2009  

WOW. That sunburn looks TOUGH.

I laughed out loud at your pack man underwear. My wife walked by as I was looking at it and she stopped mid stride to say 'what the crap is that?' haha.

Did you mail the skin to someone?

b 8:16 PM, April 13, 2009  

Thanks for sharing the great insight and pic's from IMNO Mr. Bull Ridin' Steve :-) the peeling skin was simply the best pic of the bunch Mr. PacMan...Congrat's to you both once again Pharmie & Steve!

Run For Life 8:33 PM, April 13, 2009  

It looks like everyone finished strong and that's cool about Macca!

Your sunburn looks bad but Pharmie's back looks absolutely excruciating. Hope they heal up soon and you didn't do something too disgusting with the peeled skin, haha.

Chloe 9:21 PM, April 13, 2009  

Sweetest. Tan lines. Ever. Love them!!!

Badgergirl 9:30 PM, April 13, 2009  

Loved the race reports and all the pics Steve! Congrats!

Carmen,  9:31 PM, April 13, 2009  

I bet you have a container you save all your skin peels in!! Eww.

Beth 9:52 PM, April 13, 2009  

Loved your post. It's great to see all of the other racers, too, esp. Macca panting at the finish. I think you taped the skin peels to the back of your race number. Hey, that's what I would do... NOT!

AddictedToEndorphins 11:25 PM, April 13, 2009  

I love your pics (and sunburn--thats what i look like with 12 minutes in the sun)

I'll have ot go back and read your race report!! Thanks for the smile!

Darcy Franklin 7:12 AM, April 14, 2009  

Great job on the PR!!!!

Sorry to see the sunburn! OUCHIE!

The skin is gross, but the idea of mailing it to someone is pretty funny.

Smithposts... 7:39 AM, April 14, 2009  

Great race, congrats!! The post race festivities look like a lot of fun too! But oh, the sunburn...

Lindsay 12:15 PM, April 14, 2009  

congrats once again. love the pics and captions. the sunburn looks not-so-lovely and i'm glad you confirmed that you did NOT eat your skin peels. thanks for not being that whacky.

Nitmos 12:59 PM, April 14, 2009  

Congratulations! Nice job! You owned that dude in black.

CoachLiz 4:21 PM, April 14, 2009  

Those sunburn pictures were painful to look at. Great job to both you and Pharmie on your races. Great Macca photos!

My guess on the skin peelings, I am sure you are keeping them with the toenails that have fallen off and you are going to make a collage or some weird photo essay.

Miranda Kelly 3:22 AM, April 16, 2009  

I remember having a really bad sprain after I joined my first marathon. Then again, living solo and unable to go out, I ended up buying tramadol online for my pain. After a while I was able to get back and try my luck with another marathon. I lost. Haha.

NW Bicyclist 11:36 PM, April 17, 2009  

That sunburn looked horrible. I got one like that in Cancun last summer, and it was miserable! Great job on the race.

Ordinarylife 7:22 AM, April 21, 2009  

Love your report.

I so enjoy watching Natascha race. She is awesome and always smiling and cheering. She raced (and won) IM South Africa a couple of times.

Unknown 12:18 AM, September 09, 2009  

I was wondering if your race numbers have started to fade as you have spent time in the sun since the race. I did the Wildflower half in May and I still have a nice "188" sunburn tattoo on my arms. I've spent time in the sun and it isn't fading :|

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