Published July 20, 2009 10:04AM
Sitting in an A &W/KFC fast food fusion restaurant in a random city two hours south of San Francisco, I finally found peace.
I found it in a soft-serve cone with chocolate sauce.
Post-race celebratory food for most people probably entails a large steak dinner and a few bottles of wine, but for Liz and I it had to be more simple (and more easily accessible to the freeway): pizza and ice cream.
Our Vineman weekend had been a rollercoaster: no A/C, a broken down car and several harried cab rides to and from the race site with a hippie/pseudo-songwriter. But we made it to the start line Sunday morning surprisingly calm and ready to race.
The weather at Vineman is always a gamble, and when we got there just after sunrise and the fog had almost completely burned off, we knew we were in for a hot one.
The bike course had an unfortunate, freak-of-nature accident when a tree literally fell on top of a racer, which happened not more than two minutes before I screeched to a halt at the scene. Fortunately, frantic volunteers were already tending to the guy. They told me and the other nearby racers to climb over the tree (which had also downed a power line that was dangerously close to snapping), and continue on our way.
Freak accident aside, the day mostly went off without a hitch, and despite the temps hovering in the mid-90s for most of the day, I still managed a PR in my third half-Ironman race. Liz had a very successful first half attempt and therefore a PR as well. She suffered not a single nutrition issue the entire day; an impressive feat for a first long-distance race, and she feels geared up for her Ironman-race debut this November in Arizona.
Stay tuned for our Gear Girl reviews from this weekend’s Vineman race weekend.