When Kathey and Allene, two of my Easter Island Pals, asked me to run the marathon leg of an Ironman Relay, I thought it’d be fun.
Turns out, I still think it’ll be fun, but I also think it’ll be bonkers. Like really, really, ridiculously really bonkers. And that’s coming from a crazed marathon guy. I’ve got nothing on these folks.
Amongst the things I found out on race weekend:
1) No selfies or cameras or phones on the course… if you have a phone it must remain in your pocket.
2) No one can help you along the course except the volunteers at the designated aid stations — if some passersby hand you a cup of water because it’s 96 degrees (as it’s forecast for tomorrow), that’s a disqualifying offense.
3) The swim and biking portions are so far beyond me and my skills and my heart’s drive that I’d be done before I even stepped foot on the beach in the first leg of the swim, bike, run trilogy.
There’s a lot more, too. There are a lot of niggling details and minor rules that sound less like rules for a race and more like the rules for working at Hudsucker Industries:
I’m nonchalant about my part as it’s “just” a marathon. There wasn’t a lot of information at the mandatory athlete talk that related to the relay teams — it was exclusively details for the brave men and women attempting to swim 2.4 miles, bike 116 miles, then run a 26.2 mile marathon before the cutoff.
We will see what tomorrow brings. As it stands, we’re supposed to meet up at the race HQ at 5 AM tomorrow for last minute prep and transport to various starting points. Kathey is anticipating about 90 minutes in the downstream swim, Allene is budgeting to be done by 5:30 PM at the latest with her bike portion, and then I start my marathon. So basically, I have 12.5 hours before I start running once I get to the venue. I’m trying to decide then if I should go see Rambo: Last Blood or Downton Abbey to kill some time. It feels like Downton Abbey might be a fun option for when I’m running with Ironmen and Ironwomen who have already conquered a crazy swim and bike ride. “How’d your morning and afternoon go?” they’ll ask. “Oh, ya know, I though Act II was a little repetitive but things really rallied once Bates and Lady Crawley teamed up to break up the smuggling ring.”
A photo at our pre-IronMan carbo over-load dinner.
Hashtag: Team Easter Island Pals. You can track us with this app. We’re bib number 3013.