Life is converging on me this September.  Work at PersonalShopper.com is at a fever pitch while I try to balance this with three weekends in a row of traveling and racing.  The glorious weather in Boise during September now reminds me of a time of bliss and harmony that marks our anniversary.  Hortense and I have enjoyed four years of marriage, we planned to celebrate while in Pacific Grove.  On our anniversary I had some important obligations and worked from 8am to midnight, at least it was all from home.  Hortense has also been swamped with activities and we could not leave for California until she was done teaching at 2:30 on Friday.  So we arrived at San Jose in the evening and then started our 1.5 hour drive down to the Monterey Peninsula.  We got lost and arrived around 8:30 hungry and tired and missing the packet pick-up. 

After having a quick dinner we came back to our host’s lovely cottage right off Ocean View Boulevard.  We put our bikes together, getting Hortense’s up and running first as she was racing early the next morning.  While she brushed her teeth and got ready for bed, it was time to put my speedster together.  I was stunned to see my chain slithering off the crank like a snake, having been snapped.  I’m too tired to be upset. 

As luck would have it, Walt (our host), had a spare chain and the knowledge and skill to assemble it (which I may have, but having never assembled one, it would have taken me a long time).  A true life saver, this surely helped me sleep more soundly as well as saving me tons of time the next day looking for a ‘fix’.  Our hosts were awesome, thanks Walt and Robin. 

Finally, the hectic schedule faded away, as Hortense and I slumbered in the chill of the night dozing off to the sounds of sea birds on the Pacific.

Awaking early the next day Hortense and I walked the quarter mile over to the race venue to obtain our race packets.  It was cozy cool, overcast, and inhaling large amounts of ocean air made for an invigorating morning.  The sea breezes floated past ones olfactory nerves delighting the senses.  We were gleeful with a bounce in our step as we approached Lover’s Point, the hub of the Pacific Grove Triathlon.  The Point is justly named for its romantic mix of sea and land.  Jutting out into the Pacific with wondrous rock formations and ancient trees; a large green field of grass leading up to it lures you in. Lover’s Point seems to be saying, “come, and lose yourself, merge with nature as an endless thought.”

We met back at our host’s cottage and made final preparations for the race.  Then, Hortense was off to start hers while I took a short nap.  I woke up in time to walk across the street to Ocean View Blvd to watch her go by 8 times on the 4 loop course.  She looked great and was riding in 3rd and then 2nd place.  This got me fired up.  I wasn’t sure how’d we race after the frantic week and getting in so late the night before…but this helped quell any doubts.  It was poignant to see my wife cruising along so well.  It gave me several quiet moments of emotional charges. 

About 25 pro men lined up on the beach, crammed between the start banners.  I was calm and patient the first lap and probably a little too reserved.  I got behind where I should have been and tried to move up a few times by going around.  This was more times than not, a mistake.  With all the kelp, your best bet was to follow the feet in front, staying out of the seaweed.  After a few fruitless attempts at swimming through thick kelp in order to move up, I decided it was better to settle in the pack.  Then, I was bewildered to be feeling my wedding ring slipping off my finger.  In hindsight, I’m amazed that I noticed a tiny few grams lingering off my finger, whilst my body’s hard effort amongst the froth of swimmers and seaweed would seem to be enough sensory input.  I stopped swimming briefly and used my right hand to secure the ring back in place. 

Coming up to the beach and running around a rock to start our second lap I was just holding on to the 1st group of swimmers.  I dove clumsily back into the water and quickly moved up but was getting irritated with a strand of kelp that I had now been carrying for several hundred meters.  I had hoped it would dislodge from the chip when I ran on the beach, but it remained.  Doing a quick mental check on my left hand, I felt naked.  My stomach sunk for a moment with the realization that my ring was at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.  I was upset but quickly got motivated and determined…if I was offering my wedding band to the sea, I’m going to have an impressive race.

Feeling better in the later half of the swim I came out of the sea in close contact with what should make the 1st pack.  Then, I had a lousy T1.  First mistake was using my hands to take the legs off my wetsuit instead of using the step with your feet method.  We were given two chips one for each ankle and I got my fingers under these in both attempts at taking off my wetsuit.  My second mistake happened while mounting my bike; it took what seemed like eternity to get my feet on top of my swaying shoes.  I was coasting at 1 mile an hour with my head down and veering off the road, almost wrecking on the curb.

At last I got my crank rolling but I had some distance to make up to the next group of guys.  I pedaled hard, fearful of riding solo.  I caught them after a mile or two but there was another pack just up the road and very reachable.  Riding with Dahlz, Piland, Collington, Stephenson, and Sexton we were chasing Dye, Fleischmann, Plata, Umpenhour, Millward, and Lavelle.  The first couple of laps we worked pretty well together, but then Sexton started taking superman pulls.  This discouraged the rest of us from pulling through him, so we would tuck in behind him and enjoy the ride.  I was thinking he was crazy to put forth so much effort and wondered how his run was going to be?  I’m not sure that this benefited the groups speed all that much.  It would have been faster if we all smoothly took a pull but Sexton seemed to want to do the work.  As Sexton did not even start the run, I would later find out that he was merely working for Dahlz and Collington.  This will be something to watch for next time as it never dawned on me while we were riding.  Unfortunately, the lead group gained about a minute on us coming into T2.

I felt fleet footed starting the run and stayed close to Dahlz and Collington who took the early lead from our group.  After about a mile these two gapped us while Piland, Stephenson and I ran together.  Jeff and I stayed close throughout the run, pushing each other to keep an honest pace.  Jamie had fallen off the pace a little while Jeff and I went back and forth.  We had passed one runner from the lead pack and were now reeling Dahlz back in.  Knowing Jeff is more of a sprinter than I am, I took off with about 400 meters to go.  It was not decisive enough as he hung around and passed me in the finishing chute.  I had one final charge but he nipped me by a second.  It was great to do battle with Jeff and we were both happy with our 8th and 9th place finish.

Just 2 days removed from our 4th anniversary I had to break the news to Hortense that my ring was at the bottom of the sea at Lover’s Point.  We determined that this was a pretty darn good place to ‘keep’ our ring.  Matter of fact, we decided that our offering to the mighty Pacific Ocean at Lover’s Point called for a wish… and wish we did.

Here’s to breathing more air…

RACE RESULTS

Monterey Herald articles: Plata Repeats & Labor of Love