I did it!!

Lavaman is officially over!! After 5 months of training and worrying, the event has come and gone and is now a wonderful memory! Thank you to everyone who supported me and gave me words of encouragement that I could get through my first Olympic distance triathlon... and that I did! I can proudly wear my Lavaman attire and say, "I did that!"

Here's the details of the day before the race and of course, race day....

Saturday, April 2:
We had a scheduled early morning practice swim at 7am in Anaeho'omalu Bay (aka "A Bay"), the official location of the swim. I was not looking forward to the practice swim at all. I was very nervous... the same feeling I had carried with me for quite some time, which was magnified by the fact that I could not swim during our open water practice swims. I was a bit relieved to know that there were safety folks out in the water during this practice. They even set buoys up so we had a course to practice. However, seeing the buoys from the shore was scary and made my stomach flutter like I was going to be sick. It wasn't even the buoys for the race, just set up for our practice. I heard it was about a 400 yard distance. What I also heard was the tsunami created a stir in the water conditions so it wasn't as clear as in years past. Hearing that initially freaked me out as well since all we've heard was how warm and clear the waters in Hawaii is and how different it is from swimming in our local waters. This may have been a good thing since I wasn't quite sure whether I wanted to see that deep.

Martin, one of our captains who trained me all season and who practically saved my life during the last open water swim stayed with me since he knew how nervous I've been. Everyone who felt nervous was told to swim with a buddy so Martin was mine! The first thing I hear as we are about the get into the ocean was, "there's coral so don't walk out, swim over." Wow, in shallow water??? This was not the way I had imagined gradually getting into the water. So I just jumped in, swam over this alleged coral & began swimming but I felt like I hadn't swam in a long time! I thought, "oh my God, the last week of rest now I forgot my technique." I even sucked in some saltwater again so I was gagging and choking. I could hear Martin the entire swim and we eventually got to the buoy we were supposed to turn around at. Before I could make the turn, Martin forced me to stop in the middle of the ocean & just float so I could take it all in & breathe easy. He told me I was breathing too hard & I needed to relax. Yeah right, easy for him to say being the strong swimmer he is! I sort of calmed down, even took some pictures with teammates as proof! LOL! But I didn't want to just "hang out" so I decided to go back & ended up swimming back to shore w/o him. He asked if I wanted him to come with but I told him I'd be fine. As I was making my way back to shore, I was trying to remember to take the experience for what it was. I felt like my pace & strokes were coming back to me so I was settling in but then I freaked out on some coral that I swam really close to & even brushed against. It really scared me because I didn't want to get hurt the day before my race. One of my teammates stepped on a sea urchin a few days prior so being in the ocean with the unknown gave me yet another worry. Finally got back to shore, unscathed & realized it wasn't that bad and there would be even more folks in the water for assistance on race day.

That evening we had our inspiration dinner where we heard yet another talk from someone who had to deal with hearing a cancer diagnosis and had to battle the disease. Just one of the many we've heard over and over again and fortunately, a great ending since the speaker was in remission and had the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to thank which included everyone on Team in Training who raised funds for this cause. Just our Silicon Valley team which consisted of 120 people raised about $450,000! Collectively, all of the chapters (there were 15 from across the country) present at the Lavaman event which consisted of 575 people raised over $1.2 million!!! It was really exciting to know that I was part of a team of individuals who are truly inspiring and doing something worthwhile for the health and wellbeing of others.

Sunday, April 3rd:
I had been feeling relatively calm the day before once we got the swim out of the way and by the time I woke up, I was still feeling calm. Good karma was truly being sent my way! The team was meeting at 4:45am and I bounced out of bed at 3:30am (thank God I was still on California time!). I actually felt rested as if I had a decent night's sleep. My first thoughts this morning was of Uncle Joe & his fight with cancer as well as all of my teammates who battled the disease too. I headed to the bathroom and the tears just fell. At that moment I had a purpose & remembered why I was doing this triathlon to begin with. Game face on!

We got to the lobby at 4:45am and Harold was like the bike mechanic on duty. A few of my teammates had some early morning tire issues so he was right there helping them. Triathletes aren't so well versed in tire changing and bike mechanics!! :o) I'm sure many of the difficulties were attributable to nerves more than anything! We then rode our bikes to transition which was not really smart since the group we were with did not have safety lights. At this wee hour of the morning and in Hawaii, the roads are pretty dark so we carefully manuevered our way over.

We arrived into the transition area at 5:30am. We got our areas set up. Many folks got body marked the day before but I waited until race morning. Race number 683!!


When I saw the swim course that morning, for a moment I got worried since we only swam 1/4 of our actual distance at yesterday's practice. But it was just that, a moment... I felt good about what I was about to do. Water temp was 77 degrees, and funny enough, was actually wetsuit legal. I did not have a wetsuit. Most people did not. This water temp was about 30 degrees warmer than our practice open water swims in California. My game plan was to focus on the people in canoes & surfboards and not the far buoys.



I'm amazed I'm in this group of pink caps!

The start of the swim began in the water so we were essentially treading for a few minutes before the gun went off. I don't tread well but this time things were different and I was not in a panic. Gun went off and I swam so comfortably like I've done it many times. I focused on the shorter distances but even the distance of the buoys were not an issue. I didn't swim nonstop but when I took breaks from the freestyle stroke, I was still making forward progress. I didn't stop at any cute Hawaiian boys on surfboards! I didn't need to hold on to anything or anyone! If anything, the technique was there and I even took advantage of drafting swimmers! All the months of practice definitely paid off at that moment. I even saw some pretty fish! My coaches told me to live in the moment and not worry about the next leg. That's exactly how it was. I was swimming and swimming my best. I got out & raised my hands like I was finished with my race! :o) I even heard Harold cheering for me! I conquered my fear of the open water! I ran out of the water and headed up to transition. Harold ran up to see me in and out of transition and to say, "you kicked butt on that swim!" Yup, that's how I felt too!! Official swim time 43:35.

The bike is my best event & after that swim I was on top of the world. I thought for sure I could make up some time on this leg. We rode on part of the infamous Ironman course & the view of lava rock & the ocean in the distance was stunning! As we expected the course was windy so that made for a difficult ride. There was some discouraging moments on the bike since I thought I could do better but I just kept going back to how awesome that swim went. Life was still good! When I came back into Waikoloa, there was Harold again cheering me on!! So awesome!! Official bike time: 1:32.

I had already started to feel cramps on the bike but I got in & out of transition quickly to go on the run. Last leg...As soon as I started the run the cramps in both calves got worse. It was over 90 degrees & I didnt even think that I was dehydrated. Harold was riding his bike alongside me so when I told him about my legs he told me that I should stretch. I stopped to stretch them but then my hamstrings locked up! I kept stretching but at that moment, I decided to walk for a little bit. At that point it was one mile at a time. Harold stayed with me on the run course for as long as he could which was a nice distraction from the heat. Ugh! The ice at the water stops was definitely a nice touch!! I thought I had a game plan, running for a mile & then walk for a minute. Just passed the mile 4 marker began a ridiculous trail run along the ocean. You'd think... girl, what are you complaining about, you're running alongside the ocean! The path was literally a foot wide (I'm being generous with that measurement) and then we had to run on lava rock. All of that... I walked! I thought I was going to twist my ankle. Then we were running through the hotel but then more lava rock, then sand (yes sand!) it was a very long 2 miles!



Harold, my biggest supporter!!

Finally crossed the finish line at 3:46 & was I so happy! I wanted to be done under 4 hours so I was pleased. With Harold & a bunch of teammates at the finish cheering me in, it was truly a finish that will be remembered! I can't believe it's all over!

Once again, Team DeGuzman says Mahalo for your contributions to this cause. We may have had these endurance events that we've accomplished but without your continued support, there would be no inspiration or motivation.

Please see the link to more photos from this awesome event.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=426247168407%3A1572435&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharee

Aloha,
L