The Utah Half/Two Moms and a Pop 8/28/10

Sometime at the end of July or August, as Carlee and I were setting up our bikes in spin class, she says to me that she is going to do the Utah Half Ironman as a relay.  She will swim, would I do the bike?  Of course!  Who would run?  In walks John.  John!  You need to do this run and be a part of our team.  He thinks about it for a few days, and decides he is in.  That is how the team Two Moms and a Pop came to be.

Early on Saturday morning August 28, 2010, John came to pick me up, then we picked up Carlee and headed to Utah Lake where the Utah Half was taking place.

Early morning before the race.  My breakfast, that banana and 400 calorie protein bar in my hand.  We are excited and nervous.

Our transition area with my bike set up.  Heath set me up on my bike with a good fitting and even aero-bars.  Sarah supplied the snazzy arm warmers.

John and I cheered on Carlee as she swam in the lake.  By this point I was super nervous.  I don't know why.  We were just out to have fun.  I had ridden the course earlier in the week and was feeling great.  But, there was also a threat of rain in the air.

Carlee running from the swim to the transition area.

Where is she?  She is taking longer than we expected.  About this time we got a few drops.

I started out fast on the course.  Even though I knew where to go, there was one area that was questionable.  I was following a few bikers on Center Street, that turned out to not be a part of the race.  One other guy followed too.  About this time it started raining--a down-pour.  Everything was soaked.  It only took a few minutes but I got us back on course.  The rain didn't last too long.  By the time I reached Springville Center Street to go over the overpass over I-15, the rain had stopped, but the road stayed wet for a long time.  I had a great ride and even talked with a number of other bikers.  All men though, I passed some women but was always in a pack of men.  I also wanted to catch up to Steve Gray.  He was out of the water before Carlee and so was able to start biking sooner.   As we came into Lake Shore heading South, the cyclists were to make a turn and head West out toward Lincoln Beach.  Right at that intersection, I believe 6400 S. in Lake Shore, I went down. There was some gravel, and the wet road, and I turned too sharply.  I jumped up and out of the way quickly as I didn't want anyone else to get hurt.  At that point I was biking with Mike, I know from working with him at New Haven.  He was yelling asking if I was okay.  I was yelling back I'm fine, I'm fine please go on.  The police officer stationed there came to see if I was okay and started calling for medical attention.  I told him I didn't need it, I took the crash mostly on the right side of my chest.  I was scratched on my knee and a little on my elbow.  The arm warmers really saved me from road rash on my arm.  And I was dirty from the wet road.  I have had much worse crashes though.  I was mostly concerned about my bike.  The rear derailleur was bent and I fixed it the best I could, got back on my bike, and sped out of there.  I tried to catch back up to Mike, but he had a good lead on my by now.

Out on the course near Utah Lake.  Before the turn around.

 As I approached the turn around Steve Gray finally went past me.  He was psyched he was ahead of me, and didn't even notice the blood on my leg.  I ended up coming in about 10-12 minutes later than I wanted to, and other than that crash, I felt pretty good about my bike.

Scott and the kids showed up to cheer us on.  Eric and Rubie watch as I whiz past into the transition area.

Coming into transition.

There is John ready to grab the race chip.

Getting the race chip, I'm so winded from working so hard I can't even help him.

And off he goes!

John out on the trail.

Relieved I'm finished with my part of the race.  Hoping that John does great.

 

Showing off my prizes.

Rubie is very concerned that I crashed and got a big Owey.  Still to this day she says to me, "You crash on your bike and get a big owey."

As John came in to finish the race Carlee and I ran down the shute with him to the finish line.

He is focused and moving fast.  He beat Steve which he is stoked about.

Finish!!!

Two Moms and a Pop.

 

Chilling, hanging out as we enjoy the day visiting and cheering as other friends and acquaintances finish the race.

Our team did okay.  I think we finished 6th out of 8 co-ed relay teams.  Some of those relay teams were incredibly fast.  It is always inspiring to watch people finish one of these races all on their own.  I'd like to try if I could just get that swim down.

The crash turned out to be quite the ordeal for me.  Later that evening, Scott and I went to a movie, while in the movie he leaned forward in his chair.  I went to put my arm up on his back and had lots of pain in my shoulder.  Over the next few days as I tried to pick up the kids, exercise, sleep, do anything, I realized that my shoulder was really messed up.  I first went to my family doctor, mostly so I could get a referral to see an Orthopedic.  My family doctor thought it was probably a labreal tear with maybe some things going on with the rotator cuff.  When Heath learned of my injury he asked if I would like him to work on it through massage.  He did and agreed with the doctor's diagnosis.  In the meantime, I kept doing my normal stuff and probably ended up injuring it more.  Swimming became more difficult.  I could stand about 20 minutes.  By the end of the day my shoulder was in lots of pain and my arm was numb all the way down to my fingers. And my neck was so sore and tight also. By the time I got in to see the Orthopedic he was concerned about the symptoms, but because I still had such good range of motion, he wasn't sure what was going on.  He thought it seemed like more rotator cuff, but was certain because of my age that it was not torn.  He ordered an MRI.  The day after the MRI I biked the Wonder Woman Century.  Biking didn't hurt me too much.  A few days later the Ortho called me late one night to report the results of the MRI.  He said I had a severe tear in the labreal tendon and much swelling of the rotator cuff.  He recommended surgery as soon as possible.  Heath suggested that I go see Steve Orrock for physical therapy and see if it couldn't be healed through treatment without surgery.  During this time I then rode the Heber Valley Century and participated in the Red Rock Relay.  But after about 3 weeks of physical therapy 3 times per week, some painful massage sessions, and remedial exercises, Steve said he was 95% sure I wouldn't need surgery.  While I am still in recover mode with my shoulder, I'm doing well.