IM (University of) Wisconsin Race (game) report

I woke up early, as I do in preparation for all of my race (game) days and there was an air of nervous excitement about. Will I dress right? Will I be too cold? Too warm? How is my nutrition plan? Will I bonk halfway through the bike (game) ? I went through my mental checklist, had some peanut butter on toast, and it was time to go. The last thing that you want on race (game) day is to be late and have to rush in Transition (tailgate). So off we went.

As always we put in some race (game) day tunes to get us hyped up. Our choice today was the University of Wisconsin band T3 (5th quarter) CD. We were ready to race.

We arrived in T1 (tailgate) early and had our choice of racks (parking spaces). We chose one close to the run exit (the road) and began our preparation. Thankfully for me, I brought along a secret weapon. The legend himself, master of T1 (tailgate) and 60-65 age group winner of the Cleveland Triathlon Bob "The Cookie Man" Thomson had us racked and ready in 5 minutes flat:



No time to dilly dally we still had preparations that needed to be done. Here is a pick of MJ "The Shamrock" Thomson unloading some of her GU (Whiskey) flask for important pre-race (game) nutrition:



Taking her lead, I realized the importance of hydration before such an important race (game). I knew that just gatorade (coffee and whiskey) wouldn't do it for today, so I also got a bottle of water (beer) for extra hydration. I wasn't going to be caught unprepared for this race:



I know the saying- nothing new on race (game) day. However, I found a new supplier of salt capsules today. I knew that this could be a gamble, but I can't bear spending $1 on 6 enduralites anymore:



With nervous energy in the air, after standing around by the water for an hour, the cannon blew and we were off. The swim (walk to our seats) was crowded and brutal. At one point I took and elbow to the face which almost knocked off my beer goggles. Thankfully I was able to grab them and I was off again without missing a step



The bike (game) was quite amazing. The crowd support was phenomenal. Going up some of the hills, I swear the crowd was 30 people deep. Every once in awhile you would hear them roar with applause. I had heard of the flag guy from IM florida, who races with a large American Flag. I was impressed and awed to see that IM (University of) Wisconsin has its own flag guy:




T2 was uneventful and we were off to the run (drive home). Honestly I don't know what all the fuss is about. The run (drive home) was quite relaxing. I even think that I got a bit of a nap in to be honest. When I was halfway to the finish (home) I realized that there was another race (OSU Michigan game) that I would like to watch, so we even managed to negative split the run (drive).

As I was coming down the home stretch I knew there was something that I had to do. A lot of people like to complain when people do this, but I had no choice. My babies are too important to me. I had to pick them up and take them through the finishing chute with me. Here is a picture of them waiting for me:



Final time: 8:00.00


You people might think I'm crazy, but honestly this IM (college football game) thing really isn't that tiring after all. I still had plenty of energy to jump on the trainer:


While watching the finish of another race (game)



End note: Shortly after this my father officially qualified for sainthood. He ran my 20 minute brick run with me with 10 minutes left in the OSU/Michigan game. What a guy!