Not Feeling So Mighty Man 2008

Here i sit in the Gig Shack on a somewhat chilly, raining late Sunday morning, sipping coffee and waiting for lunch to start so I can order some fish tacos. This is a pretty cool place, playing world music with "The Blue Planet Seas of Life" DVD splash on a big flat screen.

I should be heading back in toward transition on my second loop of the bike by now, on my way to crushing my Half Iron Man personal record. Instead I am nursing this coffee and taking two advil.

This morning Simeon and I woke at 4:45 (actually the crappy alarm clock in the lousy Atlantic Terrace hotel somehow woke us at 2:45 first. Please contact me offline to hear mostly negative things about this hotel). We had some coffee and some apple muffins my wife baked, and headed over to transition. He got himself situated and I found the staff tent to inform them i wouldn't be racing and turn in my timing chip.

I have been fighting a head cold for about two weeks, and been on the losing end. What started as I think a little fall allergy progressed into head cold, then chest cold, then sinus infection which eventually forced me to take a day off work, unheard of! On Thursday I broke down and went to the doc and he prescribed Azithromicin (Z Pac), a very strong and fast acting antibiotic. I had hoped for the best but so far have not seen any great improvement. One day left on this course, and I have a recall visit with him on Tuesday.

The way I felt last night after dinner, over night and then upon waking today, there was no way I could effectively complete, let alone compete in, a 70.3 event. I toyed with the idea of having the swim and bike and then DNRing. Because I volunteered at the sprint yesterday the race director said she'd make an exception and let me defer this year's entry, not normally allowed. So it really made a lot of sense to allow my body a chance to heal and be prepared for my off season training, to start in two weeks.

Even so, being in transition this morning made me rethink, if even for just a moment. That energy and excitement is clearly one of the great attractions of sport, and what keeps us coming back. As I rode back to the hotel I felt a little better and calculated I could possibly change my mind and get my chip back. On getting back to the room I laid down for a moment as my head had begun pounding again. Back to plan, nap until 10 and then head out to cheer on my friends.

At 9:00 I got up, got dressed and opened the door to walk down to the (nonfunctional) wifi hotspot, and saw it had rained! That was a surprise. But just a passing shower, surely, as the clouds looked to be breaking and the sun shone through over the ocean to the south. After failing again to connect to the interwebs, I packed my laptop in my day pack and rode into town to find a cowbell and a hotspot.

Nary a cowbell could be found on the eastern end of town, but the Gig Shack offers free wifi, and even though they weren't open, the outdoor patio was open and I hopped on for a quick email check before heading west to Montauk Bike Shop to hopefully find some kind of noisemaker. Presently the rain began again.

Ok I have been sitting here pondering now for an hour and a half, and it's still raining. I hope those guys don't mind if I don't ride up to the run course as I had planned. It's really raining, and cold too! This is sort of a replay of my Lake Placid spectating routine, in which i went to the start, got soaked, went back to the house to get dry, and then napped and watched golf on TV all day. Were the girls thinking I was letting my end down, staying inside while they donned ponchos and made repeated trips out to the course to cheer on our teammates? They never said a word, anyway.

Fish Tacos ordered. The skies are brightening, time to check weather.com. I will have lunch, then if the rain hasn't let up it's back to bed for me. Got to get and stay healthy, my sights are now set on Lake Placid.