365 DAYS

TriSharkie and Waddler give Beach2Battleship a thumbs up and plan to be here 365 days from today heading to cross the finish line.

Waddling to plan my training..............

WELCOME

Please visit my training partner and friend- Trisharkie!

Waddling to visit a new blogger.......

MASTER'S SWIM

There was not much sleep for me on Monday night. I had leftover excitement from the weekend plus anticipation of master's swim beginning again for the winter. I never realized how much that I had missed it.

I jumped out of bed at 4:45am with no problem. I got there 15 minutes early. There were others feeling the same way as me. I chatted with my friend Dan who had just signed up for IMFL and it will be his first.

I was thrilled to see coach again! It was hard to believe that last year at this time I walked in not being able to swim. What a motivation he has been to me. I also know he will play a large part of the year ahead of me.

Waddling to get some sleep before an early swim..........

B2B FINISH

After an afternoon of taking it easy, Sharkie and I headed downtown Wilmington with our cowbells. The run course goes right through downtown Wilmington by the docks. We treated ourselves to ice cream and a caramel apple while we cheered the runners on.

All the runners looked great, most with big smiles. It is a 2 loop run course. We sat near the 3 & 16 mile marker. We sat for over an hour cheering and clanging our bells.

We were also sitting near the water taxi loading area for the finish. There was no car traffic to the finish area only the water taxi back and forth. As people unloaded from the taxi, we heard some stories of waiting in line for close to 2 hours to come back. It looked challenging trying to bring your bike and gear on the water taxi. We knew the sun would be going dow soon so we went back to the hotel and changed into warmer clothes to go to the finish on the other side of the Cape Fear Waterway.

We waited about 15 minutes in line to take the water taxi to the battleship. The finish area looked awesome lit up at night. We were just watching the finish of IMFL on the computer and were ready to make a comparison and final thoughts.

We were watching the finishers in the 12-13 hour range and they looked great. Next we walked down to the turn around for runners to head out onto loop 2. There were many special needs backs still waiting for their owners and I knew if I did this race that mine would be one of them.

We went back to the finsh line and continued to cheer. The temperature dropped to the low 50's . The music was blaring and the announcer shouted out every finishers name as they came in. Each finisher received a Beach2Battleship finisher shirt and a totally awesome medal. Although it was a much smaller race than IMFL, there was the same atmosphere and excitement.

We were so chilled that we soon headed back to the hotel. They had opened the finish to car traffic so the line for the water taxi was only a 30 minute wait. We ran into Bill from NC. He had completed IMCDA in June and now this race. We began to pick his brain about the race. He had nothing but positive things to say about the race. Big kudos to all the support on the course.His 2 negative comments which were small was that the changing tent in T1 was too little and the road to run on from the swim finish to T1 hurt your feet especially out of the cold water. Another comment from the finisher next to us was that the carpet they put on the medal grates on the bridges felt like biking through sand. Absolutely everything else was positive!

The one thing that all the athletes did mention was the swim. Everyone had record times for the distance. They said the current made them feel like they had a rocket pack on your back. Being a weaker swimmer --this is my kind of swim!

FINAL THOUGHTS:

For an inaugural race with a huge logistic challenge, Beach2Battleship did a phenomenal job. The few problems that they did have, I am sure they will address before next year. Sign up for next year will be on December 1st and they hope to increase the size to 750 athletes in the full and 750 in the half. The race date has not been announced yet and I am hoping they move it up a few weeks to get away from the chilly weather.

Waddling with hopes to be running through this next year...............

B2B BEGINNING

Pre-Race
Sharkie and I got to the expo early. The packet pick-up seemed well organized. The athletes received a shirt, socks, and a very cool canvas bag. There were several vendors there and I got a new pair of goggles.

After the expo , we attended the noon athlete meeting. It lasted about and hour. It completely covered the logistics of the race. The race officials admitted that since this was a point to point race with 2 transitions that it was a huge logistical challenge. It seemed to be well thought out though. Each runner in the Full-distance received 6 bags to use for before, during and after the race:

1. Pre-swim -(Spectators were not allowed to drive to the start of the race, therefore, the majority of spectators stayed at T1 to cheer on the racers. Racers were given a bag before the swim to place any items such as warm clothes and shoes that they needed to "dump" before getting in the water).
2. Special needs (bike)
3. Special needs (run)
4. Transition 1 (swim gear)
5. Transition 2 (run bag)
6. Post Race (needs after finish)

All bags are to be returned to the racer at the finish line (Battleship). So in other words, all your belongings would be available for pick up after completing the race...no need to return to T1 for any reason and no need to worry about giving up any items (e.g. special needs-bike bag at mile 60: take whatever items you need out of bag for 2nd half of course, place unwanted items in bag like arm warmers, give back to volunteer, receive bag back at the end of the race with arm warmers).

We were very impressed with the thought put into this first running of this race.

Race Morning

Sharkie and I arrived at the start at 4:45am and checked in to do body marking which was at T1. The temperature was 40. It was hard to mark on some of the athletes because they were shaking so hard. They announced the water temp was 67. All the athletes for the full were loaded on buses and taken to the end of the waterway at Wrightsville Beach.

The highlight of body marking was meeting challenged athlete Trish Downing. I was honored to do her body marking.

Sharkie and I were then re-assigned to direct the swimmers coming out of the water to T1. The run from where the runners climbed out of the water using ladders to T1 was around 300 yds. As they went by us , there was alot of shivering and teeth chattering. The other problem was trying to run with numb feet on the black topped road. Many athletes were complaining that they could not feel their feet. Ouch! Even though it was discouraged, there were some athletes who strategically placed shoes by the swim finish.

Some athletes experienced hypothermia due to the cold temps....medical professionals were on hand to provide help as well as hot water showers for those needing to warm up. From what we heard, every athlete who started the swim, continued on to the bike.

All the swim times were fast because of the incoming tide and current. Also the salty ocean water was a bonus. The first man out of the water completed the swim in approximately 40 minutes and had an incredible lead over the rest of the pack....he was part of a relay team.

On one more note, the spectators were also not allowed by the dock area (private yacht club) to see their athlete come out of the water. They were only able to see the athletes running in and out of the T1 area.

We stayed until the final athlete came out of the water. He was a Challenged Athlete in a wheelchair and an inspiration. At this point we were worn out and headed back to the hotel to take a break until we go to the finish.

Waddling to the Battleship..........