Very Rugged Weekend

Sometimes I get a bit carried away. This weekend was one of those times. The plan — Leave early on Friday and go to Daisy State Park on Lake Greeson to camp for the night. Then get up early on Saturday Morning, pack up and drive up to Glenwood to participate in the 9th annual Rugged Man Triathlon. Next we would head home to work on putting Halloween decorations up. Sunday morning we would get up early and go mountain biking with friends on the Lake Ouachita Vista Trail near Mt. Ida. Then back home to do some more stuff around the house. Pretty simple right? Yeah, we’re pretty stupid sometimes.

Our night at Daisy State Park was nice. After going into Glenwood to carb load at the little Italian restaurant (man they had good bread), we went back to take a short walk, have a little fire, drink some hot drinks, play some UNO and enjoy a beautiful sunset followed by more stars than we had seen in quite some time. Off to bed and a good night’s sleep. Then we were up at 6am to break camp, eat something and then head out for the 8am start of the race.

The Rugged Man Triathlon is a little different than most triathlons. It starts with an 8.5 mile road bike ride, then transitions to a 7 or 8 mile kayak trip down the Caddo river, this is followed by a 3.5 mile run back to the start at the Glenwood Athletic Club across the street from the Glenwood Golf Course. My race was not my best (I should train). The bike was okay until near the end. Just like last year, my calves yanked on me. This is the only race I do where this happens. I think that the bike is just short and I tend to try and sprint it out. Anyway I got to the kayak transition okay, changed my shoes and jumped in the boat.

Right away I came upon an added obstacle for this race. It seems that a group was launching canoes about 200 feet down river from where we were starting. Nothing like a bunch of canoes driven by kids that had no clue what they were doing in a low water river. Crash, Boom, Bam! It was a couple of miles down the river before I was past this group. During that time Lisa passed me. My almost 200 pounds sits a little lower in the water than I would like and where others like Lisa slide over the rocks I am dragging and coming to a complete stop. As Lisa went by she said something about having to stay ahead of a girl behind her. That was the last I’d see of her before the end of the race.

Once I got past the canoeing group I still had to contend with the occasional team racers in canoes. Somehow at one point I was face up on my back in the cold, cold water. Toward the end of the kayak leg I had finally gotten by most of the man-made obstacles and just pulled really hard to the end. I really can feel it this morning in my shoulders.

I got out of the kayak and started up the gravel road to run. A friend that was there said Lisa had passed awhile back and had limped up the road. I knew she was still hurting from the Big Dam Bridge 100 a couple of weeks ago where I think she pulled a tendon behind her knee.

My run was slow but steady. I tried to ignore the rocks in my wet shoes and just keep moving forward. I got passed at one point by a girl that was moving along pretty well. I figured that she was the one Lisa was trying to stay ahead of. I hoped she was far enough ahead to make it in before her.

I finally finished, not sure of my time yet (they haven’t posted) but I felt okay. Lisa came in third out of the women. Great job babe! You can read her race report here: Rugged Men, 49 seconds, and one big rock

After the race we went home and got most of the decoration put out and then that night had the best night of sleep we’d had in a while.

Stay tuned for the rest of the weekend….