So it has been 2 weeks since my Ironman, and my main focus has been anything but triathlon. I spent last weekend being the best man at my friends Marshall and Marieka’s long awaited wedding. It was a four-day dude ranch extravaganza, and had an absolute blast. Good times.
Well, back to reality, I have an Ironman in 5 weeks, and still have to focus on recovery from one I did 2 weeks ago. So I was given a unique opportunity to guide vision impaired and fellow K-Swiss triathlete, Aaron Scheidies at the LA triathlon this weekend. I was excited to help because I always wondered how these people do it, and I wanted to
experience triathlon in a different way. So I met up with Aaron at the LAX airport and the journey began.
Friday we decided one of the biggest things to practice was going to be the swim. The last time I raced LA there was a 6-foot break at the swim start and I wanted to be prepared for any conditions. I was picturing a very high tech tethering device to keep us attached at the swim; after all I am swimming in the ocean wit a blind guy! But, Aaron pulled out a 10-foot piece of bungee cord and tied it to my waist. Real high tech Aaron;) The swim was fun and we practiced ins and outs with me yelling to jump or dive or swim or run. We had it down, except for the bungee cord untied about 6 times. Guess it is time for my “sailors guide to tying knots”.
Next, I had never ridden a tandem before, and was expected to fly through the downtown streets of LA with another person depending on my skills;) We went out and in no time Aaron had me a pro on the tandem and was apparently ready to go with only 20 minutes practice.
The day started early as they always do, and Aaron and I rode our bike down to Venice beach to get started. We spent about 10 minutes in transition chatting with Tim Bomba from NPR’s Day-to-Day radio show. He was fun, and we where having fun poking at the athletes taking themselves too seriously in transition. Off to the swim start and a quick swim warm up and we where ready and feeling good about the 2 foot conditions at the moment. Lined up ready to go and 20 seconds before the horn I had to inform Aaron there was now a 5 foot set coming in. Without hesitation he followed me after the horn into the unforgiving ocean. I’d like to say it went smooth, and it wasn’t horrible but the break at Venice is messy and with the size, it took us a while to get out of the break. Finally through but a lot of energy used in those first 2-3 minutes. We settled in and got through a rough swim pretty smooth. On the way in I saw a wave coming and gave Aaron the signal to catch the wave, but unknown to me Aaron thought we where still swimming parallel to the beach and was not prepared for the shore. We got kinda worked and I came through a wave with Aaron on the top of me;) More, run, swim, dive, swim, run, run, run, and we where finally out.
We where about 2 minutes down and ready to rock. When we left the tandem it was all by itself in the open with a clear path. Now there where about 30 people standing in front of it for a relay division. So I yell, “MAKE A HOLE, HE CAN’T SEE!!”and we find our way in and out of transition. Time to make it happen, I knew once we got the tandem rolling that we would eat up the field, and that is exactly what happened. We took advantage of the first somewhat flat and straight sections to make up our gap. We where flying through the field, but encouraging all that we came by with a smile and a wave. By the end of the ride we where the first in the Age group wave to come off the bike, and had caught a good number from the pro fields that started ahead of us.
Into transition and only misdirected twice, off onto a surprisingly really tough LA run course. We where passed by a few straight out of transition, but our goal was to get Aaron to run a strong back half to the 10k. Having a blast encouraging others and cheering on the leaders in the pro race, we ran into the hill for the first time. Aaron wasn’t expecting this, and we built into it as I tried to explain how steep and how long the hill was while keeping positive. Aaron continued to try and build his effort and we went into the last downhill in 7th place. He grabbed my hand to run down this massive hill, and with feet slapping the pavement we passed 6th place and began the final stretch to home. Turn to the finish and as I pumped up the crowd while pointing at Aaron, he was walking on air across the finish line.
End result, Aaron was 6th overall amateur with the 8th fastest bike including the pros, and most importantly happy as can be. This kid gets PUMPED!! It was great to see. This really was a great experience, and probably the most fun I have had at a triathlon in years. Thanks Aaron- anytime, anytime!! We could all learn a few things from Aaron, not only does he do things most of us wouldn’t dare do with his condition, but he races with real class and is a great encourager. Fun first for this guy!! That is what it is all about, isn’t it?
Check this out to listen to Aaron’s interview on NPR.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94561246
Find out more about this crazy and inspiring individual here. You can help people like Aaron accomplish their dreams!! Check it out.
www.cdifferentwithaaron.com/