Have you been wondering what I’ve been up to recently? I know I don’t post often, so you may have not even really noticed. But I have been busy: I raced Ironman 70.3 Morro Bay!
Why I chose this location? Well, that’s simple: I used to live there and I still have friends in the area, so it was fun to visit my Bestie and her fiancé just before my birthday.
On the other hand, it was this venue’s inaugural race, so I (and probably a few others) definitely have some ‘thoughts’.
Preparing to leave
Somehow, it became its own adventure. I’m starting to think there is a curse hanging over my trips to California (you can check out adventures on my way to the Big Sur Marathon last year here).
I’m not even going to talk about Alaska Airlines switching my departure from 8:30am to 6:30am. It definitely messed with my plans, but that happens. One thing that it did force though was that I drove myself to the airport – I didn’t want to see if there would be a big enough Uber to take me with my bike at 4am.
So the bike… Yeah, that’s where the real problem with the trip happened. Normally, people use Tri Bike Transport. It was linked on the website as official bike and still is. I tried to arrange it online. Nothing. There is a tri store by my house where I go often. I went there and they looked it up. Apparently Morro Bay was ‘special’ and it’s like the one race they were skipping.
Back to the drawing board. First, I had to check with the airline. They consider bike case regular luggage. Phew! Off to acquire a bike case. Fortunately, a friend of mine told me Reston Bike Club loans them for free to members. I quickly became a member – way cheaper than other ways to get a case! Then I had to deal with car rental. Obviously, when I assumed my bike would be dropped off in Morro Bay, I just got a small, fuel-efficient car. But no, now I needed an SUV that could accommodate. Much more expensive, but easily done.
I took my bike apart by watching a YouTube video. I missed the part where they said to mark the seat height before taking it off… (it will be important later, I promise). I had to run to the bike shop to get the pedals off because those were stuck. Turns out it was a good thing – my chain was on the verge of snapping. My bike shop heroes replaced it and I swore I would be back after the race for all the rest of the maintenance my bike required. Yes, I am awful at taking my bike to the shop. Please don’t judge… I use it…
Travelling to Morro Bay
Getting my bike on the plane wasn’t all that hard. It was heavy and I sweated like crazy pulling it from the parking lot, but I made it. They didn’t even weigh it!
Well, the flight to LAX was blessedly uneventful. Well, except for complete inability to charge my electronics. They had charging ports everywhere, except the ones in my row weren’t working 🤦♀️.
Obviously, my bike arrived at the oversized luggage baggage claim. First thing I noticed was that the straps were out. It bugged me for a while, since I put a lot of effort into making sure nothing was sticking out. I later found a note inside from TSA that they looked around. Well, it made me feel better – I didn’t mess up.
So there I was, lugging around a suitcase and dragging a huge bike case behind me. I went to catch a shuttle to car rental place and of course I was at the last stop for the shuttle pick-up. Fortunately, a really nice rugby player (a lady) saw me with all my stuff and offered help to get it on the bus. I gladly accepted. Two other ladies were there to help, too. Guess who didn’t help? A number of men just watching us deal with the luggage. Well, eventually I got on last with the suitcase. Poor bus driver (a rather petite lady) was just getting done moving suitcases around, so they could all fit when she looked at my bike case. I just politely told her to ignore it and I’d handle it.
From there, the trip was easy. Well, except for sitting in LA traffic. I do not miss it. Not a single bit! Apparently the 405 by Getty is now 7 lanes. It did not help. But I did remember my sister visiting my almost 20 years ago and asking why there are 4 lanes (as in why so many) on the 405 leaving the airport. The only answer I managed back then was that it was because they couldn’t fit in more. Now they did and it still sucks LOL.
But overall, the drive was pleasant. Nice views, In-N-Out in Santa Barbara, cool (although really big) car… Hotel was at the far end of the town, which was on purpose, and perfectly nice.
Race prep and athlete village
I started with a little walk around town – I have been here dozens (hundreds?) of times, so it felt nice to see how it has changed in the last decade (I know, it’s been that long since I’ve been back 😱). The signs of an impending race everywhere. In the middle of town, the finish line was coming nicely together:
And right next to the rock, they were putting final touches on the transition:
So I got back to the hotel and put my bike back together. Sort of. At no point was I convinced that it was road-ready. Fortunately, at the athlete village, they had a bike shop and they did provide service of tightening the screws. Sadly, I ended up with a seat waaay too low. Fortunately, I did take it for a test ride and it got somewhat fixed. You will see in the picture below – still not 100%, but closer to correct. I swear once I get the seat right again, I will grab a neon permanent marker and mark the correct seat height!
By the way: Morro Bay is the most dog-friendly place I have ever been to. There were dogs EVERYWHERE! This guy’s haircut though was my total favorite:
Back to serious business though. I saw how cold the water was supposed to be and I won’t lie: it freaked me out. I already had the warmest wetsuit available, but I learned I could also wear a neoprene cap and booties. Cap was easy and I got it at the bike shop. The booties, on the other hand, were slightly harder.
I was told to check the surf shop across the street and I went there with my friend (who got to experience the craziness that an athlete village is – I don’t think she will be forgetting what pre-race experience looks like any time soon 😆). They had two parts and we went into the first one. Apparently that was the outlet. The pair of booties they gave me to try on were so narrow that I couldn’t even get my toes into them 😅. I was nice to everybody around me and I told them they were welcome to laugh. The guys said that the other store had more choices. It still wasn’t easy to get those huge feet of mine into anything, but I succeeded.
Now I had to test out my new gear:
FYI: that chin strap does feel like a noose. The orange thing is a buoy to make you visible. You can also store stuff inside safely (like your car keys). And if all else fails, it floats. It won’t rescue you, but it will buy you time in case of an emergency.
There was a ton of people out for a swim out there and most of them looked like me. And then there was this guys:
I joked that he thought he was so hot that he would just warm up the water around him (he definitely was super hot), but even he admitted that his choice of swim attire was stupid and he would be back in a wetsuit.
As to my little swim practice… The wetsuit was amazing! I barely felt any cold! Same for the booties and the cap. Sadly, the booties made me feel like I was being dragged down and the cap like somebody was trying to strangle me. But it’s better than freezing though, right?
That wasn’t the funny part of the swim though. There were two huge red buoys right by swim exit, so I decided to swim straight for them and then back. I thought I should be getting closer and I usually have pretty good ‘aim’ when swimming, but somehow I seemed to be still going straight towards the transition, while the buoys were more and more to my left. Yes, apparently while I was swimming a motor boat showed up to move them into position 😆. They had a different buoy for swim practice. Good to know… I did get to chat for a bit with the motor boat guys. Apparently one of them used to live down the street from me in Virginia LOL.
In the evening, I went to get some dinner from the grocery store – all the restaurant there serve very rich food and that was not a winning proposition for the night before the race. Apparently everybody though so, too and Albertsons was PACKED. There were tons of athletes. But it appears that since it was Friday evening, people who come there for the weekends were shopping for their groceries, too. It was crazy! I got some frozen rice with veggies, breakfast for race morning and went back to the hotel.
Well, I think this is it for the pre-race adventures though. Time for the main event!
Swim around Morro Bay
Swim was in Morro Bay. I love how on this map, it looks like you swim in the middle of the bay…
But first things first.
I walked from my hotel to the transition to drop off all my stuff. I did choose to already wear my wetsuit – this stuff is a lot easier to put on when you can sit on a comfortable couch. My bike has been waiting since the day before, but I brought everything else in the morning – Central Coast gets ‘marine layer’ (read: fog) overnight and it is pretty salty, so it would have negatively impacted anything left overnight.
We lined up for the swim and while waiting, somebody asked if my neoprene cap would stay on without the straps. It would. What a relief! At least one thing that was bothering me less to deal with during the race.
First people went into the water at 6am. Sunrise was at 6am. It actually provided me with the opportunity to tell everybody who asked what time the race started we ride at dawn! I always wanted to say that and mean it! And it sounds better when applied to battle or a race, rather than a road trip.
Obviously, it took forever to get everybody in the water. It actually took so long that I got to watch people take off on their bikes before I even got to the swim. I did get to watch something funny: first swimmer was all alone, far ahead and the bay was still quiet. Morro Bay is inhabited by a lot of otters and seals and they were not ready for human activity yet. At least not the swimmers. I saw a kayaker trying to shoosh away an otter out of the way of the first swimmer. It was funny.
Finally, it was my turn. I should have known it wasn’t good news when I realized it was low tide and I had to run some really soft ground to get in the water. I kept worrying my booties would stay behind (their tops were tucked in under the bottoms of the wetsuit, so not really a chance, but it still felt disconcerting). The good news was that I was wearing enough stuff not to feel cold. The bad news was that I was still uncomfortable and I did feel the freezing water on my face. I did on occasion switch to breaststroke, which helped with exertion caused by all the stuff I was wearing and the discomfort, but it also allowed cold water to seep in. Ugh.
Now we are off to the far side of the bay. Apparently they chose the low tide, as then the water was the stillest. On the other hand, it also was really shallow. That black line I drew on the image above? Yeah, that’s about where the land ended. I kept getting tangled in seaweeds and at some point, Morro Bay got so shallow that it was hard to swim. Unfortunately, the bottom was too soft to run on. Apparently me and few others like me were the talk of the town, since I heard several people say later ‘and did you see those crazy people who ran part of the way in the water’. Yes. Me. I was the crazy people. It was not fun.
Let’s face it: the swim was absolutely brutal. No wonder this is what I looked like at the end:
Bike Course
We rode our bikes from Morro Bay to San Simeon and back. I took a picture of the map:
But it doesn’t do justice to what it looks like in there:
Beautiful course!
Let’s start by saying that the bike course was clearly sponsored by color grey. The fog was still there, making everything damp and it took a while before it cleared enough for us to enjoy the views.
Sadly, I forgot my sunglasses at first in the transition, so I got to run back from pretty much the arch starting the bike course back to my stuff to grab them. I was glad I did for two reasons. First, it was misty and having all that water in my eyes wouldn’t have been pleasant. Second: did you know that fog doesn’t stop the UV lights? No, I did not wear sunscreen. Yes, I burned horribly.
According to some, it was windy in there. Personally, I didn’t perceive it as such. Admittedly, my point of view may be skewed, as my area is prone to winds and the ones I experienced during Ironman Maryland was a whole another level.
My back did hurt at various points. Clearly, I need to work on my core more. But I stopped, had a couple of minutes of social interaction at pit stops, ate some and made it through it.
The first pit stop was the most ‘interesting’ one. Once I was on a bike, I started to feel a need to pee. It was to be expected, since I’ve been out and about for a long time by then. The roads there also really terrible, so all the shaking didn’t help. First stop was on mile 15 and I barely made it. I saw a number of guys stop on the side of the road and choose not to make it.
I went into a port-a-potty and here is where the true fun began. Let me pain a picture for you. I was wearing my cycling shoes, which means cleats. Those shoes provide one with zero traction, while forcing your foot into a somewhat awkward position. I was wearing a one piece tri suit, which is really tight, with sticky parts around my arms and legs, so it stays where it’s supposed to. Everything was wet from the fog: me, the suit, the floor of the port-a-potty. The port-a-potty was on a side of the road and it was slanted.
Got it? So now I was inside, trying to take off the tri suit, so I could pee. It took forever and it took a lot of effort for me to stay upright, as I kept sliding into a side wall due to the slant. I definitely made a lot of noises… Getting dressed really wasn’t any easier… If you want a good laugh, just try to imagine this whole situation.
We did get to ride through Cayucos (town where I lived for a bit) for a short period of time. I actually saw some familiar faces cheering us on! I only yelled hello to one of them though – it was while speeding at a bottom of a downhill, so they just zipped in front of my eyes.
Other than that, the ride was mostly uneventful. Some people complained about the turnaround. I will admit: it was tight. But what could they have done? PCH isn’t that wide. Another thing that they couldn’t have helped was how awful the road was. I am not even talking about those bumps that are meant to wake people up if they are veering off the road. The whole surface was uneven and full of potholes. I have never seen so much stuff lost along the course! And not just the usual suspects of water bottles and get packs. Everything was there, including some hand pumps and a ton of bottle cages. I was so happy I had them tighten all the screws on my bike at the village! I also have never seen so many people with flat tires! And I hope I won’t ever again.
The guy whose bike was next to mine in transition told me later in the day that his tires were fine, since he has dry runs, but his bike seat came off and he lost tons of time waiting for tech support. I saw him by the side of the road. I had tools and I could have helped him if he asked (I yelled an offer while biking past him).
Adventures aside, this was a great ride:
Running in circles through Morro Bay
Hmmm… I didn’t snap a pic of the run course, but it really wasn’t all that exciting from map perspective: from Morro Rock, around town and then back to the Rock, done 2.5 times – on the third loop, you went to the finish line in the middle of the town. It was spectacularly gorgeous though and since we were meandering through a beach town on a weekend, there were tons of supporters. It was awesome!
Morro Bay is on a hill, so that added some interesting features the run. I will admit it freely: I walked up those god forsaken hills, especially in the middle of the race. On the last little bit, I did opt for running though – I was getting so close!
Fortunately, my friends were there, waiting for me to cross the finish line and I have this awesome video:
Yes, I totally gave it ALL on that last stretch! It did come with a reward in form of this picture:
I know, I have cellulite and salt stains from sweat and my body isn’t exactly supermodel class. But you know what? I don’t care. It’s face of victory!
After the race
Isn’t my medal pretty?
I think that even by Ironman standards, this one is amazing!
I was so tired after the race! And cold! Oh, so cold. Fortunately, my Bestie and her fiancé took me to dinner inland, where I just sat in the sun. It felt amazing!
The next day, we went for a nice little hike, so I could stretch my legs:
Derek is a musician, so he played some songs while walking a couple of steps behind Naomi and I. We had a lovely walk and chat with our own personal soundtrack 😊.
I did text them ahead of time that my ankle was hurting and I asked for an elastic bandage. They brought a whole bag! It was awesome! I picked one I liked (I wonder if they want it back 🤔) and it really helped.
Once that was done, they headed to their things and I headed back to my hotel, trying to pack up the bike and everything else. I was having dinner plans with another friend. I am really happy I was having dinner with Dan – I couldn’t get my bike taken apart and I needed more serious tools. Dan has all the tools. He brought them and taking the bike apart took only a couple of minutes. I am so incredibly grateful! And then he took me to dinner to this little restaurant in Morro Bay that apparently belongs to his neighbors in Cayucos.
My steak was delicious! His fish looked good, too. Dan actually admitted to me that when he moved away from living full time at the coast, he went through a tough period of adjustment when he discovered not all fish and seafood you eat was caught that morning. That must have been hard!
Time to go back home
As awesome as Morro Bay and the Central Coast was (I still plan to move back!), it was time to head home. I moved slowly in the morning, as my flight wasn’t until late in the evening, but hotels do have a checkout time.
I wanted to stop by Solvang, since I somehow have never been, but I totally missed the exit 🤦♀️. Instead, I went to In-N-Out for lunch. Funny enough, it was the same one as on my way up the coast on day one 😆. The drive was so pretty! And for most part, not much traffic, either. I stopped by Malibu for some pretty views:
It was prettier than this picture would suggest… I contemplated several other stops, but I was pretty tired and above all else, I wanted to be out of the car. Because of course GPS gave me some ‘interesting’ directions. I was just happy to be out of that car!
Of course at the airport, they told me I was too early to check in my luggage 😅. I just sat to the side and read until it was my turn. They called me a bit ahead of the schedule and I got a real surprise: they weighed my bike case and said it was too heavy. Like what? It had the exact same contents as on the way to California and nobody complained! I got to move stuff around my luggage, but I managed. It was just a bit frustrating.
Of course I didn’t realize I still had water in my water bottle when I was going through security 🤦♀️. I was escorted with my bottle being ceremoniously carried by a gloved TSA agent to the back of the line 😆. Yes, I just drank it all while waiting for my turn. Again.
Flight home was nice – it was an overnight, so I just (sort of) slept. The seats next to me were taken by a lovely young couple with a four month old baby. I suspect at least some of you cringed at a mention of a baby. Am I right? And you’d be wrong: that baby slept pretty much the entire way home. The only noise she made what this little ‘ehem’ that probably only the parents and I heard. In response to that, her mom just fed her and that was that. I swear that baby was the best behaved passenger on the entire flight!
And then, I was home and reunited with Mal, faithful running companion.
I hope you enjoyed!