Rapture In Misery 2010

The 2010 Rapture In Misery came and went very differently than it did in 2009 for Karen and I both. In 2009 we were training hard for the event, didn’t know what to expect not having done it before but wanted to do well. So when Mother Nature brought the downpour, both Karen and I stayed consistent and fought through it when others bailed. Thanks to that persistence we both wound up on the podium. For the 2010 event we both had it as an “A” race for ourselves but for many reasons our training wasn’t where we wanted it to be and we’d had our family vacation the week before race week.

But we both had so much fun in 2009 that there was no way we were going to miss it this year. We drove out late Fri night and stayed in Chillicothe about 25 minutes from race HQ. There were bad storms Fri night all around the area, but word from HQ was that they were spared. We got up Sat AM and got to HQ with plenty of time to setup our pit area. Thanks to Mitch and Greg for bringing our canopy down early on Friday and getting it setup for us. That really helped!

The race started at noon with a short run of about 100 yards to our bikes. As with most starts for long races like this I chose to sit back and let the team guys and rookies sprint it out. As usual, this strategy puts me entering the singletrack with a large pack of people and thus pretty slow. But it’s a long race and there’s no need to unnecessarily jack up the heart rate so early.

I knew I was probably going to hard in the first two laps especially in the 100 degree heat and I paid for it big time on lap 3. I started to feeling sick to my stomach and chills. Even though I’d drank my entire camelback and 2+ water bottles. Towards the end of lap 3 I knew my race was over already. I chose to sit out for 90 minutes, get some food and try to cool down. I put ice on the back of my neck and sat in the shade while I tried to eat. This really seemed to help.

I chose to suit up again and go back out. I did lap 4 and felt good. Then half-way through lap 5 it all came crashing down again with the same sick feelings. So I sat back down and called it a day. But it was all good as I was still having a good time. Jim Davis was done with his race. The Segal boys (Grothoff and Hoffmeier) were coming and going doing their tag-team. Plus, I was helping Karen, Mitch, and Greg whenever necessary.

To my surprise Karen wound up pulling out of her race a little later. That girl never quits! But the heat and our overall lack of preparation played a role for her demise too.

The cool thing was that STL folks were again dominating the 12-hour podium: Zadenek, Busken, Mitch, Greg, Adam, and Wendy all stood on the podium either in their age group or overall. In the 12-hour team category the Segal boys brought home 3rd place. Plus Christine Ford won the womens 6-hour. Great job to all of these folks!!

If you’ve never done RIM, make sure you put it on your calendar for 2011. Doug Long and the Heartland crew put on a great race and it’s an awesome venue with great amenities for a race like this.