A Minnesota Triathlete’s Journal
By jsartain
I am (somewhat) officially out for the season. I won’t be doing Ironman Wisconsin and have no plans for other triathlons for the remainder of the year. My ‘racing into shape’ spring and early summer has resulted in a stress fracture in my bum leg. I’m mildly hopeful that I might be able to do a couple late season events, but we’ll see. That’s the ‘arghh!!!’ part. But I am o.k with things, working hard to rehab, and getting onto some much needed projects both at home and work. If there is one thing that I know, it’s that life deals you things you won’t like. But I can take way more hits yet!
I’m trying to spend as much time with Kai (my 3 month old son) as I possibly can. I did teach this summer but encountered some issues with an employee taking leave last minute which meant that I had to perform two jobs this summer. That greatly cut into Kai and training time, but fortunately I am done as of today! We start up with students again in about a month and I will be going in periodically for advising appointments and the like, but overall I can hang out with my 3 month old little man and get the backyard back to shape. I think I’m on the border of making some neighbors angry with the weed fest and crumbling retaining wall, but Monday the dumpster arrives and I’ll begin to tear things up. I’m especially looking forward to ripping out a cement slab that was the base for a dog kennel. I’ll get to use a cool saw and jackhammer, so it should be a great time! My neighbor Andy will be assisting me with the build portion once I get the demo done. After all is said and done, I’ll have a new paver patio and stone retaining wall, new grass and a truly enjoyable backyard.
I’m still attempting to hit the pool and bike. I didn’t make this past Tuesday criterium at Dakota County Technical College as I was very busy all day and evening Monday and wanted to take some more time to be with Kai. Good choice in my opinion as the little bugger keeps changing every day. Right now we’ve been working on dexterity by hitting toys that I hold over Kai’s head. He’s super intense when hitting stuff but getting incredibly good at it. Today Kai found his voice in a big way and was cooing like crazy at any kind of stimulus. Upon web search I’ve discovered that my boy is incredibly advanced for his age and as stated in previous posts will likely become a doctor/lawyer/rocket scientist/pro athlete rolled into one.
So that’s the quick low down for now. I am looking forward to next year in regards to racing and signed up for IMCDA today. Upon reflection I’m beginning to learn that when life gives you lemons you simply need to go out and get a bunch of stuff that will benefit from lemons. Simply making lemonade doesn’t cut it any more…
Jeremy
By jsartain
Julie Hull is now the top amateur female triathlete in Minnesota. Yes, Cathy Yndestad had that honor, but she is off to the pro ranks. Julie has had a smoking season and was on schedule to keep that going at the Lifetime Fitness Tri when bad luck hit. Many of you probably already know the story. Julie was already out of her shoes and coasting into the second transition readying herself to head out on the run. As she came screaming in, a mom with a stroller and kids in tow crossed her path. In order to save huge disaster, Julie ate the pavement. She got up, dusted herself off and headed out to finish the run. After finishing the race Jullie found out that her arm in fact was broken. Holy toughness! Julie is second only to my wife whos crazy labor I wrote about in a previous post. You can bet that Julie will be back and we are all hoping that she can get into IM Arizona (Julie is currently registered for IM Wisconsin but likely won’t have the swim training in to put the screws to all the other ladies in September).
The past couple months have been a blur. Work, hanging out with Kai, putting on the Minneman Triathlon and organizing a dinner last weekend with Hawaii Ironaman champ Craig Alexander have all eaten up the clock. Minneman was fantastic and we were able to help a few key organizations out including the NF Endurance Team (they raise money for the Childrens Tumor Foundation in the hopes of obtaining a cure for neurofibromatosis – I posted about this great group before), YWCA, and the local high school athletics department. The dinner with Craig Alexander was done as a fundraiser and awareness campaign for V3 triathlon program. V3 is a great program that uses triathlon as a leadership and lifestyle skills building venue for inner city youth. The Twin Cities Multisports Club that I founded and now co-direct will be working much more closely with V3 helping with getting bikes and gear, coaching and more. We’re just getting going with V3, but I am greatly excited to help as I think this is an amazing program that can have immediate and direct impact.
I’m finally back to some semblance of training now that Kai is sleeping at night like a champ, the Minneman triathlon that I co-direct is over, and the summer semester of teaching is winding down. I’m already working on fall teaching prep but have that quite dialled in. Last night I did my first bike races of the year at Dakota County Tech College. They have a Tuesday night criterium series in July down there and now that I am ‘old’ I was able to participate in both the Masters 35+ and the Pro 1/2 events. I was incredibly thrilled to not get dropped and even more excited that I had a bit of go juice in the not-so-trained legs. I certainly wasn’t a huge antagonist but was able to throw down a few attacks, bridge up to some breaks and still have the skill set to corner well and rub shoulders with the young punks trying to vie for a wheel I was already on. I forgot how much fun criteriums can be if you go in with a boxer mindset. Total blast!
Speaking of total blasts, Kai fits that catagory especially as of late. Kai is sleeping great at night which makes both myself and his mom very, very happy! We’ve transitioned him to his own room and Kai’s alert states are a complete ball. He smiles and laughs a ton, is easy to get down to sleep, packs up quick and travls in the car well, and simply takes my breath away every day. Kai is definitely the best looking 3 month old on the planet and I’m sure he be a rocket scientist/ doctor/ lawyer/ professional athlete all in one. His favorite word is ‘farts’ which he laughs at histarically when I say it. Actually farting simply causes alarm and not the laugh obtained when saying the word ‘fart’, but humor is progressive so it’s just a matter of time.
That’s the quick news for now. A huge thanks to my friend Darren Pearson for adjusting my blog a bit. I’ll be back soon to post about life and training. No racing outside of the Tuesday night bike racing until Waseca but I’ll certainly post about that post race. Till then keep the rubber side down!
By jsartain
It will be 5 weeks this Wednesday since Kai arrived. It feels like yesterday and an eternity all at the same time. I’m still a bit numb since Kai’s arrival but the clouds are beginning to clear in my head and I’m incredibly excited at this new chapter in my life, one that I never thought would be oppened. To quickly summarize my son, he is the smartest, best looking and most behaved child on the planet. And he has the best mom, grandparents, aunts and uncles. O.k, glad that’s straight.
Before Kai was born, I signed up (with my wife’s permission) for the American Triple T in Ohio. Of course we were presuming two major things: First, Kai would be a good boy and arrive on time with zero issues (obviously the later is not true as posted previously). Second, newborns just eat, sleep and poop and Jennie could easily handle a one-month old on her own (yep, this is our first one and lesson learned). I almost bailed on the trip, but Jennie encouraged me to go and I had made a commitement to my good friend Matt that we would travel together. So off I went and to Jennie’s parents’ house she went with Kai. I missed a total of 4 days of Kai’s life in the time that I was gone. The changes were amazing in that short a time and the heartache of not being with him was absolutely overwhelming. But all was well and the racing was great!
For those of you unaware of the American Triple T, this is a 4 race triathlon held over 3 days in the hilliest, hardest terrain you can put together. I think the swim even had hills in it. You begin on a Friday eveing with a very short sprint triathlon of 250 meter swim, 4 mile bike (climb a hill and decend back) and a 1 mile run. Saturday you do 2 olympic ‘plus’ distance triathlons (1 mile swim, 25 bike and 6.55 run) with the second race being out of order in a bike/swim/run format versus the traditional swim/bike/run format. Sunday is a half ironman (1.2 swim, 56 bike, 13.1 run). Overall the weekend went well. My buddy Matt smoked it and I used it as some solid training. There is nothing quite like going from 3-5 hours a week of training for a month or so to doing something like the triple t. Needless to say, the clouds in my head lifted and then a storm set it.
The summary of the races for me is quite simple. The sprint was quite good considering that I had done zero intensity. I finished and recovered immediately, a sign that I was not fully openned up. The first race on Saturday was fine – the bike course was incredibly fun with some technical decents. The afternoon race on Saturday was the most brutal as the odd format created double hammy cramping comming out of the water. I was very slow on the swim and run but did have a solid bike. I held back on the bike a lot over the entire weekend to try and work on my swim and run a bit more. Sunday went super great on the swim and bike. I was having a blast and didn’t even notice that the bike took almost 3 hours due to all the climbing. The run however was not so nice. I had a solid first half but my bumb left leg/foot was yelling at me after 8 miles. I decided not to push through as this was strictly a training race and chose to walk back to the finish line. Matt Mejia rocked it though and has graduated from novice triathlete to seasoned tri stud. I hate quitting races but also catagorize carefully what my season will be. I’d rather catch a big northern than a sunnie and my northern is waiting for me in Texas the end of June. O.k, there aren’t northern pike in Texas, but there are large mouth bass. Or catfish I think, your pick, but I think I’ve painted the picture.
Other highlights: Matt and I had originally planned to camp at the race start/finish. This lasted one night. It rained super hard, our tents had rivers running through, and a turtle that I named Bill made his home (or perhaps we took his) in our campsite. Fortunately we were the first folk around to meet the race director, Shanon, who just happened to have an extra room at the hotel up the hill. We took him up immediately on the offer to take the room. I now have a profound appreciation for dry hotel rooms with lcd tv’s that have the Tour of California playing on them. And ice machined. And hot showers. And dry towels. And no bugs. And much more! Matt and I both saw Bill (the turtle) during Sunday’s race. He had possitioned himself on the outside of a hard downhill switchback, a perfect possition to catch all the action while not getting hit.
There are so many other little stories within the trip, but sometimes those are best told directly. So if you see me at the races, feel free to ask about what a ‘fancy bridge’ means to southern Ohio folk. Or how Nascar can get you to heaven. Or how F1 is the invention of the devil. Or how I almost caught a catfish while pretending to ‘noodle’ before the sprint race. Yep, lots of stories and most too wierd to post on a public forum.
So that’s the 5 week interval update. Now that racing season is underway, I’ll make all attempts to check in with more frequency. On a quick side note, congrats to Sarah Viamonte on her win last week in Des Moines, to Patrick Parish for his amateur win at Gear West Du, to Matt Payne for his repeat win at Land Between the Lakes Tri, and to anyone reading this who has made a recent accomplishment that I don’t know about yet.
Thanks for reading. I’m off to change a diaper.
Jeremy
By jsartain
Kai Loren Sartain was born at 6:30a.m on Wednesday, April 21st. He was 7 pounds 11 ounzes and 21 inches long. Kai has a full head of black hair just like his dad did which will likely fall out and be replaced with blond curles. He’s beautiful, calm (so far) and incredibly curious. I’ll be posting tons about my new son but for today it’s the story of an incredible woman who endured more than I have ever witnessed to bring this child into our lives – my wife Jennie – that really needs to be discussed. You see, this was no easly labor, and may in fact be called the labor from hell. As a result of the story below, Kai is immediately grounded for 2 weeks.
Pre- labor began on Kai’s due date of April 19th at 11:30a.m. That progressed to active labor by 11:30 that night, and by 3:30a.m on the 20th we were rolling to St. Joe’s hospital. Everything was going perfect. Consistent increases in dilation, happy labor team and a spirited future mom. But from 11:30a.m on the 20th through 6p.m no changes in dilation or cervix occured even though contractions kept raring. Jennie attempted to labor in every percievable possition in the hopes that the birth would be completely natural but to no avail. We made the choice to use petocin to get things going faster. With some issues getting an IV in, we finally got going with the petocin (a stimulating drug for the uterus) at about 7:30p.m on the 20th. Things began to move along again and Jennie went from a 6 to a 9 in just a few hours. We hit the ‘pushing’ stage at about 9p.m and Jennie began to really work. The midwives kept increasing the petocin amount as Jennie was so fatigued after nearly 24 hours of hard, non stop labor. Not once did Jennie ask for pain drugs or get upset or discouraged. Again Jennie tried every possition possible and this kid would simply not come out. After some discussion, we found that Kai was sunny-side-up which is a near impossible delivery possition for first time moms. Jennie and I then made the decision at 4a.m today (April 21st) to consult with the OB doc. After over 30 hours of labor and only 2 hours of sleep since last Sunday night, coupled with the fact that Kai was in a less than ideal possition to be pushed out, we opted to go with a C-section for the safety of Kai and Jennie and for the sanity of all involved.
There are so many blanks to fill in with this from tip to tail. It was an incredibly emotional run. Jennie did everything humanly possible and then went beyond that to get Kai into the world. She never had a break from labor yet never complained. It was not until the bitter end that she finally broke down and admitted she could push no longer. Our decision to do a c-section was validated by the doctor today who informed me that Kai was in fact completely stuck and would not have arrived without this medical intervention. If we only knew then what we now know!
I was present at the C-section. I held Jennie’s hands and head from behind a curtain that blocked her view. I was able to see the doc cut my wife open and wiggle Kai out from inside her. Although a small surgical room isn’t the ideal birth place in my mind, it was still an incredibly powerful experience nontheless. The doc brought Kai over for Jennie to see him, and then I went with Kai for a quick wipe-off and umilical cord cut which I performed. Jennie was being stiched up but I was able to bring Kai by her head for her to kiss and look at which greatly helped her pain. I then took Kai down the hallway to our recovery room outside of which my parents, Jennie’s mom and sister, and my nephew Adam all got to greet Kai for the first time. I’ve only slept 2 hours more for a grand total of 4 hours since Sunday night. I’m absolutely shot and Jennie must sleep as much as possible to recover. I decided to get this post done as an answer to so many who have e-mailed, text or called. Jennie and I will not be getting back to anyone until next week but we are definitely good, happy, and with a healthy baby boy.
That’s the quick notes for now. Thanks to all for the well wishes and inquiries. We repectfully ask that you allow us some recovery time until Monday of next week. Kai just woke up so I’m going to grab him and inspect him tip to tail for the hundredth time! Thank goodness he’s way better looking than me. He must get that from his mom.
New Dad Jeremy!
By jsartain
In just a week, it will be the month that Kai arrives. Yep, our future son will be named Kai. He’s due mid-April, but could come at any time. The past week I’ve been busy (with some great help) gutting and replacing the master bathroom and basement bathroom. It turned out to be a much bigger project than anticipated, but that’s always how these things go. Tonight the master bath will be complete, and I will have the basement done tomorrow. We are also getting new carpetting for the master bedroom which is greatly needed as the old stuff is essentially rolling up, stained in many places, and just plain ugly.
Also on the docket the past 6 weeks has been building a new fitness center at Saint Paul College. Jonny-J and I were charged with the task of design and equipment ordering. Everything is almost in place now. Our flooring will be here on Friday and the stereo and T.V’s sometime next week. We still need a few more treadmills and a free-flow machine, but otherwise all our gear is here. This will be a huge improvement for the Personal Trainer program and for the college as a whole as we will have open hours for college students, staff and faculty. It’s super fun building such a facility. It’s close to 5000 square feet and looks fantastic! The climbing rope was mounted a week ago and I’ve been hitting that almost every day.
Jonny and I are also assisting with the first annual Minnesota Multisports Symposium scheduled for April 10th and 11th at the Maple Grove Community Center. We are working with Gear West and Spine and Sports Institute on this and the emphasis is more medical stuff related to triathlon. Organizing guest speakers, booking the center and obtaining coffee from Peace Coffee all take a lot of time. Add to this all the logistics of putting on a triathlon race (Minneman on July 3rd) and the running of a tri club (Twin Cities Multisports Club) and there isn’t a lot of time left in a day.
Jennie and I attended the first baby shower with relatives from my Dad’s side of the family. My brother Nate and his wife Laura hosted. It was great to reconnect with all those folk, many of whom I haven’t seen in quite some time. The gifts were amazingly generous and we now have a closet cleared out that we can load with all kinds of stuff for Kai. I had no idea you needed so much clothing, wipes, diapers, etc. My plan was to just build a hose into the shower we put in the master bath to rinse Kai off, but Jennie didn’t like that idea as much as I did.
Training has been o.k. I have trouble staying consistent lately with all the construction and events that I’m helping with, but I’ll be fine by the end of May. The weather has been nice lately, so I’m getting some great outdoor rides in. The pool I typically swim at is closing in mid April, so I plan to sign up with the YWCA in St. Paul which is walking distance from work. This should help with my swim traing being more consistent, but I will miss swimming with Dan Arlandson. I won’t miss that taste of barf in my mouth when I swim with him, but I will miss being pushed that hard.
All in all life has been super, super busy. I can’t complain though as I tend to create that myself. With the home projects almost complete and the fitness center almost done, my hope is that I can simply focus on getting the odds and ends in order so that Jennie and I can have a couple of relaxing weeks before Kai comes. He’s moving a ton, all the time, and to the point that Jennie’s stomach looks like a scene from the original Aliens movie. I can’t wait to meet him!
That’s the scoop for now. I’ll check back in soon.
By jsartain
Hello from down under! Jennie and I are currntly in New Zealand visiting her sister Tina, hubby Andrew, and our nephew Elliot who will turn 2 on Jan. 3rd. It’s been a great trip thus far with lots to tell. We arrived on Dec. 17th and will be here until Jan. 7th. The weather has been fantastic and we just got back from touring the entire north island, stopping in Wellington for Christmas where Andrew is originally from. We’re back in Auckland now where they live and a few other folk are arriving to town today for a New Year’s bash.
Our travel down was great. Uneventful would best decribe it. Jennie didn’t swell up much considering she is 5 months pregnant and we both fell into the time change well. It was a chore to stay up until 9 the first night, but nothing some good coffee couldn’t help with.
The first week we made base in Auckland and did a few day trips here and there. I went sailing the third day with a family friend which was a blast. I immediately found the local pool just down the road and hooked up with a bike shop that has some group rides during the week. We are also just 2 blocks away from One Tree Hill, a famous park in Auckland, that has fantastic running on super hilly terrain. All in all it’s a fantastic winter training area!
The past 9 days we went on tour around the north island. We packed up the Subaru sedan with four adults and the little tike. We had a rather large trailer in tow keeping with the first rule of camping which is to ‘bring everything’. We made our way down through Taupo, the location of the New Zealand Ironman, and on to Tongararo. We camped at a great campground that had a kitchen available to all. There were a ton of Germans there for some reason. The next day I got dropped off at the start of the Tongararo crossing, a 19km hike that goes up some sick mountains. I ran most of it but had to scramble up a couple of steep climbs that I don’t think are possible to run nomatter who you are. I arrived at the other side just as Andrew, Tina, Jennie and Elliot arrived by car. The next day we went down to Wellington.
Wellington is an amazing city. It’s situated around a large bay and all the homes are nested on steep hills. There was a 40km loop around the bay that was very bike friendly. I hooked up with the local tri club and went on a 170km ride on the day after Christmas.
After Wellington we headed north up the east coast to Opotiki. This is a great little town with miles and miles of beach. The running and riding was excellent. The first morning we all got up and went ‘pipping’ which basically means digging into the sand under the water for pipis – small clams. We bbq’d those up for morning tea. We tried to net some flounder as well but didn’t have any luck. Still, it was great fun to be out and the water temp was quite warm.
Those are the basic highlights. I could certainly go on about the views and on and on about Elliot. We’re having a ton of fun getting to know our nephew. Last time we saw him Elliot was just 4 months old and I had just gotten in my accident. This is certainly a much more pleasurable experience with him!
I’m looking forward to this final week. It’s nice to have a home base again after 9 days on the road. You certainly could spend a ton of time jumping around New Zealand to see it all, but I prefer to be in a place for a few days or so to get a better feel for things. This vacation was greatly needed. I’m feeling incredibly refreshed after a brutal fall semester teaching and am confident that I will come home completely rejuvinated. The skip in my step is back as is my motivation for all things. Perhaps the biggest highlight so far had to be Christmas day. I was lying in bed with Jennie and my hand was on her tummy. The sun was just comming up and peaking in our window. Right at that moment I felt a little ‘thump’ on the palm of my hand. I quickly sat up, closed my eyes and concentrated on my hand again. Again, ‘thump’. Then a coule of thumps together. Our future son was letting me know he was there. It was a moment that put the best of Hallmark movies to shame!
So that’s the quick summary for now. I’ll write more and put up some pictures when I return.
Jeremy
By jsartain
Quick post:
Jennie and I had a very detailed ultrasound yesterday morning. The little Sartaininator passed all measurements with flying colours. He was a bit shy at first, but flipped over to show all his glory and clearly clarify that he’s a boy!
Since Jennie and I are both 35 we’re apparantly considered geriatric breeders. But insurance will pay for what’s called a type 2 ultrasound which goes into great detail and can look into the heart, brain and vessels with great precision. At one point ‘my boy’ put his hands behind his neck and was wiggling his fingers. Totally takes after his dad! I was so excited that I hardly slept last night. It’s a huge relief to know that you’re kid is healthy and brewing nicely. Due date is April 19.
Jeremy
By jsartain
Jennie is now showing. Her belly is poking out and she felt the baby move a couple of nights ago. We go in on Dec. 3rd for the ultrasound and will find out ‘what kind’ the kid is then. With Jennie’s belly growth comes the growth of my anxiety and the utter realization that I’m really going to be a dad! It’s not a terrible anxiety mind you, just a voice in the back of my head at all times that is quite giddy.
Jennie and I will be heading off to New Zealand for x-mas break to visit her sister, hubby and nephew Elliot. Elliot will be turning 2 while we are there. It’ll be summer, so I’m brining the bike, running and swim gear with. I’m sure that I’ll get some fantastic training in and hopefully come home to boat loads of snow. There’s a ton to do with work, the triathlon club and house projects before leaving but I’m confindent that with minimal sleep I can get it all done!
I have begun to outline my racing season. I’ll hit the local bike races in the spring and then head off to Ohio for the 3rd weekend of May for a very unique race. The little Sartaininator will be over a month old presumably and I’ll be motivated to show ‘it’ the triathlon world. The Ohio race is called the American Triple T. It’s a 3-day, 4-race triathon. There’s a very short race on Friday night, 2 olympic distance races Saturday, and a half Ironman on Sunday. Overall you swim, bike and run about 140 miles total. Perfect! After that I’ll hit the Kansas 70.3 in early June, Trinona olympic distance the next weekend, Rochester Tri the weekend after that, then down to Texas for another 70.3 that is a qualifier for Hawaii. The Texas race is a big one for sure as I do hope to get a spot for Hawaii! July is shaping up to include Lifetime Fitness and Chisago Half and August includes a 1/3rd Ironman, Pigman Half Ironman, and St. Paul Tri. I’m registered for Ironman Wisconsin again for September, but if I qualify for Hawaii I’ll sandbag Wisconsin and use it as training.
Regular training is finally taking shape. I need to lose 8 pounds before the season, a very doable but yet unfortunate amount. Too much beer and cheesy poofs after a very tough 18 plus months. But I’m now motivated with having signed up for some great races to get going with the training and the New Zealand trip should serve as a nice venue for that as well!
I hope this post finds everyone well. Have a great Thanksgiving!
Jeremy
By jsartain
That’s my new name – Big Daddy. Life. You try to race it. Sometimes you win and sometimes you just need to try again. Lately I’ve been winning though, and that includes becomming a dad this April. Yep, Jennie is pregnant!!!
I haven’t posted since my disappointment at Ironman Wisconsin, but I really didn’t stay down for too long. When you’ve planned to have a kid with the woman of your dreams it’s pretty easy to get upbeat again. Many people are wondering what will become of my racing endevours. I can state that one of my 2010 race season goals is to wear out a Chariot carrier. These are the best by the way – great for both running and riding. I figure July will be the first century ride for the future Sartain.
We’re already 16 weeks into this thing (I say ‘we’ like I have anything to do with the next 5 months) and thus far everything has been great. We already have the mini van (which WAS purchased for triathlon purposes primarily), have friends who are unloading kid stuff, and Jennie has had no morning sickness or significant issues of any kind. We’ve heard the heart beat and can now see Jennie’s belly peaking out a bit. I rub it for good luck in the morning and it seems to be working.
Of course I’m freaking out a bit too. It’s a whole new feeling where you become incredibly protective of your wife and future kid. Not that I wasn’t before, but this is just a greater and almost instinctive feeling than it was before. Makes me want to go hunt stuff and bring the kill back to the cave! I’ll help cook and clean up though.
Jennie and I had a ton of fun breaking the news to friends and family. We told her parents first by wrapping up the digital pregnancy kit. Jennie’s mom was leaving to visit Tina (Jennie’s sister) in New Zealand and initially thought that she was supposed to bring that for Tina as she was chatting about having a second kid (she has a boy named Elliot who we will celebrate his 2nd birthday with this x-mas down under). Jennie yelled ‘no, that’s ME’ and her mom about jumped out of her pants while her dad had a staring face with the most wide eyes I’ve ever scene. None of our family thought we would have a kid so it was a fun surprise. We next told my family by hiding an ultrasound picture amongst pictures of Elliot. My mom was flipping through the pictures with my dad looking over her shoulder. She got to the ultrasound and said ‘what’s this? Is Tina pregnant again?’ But my dad saw the name accross the top and quickly declaired ‘That says St. Paul Radiology…..Jennie Sartain!’ My mother threw the pictures in the air and screamed. On facebook I simply posted ‘Jeremy Sartain is proud to contribute in dispelling the myth that cyclists have a low sperm count’. That received 45 replies in 2 hours. Jennie put ‘went to the doctor today and heard a heart beat that was not her own. Hmmm…wonder what that could be?’ and received 50 replies in 15 minutes. We have about the same number of friends.
So next year shall indeed be interesting. I will absolutely be racing full on while being a dad full on. I’ve witnessed countless examples of amazing athletes balancing parenthood, work, sport and perhaps most importantly the relationship with their significant other. That’s my main goal for 2010, followed by wearing out a Charriot. Intwined is to have all the fun that I can because life is short, sweet and definitely fun if you just take a moment to look for that.
Big Daddy Jeremy
By jsartain
Yes, I am alive. I know many of you have called, e-mailed, texted, etc. Sorry, I can’t physically get back to everyone so I thought I would get this post up first thing upon arriving home.
Here is the summary: I woke up sick last Monday with swollen glands in my neck and a scratch in my throat. Although this bug never progressed it didn’t improve much either. On race day I had a cloudy head from the get go but managed to punch out the best IM swim I ever have had. I was excited going into the bike leg that maybe I would have an epic day after all. The bike leg was going great and I made it up to the first amateur on the road and passed all the pro women and several pro men. My legs felt fantastic but around mile 65 I had throbbing pain in my head that quickly escalated into tunnel vission and eventual black out. I had to lock up the bike and stop. My sight came back in a couple of minutes and I tried to get going again but the tunnel vission returned. I tried once more after soft pedalling for 10 minutes but had the same symptoms. I stopped in Mt. Horib where there were medics. My blood pressure was up and I felt terrible from the neck up. I was advised that it would not be wise to continue and took the ride back to the medical tent at the finish line in Madison.
Ironman Wisconsin wasn’t meant to be for me this year. After leaving the medical tent at the finish line I stumbled back with Jennie to the van parked a few blocks away in a parking garage. I wiped myself off, let myself get right pissed off and yelled with the doors closed, then found myself back where I stated I would never be – feeling sorry for myself. This lasted for a couple of minutes and I then changed, packed up a small back pack, and went out to cheer my brains out for the many friends that I knew in the race and anyone else for that matter.
If there is one thing that I’ve learned this past year it’s that stuff happens. You can’t control it but you can most definitely overcome it. My head is held high today knowing that I did the best I could on the day. I signed up for next year with the same goals in this order: try like mad, finish, qualify for Hawaii.
Thanks to all for your concern and support. This journey can’t be done without you!
Jeremy
