Bacon Weeks (many of them) Quaker State 400 Endurance Challenge

Ive done the Team Topper Tri blog no justice this summer....Bacon has been covered up with training, travel, racing, fun, and work. Schmidt dog has already posted the great time we had at the 2011 Lakewood Valley Triathlon in Owensboro... This race was my second of the season and I lead out with the Get Fit Triathlon in Morganfield Kentucky and again seeing a decent effort and performance at this race. I have continued my focus on training and adding 4 or 5 workouts per week varying...haven't been on the bike as much as I have been running and swimming. Remaing plans for teh summer are a few more tri's and running races...more to come..

Last weekend was quite an endurance experience and worth sharing on this blog.

I was fortunate to have a friend, who has a friend that's a jackman for the Aflac Carl Edwards NASCAR team and he invited us to the inagural Kentucky Speedway Quaker State 400 Sprint NASCAR Race and provided us with pit access. Im a fan enough to know when an rare experience is placed in front of me so I readily accepted. We left Owensboro at 11:30 cst in order to make a 7:30 race time and the tracl is about 2.5 hours from my house. Taking i-71 we hit traffic about 15 miles out and we quickly decided to abandon i-71 and find a 2 lane road that gave us a better chance at no line. To our disppapointment a few hours later we were in yet another line of cars some 9 miles from the track...we moved 1/4 of a mile in an hour, so time was on us to make a decision..leave OR .... I asked Greg if he was up to a blisterting hot, 8 mile run to reach the track. He quickly agreed and we parked the car and prepared for the run...luckily we both wore running shoes!!! 2 miles into the run we passed Leroy's Knick-Knack shop and saw 2 bikes out front of his shop embraced by many vines. Ray was out front watching the traffic so we hollered and asked if the bikes were for sale...he said and we hurried over...he help us attempt to pump the tires but time had taken toll on my chariot so no way she was moving..Greg's bike took some air and he jumped on, cranked twice, and POP!! the chain broke and sent him flygin over the bars...he popped up, and a steady stream of blood was coming from just below his knee...he had a significant puncture wound. Leroy offered Gregs a dirty moo-moo from an old box to wrap his knee, we declined and use Greg's shirt as a bandage to stop the blood...I asked Greg to turn around and abandon the adventure, he declined and we pushed on! Several miles later, a lady jumped out of her car as we approached stating she was an EMT and asked if we needed help as she noticed the bloody shirt used to clean up the leg..we assured her we were ok and hardcore and we pushed on!!!! Extreme heat, BIG hills, Ray's, and 8 miles later we reached the NASCAR tent to get our passes just 20 minutes before race time...we covered the distance and advetnure in 1:55.. a respectful time for what we had endured. The race was very cool, the pit expereince was second to none.. Race over and now the dread of an 8 mile journey back with many drunken fans at midnight and past had me concerned...2 miles into the return home and we heard "hey, it's the bike guys!! Get over here!!" It was the EMT lady and her Marine husband who had offered help earlier...she was our NASCAR angel who swooped us up in the dark of night and delivered us back to our car!! You cant imagine my relief!! What a day!!! I had skipped a local 10k running race to attend this event...who knew I would end up with this endurance challenge...I will never forget the expereince and plan to tell the story often...it wwill get longer in miles each time I tell it:)