On October 23rd (Thursday), after I did my run workout and Karel went for a swim, we were off to Wilmington, NC.
IM 70.3 NC was our last team race of the year. I've always wanted to visit Wilmington because I've heard great things about the race and race venue. Plus, Karel and I are really enjoying making new memories with Sunny and this would be his second time seeing the ocean. Additionally, Karel's mom is with us (until December) and it's always a treat to take her to new places.
Our 5 hour drive to Wilmington went smoothly and we arrived to our downtown Airbnb around 3pm. After unloading our stuff, Karel met with two athletes to work on their bikes and Sunny and I walked a few blocks to the race expo area (next to Aloft hotel). Ironman gifted us with two VIP passes as we were one of the top 3 largest tri clubs at the race. I picked up our VIP stuff which included an emergency pack of sprays (ex. bug spray, sunscreen, etc.), wrist bands, cowbells and backpacks. We also received access to the athlete shuttle on race morning to T1 and VIP food areas in T1 and T2. We said hi to a few familiar faces and then Sunny and I walked around the streets of the historic downtown.
Although Sunny doesn't use his e-collar when he does his therapy work, we still keep it on him when we are out and about. He feels really confident with it on and we are always working on his obedience to make sure he doesn't get rusty. We are still so proud of how far he has come. Karel mentioned to me that Sunny earned the opportunity to travel with us as a year ago, we were afraid to take him anywhere because of his reactivity to other dogs, anxiety in new places and excessive barking. He worked really hard and now he gets to enjoy the rewards of being an obedient dog by going everywhere with us. We love him so much.
I ordered pizza in advance from Cugino Forno and had it delivered to Jim's beach house. Normally I pick up the pizza for our pre-race team pizza parties but not knowing the area and arriving a few hours before our team pizza party had me a little overwhelmed so the easy option was paying a little extra to get the pizza delivered. We picked up water from Food Lion as we made our way to the beach. It was ~40 minutes to get to the beach due to traffic.
Our athlete and long time friend and team sponsor Jim rented a beach house by the swim start and it was the perfect location for our pre-race pizza party. We had a great time catching up with our athletes.
Our Airbnb was in a great location - although it was a little noisy due to the music/weddings from the bars/restaurants in the area. We were located by the Museum of Bizarre which is on the run course (last 1/2 mile before the finish by the boardwalk entrance). We ended up sleeping really well once we officially fell asleep.
On Friday morning we drove to the beach around 8:30am and went for an open water swim with a few of our athletes. Our athletes only swim for around 10-15 minutes to get a fell of the current in the water. Karel and I ended up swimming with the current and then against the current for a 30 minute swim. The water was a little chilly to enter but felt great with our wetsuits on. It wasn't too salty.
After our swim, we changed at Jim's and Karel and I went for a run. It was a nice change to run on completely flat roads compared to our hilly terrain where we live. I ran for 1:22 and Karel ran for 90 minutes (he did a workout). After our run, we took Sunny and Karel's mom for a walk on the beach (dogs are allowed on the beach in the fall/winter) and then we went to lunch with Jim and his family and coach Joe at the restaurant on the beach. The food was ok (not much vegetarian options at the seafood restaurant). After lunch we went downtown to meet our athletes for a team picture at 3pm at T2. Then it was time to relax as all of our obligations were done for the day.
In the evening, Karel and I walked to Castle Street Kitchen for dinner (it was really good!). I got a veggie burger and Karel got a regular burger. I set an early alarm for 4:45am so that we could get to the beach to support our athletes on race morning.
RACE DAY
We left our Airbnb in downtown around 5:10am and headed towards the beach. The traffic was really backed up as we got closer to T1 so we decided to park at Harris Teeter and walk 3 miles to the race start. It was very chilly in the morning so it was nice to warm up a little when we got to Jim's house. We saw a few of our athletes when they were lining up to enter the water. We then walked back to T1 and hung out in the VIP tent to see our athletes transition from swim to bike. Everyone looked cold starting the bike!
We made our way back to the car (with a quick stop at a bagel shop) and then drove back to our Airbnb. Thankfully, no traffic getting to downtown. We parked our car and had a short rest in our Airbnb before heading back outside to the run course. We stood on the corner of Orange and Front street and watched our athletes come by. This was around mile 1.75 into the 13.1 mile run. The weather had changed from windy and cool on the bike to very pleasant on the run (although we were still cold while spectating, our athletes looked comfortable running in the 60-degree temps).
Sadly, during the bike portion, our athlete Ruthanne was hit from behind by another rider. She was taken to the hospital via ambulance. Thankfully, she is ok with nothing too serious but she did have 6 fractured ribs and some road rash. Ruthanne was part of a Trimarni relay (she was the biker) so the other two relay members went to the hospital to stay with Ruthanne. We were worried all morning and were relieved when she left the hospital in the afternoon. On Sunday, I drove Ruthanne back to Greenville in her car (with Sunny) since she lives a few miles away from us and Karel drove him and his mom home.
Although the logistics of IM 70.3 NC are a bit stressful with the two transitions, it was nice have two locations for the race. We really enjoyed our time at the beach but we also enjoyed walking around the historic downtown. If I were to do this race, I would stay at the beach so that I didn't have to ride the morning shuttle on race day morning (which runs from downtown to the beach). Because athletes cannot access T2 bags on race morning, I would leave my car at downtown after checking in the bike in T1 and run gear bag in T2, and then uber back to the beach. This way I would have a car at the race finish and an extra hour to sleep on race morning.
Although it was a long day on our feet (we walked over 10 miles!) we loved seeing our athletes in action. We had several best performances on a day that proved to be challenging with the cold weather and wind.
At 4:30pm we walked to Aloft for the awards (coach Joe placed 2nd in his AG and received a slot to the 2026 IM 70.3 World Championships and we placed 5th Tri Club). We ordered food from Kale Me Crazy and had it delivered to our Airbnb around 6pm.
