A2A 2008

A2A 87 Mile Race Report, October 5, 2008
Presented by Chicagoland Inline Marathon, July 24-26, 2009

I would like to call it a nightmare but it is real. Hours of training logged like never before but like never before I am loosing. The Great Race-bad race, Badger State-dropped at mile 14, Chicago-Bolt comes loose, Duluth-dropped at mile16. Competitors that I have beaten are skating by me and all I can do is watch as lactic acid fills my legs. This was my season, every race a failure.
I am lying in bed trying to fall asleep, heart racing. My mind is dancing between the thoughts of wondering if I will ever fall asleep and imagining every finish line scenario possible and how I would react. I have been lying here for over an hour and still….zzz zzz zzz
Finally the race is going to start but I am not sure if I will have the legs. I slept like crap, but I know the journey ahead will reveal all the answers. The pace starts very steady and it seams to have higher tempo than last year. Pushing the pace is Team Bont, Empire, and Matzger. The first check point came and I go to grab my food bag. I have the bag handles in my hand but the rest of the bag is torn falling to the ground with all my nutrition… not good. A close call then comes as I am descending down a hill and a pack comes up on me and the leader in indecision of whether to pass or push pushes me all on one side as his skates collide with mine. Were both thrown off balance and squirrel across the road to get our skates back underneath us. It is way too early in the race for a mishap of this sort.
We come to check point three, mile 38 and there have been some good pulls by this point and my legs are feeling strong. Another acceleration occurs right before the checkpoint and I miss my feed bag again as we go flying through. I am now in a bit of a predicament as my bladder is full, though a nice downhill solved that problem. I bet I gave the cars following us a good laugh as pee came flying from between my legs. I think it is at this point that Team Bont started really utilizing their team sending one off the front after another. The pack at this point contained Ramirez, Mejia, Moreno, Matzger, Humphrey, Anderson, Detwiler and Me. We came to an intersection and we did not know which way to go. No one knew so while the motorcycles flew down each way trying to figure it out we all stood along a major road peeing in front of a bank. Hahahaha
Bruce Belden and Randy Bowman Caught up to us while we were waiting. Back to racing Eddie started us back fast as we ascended a hill in full arm swing. We are about mile 70 and we drop Belden and Bowman again and not to long after Mike Anderson. About mile 75 I put in a strong pull up a hill and I look behind me and there is a little gap between me, Matzger and the rest of the pack. I told Eddie to keep the acceleration going and if the gap gets bigger that I would work with him. The gap kept growing. My muscles were spasming bad but I pushed hard because I knew this was decision time. First Mejia then Moreno gapped up to us. Mejia, Matzger and me switched off pulling fast for the next few miles. This move that Eddie and I made was brilliant as now anyone who had a teammate was isolated. At Silver Hill will Moreno dropped and now it was down to just three of us. No, Moreno found it in him to dig hard and attach himself after falling back almost 200 meters. From this point the pace remained steady as we all traded pulls.
We were starting to get close and I sat in third spot with Matzger in fourth he was dogging off the back but I was waiting for his attacks that got me the previous year. Then the first came with about four miles to go he attacked hard from the back and I locked on then countered opening a gap on everyone. I slowed and we regrouped and Mejia kept the pace strong. I was right behind Moreno as he began his pull. We came down a hill into a turn with about a ¾ of a mile to go. All of a sudden Moreno slid out and hit the ground. I might have dodged him, jumped him, or just hit him and managed not to fall. Moreno was out and then it was three. I put the hammer down and gapped Mejia by 10 meters who had a gap on Matzger. I kept it hard holding the gap for 30 seconds until I eased up. Mejia and Matzger filed in behind until about 300 meters from the line when we spread out three wide rolling slowly waiting for someone to make the first move.
With 250 meters from the line Mejia made the first move and I tucked in behind. Would I ever win again? This thought started to creep into my mind after so many failures. Though, you fight it with training. Training is an investment into a gamble that you might win. As a person who packs 48 hours of agenda into a 24 hour day, it takes a lot of sacrifice to train every day with conviction. Relatively speaking, after 87 miles there is no fuel left in the tank. So, subconsciously fueled by this notion of sacrifice and instinctual will to extend beyond the bodies limits to beat another, I lit the afterburners and made my move. Fighting against cramping muscles, an uphill finish, and hungry competitors the decision went down to the line. I cross the line in disbelief with a victory solute. I then took the shortest path to the grass where I collapsed, falling victim to a medley of cramps.
There are two races that as a skater I know are the ultimate victories for the kind of skating I do: Duluth and A2A. Winning a race means a lot to me and winning what I consider the big one makes it really special. A special thank you to Greg for hooking me up with some last minute equipment, Glenn/BONT for providing me with the new BONT wheels, My Mom and Fiancé for Cheering me Through. PS… Chicagoland Inline Marathon is July 24-26, 2009.

Men:
Peter Starykowicz
Luis Carlos Mejia
Eddy Matzger
Luis Moreno
Thomas Detwiler

Women- The womens race was decided in a three way sprint also!!!
Martine Charbonneau
Rebecca George (O'Hearn)
Marcy Turek