Ironman Canada: Zac Efron, Racing Leotards, and Temporary Insanity

Good lord, this post is so belated that it’s probably not even worth publishing. Oh well, deal with it — I’m pretty sure Jason poisoned me with the lunch he made, so before I wither up and die I might as well share my recap of Ironman Canada 2009. In August Jason and I headed to Penticton, BC, to watch some of our training buddies race the full Ironman and so Jason could sign up for the 2010 race (you basically have to sign up for full Ironman races on-site because they sell out so quickly). He had been badgering me non-stop to sign up as well, and I kept vehemently shooting him down, telling him again and again that I didn’t think I’d be ready and that I wanted to improve my half distance times before even thinking about tackling a full. Eventually Jas stopped hounding me and figured he’d just go it alone next year. We packed up some things for the weekend and were just about to leave when Jason randomly decided to call his dad and see if he wanted to tag along. Brief aside: Jason’s dad is awesome. He’s the kind of spectator you want watching you race because he’s genuinely interested in athletics and sports. He’ll show up at 5 am to watch things get set up and will wait around all day until the race ends. Best support system ever. Anyway, surprisingly enough, Jason’s dad wanted to tag along at the last minute so we headed to his parent’s house and picked him up for the long haul to Penticton. (Or, rather, we drove to Jason’s parents’ house and Jason’s dad drove from there. Woo hoo, free ride!) The area in and around Penticton is gorgeous — huge lakes, rolling hills and valleys, wine country galore. I’ve also never seen a town embrace the Ironman like Penticton. There were signs everywhere welcoming athletes and advertising the Ironman. Hell, the town Subaru dealership is even called “The Ironman City Subaru.” After coming from the most redneck, anti-Ironman Ironman race I’d seen, Penticton felt like I’d died and gone to athlete heaven. When we got into town, we made our way to the house that we were staying at for the next couple days. My friend/chiropractor/fellow triathlete Nathan was racing Canada and had rented a house, and he had an extra room to spare. What I didn’t expect was for the house to look like the family who owned it had just left hours before we got there — personal photos and whatnot were left out, making me feel like I had just broken into someone’s house and decided to crash there, Goldilocks-style. Undoubtedly because Nathan despises me for canceling so many chiro appointments, he decided to save this room for me and Jason: Not only was this girl obsessed with Zac Efron… …she also seemed to side with Team Brown: Jason’s dad opted to sleep on the floor since he was a last-minute house guest, so the three of us spent the night inside a 13-year old girl’s room, surrounded by glossy two-dimensional teen heartthrobs, nightmare-inducing clowns, and a lavender phone shaped like a pair of lips. Race day arrived, and we awoke to find an amusing checklist left on the counter top by one of the racers staying in the house: We headed to the start to watch the race and to support our friends. I was absolutely blown away by the crowd of people who showed up to support the race. There were groups of spectators everywhere, and they cheered just as loudly for non-pros as they did the pros. It...