Muncie Post Race Review!

Finally some time to catch up on updating the blog with my past two races that I have competed in.  First up is a 70.3 the second is an XTERRA, two completely different races, with two completely different outcomes, so hold on here is the race report of the two races!

Ironman Muncie 70.3 (July 12, 2014)

Everyone thinks I'm crazy but 3:11 am is plenty early, but such an awesome time to get up for a race... ok maybe a little early, but once you get going and on a race day nothing is to early!  The drive in is one of my favorite things as you hit the high way and see all the other "crazies" out there with their bikes loaded on the back or the M-Dot stickers on the back of their vehicles, such a fun/exciting view.  

Once there and parked it was time to load up the bike and everything I'll need for the rest of the day into transition.  Once in transition it was time to pull all the stuff out and set up my spot for each leg of the race!  Once that was set, time to go get my arms marked up and then things get serious...  Oh and it was actually wetsuit legal!  Someone dumped enough ice in the lake over the evening to get it cold enough and bring the temp to where we were aloud to use the wetsuit, score makes me feel soooo much more comfortable in the water!  Once I got it all comfy it was time to find teammates and say hi before I take off on the swim and not see them for a little while.  

Announcer gets on the speakers and tells us time, and I realize I gotta hit the john before I go otherwise my stomach and bladder isn't going to like me to well early on the bike...  So I skip the line in transition and figured the lines if any would be better at the big section of johns down the hill.  Nope wrong idea, apparently everyone and the twin brother had the same idea... time to wait in a line.  Then the announcer comes on the speakers and says just a few minutes till the Pro's go off, and once the Pro's go off then I have 15 mins... So I'm really getting nervous cause I still have to get my wetsuit on afterwards, and try and squeeze a quick warm up in.  Finally got i and out and "quickly" jumped in my wetsuit, if you have never put a wetsuit on... let me tell you there is no quickly to putting a wetsuit on, luckily a friend was there to help me zip up in the end.  Got down to the beach front jumped in the water to get a few strokes in and feel good in the water, then I look up and realize no orange caps in the warm up section... I look over to the start line/shoot, and well they are all lined up in the water waiting for the gun to go off.  I think that was the time my stomach dropped and thought I was gonna miss my start to the race, squeezed through the group about to walk through the gate and jumped into the water with the rest of the group 2 min before, nothing like cutting it close.  

The gun goes off and we are off in the water, grabbing each other hitting each other and feeling crammed next to each other for a good portion at the beginning, but by the right turn we were finally stretched out, but that prob was partially to me not being right next to the buoys.  Finally made it to the end of the swim (38:05) and phew glad that was over, now the question when getting out of the water, do I let the stripers strip me or do it myself in transition.  I chose the stripers figured they are there, one less thing I have to deal with, interesting but def made that part easy! 

T1 (3:07) went smoothly after the long run up, took it slow to make sure not to miss anything and I didn't...  got my bike and heading onto the next part of the journey.  First time racing on the RS and boy I tell ya it's fast, almost too fast! Really enjoyed racing on it, but I did find out I need a different saddle the Tritone for me did not do so hot on the man hood afterwards!  The course was beautiful and fast as they had stated plenty flat and beautiful Indiana country land.  

Sadly while biking after hitting an average of 22mph and only having 2 pro's lap me on my first lap, which I didn't feel was that bad... I started to feel it in my quads...  Uh oh, def not a good thing.  Cramps started to set in and I knew this was not good so the second lap was slower just to try and save some for my run, but that didn't go so hot... Finally off the highway back through the little quaint subdivision and back to transition (2:45:50) 

T2 (4:00)almost goes flawlessly until my shoe pops off my bike before getting all the way into transition, run back grab that and run my way to rack my bike and get ready to head out on the run leg of the race.  Again knowing my legs were a little rocked I decided to take it easy and slow, figure I wouldn't miss anything, yeah just kidding, left transition without my number, and you have to have it... so back to transition I go to pick it up, almost running into a few people, since no one is expecting me to be coming that way.  Finally out on the course ready to rock this run.

For those that don't know this is my second Half Ironman and this one coming off the bike was completely different than the last one coming off my road bike, my legs felt so much fresher than last year.  But that didn't last long as I may have pushed to hard on the bike and fried my legs.  Felt cramping set in on my legs with in the first mile, ok luckily I had a few packets of electrolytes so I save those and hopefully space them out enough to recover my legs and be able to run the whole half marathon.  Well sadly that didn't go as planned, the run ended up falling out once again.  6.5 miles in it was walking time,  if I attempted to run I wasn't gonna finish so it was time to be mentally smart and walk, get stuff at the aid stations and try to start the recovery process.  I told myself in the end no matter what I'm running through on the finish shoot and not walking like last year at Steelhead.  well after racing 12.85 miles and walking pretty much 6.5-7 miles of that, and thanks to the guy at the bottom of the last hill pushing and encouraging people that there is only a .25 mile left and it's the last hill, I changed my running strides and figured out how to run without cramping and falling down, and you know what I finished at a slight run/jog!  I was so happy not having to walk down that shoot with all those people watching, made me feel soo accomplished! (2:59:26)  an hour slower than planned.

and with that I was done... minus the onset of cramping especially trying to step up into my Jeep, my calf just balled up oops.  So that was my race report for Muncie 70.3, I know I said I was going to post my race report for my XTERRA, well this post was long enough I won't drag on with the fun post of the XTERRA, yes that will be fun.  So please stay tuned and check out my XTERRA post in the next day or two. 

Thanks all for reading and check out my page for the Racing For Steve-O foundation and what awesome things this organization is about!

Doug Eubank

www.racingforsteveo.org/doug_eubank

1 week till #2

Well it's officially on week from today that I will be embarking on my second 70.3 Ironman.  So no not the #2 some of you may have been thinking.  But this shall be a good race, temperature is starting to look nice, everyone has told me it's gonna be HOT!!!  As I see it right now a high of 84 is doable, that's not overly hot, pretty nice if that's later in the after noon.  I'm excited, but nervous as I have not prepared as I did for my first 70.3 last year at Steelhead.  The swim will be the big kicker for me so we shall see how that works out.  My bike is having issues at the moment and that means busting out the electrical tape unless my warranty goes through and they are able to get it fixed before I leave Thursday.

For those curious as to why I do this to my body well it a gift I've been given and something that I enjoy.  Why do people play sports where they will at some point get injured or let people hit them as hard as possible just to get up and do it the next down...  It for the love of the event.  I have recently just joined a Non For Profit called Racing For Steve-O and am excited to see how awesome you all are to help me reach my goals.  Please check them out and if your interested in donating to help me reach my goals please reach out to me one way or another!

This is a short one, but as I go I will update you all with my races and pictures from them and how training is going.

Doug Eubank
www.racingforsteveo.com/doug_eubank

Been too long!

Hey friends and family, if you have been wondering, yes I am alive!  I hope you all are well wherever you are this wonderful summer!  First off I want to apologize for my lack of updates and letting you know how I am doing here in the Dominican Republic.  It's been a crazy few weeks since I have updated you all but it's been a great few weeks!

So what to start with???  There has been so much, well to start off with I finally was located in one place two weeks in a row, the first time since I've been down here! That helped me keep my sanity, for the past few weeks.  The location I was in was Hato Del Yaque, Santiago, such an awesome place and community!

This community was built after a hurricane came through and hurt the farming community and so this is where the farmers have come to be after their land was ruined.  So many family have come from farming families, and now are hard working people that head to the city to make a life's living.  Also a community where the normal age of a mother is 14-16 years old.  So for the ladies it's a pretty rough life for the girls in the town as they are usually single mothers at that age as well.  But it is an awesome place that Jen (one of the missionaries with G.O.) is located and have really poured her heart into and invests a lot of time there.

As I continue to finish this it has been a week since I've gotten back to this!  Meaning I've started then stopped this update! This update has been going on for 3 weeks, so you can kinda see how my weeks are... AKA CRAZY!!!!

Anyways within the week that I have not updated this I have gone to a new and exciting place!  It's in the Barahona district of the Dominican Republic check out where they are located! Batey 9, Barahona, Dominican Republic   This is basically the country side of the Dominican Republic... AKA like back home the with all the corn!  Anyways this place is the closest thing to going to Haiti without going there and it was a great week!  The community there is amazing as it's got a little bit of everything, even though it is one of the poorer districts that G.O. Partners with.

For everyone wanting to know, my spanish that I took 6 years ago, yeah not really helping me out here... My spanish is horrible down here, my vocab has suffered and still to this day is suffering.  I have learned a few words and can understand things but to be able to speak it is pretty hard, which has made it a bit more difficult.

Well this brings me to this beginning of this week for if you didn't know was my Birthday yesterday July 17th, and well it landed on a Tuesday which is the day that teams come into Santiago!  With that said it was my church coming down this week and my dad was on this flight, so what better Birthday present than seeing my dad after being away for 6 weeks!  I'm excited to see what God has planned for my group as they are here a week and will be doing a little of everything from medical, VBS, construction, and a few guys are heading to Haiti to drop some supplies off for the next two weeks where a team will be working out there to put a water purification system there for the teams!

Ok well I Figured I would get some pictures up of my trip a little bit and don't worry each photo will have a small where and when they were taken... so with out further a dew:

One of my first faves, just look at the joy and happiness in her face! This was with the St. Luke's Team my first week.

This is one of a girl in Hoya de Bartola "The Hole" which is the lowest point in Santiago and is an inactive landfill where people live in.  Pretty powerful place!

I was lucky to enjoy the first week at all the different events, and baseball was one of them.  They played a game that week and yeah he jumped from 4-5 feet away, so happy I got it captured!

This little guys was my second week here in the DR in San Marcos, and lets just say he is the biggest ham, but you almost couldn't just say no to him... Just look at that grin!

This was in the second week as well she was the cutest little girl, with the cutest little smile.  She didn't talk much to anyone but she became one of my fav's that's for sure! 

Ok please tell me doesn't this look like the next Cee Lo Green?  This was my third week and they did these sunglasses where the decorated them, and the big glasses with the chubby cheeks I instantly thought Cee Lo Green!

Say hello to Noemi! One of the cook's daughters in the Barahona District which I mentioned above.  She was the cutest little girl out there in the Batey's that played shy at times and other times was the most flintiest thing in the world!

This was pretty awesome/crazy soccer in the DR!  Never thought I would see this, but this is Batey Nueve vs. Batey Cinco.  This again being so close to Haiti there is a big Haitian population so Soccer is their sport!

No this is not any special effect or filter I used on my lens, this actually was real, a full circle rainbow at around 2 in the afternoon! Pretty awesome eh?

I love night photography it's so much fun being able to pull so much out of what seems to be nothing! Look at the sugar cane the clouds, and in the upper right and corner the night sky/stars! B-E-A-utiful!

And to end it all off a beautiful afternoon blue sky stitched photo of the sugarcane field just outside of the church!  Such an awesome view... isn't God amazing with his creation!

Ok well there is it a full update sorry it's taken so long... Only 2 weeks left once my church returns home on this coming Tuesday!  Miss you all and Love you all!  Until next time...

Keep on Living

~Doug

Why hello there!

Well friends and family,  it's been a week since I had internet to be able to update most any of you all!  I sit here having my day off this afternoon, after meeting my new group for this week last night and today as they did their first day of construction!  Great group 11 girls and 2 guys... should be a great time!

Well that is this week so far, but ur prob asking yourself... what about the week last week, where was he, what did he do, and how was his team?  Well here comes the week, which started off on Tuesday around 11:00 as I headed out to Puerto Plata, which is about a 2 hour drive from my apartment I have been in.  The team was from Greenville Christian Church from Henryville, IN.  It was an awesome group and a FUN time!  The group was a great outdoorsy group that loved to camp and just was willing for what ever!  The place we were at, was remote and the guys had to sleep in the church, and the girls were sleeping in the pastors house.

Our whole week we worked on building a wall in front of the church that the group supports, they also did kid ministry everyday before the feeding center and kids get their meal for the day.  The other things they did where community clean up day and VBS on Saturday where they had two different sessions, one in the morning with the younger kids with 4 stations, from coloring to story time to even an interactive fun activity that was learning how to use a sling to kill goliath, as their VBS story was David & Goliath!  The Kids had a blast with all of this, and they got to take home their coloring pages and everything else!  The other thing VBS was for the older kids later in the day, where they played the Minute to Win it games which they all had a blast competing against each other!  It was a great week and a lot of fun, if you have about 4 min or so check out the link below which is the blog with the slideshow I did!

I was told when coming into this week that it would be fun & fairly easy.  To be honest it was a very easy and fun week, but in the end we still did a lot and I needed a day off which I am thankful for amazing Missionaries that give you ur days off and let u get a bit of rest as I am getting today!

I did find a great verse that really made me think and is a great life verse for me as I'm looking to find where God wants me to go, and what's in store for me...  Check it out, it's Jeremiah 1:5-7.  What a powerful, yet great verse to ponder on yet having know that God has a plan for you no matter what, and he will help u through life!

Oh, and one update, I'm getting close to having all my money in for the summer, but what that means is that I am not 100% supported yet for my last 4-5 weeks!  So if you are feeling generous please help support me and even if it is only $10 it's a huge support.  Plus it's Tax Deductible, can't beat that can you!  Jump on over to my Facebook as Pictures may be posted there later today.

Until next time.

Keep on Living

~Doug

http://goministries-teams.blogspot.com/2012/06/greenville-christian-church-2012.html

Week one down!

Hello all,

Well it's Monday around 8:30, and I will be putting my first video together fairly soon!  With that said a sneak peak at some of my favorite photo's from the past week to come!

This week has been fun yet tiring.  This internship is a go, go, go, type of internship, but it's so much fun getting to see everything and the whole group loving on everyone down here.  My first group that I was with was a total of 64 people, it was a youth group and their leaders!  They had a great week and right now are at a resort at the beach, and I was left behind... No big deal, it's nice to be left behind so I can get a little rest and relaxation.

The group that was down here this week had 3 different groups, which included a VBS group, a construction team, and a sports group (whom helped played and taught Baseball all week).  They did some awesome stuff down here from digging holes for a new foundation at the medical building, to playing with kids and loving on them a VBS, to feeding kids at feeding clinics, and playing and teaching kids baseball and the different techniques.

So far it has been great, busy but great!  While in Santiago I'll be living in an apartment with one of the missionaries that had just started with G.O.  While in santiago I will have internet fairly often, but when it comes to me traveling to the other locations that I'll be at like for next week I will not have access to internet.  So updates won't always happen but will at times when I come back into the city.  Well I better get ready for the day, gotta be over at the head media missionaries house to work on the video with my photo's and her's! So with that said check out some of these photos' and enjoy!

Greenville Group:

Headed to Feeding Center:

 Construction:

VBS:

Baseball Clinic:

Keep on living!

~Doug

Off to new adventures!

And so it is.  It's 6:25 AM on June 5th, and I'll be leaving the house in an hour and a half to head to Ft. Wayne to make my journey to the DR for the summer!  I was cruising Facebook this morning and well saw my internship director say they had a crazy storm last night, which he is hoping to have it cool things off.  He said it has been wicked hot down there in the DR so this will make for a fun and exciting trip! Well I wish everyone the best of luck with your summer and summer plans, and all the weddings and fun things I'll be missing this summer.  Well that is it for today, I'll hopefully get a little bit of internet when I get down there to say I made it but as of now I'm packing up the computer and get some breakfast before I have to deal with overprices not so good airport food!!!! MY FAVORITE... NOT!  Ok see you all in August.

Keep on living,

~Doug

P.S. If you are wondering here are my flight numbers and what not if you want to see where I am and if I have landed.

American Airlines:
Ft. Wayne (FWA) to Chicago (ORD): 3920
Chicago (ORD) to Miami (MIA): 2074
Miami (MIA) to Santiago (STI): 749

All Packed!

Well everyone, it's been a long day, but I am typing this at 5:30 so not to long!  I figured I would post this last post of the day sharing my progress for the day, and that progress would be I'm packed between 3 bags, and I only packed it like 4-5 times, pulling stuff out and then repacking it!  Got it all in one checked and 2 carry ons.  With that said a few more errands for the evening then I'll be ready to head out tomorrow morning around 8ish for Ft. Wayne airport!  So if you all could think about it keep me in your prayers as you all are either on ur way to work or waking up getting ready for work!  I appreciate again all the prayers and amazing support I have had from each and everyone of you that is keeping updated with my blogs and Facebook group!  Well check this photo out and maybe.... just maybe one more post before I take off tomorrow depends on how I sleep and what my plan is! ok two photo's if you didn't look at my post earlier...

Before:

After:

Well I guess all there is from here is...

Keep on living,

~Doug