This event coincided with the 10-year anniversary of 9/11. The event was especially poignant for one of the participants: veteran Chad Peabody, who was with Chance Phelps when he died in Iraq in 2004.
The Chance Phelps Foundation sponsored Chad in this event.

The following is a letter Chad wrote to Gretchen after the race, September 12:

Hey Mom!

I wanted to fill you in on the events of this past weekend.

Friday afternoon was foggy, windy and cold. As I went to the race site to pick up my race packet and attend the athlete orientation, I was a little concerned to see large swells rolling in on the ocean and breaking on the rocks near shore in thundering white-water. The thought of swimming in those conditions was definitely enough to put a knot in my stomach. We shivered through the orientation and then I headed home to eat and finish prepping for the race. I hoped that I would wake up to better conditions in the morning.

My alarm went off at 4:30 and I began my preparations for the day. I suited up in the race uniform that we had custom made. (It came out beautifully.) I put on some fleece warming layers so I would stay warm before the race, put my bike on the car rack and headed out to the race course.

When I arrived at Lovers Point, I saw the flags flapping steadily in the stiff cold breeze that was blowing in from the north. The ocean was still angry and the surf had not changed since the previous afternoon. I diverted my attention to prepping my transition area and making sure all my gear was squared away. It was race day and the conditions were irrelevant. It was time do do what we've been training for since I got this idea.

As 7:00 approached, I put on my wetsuit, grabbed my goggles and white swim cap and headed over to the beach area. The opening ceremonies began with a prayer over the loudspeakers and then a statement about the attacks on the World Trade Center and all of the people who have lost their lives in responding and serving after that day. Finally, the entire crowd sang the national anthem as the firefighting boat shot its huge water cannon into the air out on the swim course. I had tears in my eyes as I headed down to the starting area.

Since my age group was starting in the second wave, as soon as the first wave of blue swim caps hit the water and cleared the start area, I got in and swam a few warm-up strokes and got ready.

In just a few short moments, they announced that my age group needed to get into the start corral because we were starting in just a few minutes.

I lined up with the other men and we waited for the start horn. Over the loud speakers the announcer said that they would like to recognize one of the athletes in this wave. They said my name and that I was from Monterey. They proceeded to explain why I was racing. As soon as they mentioned 3rd Battalion, 11th Marines the crowd cheered. She went on to tell the story of Chance and his sacrifice and the crowd roared. I put my fist in the air and the guy to my right slapped me on the shoulder. NOW I was ready to go!

The horn blew and all 72 men in the 30-34 age group sprinted into the ocean to begin our swim. The action in the water was pretty intense. Arms and feet churned the water and bodies pushed against each other as we all tried to advance our positions and get ahead of the others. After a couple hundred meters, the crowd spread out and we all crawled our way through the kelp. As I rounded the first buoy I didn't have any idea how I was doing in terms of pace or my position in my group. I just kept at it and didn't slow down at all. Once I rounded the second swim buoy and headed back to shore, I started passing the slower blue-capped swimmers in the age group before mine. Since there was less kelp on he final stretch to shore, I pulled a little harder and tried to make up some time from the slower sections with a lot of kelp. As soon as my fingers touched the sand I stood up, sprinted around the water, hit the turnaround mark, and sprinted back into the ocean for the second half-mile of the swim.

I was still feeling pretty strong and reminded myself that I shouldn't push TOO hard because I still had a long way yo go this morning. So I just dug in, relied on my training, and swam my butt off. Before I knew it, I wad rounded the second swim buoy again and I was on my way back to shore. I concentrated on my form and increased my speed in the water. Again, as soon as my fingers touched sand, I exploded out of the water and ran up the beach, stripping off my goggles and swim cap immediately. I reached back as I was running to the transition area and unzipped my wetsuit and pulled my arms out.

When I got to my rack and bike, I stripped the rest of the wetsuit off, threw on my bike helmet, slipped my cycling shoes on, grabbed my bike, and ran out of the transition area onto the 24 mile bike course.

I had only gone about a mile when my bike computer quit on me. Now I had no idea how fast I was riding and now I was going to have a very hard time judging how much intensity I should be riding at. So, I just decided that I would ride as hard as I felt I could sustain, and just trust my training and preparation to get me through. When I finished my first lap and reached the turnaround, I could hear my family and others screaming my name and it added a surge of energy to my legs. "Do it for Chance.... do it for Chance..." was the mantra I repeated over and over as my legs burned and I kept riding at my max sustainable effort. Once I finished the fourth lap, as I jumped off my bike, my right hamstring cramped up hard...hard... and I just extended my leg as fast as I could, and ran my bike into the transition area, telling my leg it could complain all it wanted to later.

I quickly racked my bike, swapped cycling shoes for running shoes, took a quick swig of water, clipped on my race number, and was off for the 6 mile run. As I came running out of the transition area I saw my family cheering next to the course and I high-fived my grandpa as I ran out onto the run course.

At about the half-way point of the first two mile lap, I felt my quadriceps starting to cramp. This cramping got worse and worse as I ran and felt like it might get to the point where I would be unable to walk at all, much less finish the run. I said a quick prayer asking the Lord to just keep my legs moving. I would accept as much pain as it took as long as He would just allow my legs to get me across that finish line. As I ran past my family for my final lap, I heard someone yell, "Do it for Chance!" My eyed welled up and I picked my pace up and pushed as hard as I could make my legs go for the final two miles.

As I rounded the last turn I could see the finish line and I knew we were going to make it. I ran into the beginning of the finish chute and I saw an arm extended from the crowd holding a small American flag. I grabbed it out of his hand and ran the final steps through the chute and across the finish line.

The moment I stopped moving, my quads seized up hard and I had to grab my knees with both hands to keep from falling down. Someone hung a medal around my neck and my family appeared and we shared tears and hugs all around. We did it!

My goal was to finish the race in under three hours. The final result was 2 hours, 42 minutes, and 6 seconds. 21st in my age group, which is the most competitive age group in the field. Out of everyone who raced the Olympic distance course, about 600 athletes, I placed 106th and had the 67th fastest run (even with severely cramping legs). I also rode my fastest time over that bicycle distance and set a new personal record for that swim distance.

Swim time (1500 meters): 33 minutes 54 seconds. Bike time (40 kilometers): 1 hour, 19 minutes, 51 seconds. Run time (10k): 43 minutes, 27 seconds.

Chance was with me every stroke of every training swim, every pedal stroke of every training ride, and every step of every training run. I carried the coin you gave me on the entire race course Saturday.

I need to finish rounding up the donations I raised, not as much as I was hoping for but it's a couple thousand dollars. I will get it off to you as soon as everyone gets me their final payments.

I have more pictures that I will be sending you.

With much love,

Doc

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