The Big Race Recap

Maybe taking full advantage of taper week worked or maybe the training or lack there of in the last three weeks or maybe it was the weather (great), but I did pretty well for my first half ironman (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run). My first goal was to finish and have fun. My second goal was to finish under 7 hours. My third goal was to finish at 6:30:00. I accomplished ALL of those goals and the pictures that Dan (multisport dude) took of me should prove that I had a great time. Really, you should see some of the faces I made. LOL! It was a really fun time with lots of people cheering you on during the run and the organizers did a great job. I really thought the run would be awful since it was two loops, but it was neat to see all the people that I knew who were also doing the race and be able to cheer them on as they did the same for me. There were several people I knew not doing the race who were positioned along the run that cheered for me as well. It really was a lot of fun. Don't get me wrong, the last 4 miles of the run were tough and I'm feeling the pain, but I'm totally doing another.

I had underlying goals as well for each discipline.

I wanted my swim to be between 40-45 minutes. DONE. This really surprised me. I didn't start my watch, so I didn't know how I did in the swim until all the results were posted. It seemed really slow to me. It was brutal out there. I'm a pretty good spotter, but others ARE NOT! This one gal just kept pissing me off. She was always swimming into me. I totally beat her out of the water, but it was very irritating. AND, AND, guys are brutal! I'm surprised I don't have a black eye today. I got walloped. Then there was this one douche bag who came from the outside and b-lined it across everyone to get on the inside. ARG!!!! I turned it on after I made the turn back to the swim finish and was passing people like crazy. Well, maybe not crazy, but I was passing people. Also, I only swam 32 seconds per 100 meters slower than Tim. He usually swims 1 minute faster per 100 meters than me.

I wanted my bike to be between 3:30:00-3:45:00. TOTALLY ROCKED IT! The bike felt really good and easy (did I really just type that?). I'm glad I had ridden it three times before because it really helped knowing the course that well. I also rocked the aid stations. Picture this...people standing along side the rode and you're riding by on your bike at whatever mph's and you must grab a water/Gatorade bottle out of these people's hand and keep moving. WHAT! It's not like running where you can stop and casually drink your drink. NO, you must keep moving. YIKES! I grabbed my two bottles like I'd been doing it for years. BTW, NEVER practiced it and Tim thought I should. Really, the bike was awesome and when I figured out that I was going to finish SO ahead of my "best" case I was really excited. AND, Tim didn't pass me until mile 27. Then again he started 32 minutes after me, but I was pretty excited that I had gotten so far before he passed. He's a pretty fast cyclist. He average 5.35 mph faster than me.

I wanted my run to be between 2:20:00-2:30:00. BEAT IT! The sun had come out when there were 6 miles left in my bike, so I thought the run would just bite since there wasn't a lot of shade on the run course. Actually it wasn't too bad. Imagine you're 4 hours into a race and you must run past the finish line 7 times before you can actually head to the finish line. WTF! I thought the run would be beyond miserable, but I thought I would be feeling a lot worse than I was at the start of the run. Didn't even notice the finish line. REALLY! Because the run was a big loop out and back type course you got to see so many people and friends it was very easy to keep distracted. I knew I was ahead of my best case goal, so I just wanted to take the run easy and have a good time. I knew I would fall within my time goal, so why not. I felt pretty good on the run as well and was having a good time. Tim only passed me once, but we crossed paths a few times and each time he was very encouraging. He really hadn't been too much during my training, so that made me happy.

It was a good day! Here are me stats.

TOTAL TIME
6:24:29
TOTAL SWIM
1.2 mi. (41:50) 2:12/100meters
TOTAL BIKE
56 mi. (3:14:57) 17.24 mph
TOTAL RUN
13.1 mi. (2:19:39) 10:39/mile
T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE
4:16
T2: BIKE-TO-RUN
3:47
AGE GROUP PLACE
49/75
OVERALL PLACE
1177/1924

What did I learn?
*I need to run in a hat even though I overheat when I do, but my lips and nose are fried. They didn't hurt during the race at all, but afterwards I could tell my lips had gotten burned. It wasn't until Monday that I could feel my nose.
*I can run faster. I need to do more brick workouts (that's running after long bike rides).
*I actually should train a little harder.
*I can finish a half ironman!!!
*It's addicting! I'm signing up for my 2nd & 3rd this week. 2nd will be Sept 19 in Oklahoma City and the 3rd will be this same race next year.
*The biggest realization............I AM INSANE!!!!

An additional little perk is that there were 5 world class triathletes running this race as well. Chrissie Wellington, Tim DeBoom, Pip Taylor, Luke Bell, Timothy O'Donnell. I was starting my run as Chrissie was winning the race for the women. I was a mere 2 hrs 7 min behind her. : ) Thankfully she was gracious enough to sign the back of my medal since I won't be having dinner with her tonight. Chrissie got sick and needs to rest up for her race next weekend. BOO! Maybe next time.