I’ll warn in advance that this is a really long post. If you don’t care to read the full report, here is the summary: My first half ironman is now officially in the record books. And it felt great.
Now for the full details…
We got off to a good start on Friday and made it to the hotel by 3:30. I had just barely enough time to get the bags unpacked and head over to the convention center to make it in time to sit in on the 4:00 pre-race meeting. They had meetings at 6:00 and 8:00 as well but I wanted to get it out of the way and relax for the rest of the evening. The meeting was surprisingly informative and entertaining; I would never really expect a pre-race meeting to be either. After the meeting we headed over to registration / expo area. Registration was super quick and easy. This was the 30th anniversary of the event so I suppose they’ve had plenty of time to get the system down. After the expo we grabbed some dinner and headed back to the hotel to relax until morning.
4:00am came awfully early but I super-quadruple checked everything and was confident that I had everything ready to go so no worries. Nutrition is something I have really spent enough time researching so I went with something fairly safe for me: Bagel & cream cheese, banana, and a redbull.
We arrived at the race site at 5:30am (exactly when I wanted to be there). Got the gear out of the car and headed to transition; Lesson #1: Bring a flashlight as it is very dark at 5:30am. Rack space was assigned. I lucked out and got an end spot but it didn’t matter much as they allowed for plenty of space for everyone. I laid all of my gear out only to later hide it all back in my bag. There was a 50% chance of rain for most of the day. I knew this going in and expected to be wet but I didn’t consider what it would be like to put on running shoes that had been in the rain for several hours. Luckily I overheard someone talking about this so I took the advice and packed everything up. I had already decided that I wasn’t going to rush myself in the transition. An extra 30 seconds or so in transition doesn’t mean anything to me over the course of 6 hours.
The entire course was completely closed which is awesome for the athletes but really bad for spectators. My wife and daughter were there with me so we looked to see if we could get the car in a lot that would allow them to leave if they wanted to but we decided it would be too risky so they chose to tough it out. 6 hours of racing is a lot but 6 hours of waiting for someone to race is something else. They should get finisher medals too!
I apparently I missed the announcement of the start. There were still plenty of people in transition when I headed down to the water but I got to the beach to realize that my wave was in the water almost ready to go. I rushed down to the water while trying to get my wetsuit pulled up. Luckily I made it to the water with a couple minutes to spare.
The horn sounded and we were off. The swim start was pretty gentle. There were 52 in my group so we could spread out pretty well. The water was a little choppy but it didn’t really bother me at all. Overall I felt strong and comfortable for the whole swim. I was even thinking towards the end of the swim that I wished this was a full ironman because I was enjoying the it so much. 
That’s how it works when you grew up swimming.
There was a pretty long run up to transition. I decided that I would take my time in transition and not rush myself so I sat down and took the time to brush the sand off of my feet and get my socks on (neither of which I would do in a shorter distance). I get out to the mount point and notice my computer didn’t wake up. I press the button and the time comes on but it is still not displaying any stats as if the sensor isn’t recognizing the magnet on the wheel. Then it occurs to me that I had taken the skewers off of my race wheels in order to pack them better. When I put the skewers back in at 5:30am in the dark, it didn’t occur to me that I needed to put the front wheel on a certain direction. So lesson #2 learned: make sure you put your bike together correctly and test the computer when you do your final check in transition. I c
ould have easily stopped and fixed it but I thought that not knowing my speed would allow me to focus more on how I feel anyway so I left it.
The bike course was completely closed to traffic and ran on flat roads with a few gentle rollers; A paradise really. I felt pretty good going out despite being passed almost constantly. My new flashpoint FP60’s worked flawlessly and I could really feel the difference in the cross winds. As good as I felt going out, I felt even better after the turn around. I felt like I was flying. I was passing people and it all felt effortless. And just about the time I thought everything was perfect was right about the time that the torrential downpour started. Heavy rain lasted a good 20 minutes or so, let up for a while and then poured again for the last 10 – 15 minutes. My bike shoes were completely filled with water and at times it was difficult to even see. By some awesome luck, Tani made it out to the road to look for me just as I was coming into transition. It was a nice surprise to see her cheering me on; I thought for sure she would miss me due to the rain.
T2 was a little tricky since I had left everything in my bag. I am so glad that I did though! I had an extra pair of socks in there so I was able to change the completely soaked socks for a pair that were only damp. I opted to leave the sun glasses and hat in transition since it didn’t look like the rain would let up any time soon.
Coming out of T2 I felt pretty good. My goal was to run around 9′30 /mi. and at the first mile marker it appeared I was about 9′15. I say “appeared” because I will later find out that the first aid station was at .9 mi. Lesson #3: Pay attention to the actual mile markers.
Because of the rain it was nice and cool for the entire run. At the aid stations I alternated between gatorade and water and also had a hammer gel at about mile 6 and mile 9.
I continued to feel good through mile 5 or so. 6 and 7 were a little tough; My body wanted to walk but I didn’t let it. One of my goals was to not walk at all. Around mile 8 or so I started realizing how close I was. This is also about the time that I realized why my original idea of my pace was so off from where I actually was.
I had been trading spots with a guy for a while on the bike. He passed me at the beginning of the run and I was able to see him off and on throughout. I made it a little mini goal to catch him by the end. Around mile 8 or so I saw that he was walking all of the hills so I pushed up the hills to get myself closer. I finally caught up with him between mile 9 and 10 and ran side by side for a while. Without saying anything we took turns pushing each other slightly until just before mile 12 when he lost it and had to back off.
I pushed through the last mile knowing that I was almost there. As I approached the last hill I saw someone in my age group ahead of me so I fought my way up the hill and past him just at the top. With 50 meters or so left I saw Tani and Kate cheering me on. I ran over to them and high-five’d them as I made my way into the finish chute.
Final time 5:39.31. My goals were:
- Total time under 6 hours… check
- Don’t walk… check
- Run time 2 hours… no check
So 2 out of 3 isn’t too bad I suppose. If I would’ve met my run goal I would have been under five and a half hours which would’ve been perfect for me. But I have my reference point now and will have a better idea for setting goals for Augusta at the end of September with a big focus on running a much better pace.
Overall I am stoked. I felt a lot better than I expected and I am excited to better my efforts in Augusta and am already looking forward to an Ironman in 2010.
A special thanks to my wonderful wife and amazing daughter for supporting me throughout the entire race (rain and all) as well as the entire weekend, making sure that everything was perfect for my first half ironman. You two rock! (k)
Things to work on for next time:
- Running… I suck at running right now.
Things to add to the packing list:
- Flashlight to see in the dark
- Plastic bags to protect shoes and other items from the rain
- Clear tape to affix number to bike
- Scissors to trim bike number to fit on small frame
- Spare socks
Things to add to the pre-race check list:
- Check that the computer magnet is on the correct side
Posted by Aaron 
