Race Report

Im finally rested enough to recount yesterday's events. I cant believe its over with!I want to thank all of my family and friends for your support and patience over the last year; I couldnt have done this without you. A question I know your asking is what next.Well, there are plenty more Ironman's in the future for me, but not for next year. WIth a new baby, its time to concentrate on being Irondad. I'll keep racing the shorter distances, but no more IMs until 2011.

Without further procrastination, lets get to the race. The morning started out with a theme that would last the entire day: COLD. Air temp was rouglhy 52 degrees. While it made for brutal waiting on the beach, it made jumping into the 65 degree water quite pleasant. In the wetsuit, the water temp was a mute issue. I started in the back of the pack to avoid getting beat and battered. Still though, I had plenty of company and the associated pushing and shoving. I quickly found my form and the first lap was uneventful. During the second wave, the water chop picked up big time with some 2 foot rollers. Post race, I heard a lot of people had trouble with that. It didnt bother to me to much, but I think my low average weight had something to do with that; I just sort of rolled up and down with the swells.

Out of the water, I was greeted by the infamous wet suit strippers. If you never tried it, getting out of a wetsuit is tough. One nice thing at events this big is that there are plenty of volunteers, including the strippers, who just grab your wetsuit and pull. One thing Ive been fearing is having them pull of my shorts at the same time, which happens to someone every year. Luckily it wasnt me. Found my bike gear bag easily. Skipped the optional hot tub. Went with arm warmers for the bike, but no leg warmers. Took my time, and was out of transition in a litte under ten minutes.

The bike started out like the swim, COLD. Imagine having 20mph winds, in 55 degree weather, while being wet. That cold. Anyhow, the bike was by far the hardest part of the day for me. CDA has been ranked the 3rd hardest bike course in the world, and it lived up to its reputation. There are several large hills, some with +11% grades. And of course, its a 56 mile loop, so you get to do everything twice. At least with the cloudy skies and low temp, I didnt have to worry about being sunburnt or overheating. Another tricky part for the bike though was the wind. It was gusting up to 20-30mph, often at my side or front. On one downhill, I was cruisng along at 37 mph into a headwind of roughly 25mph. You can imagine what the felt like on my face and bike handling. Nutrition went well. Looks like my custom nutrition formula is a keeper. Red bull also helped greatly too. I was shooting for around 7 hours, and with bathroom breaks and some mechanical issues, I rolled in about 7:08.

Much faster 2nd transition. Just had to change socks, and get my shoes and hat on. The first few steps I took in my running shoes were nerve racking. I knew that what I felt during those first strides would let me know how I would feel for the marathon. Amazingly, I felt completely fresh for the run. It was almost like I hadnt even done the bike. I kept my pace light and slow, around 10 minute miles, up until about mile 18, when I started hammering it for ten minutes and walking the aid stations in between. The Endurance Nation strategy of reeling the walkers in during the last eight miles really paid off. I must have passed at least 50-70 people. In fact, and I cant believe I can say this, yesterday was the smoothest and most comfortable marathon I have ever done. Of course, it was also my slowest, but only by about 20 minutes.

The one huge thing that sucked though was the weather gave one last kick in the nuts. The wind kept up until about mile 18, and it was doubly worse as we ran by the lake the entire time. Then it started raining. People were covering themselves with the free space blankets as much as possible. Luckily, I had stored a long running shirt in my run special needs bag, and that made it comfortable.

Coming down the last stretch to the finish was amazing. I had enough energy to haul it in at around 6:30 pace for the last quarter of a mile. The crowds were going nuts, and they announce your name as an Ironman when you cross.

Official results list my finish time as 13:44. I was 1408 overall, and 186 out of 244 in my age group. As I predicted between 13-14 hours, Im completely content.

Now the bags are packed and Im ready to get home. Thanks again for sharing in my journey. I may continue my blog about racing if people are interested. Im not sure if anyone is actually reading this or not. See everyone soon!