Race Report: The Big Kahuna!

Couple of pictures from the race (sorry for the sideways and upside down ones. Certain aspects of Blogger are difficult to figure out). Anyway, you'll note one of ye olde steed (she's fast, but not that comfortable); one of the official Howard Solomon Race for Thyroid Cancer race shirt, which the dear wife had printed (next year we are going to run a larger batch for all participants) and surprised me with the eve of the race; one of Hope and I just prior to the swim start; the requisite family shot and one of me waiting to get in the water. I have an awesome finish of me and The Boy which I need to figure out how to post.

Anyway, following is a brief race report for all those interested.

The Swim:

I was super nervous about the swim, to be be honest. If you haven't done a triathlon, the first 100-300 yards are as nerve racking as you can imagine. Picture a great big thrashing washing machine; that's what it most closely resembles. More than 100 dudes taking of at the exact same time (and at Ironman, 1200 people taking off simultaneously) makes for utter chaos. This, compounded with an icy cold Pacific Ocean swim, left me a tad bit nervous. All that said, I've done a ton of swimming this year and decided to take it out a bit more aggressively. Bottom line: I caught a good line and was left pretty much alone. I rented a full suit and the adreneline superceded the cold, so that wasn't a worry either. I actually enjoyed this swim tremendously and was able to swim hard the entire time. I came out of the water in a time of 34:45, which for me is spectacular. I think my best half ironman swim ever, actually.

Transition:

Long ass transition to t-1. I think it was the equivalent of two city blocks. Got to pass the Wife and Kids though, which was cool.

Bike:

I has been told that the bike on this course was anywhere between "flat" and "mild, rolling hills." What a bunch of crap. I should have known better. Californian's have a warped sense of "flat." A California "flat" is an Illinois "alpe d'huez." Anyway, the net net is it wasn't *that* bad, but it was non stop rollers, which were enough to really soften the legs up for the run. The bike course was like you have never seen: literally the entirely ride was alongside the Ocean. It was truly spectacular. I wish I wasn't "racing" so that I could have enjoyed the ride more. Ecycling classses definitely paid off and I felt strong throughout most of the ride. There wasn't a big net vertical gain and it was fairly uneventful, except when I went the wrong way over a railroad track and lost all my incidentals (water bottles, spare tires, etc. etc.) I lost about 1.5 minutes just gathering my stuff. In retrospect, I think the only mistake I made on the bike was I didn't quite eat/drink enough, which came back to haunt me on the run. My goal going into the bike was simply to break 3 hours, and I ended up coming in at 2:52. I am certain I could have gone faster if pressed, but didn't want to cook my legs.

Run:

Which leads us to the run. Running as many of you know, is my strength, but unfortunately for me, I didn't do a lot of it in preparation for this race. My longest run was two weeks prior and was only 11 miles. Beyond, that, my long runs were around six or seven miles. I ran a bunch of bricks (bike followed immediately by run) but think I shoud have done a longer one. I felt really good coming off the bike and made a huge mistake and ran my first two miles fast -- sub 8:00 -- and I knew there was no way I wasn't going to pay the price. I slowed myself down and felt fairly decent until around mile seven or eight, which is precisely when the sun came out in full force. Suffice to say, I fell apart pretty quickly and severely and the last several miles were a death march. Sadly for me, I was in full fledged bonk mode. With the exception of aid stations, though, I never stopped running, which was a goal. I had hoped to break 2:00, but alas it wasn't to be: I came in around 2:01. For the first time in the my 30 plus triathlon career, the running leg turned out to be my weakest.

So, the bottom line: I came in in 5:39 and change; significantly better than I had expected. Not terribly bad for a dude who was enormously hypo just four months prior.

FInal Verdict:

A great day all around. I conclude by stating that I really did derive energy from you all. I knew we had our little group thing going and it provided tremendous inspiration and motivation.

So, thus officially concludes our event. Oh yeah, there's the little issue of money and mileage I'll figure out the mileage later, but let's start my saying I'll personally donate somewhere between $1,000-$1,500 in our collective name to ThyCa. My sponsors (ahem, Dad and Pappa Paul, that would be you) will hopefully make a contribution too. By the way, many of you have offered to write checks too and that is very generous and appreciated but not necessary. This one's on me. Maybe we'll do things a bit differently next year.

The End.

(ps. The wife thinks I should give more $$$ so consider that amount under consideration)