Lonestar Half Ironman - DONE

It was a tough one, but it's done. I drove to Galveston Friday afternoon, got up early Saturday morning to go watch the Sprint triathlon that was going on. I'm not sure I've ever spectated a triathlon, so this was a different experience for me. It was great to cheer my friends on and watch how the whole triathlon day plays out.

After the race, I explored the race site which included the expo and race store, and packet pickup. I spent way too much money on Ironman paraphanelia, but it's just so cool! I couldn't help it...

A few of us did a practice swim in the salt water, and it went really well. I was hoping between the wetsuit and the salt water, I'd have a better swim time.

Pro-Triathlete (and the ultimate winner of this 70.3 race) Chris Lieto was there signing autographs, so of course I had to snap a picture! He's such a bad-ass! Of course, I never saw him on the course because he started 1:15 before me and I'm sure was completely done before I even got out of the water.

It was a long day and even though it was mostly overcast, I came home with a pretty nice sunburn already. It was just the beginning though...

So Sunday morning, we got up at 4 a.m. and were at the race site at 5 a.m. when transition started. My Granny swim wave wasn't until 8:15, so after getting my number and age marked on my leg, I spent the next few hours setting up my bike and run gear and then chatting with my tri-buddies and watching the other waves get started. I ate my usual pre-race bagel with peanut butter and drank some water. Right before the swim, I sucked down a Gu pack.

Finally, our wave gets started. We jump in the water and tread for a bit until the gun goes off. The water was way choppier than I expected and there were a lot of brutal ladies in that wave! One woman grabbed me by my calve 3-4 times and I swear literally pulled me backwards! Another woman kept zig-zagging in front of me, so I had a tough time getting around her. I swallowed a lot of salt water and had a hard time staying in a straight line with the waves. I wanted to have a faster time, but ended up with 43:56. From what my GPS map shows, I swam way more than 1.2 miles with all the zig-zagging I did! Must work on sighting and swimming straight lol

I finally get out of the water and get down to the wetsuit strippers. They were great and had that thing off me in no time, and even did it without pulling my shorts off! They had fresh water showers to rinse off the salt water, so that was nice. I asked one of the spectators for some shampoo lol

After a little over 4 minutes in T1, I get going on the bike, which proved to be tougher than I expected as well. The winds were over 20 mph and the first 26 miles were all cross-wind and head-wind. My average was only 15.5 mph. I am not happy with that. Coming back, I was 13.5 minutes faster, and ended up with a 16.8 average for the 56 miles. Still not where I wanted/expected to be, but it is what it is. I had 3 Gu's and one Forze bar on the bike. I did stop briefly once to refill my water bottle and grab a quick bite of banana. The course was beautiful, along the seawall in Galveston. It was nice to be at a beach again. I had a slight scare around mile 9.5 when some crazy MeeMaw flew by me on her bike and slapped me on the ass! Paybacks, that's all I have to say...

So after a little over 3 minutes in Transition #2, I head out on the run. The first 3 miles were pretty good...but I may have gone out a little fast and it was really getting hot and humid. I spent the next 10 miles stopping at every rest stop to dump water over my head and ice down my shirt. Some of the rest stops had sponges, so I grabbed one where I could and constantly wiped my face down with it. I think that I actually may have had too much water, because for the first time ever in a triathlon, I had to stop and use the porta-potty. The crowd support was awesome - the course was a 4-lap route which was completely flat with the exception of one small bridge that took us down by where we had jumped in the water earlier to start the swim. Boy was I glad to not have to be swimming again, but on the other hand, the water looked really inviting at that point!

So I finally, reach the finish line and a couple of my friends were there to cheer me in. The finish line picture should be interesting - stay tuned for that. I may have posed. This beautiful medal was hung on my neck and I was handed an ice cold water bottle:

So I go sit down on a curb to rest up a bit, pull off my shoes and socks and find this on the bottom of my foot thanks to soaking wet shoes (from drenching my head at the water stops!):

I sat for a few minutes, stretched a bit and then got up to head over to transition to get my phone and then to the athletes lounge for pizza and beer. Unfortunately for me, the faster athletes at all the pizza before I got there :( so I was stuck with a choice of bananas, pretzels or lays potato chips. Not exactly anything filling, but they promised more pizza was on the way. Total run time was about where I expected, but I know I can do better with more regular runs: 2:30:58.

The highlight of the athletes lounge was meeting Lew Hollander, triathlete-extraordinare! I'm in total awe of this man. He has been featured in the Kona Ironman highlights video a couple of times now, and has participated in numerous Ironman championships as well as other Ironman and half Ironman races. He is 82 years old! Truly amazing. He won his age group yesterday, again. Next up for him? An endurance race including skiing, running, cycling, kayaking, and horseback riding. We could all learn a lesson or two from him about thwarting the aging process! The man is absolutely incredible and an inspiration to all of us. I look forward to following his life for many years to come since he plans on living to be 120! If you're interested in more information, here is his link:

http://lewhollander.com/

Me and THE MAN just before he claims his age-group award!

I was told by quite a few people that they didn't do as well as they expected, and one girl said this race was the hardest Half Iron she has ever done, so that made me feel better about my performance. I seriously was wondering how the hell I was going to get through a FULL Ironman after yesterday's performance. Now to heal the blisters and sunburn:

I now know the things I need to work on for the next race: Nutrition, open water swimming, sighting, more weight training and more runs. I'm sure there's more, but my mind is just a jumble right now.

That being said, I'm going to bed!