70.3 Championships, Clearwater Florida

On November 8th, I competed in the 1/2-Ironman Championships in Clearwater, Florida. It was my biggest race since the conception of my oldest son 6 years ago and I was eager to see how I would do against the stiff competition in this big race.

At the crack of dawn, they started herding us into the staging pens for the start of the race.   The music and crowds were deafeningly loud and the cannon blasts which sent the swimmers off shook my body.  Standing toe to toe with the women in my age group, I felt the excitement building.  We inched forward every three minutes as the waves before us charged into the water.  Finally, it was our turn.  90 seconds, 60 seconds, 30.... the wait was agonizing.  Then finally, "BOOM!" and we were off!

The swim was calm, probably a little too calm.  As I ran to the bike rack I noticed my bike was one of the few left.  Note to self: SWIM HARDER NEXT TIME!  I saddled up and headed out to catch some fast fishes.

One of the perks of being a slow(er) swimmer, is that you get to pass a lot of people on the bike.  And that's what I did.  I kept reeling them in until about mile 40 when a huge pack of riders swallowed me up.  I fought hard to stay off the front, but it was no use.  As they pulled ahead, I noticed 3 maybe 4 women in my age group in the pack.  Drafting is illegal, but with no bike marshals to enforce the rule, they were getting away with it.  I was probably in 3rd or 4th place at this point.  I had fought hard to get to where I was; letting these girls go meant conceding a podium spot.  What would you do?  I let them go.  I finished up the bike and headed out on the run knowing I needed something special to climb back into medal contention.  

The run was a hot, hilly two-loop course.  I tried to stay steady and hydrated.  After a while I gave up trying to figure out what place I was in and just ran, hoping for the best.  At about mile 9, I noticed a blister growing on the ball of my foot, but it was too late to do anything about it. I hoped I could finish before it reached epic proportions.  Over the bridge one last time and around the corner to the finish line!   I crossed the line in 4hr 43min, 7th in my age group.

I want to give a big thanks to TARGETRAINING, especially to Max who made sure my bike got to the race safely and to the Saturday morning bike crew for kicking my butt back into shape. Hope to see you out on the road again soon.