Race Report

" Pulling a Brian Kirk"
F.Y.I. Brian Kirk is an old family friend who used to do these Ironmen races and write 4 page single spaced very detailed race reports. And we cracked wise about it. Now here I am doing the internet version.


As Krissy would sweetly say, " I DID it ! " Well, WE did it. Gina and I completed our first, and possibly last, half Ironman triathlon on July 23 in Lake Stevens, WA. Ironically we picked this particular race because it had the best chance of having cool weather. NOT !!! It was close to 90 degrees by the time we got to the running portion.

First the GOOD NEWS..... neither of us had a flat tire. So the day was a success in my book.
We wanted to have a finish time around 7 hours. I did 6:58:38 and Gina did 7:11:14.

We arrived at the site at 5:00 a.m. to set up our transition area, get body marked, get chip timers and have time to mill around, get nervous, use the porta potties about 100 times. Our age group was to start the swim at 7:12 a.m. All the younger, supposedly faster (OK, faster) people go off just before us.

The swim was out and back, and I still managed to go offline, so I'm sure I swam 1.5 miles instead of 1.2. More bang for my buck I guess. Once out of the water we stripped off the wetsuits and used the PPotty. In the transition zone, we put on a biking shirt, shoes, helmet, sunscreen, etc. One would think we also had brunch and made phone calls by looking at how long it took us - about 7 minutes. The serious folks do it all in under 2 minutes. so hurray for them.

Then we were off on our bikes. I started a few minutes ahead of Gina. My biggest worry, lots of fast riders on the road, whizzing by on the downhills, did not materialize. We practically had the road to ourselves. I loved it! Just pedalled along and every so often passed someone. Since we started last, virtually no one passed us. The bike portion was 2 laps of 28 miles each for a total of 56 miles. Shortly before the end of 1st loop, Gina came speeding up. I was wondering when she would show, as she is a slightly faster rider than I. We rode kind of together for a bit, then I took a short lead. At the end of the loop was a water bottle exchange. Being an idiot, I stopped and got one. Doing it the proper way, Gina grabbed one on the go. I never saw her go by. Then as the 2nd loop went along I came around a corner and who do I see up the hill? Gina. So I chugged on up, got ahead, and we rode the rest of the course that way. It works out great that we are about equal ability on the bikes.

On the 2nd lap there was more traffic on the road and a few sirens. We heard there were 3 bike crashes where they took people to the hospital. We passed one of the accidents; someone was on a stretcher. And another lady right in front of G, on an uphill, gear change ended in a slow-motion crash. That same lady had almost crashed into me. I called out the biker lingo "On your left" so of course she veered to her left. Yowza ! She was ok though. After that we decided to be really careful going down the hills. We both logged speeds of 40 mph down some of the hills ... very scary indeed.

At one corner on the 1st loop, one traffic cop gets a radio message and hollers to another cop that the Lead riders were 5 minutes away. He says this just as we pass. I got a big laugh from the crowd as I uttered that famous Bush-ism "Shit" . I did not want us to get lapped.

We had estimated an approx. 4 hour bike time, but I did 3:38 and G did 3:35, so we are really happy with that. The highlight for Gina was the deer that crossed the street right in front of her. I saw a couple of rats ... one alive and one dead.

We cruised into the transition area for another 5 minutes of PPotty break, more sunscreen, and shoes & shirt changes. We've been told that a lot of competitors pee while on their bikes so as not to lose time, but I will not/cannot pee while riding.... ick.

Coach Lesley was waiting to run with me. I immediately felt a not so little twinge in my knee. Something totally new and painful, and I knew that it was going to make the 13.1 miles very hard. UGH. But off we went and it was hotter than you know where. The 1st section of the course was a brutally ugly, hot, section of town. Imagine the part of town where they put the dump. Add to this the fact that there was almost no shade on the entire course. We saw guys (young, fit looking guys) walking. Bad sign. The run portion was also a 2 looper so we had to go out to the 'dump' twice. I stopped at every water station to drink some, pour over my head, and just to walk. I hate to walk. There were several spots that neighbors had their hoses out to sprinkle runners and that was a lifesaver. Lesley was great and encouraging. She headed back at one point to run a few miles with Gina then came back for me. She must have run about 18 miles. Of course our pace was way slower than her normal one. I thought about walking the last couple miles into the finish cuz my knee was aching, oh and for sure a blister had to kick in at mile 10. Every step was unpleasant but at mile 12 a gal passed us and her leg marking was 50. My age group! OMG! I never let same age-groupers pass me. So all of a sudden I reached into my suitcase of courage and found the means to run a bit faster. Lesley was surprised until she noticed the lady's leg and knew what I was thinking. It was hard to keep up but in the last few hundred yards I totally sprinted and passed her. I felt bad but those 10 seconds could have meant a podium place. :)

It didn't, as I placed 4th in our age group. Gina came in 6th out of the 10 50-55 year-olds. But I think we should discount the ringer from Calif. who finished in 5 1/2 hours. Don't you agree? A freak of nature that one. Below is the link for all the results if you wish to peruse them. We of course totally analyze every little #. Well, Gina analyzes for the shear enjoyment of it all. I just look to see who I beat and who beat me.

http://www.pem-usa.com/racedata/LS06age703.html

Our good buddies Kathy and Val were there to support us. They had a viewing spot on the run course that we passed a few times and it was great to hear the cheers as we went by. Val took all of the photos you see here. Thank you Val!! Val and Kathy were our podium girls, even though we were not on the podium. So you see what good friends they are.

We packed up our gear and bikes and drove home. We had a little dinner and crashed about 7:30 p.m. zzzz We're actually doing quite well; not too sore. My blistered toes are a pain. I think soon I'll be left with only 4 toe nails. Now there's a pretty picture. I'll post it.