because Big Kahuna is DONE!
I had planned on writing my race recap on Monday when it was all fresh in my head. But then I woke up with a fever and sore throat which was a lovely combination with the ran over by a truck feeling from the race. So, I am at home now, pumped full of cough syrup, going through boxes of kleenex and finally writing this re-cap.
A couple months ago I emailed the Race Director of the event (actually, sent emails to 3 different email addresses) to change to Aquabike. My training was all over the place and I was stressing myself out. I did not hear back from them so I took it as a sign that I was supposed to do this race. In my heart, I did not want another year to go by where I didn't finish a 1/2 ironman.
So, my good friend Diane was gracious enough to attend packet pick-up with me. And of course, when they gave me my race chip and bib I saw that it said "Aquabike." I had a feeling that would happen. I kinda flipped out on the volunteer a little (not my best moment). This is basically how the conversation went:
Volunteer: Is there a problem?
Me: Uh, yeah. I e-mailed the race director to switch to aquabike-
Volunteer: So, you want to do aquabike?
Me: NO. See, I e-mailed them THREE Times (and yes, I put three fingers up) and hadn't heard back so I trained for the full (by training I mean, I swam a lot, did some bricks and posted on facebook A LOT) and now I find out they switched to aquabike.
The volunteer graciously took down my information and they said they would switch me to the full.
Fine then.
So, Saturday night I drank lots of gatorade, ate at Fresh Choice and had everything packed and ready to go in my car. I prepped the coffeemaker. I knew I had to leave the house at 4am(!) to get to transition in time and give myself plenty of time to find free parking.
Technically I was in bed by 8, but I couldn't fall asleep so I read from my Kindle. Finally around 9:30 I turned the light off. I woke up at 2 and though to myself, "I could totally get up now." but went back to sleep. Then at 3:15 I heard a ruckus and a MREOW! Our cat Lily broke into our bedroom and was going nuts. I got up and tried to steer her downstairs. She was at the foot of the stairs so I tried to pick her up. She was having none of that and strategicaly focused all of her weight to the ground making her seem like the heaviest 12 pound cat ever. And of course our kitten was going buck wild, "MWEOW MWREOW WHAT"S GOING ON? IS IT TIME TO EAT?"
I finally got everyone situated downstairs and put the coffee on. Dennis came stumbling down (did I mention it was 3:30 am) because the commotion woke him up. I got dressed, filled up my coffee maker and headed out.
I got to transition, set up my stuff and met up with my friend Molly. Around 6:15 we headed to the beach for the race talk. It was a little overcast, but the water was calm. My coach was the announcer so she gave me a pre-race pep talk. Molly and I went into the water for a warm up swim. Then we headed to the line to start. There were a bunch of people taking photographs and Molly joked that it was like the paparazzi, to which I responded, "What are you wearing? Neoprene." Yes, I use humor as a defense mechanism when I am nervous.
Our age group was the 4th to start. Finally it was our turn and we ran to the water. It took me awhile to find my stride in the water. It got a little crowded and I could feel my breath getting out of control. I remembered my talk with coach heidi earlier this week. She said that at some of the workouts she had noticed something new in me, an aggression that she hadn't see in her 3 years working with me. She wanted me to channel that aggression at this race and she called it my Big K face. So something happened within me that made me determined to school this ocean. I put power in my stroke, I knew I wanted to do this swim STRONG. It felt strong as well. In retrospect, I should have worn a watch during the swim because I really had no idea if I was going fast. In the open water I have a hard time gauging speed. I was out of the water and greeted by people cheeirng us on. I ran the couple blocks barefoot to the transition, high fived my fellow teammate who was volunteering at the event and yelled at Heidi who was announcing, "Heidi! I am here!" Before I knew it, I was on the bike. I looked at my watch and it was 10 minutes earlier than I anticipated. I MUST have had a good swim.
The bike was my biggest mental block for the event. I knew I had to get off the bike by 1pm or they would pull me. I had calculated what my MPH should be. The first half off the bike was amazing. I felt like I was at a strong pace, and the sun was starting to poke out and the view of the Pacific Ocean was incredible. Finally there was the turn around and then BAM the wind hit me. It was brutal. There were points of the ride where I was at 5 mph. My feet were starting to hurt, and sitting on the bike seat was getting more and more painful. I looked down at my garmin and it read 53 miles. I wanted to get in before noon. So, I pushed myself and broke free from the pack I was riding in. Finally I reached the bike dismount and was cheered on by my friends Wilma and Diane. I had a speedy transition and was on the run by 11:55.
THE RUN. It was bad. It was really really bad. I made sure to keep hydrated. My legs felt like bricks and it became pretty apparent I couldn't BS my way into a good run. I just wanted to finish. The run was my longest half marathon ever. At mile 12 I said to myself, "you are almost there. You can do this." The last part of the run is in the sand. When my tired feet hit the beach I knew that it was happening. I was going to finish something. I can't explain the significance of this. These past few years I have noticed my confidence in myself was declining. Not just as a triathlete, but as a person. I totally needed some Stewart Smalley in my life because I didn't feel good enough, smart enough and doggone it liked by people. As I crossed the finish line at a strong pace it was a reminder that yes, I am strong. I may not be the fastest out there or the fittest, but I am brave. I am brave enough to sign up for events that scare the crap out of me and brave enough to put on a sparkle skirt and show the world you can have fun with this too.
And you know what? I improved my time by 9 minutes from 2008's race. My swim time was 41 minutes! This is a PR for me and makes me want to break 40 minutes in the future. I maintained a 15 mph pace on my bike. Not too shabby. The run, well the run was just "meh."
But, I finished it and felt great. I was surrounded by friends and returned home to my amazing hubby who eventually support my crazy hairbrained ideas.
So there it is. The curse of the half ironman is broken. And you know what? Completing my 2nd half ironman was wayyyy better than my first.
No comments:
Post a Comment