OK, Team...here is my race report from the weekend. I'm sorry it got so long, and this is even the "trimmed down" version.
Sunday came early at 3:15, but I got up about 5 minutes later and got dressed. I ate a bit of oatmeal and an energy/protein bar and packed up for the trip to check in. We actually got to the arena a bit before they opened up. We turned in our "special needs" bags at an area where we could access as we started each loop of the 3 loop run. We caught the buses to the swim site and waited for body marking, after which we were allowed to set up our T1 area.
Then we waited for 2 hours until the race stared by talking, rechecking the transition area, visiting a memorial to an athlete who was killed recently with his wife while on a bike ride together, and warming up...in other words, we kept ourselves occupied. Around 7:30 the first wave went off, and I excitedly waited for my wave (10 of 16) to begin.
Swim: Being a slower swimmer, I started in the back of my wave and pretty much stayed there. The lake was a good temperature and I swam without a wetsuit. I found myself veering out to the right several times on the counterclockwise loop, which is unusual because I usually drift to the left more than the right. Del passed me on the swim at a turn buoy and called out a supporting word to me (he started in the wave after mine). In the end I finished the 1.2 mile swim in 56:27, which I felt pretty good about since my goal was 55:00 minutes but I also figure I must have swam an extra couple hundred yards with my misdirected swimming.
T1: I took my time to get going right out of transition and exited in 5:56. My goal was 5:00 minutes, but I took the time to make sure I was good before I left.
Bike: This was without a doubt my favorite part of the race, even though I had some unusual troubles. I had a plan drink a 24 ounce bottle of Gatorade and eat an energy bar every hour, and that pretty much served me well. I think I actually drank between 4 and 4.5 bottles during my ride, which is greater than my plan, but I think I needed that extra nutrition and I felt good with that. I had no problems with the bottle hand outs as I rode by the aid station and thought those areas were generally well run by the volunteers. I tried to make a point to say a word of thanks to a number of the volunteers as I rode by them. While riding I found the time to slow down a bit on occasion and enjoy the scenery, seeing cows, horses, people, scenic hills, pastures... I really enjoyed this. Since I was unfamiliar with riding real hills like the ones I was experiencing, I experimented with trying several riding strategies for climbing the hills. Around mile 20 I had my first problem,I noticed a sharp sting on my upper left chest area and I noticed that I had flown into a bee and gotten stung. I shooed away the bee and moved on, not a major problem. After mile 30 my bike computer seemed to be reading incorrectly, I figured the sensor moved out of position a short bit ago at a bump in the road or the train tracks I had recently gone over, In either case I chose to ride on and not stop just to fix it. I knew I was riding at a pace that would put me about 25 minutes ahead of my planned rate, but since I did not want to overdo it too early I slowed down after mile 40, although it's hard to say exactly how fast I went. I was averaging about 15.8 mph through the first 30 miles and I finished at a 15.3 mph pace, so I figure that I averaged about 14.2 mph over the last 16 miles. I may have been better off stopping so I could reset my sensor to keep track of my pacing, but in the end I was fine. Late in the ride around mile 51 or so I had a couple of moments where I started to question my ability to continue to move the pedals, but I gathered myself and pushed on past that point. I finished the bike in 3:39:11, well ahead of my goal time of 3:55:00.
T2: Given my satisfaction with my bike ride, I took my time to situate myself (including putting on my Garmin GPS and heart rate monitor strap) and somehow spent a leisurely 7:40 (goal was 5:00 minutes) in the second transition zone, although quite a few people actually took longer than that! Running out of transition 2 and heading into the run took us into the middle of the arena and out to the run course. As I ran through I could see some of the faster early starters already finishing.
Run: The weather had been cooler earlier, and then it was cloudy, but now it was staring to get warm, but that doesn't really bother me, although I am now glad that I did stop and apply some sunscreen before leaving T2. The run was a great set up on a 3 loop course with a fantastic support base of multiple volunteer booths over an extended area at both the near end and far end of the loop from the arena. I reminded myself that my main goals were to finish and to enjoy myself, so I decided on a pace to run 1 minute then walk 1 minute, plus walking all uphills and running all downhills to keep my heart rate down and my attitude positive. I enjoyed interacting with the various volunteers and other racers. I also got to see the familiar faces of Heather and Del several times as we approached each other while going opposite directions on the loop. I was a bit surprised that I kept my upbeat attitude all the way to the end of the run as the last half loop got really tough, although I was more surprised that I averaged a 14:27 pace on a modified 1 minute run/1 minute walk plan. I finished the run in 3:09:22, where my original goal was an even 3 hours. I knew that I could have gone faster on this part, but I certainly would not have enjoyed it as much as I did!
Final Time: 7:58:38, My real goal was just to complete the event, but I am so happy to have met my personal time goal of 8:00:00 as well.
Overall, it was a very difficult experience but a very rewarding one as well, and at the end just to top things off as I left the arena area after just finishing, I crossed paths with a pro triathlete who told me I was awesome for finishing and then she reached up and "high-fived" me!
I am already considering my next 70.3 Half Ironman event for next year. However that will have to wait, for now I look forward to returning to my training after an appropriate rest period over the next few days. I still have a couple half marathons to finish before year's end with another PR goal to go after...