Team 'Ohana--No One Left Behind: The Continuing Adventures

[corinnak]

Hi Cousins,
I know a lot of us are friends on Facebook, but I realized I've done a poor job of updating the group since that school closing bomb was dropped last week. It's been a crazy one, to say the least.

I spent Friday helping to pack up records to be sent to home school districts for storage and doing some of the last day celebration with the kids. Then I went and did the show Suburb that evening as well. Unfortunately, there was a large dance competition going on on the main stage next door, and they kept wanting to cut through our backstage (which is also a hallway, but come on, there were signs saying the hallway was closed and a rope to block it off. The rules don't apply to some people.)

Saturday, I got up early and went to the Challenge Obesity 5K. It was fun to get to meet up with Nicole and her daughter as well as JenAnderson from the Rebel Alliance team. I ran a strong race, with a PR of 26:59, which was good enough to win the women 35-39 division! I felt pretty sick afterward for about 10 minutes, though. My word.

My older son went to placement tests at his new school - it was the plan anyway as it was for next year. Afterward we had a chance to talk with the other boy who is going to this school next year - his brother is in the high school. And his mom is saying that he probably won't go and finish out the year in the lower school, which may be the right choice for them but is kind of too bad for my kid who would have loved having him there this spring. Cest la vie. My DH drove our younger DS past the elementary school campus and DS said "This looks like a great school." SO that is a good sign. If he doesn't like the look of something, it's not going to happen.

Then we spent the afternoon with some friends, so that was fun. I left early to go and run the Saturday performance of Suburb.

Sunday we were slugs in the morning - I think we needed it - and the kids and DH came to see the matinee. There was a BBQ cast party afterward and the whole family attended, although I am the only one in the whole show who has kids.

Today, there is no school.

We will go to the chiropractor, and I'm thinking maybe a body pump class this afternoon. Maybe. Tomorrow, there is an open house at the new school and the day after that, my older son starts and my younger son has a half-day visit. I'm not sure what happens after that, but we'll just get through Wednesday for now.


Jen B - Congratulations to you on your fabulous PR! It sounds like it was a very fun race!

Richard - it's so great that Darcy is wanting to make a change - it's so much easier when everyone is on the same page. That big picture can be very overwhelming. When I started, I made a chart with some boxes to check off for the things I know are helpful: tracking my food, exercise, water, reading things about health and nutrition. I think I only checked them off for a few weeks, but it was nice to have the reminder while I was getting into the groove.

As for recipes, my best suggestion is Tosca Reno's Eat Clean Diet Cookbook. She's got a new one as well, but I haven't looked at it. I also like the Weight Watcher's recipes, although I have a couple of dud-cookbooks from them from about 10 years back. The new ones tend to be pretty good, and the recipes online are good as well.

If it were cooler out, I'd say to incorporate more soup, but since it is spring/summer, I'm going to suggest enjoying the spring and upcoming summer fruits and vegetables. There are so many good ones this time of year. Although my personal favorite vegetables are actually, well, frozen. Because the prep time is so minimal.

Here's my latest food trend: Individual microwave hot-dish. Cook about 1 cup of frozen vegetables (or mixture of fresh and frozen) for a few minutes in the microwave. Add 1/2 c brown rice or pasta (I use frozen brown rice or cook up a bunch at once of either past and rice and just have them in the fridge). Add 1/4-1/2 cup pre-cooked lentils or other protein, add 1/2 c. spaghetti sauce (under 70 calories) and then cook a few more minutes in the microwave. Top with a little 2% cheese if you like. You can totally customize this according to your preferences, but it is so fast and healthy and I can make it exactly as many points as I have to spend with just a few little changes.

 

[tiberius]

JenB, Corinna - Outstanding runs this weekend to both of you! (and thanks for the tips, Corinna!)

 

[FFigawi]

Saturday, I got up early and went to the Challenge Obesity 5K. It was fun to get to meet up with Nicole and her daughter as well as JenAnderson from the Rebel Alliance team. I ran a strong race, with a PR of 26:59, which was good enough to win the women 35-39 division! I felt pretty sick afterward for about 10 minutes, though. My word.

I love how you just slid that in there. Come on woman! You freakin' won your age group!! That's fantastic!! Congratulations!!

After too many weeks off, I'm getting back into my running again. I figured it was time to get serious now that I've made my hotel reservations for DLR and for Goofy. Now all I need is to find some cheap flights to LA.

 

[corinnak]

I love how you just slid that in there. Come on woman! You freakin' won your age group!! That's fantastic!! Congratulations!!

Thank you so much, John.

I think any other weekend I would have been holding my very own smilie party about it, but this weekend, not so much. It feels wrong to be too triumphant when so many I know have been so recently displaced from their classrooms and/or jobs.

I will say this: May it be the first of many.

And I'm so looking forward to meeting you at Disneyland! I don't have any travel arrangements in place yet - may I ask what hotel you decided on?

 

[FFigawi]

Thank you so much, John.

I think any other weekend I would have been holding my very own smilie party about it, but this weekend, not so much. It feels wrong to be too triumphant when so many I know have been so recently displaced from their classrooms and/or jobs.

I will say this: May it be the first of many.

And I'm so looking forward to meeting you at Disneyland! I don't have any travel arrangements in place yet - may I ask what hotel you decided on?

I hear you, but sometimes we need to celebrate the good times to make it through the tough ones.

We decided to stay at the Holiday Inn. Rates were only $85 the first two nights and $72 the third, so it seemed well worth it. I tried HoJo, but couldn't get as good a deal from them through their web site.

 

[princessbride6205]

Corinna - Congratulations again on your awesome 5k time! Thanks for the school update, I've been wondering how things are going.

Jen B - congrats on your PR at Rutgers!

Richard - I'm not sure what type of healthier eating plan Darcy wants to do, but here are a few ideas. It can be daunting to implement the lifestyle change and to find recipes that work one's life. On the plus side, I think individual healthy foods aren't that difficult to figure out: lots of fruits & veg, whole grains, lean meat and other proteins, healthy fats. Another tip I've heard is to only shop the outside aisle of the supermarket - produce, dairy, etc because those foods are less processed (flaws in this plan are that ice cream and cookie dough are also on the edges!). My parents really like the "Eat This, Not That" books. They started with ones about restaurants but now have a grocery store one too. I'm sure I have other ideas in my brain somewhere, but right now I'm toast. Off to bed...

 

[corinnak]

Hi Cousins:
Here is a little race report XP with the BL thread (sorry Nicole & Maria!) (Alphabet Soup anyone??)

I did not get a lot of pictures - unfortunately, I was grabbing my camera out of the car when I heard your name called out, Jen! But here's what I've got:

Princessbride6205 and her DD crossing the finish line STRONG!

The three of us together:

And these are from the race organizer - have you guys seen the photos online? I sent him a message and he replied including my photos from the race!

This is me crossing the finish line - I was REALLY pushing it at the end there, but at this point I knew I had met my goal, so I might have been starting to smile, maybe. OK, maybe not. I did meet my goal of running the race under 27 minutes, as you can see. It was good enough to win my age group, as well, which is a first!

After I finished, I went up and talked to the race director for a minute - I've done a few of his races - especially the one about challenges from brain injury, so he remembered me and snapped another photo:

And finally, I stuck around for the awards ceremony - they give a loaf of bread to various winners and then when they run out of those, people the race director recognizes and finally random people. Actually, he didn't get to random people this time. But he did single me out for a loaf of bread and a photo. The first people he gave bread to were the folks who lost 100 pounds and he recognized the irony of that. At least it was really healthy whole wheat bread, though. Great Harvest Bakery mills their own wheat and makes everything from scratch with no preservatives.

 

[jbucci]

Corinna: Great pictures. Congrats on the PR and winning your age group. You are getting downright speedy

Richard: I've been trying to think of good diet tips. The one that actually worked for me was simply writing down everything I ate so that I felt more accountable to it. Somehow writing down that I was snacking on rice krispie treats made me want them less. The other thing that helped me was realizing it really was ok to leave food on the plate if I was full or didn't really care for something it was ok to stop eating-- if there was extra on DD's plate the trash or dog could have it.

 

[Worfiedoodles]

Good Morning Cousins!

It is a great big beautiful tomorrow in Boston -- heading for the mid 60s and sunny, just a nice day in general. I have yoga later, so I'm looking forward to that. I hit all my workouts this weekend and yesterday, and I have my interval 6M up for tomorrow. That's actually become my favorite workout. I alternate (tomorrow it will be 4.8 and 5.3mph) every time the song changes on my i-pod. This is a new speed for me, so I'm going to try it out. If it's too much I'll go down a little.

Corinna -- I love the photos! And yes, the people who *win* their divisions should be in the official race photos and take home a prize! The bread sounds yummy, and you look fantastic!

JenB -- And Congrats are in order for you as well, fabulous job with the PR! I loved the last episode of "V", I am also hoping to see it stick around. I need to see all the upcoming births!

John -- Glad you survived the MIL's visit, hopefully now you will have some extra time to relax and recover from a tough week at work.

Richard -- My best suggestion for Darcy is Sparkpeople. It's free, and it's a fun way to learn about fitness while you are assessing where you are and where you'd like to be. It's a pretty comprehensive program with fitness, nutrition and lifestyle goals and objectives, and as I said you can't beat the price.

Julie -- Have a fabulous time on your vacation, it sounds like a great trip! Are you staying in BLT this time? We just signed ds up for two more classes at BTC this summer, so maybe we'll see you around the neighborhood! They have Study Skills and Intro to Latin, so we thought it would be a good idea to hopefully help him start out as strongly as possible. I think his study skills are fine, but we think it's worth it to have him feel more confident about starting school and hopefully get off on the right foot.

Debra -- Ok, you have to cut DOOD some slack when he's offering ice cream. That's comfort food, woman! And it's also the kind that doesn't require cooking (i.e., it may be the best he can offer! ). I do understand not feeling like eating a particular food when you're sick -- I certainly hope it has passed!

Nicole -- You look fantastic finishing with your dd! Great job!

Maria

 

[deekaypee]

I swear I thought I posted to the DIS this weekend. One too many forums to post to, I guess!

Happy belated birthday to Allie! I know I caught you on FB, but it's just not the same! YOU ROCK, WOMAN!

Congratulations to Jen B, Corinna, and Nicole on their fabulous races!


Corinna: Fabulous job on your way, way sub-30 5K! (Remember when that was your goal!) I didn't realize you won your division! Great pictures. I'm also glad to hear you've come to decisions with DSs' school, and that it looks like things will work out.

JenB: Was running through your alma mater nostalgic? Had things changed a lot? If I had to run through mine it'd be a totally different experience than when I was there. (I think I stumbled across campus a couple of times. Does that count?)

Richard: How was your wetsuit swim? Get any pictures? Yay for Darcy on the healthy living front. Man, I love the leafy greens, too. What kind of veggies does she like? I like Corinna's suggestion of a check list, although I'm not very good at such things! Ditto on the shopping suggestions from Nicole.

And I realize that may this is a predictable response from me, but maybe you could sub in one veggie dish a week for a meat-dish. Make it the focus of a meal? A vegetarian lasagna, if you're light on the cheese, can incorporate lots of veggies. Or a nice stir fry with broccoli, snow peas, mushrooms, carrots, etc.

One last thing, that thing that made a huge difference for me when I was starting out. Water. WE all know the importance of drinking water to hydrate for exercise. But when I was starting out, I was consuming a lot of soda and I didn't realize how much better I would feel if I drank tons of water. It helped me keep full when I was dieting, gave me energy when I worked out, etc. Again, we know that and maybe Darcy drinks lots of water, but it's something that gets easily overlooked in a new program, I think.

Julie: Ugh, migraines. I just don't see how anyone moves through those things. I remember my jaw dropped when I learned Jackie runs through them. Me, I just want to crawl up the dark walls, and that's all the exercise I desire. I'm sorry to hear Saturday's run was bagged, too. Hopefully a trip to WDW and a change in atmosphere will leave you feeling refreshed and able to run when you return. SO jealous of the trip, btw.

John: After a MIL visit, I'd say at least 3 beer is called for! Just kidding, since we're talking about YOUR MIL.

Nicole: Great ideas with the "Eat This, Not That!" book. Those are small, manageable subs that have a big impact!

Maria: I missed you in the cross post! Congratulations on your new interval workout. How fabulous, and I hope you just love it! I also love that you have a favorite workout.

Hi to Mel, Jeanne, Jackie, Jen, Christine, Terri, anyone I missed!

AFM: I got out for a 3 miler on Saturday & it left me exhausted. I'm still not eating quite normally--forcing myself to eat enough calories to give me energy--and the workouts (running, XT, yoga) are still draining. But....no more morning nausea! Woo hoo! I'm just gonna keep on faking it until I feel it.

Oh, and I saw the movie of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo this weekend. Very dark, just like the book. And long, like the book. And good, like the book. Recommended if you like dark movies with serious themes, but also the thriller genre.

 

[chimera]

Oh, and I saw the movie of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo this weekend. Very dark, just like the book. And long, like the book. And good, like the book. Recommended if you like dark movies with serious themes, but also the thriller genre.

I'm reading that right now. I figured if the author took all the time to write a book about me, least I could do is read it

Debra...hope you start feeling better soon. Tummy troubles are not fun.

Corinna...congrats on your AG win! That is sooo fabulous!

We're off to Nashville this weekend for Country Music half and a tour of Vanderbilt for DD17! Duathlons start next month!

 

[FFigawi]

Mel, you've got a dragon tattoo too? That makes two of us. Good luck this weekend! Hope you get perfect running weather and have a great time.

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

HI cousins!!

Great job winning your group, Corrinna! And a PR on top of that!! Way to go!

Getting ready for the walk to Columbus. We leave on Friday. Rain in the forecast all 4 days.

 

[tiberius]

Christine - Good luck and enjoy your event this weekend!

Mel - Good luck and enjoy your event this weekend as well. I remember fondly touring colleges with Amanda, so I wish you well with that, too.

Debra - The wetsuit takes a bit of getting used to, but it definitely provides bouyancy and speed on the swim. Sadly, no photos are available. Thanks for the tips for Darcy. She has switched her drink choice to water and is dumping sodas. Would you mind sending me a good but simple favorite recipie or two? While we are not going vegetarian, that doesn't mean we can't do a vegetarian main dish now and then as you suggest.

JenB - I'm a big list maker to keep track of things, writing down food choices seems like such a good idea for anyone.

Maria - I'll let Darcy know about that site, seems to me that I've heard about it somewhere before.

Nicole - TheEat This Not That book idea seems to be an easy way to make a better choice. Thanks!

Corinna - Again, awesome work on your PR and award winning finish. Thanks for the tips, I don't know about my wife, but I think I'll be trying your "food trend" for myself. No idea yet where I'll be for the DL half, although am looking hard at a Best Western right across the way.

I'm currently packing for my weekend trip to Galveston. I am really looking forward to this day long event, and the opportunity to meet up with many friends, some local and some from across the state. Have a good weekend everyone!

 

[jbucci]

Christine: Good luck for your walk. Hopefully the rain stays away or that you are at least well prepared for it if drops start to fall.

Richard: Have a great time at your 70.3. It has me wanting to attempt a tri someday...

 

[deekaypee]

Mel: Is that dra-GON (said in a Mushu voice)? I love it. And congrats on one career path ending and the new one beginning! I've said it before, I'll say it again – they're luck to have you, Dr. Mel.

How was CMM? I see they diverted the marathoners due to weather?

Christine: I don't know if you'll see this, but good luck on your walk. I'm hoping the rain holds off, at least mostly, and that you have the time of your life!

Richard: That's funny you should ask about veggie dishes. Not only because Vicky did on another thread, but because I'm a lousy, lousy cook. Any suggestions I make wouldn't be tasty. You know who's recipes I recommend, though? Mark Bittman. The man knows his way around a vegetarian kitchen!

Good luck on your race tomorrow, and I'm sending good-weather vibes your way!

Corinna: How did your race go? Did it rain the whole time?

It looks like all our cousins are facing weather challenges this weekend. I hope you all had great events, as well as good times, anyway!

AFM: DOOD's away so the mouse will play.... Naw, what I'm doing is those kinds of things that need to get done, but don't happen when there are two of us to distract one another. Isn't there always a junk door that needs organizing?

My running mojo is slowly, slowly coming back and I'm trying to stop over-committing to work projects. Maybe I'll be rational about things, and make a running and race plan. Or I could just volunteer one of you to jack-slap some sense into me. Yeah. That sounds good.

 

[tiberius]

Hi Team!!

I am just checking in to say that I made it home following my race, as I am completely wiped out and have a late work meeting tomorrow, it will like be a few days before I get around to writing a decent race report. For now suffice it to say that I finished in 7:52:07, which is slower than my expectations but set a new PR for me. Considering the troubles I had (heat, wind and a high heart rate that never settled into its normal range), I'll take this time and be satisifed with a successful day. Despite any and all problems, I still had a fantastic time!

 

[corinnak]

Richard, any time you complete70.3, it is a victory in my book! Some days things align and we hit our goals, some days, it's not so pretty out there, but you pushed through and got a PR anyhow - pretty amazing stuff!


My 10K was pretty rough. I think it rained most of the time, anyway. By the time I finished, it had let up quite a bit, but I was just soaked. My jacket. My gore-tex shoes. Everything had just gotten to its saturation point. I was lucky that my shoes weren't squishing, they were just moist inside. It was rough going, I won't lie. I had left my music at home - did not want a short circuit again. And I'm glad I did - the course was too tight and I was weaving too much not to be able to hear everything going on around me. I am sure it would be a beautiful course under normal circumstances - older tree-lined neighborhoods, right on the river, and all. I didn't really appreciate it much, though and just kept my eyes on the road and runners in front of me. There were not even pacing group suggestions at the start - just a big unweildy mass - I was too far back and ended up having trouble keeping my pace up a lot of the time due to clusters of slower runners. Even so, I managed my goal of squeezing in under the 60 minute mark with a chip time of 59:43.

There were long lines for refreshments and long lines for the bus back, so I ended up walking the mile back to the parking lot. That was actually one of the more pleasant parts of the morning as the rain had pretty much stopped for that span of time. I was sooo glad I'd brought warm, dry clothes to change into - if they offer a bag drop and it's raining, why wouldn't you? I don't know, but lots of people didn't. I should have brought a second jacket, too. But I did at least bring an old Disney Mylar. That was perfect! And then I saw two women wearing Disney Half Marathon shirts and we chatted for a few minutes about Disney - forgot to ask if they were on the DIS!

No pictures - I left my camera home for this one, since I was trying to be fast, I guess. ASI was not there, and I have not sifted through the Get In Gear website photos yet. I saw one photographer on the course and was kind of behind someone, so I don't have many hopes of professional documentation of my "drowned rat" race.

In all, I was better off than my friend Betsy who was supposed to be out there running her first 5K that day but instead was home recovering from stomach flu!

 

[MouseDogMom]

Richard - GREAT job, even if it you didn't meet your expectations. Like Corinna said, any time you complete 70.3 it's a victory in my book. And a PR too! This is definitely your year! Can't wait for details...

Corinna - Wow. Saw on FB that you got a PR, but didn't realize you did it in a totally miserable race environment. You are the racing machine this year too!

Debra - Glad the running mojo is returning. It almost always does - it just makes us work for it!

Mel - Congrats on surviving yet another foul-weather race. After seeing that this was #13 for Country Music, I had to laugh when DH was wearing his Myrtle Beach shirt yesterday. This year was #13 for Myrtle Beach as well. I'm thinking this should be a lesson...

Christine - Can't wait to hear how your weekend went?

I almost feel guilty saying that we had near perfect weather for the 5K I ran Saturday. Overcast, temps a little warmer than ideal - low 60's, but not too hot. I woke up with a migraine, and I've been fighting really bad calf pain for a few weeks, so I was questioning DNS'ing the race, but got dressed and went with DH anyway. Warmed up, and all the pains were still there, but I lined up for the start. (My goal all spring has been to run this particular 5K without walk breaks, but I'd abandoned that idea when I couldn't run all week due to the injury.) Started off feeling pretty good, and passed the 1 mile mark right at 10:00, which is faster than I'd ever run a mile. Finished the second mile still running (9:43), and then was determined to keep going. Crossed the finish line in 30:51, a PR and had made the goal of not stopping to walk, and still wasn't hurting.

So I got up Sunday morning and did an 8 mile LR with DH at a blazing pace on the first really humid day of the season. What else do you do to celebrate? Oh, go out and buy an Android. And yeah, I'm taking today off!

Jackie

 

[tiberius]

Hi Team! I am still exhausted from last weekend, probably deservedly so, but I have finished my race report which is below. My apology in advance for its excessive length.

Regardless of all other things that happened during this weekend's event, I had a great time with the event and with the time I spent there with old and new friends.

I woke up early Saturday morning, having arrived in Galveston the night before, and got to the triathlon location at Moody Garden to watch the swim waves go off for the sprint and Olympic distance tri's to get an idea of what I had in store for me on Sunday. There was a good chance of stormy weather in the forecast, and before the swim start could begin strong winds picked up. After some delay the swim was called off for safety reasons, and the races turned into bike-run races. These races were started similar to a time trial start, with bikers going off one at a time a second apart. This resulted in some starting issues, especially among the less experienced sprint racers who were crowding the bike mount line together and sometimes bumping each other as they could not clear the area quick enough. I think it took somewhere between 1.5 to 2 hours to finally get all the starting racers going this way. As racers were coming back in I stayed at the Houston Racing and Triathlon Club tent near the start of the run course. Several times I was able to cheer on racers I knew as well as many that I did not know. As the race cleared I had lunch and good conversation with some friends, and when those friends had to head out for other plans I sat with other friends and enjoyed the continuing conversation--most notably, talking with Stephanie about who was volunteering at the Half Ironman race as an escort to pro triathletes.

Eventually lunch ended and I went to the store for quick trip to grab a few items and then back to the hotel to start organizing for tomorrow. In a bit of an ironic twist I went to the local McAllister's Deli for dinner, and Del (who I spent time with at the race and at lunch earlier, plus Stephanie (also from lunch saw me and joined me at my table). After a good dinner and some more socializing it was back to the hotel where I had to finish preparations for the morning, as well as for packing to leave after the race.

Morning came early for me as I had set my alarms to be able to get to transition early to ensure I had plenty of time to set up. I took my time to set things up, changed it a bit for the available room and finally went back to the same setup I had practiced. After finally finishing I walked around the transition area a bit and chatted with the occasional racer before I headed out towards the swim start, making one last pass by my area just to make sure nothing had happened to my stuff. It was during this period that I noticed my stomach felt a bit unsettled for a while, which almost never happens to me, though it seemed to pass in a bit. While waiting to line up for the swim start I spotted, and was spotted by, my friend Heather and her husband Jeff. Meeting up with them gave me the chance to pass the time chatting for a while instead of just waiting on the start and feeling the nervous energy. Finally it was time to get up to the dock to join my swim wave.

I had already put on my race-issued green swim cap and goggles, and then off I go and hop into the water for the swim start. I find an open spot slightly outside without being too far off the start line. This was my second Half Ironman race and also my second open water swim of this distance. I found a fairly comfortable pace and, for the most part, stayed on a good line that didn't stray too far off the marker buoys. I saw a lot of racers weaving quite far outside, but I felt I kept a decent line on the markers nearly all of the race. After swimming the trapezoid shaped route I exit the swim in around 52 minutes, officially 53:49 which I think must include running up towards the transition area and stripping off the wetsuit. This is longer than I wanted, but still faster than my October time. I carefully walk through the muddy ground as I enter the transition area to prevent a slipping injury and then head off for my bike which is near the center of the transition area. I get my things on and get going out of the transition area and out onto the bike course, again cutting off a couple minutes from my October time.

The first mile or so of the bike takes us out to Seawall Blvd. and then we head down the length of the island. I start the bike route with a headwind that slows me down, but I try to to pedal at a strong pace that I can maintain without feeling like I was overexerting myself. It was in the first couple of miles that I noticed that my heart rate was at least 10 beats per minute faster than I would normally expect, which was not good. Along the way out to the turnaround, there are some strong gusts of a crosswind that cause me to come out of the stable aero position several times to ensure my stability. As I am getting close to the turnaround point I notice that the headwind is breaking up a bit. Unfortunately for me, the winds appeared to have shifted somewhat so that they now appeared to be more of a crosswind with a partial headwind for me on the way back. As I was nearing the end of the bike, somewhere around mile 48 - 50, I remember tiring a bit but I kept on working at a sustainable rater until a had just a couple of miles left where I slowed a bit to give my legs a bit of a break before the run portion. However, the final bike mile was right into the wind as I returned to the race site. I was overall happy with my bike ride considering the windy conditions, and I also executed my nutrition plan pretty much on schedule. I finish the bike in 3:33:09, which was about 6 minutes improvement over last October's time. Overall, I was able to negative split the bike, with second half being a little more than 4 minutes under the first half's time. The biggest downside was my heart rate stayed about 10-15 beats per minute higher than I would expect, based on my exertion level; so because of this I did not quite push my effort as hard as I wanted. After returning to transition, I make for a relatively quick transition in and out, and then get headed out for the run, again cutting off time in comparison to last October's race.

It was early in the run that I became acquainted with what it feels like when the metaphorical phrase "when the wheels come off" happens during a run. It was early in the run that I noticed my heart rate spiking high (180 beats per minute) and I had to quickly give up on my run 5 minutes-walk 1 minute plan. I scale back to run 1 minute-walk 2 minutes in order to find a pace that allows my heart rate to decline enough during the walk breaks that I am not spiking out the heart rate during the run. I find this disappointing as I felt that I was on pace for a significant overall time improvement from last October's effort, but in the end I also felt this change was necessary if I wanted to be sure to finish this race. I am feeling miserable as I settle into my new pace, not feeling much of anything except for hot and tired, part of me just wants to stop and walk out the entire run but I tell myself that maybe an easy pace will help me feel better after lap 1. As I can to each well-stocked aid station on the course (nearly 1 for each mile of the course) I find a rhythm where I get some Gatorade, then water, then cold wet sponges, then an orange slice, some potato chips and/or pretzels, more Gatorade, more water, and maybe another cold wet sponge before heading out again. It turns out that today is the hottest day since the end of last summertime, and nowhere near anything I have trained in for many months. As I complete lap 1, I realize that I do feel a bit better and I raise my run pace slightly to 1:10 run-2:00 walk. I continue the round trip again, eventually seeing my friend Heather near one of the spots where runners are passing in opposite directions. She hollers to me asking how I was doing, and I muster up the strength to yell back "good", which was a big lie at that point. The race spectators and volunteers did a great job of motivating the runners along the course, something I really came to appreciate as I circled the course repeatedly. I continued to feel slightly better finishing lap 2, so I increased my pace to run 1:20-walk 2:00 for this lap. This race was certainly not getting any easier for me, but at least I was feeling better a little bit at a time. On this lap I was occasionally able to respond to spectators and volunteers and thank them for being there. As I came to start the final lap, I did not adjust my watch's interval timer, but I did generally run for a bit longer than the 1:20 set on the run timer. Also during this final lap, I felt up to having short conversations with fellow runners still on the course to encourage them to keep going. At one point I see Heather again and tell her that I feel as good as I lied to her about earlier (although I am fairly sure what I actually said sounded nowhere near that intelligible). The last half of the last lap felt pretty good. Even as completely exhausted as I was feeling, knowing that I was certain of a PR time waiting for me at the finish line was a great feeling, even if it wasn't going to be by as much as I had hoped. I completed the run portion in 3:16:45, which was around 7 minutes slower than in the October race. I did end up keeping a fairly stable, though slow, pace for the run(though I think I came about a minute short of a negative split on the run).

My official race finishing time was 7:52:07, which was still an improvement over my last Half Ironman race by close to six and a half minutes, which does give me a new PR for this distance. Even though I did not do quite as well as I expected, I am still happy with my performance. I was hampered by weather conditions beyond my control (which is always part of the triathlon experience) and had a day where my heart rate just happened to be higher than normal (which can happen to anyone on any day), but I recognized these items and felt that I responded properly to them.

Please don't read this and think I only had a day full of problems, because a lot of things went right for me. I had my fastest ever swim of the 1.2 mile distance and I had my fastest ever bike of the 56 mile distance, neither of which were under ideal conditions. I had to do a lot of things well to finish this event and I do recognize that. One of these days I'll be taking on the challenge of the Half Ironman race again, and maybe even the full Ironman distance farther into the future, though for right now I feel I learned some lessons over this race that will help make me a better triathlete at any distance.

Overall, I have to say that I had a great time at this event and with the time I spent with old and new friends, and that the total experience goes far beyond some tough race day conditions.