So its over.......Wow! That was one hell of an experience. I had no clue how much this event would end up meaning to me. Its very hard to put the race and its impact into words, but I guess i'll start by giving a recap of the race. The swim wasn't as bad as I imagined it would be giving that 3000 people started at once. My goal was to swim under 1:10, I was well on my way to beating that until someone knocked my chip around my ankle loose. I tried to put it back on in the water but when the didn't work i just clinched on to it and resumed swimming. Despite the hectic events I came out of the water at 1:08...Not such a bad swim considering I started swimming in August. I took the transitions very slowly since this was my first ironman and finishing was my primary goal. So once I got onto the bike I was hammering trying to make up time. I did the first 40k in less then an hr. Which was a very fast start but I knew I had to make up some time......Towards mile 80 I started to pay for such a fast start but by backing it off and getting some fuel in my body I was able to bounce back quickly. The last twenty miles I just settled into a good pace that didn't waste me for the marathon. So I got off the bike feeling decent, and set out onto the marathon. This is where I made my most crucial mistake of the day. All the excitement got to me and I ran the first mile at 6:30. Now you would think since I had a watch on that I would have backed off drastically. Nope. 2 mile split- 13 something, 5k 20 something. Even at 4miles I was still sub 7min pace. I honestly don't know what the hell I was thinking. Anyways it went downhill from there. Around mile 11 is when I resorted to a strategy off walking a min. then running 5. This continued until around the 30k mark, where I got a second wind and ran the rest of the way to finish with like a 3:55 split in the marathon. With that run I ended up finishing with a time of 10:06....I'll take it for my first ironman.
This was by far the hardest physical thing I have ever done. And as hard as it was physically it might have been more hard mentally. The feeling of finishing one of these things is incredible. But whats more, is the journey everyone went on the finish. The past three months of training where just as special to me as the event was. Especially since I had my dad and brother to train with. I could go on and on about this great event, but words really don't do it justice. I highly recommend seeing one in person. Or doing the event.
So that's my race report. My brother who has an incredible story of losing 20lbs and going from a college bball player to an ironman in one year finished with a great 1st time of like 12:40. Maybe I can get him to write up a report for the blog. Unfortunately my dad was unable to compete due to getting sick the night before.....very sad, because training with him i knew he was in the best shape of his life and would've for sure podiumed in his age group........oh yea I ended up third in my age group........Well thats all. Looking forward to some chill time now,
lata
