First of all, this is a great race. Mike and Marti Greer puts on a class A race.
The local paper reported that there were over 1000 participants, including many pros that were in town for the race.
I ended the race with a time of 6 hours, 2 minutes and 30 seconds. I was pleased that I beat my first Half Ironman distance time of 6 hours and 10 minutes, but was really looking to beat 6 hours overall.
The course is every bit as hilly as you hear about. There were plenty of hills throughout the bike course and the run course that were very demanding. Most of the runners walked the run hills, including myself.
Run down of my times:
Swim (1.2 mile): 46 minutes, 55 seconds. This is my weakest area. I definitely need to get some instruction to fix my swim stoke
Bike (56 miles): 2 hours, 54 minutes, 17 seconds. Averaged 19.3 mph and was pleased with this. I could of gone harder, but wasn't sure how much I could push it with the half marathon coming up
Run (13.1 miles): 2 hours, 12 seconds, 19 seconds. The strategy was to stop at each mile's water stop; get a Gatorade and water, then start again. I ran anywhere from 7:45 to 8:30 miles during the run time. In hindsight, I would of skipped a number of the walks and gone for a better time.
We made a family trip out of the race and my family got to spend some great time with my mom, my grandmother, my great grandmother and Tara's family on the way home to Dallas.
Kids had a blast swimming in the lake waiting for Dad to finish!
The only downside to the race was the 4 minute penalty I got for illegal drafting! I had no idea about this penalty until I looked at the race results today! Emailed the race director and USAT official, but the ruling stands. That really hacks me off. Oh well. There's always next year...
[link] to official race results
[view] photos via Flicker
_____
tags: half ironman | triathlon | 70.3
Congradulations Brotha. That is outstanding and I am very proud of you!
Posted by: Terry Storch | Monday, June 27, 2005 at 06:27 PM