Race Day!

Today was the big day. Started out early and dark, I hit the road from home about 4:15am. By the time I got to Malibu I had to park 1.5 miles from the transition area and walk all my stuff over. A nice walk in the dark with a lot of other people.

Spent some time getting everything set up and organized. The only snafu was a contact lens that didn't want to cooperate, I thought I was going to be racing blind in one eye but got it sorted out during the pre-race meeting.

All 3000 entrants walked down the beach to the start line. The run it in waves based on age and gender so the mid-life crisis guys like me are not until wave 9 or so. Each wave starts 5 minutes apart.... so a 7:15 am race start actually was an 8am start for me.

While walking over I found Kerrianne and the kids. My brother's family and my buddy Wade's family came out to support and watch as well.


The water was nice and calm, I only had to dive through one wave to get out. 22 minutes later I was out of the water. I felt pretty good even though I got passed by some mid-life crisis women. (Apparently it's hit them harder than me and they have been training more than me.) I was even able to run up the beach.


Scott was there to help with the transition (he did the olympic distance race yesterday and the swim portion of a relay team today) so pulled the wet suit down half way, sat down and he pulled it the rest of the way off... slick. I put on shoes, helmet and gloves and was on my way for the 18 mile bike ride.


The ride went well for me too. There was one gnarly crash pretty quick out of the transition area where I saw a guy sitting with a bloody towel to his head, an ambulance was headed his way a moment later. I caught up with Keithrus at about mile 7 pushing hard riding his mountain bike. There were some places where I really got in the groove and felt good but I never really felt like I was gearing correctly on the hills. the last 6 miles were especially strong.

At the transition I struggled to find a slot for my bike, quick change of shoes, grab my hat and I was on the run. My plan was to take the first 1/2 mile real easy to make sure I didn't get cramps in my legs, pick it up a little but not push it until starting the return at mile 3. The strategy worked well and I was actually able to pick up the pace even more as I progressed through the last 2 miles.


While I was doing the run the kids got to do what Junia is calling her "triathlon", the Tot Trot which was a 50 yard run in the sand. Apparently it was quite a mob of kids, sorry I missed it.





The last mile I really picked up my pace (though for a real runner I'm sure it wasn't much of a pace) and finished strong. Everyone told me I didn't look completely beat as I came out of the finish chute.


Me and the kids all got finisher's medals for our races.


So, here's my race stats:
Swim: 22min 32sec
Transition 1: 3min 49sec
Bike: 1hour 02min 25sec
Transition 2: 1min 39sec
Run: 35min 49sec
Total: 2hours 6min 16sec

I saw hoping to get 2 hours but would have been happy with anything better than 2 hours 15 minutes so it was a success. also, I raised $1300 for pediatric cancer research at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, a big THANK YOU to those that donated in support of me.