So I Married A Half-Ironman!

Signing the "Wall of Mussel" mural

This spring/summer has been a whirlwind of training activity in our household. You all know about my adventures with The Toronto Marathon, Ragnar Cape Cod & the Big-Daddy of them all: becoming an ultra-runner with a 50K trail race.  What you don't know is that SD has been triathlon training like crazy for his 1st Half-Ironman....yes, 70.3 miles of triathlon grit in mid-July heat.  With a crazy real-life job, he's been fitting in training at 4am, lunchtime & late in the evenings. His commitment was incredible...though he would argue that doing this might result in him having to be committed ;-D. I have to admit, up until this weekend I had sworn off triathlon...mainly because I suck at the bike ride...because the last one I did I really didn't find it very fun at all. 

However, watching all those athletes compete at the Musselman 70.3 might have me a little tri-envious! For all the triathletes out there, if you are looking for a well-organized, fun sprint or half-iron triathlon that is located in a pretty town that is very family friendly, this is it!  There is even a kids tri & a micro-tri on tricycles, which I'm told is pretty hilarious.  The Sprint distance is on Saturday & the Half-Iron is on Sunday.  They even have a Double-Mussel category for those masochistic enough to want to compete in both! Oh, and you can also do Aquabike in the Half-Iron distances. 

Coolest medal: Re-purposed bike gears!

I just like this picture :)

We drove up (about an hour or so from where we live) on Saturday after I got in 10 miles in the morning.  We went directly to packet pickup, which was at Hobart & William Smith College.  This is a very convenient location for athletes as the college offers up their dorms for rent during the summer.  We did not stay there as it was already sold out by the time I got around to thinking about accommodation, but it is a pretty neat set up.  The dorm set up is in the Olympic Athlete Village style and there are even 3 bedroom condo's you can rent for the weekend if you are traveling with your family or couple athlete families.  Anyway, packet pickup was quick and organized.  They made each athlete weigh themselves and write their weight on the back of their race bib so that medics could better assess for dehydration if that became an issue.  The RN in me was thrilled at this detail, especially since temperatures could potentially reach into the 90's on Sunday.  After packet pickup we headed over to the local bike shop as SD wanted to look for a couple things.  With the race forecast as being a hot and humid one, SD bought a hydration belt just to be safe.  Then it was on to the mandatory pre-race meeting for all Half-Iron Athletes.  It lasted about a half hour and reviewed the course, mentioning any changes and why from the previous year, and reviewed the safety measures that have been instituted.  They also reviewed the time cut-offs for each leg & what would happen if you did not meet the time cut-off for each leg.  Just thinking about that makes me a little sick....I can't imagine what that must feel like to be told you can't continue...absolutely heartbreaking.  Luckily on race day, only a couple riders didn't meet the cut-off.  Btw, kudo's go out to the local bike shop: Geneva Bicycle Center, who HAND SWEPT all 56 miles of the bike course! They also provided bike support and were out there helping with flats.  They also checked every single bike in transition for flats while the athletes were doing their swim! Wow!

We then drove the course & attempted to rack SD's bike. Unfortunately we couldn't take advantage of the night before secure racking because we left the race packet back at the hotel & you had to have your bike number attached to rack your bike....D'Oh!  

Carbo-load pasta dinner....the boys liked this...of course they did, they are teenagers and it involved food.

Race morning we were up at 5 and out the door pretty quickly.  Things moved pretty quickly pre-race.  By the time SD got transition set up and we headed over to the water to check it out, they were announcing that the water temp was 78.4F....wetsuit illegal.  Well, according to the rules, you can wear a wetsuit between 78-84F (I think), but you are then not eligible for awards.  It was a big decision, wet suit or no wetsuit.  SD decided at the last minute, no wetsuit.

He was in the 3rd wave and had a great swim....36:31 for the 1.2 miles
T1: 3 minutes

Too bad I can't zoom this...he has a good pain face

Rockin' the bike!

Then it was on to the bike course.  Clouds were coming in and I hoped the rain would hold off for at least a while.  It didn't.  By the time I drove Thing 1& Thing 2 to McD's for breakfast it was coming down buckets. I hoped SD was ahead of it for the biggest downhill portion at least.  Luckily he was.  I fed the starving hoards and then we headed out on the bike course to see if we could see SD around mile 40.  We did and he was surprised to see us! We cheered like the maniacs we are!
Bike: 2:55:10.....way faster than he anticipated! Great ride, Babe!
T2: 2:25
Then it was off on the run.  He looked good coming out of transition, but the sun had just come out and the humidity was hanging like a wet blanket over everyone...I was a little worried, but thankful that he at least had a hydration belt to carry him through aid stations.  There were 11 aid stations on the course, that were well stocked with water, Heed, Endurolytes, food and sponges.

Half-Iron Dad!!!!

Run: 1:48:12
Total Time: 5:25:18!!!!!!! 31/110 Age Group & 153/1000

So, Yeah, he has earned the right to be known at Half-Iron Dad (HID) on this blog from now on! ;-D

Congratulations, HID! You Rock!!!!!!

.......& maybe I will think about getting back into Tri for next season...Hmmmmmm.....