Today was my first half-iron race. The day exceeded all of my expectations. I had so much fun. Before the race, I set my goal as keeping my head together and making sure I had fun the whole way through the race. I knew that to accomplish this goal, I would have to eat and hydrate well and not overextend myself on any of the legs. I also knew that if I accomplished this goal that I would have a good race time. In some ways, I didn’t really know what to expect. Inside I was hoping to break the 6hr goal but because this was my first race, I didn’t know if this time goal would be possible.

The swim was quite civilized and friendly, I focussed on easy breathing. I’ve never done an open water swim race before and I imagined it would be much more intimidating. All I got was a couple of tickled toes. Getting out of the water, I knew I was on track for a good day. My watch said 38 minutes, and as I got out of the water, the lady beside me said, “Well that was a good swim”, and I said, “Yes it sure was”.

On the bike, I followed Coach Drew’s advice and kept my heart rate (HR) around 150 or so. Actually, he told me to go harder than that but I wanted to keep the ride as easy as pie. As a point of reference my avg HR in the BareBones race (where I went much harder on the bike, and didn’t really have legs for the second run) was at 165. On the second loop of the ride, I remember being really jealous of the spectator with the huge coffee. I saw Yuri, Janet, and Andrew (a couple of times) cheering on the course. I had cool (however brief) conversations with the racers that I was playing cat and mouse with. I remember the most effective cheering guy on the course who said, “Just keeep your legs spinning”. I ate 5 gels, one bite of a clif bar, and drank 4-5 water bottles. I knew I was doing really well when my teammate Tam passed me. I knew she was strong and would break that 6hr goal. When she passed me, I had to restrain myself and said to myself over and over, “No racing! Just do your own thing”. I did my own thing and that served me well. I felt great on the bike. I was consistently passing lots of folks on the hills (some of them would pass me again right away on the descents – but some wouldn’t). I caught up to Tam on a couple of hills near the very end of the course. Tam and I came into the bike transition together and left on the run together. It felt good to run with Tam like it was just another Sunday.

For interest, here are the bike stats from my bike computer

• 3h10:51, Avg Hr 152, Max 168, 1951Kcal
• 91.8km, Avg Speed 28.8km/hr, Max 62.3km/hr
• Avg Cadence 89, Max 115

On the run, I felt really good. I ended up running much of the first loop side by side with Al, a racer from North Vancouver who was gearing up for Ironman. I had great conversation with Al, he asked me where I was hurting, and it felt really good to honestly reply, “I’m feeling great and nothin’s hurting.” We talked about keeping relaxed, and running easy especially on the second loop. That conversation kept me going when things did start hurting on that second loop. On the last 5km, I had the mantra, “Just relax, let your body do what it knows how to do”. I felt really strong on the run.

As I crossed the finish line, I looked down at my watch and was absolutely ecstatic to see the time of 5h36. The finish felt even more special when Steve King devoted a few sound bites to quoting my 10km bests from the 90s, mentioned my National team experiences, and welcomed me to the sport of triathlon. I’ll never forget Steve saying, “It looks like we’ve got a new triathlete here.” Thanks Steve, I really do feel like a triathelete now.

Today, I accomplished my goal of having fun. I felt strong and very well prepared (thanks, Coach Drew!). I feel proud of what I’ve accomplished. Man oh man, this good experience means that I’m doing the Ironman next year, for sure. I’m excited but also a little scared and intimidated about this commitment.

Another reason this weekend was so fun was because of everyone from Leading Edge triathlon group. It feels so good to accomplish this huge goal as a group. Everyone did so well today and I was inspired by all of their performances. After all the hours of training and laughs together, I felt so proud to be able to share that experience with this stellar group of friends. I really enjoyed sitting on the white plastic chairs just shooting the breeze. I also enjoyed the camaraderie of the day. It seems like you see a lot of the same people at these events. Everybody is so friendly, like Maria, for example, who I met in the ferry line up who offered to take my bike onto the ferry in her van so that I didn’t have to pay the overheight charges. As I was sitting at my transition area after finishing, the lady who took 23 min off the course record for the 60-64 age category walked by me and heard Steve King announce her new record and said to me, “Hey, that’s me!” We had a high five moment and a nice little conversation. Another shared experience that made the day that much richer.

I also loved the fact that my Mum, Torbin, and Penney were there to share the day with me. I couldn’t have done it without them.