The Denver Richards: I am, well, half, Ironman!

When someone finishes their first Ironman triathlon, everybody says "You are Ironman!" to them. I figure that in this case, I am half Ironman! Sunday was a big day for me. It was a day that I had been preparing for for at least 10 months - my first half-iron distance triathlon. The race includes a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run. Please forgive me for posting all of these pictures, but I think my parents might want to see them!

The day started when my alarm went off at 4:15 or something close to that. I hopped out of bed and into the shower (apparently a hot shower helps you wake up - I read it somewhere), then into my tri suit. I ate my normal pre-race breakfast of whole wheat Eggo waffles with almond butter, honey, and banana. Nerves made it a little tough to eat a lot, but I knew that I would need it. Travis had selflessly agreed to drive me to the race and accompany me the whole way, which was fantastic. I was so glad he was there all day - I couldn't have asked for him to be any more supportive! He was even getting excited for me the whole week before. There was some traffic getting into the Aurora Reservoir, but one we got there I got numbered, picked up my timing chip, and started to prep everything in transition.

I chose the spot right near the Texas flag. I figured it'd be easy for me to see when returning to transition!

I was soooo nervous before the race. Travis kept having to tell me to calm down; that I was well-prepared and I would be able to finish. After setting up my transition area, I jogged a little to warm up and then prepped for a swim warm up.

Good thing I warmed up. Holy cow that water was COLD! I think they said it was 68 degrees. I definitely could have used some of those neoprene foot booties and some earplugs. Too cold. Shortly after the warmup, it was time to start!!

I'm somewhere near the front of that pack. Swimming is the one thing in tri that I accel at, so I normally head for the front to avoid too many punches and kicks to the face. If you're not familiar with seeing a tri swim start, check out this video on "training" for it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_6tOzt-nfM

Here's where I was saying, "My feet are NUMB!" Seriously, it was like trying to run on razor blades. Dani and Jerad were there for the start and this part. I'm so grateful to them for their support!

In T1 getting ready to bike.

See ya in a few hours! After this Dani, Jerad, and Travis went to breakfast.

The bike went well. The unfortunate thing about being good at the swim is that you get passed a ton on the bike, but oh well. I managed to not get passed too much by the women in my age group, but there were plenty of 40-60 year old men who started behind me on the swim and flew by me on the bike. I followed my nutrition plan and felt good, but my crotch was sure ready to get off the bike at the end!

Yay! T2 - gettin' ready to run.

"Bye! Love you! See you in a couple of hours!"

The run was where I died. I started out feeling good at an 8:45 min/mile pace but that slowed down immensely as the day started to take its toll on me. There were hills. There were no trees. There were hills on the bike. I was tired, and probably hungry, though I didn't feel it. Unfortunately I get stomach cramps if I even take in more than a sip of Gatorade on a run during a tri, so I couldn't do much in the way of boosting my energy with fuel. I was just tired. The flat coke helped a little, though. I was soooo happy by the time I got to this point and saw the finish:

I almost cried. Yay! I did it!!! And 15 minutes faster than my sort-of goal time of 6 hours. Despite dying on the run, I still managed a 2:07 half marathon. That's faster than I did a half marathon by itself last year, so I'm super happy with that. I also placed in the top third of my age group and qualified for nationals next November (2011) in Vegas!!! I may just do that race....