Memorial Hermann Ironman 70.3 Texas - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

This was a personal best swim, but also the first HIM in salt water. But, more important it was the best I have ever felt on the swim. I did not back stroke, I did not wade. I only had to make minor course corrections. I think buoy's every 100 yards assisted with that. More contact then I have ever had in a race but I just held my line best I could. Most of the time that worked out. Anyways, I was able to stay in my rhythm and that makes me feel awesome about the whole thing.

Other then take lessons so I am a better swimmer not a whole lot. I took a wide line. Perhaps if I went in a bit more I could have found a draft.

They had wetsuit strippers there. At the race meeting they said they were not going to have them so I was surprised but it is a good kind of surprised. I already had my wetsuit down to my waist and had my goggles and swim cap in the sleeve of the wetsuit so laid my arse down and let them rip the suit off. Everything else was uneventful

nothing.

I could not get over how many people stayed left and you had to tell them to get over. Lame people, lame. A few people passed me and slowed down right in front of me, forcing me to slow down but for the most part me passing others or others passing me was pretty straight forward and required no adjustment in speed. I think I could have come back a little harder. The HR on the way back was way lower then on the way out. Other then that the bike was uneventful.

Push the pace a bit harder on the way back. I've done better on harder courses but have not had as great a run so who knows

uneventful. Did have to pause to find my rack, which caused me a bit. I had determined my rack was the one with the pink tape that a lady put down but someone else added pink to their row and that gave me pause.

not much. Maybe not rack properly cause the silly person next to me didn't bother. Made it just a tiny bit harder to rack. I had an ideal rack spot though in that there was no one to the right of me. Added a bit of sunscreen. Lot of good that did

Well, what do I say about the run. Technically it will be a DNF, although they still have the time up there. I am logging this just for me. I messed up the run and cut the course short twice, skipping a whole loop each time. Sadness. I figured it out on what was suppose to be mile 9 but was mile 6 on my watch. Tina was there and I stopped and talked to her and she said my splits were way off and that I ran 2 min miles for 2 of my splits. This crushed me. I couldn't figured out what I had done wrong. I was very very close to quitting there. As I ran I thought about what I did and I finally figured it out. On the first lap I started to go down this chute to what would have taken you out passed transition. I asked the volunteer is this the way you go for the first lap and she said this was the finish. I knew you went in one direction for laps 1 and 2 and one for the finish so I took off left. No one stopped me. I did the same thing for lap 2. So when I got back to that spot on lap 3 I stopped and talked to a different volunteer and confirmed what I think I missed. I had to do the airport loop and hadn't done it at all. So, I decided I was running the distance regardless and what they did to me after they did. So I ran that darn boring ugly airport loop 3 times in a row, coming back to the point where I had turned left each of the 2 previous times. I then headed to the finish line on the last one. Watch showed I ran the distance but I knew I hadn't run the same course as everyone else, at least not in the same configuration. Couldn't find a race official on site so I emailed them. Their response
"Hello,

Thank you for reaching out and being so honest in regards to the run course mistake. Unfortunately we will have to issue a DQ for this. Your swim and bike times will still continue to show online however the run will not and you will be marked as a DNF. Thank you again for reaching out.

Best
"
As of right now the time is still up but I assume that will be changed this week. It honestly is bugging me way more then I thought it might. I race for fun and enjoyment and for myself. So my placement is not an issue. I am glad I reported myself though. And I think I would feel even worse if I did not finish the distance.

I know my overall pace was affected by the whole thing. I was running sub 10's up until that point and felt strong. I stopped and talked to Tina, Keri, and of course the race volunteer so that affected my time. Up until that time I was running with no walk breaks other then to get water (they couldn't keep up and at some stations I actually had to go get the water) and keeping a steady pace. All that went to hell in a hand basket after I figured it all out. Still did ok overall though. But, Tina was so stressed about my mess up and worried for me that she forgot to take pictures on the run. Lame. I will forgive her though cause she got some on the bike.



Know the course even better then I thought I did. I also need to start out slower. I did the first few miles sub 9 and that just ain't me. :)

Scott found me right away, as we finished pretty close to each others time and he had a 5 min start. I feel really bad cause I was so crushed about the run issue I never even congratulated him on his first HIM. Warm down was basically standing in line waiting on pizza. Then finally found Tina and went and got some shade to eat in.


Being me. lol I train and I train consistently. I am going to focus on my run as I think I am holding myself back there with my form. I have a marathon shuffle and I plan on fixing that.


The race was well organized. A flat course is not overly appealing to me but I still enjoyed it. I don't train on flat so wasn't entirely sure what I could push pace wise. I kept hearing about this Texas humidity and heat and honestly, except for a few times on the run felt pretty good. The cloud cover helped. Humidity was not a factor for me and I train in the sun so I was surprised about how much of a non-factor it was