Oklahoma City Redman Triathlon - Half Redman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I wanted to go 25 minutes for the swim, so I am a little disappointed in my swim time, but I realize that I still had a good swim and am happy with being first out of the water. I am not trying to say that I am so fast and should go 25 minutes, but I had set up goals for the swim, bike, and run. And 25 minutes was my goal.

Not much I could do differently. At the far buouy I started to catch the Ironman triathletes and had to naviagete through them. It got really bad when I was close the finish and had to swim through about 25 of them.

I got out of the water, to the strippers and to my bike pretty quick, I threw my shoes and helmet on, but for some reason didn't put on my sunglasses but decided to run with those in my hand for some reason. I started to get on my bike before the mount line and then realized that I had my sunglasses in my hand, so I put those on and jogged another 10 feet to the mount line. I had a little trouble getting going up the short incline, but overall I was happy with my whole transition.

Put my sunglasses on right after my helmet.

I left the water in first and knew that I would have to really go and try and put some more time on those that were really good runners. I hit the bike course and just went. Took a while to get my Hear Rate down, but just kept going and hammering the bike. One thing about being out in the lead, is that the intersection volunteers and the police aren't really ready till the first person comes through, so as I am avoiding traffic they are scrambling to shut down the intersections for me and of course for those to come. I almost got hit on the way back to the finish by a truck, it was really too close!

I had a very good bike overall, I wanted to go 2 hours 20 minutes, but knew at the turn around, that it wasn't going to happen, so I tried to focus on just coming back as fast as I went out. A cool thing about being out in front was after the turnaround, (I didn't see the next athlete till about 1.5 to 2 miles and then I started to see everyone) is that everyone is telling me good job and keep going and you are flying and spectators are taking pictures and yelling for you, etc. That's what it must be like to be a pro, too bad I am just a poser age grouper that can swim decent and bike good. :)

I figured someone might catch me on the bike but no one did. So I was happy with that. I got a good look at where everyone was and how they looked after the 28 mile turnaround and I just put the head down and hammered back home.
First 28 mile split time: 1 hour 13 minutes 11 seconds
Second 27 mile split time: 1 hour 14 minutes 22 seconds

Take in some salt tablets on the bike, especially since the sun was out and it was hitting low 80s pretty quickly.

I had a good transition. I am finally starting to be happy with these.

I was first into transition and when I came in, the announcer said, "our first Team Half Ironman competitor is in, No, wait. . . it is our race leader, Jared Kuntz". . blah blah blah, and he started to read off my race facts and who was there to watch me (Wife, Sister-in-law).

That was really cool and gave me a good pump up, as I was leaving transition, he was saying I was flying (well up to that point) and that I had a huge lead, so that helped me go faster too. . although. . I knew the footsteps were coming.

Nothing, maybe grab some gatorade on the way out from the volunteers. It was starting to get hot and the sun was intense.

Who do you think needs to work on their running? Hmm. . ????
ME!!!!!! Yes, I know. I am really that upset or surprised by my run time and realize that a lot of work needs to go into this portion and it will. I wanted to break 2 hours for the half marathon, so 2:03 is not that great. If I could run, then I would be half way good, but I am not, so I will kee working.

Here is what happened. Coming out of transition I felt good, hit the first mile and it was a 7:58, alright, that is good, back off a little and then hold it for the first 6 miles and then just run it home. Well at the first aid station right after the 1 mile mark I grabbed some water and gatorade and kept plugging, knowing that "they" would be coming. Then it started to happen, and all I could think, was oh no. .not now!!! My left hamstring started to twinge, then it started to move and then it cramped up big time. I stopped dead in my tracks at 1.5 miles and was in so much pain, I tried to stretch standing up, but then finally fell over from the pain and to try and stretch some more. I thought I worked it out and stood back up, only for it to cramp again. .. Here are my thoughts at this point.
" I looked back to the start and thought about how far back I would have to walk and call it a day, I thought about quitting, the pain was so bad and I knew that I was not a good runner anyway, let alone with pain in my hamstring and the cramping that was going on. I thought about how far I had come and if just somehow I could walk it off and if anything to just finish"

I got back up and it cramped again, I fell to the ground. At this point a spectator came over and asked if I was ok. I said, I was and it was just a cramp. I stretched it out again and got up, the pain was still there a little bit, but the major camping was gone. So I started to walk and that turned into a jog. I tried to hold back a little and was actually usuing my right leg to push off of more. I am sure it was a sight. I kept running and just figured I would give it all I had and would stretch it out as necessary.

I think I drank about 1000 oz of gatorade after that point to try and get salt into my system. I just kept running knowing that the fast runners were coming. At one point I could here the volunteers cheering for them at the aid stations that I passed and finally it happened, two guys came past, the first was a Half Iron Team Member, so he didn't matter to me, the second was a 26 year old and I told him that he looked good and he was now in first. .. he said "not for long, they are coming". I smiled to myself and tried to pace off of him the best I could. At the turnaround point I was in 3rd place, but saw a bunch of guys coming fast up behind me. A lot of them were Half Iron Relay team members and a lot of 40 year olds. .

At this point I kept looking at the legs of those who past me to count how many 30-34 year olds passed me, I only counted two all the way to the end.

At the finish I could tell that it would be close to break my 5 hour goal. . .I gave it all I had and at the finish saw the clock hit 5 hours. . 1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds, 4 seconds, 5 seconds, 6 seconds, FINISH. . . I was exhausted!!!!!!

Take in more salt on the bike. ..If I wouldn't of had the cramp, I could have broken 5 hours. .

Grabbed some water. . I was exhausted. Got my shirt, medal, etc. .grabbed some food, got a massage, talked with other athletes, I was happy to be done.


The cramp on the run. .I am not saying I would have smoked the run by any means, but could have gone at least 3-5 minutes faster.


REDMAN IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!