Great Illini Half-Iron Distance Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

HA, not bad............I wasn't the last one out~~beat 32 peeps. I actually fought through the mass start and held my own, no panic, just kept fighting for my space........that was a huge deal for me. Settled in pretty quick..........maybe too quick as I should have pushed a little longer. Got into a comfortable pace and really felt like I could have swam all day.

Stay with it longer out of the gate - I know I have it in me, but race strategy is not my strong suit. I talk myself out of crap to easy! haha Don't walk to transition - suck it up. I came out of the water at 47:46 - the walk to transition cost me time! ( ironically, triathlon calculator had me at 47:40)

Actually felt like I spent a little longer in transition than this, but hey - I'll go with it. The wetsuit stripping will just take practice - no more on that. Was pissed cause I had to wear my fuel belt on the bike - race number was on it, and they didn't have bike or helmet numbers. Removing the bottles from the belt took a few seconds.

Practice getting out of my wetsuit quicker - other than that and the fuel belt, not added time really affected me.

Well, it didn't start off too well. I had my gel flasks in each side pocket on my tri jersey just as I had practiced. Since I had to wear my fuel belt, it was pushing bottom -> up on these pockets. Hit the bridge crossing the lake 400 yards into it and out comes one flask - ugh. There went 200 calories. Crap - now I need a new strategy. Luckily, I packed an extra cliff bar! Was ok with the 2:51 bike time - was well positioned to beat all my goals at this point.

Put gel flask holders on my frame and push a little more on that first 28 miles and/or loop for this course. I was thinking too far ahead - again, race strategy is not my strength yet. Just think I was a little conservative on the first loop - but the good news is - a slower swim gave me lots of peeps to pass.

I suck at bike racking! haha. Had a pair of socks in transition and was going to put them on for the run just to be safe - started to put one on and there goes a quad twitching - ya, no socks it is!

not much - ok with this transition.

Well............here is where it went all wrong. I heard Bob yell 2:51 at me when I got off the bike. Was checking my watch throughout the bike and was pretty sure I was under 3, but hearing Bob yell 2:51 pumped me up BIG TIME! I glanced over at the race clock as I went onto the road - 3:45. A 2:14 run and I was under 6 hours. I yelled let do this shiz as I started the run. Felt good starting out - 10 minute miles give me 2:11 and I needed 2:14. Mile one 9:56, Mile two 9:48........pshh, I got this. Mile 3 10:06 - still all good til I turned the corner. As I rounded the corner towards the turnaround, a dull pain shot up from my knee to my right shoulder - "not now, I said.............it's too soon". Been having some IT Band issues since a long run a few weeks back - haven't run in two weeks hoping it would be strong enough to hold. As I approached Mile 4, the pain was growing. I just started trying to think about everything but my knee - wasn't working. Kept telling myself, just run through it - we'll walk the aid stations and recover a few seconds and we can patchwork this thing together - keep you head up. Everytime I saw Chris and Pat, I didn't want them to know how bad it hurt - I kept telling them great race, my knee is trash - keep it up guys..........but didn't want them to see me hurting. I walked up the slight incline around mile 6 on the way to the turnaround - couldn't take the pain on the slight inclines - flat was best. Still running as I got to the turnaround - Bob and my wife both knew something wasn't right - told them my knee was shot. Didn't want to tell them, but wanted them to know this might take a while cause I didn't know how much longer I could stand the pain. Got a jolt from the fans and family at the halfway mark and off I went. Chris was at about mile 11.5 when I met him - man, was I hurting - told him he had a great race and gave him 5, then the grimace came back. By the time I saw PAt on the second loop, tears were starting to form from the pain. Once I got by Pat, I knew I had no one left out there with me - that didn't go over too well! I never doubted that I was going to finish - even if I had to drag my leg in, I was FINISHING! By mile 9, I was relegated to run/walk, with walk winning most of the time............would run until I got tears from the pain, then walk - buck up, run some more until I couldn't stand the pain, then walk some more. Not sure what hurt more, my knee or pride - it wasn't supposed to go this way, I kept telling myself - well, maybe it was? I don't know that answer, but at mile 12, I took a look at my watch and realized I still had a shot at breaking 6:30. Suprising, considering 6 hours would have been the perfect day for me.............didn't lessen the pain, but told myself that if I crossed that line in under 6:30, that would make it worth this pain. At the .5 mark, I was down to a 4 step run, then walk 4, run 4, etc. I got to where I could hear my family cheering, the cow bells............they could see me walking (which I never wanted to happen) and the cheers got louder. Still 4 run/shuffle steps, 4 walk. I got to the tree line and heard my brother and wife yelling - my emotions took over at that point, the pain was not going to keep me from finishing - I heard Bob yell - it's all about the FINISH and you did it - take it all in...........I gritted my teeth as hard as could and ran across that mat!

While my overall run time was horrible, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I realized I only missed my perfect day goal by 29 minutes............with a run/walk. Knowing I could have done 6 hours will have to suffice until I do it for real! Not sure what I could have done different on the run with the injury - I left my heart and soul lying on the pavement somewhere north of Lake Mattoon - that was all I had in me!

Limped around - spent a few minutes one on one with my wife settling my emotions, then talked to rest of family and teammates. Was hungry, but really couldn't eat. It was raining and a miserable day for spectators and everyone wanted to head home - including me! lol Didn't stay for awards..............bummer, cause Pat got 2nd in Clydesdales! Way to go Pat!~


Injury - plain and simple. Swim = Good, Bike = Good, Run = No Good. Put a good run in there and it was perfect.....................then again, finishing under these conditions could be considered perfect...............maybe it was supposed to be that way?


Lots of things they could have done different for this race................too many to list. Just average for a Half Ironman - but my experience is limited only to this race. Have been to sprints that are FAR more organized though. Volunteers were plenty on the bike and run course - aid stations were plenty on run course also. Shirts and finisher plaques are just ok - no date? WTF?