Timberman Half-Ironman - August 2008

It’s an early start race morning though as we have to out at race site before 5 am! Got chatting to Mick Lovato, Simon Lessing and Chrissie Wellington in transition as well (Photos included!) and they are all very down it earth. I’m in start 11 out of 15, so there’s a bit of a wait before we get going.

The lake is crystal clear, very warm and flat calm, so swimming and sighting are easy. Plus there are only 100 people in my age group so there’s not much boxing at the start. Swam 35 minutes for the 1.9km swim, which was happy enough with and even caught a few people from a few waves ahead of me.

The bike course is termed in the briefing as “hilly”. Obviously Americans don’t like or are no good at hills! There is one climb of about a mile on the out section, and two short inclines on the return leg. More speed bumps than climbs!  With my cycling being very, very poor this year I was still able to spend 95% off my time in the aerobars and keep my speed above 22mph for the majority of the ride, you can tell how hard the bike course is! Jumped off the bike after 2hrs 51mins, and was still feeling very good for the half marathon even though it was starting to get very hot.

The half marathon is two loops mainly through a forest road along the lake. The scenery was beautiful, but with the trees close in on both sides, it made the already warm temperatures that bit hotter. The first lap flew by in 45mins. Passed Rick and Dick Hoyt (the father who tows his handicapped son round the swim in a boat, cycles with him in a specially adapted bike, and then pushes him round the run on a wheelchair) and they seems to be struggling a lot. If I’m able to maintain this pace I can break my pb of 5 hrs 10. The second lap feels a lot warmer, and can feel myself starting to slow down as well! Have to stop a few times between miles 9 and 11 to take on extra fluids as I had now developed a bouncing head ache due to the heat. I get my act together again then as I can see the finish line away in the distance. All chances of a pb have gone at this stage, but push on as hard as I can for the last 2 miles, eventually finishing in 5hrs 18mins.

Crossing the finish line I was handed my medal and two ice pops, a cold towel, and you’re then directed into a cooling tent! After you have cooled down enough, you’re then sent to the food tents where there’s an endless supply of pasta, bagels, pizza and ice-cream!! I love America!!!!

As we sat out eating our goodies in the blazing heat, the awards and presentation of spots for the 70.3 World Championship in Florida were being held in the tent beside us. If anyone ever wanted to qualify for the world champs this seemed to be the race to go to! They couldn’t give the spots away for the majority of the age groups. A lot of spots where giving to anyone that wanted them!

Even though my age group was competitive, I was less than 20 minutes from qualifying!!

Will def be back, as this is definitely a brilliant race!