Kona, It Was Fun While It Lasted

Well after traveling back from 70.3 worlds and then driving from Colorado to California via a short stop at Interbike in Vegas it was back to training. Well, kind of.........The last few weeks leading into Kona were going to be really busy, and not the ideal prep for Kona. However, I believed that the 2 blocks in Boulder and the performance at 70.3 worlds that I was pretty fit and would still be able to shoot for the top 5 in my age group.

Once arriving back to California we had our wedding ceremony for family and friends (we actually go married back in September of 2013). After that we headed to Monterey Aquarium for a day and then up to Tahoe for several days to relax and enjoy some quality time together. Then we celebrated our one year anniversary in San Francisco and Hila departed to the UK the following day. 

I had a week left in California prior to heading to Hawaii and the training was going pretty well. I was a little low on motivation, a bit burned out by this point in the season, but tried to push through as I knew Kona was only 2 weeks away. 

Once in Kona it was go, go, go with something going on everyday. Had a few commitments with sponsors and Team RWB. It is also a good place to talk to future sponsors as well, so needless to say it was quite a busy week. 

Hila flew to Kona from the UK on Thursday night, so it was great having her there to support me along with my Mom, Steve, little sister and coach Scott and his girlfriend Carrie. Quite the group this year and we had a blast all week long. 

Race morning was the usual routine, same food, same wake up time and nothing out of the usual.  I felt great and felt like I was ready to go. 

Swim-1:05

I got a good start and wasn't getting banged up as much as years past. Starting with only the men made things a little less congested.  Around 800m I looked up to see that a big gap had opened up and unfortunately I was with the group ahead. I got to the turn around and looked at my watch and thought in was having a pretty good swim. Well the current on the way back along with the rough waters made the return trip slow and I ended up having my slowest swim to date in Kona.  I figured it was just a slow day which it was so just put my head down and got to work on the bike. 

Bike-4:59

I felt really good at the beginning and was pushing at my upper target of power for the race. I felt strong and was riding well, but was slowly feeling hotter and hotter. By the time I started climbing Hawi the power started to drop  a bit and I continued to feel hot. No matter how much I tried to cool my body I just felt hot. 

The return trip home was pretty brutal with the wind, minus one section just before Waikola where we caught a massive tailwind and I was spun out with no more gears left.  The final stretch was pretty brutal into a head wind and I just couldn't seem to keep the power up or get the body to cool down. 

Run- 3:28

Out on the run course I was feeling pretty good till about mile 1.5 when Hila told me I was in 25th in my age group. I then had a chat with my coach and I just told him that it was a brutal day and plenty of people were going to blow up. I thought I could run a 3:10 and figured that would get me into the top 10 (when looking at results after that would have done it).  

He thought that was reasonable so I settled in aiming for that. By the time I got to Palani I was feeling hot again and could not get cool. I felt miserable. I was walking through the aid stations getting as much ice and water as I could, but before I got to the next one it was the same feeling all over again. 

I hit the half way point with a 1:37 split and thought I could possibly hang on to run 3:15, but things just fell apart from there. I did a lot of walking and then out of the energy lab Joel O'Malley of the Canadian AF passed me. I wasn't sure if I was eligible for the military awards, but I knew he was. I told him great job and off he ran. 

Then came a buddy that I had raced a few times this year, Reilly Smith. He passed by and I couldn't keep up and off he went. I finally got going again and caught Reilly with 5 or 6 miles to go and we passed each other a few times and then just said screw it and ran together and suffered together. It was great to have someone else to complain to about the brutal day and to talk with the final miles so we just kept each other going. 

Coming to the finish chute my family had the US flag waiting for me and I asked Reilly if he wanted to cross with it. So we put old glory up in the air and ran down the finishing chute with it and crossed the line together.  Great way to finish off a brutal day and my last race at Kona for quite some time. 

Swim (2.4 miles)- 1:05:29 / 62nd out of 104 in AG /http://tpks.ws/CXfk
Bike (112 miles)- 4:59:31 / 10th out of 104 in AG / http://tpks.ws/p0Fc
Run (26.2 miles)- 3:28:47 / 43rd out of 104 in AG / http://tpks.ws/YU4B
Total- 9:40:08 / 215th out of 2,186 Overall / 164th out of 2,097 Amateurs / 25th out of 104 in AG

Results: http://eu.ironman.com/triathlon/events/americas/ironman/world-championship/results.aspx?rd=20141011#axzz3IBh9RK44

Next up is a race on the Canary Islands, the Ocean Lava Triathlon on 1 November. I bounced back pretty quickly last year, so hoping for the same this year. This will be my first pro/elite race, so looking forward to seeing where I stack up against theses guys. It is also the Spanish Long Course National Champs so should draw some strong talent. 

I can't thank everyone enough for all of the support. Making it to Kona for the 4th time was amazing, hard to think that I won't be racing there next year, but onto a new journey in the professional ranks where Kona is not the goal for a few years.

Thanks to: FRS Healthy Energy, Honey Stinger, Kiwami, HED Cycling, Zoot, Arundel Bike Products, Clever Training, ISM Saddles, and Team RWB for all of the continued support!

One of the shots from the Kiwami Photo Shoot. (Photo Credit: Gary Geiger)

One of the shots from the Kiwami Photo Shoot. (Photo Credit: Gary Geiger)

 

Headed out on Ali'i Drive around mile 1

 

Coming down the finish chute in Kona, with Reilly Smith.

The RWB tri of Tom, TO, and myself

RWB / Military Get Together post race

Myself and Hila after the race

2014 70.3 Worlds, Eh!

7 Sept 2014-

Coming off of a decent 3 weeks of back-back-back racing in July/August, I was looking forward to getting settled back into Boulder and put in solid work. I was able to get 4 weeks in before departing for 70.3 Worlds, and was really happy with how those weeks went. I got in a few big 5-6hr rides with close to 8K feet of climbing, and felt great on all of those rides. The swimming was coming along quite well and swimming with the masters group at Rally Sport was really helping my swim. 

We traveled up to Canada on Thursday and then drove two hours from the airport to Mont Tremblant. It was absolutely beautiful once we got into the country side and I was really looking forward to seeing what Mont Tremblant. Mont Tremblant did not disappoint, it was stunning. Made me wish I lived out in the North East in the summers so that I could head up there and train. Unfortunately with the move or England I don't think I will be back there anytime soon. Hopefully one day I can head back over there to race again. 

Swim- 27:52

I got a pretty good start, it was a little rough the first 400m but then it cleared up a bit and I found some good feet here and there. At the turn buoy about half way through a guy came around me and I got on his feet and stayed there until the exit of the swim. It was quite a long run from Swim exit to T1, and once there I decided to put knee warmers on as it was in the low 50s. I also put on some gloves and already had toe covers on my shoes. 

Bike- 2:11:32

I was quite surprised to get out on the bike and see a lot of packs. Since I started about mid way through all of the waves I had quite a few people ahead of me on the course.  I stayed to the left and slowly started passing people. Once out onto the freeway the packs were even bigger and I was quite disappointed. I passed the groups a few times but then they would pass me back. When that would happen I would just go to the back and sit 7 meters off hoping for a draft marshall to show up. 

I only saw two marshalls throughout the day, one at 30K and another at 70K. In between the 30K and 70K point I would ride by groups and I started using a new tactic. Rather than yelling at athletes for drafting I would look over at them and say "Watch out a motto is coming a motto is coming". Then just ride by them. They would sit up, soft pedal, grab their brakes. It was ridiculous to see how blatant some of the people were drafting, especially for a world championship. The worse part is the penalty tents were empty and penalties were not being given out.

The hardest part of the course was the last 20K and I knew that going into the race. I had pre ridden it on Friday because I thought I made a crucial error of not being able to switch my cassette and I was stuck with an 11-23. Looking back I think it turned out to be a "great mistake" and it forced me to ride that section a little harder than I would have normally and helped move me up in the age group.  

Just before entering T2 I saw my wife and she told me I was sitting in 5th or 6th (I was actually in 5th). 

Run- 1:23:24

The run course was quite hilly so I settled into a comfortable pace and just tried to stay consistent.  Around mile 3 a group of 3 guys ran by me like I was standing still. I let them go and didn't try to run with them. I stopped once for a short pee break but other than that I felt really good. I thought I had a bit left in the tank with about 5K to go so I picked up the pace and tried to push on through the final hills. 

I felt really good on the run and actually negative split the run, so was really happy with that. 

Overall I was really happy with how the day went. Not quite the placing that I wanted. I was shooting for a top 5 in my Age Group, but ended up 9th. I was more pleased with being 18th Overall and with having the 3rd fastest amateur bike split (really 2nd, as the fastest is a convicted doper/x-pro cyclist that should not be allowed in our sport.)

Thanks to TrainingPeaks for doing a great analysis of my race, you can read about it here: http://home.trainingpeaks.com/blog/article/ironman-70-3-world-championship-age-group-analysis

Huge thanks to everyone that has continued to support my journey in this sport. My wife has been by my side these last 2 years and continues to believe in me and has been a great supporter of my goals. Without her support this wouldn't be possible, as having a strong "team" in your corner is a huge key to success in this sport. 

Along with her, I would like to think my family, friends and my coach, Scott DeFilippis who has been not only a coach but a great friend and mentor over the last 4 years.   Lastly, but very important, all of the companies that have been standing behind me and supporting me the last few years. Thanks to: FRS Healthy Energy, Honey Stinger, Kiwami, HED Cycling, Zoot, Arundel Bike Products, Clever Training, ISM Saddles, and Team RWB for all of the continued support!

 The greatest race sherpa ever!

 Coming down the final hill

 Ryan McCready and Brett King, two awesome guys and great friends!

Catching Up: Update Part 2

9 October-

Update Part 1 can be found HERE.

I left off with the departure from Ft Worth and heading up to Boulder.  Hila was in from Japan for a month, so we packed up what I had left that the movers didn't take, and put it into the car.  Pretty tough packing for 4 months and only being able to jam it in the car.  We made it up to Boulder in 2 days, after making a quick stop in Colorado Springs to visit with Hila's mother.

With Atlantic City going poorly due to being sick I talked with my coach about a back up plan to try and qualify for my pro card again.  I found Challenge New Albany and decided that was going to be the race to do.  After a few weeks in Boulder we headed out for New Albany, via car.  Driving from Colorado to Ohio wasn't all that bad.  I had already planned on driving out to Milwaukee for Age Group Nationals so it was just a week ahead of schedule.  I was going to spend 10 days in Milwaukee and fly in and out of there for New York City to guide Aaron again.

I ended up having a really good race at New Albany and won the overall amateur race and placed 15th Overall.  So mission accomplished and no pressure the rest of the year worrying about where to qualify.  We drove up from New Albany to Milwaukee and luckily were able to meet up with some friends and family along the way.  Always great to catch up with people while out on the road traveling.  After getting up to Milwaukee the month with Hila came to an end and she got on a plane back to Japan.  Luckily, this would be the last time we would be apart for more than a few weeks at a time, as she was getting ready to depart from the Air Force as well.

A few days after Hila left I headed over to New York for a short 2 day trip, I think I was actually there less than 48 hours.  I went out there to guide Aaron in the NYC Triathlon, and it was a great event.  We set a course record in his category by 5 minutes, well we actually just broke his course record.  It was a pretty humbling experience for me, my ultimate fear with guiding happened.  Aaron was in top shape since Paratriathlon Worlds was right around the corner, and he was dragging me around the run course, yet we still ran 37 flat 10K, on a really hilly course.  I never want to slow Aaron down so this was really hard for me, but luckily he still won so in the end it was alright.

Once back from NYC I stayed in Milwaukee and raced AG Nationals.  The day went pretty much like I expected, came out way behind in the swim, biked through the field to the top 5 and then was run down by a few guys.  When it was all said and done I was 25th Overall and 8th in the Age Group, until I was given a 2 minute penalty for dropping my swim cap on the transition run, yep you read that right, dropping my swim cap, along with about 50 other people.  I ended up 40th and 12th in my Age Group after that.  Still a great day and put down the 3rd fastest bike split, which I was really happy with.

After the race I loaded up the car and headed back to Boulder the following day.  Made the drive straight through which made for a long day.  Once back in Boulder I spent 28 days there training for 70.3 worlds, and put in a really solid block of training.  Hila left Japan for good and met me in Boulder for a few days before we headed off to Canada.

I will do a race report for 70.3 worlds, so that will be the next post.  Once back from 70.3 worlds we drove from Boulder to California, making a quick stop at Interbike for a few hours.  Although we were really rushed while there it was still a great experience and I look forward to going back in the future.  Once back in California we had a few days to getting our wedding ceremony final preparation done, and once all of that was good we had the big party!  One of the most memorable nights of my life, and I was glad we had all of our family and close friends there to celebrate with us.

After the wedding we spent some time in Tahoe and in San Francisco.  Hila then departed for England to get started on her DPhil (PhD for those of us in the US) at Oxford.  I had a week left in California to train before I departed for Hawaii.  No problems at all traveling out to Hawaii.

So here we are, 6 months later, on the big island of Hawaii, and in 2 short blog posts you are all caught up on what has been a busy and hectic 6 months.

Post race at Challenge New Albany with Hila, and Ryan

 

Guiding Aaron at NYC, we broke 2 hours and broke his old course record.

 At Interbike with Hila

 And we got married again :)

Catching Up: Update Part 1

8 October-

So for anyone out there that actually still follows my blog, you probably noticed I got way behind this year.  This is the first time that I am actually going to skip over race reports and just fill you in on "life" and what has been going on.  If you want to catch up on what races I have done since Galveston and the exact results and splits, those can be found here: http://www.aftriathlonguy.blogspot.com/p/race-results.html .

Where to start....Well after Galveston I went back to what was "home" at the time of Fort Worth and got a few weeks of training in before heading to California for my brothers wedding and Wildflower Triathlon.  It is always good to be home and I was able to get in some good training before Wildflower, as well as spend some time with Hila (the wifey) as she flew in for my brothers wedding.  We also took care of some "wedding" planning (We are already married but were planning a small ceremony for our family and friends in September.)

After my brothers wedding and our own little wedding planning adventures it was off to Wildflower.  The legendary race in my opinion which should be on every triathletes to do list.  I was feeling pretty good for the race and had some great training going into it.  I am not quite sure what happened on race day, but I had what I would call an off day.  Power was super low on the bike and I came off the bike and hit a wall around mile 3.  After a few miles I got going again, but ended up being passed by a guy in my age group with 2 miles to go.  Unfortunately he got a drafting penalty and I still ended up winning the age group, although still not a great race for me in my opinion.  Hard to say that, but this year I wasn't focusing on age group wins, I wanted overall wins at the local / regional races, and top 5's in my age group at 70.3 worlds and Kona.  So  I was a little disappointed with my overall placing at Wildflower.  After Wildflower I headed back to Texas for a few weeks before returning to California for Military National Champs and a big training block before Challenge Atlantic City.

While back in Texas I moved out of my apartment and started the process of departing from the military.  I also headed down to Austin to the CapTex Triathlon to guide Aaron Scheidies.  It is always a great time to have Aaron around and be able to race with him.  Such an inspirational guy and has a great outlook on life.  I then departed for California after CapTex and headed to Southern California.  With this being the last race I would participate in for the Air Force, it was a bit of a bitter sweet.  I was really excited for the race and felt like I was in the best shape I had been in when showing up to Pt Mugu.  The race played out just how I expected, except I wasn't quite expecting to come off the bike in 3rd and hold onto for 5th place.  With it being draft legal this was a great result for me.  Unfortunately it was not a Military Worlds year, which meant the top 6 did not get to go on and represent the USA at Military Worlds.

It was great time down in Pt Mugu with all of the military tri peeps and after a good night of celebrating I was headed north to spend a few weeks at home.  I got in a great training block while home, and even had Brett King a fellow AF guy join in for a few days. In the process started to get a little sick just before leaving for Challenge Atlantic City.  Since I was home on leave I didn't go to the doctor just thinking I would get over it.  After about 7 days of feeling like crap and just arriving to New Jersey I headed into an Urgent Care.  They diagnosed me with Bronchitis just 3 days before the race and I started an anti biotic.

I was stubborn and still decided to race.  I just planned to take it easy on the bike and see how things went on the run.  The bike ended up going fairly well, and the first 15K of the run was good as well.  Unfortunately at mile 13 I made a stop in the bathroom and that was a first, never had that happen during and IM.  Then shortly after that I felt zapped of energy and decided to call it a day to forgo putting myself in a bigger whole.

I packed up from New Jersey and headed back to Texas for the final out processing of the military and to head up to Boulder for the summer.

That is enough updating for now, check back in a few days for a new update.............Here are a few pictures from this update

 Derek, Ace and myself.  All 3 of us were out in Korea together, just missing our buddy Aaron Mundy.

 Aaron and myself after a hot day at CapTex Triathlon

 The Good ol' AF Tri Team.  Going to miss this group!

 Wildflower Podium.  Surrounded by those fast Every Man Jack Tri guys.

Before my brothers wedding.

2nd 70.3 in 13 Days: Galveston TX

6 April 2014-

After just racing the Tyler Half the weekend before I was a little worried about how the body would respond.  During the week I put in some shorter intervals but the body was recovering pretty quick.  I think backing off from the run the previous week was a good thing and helped the recovery process.  Hila came into town on Wednesday night and then her mother made the trip as well and came in on Friday.  Once we got her on Friday we headed south to Galveston.

Saturday I woke up and got the normal easy ride and run in.  Ended up meeting up with Clay Emge (the 25-29 Kona AG Champ from last year, who is racing pro this year) for a short ride and run.  After that it was time for lunch, registration and bike check in.  That evening we met up with Chris Avery, his fiance Melissa and her family.  Chris's coach Mark Saroni was there as well as one of his friends that was racing.  It was a great dinner and always good to catch up with Chris.

Racing morning came quickly, and same as every other race morning.  It is always nice to have the wifey with me at the races, even though it adds a little stress when we are both racing.  I was feeling pretty good, but was not thrilled to wake up to rain and wind.

Swim- 1.2 Miles (33:30)

The swim was really choppy and we started in one of the last waves, 1.5 hours after the pros.  I didn't realize how horrible of a swim I had until after the race.  I just thought the swim was slow due to the conditions, but that was not the case.  I struggled finding clean water, but I still thought I had a decent swim.  Anyways, out of the water and onto the bike was the same ol same ol, not eventful.

Bike- 56 Miles (2:07:15)

Pretty much just a flat out and back race, other than the first few turns to get out of transition area.  We ended up having a cross wind the whole race.  The wind shifted earlier in the morning from a tail wind to head wind then to a complete cross wind.  My power meter stopped working around mile 20 and I just rode off of feel.  I felt pretty relaxed and like I was riding fairly easy.  I got a little worried when I passed a guy in my age group around mile 40.  Wasn't sure if there was anyone else up the road or not.  I hadn't studied the course that much and as I approached what I thought was the end of the bike we took another way back to transition area.  I had already took my feet out of my shoes in prep for transition and ended up riding for about 4-5 minutes with them out.  For those familiar with the course it was back through the airport area.  I came into T2 with a lot of empty space in our bike rack area which had me thinking that I had the lead.

Run- 13.1 Miles (1:20:56)

I knew there were some fast runners on the start list that would be coming from behind.  One of them, Jonathan LeJuene had ran a fast marathon at IMFL and ran his way through the field to 3rd.  I was keeping an eye out for him, thinking he could possibly run me down.  Luckily it was a 3 lap course with a few out and back sections.  Right around mile 2 was where I crossed back by the T2 exit and sure enough Jonathan was running out.  I felt comfortable with that gap but knew I still needed to have a solid run.

I saw Jonathan a few other times throughout the course and he was slowly chipping away at my lead.  I kept pushing along and ended up finishing just a few minutes ahead of him.  I was really happy with my run split as it was a legitimate 13.1 miles and I had a half IM PB for the run, and the overall distance.  Jonathan ended up running a 1:14, and only finishing 2 minutes back and 2nd in our AG, so it was a really good race.

Overall I was really happy with how the day went considering that I had just raced the previous weekend.  The race did not have over $20K in prize money so it was not a "Elite Qualifying Race" based on Criteria F of the USAT qualification standards, meaning you need to take top 3 overall amateur.

Swim (1.2 miles)-33:30

http://www.strava.com/activities/127730454
Bike (56 miles)- 2:07:15

http://www.strava.com/activities/127730432/
For the power gurus, Training Peaks file: http://tpks.ws/AIXp
Run (13.1 miles)- 1:20:56

http://www.strava.com/activities/127730354

Total- 4:05:20 / 1st in M25-29 / 4th Amateur
Results: http://www.ironman.com/triathlon/coverage/athlete-tracker.aspx?race=lonestar70.3&y=2014#axzz353e3nluL

Big thanks to Ima (Hila's mother) for coming in for the race.  And a great job to my wife for having a good race after some ups and downs with her training this year.  Thanks to everyone for all of the continued support and for the sponsors and supporters that have stuck behind me.

 Pre Race Ride w/ the wifey

 Pre Race Ride.  Fit courtesy of David Wenger from Durata Training

 O that was brutal

 Enjoying the run!

Podium Picture.....

 

Tyler Half IM, First Tri of the Season

30 March-

I wasn’t planning to do this race and was going to focus on Galveston 70.3.  Then I found out Galveston didn’t have $20K in Pro Prize money, and only had $15K.  Since I am still racing amateur you are probably wondering why I even care.  Well one way to qualify for your pro card as a USAT member is to finish top 3 overall amateur at a race with more than $20K in prize money.  So once finding out that it did not fit into that criteria I talked with my coach and we decided to see how back to back half’s would go.

I was a little worried on how my bike fitness would be.  I had gotten a big week of training in at camp in Tucson, but other than that I hadn’t had many great workouts that gave me confidence.  I was actually a little discouraged with how I rode at camp, but thought this race would be a good test to see where I was.  There were a few pros in the field “elite wave” as the race had less than $5K in prize money.  They started all of the male and female “elites” together at once.

Swim-

I started out next to Chris McDonald, not sure why as I going to lose his feet fast.  And sure enough, by about 100m he was gone along with most of other elites.  I swam most of swim by myself and I lost 2:46 to Chris and 1:40 to Clay Emge (who won our AG in Kona).  I was fairly happy with how my swim went and didn’t have too many problems sighting.

Bike-

I knew I was a bit down on Clay, but wasn’t sure by how much.  I started out of T2 riding pretty hard and caught one person fairly quickly.  Then there was someone quite a ways ahead that I could tell I was slowly reeling in.  The about 35 minutes into the race I heard a loud horn.  Didn’t know what it was at first, then after the second time it sounded I figured out it was a train.  I thought to myself, surely the course doesn’t go across tracks.  Sure enough about 30 seconds later I came around a bend and there were the tracks.  Then the gates started coming down, and then there I was stopped at the tracks. 

They had a guy there with a clipboard and he jotted down my number and started a stop watch.  He told me Clay had just went by and at that point was only 30 seconds up the road.  After being stopped for 1m40secs the train had passed and off I went.  It took me until about mile 40 or 45 to catch Clay.  I tried to get him to come with me but he was having issues with his rear wheel so was dealing with that.

Coming back into T2 someone informed me that Chris was in the lead about 15 minutes up the road.  And that 3^rd place was about 10 minutes up the road.

Run-

Knowing where everyone was and that I had Galveston the following weekend I thought I would run hard until the turn around and see how much ground I could gain.  At the turn around I was about 5 minutes down on 4^th and 10+ minutes down on 3^rd and I knew it only paid 3 deep.  I figured the odds were pretty good that 2 guys were not going to blow up.  I decided just to take it easy the last 2-3 miles, but continued to push on till that point.  I ended up running the last ½ mile with one of the sprint finisher who was struggling, but with a little motivation we made it across the line together.  The run course was one of the more difficult courses that I have raced on and I was happy with how my run went.

Overall I was happy with how the day went and was really happy with where my power was on the bike.  For this early in the season I can’t complain about how things went.  I think it was a great prep for Galveston and it will be interesting to see how back to back weekends of half IM’s go.

Swim (1.2 miles)- 27:57

 http://www.strava.com/activities/125458784

Bike (56 miles)- 2:27:06 

http://www.strava.com/activities/125460969
For the power gurus, Training Peaks file: http://tpks.ws/kxSy

Run (13.1 miles)- 1:32:41

http://www.strava.com/activities/125458806

Total- 4:31:15 / 5th in Elite / 1st Amateur
Results: https://www.nolimitstiming.com/results/default.aspx?event=26814

Cowtown Half Marathon-

23 Feb-

After returning from deployment I was only home for 3 days before departing for Japan to visit my wife.  I hadn’t seen her since Thanksgiving and this was the longest we had gone from being apart.  Once arriving out there we got struck with a 23” snow storm and had travel delays from Tokyo to Misawa, Tokyo actually got hit with 12” which pretty much shut down the city.  Needless to say over the 10 days in Japan I spent very little time running.  I was jet lagged, tired and honestly just wanted to lounge around and spend time with my wife.

Coming back from Japan I wasn’t due to arrive into DFW till Saturday night at 10pm, with a race start of 7am.  When I arrived to the terminal at the airport I was actually able to switch to a direct flight that got me into town 6 hours earlier.  That made it possible for me to attend the Team RWB pre race dinner and get together at RAHR and Sons Brewery.  It was a great time and it was great to be able to hang out with some RWB people who I hadn’t seen in quite some time and meet some new RWB people.

After getting back from the dinner I was able to unpack and get to be around 11pm, unfortunately I got about 4 hours of sleep and was up at 2am.  First time that has happened in a while, so I just stayed up and cleaned up the house and took my time in the morning.

I wasn’t really sure how the race was going to go since I just gotten of a flight less than 16 hours prior to race start and had barely slept, but I had talked to my coach and we setup a solid race plan going into the race.  I had put in some solid efforts while deployed and knew I was in pretty good run shape.  Unfortunately the course was really hilly and I wasn’t sure how bad that was going to affect my time.

Here was the plan that I had setup ahead of time before the race.  I had it programmed in to my Garmin and was going to try and follow it.

Since I was starting out a little slower and slowly increasing my pace throughout the run I was able to run with some of the marathoners for a bit.  Then there were some people just out in front of me that were in the half.  It was actually the first place female and a younger guy.  I caught them around mile 6 and ran with them for a few miles.  Then around mile 10 we hit the “big” hill on the course.  I felt good up the hill and that is where I started to pick up the pace for the final 5K push home.  With a mile to go I caught another guy that was struggling a bit and tried to motivate him to run with me.  He ran with me till about ¼ mile to go then dropped off.

I was really happy to have a PB for the ½ Marathon distance by 2 minutes, even more so considering it was a hilly and not “fast” course.  Huge thanks to my coach, Scott DeFilippis for keeping me focused while deployed and laying out some solid run workouts.

Results:
7th out of 7,057- 1:16:57

1st out of 339 Male 25-29
Strava File (http://www.strava.com/activities/115608063)

The Plan / The Execution (click to enlarge)