Overjoyed and Completely Spent
So there it was — Ironman Hawaii, the Triathlon World Championship. Right in the thick of it… A detailed report with photos will follow sometime in the next few days. Right now I’m too wrecked to form clear thoughts. The race in brief: Up at 4:30am, caught a shuttle right away, at body marking by 4:45. Stood in the wrong line three times, oh well. Then prepped the bike Had plenty of time to watch and experience the pro start live. Note to self: don’t stand right next to the start cannon — it gets loud Lined up right after to get into the water Positioned myself in the middle and fairly far back — I wanted a relaxed swim and to enjoy the atmosphere. That worked out perfectly, no big scuffles, drafted in someone’s wake all the way back After 1:10h I climbed out of the Pacific, right on schedule In the first transition I took my time — showering, sunscreen etc. The first few kilometers on the bike through town were very very crowded On the highway things improved, but there were still a lot of groups riding together and things got pretty unfair at times Almost no wind going to Hawi, the return as far as Kawaihae also very very pleasant After that it got noticeably windier with crosswind Lost four water bottles along the way — definite room for improvement there Bike time is absolutely satisfactory Despite SPF 50+ sunscreen I got the worst sunburn of my life — it’s really burning On the run, Alii Drive in town was the hottest section — the Queen-K and the Energy Lab were much more pleasant by comparison The first half marathon went reasonably well, after that it got progressively harder. The missing training and prior races became more and more noticeable After km 35 things got really rough — in the end I was just glad I didn’t have to walk The hardest part was Palani downhill around km 40/41 — that really hurt The finish line was absolutely sensational — the reward for years of hard work (and yes, I teared up with joy for a moment :)) ...