Dad & I Compete in Half Iron Man Triathlon

Dad and I competed in what was for both of us, our first half Ironman triathlon. It was the Rock n Rollman Half Ironman competition, at Lake Tobesofkee in Macon, Georgia. For those unfamiliar with what a half Ironman consists of, it's a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike, then a 13.1 mile run. It's also know as 70.3 Ironman. It was a hot and humid day, unfortunately the hottest day of the year so far. It started out nice, it was 72 degrees, though humid. My biggest fear coming into the race was the swim and the heat. I was used to swimming 1.2 miles in a pool, but not in open water. In a pool you see the bottom, see what's around you, and every 25 yards you have a wall to hold onto. I hadn't done any training in open water, and only had swam a long distance in open water once before. Another problem I had was the fact that I breathe to my left and the course was clockwise, meaning the buoys were to the right. Needless to say I found myself veering off course, especially during the first half of the swim. I probably swam an extra tenth of a mile correcting myself. I did manage to finish the swim 51 minutes, so my biggest fear had passed. My next challenge was the bike. Once again, I had only trained once on the open road, that being a 22 miler the month before, and the longest I had been on the stationary bike at the YMCA was 40 miles. The course was very hilly to say the least! Where I could average 24-25 MPH on the stationary bike, I ended up averaging 15 MPH on the road. Transition from the bike to run was very difficult. I was 4:51 into race and knew that I now only had 3 hours and 9 minutes in which to complete the run, which sounds very doable, but the way I was feeling, I had to hope that I could walk/run it in that time. As I left the transition area to start my run, I met my friend Rico Dorsey, whom I "competed" against in Atlanta Track Club races. We're both the same age and both run similar times. He has done quite a few triathlons and had given me great advice during the week prior to the race. It was great seeing him there. The heat was now starting to catch up to me and my legs were really fatigued. By the time I got going, I could only manage a walk for the first 5 minutes. Every effort to run was met with a strong desire to walk. It was funny in a way, since I could run a 9:15 pace for 13.1 miles if it was the only thing I had to do. Now here I was, contemplating what I would have to do to run 13.1 miles in 3 hours, which I calculated to be slightly under a 15 minutes per mile! I had relegated myself to the fact that I would walk 90% and run whenever the spirit hit me to accomplish what was now, my new goal. I was able to maintain this pace for the first 5 miles. In fact at before the turnaround on the first leg, I finally saw my dad. I was about 5 minutes behind him, and hoped that I would be able to run enough to eventually catch him, and walk with him the rest of the way. I tried, but by the time I got 5 1/2 miles, I was really starting to feel the effects of the heat, which was now 96 degrees on the road. My goal was to reach 6 miles and see how I felt after taking water. It took me over 18 minutes to go from miles 5-6, and by the time I reached the next aid station at 6 1/2 miles, I had made the decision that enough was enough. I still had nearly 7 miles to go, it was now 2 in the afternoon, and the prospect of being out in the hot sun on the hot road with no shade for another 90 minutes was more than it was worth. It was a very hard decision to make, since I had spent countless hours over the previous 6 months preparing for this very day. I was really looking forward to completing it, but it wasn't worth risking my health to do so. What helped me to make the decision was knowing that regardless of what I did, my children would love me regardless (and Rhian too, of course! :o>), and that there will be other days in which to compete. I told a race official who was directing on the course that I was done and asked what I needed to do. She said an ambulance was on hand, but I wasn't in need of it. She tried to encourage me to continue, and in fact I took a couple of steps on the 2nd leg of the run, turned around and said there's no way. I ended up sitting in the shade at the aid station waiting for a ride. I finished in 6:31, which for anyone, is a long time to engage in exercise! I thought making the decision to quit would be the hardest part, but I was wrong. After I got a ride back, I was dropped off short of the finish. As I walked in, Christian spotted me and both him and Rhian came running out from the side of the road, thinking I was coming in to finish. Tears welled up in my eyes and I told Rhian what had happened. Of course Christian didn't care, he was just happy to see his Daddy! Rhian was wonderful as well, and told me she was proud of me. She knew how hard I had trained and how much I had wanted to complete the race. She was just happy that I was okay. My mom, who had stayed on the side, still thought I had to finish, and was telling me to go! It's kind of funny now. As I sat and waited for my dad, I thought about why my race didn't go as planned. Obviously I needed to do more open water swimming. I also needed to do more biking on the road, and increase my mileage. Also, I would need to do more heat training on my run. After thinking about it, I was fortunate to have accomplished what I did. What's really funny now is that one point during my training, I thought I would be able to finish in 5 1/2 hours, since if you combined my fastest times in each of the events, it would add up to this. But putting all 3 together was totally different. It's actually quite laughable now. Dad had planned on finishing in 8 hours so we figured he be arriving around 3:45. After 3:30 every few minutes, Mom would go up the road to see if he was coming in. When she finally saw him, she ran out to meet him, like a wife greeting a soldier coming back from the war. It was the fastest I had seen Mom run in a while! Dad looked really good coming in. He was walking fast and talking with a smile on his face. He finished in 8:12:13, 12 minutes slower than his goal, but considering the heat, the humidity, and the difficulty of the bike, I'd say he did extremely well. Better than me! :o) Those that know Dad are familiar with his athletic achievements over the years. What's phenomenal to me is that he trains harder now at 67 than he has at any time in his life. To overcome a knee replacement 1 year ago at 66, and to compete for over 8 hours is simply amazing. Too look good doing so is even more amazing. I have been proud of my dad over the years, from being a small boy marveling at how strong he was lifting weights to watching him become a national class masters runner. Having shared the same experience as him in the half Ironman, and the amount of training that goes into it, I can easily say that I have never been more proud of him and proud to tell people that he is my father.

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