I am back in the passenger seat on my way home from Buffalo Springs. The day turned out a lot like last year with cooler temperatures and rain. I was happy with my race on what is a challenging course.
I dropped a 4:45 and 11th place in my AG, and 65th overall, including the pros. I was hoping to be in the top 10, but had to settle for 11th. The Ironman 70.3 series brings out some really fast people from all over the country. Racing at one of these is nothing like racing at a local sprint race.
The winner in our AG is 35 year old guy named Tim Hola. I have never met Tim, but he went 4:12. I am pretty sure Tim raced pro for a bit, but moved back to the AG ranks recently. The guy can move.
As far as my form, I was pleased. I had a decent swim of 29 minutes, a better bike than last year of 2:35 and a decent run of 1:35. The run course is full of long climbs and it takes too much to get my big butt up hills. I need the flats. My PR in the 1/2 is 4:28, but that was on a pancake flat course.
I was hoping for some heat for the run, but instead got cloudy muggy conditions. I wanted the heat to see if my nutrition was ready for Kona. I will just have to practice in training, because today was not the day I needed to properly practice my fluid intake.
My friend Mike Young did really well with a PR and an 45 minute improvement over his time from last year. He is pretty excited and looking forward to his big race, the Austin 70.3.
I also had the opportunity to meet Kevin Barr, a local Woodlands resident. Kevin won a lottery slot to go to Hawaii this year. In order to take advantage of a lottery slot, you have to finish a 70.3 or full ironman prior to September 1, 2009. Kevin had a great race today and now he is all set to attend the big dance in Kona. To get a lottery slot is something special. There are only 200 people chosen out of 15,000 plus.
One of the top pro’s in the world was there as well, Cameron Brown. Cameron has won IM New Zealand for the last 3 years and is always a top finisher at the World Championships. it was pretty cool seeing him race.
So it is off to Pittsburgh tomorrow for more meetings and to help with our quarterly sales finish. I don’t know what my next race is going to be, but I hope to get another race or two in before I head off to HI.
I will miss my family this week, because I have had back to back travel with a race in between. I am lucky that I have a wife supporting my quest to race in Hawaii.
timothymonk.com 