Wildflower Half-Ironman

Reader's Digest Version:

- Wildflower is one of the largest triathlon festivals in the country.
- I had a great swim, completing 1.2 miles in just over 40 minutes.
- The 56 mile bike was beautiful! I struggled up a 5 mile long hill but finished comfortably.
- The 13.1 mile half marathon rolled through trails and gorgeous views, I ran and walked my way to a great finish.
- Total Exercise Time: 8 hours and 12 minutes.
- Post Race I'm feeling great.

The Nitty Gritty:

Last Friday Garuna and I headed down to Lake SanAntonio, CA located about equidistant between SF and LA, deep in farm country. We arrived in the early afternoon, and both of us were amazed to find a tent city filled with triathletes. It reminded me a bit of Woodstock '01, only with pasta and bikes. Pix from the festival:


We got all checked in, had a short pre-race swim, and made our way back to the campgrounds to set up camp and make some dinner. My great friend Ryan and his compadres from TNT and TCSD had staked out a campsite and it was great hanging out with them all weekend. Dinner and sunset were beautiful, off to bed!

The next morning I rose around 5am. I had a leisurely breakfast, and made some last minute adjustments to the bike before riding from the campground to transition area. Here's Ryan and I before riding down.

Unlike NAS Ironman races we actually get to setup our transition areas, which is always interesting because you can only imagine the chaos of 2000+ Type A triathletes trying to make sure every detail of their gear is perfect organized. You can feel the tension in the air. I just tryed to remain relaxed.

The race went off with a huge roar from the crowd. The pro's went first, and each age group followed in 5 minute intervals.

The first half of the swim I had some difficulty getting settled. My goggles were extremely fogged up, and I had some trouble sighting the buoys up ahead, but I managed to stay calm and keep on truckin', I hit the half-way point in 25 minutes. The second half of the swim we had a bit of a tail wind, I settled down a bunch, and came back in 15 minutes. I was really happy with this time, since my goal was to get somewhere between 45-50 minutes. Super happy about this.

T1 was smooth, and I put on my bike gear, got some love from Garuna, and headed off on the bike.

The first 5 miles were mostly uphill to climb out of the basin the lake sits in, and I liked the roads, views, etc, but was extremely cold from the swim. It took me almost 10 miles to get feeling back in the extremities. Miles 10-40 were amazing! I rolled through vineyards and amazing country, and it was great.

However around mile 40 things got a bit hairy. Miles 40-45 were entirely uphill. The grade wasn't too bad, but I started having a little trouble breathing. I've never had asthma but this is what it felt like. As a result I had to slow down pretty considerably. At the top of the hill I also got a flat tire! It took me about 10 minutes to change, but offered a chance to rest a bit. The last 10 miles were rolling, and my neck started to hurt a bit from being in the saddle for nearly 4 hours. The last mile was a screaming descent which was a lot of fun though.

T2 went smoothly as well, only complaint was that there wasn't much room left for my bike by the time I got back in. Here I am coming out of T2. Yes, that's an orange in my mouth.

The run was a bit frustrating. My legs felt awesome, and I felt like I could have cruised along pretty good, but at this point I had some serious trouble breathing. When my heart-rate went up I was limited to short choppy breaths, and had to slow, and stop very often. This turned out to be OK, since there were alot of hills, and I probably would've been walking them anyways. Minus the breathing I felt great, and mentally I was still pretty strong, but I was getting a little annoyed that it was taking such a long time to complete.

I buddied up with some other runners/walkers to kill the time, and make the miles go by quicker too. The last mile was almost entirely downhill, and it felt great to be able to run the entire thing. Nearing the finish line I got a bit emotional, as I thought a bit about how long it's been since I've been able to compete in this sport. I also thought about being in a hospital bed about 14 months ago, and how grateful I am to be here. The best part of the day was arriving at the finishing chute and seeing Garuna there cheering me on!


Afterwards I felt pretty awesome, however I was still having trouble catching my breath, so I stopped into the medical tent and explained the situation. The Doc's there gave me a couple shots with an inhaler, and after 15 or so minutes I felt good as new.

After taking a nice dip in the lake, we headed back to camp and spent the evening eating, and trading races stories over the campfire, it was the perfect end to a great day!

Thanks to all my supporters out there, I couldn't have made it to the finish line without you!