Aloha:
Race day I was up early and at the race sight early for body marking. I was the first person into transition to check on my bike. I went through my list of things to do. TOGG is an acronym I sometimes use. It stands for fill Tires, Oil chain, put Gatorade in the water bottle and put the bike in the correct Gear to leave transition.
I put Bag Balm (Vaseline like substance) on friction points on my shoulders but forgot my neck, which now, after the race, has rub marks. I don't like surprises race morning and fortunately there were none.
We were allowed to get into the ocean at 6:30, but most competitors stayed on the beach as the Pros swam out for their 6:45 start. I swam out and lined up after the Pro cannon went off. It was 15 minutes of treading water before our start.
The cannon went off and it was complete chaos in one direction. Arms and leg everywhere, getting kicked in the goggles (I lost count how many times), getting climbed on, etc. This went on for about 800 meters and less severely to the turn around at 1.2 miles. It wasn't until then that I could do any real swimming and not just survival swimming. I finished the swim just a few seconds faster than last year.
The T1 tent was chaos. For the first time in an Ironman race, I didn't have a volunteer assistant to repack my bag. Someone almost ran off with my race number when I emptied my bag. This year I remembered to get out of my speed suit. Last year in all of the excitement I forgot and had to take it off later on the bike course. I grabbed my glasses, put my shoes on and was off to the bike.
At the bike, I put my helmet on quickly and I was off. The first portion of the bike went well and we headed out on the Queen K. At approximately 36 miles, I passed the first penalty tent and it was full. There were 22 marshals on the course. This is about one for every 5 miles. They were doing their job well and apparently some of the more obvious drafters had been caught. The Queen K. ride was fast until approximately 20 miles before the turn that heads to Hawi. There we encountered BRUTAL crosswinds. The winds were so strong that I could not control my bike from the aero bars. I had to be wide on the base bar and still had trouble controlling the front wheel.
When ascending to Hawi, I saw some of the Pros coming downhill and they were leaning into the gusts 30 degrees or more in order to stay upright. I experienced the same insanity on my downhill ride from Hawi. On the downhill ride, I saw a rider who had crashed. I later saw the EMS truck coming to get him. I hope he is alright. In Hawi, I had planned to remember one of my two favorite IM race songs. The one for this point in the race was, 'Hold On Tight To Your Dreams' by ELO. Today it was more like, 'Hold On Tight...so you don't die!'.
When I was back on the Queen K. headed toward Kona, we again had crosswinds for maybe 20 miles and then headwinds. Even though the headwinds were strong, they were a blessing. At least we weren't getting blown off the road. We finally reached Kona. I had maybe 70-80 miles of headwinds, or worse, crosswinds during the 112 mile bike. I was glad to get off of the bike and onto the run.
T2 went quickly (under 2 minutes) and I was off to the run course.
During the bike I was unable to drink as much Gatorade as I would have liked. I preferred to stay upright and live than drink! I resolved to walk portions of the aid stations in order to drink 1-2 full cups of Gatorade in order to refuel. After about 4 miles, I figured I was going near 9 minute miles and felt I could keep it up if I kept taking short walk breaks and refueling. When we got back on the Queen K., the best news of the day appeared...CLOUDS!!
This dropped the temperature and helped me and many others have great runs. At 20 miles, I remembered my other IM race song, 'Runnin' Down A Dream' by Tom Petty. This song's fast tempo helped me pick up my leg turnover at this critical time during the run. I ran a 4:02, my best time ever.
If you saw me at the finish, you saw that I was pretty excited. I did 10:56! This is 22 minutes faster than last year in Kona, and under 11 hours. Better yet, this was only 4 minutes more than my time in Louisville in much tougher bike conditions, and more hills on the run. I was 6th in my age group. I had a great race under terrible wind conditions on the bike and improved my Kona time. I am very happy and satisfied.
I am tired and sore now, but happy. The World Championships are in the record books. Craig Alexander let his performance do the talking and showed he is the best this year, maybe one of the best ever. Chrissie Wellington may be the best female Ironman ever. She has never lost an Ironman race and overcame a flat tire this year. Awesome seems an inadequate word.
Now it is time for some recovery. My wife, Nancy and I are going to spend a few days on Kauai and then it is home and back to the real world.
Special Sightings:
Natasha Badman: After serious injury last year, smiling the entire race...just happy to be here.
Chrissie Wellington: Coming back on the bike from a flat to soundly beat all her competitors.
Wheelchair Challenged Athletes: Watching them bravely pushing up Palani Rd. hill...6 inches per push. 5000 Volunteers: Encouraging and assisting the over 1700 athletes and giving freely of their time all day long.
Mike Riley: The Voice of Ironman, staying pumped up for the athletes and fans from before 5 a.m. until midnight.
**Every Kona Ironman who endured an epic day here at the World Championships 2008**
Wish you were there.
Wish you were here.
Aloha,
Rick
* Rick qualify for Kona with the fastest time in his age
group in Louisville this year with a time of 10:52:22. In his daily
life Rick's a doctor who lives and works in Wisconsin.These great photos are courtesy of his wife Nancy. (Just click on the Album/Photo below to view a slide show of all of Nancy and Rick's photos from the 2008 Kona Ironman World Championship Race Day)