Lonestar 70.3 Race Report

So...........I waited way too long to write a race report about Lonestar 70.3 in Galveston April 25.  I've forgotten most of the "important stuff" by now and I all I really remember is it was hot and windy!  So this one is going to be short and sweet, but that's okay.

The weekend itself was a lot of fun.  I have always stayed at Inn at the Waterpark in the past - the "slummin' it hotel" at the entrance of Moody Gardens.  This year I decided to upgrade and stayed at Moody Gardens.  I'm glad I did - the convenience was definitely worth the extra money.  I ended up having 2 other people in my room so it really did even out in the end.

I went down early Saturday morning to catch the end of the Olympic and Sprint races.  On my way down I found out their swim was canceled because it was too windy.  Awesome...not!  It took a while to get everything taken care of that I needed to, but I finally reached my happy spot by the pool with Kim at some point during the afternoon and greatly enjoyed it.

A group of us ate at Mosquito Cafe for dinner and we had a great time.  We got there at 5 and didn't leave until close to 8.  We were on the patio and the weather was great once the sun went down a bit, and the company and conversation were wonderful.  My awesome friend Melissa came down to support and cheer me on which was such a treat.  She got there in time for dinner, and another girl who was racing, Markell (we did our first IM together in '07) was also staying with us.  I was a little weary about three people in a room the night before a race, but we had an absolute blast.  It was reminiscent of a teenie bopper slumber party at one point and I just sat back and laughed when I realized we are three of the biggest talkers I know.  It is amazing any of us slept at all!

The race started at 7am Sunday morning with the pro wave, and all the men's waves followed.  Then the women...needless to say a lot can happen in an hour.  The water was pretty sucky by the time we got in at 8am.  The pros were practically half way through the bike by then!  At the start of the swim, I actually felt pretty good and thought I might actually have a good swim.  Then I made the left hand turn.  Wow.  That was the direction we were to swim for a majority of the way, and the wind/waves were coming straight at us.  I was finally happy to make the next left turn, the turn for the shore.  I was horrified, however, when I saw my time coming out of the water.  A full 10 minutes slower than my last half ironman time.  I was glad then though that I had thrown out any ideas of having an "A race" long before race morning.  I was still in shock the swim was that bad.  Oh well.  On to the bike.

I may have lost speed in swimming, biking, AND running, but I still have my transitions.  Watch out!

I tolerated the cross/head wind on the way down Galveston Island, heading towards Freeport, knowing I'd get a cross/tail wind on the way back.  My boss and her husband were down at their beach house for the weekend and had sat out on their back deck to watch for me - I waved really big and shouted to them when I went by.  It was so sweet of them to sit out and watch.  She said later it was nearly impossible to tell who anyone was, so she was glad I waved.  We went over the San Luis Pass and about 6 more miles before turning around and heading back.  Towards the turn around, I started to feel a bit of a tail wind.  Noooo.  This was not right.  It was not supposed to feel that way.  I turned around and felt no tail wind.  I told myself to be patient and wait until I got back over the pass to see if things were better there.  Nope.  Nothing.  The last 20 miles were just plain sucky.  I contemplated throwing my bike in the gulf.  I was already dreading my next half ironman in October, I was just not a very happy camper.  My average mph was going no where, especially not up, as I had expected.  I was over a mile per hour slower here than I was in my past several races at that distance.  Once again though, I was glad my only goal for the day was to finish...was to have fun too, but that was kind of out the door too...at least for a while.

The run, oddly enough, was actually the best part of my day.  I did have fun and ran well, especially considering it was 88 degrees.  Starting a half marathon at noon in Galveston in late April on the first hot weekend in six months is always a great idea.  The run course is 4 loops with numerous out-and-backs in each loop.  You get to see people everywhere.  That is my kind of course!  The run was pretty uneventful other than never going  more than about 30 seconds without seeing someone I knew, either racing or watching.  I did not slow down too much which I was happy with.  This was the first hot half ironman where I have not completely fallen apart on the run, so I will consider it a victory.  I ran a 2:07 at Redman (my last half before this one), but it was in the 60s and cloudy.  I ended up with a 2:11 here, in the high 80s, high humidity, and not a cloud in the sky.  I'll take it.

I ended up finishing 24 minutes slower than my last half, and probably close to 30 minutes slower than I would have envisioned at the start of this year, but that is a-okay.  Several of us were way, way off our PR times.  I gave the training and racing everything I had, but I just didn't have as much to give for this one as I have had in the past.  Overall I still had a super fun weekend and I'm glad I did the race, so there was no love lost over a "poor" finishing time.  It did reiterate though that I need a break.  I'm soooo glad I'm not signed up for a full ironman this year.  My body and my mind just couldn't take it.

My friends Monica and Nicki both did their first half ironman at Lonestar.  All I have to say is they both knocked it out of the park.  I was so proud of them - they trained hard and raced hard, on a day that was anything but ideal.

I don't have many pics from the weekend, but the official race photos are here.