This weekend I raced a Half Ironman in beautiful Kona, Hawaii. This is the big island with 2 active volcano's. It completed my visit to all major Hawaiian Islands and I can tell you the Big Island is the best!!!!! Maureen graciously took care of the kids for the long weekend as I flew by myself the 6 her trip to Kona. I wanted to do this race in solitude.
I left the hotel at 4:30 am in the morning where after a short prayer to the weather gods and to my ancestors I headed to Kahuna beach. The swim took place on Kahuna beach located between lava fields. This white sand beach has been repeatedly voted by magazines around the world as the most beautiful beach in the world. The days before the race I was training at this location and spotted several (large) turtles grazing through the sea grass.
SWIM - It was a mass swimming start, this meant that over 700 athletes got together in the water at the same time and focus on that first buoy... just imagine when 700-of-us hit that first buoy all at the same time... a lot of kicking and elbowing each other in the water. After 4 more of those buoys I exited the water in 33:35 (new personal record) and was in the 197th position... clearly had a lot of work to do.
BIKE - With 20 years of biking behind me in the Netherlands, 1 yr of training by one of the best coaches in the business and thousands of dollars invested in equipment I was determined to catch-up to those swimmers. The road to Hawi however is known for its killer winds and with a gradually climb to 600+ ft it hosts headwinds/sidewinds of up to 35kts. Ignorant as I am I believed this would have no effect on me... haha... well after being swept several times onto the road I felt like I was riding sideways ... anyway with a time of 2hr35min (new PR) I turned in the 52nd fastest ride and caught over a 100 people. It was enjoyable to zoom by all these folks. However around 2.5hrs into the ride I had to pee really bad and not wanted too loose my spot I thought to pull a "Kneteman"-- Guess what that means. After three attempts no results!
RUN - When I started the run the temperature was soaring to 97F (37C) , I was sweating so much that my racing gear was white of the salt my body had lost through sweat. However I was still in 'bladder full' mode and had to take a 2min personal break to relieve myself. After that I started in what must have been the most gruelling run ever, although I continue to pass more people. About halfway blisters started to pop on my heels and soles, however contrary to previous races I used this as an encouragement. With 1hr43min I posted the 36th fastest run time and sprinted to the finish catching another 2-3 persons in the final kilometer.
RESULTS - I concluded the race in 4hr56min, 10th in my age group and 44th overall. This would have concluded a great race if it wasn't that I missed a slot to qualify for the long distance world championships in Kona to the guy ahead of me who swam 43 seconds faster!
Oh well ... it was a great trip, best controlled race ever for me.
Results at: http://www.honuhalfironman.com/results/2005prelim.html
Pictures at: http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=7645&BIB=784
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