Honolulu Triathlon

Yesterday was the Honolulu Triathlon 'Festival'. It's our only annual shot at an Olympic Distance Triathlon without having to fly away from the island, and pretty much the biggest event Oahu puts on each year. My personal opinion is that it's getting too big- not that the Triathlon itself was too big, but they tried to accommodate everyone by putting on a Sprint Tri, Olympic Tri, Sprint Duathlon, Olympic Duathlon, relays for all those events, a 10K run race, 1500M swim, 40K bike race (all individual events) and maybe even some others. It was bordering on ridiculous how many different events were going on. But I digress...

Anyway, I felt ready for this race and had a decent day! The swim was rather uneventful, which is how we always want swims to be... the biggest challenge we faced was the continuous wall of men we had to plow through. I didn't feel like I had a stellar swim, but it was fine. I ran up the beach with the girls I would have thought I'd be near (22:50ish) and once we got onto the bike there was just one more lead swimmer to go catch.

I took the lead for the women about 10 minutes into the bike and focused on pushing a good steady pace the whole time. There were still plenty of men ahead to pass and I felt like much of the time I was just riding out to the left and passing people. So that was fun. :) I heard that there were groups of people drafting behind me but I didn't see or pay attention much to that... Anyway, I felt fine about my bike. This course is flat and fast with nothing to slow us down but two u-turns, and it's just about a mile short of a 40K, so times were fast. The top four gals on the bike all split 1:01:xx and I was right in there with 1:01:34.

Coming off the bike I felt good- smiling of course because I was winning! :))) But then of course we had to start running (why can't they just end the race after the bike? LOL!) I held onto the lead for about a mile and a half before Ingrid caught me. She was flying! I didn't feel like I was running as fast as I wanted to be running (are we ever running as fast as we want to be running??) but held on for 3rd OA in 2:13:50ish, (within a minute of second place). I checked my split at the end and saw that I ran 46:xx (can't remember exactly the seconds) which is less than a minute off my open road 10K PR, and the race directors said this was a full 10K... so even though I want to, I really can't complain about my run.

After the race I was chatting with Ingrid and she was asking me how I felt about my race... I expressed frustration that I am not running faster- I know I am doing all the right things and I am getting faster all the time but it's just not magic and takes so much time and I just need to be patient and keep doing what I'm doing and it'll get better I know... but I told her I ran 7:30's but wanted to be running 7:10's. She laughed, and said that she'd like to be running 5:30's! So I guess this whole wanting to get faster thing is just a normal part of who we are as competitive athletes and it doesn't matter how fast you are- you always want to get faster! So I felt better after talking to her. :)

Here we are with our daughters after the race!


One great thing about yesterday was that I finally found a pair or running shoes that I can race in that don't require socks and are still super light and comfortable! Nalani and I both wore our Saucony FastTwitch 4's and I'm happy to report that I didn't even feel a slight hotspot anywhere on my feet (and I *always* run with socks so I was worried about this yesterday). How cute are we in our matching shoes? ;)


Anyway, last night Scott and I went to a little post-race party at a friend's house, then out for a very rare date night dinner by ourselves. Today is our Anniversary! Scott and I have been married for 2 years now! Phew. ;) I'd be lying if I said it's been sheer bliss the whole time, but the good news is that we are both committed for the long haul and I appreciate how patient he is with me. Especially in supporting all my early morning training and racing... Last night at dinner I gave him a new wedding band. I know that 2 years is not a 'Gold-giving' anniversary, but he lost his ring in the ocean (surfing) a little while ago and I was pretty set on making sure he has a wedding ring back on his finger. Call me crazy, but that man is not available and it should be physically apparent by looking at his left hand. :)