Victoria Half Ironman

Yesterday I did a half Ironman in Victoria - well it wasn't a true half-ironman as the bike was only 80km instead of 90km and the run was 1km short. This is a well put on race, but hard to get into as it filled up within 2 or 3 days after registration opened up in January so I was lucky that a friend let me know this so I could register right away. I did this race in '95 so I wanted to do this specific race to give me a good idea of where I was at for the Ironman at the end of August. I was dating myself since I seemed to be the only gal racing in her bathing suit which we all used to do. Now, people wear shorts and shirts for comfort. Didn't make a difference, but I did feel a little silly. Oh well.

The weather for the race was perfect. Overcast and a little cool, but no rain!! Hadn't done an open water swim for a while so I was reminded of the pushing and getting hit a little at the start and, also, navigating to the buoys. Think I kept going to the right a little but still did OK. The bike is on a very pretty rolling course. The night before the race I realized that I had a flat in my back tire so changed it, but didn't bring my high-pressured pump with me and the people we were staying with are cyclists, but only had a low pressure since they mostly only mountain bike. So I used Mark's back tire since we have the same wheels, but the gearing was lightly off so it kept skipping. It was quite frustrating, but what do you do?? There was a rule about no swearing at others in the race or get DQ'd, but I didn't think I'd get DQ's swearing at my bike. Broke the golden rule of not trying new equipment on race day. Broke it twice actually since I ran in my runners without socks on which I hadn't done in these shoes and have some really good blisters now on my feet. Dumb, Dumb. Oh well. The run is 2 loops around Elk and Beaver Lakes on a nice flat path so is really nice to run on.

Overall I was happy with how the race went especially given the stress I've been feeling lately (see last post). I think my Ironman goals are within my reach, but with a lot of work in the next couple of months. This is a great race for anyone considering doing a half Ironman. Mark is now considering turning into a tri-geek after watching this. The true mountain man may becoming more urban, but I'll have to figure out how to get him to shave his legs :). Cheers.