Redman Half Iron Race Report

Well... I'm done railing on the Halfmax people. If you want to read about that, go ahead and read my next entry. After a couple days of thinking about things, I just want to forget Halfmax ever existed. I want to remember what turned out to be my best half iron in a more favorable light....

I arrived in OKC on Thursday afternoon and the race was on Saturday. My good friend Vicki came with me so we figured we'd do a little sight seeing before the race. This trip was really special for me because I was born in Oklahoma and my father is buried there. Even though I have been back for more than three decades, it was something very special for me to go "home".

I picked up my race packet on Friday afternoon and thought it was a little weird that there were no timing chips given out. But the race meeting clarified that the chips would be given out on Saturday morning. Phew. But I really wasn't looking forward to standing in another line. Not sure why they couldn't just have it organized enough to have our chips in the race packet. Because of that, I decided to get to the race a half hour earlier than what I would normally do. That meant getting up at 4 and getting to the race site by 5. Race start was at 7am.

It was a good thing... I arrived at the race site.. checked on my bike (I had left it in transition the night before) and got the tires pumped up by the AWESOME folks at Schlegel Bicycles - who were there to provide race assistance (they also received my bike from Fed Ex, put it together, tuned it and are shipping it back for me!). Then I went to stand in the LOOOOONG line to get my chip. Really, the line moved pretty fast. I only was in it for about 10-15 minutes so it wasn't too terribly bad. I returned to transition, put some finishing touches on my "spread" and then headed for the portapottie line.

Only FOUR PORTAPOTTIES in transition. FOUR. For about 1000-1200 racers (half and full distance events going on simultaneously). I met a fellow blogger, Cody the Clydesdale, in line so I had a nice chat with him while I waited in line. I've been following his blog for a couple years now so it was nice to run into him. The portapotties REEEEEEKED though... I was gagging BAD in there and just held my breath and got out of there asap!

Three minutes before the first wave (full iron distance folks) were set to go off, the RAIN came. I'm talking RAIN! Boise was bad... but this was downright MISERABLE. It must've rained 4" in 30 minutes! It was an all-out downpour. The race director postponed the start of the race and threatened to make it a swim-run-swim after reports that some of the bike course was flooded. We had about an hour delay through all this... brrrr.... but thankfully they were lenient about letting us go back into transition and get clothes. Bad thing is they were all SOAKED. I finally started the race at about 8:36am.... with instructions that the bike course was still flooded in parts and there would be mandatory dismounts at those locations.

The swim was great. I've never tasted water so good. Seriously... that was CLEAN water! It was fairly warm, too... about 74 degrees. Wetsuit legal. I didn't really have a good swim.. but I enjoyed the swim! There were lots of slower swimmers from waves in front of me and I just didn't have a great stroke going.... but I was enjoying the water so much I didn't care. I knew I was going slower than normal.. but whatever. My swim split was 32 something... slow for me, but again I didn't care.

T1 was wet... and muddy. I did my best to keep the feet clean... and off I went on the bike.

The bike course was, well, interesting. Because of all the rain, there was really only one single bike lane to ride in... to pass you had to really pick your spot.. and also to be passed! The rain had left so much standing water than you couldn't ride behind anyone even if it were draft legal... and you couldn't move much to the right because you'd sink! haha. But it eventually got better. There were lots of rolling hills - NOT the 7 foot hills the race guide described... these were pretty decent rollers. I didn't really care about that.. they were just nuissance hills.. not "get out of the saddle" hills. What did bother me was the poor road conditions for for about 20-25 miles of the course. It was ROUGH chip-seal stuff in parts... and a lot of folks lost bike parts, bottles, etc. On the bright side, the volunteers were FANTASTIC... the aid stations were FANTASTIC.. and the cops at every corner were FANTASTIC. My bike split was about a 3:03.. pretty good considering the fact we had to dismount at mile 6 and run on soggy grass for a while (took me about 2 minutes to do that) plus all the other water we had to maneuver around. For as much (little) biking as I had done, I was content with the split.

T2 for me was SLOOOOOOW. I was soaking wet.. muddy... and wanted to just take my time. I put on dry socks... HA.... ate a banana and off I went.

The run for me was super harsh. It was a 2 loop out and back course... very few trees.. around the lake. Hardly any spectators out there.. just the aid stations. I've been nursing my Achilles injury so I knew I probably wouldn't be able to run hard... so I ran very slow and steady. For the first three miles. Then I really began to hurt! I shot my mustard packets... a couple gels.. but really I was bound by the tightness and discomfort in my Achilles. I had to do a walk/run thing.. and the final 4 miles was just miserable. But I kept on going... knowing the finish line was coming.

I finished in 6:08... a PR for me. I had set my goal to break 6 hours in this race... something I certainly would've done if healthy. I was on track to go a 5:50 after the bike... but just broke down on the run. I'm okay with that.

All in all, an okay race. I just really wish it wouldn't have ended for me so miserably (see next post). I was fine with the race... just not with the terd that ruined it for me afterwards. It's too bad that I'm thinking more about that than the positive outcomes.

Ten Random Thoughts About the Redman:
1. The water was the best open water venue I've ever swam in. Clean, crisp. Could've bottled and drank that water!
2. I now know what a plantation is. Beautiful houses on huge acreages .. green, gorgeous...
3. I peed on the bike. YES!!! I've never been able to do it! Ya, I had to slow down and it took about 9 attempts... but I did it! Coach Kris would be happy.
4. I can blow snot rockets equally well out of both nostrils. There was a lot of that going on during the bike with the weather conditions and all. I'll probably be sick later this week though.
5. Humidity sucks. God it sucks.
6. No portapotties on the course. Not on the bike; Not on the run. No way I was using those in Transition again,
7. Timing Chips... give 'em out with the race packets. We don't need another line to stand in (and stress about) on race morning.
8. Got a massage after the race. My first ever. Not bad... Thanks Chad and Heritage College Massage Therapy students.
9. People in Oklahoma are all nice.
10. Paying the $14 extra for the more spacious seat on the airplane after the race is TOTALLY worth it!