I know you all have eagerly been sitting at the edge of your seat waiting to hear all about the race. And pretty much one word sums it up... “Amazing” It definitely was one of my favorite race experiences I have had so far.
We will start with 4 crazy ladies meeting up in Napa Valley to share in this experience together. Jerusha and Renee did this race together last year and had so much fun that they each decided to bring a friend. Renee and Jerusha were the calm ones knowing what to expect, while me and Elizabeth were high anxiety imagining the worse. Overall the chemistry of nerves and calmness helped balanced the group out well.
Friday we went to the expo. This included dropping of our T2 (bike to run) transition gear, which we left sitting by the empty bike racks overnight. Once we were done with registration and setting up our gear. We drove part of the bike course in reverse direction to the river. I was getting a little nervous about the bike because the roads all seemed to go downhill (which meant uphill when going the correct direction). Jerusha and Renee continued to assure me it wasn’t as bad as it seems. Once we got to the river, we jumped in for a quick swim. I was very happy to discover that the current seemed non-existent. After the swim we went back to the house we were staying at and cooked a high carb dinner. Then it was off early to bed.
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| Setting up my Transition Area |
We all awoke bright and early Saturday morning and left the house by 6:30 am. Our swim wave/Race start time was at 8:36 am. So we had a comfortable amount of time to get our bikes racked, T1 transition set up, and even a quick photo op prior to the race start. A little before 8:36 our wave was corralled into the river, where we bobbed there until the start of the race.
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| Pre-Race Photo Op - Me, Elizabeth, Renee, Jerusha |
The swim felt great. I think it was my favorite part of the course. It was in a narrow river, which made it hard to veer too far off the beaten path (which I tend to do in lakes). Plus the deepest part of the river was only about 7 ft deep, but there were several stretches where you had to stand and walk because you are scraping the rocks with your hands. For the most part I preferred to stay swimming as long as possible because the rocky bottom of the river hurt my feet when walking. I don’t think anyone, including myself ever thought I would swim 1.2 miles. I could have stopped right there and been happy with what I accomplished. But that wasn’t what I signed up for.
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| Finished the swim in 47:58 |
As I got out of the water, there were wet suit strippers waiting to help me take off my wet suit. I wish they were at all the races. I didn’t even have to think. Quickly ran to the bathroom and then prepared for the next part of the journey...
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| Quick Smile before I head out for the ride |
The bike ride was 56 miles of rolling hills through Napa Valley. The scenery was gorgeous. And those hills I was worried about the day before... Piece of cake. For most of my ride, I had the Daft Punk song “Get Lucky”, which then somewhere transitioned to Selena Gomez’s song “Come and Get it” stuck in my head. Just think of the chorus of both those songs on repeat for 4 hours. Yep I was going crazy by the end of the ride. At around mile 30 I started to get slightly emotional, thinking to myself, I’m really doing this, and I’m really gonna finish this. I quickly reminded myself that I still had 26 miles to go on my bike ride and anything could happen. But I was definitely smiling inside, knowing I was in the process of accomplishing one of my goals.
At mile 44 came the dreaded Chalk Hill. I was warned by several people, who have done the race before about this hill. It was definitely a tough hill, but I like to think I rocked it.
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| Bike: 3:58:55 |
Now for the home stretch, a 13.1 mile run, or in my case walk/run. This was a 2 loop out and back course with several challenging rolling hills. There was an aid station around every mile to fuel up. At several of the aid stations, there were locals willing to spray us down with their hoses. I did not turn down an opportunity to quickly cool off. The loop course helped keep me motivated because I got to see and exchange words of encouragement with my buddies (who were all ahead of me at this point).
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| Running Slowly, but smiling |
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| Walking and still smiling Total Time 3:01:14 |
We got a bracelet to wear after the first loop to signify we had completed 1 loop. Since I was on the slower side, there were several ladies with a bracelet while I was on the first loop. However, no one was willing to sell/trade me their bracelet. I had to earn it on my own. At mile 12, I tried a new energy drink called Coke. It gave me an extra burst of energy to run the last mile and cross the finish line.
At the finish line I had my race buddies cheering me on. And after 8 hrs and 5 minutes and 2 seconds of exercise, I can now claim I have completed a 70.3 half ironman race.
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| Crossing the Finish Line in Style |
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| Made it! 8:05:02 |
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| Super Stars: Jerusha, Elizabeth Renee, Melissa |
The next day, woke up a little sore (lower back and quads) but overall not too bad. We had a low key morning and then enjoyed a relaxing day of wine tasting. We deserved it :)
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| Day After relaxing at a Vineyard |
Overall the whole experience was a blast. If you want a good challenge, I highly recommend doing a half ironman. In fact, I am hoping my work schedule will allow me to participate in this race again next year!
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