Trekking Barris

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Liz's Half IronMan

About 4+ years ago Liz thought it would be fun to do a Half Ironman and then in late Jan 2011 decided to sign up for the St. Polten HIM May 22 with 4 of her training buddies.

Liz and the family, including Grandpa Richard, loaded up into the Mazda 5. Fortunately Bella can feed herself the bottle as it was a LONG drive up. We left mid-day Thurs 5/19 and drove up to Udine. The hotel was so new our GPS units couldn't find it and after stopping for directions a few times we found the hotel just before midnight. Jessica, Jeff and I laughed when the guy showed us how to use the key card by holding up a huge door hande with electronic key pad. Only the 3 of us, slap happy from driving, all thought - damn - they are making these keys HUGE so we won't steal them! Ha!

It wasn't until a few minutes after checking into Udine looking for Mo's pajamas did we realize we forgot to pack clothes for Mo! The initial plan was that I was going to help pack out the car on Thurs, but then thought it would be better if instead I brought the girls later to the house so Jeff could pack in quiet. I had only laid out Bella clothes and Mo's shirts. Fortunately Mo's into wearing Bella's pants as shorts! As usual Jeff did a fantastic job packing everything - bike, swim stuff, cooler with snacks, luggage, strollers, etc!

Friday morning after breakfast we left and had a scenic drive up to St. Polten - though it was another 5 hours in the car and the girls did well. That evening 4 of us biked down hoping to register but arrived too late. Friday night we had a pasta/salad dinner at our cabin. We lucked out with a 2 floor cabin with fire pit and complete kitchen! Sat we were able to register though it did take practically all day. Later that night we checked out a few of the sights - a huge monastery at Melk and drove part of the Danube river - very picturesque.

Sunday was the race. It was an early morning start. We left the hotel at 5:30 AM. Jeff had given me a pep talk and massage the night before so I felt ready. And he had gone over my nutrition - when to gel, vitamin B12 in my water, and power bars for the bike. Even so - the morning felt rushed and I still forgot sunscreen and my running cap.

All the women started at 7:15 just after the young men under 25. We were followed by the 50 year old men and then the 45+ men started almost 90 minutes after us. The swim was great - between 2 lakes with a little run in between. I did it in 35 minutes. I felt super strong on the bike and though there were 3 climbs they weren't too bad. I did the bike in 3 hours and then I finished with a 1:52 run time. Overall my time was 5:38 which was a lot faster than my goal - which was just to beat 7 hours. It was a great course - beautiful and very well organized. I was lucky on the run to find a 'pacer dude'. I could tell he had done tons of these before and was in his 50s - perfect running form. I just got behind him and did EVERYTHING he did - from drinking water, taking gues, the sponges, walking to drink, running to drink, and from the photos was even stride with him. The run course ended up being fun as we kept circuling back through a stadium where everyone would cheer.

St. Polten is the largest HIM in the world with about 2500 entrants. I came in 16 for my age group and had no injuries. It was epic! I really enjoyed it!!!

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