Mark scored us a sweet apartment at Wyndham Kona Hawaiian Resort. Joe and Veronica whipped up some spaghetti, chicken Caesar salad, fruit salad, and 2 flavors of homemade bread. Mean. They and Mark also had cases of community Gatorade/Powerade.
We all shared equipment and checked each other's gear. Amazing teamwork.
Shared stories about how we got into triathlon (mine was reading about team Hoyte).
Joe put on some early Ironman videos.
We met up and set up as a team and started as a group. We all did very well at the race. Joe had his best pace ever. Hearing that gave me goosebumps.
The race was fun, but the camaraderie was the most memorable part. Crossing the finish line to find your buddies cheering you on (even though they beat you there). There's rarely a better feeling.
Jeremy and I were on spot with our predictions versus each other.
The water was a little cloudy, just a tad choppy, and Jeremy was shivering. Long, easy, relaxed strokes until I unleashed hell on the last few hundred meters. This was the best I've ever felt in the water. I was finally comfortable with the distance and the people around me. 31:57, only 37 seconds behind Jeremy, but 2 minutes ahead of schedule. He saved up for the bike.
But I was close on the bike as well. I dropped my water bottle near King Kamehameha hotel on the bike, right after Jeremy broke away. 1:18:11, now 0:01:54 behind Jeremy. Getting into the run, our distance apart was on schedule, but we were waaay ahead of our predicted paces.
I was supposed to catch him at mile 4. I trained with a fuel belt, and decided to forgo it on the short run. I was thirsty, so I gulped down 6oz of Gatorade at T2 after sitting down to wipe feet and change socks (worth it). Thanks to Mark for picking up the terry shop cloths! I was in and out in about 1.5 mins.
The first mile was up. 8 mins on the dot. Downed some water at 1st Aid station. I gotta pee. Second mile was up. 9 mins...? BOOO! Side pain. Third mile was flat, but offroad (in a good way). Very nice change of scenery. Too bad I'm grimacing cause I have to pee soo freakin bad. Crossing paths with Jeremy on the turnaround. Hmmm, I can still catch him. Probably another 8 minutes. Small boost of energy helped me get out of a pack onto the golf course. Hello Mr Coconut tree, you look thirsty.
Now I'm ready to rock! I musta blazed on the second half (remembering what Jess told me), cause my run pace was 7:26. Jeremy kept glancing back every minute. I hid behind some dude for a minute and rested while drafting. I laughed to myself while Jeremy took a second take. He saw my hat behind the guy. Jeremy would not let up.
17 seconds off his tail for a total time of 2:36:14. He earned that. I told him, I got his # at Waikoloa.
Without each other, we wouldn't have done so well. We're looking forward to the future. For the first time, I'm looking forward to the training as much as the races.
What I see in each individual in our training group:
Bill going nuts on the bike, and his passion of life.
Adam with his uncanny pace, and immense knowledge of nutrition.
Jeremy with his diehard attitude (he just might need to be injured to do well). We share the same goals and easy-going attitude.
Joe. Animal. If it ain't tough enough to present a worthy challenge, he makes it so. I easily relate.
Mark, Tanner and Brandon are fresh faces. Helping them helps us learn as well. Tanner is soo excited about continuing to race. It gets me all fired up as well.
Mark and Joe also get credit for bringing us all together as a group. Firefighters know damn well the importance of teamwork.
If you wanna know why our training team did really well in this race, read my previous post. 4 of the 7 of us hit the podium. And we had fun doing it.
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