Santa Rosa Half Ironman 70.3

Bailey decided to try a Half Ironman. She is afraid of biking, and afraid of open water swimming (you know, because of all the sharks and dead bodies that might float up to get her). She wanted to learn something new and overcome some fears. I encouraged her to start with something less daunting, like an olympic distance tri, but she just told me, "Go big or go home!" After I saw her try to ride my road bike for the first time, I was a little concerned! Hahaha, the coordination of riding a bike did not come natural to her. But, I should have known not to doubt her! She checked huge books out of the library and read them cover to cover. She looked up race rules, and studied them a lot. And most important, she trained really hard for a long time! A month before the race, she got clips for the bike, and took a bad fall when she was learning how to use them. She landed bad and messed up her shoulder and arm. It was a couple days before we went to Lake Powell, and that was where she was planning on doing her first open water swims. Her arm/shoulder was so bad, she couldn't lift it, so she couldn't front crawl the whole time we were at Lake Powell. She still swam a couple times, and we figured she could still make the swim cut off time just by doing the breast and side stroke. But that made her really nervous about making the biking cut off time, since she would be spending a lot of extra time on the swim. It was a huge bummer to have worked so hard for months, and then have to do the race injured, but she didn't even complain. She just made the most of it, and ended up doing awesome! 

We headed to Santa Rosa, California for the race! It was so exciting! On Friday we went to the main square where everything was happening and got her all checked in. We shopped in the ironman store, went around to all the vendors, set up her transition station, and went to her athlete briefing. After that we drove up to Sonoma Lake to drop off her bike, set up her other transition station, and check out the lake and starting line. That night we met my brother for dinner at Olive Garden. Craig was going to be an official on the bike portion of the race, and that's the part with the most rules, that had Bailey the most nervous. She peppered him with questions all through dinner, and felt a lot better about things by the time we were finished.

Bailey trying to get some sleep on the long drive to CA. She couldn't stretch out very much, because the bike was back there with her.

Hanging out at the race square! It was all so new and exciting!

All checked in!

Setting up her bike to run transition station. 

At the lake setting up her swim to bike transition station.

Dinner with Uncle Craig!

We were awake at 3:20 on race day! Bailey had to be to the bus at 4:15 in the morning. We got her on the bus, and then Mark and I drove up to the lake to make sure we got a parking spot. While we were waiting for the start, we put on our headlamps, and did a trail run at the lake.

Lake Sonoma is a beautiful lake. It looked awesome the morning of the race, with the sun coming up, and the steam coming off of it.

This is my brother having his meeting before heading out to the bike course on the back of a motorcycle.

We found Bailey in line at the start in the sea of pink and green swim caps. They let the athletes line themselves up according to ability for the swim. That made us feel so much better! She went to the very back with the other first timers and slower swimmers. It was such a relief to know that she wouldn't be getting swam over the entire 1.2 miles. 

This is what more than 2000 athletes look like all lined up to start the swim. They let 3 swimmers get in the water every 5 seconds. Bailey entered the water almost an hour after the first swimmers.

Mark took a video of all the athletes and some of them starting the race.

It was finally Bailey's turn to start the race! We were so excited for her, and a little nervous. We have heard lots of stories of swimmers panicking in the water at the start because they are so crazy and overwhelming. This start was done so well, that she didn't panic one bit!

Bailey's start! You can see from the video just how much time her arm injury was going to cost her.

We could see the whole swim course from where we were standing. The whole course was a constant stream of swimmers. It looked so cool! Bailey is probably one of the ones behind us in the picture!

Mark was watching for her with the binoculars, and we were starting to get nervous when the hour mark was getting close. We were so relieved when we saw her coming down the final stretch! Yay!

Finishing the swim! I was so happy when she came out of the water with a smile on her face!

A video of Bailey finishing the swim.

Swim: 55:17

Transition: 13:05

She looked awesome when she started the bike ride. This is the part that made both of us nervous. We drove the whole 56 mile course the day before so she would be familiar with it. 

At the athlete briefing they warned about a huge bump on the bridge the athletes would have to ride over at the start of the bike portion. Mark walked down to watch her go by, and these are all the water bottles and food that had bounced off people's bikes from the bump! Bailey made it over it without any problem. 

Most of the roads they were biking on were closed to traffic. We didn't think we'd be able to see her at all, but we saw some bikers go by an intersection while we were driving by. We stopped, and our timing was perfect. She rode by right after we got there. This was at mile 13. That's the last time we saw her until she finished the bike ride. I had an app on my phone that was telling me when she passed certain points. It was super nice to have Craig out on the course. He kept an eye on her and sent me pictures and updates.

Finishing the bike portion. She was tired and ready to be off the bike!

Hanging her bike up at the transition.

 Bike: 3:53:30

Transition: 10:16

Getting ready to start the run. It was almost 100 degrees when she started the run, and she had already been out in the heat for over 5 hours!

Starting the run. She walked the first mile so she could eat, and get rid of her bike legs. It's crazy how weird it is to start running after sitting on a bike for that long.

Finishing the run! She wasn't smiling anymore. It was so hot! The CA heat really took a toll on her Idaho body.

 Run: 2:22:22

When she finished, she was kind of in a daze for 5 minutes. She was given a bottle of water, and a wet towel. We sent her into the cooling tent, and it didn't take long before she perked back up. Her muscles handled everything great, but we think she had heat exhaustion. She had a huge headache for a few days, she didn't want to eat food until the most of the way through the next day, and she drank and drank, and didn't really start peeing again until a couple days later. But overall, we were really surprised at how well her body handled it. Her hips were a little sore, but that's about it.

She did it!

So proud of her!

Final Time: 7:34:28

Distance: 70.3 miles

Swim 1.2 miles

Bike 56 miles

Run 13.1 miles

She didn't even need a few recovery days to decide she would be doing another one. She knew right away she would try it again. She knows how and where she can improve and cut time off. She wants to do one without an injury, and now that she knows what to expect. This was a huge learning experience for her, and she really loved it! She tried something new, overcame some fears and insecurities, and found something new that she loves. It was so fun for Mark and I to watch her. Next year she is planning on a 50K trail race, and then the year after that, maybe she'll do the Half Ironman in Coer d' Alene. Stay tuned, she always has something crazy in the works.