I'm finally getting around to blogging about the half marathon that I ran over a week ago! The Kinetic race was actually a half ironman, but I entered the race as part of a relay team, so I only did the running part. It was different from other races I've done because there were a lot less racers. It turns out when it come to long distance triathlons, there's only a limited amount of people crazy enough to do them!
The race started at 7am at Lake Anna, which is over an hour away from Richmond. My mom and I decided to stay in a hotel nearby so we wouldn't have to wake up at 4:30am on Saturday. It was fun to drive up there Friday night and be a part of the race atmosphere. After I picked up my race packet and checked into the hotel, we got dinner at a little Italian restaurant that was packed to the max with other racers. I almost felt like a poser because I knew most of them were doing the whole thing and I was only doing the running part. Maybe someday I will be in shape enough to do a half ironman, but I'm definitely not there yet!
My mom and I got to the race area around 6:30 Saturday morning (did I mention how cool it was that my mom wanted to come support me at my second half marathon? yeah, it was awesome!) I met up with my friends and fellow PT classmates, Meike and Austin. We got our stuff positioned in the transition area, got marked up at the body marking station, and headed over to the start area. The start got delayed 15 minutes because of fog on the lake, and the relays were the last heat, so we had a while to wait around.
Austin started us off with the 1.2 mile swim.
The buoys were SO far out on the lake, I couldn't believe it was only 1.2 miles.
It looked much, much farther. Can you even see the buoys in this picture? Nope, didn't think so. Austin did great though! She estimated it would take her about 45 minutes, but they called her name after only 35 - meaning she was near the end of the swim and Meike had to get ready to transition.
Austin ran up the beach to the transition area,
transferred the timing chip to Meike,
and Meike was off on her 56 mile bike ride! (With me cheering her on!)
Then we had to wait. Meike had estimated it would take her about 3.5 hours, but when you're biking 56 miles, there's a lot of leeway. She could have potentially finished anywhere between 3-4 hours, so I didn't know when I'd be starting my run. It was weird to have to wait around for so long. Most races start early in the morning, so I'm used to getting there and getting started early. Waiting around made me a little anxious.
Also, I didn't know what or how much I should eat. I ate breakfast, but I got hungry again before it was time for me to run, so I ate some goldfish, gummies, and a granola bar. And I drank an entire bottle of Powerade and two bottles of water. I wanted to stay hydrated because I knew it was going to be the middle of the day (aka HOT) by the time I started my run. My excessive consumption of liquids may have come back to haunt me during the race, but I'll get to that later.
Over two hours after Meike started out, the first cyclist finished the bike course. The first guy was about 10 minutes ahead of everyone else- crazy fast! The crowd of spectators got really excited as the other cyclists started coming back into the race area.
As it neared the 3 hour mark, I started getting nervous. I decided to head over to the transition area in case Meike finished much faster than she thought she would. I got ready. I put on sunscreen, retied my shoes, and drank water. Then I had to pee because I'd consumed so much water. I had to leave the transition area to go to the bathroom, and then I had to hurry because it had been over 3 hours since Meike started, so she could finish at any time.
As I was coming back to the transition area, my mom was frantically waving me over. I thought Meike was already there waiting for me, so I started running. It turns out they had called her name, but she wasn't in sight yet, thank goodness! I waited a few more minutes, carefully scrutinizing every biker who rounded the corner, until I finally saw her.
We did a quick chip exchange, then I was off on my 13.1 mile run!
More to come later: Read
part 2 here.
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