For some reason I decided to register for the IRONMAN Timberman 70.3 later this year.  I’ve never done a triathlon of any length before, so I decided to jump right in and see how things go.  At some point my brain must have switch gears and figured out that I should really put some effort into this, or I was going to be in for a long and most likely not enjoyable day.

One of the first things I wanted to get out of the way was working on the run.  I ran track in high school, but I was a sprinter.  After high school I ran a little and have even done a few 5K races.  Not sure that is the makings of a good half marathon race.  In mid-February I started to train for the Willi Whammer 1/2 Marathon on April 26th.  I started easy and just kept slowly adding distance and managed to get to the point where I was up to 11 miles comfortable.

Well race day came around and I was greeted to pouring rain and low 40’s for a temperature.  Basically I could not have asked for better weather, yeah right.  Well I decided to make the best of it and just go out and run.  I had originally been targeting a 2 hour time, but with the weather I figured I was going to slip a little on my target time.  Most of the hills were located in the first 6 miles of the race.  I’m not sure if it was due to the temperature or what, but I really struggled with the down hills.  My shins were killing my ever time the road went down and I was just about walking.  Fortunately I felt strong on the up hills and flats or that first half would have taken forever.  The second half of the run was just a case of keeping a steady pace and try having a little fun, which I’m not really sure that I pulled off that last part.

All in all I was happy with my time even though I missed my target of 2 hours.  I’m not sure when the next half marathon is going to be, but I am going to be lining up at a duathlon the following weekend.

Splits:

• Mile 4.2: 0:39:24
• Mile 6.6: 1:02:07
• Mile 9.7: 1:32:32
• Finish: 2:04:48
• Pace: 9:32/Mile