I kicked off my 2008 racing season with the Lone Star Half Iron on Sunday 3/31.This race is part of a weekend "Triathlon Festival" that consists of a Saturday sprint event, and Sunday quarter and half iron events held simultaneously (good opportunities who love the challenge of racing two days, back to back!). Race director, Keith Jordan is based in New England and runs such races as the popular Timberman Tri. Before the race I heard from some other participants that Keith took over this event a couple of years ago from other race directors and has turned it into a top notch event. Boy they weren't kidding. I was impressed! An overall well run, well supported, and polished event, one that I highly recommend. Anyway...on to my race experience.

Swim - The shore in front of the host hotel is apparently heavily laden with oysters which could be hazardous to tender triathletes' feet. To ensure that we could all start the swim safely the swim start was a floating start. After jumping off a dock into the drink we floated between two bouys and waited for the gun. It was a foggy overcast day which made it tough to site. This was a whole different siting issue from the usual blarring sun that I am so accustomed to. I did a poor job aligning myself with the first bouy and ended up taking a bit of a detour in the first 300 yards of the swim. I discovered it, and corrected myself, but did lose time. My previous Half IM swim times are always consistently around 32:30. This time I ended up with a 37 minute swim. Ugh!

T1 - Some of you may be familiar with the T-Shirt that reads "Lost in Transition." That was me at T1. After ascending the nicely carpeted ramp out of the water (well placed by the race organizers to protect us from the oyster beds and to protect the oysters from our trampling feet), and after having my wetsuit skillfully removed by the volunteer wetsuit strippers, I entered transition. Then I froze. I for some reason had forgotten where I was. I think I was expecting the typical transition area that I' am used to in my beloved "hometown" 5430 races in Boulder, CO and just blanked on the fact that I was in a different place. Thanks to some spectators who I'm sure had a good laugh at my expense I snapped back into reality and eventually made my way to my bike. T1 time 2:18.

Bike - Heading into race day the winds in Galveston were strong and unrelenting. I worried how that would impact my bike ride. Something about riding along on a road called Seawall Blvd just conjures images of flailing windsocks, swaying palm trees, and swerving aero wheels. Thankfully though the wind turned out to be a relative non-issue. I felt comfortable on the flat course and cruised along at an average 20 mph pace. The 2 loop course that took us back to through the host locations grounds and through all of the spectators made for a fun, mid-ride break from the relatively unexciting surroundings of Galveston Island. As I rode through the second loop I had an overwhelming need to pee. With nothing better to do I found myself actually contemplating what it would be like to just pee. Right there on the bike. Needless to say I couldn't bring myself to do that. I waited until I was off the bike in T2 to relieve myself. Total ride time 2:46:47.

T2 - A bit of a slow T2 owing to my visit to the notably clean and non-smelly porto. Otherwise unremarkable. T2 time = 2:13.

Run - Holy cow! My legs felt great off the bike! I was astounded at my turnover and lack of stiffness or fatigue. Of course, I did wonder as I was running along if this meant that I didn't push the ride like I should have. But on I went; meandering through the grounds of Moody Gardens Resort. The run course was rather a twisty one, as folks had indicated it would be. But that meant that a lot of it went through areas accessible to spectators. I saw my cheering crew a lot in the first half of the run, and enjoyed their encouragement. There was really only short portion of the run that seemed to send us off into a sort of no man's land. but that section was populated by good numbers of encouraging volunteers which made it very bearable. My strength and relative level of comfort persisted through the second half of the run and as I neared mile 12, though I was ready to be finished, I still felt great! I crossed the timing mats nearing the finish, heard my name called out, and proudly crossed the finish line! Total run time 1:46:11.

With an overall finish time of 5:14:39 in a race that was meant as a checkpoint on my way to Ironman Coeur d'Alene, I left Galveston feeling that I was training right and training well. I am amazed that 5 years and many races into my tri-life that each new race experience provides a new learning opportunity and humbles me in new ways.

As mentioned earlier, I do recommend this event to anyone wanting a fun and well organized early season event. I also still marvel at the sheer numbers of volunteers that worked for a good portion of their Sunday to support all of the racers. Thanks to Keith Jordan and thanks to Galveston! I had a blast!