St. Croix 70.3 triathlon

It's probably fairly obvious that I survived the St. Croix Half-Ironman (aka Ironman 70.3 for the 70.3 miles you travel during the race), since I posted about ice cream last week. But I also finished it! Friday, May 4, Dave and I sailed over to St. Croix with some fellow triathletes - it took 6 hours and a few motion-sickness pills.... Here's a photo of our bikes tied to the sailboat.

We arrived just in time for the group web-cam photo! Then we wandered the streets of Christiansted for Jump-Up - a big street party and Carb-Fest where the athletes get discounts at local restaurants. Saturday morning Dave and I swam for a little while at the beach by our hotel, and I went on a very short bike ride. We went to sleep early, as the alarm was set for 3:45am!

Before the race, all the athletes have to swim about 200 meters off-shore to a little cay where the race starts. Someone I had met online, from the Puerto Rican triathlon club, brought an underwater camera for the race. It was pretty funny and his carefree attitude made the whole event seem more fun and less scary. The race started in waves - this is a photo of the 20-29 year old women running into the water for the swim. I'm in the back starting my watch... The swim itself was pretty nice and easy. The water was warm, calm, and clear. I had fun waving to the rescue divers who were sitting on the bottom of the harbor and I stopped to pose for a photo for one of them who had a camera.

After the 1.24 mile swim, I got to cycle 56 miles. The roads are hilly, of course. I rode up almost all of the "Beast", which was a big accomplishment. It's At the top of the Beast, they declared I was in last place and after I convinced them I wasn't dropping out of the race, they told me the SAG wagon, ambulance, and police car would be following me. So I had an entourage of them plus a jeep with race marshals and photographer with me the rest of the way! When I stopped at an aid station to get ice and water, they stopped, along with all the cars behind them that were waiting for meto finish so they could open the road..... I was glad to finish the bike!

Then came the run. The 13.1 miles included 2 loops, and within each loop, there was a 2 mile stretch that you ran twice, so you were with a lot of others there. It was a little bit of a downer when I was on my first loop, and it seems like like barely anyone was left and those who were around were all on their second loop. Chris McCormack ("Macca"), a pro racer who came in 3rd overall, was volunteering at one of the aid stations for 3 of the 4 times I went past it. A volunteer whose shift was over jogged with me for about 3 miles which really lifted my spirits at the end of the first loop/beginning of second loop. Dave joined us for about 1 mile of the second loop too. Eventually, I caught up to the woman in the yellow jersey who I'd been following all day. We chatted a bit on the second loop. My knees hurt a lot after 5 miles unfortunately, so I had to walk most of the last 6 miles. That was also a disappointment, because I had done some long training runs at noon, so I was prepared for running in the hot sun, and my legs felt up to running other than the painful knees. By the time I finished, they had reopened the roads, but luckily they hadn't taken the finish line down yet! I got a neat medal for finishing, even though it took me 9 hours and 32 minutes! At the beach bbq/awards ceremony, I got my picture taken with Macca. I was the third-from last finisher overall, and he was the third finisher overall, so it seemed fitting. All in all, it was really fun, and I'm glad I did it!