Proud, yet Humbled.  While I can’t find the exact word to describe my feelings about my race here in Hawaii, the combination of those two words is the closest I can come to putting them into words.  Looking back at my race, it was all that I could have hoped for

• a challenging course
• beautiful weather
• great support from friends and family

It also had some things I didn’t expect, namely, the bike course to be as difficult as it was.  It was a brutal course – in many ways it was the most difficult ride I have ever had to ride.  Lots and lots of rolling hills, two rather large climbs – one of which in the first 10 miles of the bike all added up to make it much more difficult then I had mentally prepared for.  I’m glad that I drove the course in advance to at least discover that my mental image was wrong, otherwise I would have been in for a dastardly surprise on race day.

The run was simply a run.  It had a few difficult spots, but besides the hill up Palini road the most difficult part of the run was that much of the second half; okay all of the second half was totally exposed to the heat, wind, and sun.

Anyways, I’m proud that I toed the line, and finished spent having given it my best effort.  10:51 was the best I could do on 10/13/2007, no should’ves, could’ves, would’ves.  That was it.  I raced according to my plan and went for it.  I’m proud that I did that, and that I didn’t quit when it fell apart.

Humbled.  There are lots, and I mean lots of good people out there.  I thought that I was good, I am; but these people are REALLY good.  Race morning Mary and I gave a ride to #907, Marty Bulcock.  Turns out Marty is 41, and went a 9:12 – 1:06/5:03/3:03.  The dude is 41!  This race was really a wake up call to me that reminded me to accept where I am, and to focus on improving myself – and not place myself higher then I am.  Very much along the lines of Jack Daniels/Gordo’s thoughts of "Don’t train fast until you prove it in a race."  Same deal.

This is the first race in a while where I have finished the race and come out of it with a deeper desire, drive and motivation then I went into the race.  I know where I want to get, and some of how to get there – and I have a burning passion and desire to get there.

Still have to jot some thoughts on the season as a whole and what comes next – hopefully tomorrow and the next day I’ll jot those down.

I’ve got a race report written up for Kona, as well as some thoughts on the race and the season in general – now that I appear to have internet access where I am staying I’ll put them up over the next couple of days!

P.S.  It was an awesome race!

Did a race sim ride yesterday.  4 hours on the bike + 1 hour run.  The bike was spectacular, windy, very windy.  Ended up with 83.8 miles in 4 hours. – 20.9 average – my fastest training ride ever.  I rode it similar to how I plan to ride in Kona.  135 soft HR cap, 145 hard HR cap.  I only exceeded 145 once – was going up a long moderate incline hill into the wind, and I looked down and saw 150.  I backed off immediately and all was good.

The run afterwards went really well.  Started out running really, really strong – the first four miles were sub 7 average – way to fast actually.  Not sure of the exact distance, but right around 8 miles.  Last couple miles were ~7:40 – a good pace, but would have rather done 7:15s straight across.  Gonna have to watch those first few miles in Kona.  I also had a little bit of stomach issues on the run – took in to many gels in to short a time.  It was the strategy I’ve used in the past with success, but today it gummed me up pretty bad.  Not sure how to address that as I know the key to my success on the run is equal parts bike pacing and keeping the calories coming in.  Overall I was pretty happy to cover just over 8 miles in 60 minutes, including a bathroom break.

The coming week is pretty mild – an hour run on Tuesday, the usual 3k-4k SCM swims, and then some easy biking and running.  Key workouts this week are a tough 90 minute + 30 minute brick on Wednesday, with a 2 hour + 30 minute brick on Saturday.  After that it’s stay loose and then race like a bat out of hell on October 13th.  Kick ass and take names.

I’m actually starting to feel just a little prepared – anything can and will happen during the race, but my key sessions this past week have been a great mental and (hopefully) physical boost.