Redman Half Ironman Pre-Race Activities

This year my goal race was the Redman Half Ironman in Oklahoma City.  This was my second half ironman and a return to Redman for me.  This race is very convenient at just 4 hours from home and is just 40 minutes from my sister's house so I have built in cheerleaders!  Unfortunately this year my family was double-booked so instead of the whole crew at the race I got my brother-in-law Tim.  He served as head race sherpa and cheerleader and did pretty good on both jobs! Up first for my race recap is all the activities on Friday!

Redman is an athletes race...put on by athletes for athletes.  One thing they are really good about is pre-race communication.  There are several scheduled smart mails that each participant receives with detailed information for pre-race and race day schedule as well as a very active Facebook page where participants share tips and information.  Leading up to the race there was an unexpected storm that unfortunately damaged the race site on the day before registration/packet pick up.  The team quickly communicated the situation and delayed the registration schedule slightly.

I drove over to OKC Friday morning and dropped my dog Sidney off in Norman at my sister's house.  I put her crate together and got her situated in the guest room.  My sister's cats of course had to check everything out!

Annie thought that she should pack herself into my transition bag! 

Percy stood guard over Annie playing in my bag and always manages to stress poor Sidney (my dog) out.

I then did some shoe shopping and then made my way to Lake Hefner.  I made really good time and ended up arriving about an hour before the new pickup time.  Here's a tip for participants...the lake access road will be barricaded but there is room for a car to go through.  You can drive through and then park along the access road to head to packet pickup.  It will look like the road is closed but it's okay for racers!

New this year was a new check in process.  Athletes were required to attend a safety briefing in order to go to packet pickup.  This was done in small groups of athletes.  You checked in with your bib number so make sure you take note of that in advance.  Then you listened to the briefing and received a small paper with notes from the various course element directors.  Once the briefing finished, the athletes proceeded to two computers where upon providing your bib number you received a receipt detailing out your entire registration.  That receipt gained you admittance to the packet pickup tent.  After checking your ID and USAT membership card, you proceeded to the appropriate line for your bib number.  This year racers received a sling backpack, cotton event shirt, and a nice coffee mug.  There were vendors and race merchandise on the other side of the tent as you exited.  I bought a new running vest and one of my favorite visors by Headsweats!

Once you receive your packet you are ready for bike checkin.  The race uses personalized stickers for all the events and they are all labeled so it's pretty easy to figure it out.  I loved the bike number because it stayed out of the way.  Bike numbers are always so frustrating but this one was great! Once the numbers were on my bike, I made my way into transition.  My bike passed the inspection and then it was time to find my rack spot.  Now for some reason, as I looked at the bike rack signs I thought that my race number was 888 and the signs showed a gap between 850 and 900.  I was sooooo confused and asked for help.  The first question back was what's your race number...oh yeah that would be 688!  I found my spot and unfortunately my bike didn't fit on the rack by the seat.  It was breezy and the bike was just swaying in the wind so I took it down and switched it so that it was racked by the handlebar.  That solved the problem and after a brief chat with another racer I was done and headed back to Norman.

Lindsey cooked a great pasta dinner and even made a Pinterest find that I had shared with her.  Unfortunately the cooking time for the veggie dish was not right on Pinterest and so we had to eat dinner in two courses! Here's a photo of the dish...super pretty and quite tasty!

After dinner, I went back through my triathlon bag and confirmed that I had everything packed.  I laid out my clothes for the morning and laid out water bottles to fill up.  I set the alarm for 4:40 so that we could leave the house by 5:00AM.  I fell asleep okay and managed to sleep pretty well for a pre-race night.

Weekend Recap

So this little race happened on Saturday...Redman Half Ironman in Oklahoma City.

Would you believe me if I told you that I won the Athena division?!?!?!??!?

I know, I was shocked too! I couldn't believe it and I'll share a full race recap later this week.  Right now I'm nursing my sore muscles and blistered toes and eating all the food in sight!

Redman Misc Items

One of the reasons that I selected Redman Half Ironman as my first 70.3 race was because it was super close to my birthday and near my sister and her family.  I knew that they would be awesome supporters to have cheering my on during the race! Even better news was that my Dad and Stepmom also came to cheer on the race.  I was able to score 2 birthday celebrations with cupcakes and ice cream cake.  My sister is great at spoiling me and you can't top the fun of time with my niece and nephew.  My niece even managed her first few steps during the race weekend.  

Something fun about the race was that they had motivational signs all along the run course.  There were even math problems written in sidewalk chalk along the route.  My favorite quotes from the signs were:
"Don't sweat the petty stuff and don't pet the sweaty stuff."
"We know you peed your pants. That's okay."
"I bet you wish you had your bike back now."

Something fun that we did as a family was have race weekend shirts made.  We wore the shirts for my race and also my sister and brother-in-law's race the next day.  Our shirt says Alright^3 otherwise known as Alright, Alright, Alright.  Hopefully you can hear Matthew McConaughey saying that from Dazed and Confused because that just makes it so much better!


Below are some of my favorite pics from the race/birthday weekend!

Pre-race dinner and birthday celebration #1! Cupcakes!!!

The family that cheers together and races together!
My dad, Stepmom, nephew Gavin, sister Lindsey, brother-in-law Tim, and niece Livia.

Getting the cheering supplies ready!

More cowbell, Debby!

Gavin helping me pick out post-race food!

Tim, my sherpa

Post race nap...an awful unattractive photo that my dad took.  My dog is
is the big one sleeping above my head. My sister's dog who claims me as her
personal property is laying along side me.   

Post-race dinner and Birthday celebration #2! Ice cream cake!!!

Redman Half Ironman - The Run

To finish up my race recap of the Swim, the Bike, and now the Run!

I got started on the run and realized I might have dinked around a little bit on the bike.  My time was in line with my expectation but I got started on the run feeling really good.

Only 13.1 miles to go!!!

That good feeling didn't last that long...maybe 6 minutes! It was about noon when I started on the run and the temps were definitely warm.  I didn't notice the heat on the bike but it was really warm and sunny out.  I loved seeing the people around the race site but there really weren't many spectators out on the course.  The course is a very flat out and back loop.  There were plenty of water stations along the route and they were really well stocked.  The volunteers on the run course were absolutely amazing...they all made sure to call out to you by name as they got the drinks and snacks you requested. 

All smiles for the camera

My overall goal for the run was to stick to a run/walk plan but unfortunately my plan became more of a walk/run plan.  My Garmin died as I was finishing the first loop of the course.  It lasted to the 6 mile mark and I passed it off to my sister.  I wore a water belt and really didn't need it other than for holding my nutrition. 

Starting loop 2 of the race

The second loop of the course was a little slower than the first but I tried to stay positive.  I was suffering from blisters on my left foot and it was really hard to not think about them.  I tried to keep a quick pace going when I was walking and resorted to counting people to get myself to run longer than my brain wanted to go before taking a walk break. 

Passing off my water belt.

I was really excited to see the final water stop and know that I was about 1 mile out from the finish.  I started seeing other athletes returning to their cars with their medals and finisher shirts and knew that I was close to being a finisher!!! It was motivating and emotional at the same time.  I got a little choked up and had to tell myself "don't cry about it, just do it."  I pulled it together before seeing my family around the 1/2 mile out mark.  My sister came out to meet me and I passed my water belt on to her and told her that I was hurting.  After that I picked it up and talked myself into making it to the finish strong.  My dad had to sprint in order to capture my finish line photo! As I made my way down the finisher chute, the announcer called out my name and told everyone that I was celebrating my birthday and was a first time finisher.  It felt so great to hear all the support and cheers. 

Rocking a single arm fist pump as I finished!

All smiles coming down the chute!

I liked that the course were out and back loops.  It meant that you got to see other racers a lot.  It's amazing how helpful it is to have someone else cheer you on during their race and to return the favor to them.  The racers weren't that talkative during the bike portion but people were much more friendly and talkative on the run.  A negative to the course is that there is no shade whatsoever on this course.  It is a sunny course and I got quite the sunburn on my scalp from it. 

My sister Lindsey, Me, and my Dad!

After finishing, we were given our medals and a finisher's shirt.  The finish tent included the post race food selection and was connected to the medical tent.  Thankfully I didn't need those services! I didn't feel too bad except for my sore feet.  I got slightly sick feeling but it was mostly a feeling of I'm really hungry but nothing sounds good feeling.  On the way home, my awesome brother-in-law and race sherpa Tim took me to McDonald's for a Happy Meal!

Redman Half Ironman - The Bike

Continuing my race recap from The Swim.  I entered transition and got started getting ready for the bike.  I sprayed some sunscreen on and watched it run down my arms.  I was worried that I would get sun burnt but I tried to rub it in and deal with it! I put on my shoes, helmet, bike gloves, and sunglasses and was ready to go.  I had opened my gel chews earlier when I set up transition so I didn't have to mess with any of that. I got my bike off the rack and proceeded to the bike out. 

I hit the line and saw my brother-in-law and cheerleader Tim and my friend Mandy's mom.  I said hi to both and clipped in and was off! The first few miles of the bike course were on a road that circled around the lake.  I took things easy on this stretch to get my legs turning over and tried to settle into a good pace.  The next few miles were on some major roads and had a lot of police support to keep the athletes safe.  It was very reassuring to know how well they took care of us! I tried to say thank you to all the volunteers and police officers working the turns and intersections but I know that I missed a bunch.

In the pre-race meeting, they explained the aid station procedure.  The liquids would be given out via hand ups from the volunteers.  This freaked me out since I hadn't actually practiced this and had done all of my training with rest stops.  I had polar bottles on my bike and there was no way that I was going to toss those.  My friend Britt had given me a couple of tips...slow way way down and watch for tossed bottles on the road.  I rolled into the first aid station and almost forgot to slow down enough to take the bottle.  I grabbed a water bottle from the next volunteer and took a few big swigs from it and then tossed the bottle at the end of the aid station.  Mission accomplished!!!

The bike course wasn't too bad for the most part except for a section of the route that was trashed.  The roads were awful in this section and the road was basically painted orange with pothole and rough road markings.  You had to watch the road because the line was constantly changing in order to avoid the rough patches.  This section of road was on an out and back section of the course so you got to experience it twice...yippee! I took a bottle of Gatorade on my way back through this section and stored it in one of my back pockets on my shirt.  I spent the next 8-10 miles worrying that it was going to fall out of my pocket and get me an abandonment penalty. 

This definitely impacted me and I chose to stop at the mile 42 aid station to put water into my bottle versus sticking a bottle in my back pocket.  The ladies at the aid station were super nice to me.  I pulled up and had my bottle lid already off and was holding it with my teeth.  It was an attractive look, I'm sure! I unclipped and stood over the bike and then squeezed the water directly into the bottle still in the cage.  Then I screwed the lid back on while the aid station volunteer removed the old Gatorade bottle from my back pocket.  I was out of there within 30 seconds tops!

Around mile 49 I realized I came pretty close to missing a turn on the course.  Luckily a couple of riders passed me just before the turn and so I saw them move over in the road to prepare for the turn.  It kind of scared me that I wasn't paying as much attention to the race so I definitely turned it up a notch after that turn.  Around mile 52 I could see ahead that we were almost back to the lake road.  I got a little choked up for a bit just overwhelmed that I was doing it and getting this race done. 

Overall I liked the bike course.  It was fun on the out and back sections to see all my friends on the course.  The route was mostly flat with some slight inclines...nothing long or steep just a nice little elevation change.  We got lucky and the Oklahoma winds weren't too crazy.  The only negative besides the crappy section of road was that the course wasn't very spectator friendly.  There were a few small groups of spectators out on the course but it was pretty much the racers on the road and that was it. 

Redman Half Ironman - The Swim

Redman, on September 24th, was my first half ironman distance triathlon.  I was a diligent reader of the pre-race guide and showed up at registration on Friday ready to check in all my gear for the race.  I was quite happily surprised that it was only the full distance racers that would have to prepare and check in gear bags.  Registration was a very smooth process and didn't take very long at all.  There were mandatory athlete meetings which really covered basic information.  I didn't learn that much except for a couple of road hazards that we would encounter on the bike course.  I took a few minutes during the mandatory meeting to shop the expo booth while it was deserted!

The race would start on Saturday at 7:15 for the full distance racers.  There would be a 15 minute wait and then the start of the half distance waves.  My favorite comment from the athlete meeting was that as athletes we were too healthy for the close in parking spaces.  The race urged us to use the athlete parking lot 1 mile away so that our family and friends would have access to the easier/closer parking.  While this is no big deal before the race...that mile walk back after covering 70.3 miles was a little slow! It also meant that I needed to adjust my timing in the morning to allow enough time to get to the race site and walk from parking.

I knew quite a few others at the race which was a huge help and confidence boost! For the ladies, there was me, Mandy, Pauline, and Kayle.  For the guys, there was Mark, Cord, Jon, Ty, and Randy.  I also noticed a fellow athlete with the same transition bag and discovered she was also from NWA! There were some others that I recognized from local events but didn't know...either way there was quite a crew of racers from NWA at the Redman event. 

Still sleepy, not quite sure I'm ready, you name it I was feeling it!

Race Morning:
My official race sherpa was my brother in law Tim.  Normally my sister accompanies to the start of races and then Tim comes later with the kids.  This time he had asked to come early and he didn't even regret it when I said we would be leaving super super early.  It was a 30 minute drive to the race site and we got there right around 5:30 when transition was opening. 

I went into transition and got my set up done.  All of the racks were assigned by race number which made things really easy plus we had checked in our bikes during registration on Friday.  I was a little nervous but overall not too bad.  I kept feeling like I was forgetting things and like I didn't have my set up right.  Of course, I visited the porta potties several times! I never understand why people put their wetsuits on soooo early because they really slow down the potty line and you would think they would learn. 

A few minutes before the full distance start, I went ahead and put on my wetsuit.  Tim had to help out with the zipper and of course he took a very unattractive photo of me putting on the wetsuit. 

Not Cool, Tim!

Much better! Ready to race!!!

The swim is held in Lake Hefner which is only open for swimming for this race.  The lake level was really low so the organizers had modified the swim to a triangle with a long mud run to transition.  They were able to carpet a lot of the run otherwise it would have been a total mess.  Another issue was that some of the buoys had moved off course and even though the organizers explained it to us it didn't make much sense. 

Mandy, Me, Pauline, and Kayle! It was Pauline's 2nd 70.3, but the first for the rest of us!

The athletes were congregated inside transition waiting for each wave to be called.  As a group, the wave would then walk down to the lake edge with the beautiful chords of a bagpipe playing.  As we were waiting to get into the water, I told the girls that I had to pee and they encouraged me to warm up my wetsuit.  It felt goofy but I figured there wasn't that much of a difference between that and waiting until I was in the water! On a side note, later I would see a sign on the run course that read "We know you peed your pants and it's okay!" Too funny!

When we finally entered the water we discovered just how difficult the mud was as we sunk mid-way up our calves in mud holes. 

If you look closely, you can see all the ladies have their arms out for balance walking into the lake.

 I put on my goggles and immediately discovered that it was going to be a rough swim...they were fogging up super badly and I really couldn't see through them to sight.  Lesson learned...always Foggle my goggles in advance! I accepted that it was going to be challenging and got ready for the shotgun blast to signify our start. 

I took off and tried to settle into a rhythm.  I was with people for a while and then all of sudden I wasn't.  I popped up and took my goggles off to see where I was and I was so far off course.  I assumed at this point that I had missed the first turn because of where I was in relation to the other swimmers.  I was pretty pissed with myself and wasted energy trying to get back into the pack.  I finally got in with the pack and we reached a turn buoy and I was thinking great I'm back in the game and only 1/3 left. 

Imagine my surprise when I spot another white turn buoy...yep still a ways to go since I was only on the 2nd leg of the triangle.  I had to keep stopping and moving my goggles in order to sight and find landmarks along the shore to focus on.  It was such a great feeling to finally see the big arch over the transition come into focus and realize I was almost done with my swim. 

The first leg of the swim course...just try to figure out the buoy line!

I was so upset with my self because I felt like I swam so much extra distance over the whole swim due to my foggy goggles and horrible sighting.  The race organizers had about 6 orange buoys on the first arm of the triangle but they weren't in a straight line.  Between the first turn buoy and second there were no sight line buoys.  Between the second turn buoy and the swim finish, there were no sight line buoys.  It was just a tough setup!

I swam until my fingers touched the mud because I knew how tough the mud was to walk out of the lake.  There were volunteers standing in the mud who helped me stand up and start to get my wetsuit down to waist level.  The walk out of the lake was really slippery from all the athletes so I walked slowly until I could get to a spot that was carpeted.  I ran up the carpet to the wetsuit strippers where I was quickly helped in getting my wetsuit off.  They also had kiddie pools there to help clean off our feet. 

From there, I headed to my bike rack and got myself ready to tackle the bike.  I had no clue of my swim time and just knew that I felt good except wished I had stayed on course.  I checked around me and saw that some of my friends were still swimming so maybe my swim wasn't as bad as I thought. 

Swim results: 42:53
Up next: The Bike!

I'm Officially Half an Ironman!

Saturday was my big debut at the Half Ironman distance during the Redman Triathlon in Oklahoma City!

More details to come as I continue to decompress from the race.  It wasn't nearly as miserable as I thought it would be and the course is a great beginner friendly course.  The volunteers and spectators were awesome!

I finished 4th in the Athena division and approx. 128 out of 168 women.