Race Day Results. Good job, guys. Well done. This is a seriously hard race. Congratulations to all the finishers. My race report with gory details below. Big thanks to Julie, Jacqui and Lori for taking pics during the race and sharing them with me! Here’s the important numbers, in order.

Sebastian Kouladjian: 4:40:50 (8th AG! World Champs Qualifier!)

Bjoern Helfer: 5:04:41 (1st 70.3! Quite a debut.)

Peter Day: 5:06:37

Jeff Ku: 5:27:07

Steve Mackel: 5:31:42

Felipe Sanchez: 5:32:43

Rudy Quintero: 5:36:39

Sven Nolte: 5:40:20

GT Erguiza: 5:43:30

Danny Perez: 5:51:58

Charles Yeh: 5:54:31

Gregg Doyle: 5:58:40

Danny Keshishian: 5:59:55

Alvin Hom: 6:00:19

Steve Lis: 6:03:44

Glenn Gorham: 6:06:05

Barry Plaga: 6:08:04

Tiffany Burkett: 6:09:50

Matt Burkett: 6:13:38

Deanna Hudgins: 6:13:50

Eugene Chun: 6:17:55

Mike Owen: 6:18:54

Mark Gibbs: 6:24:18

Lynda Neuman: 6:49:57 (1st in AG)

Bob Montes: 6:58:34

Ramsey Fuentes: 7:00:36

Rob Wright: 7:09:37

Joe Wong: 7:24:25 (last but not least…)

My Race Report

Lynda, Gregg, Rob, SteveL and I walked down from the hotel to transition at 5:15am and set up in transition. I laid out all my stuff and then got body marked. I usually look for the cutest volunteer and take selfie, but this one didn’t work out. Then, I roamed around transition and took pictures with our PTC friends.

MikeO, SteveL, GT, SteveM, Deanna, Lynda, Rudy. Coach Scott was there to cheer us on.

Swim: 39:25

Rolling Start. I love the rolling start. This worked so well. The deal is that you self-seed, based on your expected swim time (for 1.2 miles). It’s much like the line up at a marathon. I wiggled into the line in the 35-40 minutes Wave. When our wave was ready for warm up, I jumped in water off to the right side of the ramp. I got my goggles wet and got some water into my suit. Water was cold 62F, but manageable. The ROKA Thermal hood and Blue Seventy Thermal Swim Socks worked great. Our preview swim in Long Beach a few weeks ago was 55-60F. Five swimmers entered the water every five seconds. It spreads out the crowd. We all swam the same speed and in the same direction. I never got crawled over or kicked. It was great. The swim out went fine. The swim back was very difficult to see the buoys, with the sun right in our eyes. I followed the rocks on the jetty, until we got to the dock and then we done. I was so happy it was over.

T1: 8:08

Bike stuff on. I decided that the sun was out. Didn’t need a vest or sleeve. This worked out fine. Sunny with high clouds. As I exited T1, I have them add sunscreen around my shoulders and neck. Perfect.

Bike: 3:25

Bike was HARD. The first half miles 1 – 33 were fine. We’ve seen the beach roads along San Onofre on our Thanksgiving Ride from Anaheim to Solana Beach, just in the opposite direction. Then, the bike course crosses over the freeway and it went all Mountain Crazy! You can’t preview the course ever, because it’s on the Camp Pendleton Marine Base. So, this was my first time seeing the hills. I was warned it was challenging course, and they weren’t kidding. There were rollers and there were HILLS. Hill #1 was long and steep 12-13%. Hill #2. Hill #3. I knew they were coming, but it took a lot of energy to get over those hills. On the descents, I tucked in aero and tried to put in the target watts, but it was a losing on the energy conservation battle. I kept on nutrition and hydration. Pack of pills every hour. I actually drank a lot. Finished my feed bottle and torpedo bottle by mile 40. I refilled at Aid Station #2. When I finally rolled back to transition, I was so happy to be done riding.

T2: 6:02

Nothing of note. Just decided to take off the tri top and run in a dry tech T. Much more comfortable. The clouds had come back and cooled off the route just right. No complaints here!

Run: 3:05

I had zero-to-very-little left in the tank after that bike. I walked / ran. My ghost friend (who’s requested to remain un-named) yelled my name at the 1st turn, at which I jumped out of my skin and started running! The run was a 2 loop course with out and back fashions. So, I saw all my friends on their second loop as I was starting out. Sven, Eugene, SteveM, SteveL, Lynda, GT, Deanna, Peter. There was a great cheer crowd at the Volt Tent. Todd and Amy were at the Pier cheering too!

I finished just a head of Rob. His wife Jacui was so excited. She took some great shots of Rob, who had finished his first Ironman 70.3. Well done everyone.

I’m not surprised at the run results. I suffered from not training enough on hilly rides. I also didn’t train enough runs. My runs were hampered with allergies and coughing fits for several months. It is was it is and I’m happy with the results. I could have been better, but I had a great time with my friends. Not disappointed at all.

After the race, I had a burrito with Rob, Jacui, and Bob. We took the shuttle to the Transition. And then rode my bike it back to the hotel. I took a nice warm shower and then went over to Alvin’s rental house for the after party. NEXT POST…

[Update 11/24/18, bought finisherpix on black friday sale.]