Patriot Half Ironman RELAY in East Freetown, MA (have to emphasize relay).  Wife wanted to do this race.  She's got a solo 70.3 later this year and wanted to swim the 1.2 miles today for the experience.  Our cousin biked, and I did the run, completing our team.  Wife accomplished her mission.  She swam in 47:44 without drowning.  I'm proud of her.

Our cyclist biked the 56 miles in 2:58:06 for a 18.9 mph clip.  Great job considering he hasn't been biking much this year (less than 200 total miles).  He was thrilled.

As for me, I was hoping to PR the HM (1:34:51), but as the day approached I knew that'd be tough given the forecast.  This wasn't a goal race and I just wanted to have a decent run.  It turned out to be mid 70's, 80% humidity, 68 dew point.  That's not bad at all for a casual run, but it's tough to run a half marathon PR in that.  I also wasn't feeling my best, as I had to hit the portapotty five times before my run.  Must have been the greasy dinner last night.    Anyway, not good, man.

We got up at 4:30 this morning, and my run started at 11:30.  That's seven hours of waiting around if you're scoring at home.  I tried not to spend all that time on my feet, but I still spent more time walking around and standing than I would have liked.  When it was time to run, I estimated nine relay teams were out in front of us.  I was hoping we'd get on the podium, so I had work to do and rabbits to catch.

I started fast and knew early on the pace wasn't sustainable.  I settled into my groove around mile four and held pretty steady the rest of the way.  I was sweating like a pig from the first mile and grabbed about six cups of water during the race.  I took no pride in passing so many solo triathletes and made sure to tell them I was a relay runner when they gave me props for my fast running.  I was also picking off relay runners.  I passed seven of them.  One I passed at mile 10 cursed and tried to keep pace when I passed, and I could hear him sucking wind.  Three miles to go though, pal...no chance you'll keep up.  He was the last one I passed.  Our team ended up finishing in 5th place out of 27 relay teams.  We were locked into that spot too.  The team in 4th was 15 minutes ahead of us, and the team in 6th was 15 minutes behind us.  Solid work by our team and I'm pleased with my run.

My splits:

7:08, 7:08, 7:26, 7:36, 7:41, 7:52, 7:55, 7:40, 8:07, 7:54, 7:50, 7:57, 7:55.

Officially 1:40:17.  I was completely soaked from sweat and humidity when I finished.  I also felt totally drained.  I shouldn't feel that wiped out after a HM.  DW had to drive home because I wasn't feeling well.  As I am sitting here typing this, my legs are killing me.  I am guessing my body is fighting something.

Our main goal today was to get MtnBikerChk her swim experience and have fun, and in that it was a success.  We had a blast.  One month until my next race, which is a duathlon.

Sweet!  Sounds like a lot of fun, congrats Baboon, MBC, and biking cousin.

Congrats team Baboon!

Sounds like a good day, all and all, for you and your family.   Congrats to everyone.  It must be weird running as a relay runner.   Maybe you need a T-shirt or something, proclaiming your status as a relay runner and issuing whatever apologies are deemed necessary for smoking the exhausted  tri-athletes down the home stretch.

That would be tough to PR in that heat and humidity. That is a nice time. That event sound like fun and I hope to try one of those at some point. I would be happy to do the run but I want nothing to do with a bike or water. Good job, Baboon.

Those were a couple quick early miles considering the conditions. You looked pretty consistent once you settled in on a sustainable pace. Nice touch to let the solo runners know you were on a relay team.

Thanks, y'all.  One of these times I'll run a good race and not have to list a bunch of excuses for missing a goal.

Turns out my run was 4th of out 27 in the relay division.  Not bad but first would have been better. 

Nice job, guys!!

 

Where are the photos?

all loaded up on the computer ready to load to FB

Thanks all.  now I just need to learn to swim STRAIGHT.