Notes
Otaru Bay Area Aquathon
11th September, 2011
1.5k swim / 10k run
Just 4 days after the birth of our amazing little Levi Kaito, a week of sleepless nights on the hospital room sofa had me ready to DNS this race, the final round of the Oligonol Cup Series.
As it happened, the race was only a 5 minute drive from the hospital, so I rolled off the sofa, kissed goodbye to my new little family, and arrived bleary-eyed at the race area.
Swim (26:17)
Actually a great open water course inside the Otaru Marina. Two 750m laps with a fun pontoon dive to negotiate in the middle. Unfortunately my tired body just didn't have it today, and I found myself in no-man's-land pretty quickly behind the pack I wanted to be in.
With all that had happened a few days prior, I wasn't too worried about this race, so took it on board as a training swim, and planned to blow out the run as best I could.
Run (39:05)
The run course was in a great area, although the lap was a little short, so 7 laps were required to make up the 10k distance.
Had a fun time going hell for leather, and managed to catch a couple of guys, but after a couple of laps it was difficult to know exactly where I was relative to the leaders, because so many people were out of course, and everyone on different laps.
Happy to finish with a sub-30 minute 10k in my lethargic state.
Overall (1:07:33)
10th Overall (9th male - got chicked by Airi Sawada again) / 4th 30-39 AG
Tough to catch anyone, because most guys in the top 10 or 15 are such good runners. Definitely need to swim faster to have any chance of making the podium in these aquathons.
Finished up placing 2nd in the 30-39 AG in the Oligonol Cup, just behind Sawamoto-san on points. I thought there might have been a chance to win the AG, but he smoked me in both aquathons this year, while I got him in when there was a bike involved. Finished the Series in 3rd place overall.