racing... why do i do this?

it seems trite for me to write much about my honu half-ironman race while a friend and training buddy is fighting for his life in a honolulu hospital... it's been a weird few days.

the water was really choppy and the sun position made for some difficult sighting... even the pros got off track allowing my coach, chris hauth, to be second out of the water. okay, he's an olympic swimmer but he's a self-confessed drafting whore in the swim so he's rarely out of the water among the first two or three. my swim time sucked. 38min and change... 2mins slower than last year! grrr...

the bike started pretty well. i soon caught and passed one of my training buddies but the climb to hawi seemed slow-going. however, it was not nearly as hot as last year. we even rode through a small rain shower. right before the turnaround i saw a guy, spread-eagled on the ground. a volunteer was attending to him so i continued on my way and was psyched to have a little recovery on the return to the Mauna Lani. about 5mi from the hotel, i passed a couple of girls in my AG... i wondered if i had reached the *pointy end* of my AG race? but i had no real clue what position i was in. as i turned into mauna lani drive i was disappointed to see 2:4X on my SRM. i was hoping for 2:3X. oh well. time to run.

mile 1 of the run is uphill and it felt less than great but i soon found my feet, running 8-8:10min/mi. i felt reasonable, taking the course a mile at a time, and thankful that it was not as hot as the prior year. the course is very undulating with varied terrain, sand, grass, concrete and tarmac but the multitude of out and back sections do allow you to get a sense for placing... alas, my *sense* was that i was in no better than 4th place or so in my age group. a trip to the bathroom at mile 9 allowed about three girls to pass me (too much coke?) but i did recatch one girl and crossed the line in 5:19 and 6th place in my age group. no kona slot for me! damn w35-39 age-group. i'd have qualified in w30-34... c'est la vie.
Katie & Sandy on the W30-34 podium


however, the post-race situation quickly diverted my attention away from the race. a close friend and training partner, dirk, had suffered some sort of brain hemorrhage during the race. that's *the guy* that i had seen on the side of the road. ugh! he was transported by helicopter to a neuro ICU at Queen's hospital in Honolulu... any disappointment i might have felt about the race quickly evaporated as i helped friends pack and travel to be by his side. currently his condition is improving but he's still in critical condition. life is fragile. dirk's as healthy as can be... but a congenital brain condition does not care how much you exercise or how healthy you are at mealtime... life is not fair.