Wow, what a great venue and great community!!! Ironman Canada lived up to all the hype and expectations as the community wraps itself around this event. First rate all the way. The community was amazing and what a great place to live and visit. The race was wonderful. A bit challenging but nothing to majorly terrible. The bike was difficult come about 75 miles into the race where the wind really kicked up and smoke from a local fire blew in to make the conditions a bit more challenging. It was also about 93 degrees, but since I train in the heat, it really did not phase me at all. As usual, the run was difficult for me where I walked about 1/2 of it. However, nothing wrong with that. I still finished in 13h 49m, which was only 20 minutes slower than my previous best in Arizona in 2008. So on a more difficult course with the conditions the way they were, I am totally happy with my time. This was also the first race where I relied solely on liquids and gels as nutrition. Worked like a champ. No stomach issues at all which was really nice for me. I know I needed more sodium because my legs were cramping a bit on the middle 10 miles of the run. That made it more challenging for me. However, I was having fun talking with people and walking with those who were struggling and interacting with the locals out on the course cheering as well as the volunteers. The crowds were awesome. I think the finish line had close to 5000 people lining it and nearly 20000 when the lead guy crossed it. It was very cool to climb the infamous Richter Pass and Yellow Lake and have 1000s of people lining the mountain tops cheering everyone on. Very Tour de France-like. I will definitely go back. I am going to shoot for the 30th anniversary in 2012.
As usual, I finished middle of the pack in my age group and about 1600 overall out of 2800, where over 350 did not finish, due to whatever reason.
Up next for Ironman: Ironman St. George, Utah on May 1, 2010. So I will enjoy a little recovery time and kick back into gear mid-next week. I have 3 more triathlons this year: Bakersfield, Carpentaria and the Magic Mountain Man 1/2 Ironman.
I want to say thank you to Jennifer for her unwaving and incredible support through my Ironman training. She is my inspiration and motivation to push forward. She is everything to me and I love that I do these races for God and her. And of course, thanks to my parents for driving up to Penticton to support me in race once again. And my in laws for keeping me in thoughts and prayer during the event even though they could not attend physically.
