1. I travelled to Clarksville with my friend Johnny to run in the inaugural Clarksville Half Marathon on Saturday morning. My goal was 1:47, an 8:11 pace. There were several great things about this race: The weather was AWESOME. Couldn't have asked for a prettier day. The course was very scenic and not terribly difficult. There was a couple of rolling hills, but nothing major. Rolling hills keep things interesting. The entire event, which also included a 5K and a kids' fun run, was very well organized. I will definitely go back next year and hopefully will take some friends and clients. The only big gripe of mine was the wind. Man, did it get windy around mile 7!!! Clarksville is known for wind so I shouldn't have been surprised, but it still sucked. When I looked at my splits, I could definitely see when I turned into the wind and also when I got out of it. Even with the wind, though, I hit my goal: 1:46:43. Woot!
2. While I was battling the wind, my client Keith was enjoying what I hear were near-perfect conditions in Wilmington, NC at the Beach 2 Battleship Iron Distance Triathlon. This was his first attempt at this distance, and it was his last race of his first year in triathlon. (He did do one triathlon a year or so ago, but I would call this summer his first true racing season.) He emailed me about a month ago and asked if I thought he could go sub-12 hours given his half Iron distance time of 5:45. I told him that I don't really condone setting a time goal for yourself on your first Iron distance race. You might do all of the best training in the world (which, of course, he did - I was his coach after all!) but you still don't know what's going to happen when you put everything together. Knowing him, however, I knew he'd still set a time goal for himself, so I gave it some thought and said that I felt he'd finish between 11:30-12:30. Fast forward to Saturday evening: Keith crossed the finish line in 11:49! Woot!! I haven't talked to him personally so I don't know exactly how it all went, but I'm sure he's pleased with his day and with his time.
3. Also racing the long distance for the first time on Saturday was Stan. He was down in Panama City Beach, Florida at Ironman Florida. I checked on him all day long on Ironman Live and while I was at a local high school production of Wizard of Oz with my family, he crossed the finish line in 13:18! Woot!!! Stan and I met last Sunday at a nearby Starbucks to go over things. He told me that he had been very emotional in the last several weeks, just thinking about the day and that finish line and Mike Reilly saying, "Stan Smith, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!!!" I can only imagine the tears in his eyes as he threw his arms up in the air. His dad had travelled down there with him on Tuesday so he was there to see the entire day. His wife and 2 daughters drove down early Saturday morning and got there to see him out on the run. I have no doubt that they are incredibly proud of Stan.
So, if I had one more good race report for you it would've been a perfect weekend for Team Honeycutt. However, I sadly do not. Dee started the Miami Man 1/2 Iron Distance Triathlon this morning but had to drop out. Her body was fine, her training was where it needed to be, but some harsh words said by volunteers out on the swim course killed her spirit and the strong winds blowing a storm into the Miami area broke her body down. We spoke on the phone this afternoon and while she's sad, she's okay. She's going to enjoy the rest of her much-needed vacation and when she comes back we're going to regroup and get her back on track. Unfortunately not every race can go the way we want it to, and she got to experience this today. These are the experiences that make us stronger, in a sick way.
(This is my favorite picture of Dee, taken last year at mile 70 of the bike course at Ironman Florida. It has a very "Where's Waldo?" feel to it. She needs to learn how to pee while riding her bike so that she doesn't have to pull over and find some bushes to squat in!)
Coming this week: the beginning of Monday's Move of the Week and details of my winter running program!
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