Honu Half Ironman

*sigh*
Well last weekend I participated in the Ford Ironman 70.3 Hawaii. It is a half ironman distance triathlon that consists of a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run. It all started a few days before the race when I started to get a sore throat. I tried to ignore it and just have fun the few days before the race.
I woke up race morning with a brutally sore throat and my head in a fog. I had breakfast at 4:30am, got to the race start and set up my transition area. I was feeling better before the swim and thought nothing of it. We started the swim and I felt that I had an advantage knowing the it was going to be chaos. There were about 1000 of us all swimming in the same direction to the same buoy. I didn't get kicked or hit too much, but I couldn't stay on course to save my life. I was swimming out towards Maui, back towards the beach, all over the place. I nearly hit the water patrol guys on surfboards, more than once. I was still happy with my swim time of 29:22.
I ran to my bike hearing friends yell words of encouragement. It feels really good to hear them at a race. I jumped on my bike and things moved along smoothly. The Queen Ka'ahumanu Hwy was typically hot and there was hardly any wind. I had a great bike out to the turnaround point. My nutrition was all working well and the after the turnaround it is supposed to be all down hill. Literally. After turning around in Hawi, you descend for about 7 miles. Boy does that feel good. At about mile 50, I got a flat tire. I pulled over, watched some friends go by (Aubrey and Wen) inflated my tire rather easily, and rode back to the transition area. The 56 mile bike took me 2 hours and 48 minutes, including my flat tire. After inflating my tire, I couldn't seem to get back into the rhythm of things.
The run started out fairly normal: Wanted to puke, hated running, thought that triathlons were a huge waste of time. You know, the usual. I made it the first two miles at a good pace, and then really wanted to throw up. I walked to the next aid station (something I have never done before) and tried to continue running. I made it about 50 feet when my legs didn't want to run anymore. I decided to try and walk to the next aid station where I would start running again. I made it to mile 3 and drank some water, then some more, and then tried to run again. No dice. As friends went by, I would try to run with them, but my legs wouldn't let me.
My mind was telling my legs to move, but my body wasn't listening. For the first time in my life I did not finish the race. I thought about walking the next 9 miles in the heat of the sun, but I was out to achieve a goal (under 5 hours) and not just finish the race. Looking back, I don't think that I drank enough water. I think that having strep throat (which I also gave to Danielle) did not help either.
I am proud to say that me Team Jet group that has been listening to me spout off about how I know everything that has to do with triathlons did very well. Do as I say, not as I do...