Honolulu Tri

Honolulu Tri is a lot different than the other local races here on the island, because more than half of the competitors come from Japan.  It makes me think of racing in Greece where I didn't speak the language and I didn't always know what people were saying.  It's nice because there are new faces, which mean new people to race against.  Lastly year I placed third, and this year I recognized some names from last year-but I knew that I was in better shape this year-so I tried not to set any pre-race expectations.

As the gun went off-we were off.  I was able to get into the elite wave, which meant we got to start first-so the water and roads were nice and clear.  The swim was a big aggressive at first-which is common, but within 300m I found Michelle's feet and swam there till the first turn-around.  At the turn-around she picked it up, but I was only 5-10m behind, which is huge for me!  When I first starting swimming with Michelle she told me that the only reason why she's faster is because she swims more-so I said, 'I can swim more'.  So I did. And I've gotten faster.  I don't know where I get my motivation from.  I really enjoy the training and the process.  As I've said before-I race to train--instead of training to race...did I get that right?  I like training better and feel like I need to race so it makes sense why I train so much.

Anyways, as I got out of the swim we were off on the bike.  I was by myself the whole ride.  The Japanese girls are really good swimmers-they were one of the first athletes out of the water, but I knew that they weren't very strong on the bike but that they were strong runners.  First off, they were all on road bikes-which weren't very aero.  So I had my job-catch the girls on the bike.  And throughout the ride I caught all but one.  I was also a bit worried about some of the local girls and didn't know if they were going to catch me-so I wasn't riding comfortable.  There are a lot of turn arounds, so you can see where you are amongst the competition and I couldn't see anyone riding up on me-but I was still riding a bit scared.  I finished the bike in second-so I just had one girl to catch on the run.

The run course was a flat 10k.  Last year I was just getting over plantar fasciitis , so my run wasn't very strong-but I've been feeling really confident in my running lately-so I was ready to have a fast run.  I wasn't too far behind the first place women.  She was running out of transition as I was running in-so I had her in my sight.  Of course I didn't want to start too fast-but I also had work that needed to be done.  I ran a good steady effort and just after the 5k mark I run up behind her to make the pass.  I wasn't sure if when I passed her if she was going to come with me-which I didn't really want to happen..and luckily it didn't.  I turned around a couple of times during the run to check-but I also had a couple of men in front of me that I was trying to pass-so that kept me going at a good pace.

Overall this was a great race for me.  Everything came together.  My body felt good and I was able to break the tape against some strong Japanese girls.  Although you don't win anything-it's good for me to have some different competition and to feel like I am racing.  This race was good prep for Honu!