Extraordinarily Brutal yet Beautiful

I don’t know why but I did not get excited about the race till halfway through the 4 hour drive south from Tel-Aviv to Eilat. I was not nervous nor had butterflies in my stomach. Perhaps it was because I was pretty confidence that I trained right or perhaps it was because I just considered the race as a mile stone in my training for Brazil. It does not matter why, fact is that I was not to excited. On the way down Anat fell asleep and I got some time to think and picture myself going through the course. At this point I made the decision that most likely I am not going to do this race again so why not give it all I got. And so I ditched the idea of changing from my speedo to my bike shorts and then to my running shorts. I was going to do the race in my Tri Shorts, race as opposed to doing a brick training, and use this as a mini simulation (even though it is much tougher) for what is to come in Brazil. In fact, I told myself that if I can finish the race without walking or resting on the bike Brazil will be a piece of cake (or so I hope).
All of a sudden at the distance I saw Eilat’s hotels lit the sky and it was awesome…. Excitement kicked in!

Considering I had no prior experience of an Ironman event this one felt pretty well organized. Well for Israeli standards that it.
It is a small race with about 380 competitors so you can get to know people. We talked to people from NY, Chicago, Switzerland, Finland, England among other places.

Here is a countdown of how things went down:

Pre-Race
Race horn minus 13 hours – the air in the room was full of stress as Anat and I were preparing our race gear
Race horn minus 12 hours – bike check-in, run bag check-in (pray that nothing is left out and that the bag makes it to the top of the mountain)
Race horn minus 11 hours – pasta dinner
Race horn minus 10 hours – prepare race nutrition
Race horn minus 8 hours – Lights Out
Race horn minus 2 hours – wake up, Elvis sandwich (no bagels), and coffee.
Race horn minus 1.25 hours – check and make sure the bike is still there and give it a pat for good luck.
Race horn minus 1 hour – put on the wetsuit
Race horn minus 30 minutes – go down to the beach and see how the waves picked up instead of the nice and calm waters of the previous day
Race horn minus 5 minutes – high five Raanan for good luck, kiss Anat one last time before we meet again at the finish line
Race horn…. What race horn? Just get in the water and start, that’s what everyone is doing so it must have started… go go go…

Swim – 39min
Apparently I pulled the wetsuit a bit to high. As soon as I started to swim I felt my cojones (testicles) in my throat. I tried to swim through the pain but it was just unbearable. I flipped over and pulled my suit as far down as possible, which is not to much once you close it. That did the trick and the rest of the swim was amazing. I had a strong swim and got out of the water feeling good.
I am in the top right. Identified myself by conducting forensic research – its my hand, watch, and wetsuit.

Raanan, is that you taking a breath?

I transitioned a bit slowly thinking of the huge mountain I will soon be conquering.

Bike – 4:08:00
Great thing I changed my crank two weeks ago. My bike shifted with no problems, amazing! (this statement is dedicated to Anat)
It is impressing to see how the mountain changed in size since I last rode on it in November. It must be something in the earth. I don’t remember it being this short, not windy, and only 16% instead of the 45% it used to be… unreal! (see course elevation map below)
Well I really enjoyed the ride up and all the way to the turning point at the 54th kilometer. Then it hit me. Literally, it hit me. WIND!!!
It took me 2 hours to cover the 54Km which included the huge hill. Then it took me another 2 hours to do the 36km return against the wind. Do you get the picture?

Run – 1:49:31
The transition from the bike to the run was smooth. Running down hill for about 14km and then flat for another 7km was fast.
I was flying down and just praying that my knees would not pop out of place. The pain was unbearable at the 16th kilometer. Then I picked up the pace and the adrenaline of the finish was kicking in to make the pain go away.
I could not believe it. I was about to complete my first half ironman.

2 years to the date Raanan basically forced me into running and now I was racing a half ironman.
Coming to think of it, if Raanan would not have helped get my a$$ running I would have missed on:
1. Meeting Anat
2. Run marathons (PR 3:57:00)
3. Race in triathlons
4. Set an Ironman goal

Finish Line – 6:48:23

Anat was there to give me a finishers kiss.
My sister, aunt, uncle, Anat’s parents and coach, other people whom I just met, were all there cheering. Amazing!!! You are all a great support crew and I (we, the third wheel) are grateful.
I was happy that the medal we got was actually a descent one. Normally in Israel the medals are small and crapy to put it nicely.

In the evening we went back to see some of the Iron distance finishers. Waw, can’t believe I will become one very soon.

Course elevation map: