I flew to Phoenix last weekend for the Tempe Triathlon, half-ironman distance. A friend and fellow ex-dub was putting together a relay team and asked me to be the runner. He named us "The Apostates".
I have been training to run a marathon since the end of August so the half-marathon distance of 13.1 miles fit right into my training schedule. Steve and I were anxious to escape the cold weather and enjoy a warm weekend for a change. I was anxious to see what kind of time I was capable of running the half in. Last March I ran my first half-marathon in a respectable but not terribly impressive 2:06:51. I was hoping to improve my time by at least 10-15 minutes.
The weather Sunday was perfect, clear and sunny. Our swimmer (never been a dub) had a bad time of it. His wetsuit was too tight and he had trouble with his breathing so he struggled a bit. He finished the 1.2 mile swim in just under 42 minutes. He passed the timing chip to my friend Jeff (some of you met him in Oregon at Dakota Red's last July) who made up the lost time on the swim and averaged 20.2 miles per hour on his 56 mile bike ride. Jeff passed the chip to me, I put it on my ankle and was off on my 13.1 mile run. It was hot. I was dying but managed to finish in 1:47:51. Exactly 19 minutes better than my previous half marathon. I averaged 8:14 minute mile splits. We had a team total time of 5:19:33. We plan to do it again next year but we'll substitute Steve for the swimmer and have a true "Team Apostate".
