This weekend we were able to volunteer at the 2nd annual Beach2Battleship Triathlon here in Wilmington. The tri has both a half and a full Ironman distance race. If you ever get the chance to volunteer at any race of any distance, I would highly reccommend it! The athletes are so inspiring and they are working so hard. And I know from racing that the little bit of encouragement received from the volunteers is always appreciated and sometimes desperately needed. It’s also a great way to see just how things work. You can watch the participants and pick up tips on things they are doing that you might not have even thought of. And you can see things that you thought would work that seem to bomb.
All in all, we had a great day directing cyclists, watching finishers, and cheering for all! Congratulations to everyone that finished both the half iron and full iron distance! Next year I will be among the half ironman finishers. We were even able to pick up 4 participants leaving the battleship and give them and their bikes a ride to their hotel in Wrightsville Beach. They did not need to try and get across town after finishing a half ironman! We really enjoyed talking with them and getting to know them a bit during the 30 minute drive.
Speaking of next year, I am still training. Saturday was a scheduled rest day so Wrigley and I walked 2 miles in the morning. Sunday we ran 3 miles disappointingly slow. My average for each mile was 19:29. And boy was I consistant, the first mile was 19:28, the second was 19:30 and the final mile was 19:29.
Today we ran 2 miles and the pace was a bit better, an average of 18:45 min/mile.
I do have sort of a goal change for the next 5 months. On Friday we were at Bike Cycles, a local bike shop, picking up our volunteer t-shirts and I noticed a flier for the inagural Wrightsville Beach marathon to be held in March of 2010. Well, I decided if I’m going to train, I might as well run a marathon! So, I found an 18 week marathon training plan online and counted 19 weeks until the marathon and figured it was fate!
With all that said, here is my training plan for the rest of the week.
Tuesday (11/10) 3 mile run with speed work
Wednesday (11/11) rest day
Thursday (11/12) 6 mile run
Friday (11/13) 2 mile run
Saturday (11/14) rest day
The six miles on Thursday kind of scares me, but I’ll make it through. I’ll let you know how it goes…..
Still Tri-ing!
THANK YOU!! The volunteers were wonderful out there! Go get that marathon!
I was very impressed with the volunteers at Beach2Battleship. Triathletes (and runners) often say that “they couldn’t do it without” the volunteers, and while it seems cliché during a short run, a 140-mile race really demonstrates to the athlete how dependent on volunteer help they really are.
Thank you!