Sean's 70.3

Dear Family

As some of you have heard I ran a race this past Sunday.
And I use the word ran with a very loose definition.
Better stated, I was in a race.
And truth be told, finishing and not requiring hospitalization were my 2 goals
Actually, not requiring hospitalization was really my main goal
Some may say that the fact that I entered, in fact,shows I could probably use hospitalization.
And when a spot opens in a nice wing of a Swiss psychiatric clinic I'll be there.
But until then I will probably continue to push some boundaries Right now however I am having some trouble pushing myself out of the chair. I am in a little pain.

The race was the first ever Ironman 70.3 held in Asia. It is called 70.3 because it is half a full Ironman I don't think the participants wanted to be called half-Ironmen. Anyway it is a distance that is catching on in the world of tri-athletes. As a matter of fact the reigning world champion competed in this race

As many of you know, the Ironman started in the 70's.
Some arguments were had as to which were the better athletes swimmers, bikers, or runners. So some sadist thought, let's find out by having each athlete do each sport, one after the other. I think it was in the late seventies that the first Ironman was held.
The original and still considered the ultimate race was held in Hawaii
Athletes were to swim 2.4 miles in the open sea
Get out, hop on a bike and pedal 112 miles
Drop the bike and run a full 26.2 mile marathon
The first one across the finish line was the first IRONMAN.

The race enjoyed a small but fanatic following for a few years
I actually remember watching some of the races on WW of Sports
By the mid eighties, Europeans and Australians started joining
Other races were held around the world and the Hawaiian race
became something of a world championship

I am not sure which came first,
the world wide explosion of races and participants or
Brendan competing in these races in the eighties.
Nor am I certain one didn't cause the other.
With or without a causal link,
Brendan did in fact ride the wave, so to speak.
I am not sure how many he in fact competed in but I am certain
he was better prepared then I was Sunday morning.

I actually competed in a triathlon in about 86 or 87.
I swam a mile in a lake
biked 25 miles in a park and
ran a 10K (6.2 miles) to finish
I remember having prepared by swimming and running
Thinking back, I remember thinking
Boy that was stupid
I should have done some biking to be better prepared
Remembering that lesson I did in fact bike to prepare for this race

Those distances became the standard for the Olympic triathlon
I forget when
but the triathlon became an Olympic sport
maybe at the end of the eighties?
The Olympic distances are 1.5k swim, 40k bike and 10k run
I thought of those distances on Sunday

This Singapore Ironman 70.3 was an inaugural event
As such it got a lot of extras
We were the first to (legally) bicycle across our highest bridge
We were the first in Singapore to ride on an expressway
We are actually the only Ironman 70.3 in the world
to have the whole race entirely in the city limits
Singapore did it right
Some downtown streets were closed
We ran through the business district
They put up a barrier and gave us an express lane
Which by the way had a terrific view sine the city is at sea level
and we were up above the streets for that part of the race
The transition from bike to run and the finish line
were on the largest floating stage in the world
which had been built to have the National Day Parade.
During the NDP there were probably 10,000 plus people on stage
There weren't that many at this race but it was still pretty exciting
running in front of the stands and finishing on stage.

The race it self goes off in waves with the elites taking off at about 7:15
Then the physically challenged athletes went
I thought I should be in that group
Next went all the women
And for some reason,
the start of the age group waves began with
the 18 - 24 year olds and the 50+
IN THE SAME WAVE.
The start is a mad rush into the water by hundreds of sleek bodies
OK not everybody was sleek
But the three of us with over 20% body fat still had to rush into the water
Needless to say I had to swim over the backs of some young guys
I say I was trying to pass them,
they may say I was hanging on for the ride

I will say that I looked a bit out of place
I am not kidding when I say I only saw three people
with 35+ inch waists
And I can still remember back in 1984 when I had a 35" waist

Other races I have been in always had the weekenders
the guys that were just in the race to have fun and finish
I didn't see any of them in this race
Truth be told, Five minutes before the start I was wondering
where all my mates were
the guys you knew would be bringing up the rear
You don't know them before the race but you form a bond at the end
I didn't see any of them there
At least not with swim suits on

That is why I thought I should have been in the PC group
I guess I'm glad I wasn't
I walked over from our bikes to the beach with a guy with one leg
We talked a bit
In the back of my mind I thought, surely,
over the course of 1.2 miles I will pass him in the water.
I didn't
Actually I don't know when he got out of the water
But I do know he beat my final time by 2 hours and 23 minutes
I did not beat any PC athlete that completed the race

Anyway back to the swim
It was 250 meters straight out
Turn left, swim into the rising sun for 800 meters
(remember the sun rises here about 7am)
Turn let again, and swim toward shore for 150 meters
Turn left again and swim 600 meters
Turn right and swim 100 meters to shore
That's 1900 meters if you swim straight
Which I did for 250 meters
Then I turned left and followed the crowd
There were four huge buoys where you made the turns
Then every 200 or so meters there was a smaller round orange ball
Well I don't know about you but even in my younger years
I'm not sure I could see 800 meters while in water
with about one foot swells
Well neither could the guy at the front of my pack
I'd say at least 50 of us started heading to one of the return buoys
I was probably 30 meters away from an orange ball when I noticed
a lot of people swimming toward that same buoy
from the opposite direction
That is not good, I thought,
Man, all those elite athletes are swimming off course.
It didn't take a rocket scientist to realise I might be off course
Which was good because
There were no rocket scientists with me at the time
But a bout 50 of us sighted the correct bearing
which at the time was directly into the sun
Convenient but a bit bothersome
It was about the third turn when I thought
That 1500 meter Olympic distance sure makes sense
But I finished at the beach in 49 minutes 29 seconds
Great time for me even with the slight detour
I was figuring on an hour

Now most triathletes run to their bikes
They will get some water on the way and maybe a protein gel
They slip their feet, sans socks,
into their bike shoes which are already clipped to the pedals
and they are off, still in their wet suit
These suits have a bit of padding for the bike ride
and dry quick.
The athletes swim, bike, and run in the same outfit

I don't
I walked to my bike
Had some water, had a protein gel, got my bag
and headed to the changing tent
In Singapore they didn't want folks changing in the parking lot
I took off my bathing suit and put on some bike shorts
With a lot of padding
Put on a pair of socks and bike shoes
The elites run the 100 meters from sea to bike and
50 meters out of the transition area (no riding in this area)
in under two minutes
I took almost 15
But I expected that so I was still ahead of schedule by 10-15 minutes

I hopped on my bike and was on my way
In my training I have been riding at about 25k per our
Not terrifically fast but steady
This pace if I kept it
would allow me to finish the 90k in under four hours
Being realistic,
and having not bicycled more then 50k straight in, oh,
25 YEARS
I planned to take the whole four hours to do the ride.
Anyway I am off at about 24-25k per hour pace
I know it is a cliche but
The other athletes passed me like I was standing still
The elites (which I never saw) averaged 43- 45 k per hour
For those stateside, I was averaging 15 mph, they were at 28 mph

The route was 10k from the sea to the stadium
then 4 laps of 20k each
I think it would be fair to say that the only people I passed
were on the curb fixing flat tires
I thought I passed one of the PC athletes
who was pedalling by hand in a very modified wheelchair
But as I went by the stadium to start my 3rd lap
he turned in finishing his fourth
More then once I thought
boy, that Olympic distance of 40k seems perfectly reasonable
I did finish the bike leg
though it seemed to go on as long as this email
The time 4 hours 8 minutes 18 seconds
Which includes whatever time I used to transition to the bike

Now again the elites hop off the bikes
they do slip on running shoes
as the bike shoes are still attached to the bike
and take off
There is water,electrolytes, protein, bananas
within 50 meters of the transition
I didn't see them but it wouldn't surprise me
if they transition in under a minute
I took 10 -15

Again I changed out of my bike costume
and into running shorts, shirt and thick padded socks
to cushion and prevent blisters
and a nice pair of running shoes
Here I was able to sit in a chair to change
The first transition you sit on the parking lot
That chair felt good
But I had miles to go before I sleep
It actually felt great to walk
or at least to be off the bike
Basically we had 2 ten kilometre laps
then a 1.1k loop to enter the stage

My plan was to walk a bit to get my legs back
I hoped to slowly jog in the shade and to walk if I was in the sun
It did feel good to be on solid ground
My plan here was to go at a steady clip of basically fast walking
Last spring when I was walking for exercise
If I walked fast and steady, I averaged 15 minutes a mile
If I jogged the straight aways and walked the curves I brought that down
to 12 - 13 minutes a mile
I was realistic
Remember, I biked and swam to prepare for this race
I hadn't been able to put in many miles on foot
Especially after hurting my foot this summer
So I thought 15 - 17 minutes per mile was doable

A marathon is 26.2 miles
so this is 13.1 miles
I ran a half marathon in 1979 in Phelps, NY at the sauerkraut festival
At the time I was running about 50 miles a week
I did the race in just over two hours
15 minutes per mile is just over three hours for 13.1 miles
Certainly doable

I won't bore you more with the details of the run (walk)
But there were two complete downpours
Pretty typical for Singapore
My shorts and shirt and hat are quick dry
The rain felt good

Remember those thick padded socks
They may have been quick dry also
If it didn't rain the second time
or there were ways to cross the huge puddles
Basically I walked in sopping wet socks for about ten miles
(The padding felt great the first three dry miles)

In any case
I did try to jog a couple times
but it never lasted more then three or four steps

That is until the end
As I entered the stadium area
the announcer said
"Hey guy in the yellow shirt
The official clock stops in three minutes
Who is this guy ... 251... Sean Murray
Hey Sean you have about two minutes and 30 seconds
Crowd can we get a rousing cheer for Sean here
Let's bring him in to finish the inaugural Singapore Ironman 70.3"

And the crowd, what remained of the crowd
stomped their feet on the metal bleachers
and let out whoops and hollers
I forgot my feet, knees, back, shoulders, and neck
and slowly jogged through the finish
with 8:58:21 showing on the clock

My walk time was 3:49:58 (including the second transition)
Meaning if I had started my walk
when the winner started the race
I would have beat him to the finish line by one second
Yes that is right
The winner crossed the line,
from first splash to last step,
in 3hours 49 minutes 59 seconds

Since the clock started at the gun
and I was in the fourth wave
my actual time was
8 hours 48 minutes and 18 seconds

I can tell you for certain
I did not pass anyone
who didn't pass me later
or who dropped out of the race

I also personally thanked every volunteer
who was still at their post on my first walking lap
I wasn't sure they would still be at their post
An hour and half later when I passed this way again
And I was right
There were a few still on the route on my second lap
and if they were there I shook their hands
They should have given me a wagon
I could have picked up the cones along the way
as no was behind me


There was supposedly 1300 who signed up for the race
The race results seem to indicate 838 athletes started the race
which breaks down to 676 individuals and 54 teams of three
Forty nine teams finished
Six hundred forty individuals finished
I know as I finished 640th
Thirty six DNF or were DQ'd for some reason

I can tell you that 61 of 66 men and women
older then me finished ahead of me
And I finished ahead of the current 70.3 world champion

This was truly the hardest physical thing I have ever done
And it was an amazingly inspiring day
And when the pain goes away
I am going to be really happy I
trained, entered, participated, and finished

Thanks for listening/reading

sean