Was this really happening?  Dreams and goals would be reached today as I slowly worked my way down the sea wall into the chilly water of Lake Pontchartrain.   I had a slight nauseating feeling in my stomach which I often experience anticipating the  unknown.   I think my fears were getting the best of me.

Hi, my name is Chad Soileau and this is my race report of swimming, biking and running the inaugural Ironman New Orleans 70.3.  Ironman New Orleans would be my first attempt at the half-Ironman distance triathlon which consisted of a 1.2 mile open water swim, a 56 mile bike and a 13.1 mile run.  

"SILVER CAPS.  MEN 35 - 39 ENTER THE WATER.  60 SECONDS TO YOUR START!  PLEASE MOVE DOWN THE RAMP TO THE START BUOYS," shouted the announcer over the PA system.

"There's no turning back now.  You can do this Chad.  You've been training since November for this race and as long as you stick to the plan you'll do fine," I thought to myself as I tried to position near the rear of my wave.

I wanted to prevent, or at least minimize any contact with other swimmers and positioning myself near the rear left of the start seemed to do the trick in the past.  The weeks leading up to the race saw me battling a 10 day bout of the worst gastrointestinal problems I've ever had and an injury where I slashed my foot open on a razor sharp oyster shell during a training swim in Lake Pontchartrain.   I was most concerned about the swim for IMNO for some reason.   Maybe it was because I hadn't done any open water swims since Pumpkinman in Lake Meade.   I was apprehensive and a little scared as the announcer shouted down 15 seconds.  

After a quick wave to Beth, who was standing on the shore, I heard the starter horn and my trek to the finish line of my first 70.3, half-Ironman distance race had begun.   The start buoy was situated in water that was around 3 - 4 feet deep.   The other participants and I hopped and splashed our way for the first 200 meters before the water got deep enough to finally swim.  My heart was beating wildly.

"CALM DOWN!   RELAX!   BREATHE!" I told myself over and over as I tried to slow my heart rate and establish a rhythm. 

Usually in my training sessions it does take me around 200 - 300 meters before I can really get into a groove.   Thankfully, the same thing happened today.   After around 300 meters I settled in, was no longer cold and started to establish a good pace.   I turned the first peninsula and was able to see the tower at the Lakefront Airport.   Someone in GNOTri told me that the swim was easiest if you sighted off the tower so that's what I did.   I did swim off course a few times like I was going to make the journey to Mandeville but I quickly corrected myself and did my best to keep the tower in sight.   I tried to draft off a few faster swimmers but I never could see their feet because the water was so cloudy (dirty).  Well, 45 minutes goes by and I can hardly believe it but my feet are touching the sandy substrate and I'm making my way out of the water.   The event that I thought I would have the most trouble with turned out to be the easiest of the day!

I literally stumbled up the bumpy landscape headed towards the wetsuit strippers coming out of the water.  I caught my balance at the last moment and was able to stay on my feet.   I hobbled like a drunk hobo up the embankment and plopped on my butt as one of the volunteers yanked my wetsuit off.  The cold water and being horizontal so long had me a little woozy as I entered T1. 

This transition area was by far the largest I'd ever experienced.   With over 3000 participants I guess it had to be big.  My spot was all the way on to the back, situated right in the middle which made it close to neither the bike or the run exit.   Seriously, it was at least a quarter mile from the exits.   I got to my spot and sat down to put on my socks and bike shoes.   I wasn't in a hurry and wanted to make sure that I was situated for my ride.   I sucked down a half pack of my honey gel, took a swig of Pedialyte then guzzled down a half bottle of electrolyte water.   After slipping on my helmet and sunglasses I un-racked my bike and clopped to the mount line. 

I have been on the Ironman New Orleans bike course somewhere around 15 times in the past six months.   I planned my long rides every other week to be on the course so I could be intimately familiar with all it's nuances.   Riding it that many times gave me the advantage of knowing where the wind usually was, where the hills (overpasses) were, where the house swallowing potholes were and where the flavor of the day dead animals (snakes, armadillos, rabbits, possum, deer) usually hung out.   Well, strangely enough, race day had a few curveballs for me and the end of the bike course is where the wheels started to fall off. 

THE PLAN stated that I was supposed to keep my heart rate at 125 for the duration of the bike.   Coming out of the swim I was pleased to see that my heart rate was hovering around 120 - 125.   I guess my excitement and competitive spirit got the best of me because I really hammered the bike for the first 40 miles.   I was averaging around 22 and feeling good.   So what's the problem?   The problem was I wasn't sticking to the plan.   My heart-rate was averaging 160, 35 beats above what THE PLAN called for.   I could hear Will Jones, my tri coach from 4th Dimension Fitness in my ear telling me that I need to "GO SLOW TO GO FAST" but I wasn't having any of it.   I felt good, this was my first half-Ironman and I wanted to go sub 6 hours!   Well...   I got taught a valuable lesson about Triathlon Economics. 

Triathlon Economics is a very simple concept.   You have a bank of money (energy) that you start out with at the beginning of the race.  You have a certain amount of money to spend on each of the three events.  My problem is that by mile 40 of the bike I had spent ALL my money.   Unlike the current situation in my government, Triathlon Economics doesn't have any bailouts.   I didn't have any money left for the rest of the bike and surely was gonna be flat broke for the run.

So what changed at mile 40?   The first thing that changed was the surprising sharp pain that I felt in my front shoulder as the friendly little hornet wedged his stinger through my jersey and my compression top.   I yelped out in pain and cursed as I flicked the critter off.  I'm sure he was equally as confused as he was only going about his day as a hornet flying around looking for some honey or some animal to bite.   I can only imagine what was going through his little hornet mind as this huge giant monster sweeps him up.   I dumped a the last bit of my precious water onto the bite hoping it would dull the pain.   I could already feel my arm starting to numb a bit as I avoided the next curveball the bike course had in store for me.   The virtually windless course up to that point turned and it turned in a very bad way.  The steady headwind was now blowing at a constant 10 mph with bursts up to 20.   My 22 mph average was slapped down to 15 mph.   I longed for the turn off of Paris road to Hayne Boulevard.   In all my training rides that was the point where the wind ceased and I could pick up speed all the way to the Lakefront Airport.  The course had an unpleasant surprise in store for everyone today.   The wind seemed to pick UP at that turn and smash everyone all the way back to transition!   The wind seemed to be so bad that going DOWN the overpasses and DOWN the bridge that spanned the Inter-coastal canal was equally as difficult.  The wind seemed to want to push me back up the hill.   The last 16 miles back to transition were brutal and I was literally spent.   I laughed at myself knowing that I still had a half-marathon to run.

Speeding into transition I didn't even bother considering doing a flying dismount.   I finished my bike course mere seconds under three hours.   I unclipped, avoided the speed bumps before the dismount line and hopped off the bike.   Right before I entered transition I got to see Beth and my mom & dad for the first time on the course.   Seeing them cheering me on gave me a little boost of energy that I really needed.  Their cheers helped push me to keep moving and to do what I came to do which was be finish the day as a half-Ironman.  The former 464 pound fat-boy-turned-triathlete shuffled into transition and continued on with the race.

I racked my bike and sat down to switch from the bike shoes to the running shoes.   I sucked down the rest of the Pedialyte and water that I had in my area and then headed out for the run.   I had my first small bout with the gastric-funhouse right before I left transition but it turned out to be a false alarm.   I hobbled out of transition to start my run.

If someone happened to be following my race online then they would have seem me have a great swim, and a good bike and on pace for sub 6 hour race if I had a good run.   I was just under 4 hours when I started the run.   Had I been able to put together a good half-marathon I was on pace for a sub-6 hour half-Ironman.   Well...   Unfortunately that wouldn't be the case today.

By this time of the day the humidity and the heat had really come on full force.   So much for the scattered showers that were predicted.   A nice spring shower would have been nice on the run but I had to settle for the kind folks that lived along the run course to spray me down with a hose or turn on their sprinkler.  My heart-rate was supposed to be at 135 for the run.  Even running as slow as I was it was still hovering around 165.  Nothing I could do, short of walking seemed to bring my heart-rate down.  I did run the first couple miles, keeping a slow 10 minute pace.  I really felt the exhaustion in my shoulders and it radiated down the center of my back.  Having to deal with the slow numbing of my arm from the wasp sting just made everything all the more 'special'.  I guess it was around mile 2 where I started to walk.   I unfortunately had no choice.  The thought of quitting never crossed my mind but I really didn't want to have to resort to walking.   My energy bank was depleted though so if I had to walk to cross the finish line I would walk.   At mile 2 I started a walk a mile run a mile routine which I maintained for the entire 13.1 miles.   Slowly the fellow BR Tri guys that I passed on the bike started to pass me.   It seemed that I was always in my 'walk-a-mile' phase when everyone caught up with me.  It was nice because I got to hang out for a bit and talk to Jeff Crow, Stephen Branscum, Stephen Hollinger, Tom Townsend, Christine Whitlow and Paul Esch, not to mention all the other BR Tri guys I saw, high fived and fist bumped.   Thanks guys, especially the guys that I walked with.   You helped the miles pass and motivated me to keep moving!  I also  know I'm extremely biased but we had the BEST looking uniforms on the course hands down!

I was pleased to see that port-o-johns were spaced around 500m apart on the run while I was on Lakeshore drive.  Some people judge races by the volunteer staff; some by the amount of aid stations; some by the overall organization.  Me, I judge the races by the amount of bathrooms and port-o-johns.   That's sad.  :)   I'd love to report that I didn't have any gastric distress on my first half-Ironman race, but alas I am Chad and the gastric distress seems to follow me like unicorns follow Patrick Keenan.  <--Inside joke.  :)   Around mile 4 the wave of panic came over me and I knew that I was around 30 - 40 seconds from disaster.  I sadly even contemplated running into the lake if the port-o-john was occupied.  Thankfully it was not.   20 minutes later I emerge from the sauna... err... port-o-john and continue back on the course.   Thankfully that was the longest episode but I did have to stop two additional times on the course for around 5 - 10 minutes each.  All in all I'm sure I wasted close to 40 minutes with gastric issues.  I ate really well last week, preparing for the race and carbo loading with pasta and fruit.   Nutrition on the course consisted of honey, Pedialyte, sips of Gatorade at the aid stations, Powerbar cola gel shot gummies and lots of water.  I had limited success with everything in training but this combination seemed to be what has worked best.   Oh well, back to the drawing board!

It was really nice to be off Lakeshore drive and into a somewhat shaded City Park.   I was faithfully sticking to my walk-a-mile, run-a-mile plan and it seemed to be working OK.  I was exhausted but I HAD to keep moving towards the finish line.   The course wound through parts of City Park and finally exited onto Esplanade.   Right before the course turned onto Esplanade I saw my buddy Hunter.   Hunter was the driving force behind me completing my first marathon last year.   He met me around the same spot where I was wanting to quit last year during the Mardi Gras Marathon.   I guess I can be considered 'breakin' the rules' because he did run alongside me for the next 3 miles down Esplanade.   It was really nice to have him there as we walked / ran and contemplated life.   Good stuff.  Thanks for showing up again bro!  You once again helped push me to the finish line.   At least this time I wasn't zombielike. 

800 meters to go as the run course made a 90 degree turn onto Decatur Street.   These moments, my friends, is what it's all about...   The tears started to well up in my eyes as I started to contemplate where I've been and where I'm going.   I seem to do that almost every time I work my way down to the finish lines... but this one was special.   It was a first and I don't get many of those.   I reflect back on how fortunate I am to have gone from the 464 pound man to the man I am today and how there would have been no way that I would have been able to run to my mailbox much less participate and complete a half-Ironman triathlon.  I didn't go on this journey alone.   I had the amazing support of family and friends. They are the ones that keep me going not only in triathlon but also in the journey to lose 262 pounds and live a healthy, active lifestyle.   Without that support I know that I wouldn't have been able to do any of what I do today.

So, hands down, this was the best finish line experience ever.   The tiny 3 foot path of the course down Decatur was surrounded on both sides by cheering spectators 5 - 10 people deep.   The triathletes WERE the Mardi Gras parade and the main attraction.   It's hard to explain the emotions and feeling of finally seeing the finish line in the distance.  I choked back the tears and high fived as many people as I could as I made my towards my 70.3, half-Ironman finisher's arch.   I glanced back to see if I had any competitors behind me and I didn't.  I would have the finish line all to myself!   I was overcome by pure joy as I heard my name announced as a finisher as I crossed under the finish line arch into the waiting arms of my friends and family.   7:27:39 was my official time.   I did it!  I completed my first 70.3 race and I am a half-Ironman! 

I gladly checked another goal off my goal list today.   I have to thank my parents for coming to show me the support I can always count on them for.  They cheered me the whole way and I was pleased to see their faces at the finish.   I also want to thank my girlfriend Beth for being my biggest fan.   She has graciously put up with my triathlon obsession and has been there every step of the way.   She's a trooper and I love her for it.  

What's next?   Only the most difficult half-Ironman triathlon in the country (maybe the world).   In 25 short days I will be participating in the Avia Wildflower half-Ironman distance triathlon in California.  Wildflower will be my biggest challenge to date short of the full distance courses I will be doing later this year.   You know me though...  I love a good challenge.   Humph...  Wildflower, Shmildflower - IT'S ON!

Thanks for reading my account of my experience with Ironman New Orleans 70.3.  I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing and living it.