Good Luck Coach B!!!

Coach B, aka Beaker, is doing her "A" race tomorrow in Hawaii, which is a 1/2 Ironman (Honu; 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run). She is on a journey for one of the coveted Ironman World Championship slots. She has been working hard for several years to meet her goal and each year she keeps getting faster. Remember, we eat wind sandwiches for breakfast! That's what Jason always tries to tell me when we are battling the Turnagain winds! The Honu is a brutal race due to the extreme heat and winds as well as a difficult swim, run and bike course.

Some of you might not know what it takes to qualify for the Ironman World Championships that are in Kona, Hawaii every year in October. For most people, they could train their entire life and not be within reach of getting to Kona. The people that get an IM slot are almost freaks of nature. You seriously have to be the best swimmer, best biker and finish that with a smokin fast run time. The people that win the IM slots could hands down compete with an athlete that solely focused on one of the three sports. The IM slots are given away in each age group (30-34,35-39, etc). The number given to each group depends upon how many people are in the age group and varies between men and women. Generally there are more male slots because there are more men racing. There is no way to plan a certain time that you need to race in order to win a slot. It all depends on who shows up to race that day; you need to be faster than your competitors! As the popularity of triathlon grows, so does the speed at which athletes are finishing these races.

There is one other way to get to Kona....and that is how I plan to make it there some day! There is a lottery in which 150 US residents are supposedly "randomly" selected to participate with all of the other athletes that earned their slot. I put in for it every year and every year I just know my name will get drawn out of the hat. So far, I am still waiting!

Good luck, Coach B! You won't need your name out of a hat, you will EARN your slot, which is way more awesome!!!