2008 Gulf Coast Triathlon Race Report - Bruce Gennari
Posted in Racing by Bruce GennariI know, I know, this is a late race report. Well, I guess better late than never. The new job has got me pretty busy. I’ve been traveling quite a bit in the past couple of weeks. Now I am at home and things have seemed to settle down for the time being. So, I thought I’d sit down and tell you all (or Ya’ll for you in the South) how things went down in the 26th Annual Gulf Coast Half Ironman.
The week prior to Gulf Coast I was back in California. Santa Ana, California to be precise. And no, this trip wasn’t as fun as my previous trip to California. It was a MedAvant Sales Meeting that lasted all week. And while it was good to meet the people I was going to work with I was wishing I could have been back in Nashville, TN preparing for the upcoming half that was looking me right in the face. I was definitely outside my comfort zone and was just going to have to make due with what I had. Adapt and overcome!
I flew into California on Monday and immediately got checked into the hotel. The first thing I did was look at the workout facilities. Well, how about the lack of workout facilities. At least they had something that looked like a bike in there. It was one of those recumbent bike machines. Hey, at least it simulated biking. The pool was 4.7 feet wide and 2 feet deep. Swimming was going to be a challenge. Looks like my flip turns are going to get a whole lot better. Just kidding. I brought a stretch cord with a belt affixed to it so I could do some stationary swimming. It’ll do in a pinch. Running, well, I could do that outdoors. I was set. Rest easy!
So, the week was all about day long meetings and eating. I ate a ton. Hey, it wasn’t my dime that was buying the food. At the beginning and end of each day I was trying to get in some kind of workout. These weren’t exactly high quality efforts. But, I did get some work in. I kept telling myself that it was OK that I was supposed to be resting this week anyway. Power of the mind!
The week did come to a quick close. Thank goodness. I needed to get to Panama City. In order to do so I had to take some drastic measures. I took a “red eye” from Orange County, California at 7:44 that night and arrived in Birmingham, Alabama at 8:30 the following morning. I could give you all the details but let’s just say that there wasn’t a whole lot of sleep involved in this event. I did get to see a couple get kicked off the Las Vegas to Charlotte leg of my venture. That was quite cool.
So, once I arrived in B’ham my wife and kids picked me up at the airport. Drove to my Mom’s house, picked her and my nephew up and away we went! My Mom has been making going to Panama City with us an annual event ever since my Dad passed away. She has a great time and the kids, Tammy and I love having her there. My nephew, William, is also a welcomed person as he really keeps the kids occupied most of the weekend.
The drive (yes, I drove) down to Panama City was uneventful. We rolled into the city at about 3:30 in the afternoon. I immediately headed over to the expo, got checked in, bought a few items for the race and then headed down towards the condo that we were staying at for the weekend. I have to give props to Cynthia Smith for her place down in Panama City. It’s very roomy, very clean, right next to the beach and it’s also on the run course. If you’re ever down in Panama City and you’re looking for a place to stay I highly recommend it. You can see her place here http://www.findvacationrentals.com/10080.
At this point I am so tired I can’t even see straight. All I want to do is get some sleep. I got my gear ready for the following morning, went for a quick bike and run and then ate dinner with the “gang”. Yep, Sonny’s all you can eat BBQ. I am really picky for pre – race meals as you can see. Got back to the condo, got the kids to bed and then went to sleep myself. It was 10:00 and I feel asleep at 10:00 plus two (2) seconds. I don’t even remember falling asleep.
5:00 the following morning the alarm goes off. I sit up and have no idea where I am. It was quite freaky. I finally got my bearings and it dawned on me, HOLY CRAP! I’ve got a race to do this morning. And not just any race, a half Ironman. This was going to be interesting. I could have slept for ten (10) more hours. So, after gathering up all my gear and eating I was out the door, heading down towards transition. Actually I had to be driven down to transition as it was over five (5) miles away.
Once into Transition I got all my gear set up and headed for the beach. Looking at the surf I knew that a lot of people were going to have a rough time. The professionals had already taken off and were already half way through the swim. I was in the 11th wave. I had a little time to mull over how I was going to race this day. I came to the conclusion that I was going to just do my best with what I had on this day. That’s about all anybody can do on any race day I thought to myself.
Once my toes where in the water and listening for the horn I switched to race mode. Horn sounded and I was off. The surf was rather big about ten (10) yards out. I dolphin-dived under a couple good size waves and was swimming. About fifteen (15) more yards out you hit a sandbar. More waves and more dolphin-diving. After that things were a bit better. The ocean was very choppy and sighting was difficult. Add to that the outbound site buoys were green (yeah, who make that decision) and you kind of get the picture of a very zig-zaggy swim. I was all over the place. I finally got a bead on the turn-around buoy and headed straight for it. I was passing people left and right. Once I got to the turn-around buoy I knew things would get better. I was finally able to get into a groove with my stroke. I altered it a bit as I took shorter strokes but really concentrated on stretching my arms out once they were underwater. This worked very well and before I knew it I hit the shore. Took a glance at my watch and say 23:44. Not too shabby I thought.
Running to T1 I took off my Blue Seventy Wetsuit (http://www.blueseventy.com/) and ran as fast as I could. Now, I could sit here and “gush” over the Blue Seventy Helix but I’d just be preaching to the choir. It’s the best wetsuit I’ve used (and I’ve used a lot in my day) BAR NONE. Dean Jackson and the boys have really done themselves proud. I can’t wait to get to use the speed suit! Here’s a pic of me heading towards T1:

Into T1, off with the wetsuit and on with the bike shoes, helmet and sunglasses. Wasn’t’ the fastest transition but it’ll do. I have been accused in the past of having a “tea party” in transition. Well, this time was no exception.
Out on the road you could immediately tell that the wind was up. Heading North you would have a tail wind. Heading back South, well, that was a different story. I got into a fairly good groove right from the get go. No issues with lack of sleep. This was a good sign. I was experiencing some soreness in and around my knees but I figured that would go away once I got “warmed up” on the bike.
I was passing a lot of people at this point and giving encouragement to all the people that I knew. It’s amazing how many people you know out there on the road. I was cruising on the Front Beach roads and really having a good time. The Trek 9.5 (http://www.trekbikes.com/) was cutting through the wind like nobody’s business. I had also chosen not to ride a disc wheel this day because of the strong winds. I rode an Aeolus 6.5 (http://www.bontrager.com/) in the back and an Aeolus 5.0 in the front. The front was a loaner from my local bike shop as the 6.5 I got had some issues with the carbon bulging out when a pumped up wheel was on it. As of today I’ve got the wheel back and am ready to put it through its paces. Pic of me on the road.

Anyway, out on the road things were shaping up quite well. Then it happened. I was on Highway 388 and heading towards the turn-around point on the race. I was passing people pretty regularly and not having any issues. We’ll I was about to. About 600 meters from the turnaround I came up on a group of people who were riding in the middle of the road. Evidently the right hand of the road was very, very rough and they were trying to avoid it. I would have avoided it as well. Anyway, I came up on this “pack” of riders pretty quickly and moved over to the left to pass. Evidently I scared the crap out of the first rider I passed. He yelled WHOA and then proceeded to turn right into me. Ok, survival mode started kicking in. I leaned right back into him and pushed him back where he came from. I could feel his front wheel basically running down the length of my bike. I was leaning hard right for all I was worth. Once his front wheel came off my back wheel I heard that most gosh awful sound. It was him going down. I felt awful. I stood up and soft pedaled to make sure that he was OK. I couldn’t stop as people were coming up behind me. I told myself I would hit the turn-around and catch him going back the other way. Of course he wasn’t there when I went back. I also got some “colorful” comments from one woman when I came around the turn-around. I think her comments were “You should be disqualified you Son of a Bitch, I saw what you did”. Hey, I was passing where I was supposed to, on the left; you were riding in the middle of the road. What was I supposed to do?
Now, like Earl, I do believe in Karma. After the race I was talking to Charlie Crawford who was the Head Referee for the race. Well, it seems that the guy I tangled with was a “bandit” racer. So, not only is not going to get his injuries covered by USAT but he is going to get suspended for a year from racing and the guy who gave him his number is going to get suspended as well. Karma, don’t mess with it.
Well, the rest of the bike was “kind of” uneventful. There was another wreck that I was around but certainly didn’t cause. I just heard it. It was awful. I turned around and looked and saw three (3) people on the deck. Not good. Again I pulled up to make sure everybody was OK. Once I saw that they were, off I went. The rest of the bike was mostly in a pretty stiff head wind. Time to really get aero and see what I can do.
I had a solid ride back into town. I ended up catching and passing a good friend of mine, Brett Reagan. Brett is an excellent cyclist and would go on to post the 4th fastest bike split of the day. He and I headed into T2 together. Bike time was 2:14 and change.
T2 was, once again, slow. For runs over 10k I pull socks on. What can I say? I am a bleeder. Plus, it was really warming up and I didn’t want to have to deal with blisters. I pulled on my Zoot shoes (http://www.zootsports.com/) and headed out. Now, I could sit here and give you all the details of the run but that would be pretty boring. I think this race report is long enough. Let’s just suffice it to say that it was SLOW. I really struggled with the heat. I think by the time we hit St. Thomas Park the temps were in the mid 80’s. Couple that with some fairly humid air and you have the makings of a melt down. All I know was that the last four (4) miles seemed to take forever. That finish line couldn’t get there fast enough. Here’s me dying in out on the run course.
Yeah, it was that hot out there!
Well, thankfully the finish line finally came into sight. I had very little left in the tank. I crossed the finish line and stopped the clock at 4:18:37. Not exactly my best effort but certainly not my worst. I’ll take it considering the “out of sorts” week leading up to the race.
1 MIKE NEILL 36 VICTORIA BC 4:06:38
2 ZACH RUBLE 26 MONROEVILEE IN 4:07:32
3 DANIEL MOSS 27 SIMPSONVILLE SC 4:11:10
4 NICHOLAS VANDAM 21 WEST POINT NY 4:15:47
5 BRUCE GENNARI 42 BRENTWOOD TN 4:18:37
6 JOHN ROBERTSON 34 HOUSTON TX 4:19:47
7 ANDRES MUNERA 37 TAMPA FL 4:19:59
8 NICHOLAS STERGHOS 21 WEST POINT NY 4:21:41
9 PETER KOTLAND 36 MOORE SC 4:22:30
10 JASON WILLCOX 38 ALBANY GA 4:26:36
The first three (3) guys were professionals. Mike Neill has won this race several times. He’s a great guy and a fierce competitor. Evidently he and Zach were running stride-for-stride on the run. Mike put it into overdrive with 1.5 miles to go and took the win.
So, that’s pretty much how things went. I have that “happy” but not “satisfied” feeling about the race. I always ponder “what could have been”. I know I shouldn’t but that’s just how I am “wired”. But, I can honestly answer with an emphatic YES to the question; did you give the most you had on this day?
Next up for me is the DeSoto Triple T in Portsmouth, Ohio. I’ll try to be a bit timelier on the race report. Until then, I hope you all Train smart, Train safe and Race fast!










