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Fred is 65 years young and
entered a Half Ironman Triathlon at 5 1/2 months post op.
Had a
wonderful time in the Honu Half Ironman Triathlon until I was speeding down the
hill from Havi. I was working on getting my water bottle to my mouth when I hit
the rumble strip, over compensated to get off it, and crashed. Fortunately no
one else was involved. However, I cut up my left side and bruised the left hip
... yes, the one. So I finished the bike in 4 hours and started the run. By the
time I was 4+ miles in to it, I realized that it was not the smart thing to
continue. So I headed over the medical tent. They gave me ice for the left hip
and cleaned up the arm and ankle cuts, adding some ibuprofen to the mix. I am no
longer the semi-walking wounded, but realize that I have much to do to get ready
for UK Ironman on August 19th. It looks that will be my only chance to qualify
for October's Ironman.
Will be Hawaii
house sitting from August 30th through October 3rd in Keauhou. Will then find
another place to stay through the 15th of October so I can either compete in or
volunteer for the Hawaiian Ironman on Saturday, October 13th.
In the
meantime I am back into training.
Aloha,
Fred
August 6, 2007
Dear friends:
I write this triathlon update from the house of Marc & Alex
Dronkers in Reno, Nevada at the base of Mt. Rose near Lake
Tahoe. I am their guest for a week of altitude training for
the upcoming UK Ironman Triathlon that will be held on Sunday,
August 19th at the Sherborne Castle & Lake in Dorset, England,
some 100+ miles southwest of London. This area of rolling hills
is known as Thomas Hardy country and is about half way between
Stonehenge and Glastonbury, one of the earth's chakra sites.
Fortunately, Dorset area escaped the severe flooding England
suffered last month. While there I will be the guest of Colin &
Ann Alderman, who are members of the Rotary Club of Sherborne.
The time leading up to the race will include flying to London,
driving to Sherborne, checking out the area and the race
course, attending Rotary functions, and preparing my equipment,
my nutrition and my mental readiness.
My training is going well as I prepare to compete with 1200
triathletes from around the world in the 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile
bike ride and 26.2 mile run that make up this full 140.6 mile
Ironman Triathlon. We have a maximum of 17 hours to complete
it, but it will take a much faster time than that to gain the
coveted qualification spot for the Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon on
Saturday, October 13th in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. I must best only
two others, one from England and the other from Germany, in the
Men's 65-69 age group to qualify for Hawaii, proving that one of
the greatest thing about growing older is decreasing peer
pressure.
It is through the Rotary Ironman UK Triathlon Charities that
I am able to compete in this triathlon. Thanks to all of you
who have donated to this cause on my behalf through www.justgiving.com/FredHornbruch.
And, a special thank you to those who could not get through the
web site, which has had technical difficulties, and instead took
the trouble to snail mail your donation check directly to me. I
will carry those checks with me to England. If you have not yet
made a donation and are still so inclined, please try the web
site again, or make out a check to the above underlined charity
and send it to me at 565 Bellevue Avenue #2001, Oakland,
CA 94610. I need to receive checks before I
leave Oakland this Saturday. Donations on the web site may
be made up through race day on August 19th, which is 8+ hours
from California time.
I will let you know how things went when I return. In the mean
time you can retrieve race updates and results at
www.ironmanuk.com, starting on race day, Sunday, August
19th.
Thank you for sharing this experience with me and for your
interest and support,
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