Half Iron Distance Triathlons on Saturdays

I believe that Sunday is a sacred day and should be spent, going to church, worshiping, visiting family, and resting from our labors. Racing does not really fit into that, especially when the race requires me (and probably my family) to miss church. I just don't want my kids to think I think racing is more important than church. I did do Coeur d'Alene on a Sunday, but I felt bad about it and swore I would never do a race on Sunday again. Learn more about my beliefs.

This leads to my plight for figuring out a race schedule for 2010. I had planned on doing the Bear Lake Classic Half, but it doesn't look like it's happening again. It's such a shame, we were really looking forward to camping up there again (I don't know why, we had a pretty miserable night there this year...), and it would have been a perfect way to end the season since it was at the end of August.

I asked all my good friends on Twitter if they had any suggestions for a Half I could do, and one awesome person (goSonja) suggested "rev3!!!! Then we can meet!!"

I thought that sounded perfect, I had kind of been wanting to do that one anyway, and it's even at an awesome amusement park so my family could have fun while I'm racing! Plus I would LOVE to meet Sonja, she's my one of my biggest triathlete heros!

I got really excited about it, immediately went to their website to get more info, and it's September 12 so that's just around the time I want! I look on my calendar for September 12, and BOOM, it's a Sunday.

Dang it. I can't say I wasn't tempted. A lot. The fact that it costs $250 really helped curb my enthusiasm, though. I reminded myself of my goal not to do any more races on Sunday and put that race out of my mind. Dang. So, I've got to find another one.

I was a little annoyed that the race I wanted to do was on a Sunday, and it was starting to seem like all the races outside of Utah were on Sundays, and I could only find one half in Utah. Do people prefer it this way, I wondered? So, again, I turned to twitter to do a little pull about what day people prefer racing, Saturday or Sunday. I didn't quite get the number of responses I wanted, and probably half the people who responded are actually from Utah so I know my survey's not really scientificly (is that a word?) viable, but here are my responses:

1. "I have no preference. I just like getting out there!"
2. "prefer racing saturdays but during school year can usually only do sundays."
3. "Saturday, Sunday is a day off."
4. "Saturdays. It gives you an extra day to recover before attempting the stairs at work on Monday."
5. "Saturdays. I need a Sunday before Monday comes."
6. "Saturdays!"

So, according to my (very scientific) survey, most people actually do prefer Saturdays for racing. So, why all the races on Sundays then? I asked my tweeps:

1. "Sundays outside of Utah because it's the lightest traffic day of the week. Easier for road/intersection closures. Less impact."
2. "racing on Sundays. it gives you a day to travel to the race."

Ahhh, that makes sense. Thanks to everyone who helped me with figuring this out!

Back to finding a half for me:

I knew that Boise 70.3 was on a Saturday, but it's on the same Saturday as the Utah Valley Marathon which I'm doing with my sisters so that one's out. I started looking around for Half Iron Distance Triathlons on Saturdays and there's not just a list anywhere so I thought I'd make my own. Hopefully this will be able to help somebody else too. Here it is:

Abu Dhabi (Dubai) - March 13 (3km swim, 200km bike, 20km run or 1.5km swim, 100km bike, 10km run) Has anyone heard of these distances before?

Oceanside 70.3 - March 27

Rage Half (Las Vegas) - April 17

Washington Half (NC) - April 24

Wildflower Half - May 1

Napa Valley Vintage Half - May 1

White Lake Half - May 1 & 8

Gulf Coast Half (FL) - May 8

Kinetic Half (NY) - May 8

Headfirst Performance Half (KY) - May 16

Harryman - May 22

Hawaii 70.3 - June 5

Rock 'N Rollman - June 5

Deuceman (AZ) - June 5

Vikingman (ID) - June 5

Boise 70.3 - June 12

Liberty Tri (MN) - June 12

Steelhead 70.3 - July 31

Sebagoman (NY) - August 14

Utah Half - August 28

Quakerman (PA) - September 11

Pumpkinman Half (Las Vegas) - October 17

Miami 70.3 - October 30

Beach to Battleship Half or Full (NC) - November 13

If you know of any other Halfs that are taking place on a Saturday, please let me know so I can add them to my list.

So, for an end of the season (preferably August - October) half, looks like I could go to New York, Pennsylvania, Las Vegas or Miami. Now, are any of those close enough to drive to? Wait a minute, what about Utah Half? It seems pretty obvious that I should just do that one hu? I don't know why I've been avoiding that one. Silly me. There's also Pumpkinman that isn't too far away. Why did I make such a big deal out of all this? Oh well, I hope my list helps somebody.

By the way, I hope I haven't offended those of you who race on Sundays. That is totally your choice and I don't hold it against you one bit.