Race reports · 2025 · by Michelle
Honu 70.3 2025: five weeks after a full Ironman
Thirty-five days after a full Ironman, we raced Honu again, because it's the race we don't skip and I'm not sure anybody even asked whether it was smart.
We finished IRONMAN Texas on April 26 and Honu was May 31, which is five weeks between a full and a half. Was that smart? It wasn't, and I'll say it plainly: we signed up the week we got home from Texas because the calendar was empty and we didn't know what to do with ourselves, and because Honu is the race we don't skip, and I'm not sure anybody asked whether it was a good idea.
I came in at 6:44:44, tenth in the 45-49s, which was four minutes slower than the year before on the clock. Last year's swim was 750 meters, though, and this one was the full 1.2 miles, so on the same course it was really the better day by a long way. The run was 2:25:06, faster than my 2024 run, and that was five weeks after a full Ironman. Jay went 5:44:12, eleventh in the 50-54s, and his 1:55 run was faster than his 2024 run too. Jay's word for the day is crushed, and since both of our runs were faster than the year before, I'll allow it.
The swim was the full distance this year, all 1.2 miles of it, unlike the wind-shortened 2024 swim, and the card has me at 41:53. I'd waited a year to find out what that swim actually felt like, and now that I know, I'd still take the full one.