How learning two-step equations helped me solve my not qualifying for Kona problem.
Class: “….you have to do to the other….”
Me: “….yep, because, remember, math is fair and equal!”
Student: “Yeah, unlike real life.”
Me: “Well, actually, [student] is right. You guys wanna take a little tangent?”
Student: “Oooo, are we gonna talk about your Ironman?”
Me: “Yep. And I’m gonna teach you about how the real world works, and how sometimes, life just isn’t fair.”
The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. I was pretty sure I was over the whole not-qualifying-for-Kona thing until I got back to school on Wednesday, November 30th and other teachers and students were asking me how the race went, or apologizing that I didn’t qualify for Kona.
For me, one of the biggest reasons this (not qualifying for Kona thing) hurt so much was because I took TWO freaking days away from my job in hopes of qualifying. Two days away in the teaching world is more like a week away from the “typical” job, and two days away from my students is two less days that I get to spend on developing relationships with them (oh, and teaching them math stuff, too).
I'd like to say I have a pretty open and honest relationship with my students. Obviously I want them to learn math skills in my class, but more importantly I want them to learn LIFE skills.... like how to be successful in real life. I tell my students all of the time that a quiz or test grade isn't what's important to me: what's important to me is the LEARNING that goes on and the CRITICAL THINKING/PROBLEM SOLVING skills they are developing in my class. Because THAT is what will make them successful in the real world (not some score on the freaking PARCC test). Part of the reason I'll never teach any other subject/grade than 7th grade math is because the curriculum completely lends itself to teaching my students REAL LIFE SKILLS, but that's a topic for another day.
Ironman Cozumel 2016, I finished as the 3rd overall female amateur. Unfortunately, the girl who was the 1st overall female amateur was in my age group. We left the race feeling pumped to have earned big PRs, but a little worried about my fate as we didn't know how many Kona slots there would be for my F30-34 age group. (in the past 3 years, there have been 2, so we were hopeful but not certain)
Well. It's a numbers game (I suppose it's a good thing I teach math...)
Basically, most Ironmans allocate 40 slots for the Ironman World Championships. Each age group with a finisher is then guaranted one slot. The age groups are 18-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59, 60-64, 65-69, 70-74, 75-79, 80+ and are split into male and female cateogries. So, if all 13 age groups have at least 1 finisher, that's 26 of the 40 slots allocated just to those who won the age group.
Then, the remaining slots are distributed based on numbers of finishers in each category. Typically, this is a much larger distribution on the men's side than the women's side. Mens 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59 are pretty much guaranteed 2 slots as those always draw the biggest numbers. On the women's side, I have yet to see the women 35-39 and 40-44 have anything less than 2 slots, and typically 45-49 and 30-34 have 2 slots as well.
So, really, unless you're a male between 25-55 or a female 35-44 years old, you have to win your age group to know that you're FOR SURE going to Kona.
Overall placing means nothing. If you are the 2nd place overall finisher, but there's only 1 slot in your age group based on finisher numbers, sorry charlie, you're not going to Kona.
Now, let's be realistic for a moment. The only age groups that will likely have a top 3 overall amateur finisher BUT only one slot in the age group is F25-29 and F30-34 (unless there's two SUPER freaking talented M18-24-year-olds who just happen to show up to the same race!). Check out the chart above. It is a quick look at 2017 Kona qualifiers for Females and how many (few) happened to be top 3 overall yet miss a slot for Kona.
Unfortunately for me, I'm a female who is only 30, so really my only guarantee for Kona is winning my age group.
*check out the above table.
Very good question. I'll show via pics and small blurbs. Because pictures are way more fun than words.
Qualified in June 2013 by winning F25-29 age group at Eagleman 70.3 during the last mile of the run
Qualified by placing 2nd overall and unfortunately 2nd in my F25-29 age group at Ironman Los Cabos. By some miracle, there were 2 slots in my age group (this rarely happens for F25-29, and, sometimes just as rarely, for F30-34).
Qualified by placing 3rd overall female, 2nd F25-29 age group at Ironman Cozumel in 2014, but the first place girl had already qualified and I earned her roll down slot.
After a DNF in Texas, I finally freaking WON MY AGE GROUP at Ironman Lake Placid. Oh, and this was one of the few times where there was actually 2 slots in the F30-34 category. Go freaking figure.
Attempted to qualify at IM Cozumel 2016. 3rd place overall female amateur, but 2nd in F30-34 age group.
I've been thinking about this quite a bit.
Ryan and I made a plan on October 13, 2012 (the night of our wedding)... we decided we would try and qualify for the Ironman World Championships in 2013 to celebrate our 1-year-anniversary in Kona.
On October 13, 2013, we decided we wanted to try and qualify for Kona for 5 straight years. 5-wedding-anniversaries in a row, celebrating by pushing our bodies to the max, honoring the gifts God gave us.
October 13, 2017 is the day before the Ironman World Championships. And gosh darn it, I'm going to be there competing!
I basically have two options in terms of qualifying: IM Texas or IM Boulder.
But you know what's crazy? Every day since I told my Ironman Cozumel story, I have had at least one student ask when I'm going to try to do another Ironman to qualify again. My heart seriously skips a beat any time a student asks this as it shows how much they care and that they see how much it means to me as well.
Hopefully I'll figure things out soon (and of course will blog about it!), but for now, feel free to send any pros/cons for either race my way (seriously!).
It's time to figure out how to qualify so I can spend my 5th wedding anniversary doing what I love best with my best friend <3