Story and photo by
MC2 Paul D. Honnick
Fleet Public Affairs Detachment Hawaii

The officer in charge of Afloat Planning System, Pacific (APSPAC), returned to life as normal and reflected on her performance after completing the 30th Ford Ironman World Championship triathlon Oct. 11.

Cmdr. Kristin Barnes joined 1,800 elite athletes in Kailua-Kona on the “Big” Island of Hawaii where she completed 2.4 miles of swimming through rough ocean currents, 112 miles of biking and a 26.2 mile marathon over volcanic rock-covered terrain.

“I felt like a winner in that I never quit,” said Barnes. “I wanted to do the race with integrity and for me that meant not ever quitting, and when I crossed the finish line that definitely was something I felt that I did right.”

On race day, Barnes entered Kailua Bay at 7 a.m. and began an ordeal that would not end for almost 12 hours.

Barnes finished the swim portion in less than one hour and twenty minutes and transitioned to the 112 mile bicycle race.

“I had a really good bike portion. I was really strong on the bike, and I hit all the goals that I wanted to hit there,” she said.
Barnes conquered the bike portion in roughly six hours and began the triathlon's final and most notorious portion - the 26.2 mile marathon run.

Barnes said this was the most challenging part of the triathlon for her.
“The last six miles can be really, really challenging, even when the race is going your way,” she explained.

Barnes also discussed how fatigue affected her judgment later on in the race.

“I managed my nutrition poorly, which based on experience, I knew better. Sometimes you know how to do things better but you just don't. You're seven or eight hours into a twelve-hour race, and your mind just stops working, and you make silly, common-sense errors.”

Barnes discussed when she “hit the wall” during the run and how she found the strength to break through and finish.

“Probably about three miles left to go, I ended up running with a woman for a little while. I was feeling pretty down at that point, and she kind of put things into perspective about how good it would be to finish and 'hey, we're almost there.' I acknowledged that she was absolutely right, and when I finally hit that turn going down the hill for that last mile, then it was all over but the crying at this point,” she said.

Despite the many roadblocks she faced along the way, Barnes overcame every obstacle and crossed the finish line with an overall time of 11:47:01.

Barnes said the race itself was lonely, but she wasn't alone at the finish line.

“I did have some very good friends there supporting me, and it was critical because I wrote in my race report that there's nothing lonelier than a finish line without friends,” she explained. “Having a couple of friends there really, really made it worthwhile. They helped me get my bike, and they gathered me and got me home without hurting myself or falling apart on the way.”

Barnes described how her 20-25 hours of weekly physical conditioning in the months leading up to the race paid off in the end.

“I think some of my strong points were my preparation beforehand. My coach and I mapped out a plan, and I followed it pretty much to the 'T'. I did every single workout except for one in the 12 to 16 weeks prior so I felt really good physically coming in.”

Throughout the race, Barnes said one of her biggest motivations to finish was the fact that she was representing the Navy.

“It was really neat to be able to represent something bigger than yourself, to have a motivation from something outside of yourself so that when the chips were down and you're struggling you have a motivation to keep going.”

Barnes also spent some time under the Navy's expo tent in the days leading up to the race where she got the opportunity to speak with fellow athletes and race fans.

“The discussions we had were more Navy-centered rather than triathlon, so it was really good to be able to go and talk about the Navy as an officer and what that could offer peoples' sons and daughters,” she said. “It was really neat to be able to share my experiences and be able to let them know that just because their son or daughter joins the Navy doesn't mean that they lose who they are and they have to stop doing what they want to do.”

When she returned home to the island of Oahu, Barnes said she got a lot of positive feedback from her family, her friends and the Sailors she works with.

“I got a lot of 'congratulations,' and I got a lot of people expressing that they didn't think they would be able to [an Ironman], which I found interesting because I'm no different from everybody else. All I did was put in the time and eat right and rest right, and I was able to accomplish that. I know that with time and training they would be able to do the same thing.”

Now that Barnes is back on her feet, she said she plans to pick up where she left off and start training for the next event that comes her way.

“I've already gotten back into it. I have a triathlon over at Marine Corps Base Kaneohe on November 2; I'm planning on doing a Maui marathon in early January, and when I go to Kuwait for a year I plan on taking my bike with me,” she said. “I'm too happy with how I feel and with my fitness level, and I enjoy the experience too much.”

Barnes concluded by explaining how completing an Ironman is possible for anybody.

“There's always more in the tank. It's amazing how deep I've had to dig sometimes to get the energy to do it,” she said. “It's not necessarily learning how to do an Ironman; it's learning how to deal with the physical pain associated with the training and with the race itself, and that's what the challenge is. If you can absorb that and still be able to put out an athletic performance, that's the catch for me. Everybody can do that; it's just a matter of how much pain are you willing to endure to do it.”