Rouse Is Kona-bound Again

After winning her age group in California, Kim Rouse is on her way to Hawaii

Kim Rouse entered Ford Ironman 70.3 California with the goal of qualifying for the championship in Clearwater. A dominating performance in Oceanside now gives her the option to compete in Kona again, where she hopes to improve on her impressive 12:04 finish at last year's race ... a race she completed despite a broken collar bone!

For the long-distance triathlete, Kona is like a siren song, a temptress that those with shaved legs simply cannot resist. It lured Julie Moss, Dave Scott, Mark Allen, Paula Newby-Fraser and Natascha Badmann. It has lured age-groupers by the thousands from across the globe.

 

There’s the unmistakable tropical smell when you step off the plane, the humidity, the lush vegetation, the breezy palms, the bleak lava fields. There’s the United Nations meeting every morning at Dig Me Beach come race week, where athletes with negative-four-percent body fat come to see and be seen.

 

There’s Madame Pele, the climb to Hawi, the native dancers and drummers creating their intoxicating, sultry midnight madness. There’s the unquenchable yearning to hear Mike Reilly call out your name, followed by the words that make grown men and women weep: “you … are … an Ironman.”

 

Despite all that, every now and again an experienced Ironman will say that they’re passing on Kona for a year. They will say that it’s time to bring some balance to their life, maybe open a book, reintroduce themselves to their spouse. It could be a time to race fast, or a time to discover who they are beyond distance per stroke, power output and leg turnover.

 

Yet for all those intentions, Kona sits there in the Pacific, offering her seductive smile and the triathlete cannot resist the temptation.

 

For proof, we offer Kim Rouse of San Diego. Rouse, 50, was featured on Ironmanlive last December. She ran a 2:42 marathon at the 1988 Olympic Trials. She dipped into tri three years ago, proved a quick study, qualified for Hawaii last year, suffered a broken collarbone in a bike accident 17 days before Kona, then raced despite the injury, finishing in 12 hours, 4 minutes, good for ninth out of 39 in her age group.

 

This year, she decided to focus on Ironman 70.3. Planned to line up at California, Honu, qualify for the Ford Ironman 70.3 World Championship. A sensible season. Then something happened to blow up her plans like a mountain spewing molten lava. She went and won her age group at California, meaning, of course, she qualified for Kona.

 

‘I knew if I won,” said Rouse, “I’d have to make a decision.”

 

Have to make a decision? There was no decision to make. Kona started seducing Rouse from thousands of miles away and Rouse fell under its sway. She has raced only one Ironman event, Kona six months ago. She’ll return again come October.

 

“I have to go back because it’s a very special place,” Rouse said.

 

She and her husband, Mike Rouse, an ultra-distance runner, triathlete and Mizuno sales rep, own a condo on Alii Drive. They have friends who have raced there for decades. And in the back of her mind, Kim wonders. Twelve hours, four minutes. Ninth in her age group with a busted right wing. What can she do if healthy? “I have unfinished business,” she said.

 

Rouse’s coach is Paul Huddle, husband of Paula Newby-Fraser. He placed sixth at Hawaii once, seventh twice. He is one of the sport’s most respected coaches. Huddle knows the femme fatale that is Kona, its wiles and beguiling ways.

 

“The bottom line is nothing else matters in our sport other than Hawaii,” Huddle said. “People can tell me until they’re blue in the face that Olympics is a great event and it is. But like saying the Olympic tennis match is bigger than Wimbledon, to me, it doesn’t hold water.”

 

Rouse did not so much win her age group at California as dominate it. Her finishing time: 5 hours, 25 minutes, 38 seconds. She won by nearly 8½ minutes over a longtime Hawaii veteran, another San Diego County triathlete, Linda Jannelli.

 

“I was kind of surprised,” Rouse said.

 

Her husband was not.

 

“Watching her train, knowing her fitness level compared to what I’ve seen her at the last 10-12 years, training with her almost daily, I’ve never seen her so fit,” said Mike Rouse.

 

Kim’s impressive performance at California taught her something that often takes veteran triathletes years to accept. Less sometimes means more. Kim got sick before Christmas, took antibiotics for weeks. Combined with taking time off the bike to rest her collarbone after Hawaii, she did not ride until late January. The bulk of her running workouts were brick sessions.

 

She came in rested. The result speaks volumes.

 

Of Kim’s relative quick ascent in the sport, Huddle said, “Kim’s history in running pretty much represents her ability as an endurance athlete. Obviously, she’s multi-talented and has really taken to this sport.”

 

Rouse has been received nurturing from superstars in her sport. Michellie Jones and her husband, Pete Coulson, helped her purchase her first bike. Jones passed along cycling shoes. Huddle and Newby-Fraser are on speed dial.

 

“I have come to love the three disciplines,” Kim said. “I love it because it’s a new discipline. I won’t do any more road marathons. My legs were getting too beat up. My body is in much better shape now. I feel like I could do this for a long time.”

 

She likes thenIronman 70.3 series for the same reasons so many others do. It’s kinder, gentler on the body. Kinder and gentler on the social calendar, too. “You race Kona, it’s pretty much bye-bye summer,” she said.

 

She hadn’t planned on racing Kona come October. But her fast bike in the Camp Pendleton backcountry, along with a 1:40 half-marathon along the Oceanside coast took care of that. Kona beckons and she cannot resist.

 

She remembers the pain that radiated down her arm when she took off her wetsuit last fall when stepping out of Kailua Bay. “OK, Kim, you’ve given it your best. You tried,” she told herself. Then she said she’d ride 10 miles and see how she felt. Then 10 more. Before you know it she was at the Hawi turnaround.

 

“There’s no turning around now,” she said.

 

Looking back about completing the race with a broken collarbone, Rouse confessed, “A little bit of insanity comes with the whole thing.”

 

Kona beckons. She cannot resist.

 

“For me,” said Rouse, “I think because I’ve watched it so many times, I’m humbled by Hawaii.”

 

You may contact Matthew Dale at  mdale@ironmanlive.com