Ironman Texas - TriathlonFull Ironman

i chose no wetsuit for this race because in practice the day before i swam in only my swimsuit and it was perfect. even though i had NO SHOT at getting an award, i still decided that i was going sans wetsuit. this proved to be a brilliant move. i was comfortable the entire swim. in fact, i LOVED it. the water temperature was PERFECT.

this was your typical IM swim start. crowded. people fighting for position. other swimmers swimming over the top of me and me fighting back. it was a rough start. probably about a 500 yard rough start. but then the crowd thinned and there was still some bumping here and there, but overall, was a great swim.

made it to the first turn in what felt like no time. heading back toward the canal felt long and then the canal was longer than i anticipated. BUT...a 1:26 for me is insane. i swam a 1:43 in cd'a 2 years ago, with a wetsuit. needless to say, when i looked at my watch and saw 1:26, i about crapped myself i was so happy!! i'm not kidding you. i was elated!!

best part...when i grabbed my bag, i saw that 302 was still there. this gave me a huge lift because 302 is my sister in law, jenny, who is faster than me in all disciplines!! it was my first little victory of the day!! :)

oh...and she would end up qualifying for kona on this day, so my beating her out of the water would end up really being a small victory for me!! :)

absolutely, unequivocally, 100% NOTHING! this swim was...AWESOME! i expected 1:4x, hoped for 1:3x and got 1:26...could not have been more excited.

my small victory was short lived because as i was changing into my riding clothes i hear my sil come into the tent and shout my name!! :) loved it though. was a great way to end the swim...seeing her and seeing how happy she was to be out of the water and off to the bike. we got ready next to each other, chatted a bit, i borrowed her deodorant (which is really only funny to us, but sorry, i had to put it in here) and she took off before me.

change was relatively quick seeing as i was stripping off a bathing suit and putting on bike shorts/jersey...so i'm pretty pleased with this time.

tip - i swam with my sports bra under my bathing suit to help save the hassle of trying to get a tight bra top on over a wet body. worked like a charm!!

nothing. again, very seamless.

AWESOME! seriously. was expecting 6:3x. hoping for under 6:20. ended up breaking 6:00. totally surprised myself. AND...i did this all within my hr zones. i did not push outside, knowing i had a marathon to "run" afterward so i really rode this ride conservatively. this makes me very happy!!! very happy!!

the first half of this course is flat and fast and with the wind. my average speed was 19.66 on the way out, without really trying. it was loads of fun. i came up on john somewhere in the sam houston national park and that was so fun to chat it up with him for a bit. we would leap frog the next probably 15-20 miles or so, so that was great.

at special needs i stopped for maybe 30 seconds, just to swap bottles of empty infinit for full infinit. was great. would turn out to be the only time i got off my bike all ride...was very pleased with this!

somewhere in the high 80's - low 90's, i hear someone pull up behind me and say "bet you didn't think you were in front of me this whole time..." i look back and HOLY CRAP...it's my brother todd!!! that was AWESOME! we chatted for a bit about how we were feeling, about our swims, about my sister in law passing him at mile 1 on the bike course. :) it was so great. i LOVED it. he passed me for a bit, then i passed him back and wouldn't see him again until loop two of the run. another small victory for me...beating my brother off the bike!! :) they (todd and jenny) would ultimately beat me overall, but really...i'll take my little wins where i can!! :) :) :)

by about mile 110, i was ready to put the silver fox away for a while. not bad, considering i only had 2 ish miles left...so i'll take that. really really felt great this whole ride...was so incredibly pleased with the day thus far!! and...i was doing the math realizing the time goal that i had set for myself was in sight...this too made me very happy!!!




not a freaking thing. this ride could not have gone better for me. i flatted twice in cd'a two years ago, so to come out of this ride with 0 flats and breaking 6 hours was a dream ride for me. seriously awesome.

got out of my shoes about a half mile out and when i got to the dismount line i just left my shoes on my bike. chris amy (camy) caught my bike for me! was so fun to see a friend waiting for me at the line! loved it. also, heard buehler (friscobob) and fitz (pfitzger7) calling out to me at the bike finish. what a rush to have your friends waiting there for you, cheering you on! just. awesome!! ran through the bikes over to my gear bag where a volunteer had it waiting for me and went into the tent. easy as can be!!

did another full change...volunteers helped out here, they were fantastic!

theme here seems to be that i would do nothing different...sticking with that theme!! :)

i'm pretty sure your run split isn't supposed to be longer than your bike split. :) but oh well...this is ironman...and things happen!! :)

get out of the change tent and buehler is there with the camera telling me i can break 14 hours easy!! i LOVED it! my goal was 13:59:59 and to hear him reinforce this was a nice boost to my already excited self!!

loop 1 - "ran" aid station to aid station. walked the aid stations and felt relatively good. you know, as good as you can feel 114+ miles into a "race." aid stations were stocked with ice/sponges, water, oranges etc. i'd take water, ice, sponges and oranges each time. worked great.

toward the end of loop 1, i see fitz and buehler and they are hollering to me that todd is only 20 seconds ahead of me. "he's at the light post up there" fitz says...which btw, the light post was like 500 yards in front of me...HARDLY 20 seconds!! :) i told them both that there were plenty of miles left in this thing and i'd try to get him!! :) they were awesome. so supportive and so energized. i LOVED it!!

loop 2 - caught up with todd and did the whole loop with him. this could not have been a better loop for me. i am a social triathlete. i like training/"racing" with my close friends and family. to have been able to spend an entire loop with my brother could not have been a better script for me. i'm sure he would have loved to have felt better and not have had the stomach cramps...but for me...it was awesome. we'd run a little, walk a little, chat a lot. was great. we even crossed a timing mat together so our parents could get a kick out of seeing where we were and that we were together. :)

i also saw marcy on this loop. she looked amazing! i was SO excited that she was on the run and looking so good. todd and i would leap frog with her this whole lap as well. it was fantastic!

i also finally saw craig on this loop. i was SO HAPPY to see him because i hadn't heard about him at all yet. all of my people had been accounted for in some way except for him. so when i saw him, i was elated. i stopped to chat with him for a minute. he was on his last lap (lucky dog) and on his way to a pr...i still had one more lap left :(. this was great that i saw him and made me feel awesome!!

loop 3 - ha...i was done. it was a bit of mental torment to have to go by the finish 2x and have to do one more 8+ mile loop. i hurt. i was tired. todd had started to feel better by now and was ahead of me. marcy was still strong and was ahead of me. i was by myself and was ready to be done. i wasn't bitter or angry or dark at this point...just done. so i walked 2 miles. ssslllloooowwwwllllyyyy. then i started to do the math and started telling myself that if i wanted 13:xx then i needed to run more than walk. the faster i could go, the faster i would finish. i realized at one point that breaking 13:30 was out but breaking 13:40 was in...so that was my goal. i needed to run enough to get to the finish in 13:3x. so i did.

like fattyfatfat (if you read his report) i too could not handle any more liquids or solids the last two aid stations. i respectfully declined the amazing volunteers and just kept moving forward. also, like fattyfatfat, i could only whisper a thank you to them for all of their efforts. :) i didn't have a lot left and what i did have, i needed for my 13:3x. :)

i turned down the finish chute and started sprinting!! i saw craig, laura and chris on my right and i gave them the arms up! i saw kristen (triple threat tough - my training group) on my left and gave them high fives. then i saw todd, jenny, buehler and fitz on my right again and gave them the victory arms up!! then i realized the finish chute was longer than i remembered from the last two times and started to get tired because i was sprinting! :)

but then....there it was...the arches. i hauled my arse down that damn chute and crossed in 13:35:09 with mike reilly calling my name! had the place to myself and was ecstatic!!

got my medal. got my picture taken and next i knew, jenny was waiting for me when i left the finisher area!! :) she must have BOLTED down the chute to be there when i finished. awesome!! just awesome!!

not a darn thing. walked when i had to. pushed myself when i had to. PR'd my last IM by 2 hours and 20 minutes. couldn't be happier. had the best time ever!!!

met up with todd, jenny, fitz, buehler and craig. went to a restaurant nearby and tried to eat but had a wonky stomach still. then went to the finish line to see marcy finish and laura and chris catch her. amazing!


on this particular race, my run. i would usually say my swim and my run, but seriously, i'm not over how great my swim was! :) ha.


after cd'a i swore off iron distance racing. then IMTX popped up as a first year race. i signed up for the simple fact that i didn't want to regret when everyone else was doing it, that i didn't do it. best decision ever. i LOVED this race. i'm not kidding. LOVED it. i loved all of the people i knew who were doing it that i saw out there through the day. i loved the swim. i loved the bike course. i loved the crowd support on the run. i LOVED it.

this was incredibly run. it was incredibly staffed with volunteers. there was plenty of everything at each aid station. it couldn't have been a better put together race. amazing!!

i am also aware that we got VERY lucky with our weather. we had cloud cover and very little wind compared to what it could have been. we were really lucky. this race had potential to be a lot tougher with heat, humidity and wind but 5.21.11 was not one of those days. thankfully!! :)

i think the highlight of this whole experience is the fact that i raced with my family. to be able to come home from something like this and share the play by play experience with my brother and sister in law is pretty freaking amazing. they know everything i went through because they went through it themselves. it's pretty incredible that when the people you're around the most know exactly how you feel. how accomplished you feel. how incredibly proud you feel. because they are all feeling the same exact thing. it's pretty special and this is something i will carry with me forever. i LOVED this race...LOVE LOVE LOVED this race!!

something else pretty special...in october, i'll be in kona cheering on my sister in law Jenny Zang Hogan who qualified during this, her first IM. amazing. and a pretty fun trip to look forward to!! :) :) :)