Patriots Half - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Well I must say that this was the worst open water swim I have EVER DONE!! Mostly because I got waaaaayyyy off course. After rounding the first bouy, and starting to go down river, the sun was still very low in the sky, so I could not see any of the bouys. But I also think that there weren't enough to sight on. I had to stop and ask a few of the guys in the kayaks where to go. They just kept telling us to swim towards the sun. I looked ahead a few times and swam towards a bunch of heads in the water. Big mistake because they were off course to. I got so far down the river that I was getting close to the bridge that takes you to the ferry. At that point I knew the beach was parallel so I made a turn. Looked up a few more times to see if I could see the tall wavy balloon guy on the beach but couldn't. Then I saw a boat with a red light on the top and swam to that. I was so pissed when I got out of the water, I swear steam was coming out of my ears!!

Not to sure what I could have done differently. Sight better? On what, they didn't have enough. Not follow other people-well I had to sight on something, right??

When I finally got back from the long transition, I was still steaming aout the swim. My family was there to cheer me on, which made it a bit better. Had to sit down to get the wetsuit off. I also made sure I grabbed my PBJ and GUs for the long ride I had ahead.

Not have to sit down to take the wetsuit off. Not be so mad at myself and calm down.

One good thing about having a race in your back yard, is that I had the chance to ride this course twice. So I knew what to expect. Coming down Rt 5 to the first left I had a great pace and felt good. Ate half of the PBJ and that was about all I could handle. Wind kicked up on Wilcox Neck and that slowed me more than I really wanted. All I could do is pray that I would have a tail wind on Rt 5. DIdn't take any water at the first water stop. Noticed a girl that had crashed and was being tended to by the EMT's. They had her on her side checking her back. Little did I know that she was my friend Carrie. We had trained together and did that ride together. Had I known it was her I would have had to stop. Got to the 25 mile mark and tried to eat the rest of the sandwich but just couldn't seem to chew it and had to spit it out, or throw it back up. Decided to stick with GU and HEED for the rest of the ride. Once I made the turn onto Rt 5 God had smiled on me and blessed me with a nice tail wind. I got to make up for lost time! Passed most of the people that had passed me earlier on the bike!!! When I got close to the store on the corner of Wilcock Neck, my family had stayed there the whole bike ride. They cheered me on and I started to cry. It made me feel so good to have all my family and friends out there.

Nothing. This was my first HIM and I didn't want to blow out my legs. I had a long run coming!!

I felt great getting off the bike. I probably took to much time changing the shoes.

Move a bit quicker.

My plan was to just run my own race and walk when I needed to. Mostly try to stick to a 9:1. When I started the run, my legs felt better than I ever expected so I ran to the first water stop. My first mile was well under 10 min. I was SHOCKED and I felt great!!! I walked just enought to get the water in and off I went again. I could feel a spring in my step and I actually had to tell myself to slow down or I would burn myself out. I continued walking the water stops. Got on the Greensprings trail and welcomed the shade. I had ran this trail ALOT over the summer and time seemed to fly. Coming out of the woods at the school all my family was there yet again screaming and cheering me on. I felt great and they said that I looked really strong. Passed a good many people on the run, and for me that is HUGE! When I got to mile 6 I looked at my watch and was having a great pace. I knew that if I continued like that my goal would be within my reach. I really didn't think much about my time till then. Had to take my first and only potty break at the turn around to begin the second loop. That was another big shock for me, because leading up to the race I couldn't run for more that 4 miles without having to get home to use the bathroom. On the trail for the second time, I ran with another girl named Ashleigh. She was doing a walk/run as well but when she slowed to walk a second time, I was feeling good so I ran ahead. Being in the old lady AG is hard because most of the water stops were cleaning up by the time I got towards the end of the run. I was starting to have a few stomach issues around mile 10 but told myself that I was not going to stop NOW!! Had to take a few more walk breaks but still felt good. Rounding the corner off Jamestown road I could heard the crowds and knew that I was going to beat my goal! I had become a half ironwoman!!! It really wasn't until I got home that night and thought about it, I had beat my goal time by 32 minutes!!!

NOTHING!!!!! My run was WAY WAY WAY better than I could have ever imagined.
I had only done 1 half mary and that was 2 years ago. Then my longest run was only 10.6.

Did a few stretches, tried to eat a few bites of BBQ, but the stomach really didn't want anything. Sat and chatted with a few CAT members.


I knew that swim sucked but after the race I realized that there was not much I could do about it. I was not the only person who got off course. My bike was as strong and I had done 2 other time


Set UP events always puts on a great race. I was disapointed in the swim and the lack of bouys. Not to sure if it was due to the last minute change in course or not.