Ironman 70.3 Branson - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Didn't drink too much lake water. Had a guy on my left that swam too much to his right, clawing at me most of the race, so I dropped back and got on his left, and he didn't affect me anymore. He'd be alot faster if he didn't zig-zag. Was shooting for 40-42 min so it was a great swim. Didn't panic, but was pretty tired getting out of the water to run up the hill.

Get in the pool between the July and 2 months later in September. (Injured)

Should have turned my Garmin on before the swim. wasted a little time waiting for it to find sputnick. Still no rain at this time, so the race was looking pretty good.

Turn Garmin on before the swim.

Holy Buckets! What a race for my first HIM! The first really great hill I flew down and passed 2 people with cool TT bikes on my Trek road bike. I wasn't passing up free speed by touching my brake! EVERYONE passed me going uphill. The only people I passed going uphill were fixing flats! It was loads of fun in a sadistic sort of way, but I didn't get off to walk, and I didn't have a flat tire. But I think my front brake was rubbing most of the way (there's where all my speed went..._) i was really looking forward to the last 7 miles because they were all down hill. I expected to pick up some time on them. But the torrential down pour started just as I got to the top of the hill. CRAP! 100lb tires and 1/4 inch of rain water rushing down the road was a little like ice skating. One downhill had a sign that said "use Extreme caution", and that sign was put up when the pavement was DRY! So I only squeezed out about 16mph on that section.

Ride ALOT more!

Downpour with glass is not any fun. I think I was slowed down bu biting 3 holes in a trash bag and pulling it over my head! (no something I normally do in transition.) I didn't even bother to put on soaking wet socks, I just put on my squishy shoes. Re-adjusting my race number on top of my Cinch-Sak also took a little time.

Look to see where the race course went from transition, so I wasn't lost leaving transition.

It rained the first 9 miles for me. If I had run faster it would have rained the whole race...... The trash bag was a great idea to hold off hypo-thermia, and by the 2 mile mark I was actually getting some feeling back in my fingers, and they were starting to pink up a little bit. Running through the rushing water in some of the parking lots and cross streets was a leap of faith that there wasn't a pot-hole ready to take you out. Or getting swept away by the current in ankle deep gutters on cross streets. I just kept thinking "it doesn't get any better than this!" My time was slow, but I left ALOT of leg out on the bike course, and I didn't walk more than the aid stations when getting water or GU. the last 3 miles were pretty rain free, so I stripped off my trash bag and ran a blistering 13 minute something mile. Extremely happy to be a finisher. And since it was my first, it was a PR! After all the injuries I've had this summer just finishing and beating one other finisher in my age group was worth it!

No Kidney stones in July, No anemia, N pulled muscles ....

Walked down to get my bike, put it in the car and turned on the heater full blast!


No training to speak of since July 21st. Two full weeks off, hten hit and miss for the next 6 weeks


Volunteers were Fantastic. The weather was crappy, but they were right there supporting us. Would like to do it again, but I think I'll train more and take a few days off after to make the drive home. 26 hours with only 2 hours sleep was a little rough. Especially when I race for almost 8 of the 26.