South Carolina Half - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I started to get pretty nervous about the race while waiting in the 'staging' area for the swim start - holy poop, what did I get myself into?! Stopped thinking about it, decided it was just a long training day and got in the water. The water was warm, I think the race director was just nice and took the temperature in a cup of icewater or something, but I think everyone appreciated it! :)

Start of the swim, my goggles kept leaking, so I stopped a couple times to empty the water out and reseal. After the third adjustment, I was good for the rest of the swim. It was really hard to see the buoys on the way out, as you had to sight directly into the sun. I kept realizing I was swimming alone and stopping to make sure I was sighting off the right buouy, but I was. I was really only sighting every 15-20 strokes after a while, as I seemed to swimming in a very straight line. My stroke felt horrible though, I figured I was swimming very slowly, but I couldn't really get into a good groove.

After the turn, it got easier to sight, but I was still swimming pretty much alone. I could see the pack to my right, but I didn't see why they were so far over, so I just kept going. As I rounded the last buouy, I checked my watch and saw around 35 - really?! Maybe I am actually doing decent and can finish by 45?

The swim in seemed to take forever, I was really ready to get out of the water - I remember thinking "I can't believe I'd have to swim twice this far for an Ironman!!" I got out of the water, felt dizzy and off balance, pulled off to the side and started to strip out of my wetsuit. I hadn't decided if I was going to strip out before transition at the start of the race, but it felt like the thing to do and I like taking it off while it's still full of water (makes it easy). Heard everyone yelling my name - that's so cool! :) Waddled into transition still feeling dizzy and headed toward my rack.

I guess get into a rhythm where I felt better. I don't think I was pulling in the water as well as I should have.

Rank - 4/17

I had planned on not hurrying here at all, but I went a little faster than I thought I would. I didn't rinse off my feet (which I regretted later), because I thought they felt clean (which they weren't). Layed down my wetsuit, stepped into shoes, helmet & sunglasses on (thanks to Kirk for putting them in transition for me after my pre-race freak-out). Grabbed my bike (which took more effort than it should have, still felt off-balance) and started to jog out of transition. Stopped jogging, as I felt sure I was going to slip going up the little hill out of transition and just walked. After the mount line (tons of people mounted in FRONT of this line, by the way) I actually clipped in a reasonable amount of time! Not fast, but not as spastic as usual! :)

Rinse off my feet with the extra water bottle, feeling grit on my feet for 56 miles when I'm already unhappy is not a good thing!

Started out good, the beginning of the course is flat to slight downhill. Never really got passed by too many people and passed about the same amount. I think there just weren't too many people behind me that were strong cyclists from the start.

My goal for the ride was to keep it in zone 2, with zone 3 allowed for the steep climbs. I did that, so I guess that's good, but the ride SUCKED!! Everything was fine for about the first 1 1/2 hours, then I'm not sure what happened. I started to get really uncomfortable on the bike, my back hurt, my neck hurt, my butt hurt. Maybe the wind was picking up here too? I just felt like I wasn't riding near the pace I needed to or that I had trained for, but I couldn't really go faster either. I was riding pretty much alone, although I was keeping one girl in front of me in sight. I had a rough time with my mental game here, pretty much arguing with myself to keep going. I wanted to just stop and call someone to pick me up, but I knew that was silly. I tried to focus on just reaching the next hour mark, then the next one. I was really thinking, I'll just finish the bike and then stop. I couldn't even imagine getting off the bike and having to run a 1/2 marathon. I decided at this point that I was NEVER doing another HIM!!

At the last water stop, I decided to actually stop and refill my bottle. I just needed a little break and I didn't care it would cost me a few minutes at that point. I think it helped, I knew I only had about 10 miles to go at that point. I can ride 10 miles.

Toward the finish I started to get really emotional, which I knew was a waste of energy, but I couldn't help it. I was really frustrated with myself - I wanted to finish the bike much closer to 3:10. As I was passing people on the run, I was almost hyperventalating to keep myself from busting out crying - I'm really not usually emotional at all, but I couldn't help it. Everyone was very encouraging and I did appreciate all the cheering that I heard on the way into transition, even though I didn't really acknowledge it at that point. Having everyone there really helped, because I didn't want to have to explain why I was going to give up after the bike, which made me keep going.

So - the bike sucked - but I finished it.

I have no idea - not hate the bike?

Rank - 14/17

I'm actually surprised this was under 3 minutes, I felt like I went REALLY slow. No flying dismount, I certainly didn't have the energy for that today! I was forcing myself to keep moving, put on my shoes, take some tylenol (thanks to Kirk for putting it in transition for me!), grab my fuelbelt and visor - start walking toward transition exit. My parents were so sweet, trying to encourage me and tell me I was doing a great job and they were so proud of me. I don't think I was being very nice at this point, saying I was too slow on the bike and I didn't want to run, but I started running (slowly) out of transition.

This was the best I could do at this point - I'm happy I kept moving.

After I started running, I actually started to feel better. I remember telling Elena "this sucks" and her responding "yea it does, but keep going" - that was awesome! :) I hit the first mile at 9:37 and made myself slow down. Next mile 10:11, okay a little faster is fine. Third mile, 9:57 - okay that's good. The mile splits helped me keep going through the run and helped me know how I was doing.

The first half of the run went pretty well, probably averaged around 10 overall. The second half is where things started to stiffen up a bit. Both hip flexors decided they were tired and I started taking a 1 minute walk break each mile, which helped I think. My pace REALLY started to slow here, because I was afraid to go faster and have my hips really lock up. Between mile 9-10 I walked way too long (around the back circle, if you know the course), but I started running again when I hit that water stop. I actually started passing a lot of people at this point, as a lot of people started walking a lot (which I think gave me a little mental boost - at least I still running). After mile 10, I decided the oranges looked really good and I grabbed one. I was a little nervous about eating it, since I knew it had sugar, but I think it was just what I needed. It seemed to give me a little boost of energy. I grabbed another one at the last stop heading back into the park (where I also saw Kirk's brother and parents) and decided I was going to finish this race running. I ran the last 2.1 miles - go me! :)

Hitting the spectator area around 12 miles was SOOOO cool! Everyone was out there yelling, ringing the cowbells, and cheering my name. The Get Fit tent and the Nort Atlanta Multisport tent had everyone out there cheering and it was really loud going through there. Random people would hear my name and then start cheering for me too - it was really cool!! My last 1.1 mile split was 8:57 - darn that means I should have run faster earlier! :) I finished strong, which is good and was never so happy to see a finish line! I hate that horrible hill at the end, I was so close to under 6:45, but I couldn't make my legs push any faster up that hill! :)

The funny thing is I actually PRd my half marathon time by like 20 seconds - that's really sad. It's a good thing I'm going to crush that time at my half marathon in December! :)

Maybe run harder, but I just didn't know if my hips would lock up. I wanted to finish, so I think I made a good decision out there.

I actually felt okay at the end, stiff and sore, but not too bad at all. Better than I've felt after any marathon, I think. I stood under the hose tent for a while (I liked the set up they used after FoF better, I got more water that way), drinking some water and talking to people. My mom called my grandma and I talked to her for a few minutes - I think she thinks I'm crazy! :)

Walked over to the club tent and drank a beer - it tasted SOOOOO good! I don't know why beer tastes so good after a race, but it DOES! :) Cheered on Felix as he came by the 12 mile mark! Walked to transition and packed up my stuff - already couldn't believe I finished a half ironman, it didn't feel real.


Crappy bike - yea, I know I should have had a better mental attidue there. Hip flexor issues in the last two weeks definately effected my run. I'm happy with my race, I finished!!

Within 10 minutes of the finish, I decided I should definately do another Half Ironman! :)


I don't really have any other HIM to compare it too, but I thought it was well run. 3 water stops on the bike and 1 stop almost every mile on the run. I do wish they had vasoline or bodyglide at the run stops, I could have used that. The bike course was tougher than I expected, even after driving the course the day before, but the run course was easier than I expected (even though I've raced on that course twice before).