Musselman Half-Iron Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Survive. That was the goal. This was the hardest swim I've ever done, including all open water swims in the pacific ocean. First of all, you could walk for almost 200 yards. I swam it, but my hands and knees were scraping the bottom. It was at this time that I realized how bad the chop was. The waves were coming in at 1-2 feet and were just bashing you in the head constantly. There was no rhythm to it, and I swear, each wave had it's own wave within it, in case you thought you might be able to breath without swallowing water.

The only good thing about the rough water was that I instantly forgot about my stomach. Bodies were being tossed around, so in addition to the normal jostling, it really WAS like a washing machine with the water tossing everyone together as well.

Anyways, enough with how miserable it was. As soon as I got used to the rough water, I thought about the ocean, and how many rough open water swims I'd done there, and it became fun. My navigation was awesome, so awesome in fact that I couldn't draft off of anyone. No one else was swimming to the inside of the buouys, so I just toughed it out by myself. Once we got close to shore, it became shallow again. I tried dolphining, I tried swimming, but nothing worked. I tried running, but it was just at knee level, so the normal leg kick didn't work. So, I just walked and felt like a zombie, just like the rest of the racers. Thank GOD that swim was over!

Not much. I should have pushed it more, but with my stomach being so awful, I was just happy to be out there.

Ryan followed me up to transition with Cody and they cheered me on as I complained about the swim. It was great to have my own personal cheering section!!

Not get my wetsuit stuck on my wrists. It made me mad, and I went slower because both my hands were stuck in the sleeves like I was running with a straight jacket on.

Awesome! I loved this bike course and I loved how I felt out there. It was great to not be in that water, and the more time spent on the bike, the more the memory of the washing machine faded. I started off really easy, trying to get my nerves to calm down and to assess my nutrtional damage. I sipped some water, and started to feel OK.

That was when I realized how vicious our headwind was. We were going uphill, into a head wind for almost 18 miles. Ugh. My (well, Ryan's) garmin said I was averaging 18.0. I came up on a few girls right away, and just kept chugging along, keeping my cadence high. Around mile 7, I found my target- the girl who won the sprint from the day before. When I came up next to her, we chatted for a bit, and we got along great, and both recognized that we were direct competitors :) At mile 10 I got to see my extended family, so that was a good boost, and soon after that I was able to choke down my first gel.

Finally, we got to turn around and we got our first tailwind of the day. It was the best feeling- flying around the countryside at 30mph- I LOVED it! Very soon after, Julie and I both passed by someone who told us we were the first two females. No way! That's when I realized I had a shot at winning. Screw the nausae, screw the 'B' race mentality- I wanted to win. Luckily, Julie did too, so we pushed each other for the rest of the race, but in a friendly way :)

The rest of the course was aweseome. My legs felt great, my stomach was cooperating, and I was RACING- like, for real! The scenery was terrific, the competitors were nice and the volunteers rocked. I pushed my legs and my bike as much as I felt I could, and I got into transition about 10 seconds behind Julie. My nausea only flared up at the tail end of the bike, but I just decided to HTFU and race.

Cool parts of the race included going by some of my favorite wineries, and whizzing by the Amish on their horse and buggies on our $3k racing machines :)

Just know the course better. This was a much more challenging course than I anticipated, but that's only because I didn't do my homework :)

Coming into T2 was really exciting because everyone knew that we were #1 and #2 female. It had just started raining, so I was being very careful not to fall while getting off my bike....(foreboding music here...)

Nothing

I got out of T2 as fast as possible, because I knew Julie was just a bit ahead of me. Ryan was there yelling at me to run fast and catch her. My family was there saying- "omigod, you're SECOND!" I couldn't believe it. I wasn't even thinking about my legs or how I felt, or anything, I just wanted to try to WIN. I could see Julie, and I caught her around mile 2. We chatted for a bit, then I pulled ahead- I was #1.

The run took us through the town of Geneva, through a college and then out into the boonies. I was feeling pretty good for the first 5 miles. At each aid station, I took a bit of water and tried to take in some nutrition. I still knew I was behind, but there wasn't much I could do at this point.

Every once in a while I would check behind me to see where she was, and each time I was gaining on her. At all of the aid stations, people were cheering me on, and getting excited to see the first female racer. It.felt.AWESOME.

Mile 7 has a really big hill, and this was when I started to feel fatigued. My legs hurt, my stomach hurt and I just wanted to walk. I also realized that my pace must've slowed because Julie started gaining on me. So, I just said- SHUT UP AND RACE (in Jorge's voice, obiously). I took in more gels, and also took the opportunity to pee on myself for the first time. Weird. Hot. Ew. The good thing was it was raining a lot, so no one would notice...but now you know :)

Soon after the farm fields, we headed back into town. There wasn't anyone immediately in front of me, and it was kinda tricky to figure out which way to go. Julie was gaining on me, so we would shout back and forth to try to navigate the course. We got back to where doubled back and got to see all the other racers. Almost every single racer said something to me- I couldn't believe it! Usually I'm out there cheering on the lead female, but this time it was me, it gave me chills. I tried to smile, but I was hurtin'.

Finally, at mile 10, Julie caught me. Crap!! I was soooo close to just throwing in the towel and letting her have it. I wasn't supposed to be racing out there, it was just supposed to be 'fun'. This wasn't fun- this hurt like a mofo. So, what did I do? HTFU! RUN FASTER! (again, thanks coach!) We were next to each other for the last 5k. It was fun and it sucked. We huffed and chatted a bit, then ran faster, and faster, and faster- each trying to lose each other, but neither of us giving up a step, let alone an inch.

The last mile was absolute misery. Each step felt like it would be my last, I had nothing left. I kept going faster and faster, because at this point I would give anything to finish first. I was in the lead for the last hour, and I didn't want to give up now. We rounded the corner to the finisher's chute, going at an all out sprint. The crowd was going crazy, the announcer was getting everyone into it- "Ladies and Gentleman, we've got a real sprint to the finish here- this is INCREDIBLEY close!!". We rounded the last corner and Julie boxed me in! I was behind her, I couldn't believe it!! SH!!T! I pushed SOOO hard with 10 feet to go, I got up next to her again, trying, pushing, wanting to die, then she was 1 step away from the mat and I was so close.....

...and I fell. Unfriggin' believable. So, instead of having a glorious photofinish, I crawled across the line, swinging my chip-leg over the timing mat to make it look close ;) All this while the announcer was giving me my own play-by-play- how bizzarre- "they are racing to the finish..and..omigod..she FELL! An ironman effort folks, she's crawling across the line- something you'd only see on TV!!" Ugh.

I still have no idea why I fell. I'm almost positive she would've beaten me anyways, so I didn't lose the race because of the fall, but you just never know :) I think I tripped on something, but it's just as likely my legs gave out. I have never tried that hard at anything in my life before, and for that reason alone, I am extremely happy for second place. I know I gave that finish 100% of my effort, and to prove it, they hauled me off to the med tent because apparently I was as white as a sheet, delirious, and I couldn't stand on my own two feet.

My whole family saw the whole thing and they were so jazzed up. They couldn't believe it was me out there, racing to the finish, and it felt AWESOME to have that many people get excited about my passion. I spent about 15 minutes trying to recover in the med tent, while a bunch of random people came by to congratulate me and make sure I was OK.

Not start the race on negative calories. I don't know if it would've made a difference at the end, but all in all, I believe nutrition is what killed me.

As soon as I convinced the MD that I was OK, I hobbled around chatting with my family. I caught up with Julie and we talked for a while about how fun the race was, and how it was such an awesome finish. By that time the rain was coming down in buckets, so we left to clean up and get back for the awards. Although we were late to the awards, I still heard from a bunch of people about the dramatic finish and how my fall provided some nice entertainment for the masses :) I do what I can, folks.

This was my best race ever- I PRed and got 2nd OA, 1st in my AG, had a blast, had a wonderful vacation with my family and best of all, both Ryan and I were out there racing and loving it.


Me, myself and my stomach. I have no idea what made me puke, and that was the only thing that held me back.


This is an awesome race, in a great location. Obviously, they couldn't have changed the weather, but it just made it more exciting. Volunteers were great, course was beautiful and challenging and I had a blast!