DeSoto American Triple T Race # 4 Team Time Trial - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

9th overall fastest swim! And I beat some dude named Gordo by 20 sec. who like ended up doing really well in the end: I'm happy for him, I really am!
Seriously fun swim. Turned at an orange buoy on the second lap (looked yellow in the glare!) and really started turning it on when I realized that whistling dude in the kayak was mad at me. Bet I coulda been top three if it wasn't for that navigational faux pas...

Confident swim.

More standing around holding my bike... need to have a mental checklist and just go!

Tough two laps, but I hung in there, even though there were some tough moments of fatigue. 3 bottles of Infinit, 4-5 caffeine gels and cookies and bananas at the halfway table. Rightly predicted that I needed to go 25% beyond what I "felt" I should be drinking. Set me up for a better run than I could have forseen.
The course was so much harder than the Beast of the East 1/2 IM from last year, hills like mini-gaps.

While the time or pacing is not great, I didn't give up, and I ignored the ankle completely, drank the warm coke in my belt (which was like ambrosia from the gods) and every water someone handed me. Never walked, even though I wanted to probably the entire first half. Hills were serious challenges, mental and physical.

Laying down in a frozen stream.


The conclusion I always come to (the SAME conclusion, rendered as epiphany every time) is that this is not only a hard sport but a Painful one. That Half Mary after all that other stuff was so difficult to work through, but there was a moment somewhere on mile 9 when I realized I could do it and that I could do it well and that the best of my ability could be evident. (It helped knowing that a good bit of what remained was downhill!) That was cool. That was a learning moment that I need to hold on to and remember after my body is done healing. I'm glad I did the event and I'm certain my Iron distance race at Silverman will be conquered as convincingly.