Oklahoma City Redman Triathlon - Half Redman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I was in the second row, just behind a few ladies and began swimming sandwiched between two others. There was no kicking or punching, we were all just trying to get out of each others way. As soon as I started swimming my nerves calmed down and I concentrated on swimming smoothly. I was feeling awesome.

¾ of the way to the turn, I started passing green caps (males who started 3 minutes ahead of us). This was also about the time I relaxed enough to pee... aahhhhh. Got to the first Red Bull bouey and turned left to swim ~100 meters out. Turned to head back in, feeling great!

My sighting was going well, except on the long straightaway back in, I was nearing the orange cap wave. So, the boueys were orange, and there were also orange caps... confusing. About halfway to the last Red Bull bouey turn, I passed a whole pack of green cap guys, yeah! Got to the turn and headed back in. I could hear the announcer calling people's names as they came out - this was exciting!

I swam until I could stand up on the boat ramp about waist-deep water and checked out my watch. HOLY CRAP it says 37:45! Two minutes faster than my IMKS swim time! I was so completely stoked, what a great start to my race.

Ran up to the wetsuit strippers as I got my wetsuit down to my waist. It was kind of crowded, but I pointed to a lady and claimed her! Laid down and she said "point your toes!" That thing came off faster than... ahh never mind :). As she handed it to me, I screamed "I LOVE YOU!" and she said "you’re welcome!" and I ran across the timing mat into transition.

Nothing at all! This was the best swim I've ever had in a race.

Counted four racks in and turned where I was supposed to, just as I heard the announcer say "coming out of the water from Wichita, Kansas is Lisa Conklin" and I yelled "WOOHOO! That's me!"

Congratulated the girl next to me on going under 40 minutes while I put my socks on. Socks, bike shoes, sunglasses, helmet. Unracked the bike and ran her out to the mount line. Tom was right there - I yelled "have a good run!" to him but I don't think he heard (he was going to run while I biked to pass the time).

Nothing. 4/21 in my AG for T1.

The start of the bike was 4-5 miles around beautiful Lake Hefner. It was a little cool out, and I was wet, but I knew I'd dry off soon. Not a cloud in the sky, and not a bit of wind. Couldn't have asked for better weather.

Riding through the city they had a few "no passing" and "pass with caution" zones, and police blocking every intersection. The entire OKC police force must have been out there - it was soooo amazing! Also, every business driveway like the Sonic, 7-11, U-Store... they all had two volunteers. At EVERY driveway, blocking traffic. I've never seen so many volunteers in my life - and they were all screaming for us like crazy. How awesome.

Got out of the city feeling good. I just took it all in and really enjoyed the gorgeous day. A 65-year old lady from my tri club, Holly, passed me 30 minutes in. Seriously she is such a stud. Gloria passed me at 42 minutes in but she was so focused she didn't hear me yell at her.

Turned left at the "L" for another long stretch. Someone named Lance had a crazy huge cheering section that was driving to every intersection to get out and cheer for him - he must have not been far behind me - they were awesome. I woo-hoo'd at them every time I saw them and said "you guys are everywhere!" which made them laugh.

Got to the turnaround timing mat at 1:42ish. I tried to grab a bottle of cold water but dropped it. Oh well, I had enough on my bike. I was eating every 30 minutes but probably could have drank more.

The stretch back to the McArthur Road turn lasted FOREVER. Seriously, I couldn't believe how long it took. The whole way back is a slight uphill, so I knew it would take longer, but man I got bored out there. I tried singing, and I know I MOO'd at some cows. But I just couldn't stop thinking about how long the ride was taking.

FINALLY made it to the turn and got a little boost of confidence. It was really thinning out, most everyone had passed me. There were a handful of Full Iron-distance people passing me as well; I tried to say good job to everyone but especially them.

Coming back into the city got a little hairy! Police were still blocking traffic at the intersections but there was one portion where we only had one lane for both directions of cyclists. As I was making the merge into the one lane, an impatient driver tried to come into the lane (HEAD ON TOWARDS ME!). A very alert police officer ran up, screaming "Get out of the lane! Get out! Move!" until he did. After that I just wanted to be done and out of traffic.

Turned into the lake and told the volunteer "I'm SO glad to see you!" and he said he was glad to see me too, heh. I'd told myself I couldn't look at my pace until I got to the lake so when I did, I immediately started pushing the buttons to see what I'd done. My average was 15.7mph, which I was not thrilled with. At IMKS I averaged about the same, and that course was crazy hilly. Regardless, I was about to be off the bike with no flats, no incidents, and feeling alright!

Came into transition to see Tom and Jeepfleeb cheering me on! I heard Tom say "she is always smiling so much in races" or something... I was smiling cause I was so freaking glad to be off the bike! Ran her in to my rack and that was that.

I don't know. I thought I would do better than this on the bike. At the incredibly hilly Ironman Kansas (which has been described as one of the hilliest 70.3 distances in the nation), I averaged 15.89. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Tom thinks I could have gone harder, and I probably could have. But I kept thinking about all of the Race Reports I've read that say "I went out to hard on the bike and had to walk the run." I didn't want to find myself in that situation so just rode comfortably. I need to push harder because I know I'm capable.

Very smooth, except my bike pump prevented me from getting the bike racked super fast. I finally had to kick it out of the way, but didn't stress about it. Ponytail adjustment, change of shoes, visor on, sweat towel. Oh, in my pre-race frenzy I'd forgotten to lay out GUs for the run, so I had to get in my duffle bag to grab them. Headed out and saw Tom and Jeepfleeb again. Gave Tom a high five and I was off.

Not have my bike pump right in the way.

6/11 in my AG for T2.

After a few steps I made a body assessment. What was this...? I was feeling just fine...? Freaky. My plan was to run the entire first half and assess again. I knew the run would be long.

The first two miles were right about 10:30s. Not bad, not bad at all. I had to pee, so I was looking for a porta-potty. I asked three guys coming in if there were any, and none of them could remember. I kept thinking about IMKS where I had a running buddy, which helped me soooo much. Right after mile 2, a girl named Trisha came up next to me and introduced herself; asked how I was doing. Turned out she was from Wichita, now living in KC. We started chatting and decided to run together for as long as we could. We both had to pee around mile 3 and decided to SQUAT IN THE BUSHES!! I was pretty proud of myself for doing this, as I would later find out that there was not one porta potty on the run course.

I started coughing. A lot. I got sick about a month ago, and never fully recovered. Every time I would stop running, I'd cough uncontrollably. It was awful. A few times, I coughed to the point of gagging.

Somewhere around mile 4 or 5, we passed a guy walking and I said "if you want to hang with us, we're running pretty slow," and he took us up on the offer. His name was Ben. The three of us were a little pack, sticking together, and trying to talk as much as we could to keep our minds off of the fatigue setting in. We walked each aid station (which was all of our original plans) and talked about how all of our goals were to come in under 7 hours. Around mile 5 I knew if I was going to eat a GU, I should do it now. I pulled it out of my pocket and contemplated. My stomach got a little queasy at IMKS after a GU, and I was feeling great, so I decided not to. In hindsight, I really should have taken it.

We came up to the turnaround aid station and timing mat. I proudly ran over it saying "Now my mama knows were I'm at! Halfway done!" (they had an online athlete tracker). The next couple of miles were kind of painful, but peppered with walkers we would encourage to run with us. We'd pick someone up and all introduce ourselves, what attempt at 70.3 this was for us, who was waiting at the finish line. A few would run for a mile, drop off, then we'd pick up someone new. We took a few 30 second breaks here and there, then it was just the three of us again (me, Ben, and Trisha).

Between miles 10 and 11, Trisha got a little ahead of us and we let her go. We just didn't have it in us to keep up. We were struggling. We were quiet. I tried to ask Ben some questions to get us talking but we were so tired it was hard.

At mile 12 I think Ben was worried about not making 7 hours (he'd started 6 minutes ahead of me) so he sped up a bit. I let him go, as I was fading incredibly fast. My legs were fatigued beyond belief. I had blisters forming on both of my feet. I was hungry and hot. I learned later that in the last 30 minutes of my run, the temperature had risen 10 degrees. No wonder I was hot. My bad knee popped and I stopped to wiggle it around - and immediately got dizzy. Uh oh, that's not good. I didn't say anything to the volunteers right there, they asked about my knee and if I was okay - I said yes and kept going.

The last mile hurt beyond belief. I was pissed at myself. I thought the last mile would give me a super surge of energy, knowing I only had less than a mile, but I had no energy! I had to stop three times in the last mile to walk.

When I started to hear the announcer I vowed that I wouldn't walk again. I slowly shuffled around the corner and all the sudden I was on the straight-away to the finish chute! As I passed the "recognition" timing mat (so the announcer could call your name) the entire Kansas River Valley Triathlon Club was there jumping up and down, screaming for me. It was incredibly awesome. I hit the red carpet the announcer called my name and said "here she comes, all smiles!" because I was cheezing it up! I pointed at my smile and I think I raised the roof at some point. The emotion inside of me was overwhelming. Here I was, finally... finally finishing my 70.3.

EAT

I was soooo glad Tom was right there at the finish line. When I stopped running, my throat immediately started to close up - that was scary. Tom asked how I felt and I said "I can't breathe" and I was serious. He walked me around to the food tent and I felt better after a minute. I turned to give him a hug and I kind of broke down. My emotions came flooding out and I cried for a minute. I looked at the food and it was all bread - which I am allergic to. I found some starburst, peanuts, mini Clif bar and a real soda, then headed back to the tri club tent to sit down.

Hung out with the awesome tri club people while we cheered on finishers. Everyone was drinking beer, but I just couldn't. My tummy did not want food; nothing sounded good. I ate 4 starburst and drank a 7-up. That was it. I really need to remember to pack post-race food for a long distance race.

Signed up for a massage and ended up waiting something like 2 hours to get it. When I did, it was so amazing! Wow.

Me, Tom and Gloria waited around to see the winner of the Full Iron distance - that was cool. Then we headed back to the hotel to clean up.

The tri club people wanted to eat at On The Border (OMG! 3rd time in three days). I had eater my leftovers from the night before while I was getting ready, and there I had a huge margarita and a bowl of tortilla soup. Everyone went to drink a few more beers at another hotel, but I was so tired I had Tom drop me off and I immediately crashed. I was exhausted.

The next morning we went to the awards banquet. It was so amazing - my tri club totally swept this race! Our members got: 1st place female Half distance, 1st place male Full Aquabike (they are husband and wife how cool!), 2nd place male Half distance, and THREE other age-group awards. One of them was Gloria who got 3rd place in our age group, she missed 2nd place by 1/10 of a second. Yup, her and another girl are tied on paper (stellar sprint finish) but when they took it out to the 10th of a second the other girl had her. Crazy. Every time a tri club member went up for their award, we cheered like maniacs. The Emcee guy commented that we were the crazy Kansas people and noted that there were a ton of us in the race! Represent!

I can't believe how wonderful this experience was. It was tough, and I'm glad it is over, but I'll be ready to do it again, that's for sure. Special thanks to TOM who came to cheer us on and take tons of great pictures. I do believe he wins boyfriend-of-the-year award. What a great guy.


I need to push myself harder on training rides and runs. I think I've been a little lazy in finding out exactly what I am capable of. This year was all about working up to the distance, and crossing the 70.3 finish line. Next year will be about getting faster.


Can't say enough good things about this race, it's organization, and the volunteers. Simply amazing.