Ironman Florida - TriathlonFull Ironman

Seeded myself EXACTLY as I did last year which worked out famously....but this year not so much. It was just a slugfest. I think I had contact about 95% of the swim both loops. This year there were 300 more participants...and of the ~2500 people participating only about 600 were women. First leg first loop everyone nice and polite but could not swim much plus fighting current out. Made the turn and it was rough across the top. Still hard to swim. Second turn and current was a slight help but the waves were kicking up. I stood up in knee deep water and looked at my watch 35 minutes........not stellar but I'll take it. Thing is then I had to schelp another 50 yards OUT of the water the up the beach, over the timing mat, grab some water, back down the beach.

Getting in the second loop was really hard. They had us take it at a diagonal but between the surf and the low tide it was difficult. I easily spent 6-7 minutes getting out and back into the water. Then the second loop......D*MN just as much contact...fight the current...what would Morag tell me? KICK KICK KICK..........only thing that really helped me make progress. By this time the waves were probably about 4 feet. I turned my head and a wave just CRASHED into my face and I took in a huge amount of water. I coughed and spttered the all the way to the turn. STILL just as congested across the top....second turn I'm still getting beat up...the last leg there was teh guy I have dubbed RUDE DUDE. Rude dude I think did not want to get chicked. I fought with him for 2 buoys. I'd try to passs to one side he would block I'd go to the other side he would block, I'd sprint past and he would catch up and hit me. Finally I just grabbed his hip and pushed him away.

After I got rid of rude dude I swam in just fine. Stood up and saw 1:16....Honestly not bad all in all. Took 2 minutes almost to get to the timing mat. Funny thing is lastyear when I did the press conference I predicted my swim time as 1:17

2006 1:26:48 62/91 1595/2192
2008 1:12:50 34/99 959/2271

Take boxing lessons? Seed myself more aggressively? I never got into a good rhythm due to the amount of people around me. I practically had no clear water at all the entire swim. Its just incredibly hard to swim efficently in a wall of people. I can say in all honesty that I swam the absolute best I could in the circumstances. I navigated well, I just could not get clear and kept getting hit.

Ran up the sand and over the timing mat. The beach just seemed like a hike this year. Got stripped, saw Wendi snapping pictures on the way up to transition. Got my bag and ran inside to do my thing. Saw Sherri and gave her a big wet hug, saw Jen and Kathy. Kathy was my helper :) Told her I did the swim in 1:16 ish and asked her to text Morag (my swim coach) Tried to dry off and get my arm warmers and shirt on. Sprayed sunscreen on, shoes glasses helmet off I go.

2006 9:15
2008 6:22

Not much. It was a new set up but I like it better inside. It was a schlep to get inside and again to my bike but not much I could do.

Off we go for a nice bike ride on my new steed :) I love my new bike. It performed admirably. We started off down Thomas drive and waved to my parents. Onto Front beach road and I'm CRUISING......which I kind of thought was a bad thing because if Ihad tailwind there then I would have headwind on the way home. Up over the bridge. I was doing really well the first hour and averaged over 19MPH. Turned into some head wind but was still doing OK the second hour and at 2 hours was averaging about 18.5 MPH. I was thinking a lot of Christine. This should have been her year to race here. Tried hard not to cry. I was emotional all day. I was also snotty the whole ride. I think I blew 10% of my body weight off in snot. Luckily the arm warmers worked well as tissues.

There were people dafting but not the HUGE peletons of last year and I think USAT did a tremendously better job policing it all than they did last year. TONS of people at the pelnatly tents so well done USAT.

Third hour about did me in. This was where the hills on the course are and where some of the worst headwind was. I was thinking Gee maybe I should do a different race next year....maybe I should do CDA AND IMFL next year. Um yeah right now a few days post race NO WAY.

This was about where I encountered Soledad the cheater (STC). STC was around me for the next 90 minutes or so and she was blatently drafting. I saw her in 3 different packs and then they must have dropped her because I would pass her til she found someone elses wheel to suck. When we turned onto 231 I dropped her yet again then she drafted by me again got dropped and I passed her sorry cheating butt for good. Spotted Michelle's (trainergirlmick) friend #62 and we chatted for a little while til he dropped me.

Stopped at SN and got my fun food then turned onto 231. Made up some good time on 231 nice fast biking but that headwind had shot my average speed into the toilet. At this point my hopes of a sub 6 hour bike were pretty much dashed and I was thinking 6:15ish.

Onto Camp Flowers road and still making pretty good time til we turned into some more wind. I had blown thru my accelerade faster than I thought I would so I was just using water for fluids. I was refilling my aerobottle and the entire thing just spilled out on the ground. GREAT. Somehow the top part had a leak and only the bottom would hold fluid. AWESOME.

Onto the out and back which quite frankly just plain SUCKED. The worst headwind of the day. Made the turn around and stopped for a minute at the next aide station. I needed to pee but was unwilling to stand in line. Got another bottle of water and ate my rice krispie treat. It just felt exceptionally good to stop pedaling even for a minute.

Next part was actually a fun section of the bike. Nice little tailwind on newly paved road. Was leap frogging a guy for a long time so I passed him and said "Gee we have only passed each other like a dozen times".....He said "Hey you are Socks".....It was Chef Gary who I met out on Van Fleet once so we chatted for a bit and he left me when I stopped at the next aide station and FINALLY no line at the porta potty woohoo. Re-filled the non leaking part of my aerobottle and got a bottle of gatorade and another water.

At this point I was kind of thinking wher the F*** is that bridge I'm ready to be DONE!!!...then we turned and there it was WHEW. Only a few more miles. Last 10 miles were headwindy...esp the last 7-8. I was trying so hard to stay aero but my neck and upper back were in a spasm. Did the best I could. FINALLY I could see the end was near THANK GOD. Into the cheering crowds and hand off the bike WOOHOO I was really hoping for sub 6 hours this year but I can say I did my very best with what I had and what mother nature handed me on that day,

I had a lot of interesting thoughts during the ride. I thought a lot of Christine. This should have been her day to race and it made me sad. I had a pink breast cancer bracelet and thought of Terri. I talked to both of them to please send me a litle tailwind. I'd look at my hand and think of Joan and how she would love it when I was hammering down 231 at 23 MPH. I drew strength from them all and tried to hang tough and pick it up a notch.

2006 7:04:42 66/91 2103/2192
2008 6:07:17 48/99 1409/2271

Be lighter. Train in more wind? I think I nailed my nutrition and despite the aero bottle fiasco I did fine with fluids. Took 2 lava salts an hour. Food was 2 servings accelerade 480, 4 gels 360, 1/2 banana, rice krispie treat 80, about 10 pieces of licorace 750 1/2 a gatorade, lots of water but not sure how much ended up on the ground,

Well its kind of sad this was the best part of my race. Ran into the tent and gave Sherri a sweaty hug. Saw Jen and Kathy and Kathy about body chucked some other volunteer out of the way to help me. She was totally awesome tho and I ROCKED T2. Jen was like an angel out of heaven and gave me a cold diet coke. OMG that was so good. Washed my face and legs. I had a tooth brush and toothpaste but didn't need it. Socks shoes hat long sleeved shirt around my waist. Kathy mixed my accelerade for me. I was snotty the while bike so I stopped on my way out to blow my nose. Overall a most excellent T2. Thanks to Kathy Jen and Sherri for helping everyone all day!!!
2006 6:42
2008 7:20

Nada had the bestest helpers ever :)

Well because my neck and upper back were such a mess when I started out I felt kind of dizzy and lightheaded. They changed the course some this year due to the sidewalk being torn up I guess, so after you came out of transition you ran up the street a bit and I got too see my parents and Wendi et all. Ran down the street and aside from the dizziness didn't feel too bad. Did a little walk run and managed the first mile in 11:27 which is really good for esp as I walked 1/2 of it. Left me quite optimistic. Saw B&B and got big hugs :)

Both feet were numb from pounding into the wind. Second mile it felt like there was a knife in my right hamstring and was much slower...CRAP. I was leap frogging a guy and he said "I think you and I are going to be seeing a lot of each other" I said "Yeah this is where you tell me this is your second loop" He just laughed. I introduced myself and he said his name was CJ. Back and forth we went. He said he was having stomach troubles so I gave him my tumms as I didn't need them. Must have worked because after about 12 miles he took off and I never saw him again.

After 5 miles or so the hammy quieted down. I could feel my left foot after 5 miles and mostly the left after 7. Was doing a random run walk thing picking out objects to run to. Into the park which was different this year. No out and back just a loop. Met a guy with AFOs on and asked him why he had a foot drop. We chatted about that and he said he didn't want to mess up my plan and he was doing a 2 minute run 1 minute walk. I laughed beacue the only plan I had was to try and run as much as I possibly could. They had cones in the park and I was on a run 3 cones walk one plan at the time. I told him no worries..he kicked my butt too.....oh yeah there was a one legged guy who was roughly 10 miles in front of me who also kicked my butt.

I honestly thought the first loop would NEVER END. I was looking for Michelle and Melissa. Saw Michelle when she was about 2-3 miles into her run. I was worried Melissa did not make the bike cut off and so hoping to see her out on the run. Alas it was not her day. Only good thing about the first loop it was it was longer than the second loop so the second loop woulde short. At least that was what I was telling myself.

They had some cute aide stations. A 70s theme and the MASH unit were the cutest and I picked up a glow stick there. This year it was dark earlier because daylight savings started the weekend before and sunset was like at 5pm. That messed with my head some. My hip wasn't hurting too bad and I was running as much as I could. Back thru the drunk people and back into the crowd. Across the turn around and didnt' see anyone which worried me in that I didn't want my parents to be worried because they didn't see me. At any rate I had my NICE COLD DIET COKE in SN...OMG it was so freaking GOOD!!!! I poured it in my hand held and it was a little slice of heaven.

RUn back down the street thru the drunk people. My left calf would kind of lock up at times. I would look at teh for Joan on my hand and leg and that became my mantra "for Joan for Joan for Joan" Just keep going. Everything pretty much hurt. Balls of my feet were blisters. For Joan For Joan For Joan.

I walked for a good while and then I was able to run quite a bit and was thinking if I were a VERY good girl I might just pull out a PB on this stoopid marathon but then I went into the park which was my undoing. There wasa bout a mile and a half stretch with absolutely NO LIGHT and I mean pitch black which was a change from the previous 2 years I did this race. I honestly was afraid to run because my legs felt like crappolla and I was scared I would face plant which would have been very bad.

I was trying to speed walk as best I could which was actually working out pretty well for me. I was walking near some guys who were all doom and gloom whining and I was all little suzy sunshine. We get to mile 20 and I throw my arms up and say "WOO HOO only a 10K left you can do that in your sleep" to which one of the guys replied "You are WAY too positive and happy for this point in the race" Heh. Positive got me to the line before them :)

Ok just a 10K no sweat. by the time I could see again it was REALLY hard to run again. I managed some for the next few miles but really the last 5K was a huge sufferest. My heart and me head wanted to run BADLY but my legs were having none of it. I got to the MASH themed aide staion and there was this little boy maybe 10 head to toe fatigues, helmet, fake rifle over his sholuder standing at attention with a green glow stick on his helmet holding out a cup and he says "Water ma'am" OMG he was so darn cute I said Yes thank you very much and took it even tho I didn't want or need it.

My hip was killing me. Well really everything hurt but the hip was the rate limiting factor. I made the decision that I would rather be slower than have another stress fracture in my hip. It wasn't like even on my best day I would place or KQ and in my world and for my life its not worth it.

Saw Betsy about a mile out and she walked with me a bit. The last 1/2 mile there are TONS of spectators and you can just totally feed off the energy. I ran most of it high fiving anyone with a hand out and this race I actually REMEMBER it all. It was fantastic. I ran into the shoot and there was a gy who had sprinted by me and then he just stopped so I went by him to finish. I actully HEARD my name this time.....music nope dont' know what was playing. I was loving the crowd tho



2006 7:24:37 87/91 2103/2192
2008 6:25:17 91/99 2027/2271

Not be injured. Be lighter. Leg transplant.

Kathy caught me at the finish and Bridget gave me my medal......I'm a lucky girl to have my friends at the finish. Did the post race stuff and got a massage. I know the guy who runs the massage tent so I had him and another person working on me together which ROCKED. Thanks Pete :) Got my warm clothes on grabbed some pizza cause I was starving and found the parents.........then the fun began. My dad parked in a tow away zone and got towed.......it would have been funny if it didn't mean I had to walk about a mile back after the race. DEFINATELY my slowest mile of the day :)


Too heavy too injured.


2006 16:12:12 2031/2192
2008 13:59:04 1790/2271
2009 14:36:30 1991/2423

Honestly I think we all forget sometimes how lucky we are to be able to do this crazy sport. Its easy to get caught up in times and paces etc. I'm not the most gifted athlete out there but I have a lot of heart and I try my best and grind it out everytime I train or race. I'm thankful I am healthy enough to have the gift of being able to race. This too is for all those who wanted to race but never got the chance. We all travel a different path to get to the start line and you don't know what the journey of the person next to you was. We all need to respect that each time we toe the line.

This was not the race I hoped for but retrospectively I dont' know how I could have executed any better. I did the best I could with what I had on that day with the conditions mother nature threw at me. No regrets at all.

Thanks to my parents for being iron spectators and sherpas. I know its a long day for them. To Kathy for being the bestest changing tent helper ever and as always for her friendship. To Jen for helping sherpa and the diet coke in T2. To Wendi for her photography and cheerleading skills and B&B for cheering me on. To all the BTers out there and your families for making it a great day. To my swim coach Morag Betz of Blue wave swimming for helping me be the best swimmer I could be and putting up with the crazy triathlon people I drag to masters. AND to my tri coach Will Kirousis of Tri-Hard coaching for always believing in me even when I don't believe in myself and all his help with my sometimes topsy turvy life and managing to help me fit triathlon into it.