The swim was pretty uneventful. Unlike the practice swim I did not meet any jellyfish ! I did see a ton of starfish on the ocean floor, which was awesome. The water didn't look very deep - mayb 10 feet - but judging by the SCUBA divers standing on the bottom - and waving! - I think it was probably closer to 90 feet. I didn't come into contact with a lot of other swimmers, except around the buoys - see photo above! it was madness around them. madness !

I kept glancing at my watch and was shocked to see it say 1:10 ish when I was so close to the exit. I finished strong and ran up the steps to T1. 1:14 and I was out of the water. awesome start !

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It took me a minute to find my gear bag [I have no idea why - they were in numerical order!] and stumbled into the women's changing tent. I heard "Trish! Trish" It was Saltzy! She, of the "I will be ecstatic if I get out of the water in 1h 30m" was out in 1:13. My volunteer helped me change into my bike clothes and sprayed me with sunblock. I headed out of the tent and then panicked - where are my sunglasses?! .. and then the volunteer found them under the rest of my stuff. I headed back out, grabbed Bella, heard some cheers of "GO TERPS!", saw my family, and headed out on the bike course for a little 112 mile ride.

Pick it up a little? Ha ! I wanted to make sure I had everything for the bike.

as soon as I got on my bike I knew something was off. I felt like my aerobars were too high when the bike mechanic put them back on, so I lowered them. and then apparently thought it was a good idea to not RIDE it with the newly lowered bars. smart. it started bugging me and I thought "if you don't fix this now, it's going to irritate you for the next 7 hours." I hopped off of my bike, got my park tool, and raised the aerobars. it took 6 minutes. whatevs.

the bike course was three loops (well, 2 and 3/4) around the island. I started out pushing a nice comfortable pace of 20 mi/hr. Then we turned... then my speedometer: 18, 16, 15, 13, 12... yikes. Headwinds and crosswinds were really slowing me down, but I was okay with it. My main goal was to enjoy the day. The east side of the island is almost totally undeveloped - it has no electricity. And it was absolutely stunning [photos later in the rr]. Huge waves crashed into sandy beaches for miles and miles. Breathtaking.I finished the first loop and came into town - amidst cheers of Vamanos! Vamanos! and a lot of other things in Spanish. I was having a fantastic time! I was Hola-ing! and Muchas Gracias-ing ! all over the town. People had moraccos and all sorts of noisemakers. The whole city was out .. it was fantastic. I was smiling and cheering.


The second loop was not quite as great - I knew I had to face the winds again, and I had the most pain ... in my FEET. My shoulders, back, and legs felt fine, but my FEET - OUCHIE. It felt like they were asleep, only with more pain.. like they were hot and wanted out of my shoes. I came to bike special needs wanting a tylonel... and no one could find my bag. Awesome. At least I didn't have anything in there I really needed.. and another athlete gave me an advil. Moral of the story? Use your SN as "it would be nice to get it here, but if I don't I'll be fine." Here I am coming into town at the second loop, getting off my bike to tell my mom how much my feet hurt:


By this time some of the fasties were finishing their bike, and I was heading out to do my third loop. Boo. By this time I just really, really wanted to be off of my bike. my feet were throbbing. the last stretch along the water felt like forever. I kept thinking I saw the turn off ... and then: more water, and more headwinds.

Finally - finally! - we came in to town. I was so happy to dismount my bike. So happy. I was surprised to see James take my bike, and I think I said "no, no, you can't touch it - that's outside assistance." James laughed and said "I'm volunteering now." He, my mom, and my sister ended up as bike catchers !

um, check my aerobars before I ride ?

I was so flipping happy to be off of the bike that I would have gladly ran 50 miles. And who did I see in the change tent? Saltzy ! I just passed her at the dismount area of the bike. I changed out of my smelly bike gear - and bike shoes, tg - and into my running gear. At this point I knew that I would definitely be an Ironman by the end of the day. I had 8 hours to finish and unlike the bike, I didn't have to worry about mechanical issues or flats. Running is what I do. I was so ready to do this.

Pick up the pace, but I don't really care !

I was so flipping happy to be off of the bike that I would have gladly ran 50 miles. And who did I see in the change tent? Saltzy ! I just passed her at the dismount area of the bike. I changed out of my smelly bike gear - and bike shoes, tg - and into my running gear. At this point I knew that I would definitely be an Ironman by the end of the day. I had 8 hours to finish and unlike the bike, I didn't have to worry about mechanical issues or flats. Running is what I do. I was so ready to do this.

The run course was three out and backs - each lap 8.7 miles, each "out" 4.35ish miles.



I underestimated how hard running would be after the swim and the bike. I started at a 9:45ish pace, and slowed down from there. I didn't care, though. I made some friends - met a guy who lives in Mexico City and was recently at an arbitration in Washington as a CPA, a woman with three teenage kids, a man from England.


Here I am coming in from the first loop. My mom "you're almost done!" Me "I am nowhere near done." Mom "you are a lot closer than you were at 7 am." Touche, ma, touche. I was so happy to see them, but not so happy to make the turn around right in front of the finisher's chute, where some of the super fasties were making their finish.

The second loop was hard. I knew I had two more laps and it was getting dark and humid. The mosquitoes were out in full force, and even with the buy spray I doused myself with I was still getting eaten. The aid stations left something to be desired: all they had was gatorade, water, and tangerine and green apple powerade gels. barf. I mentioned this to some guy who kindly gave me one of his strawberry-banana gels - so nice ! I really could have used some cookies or crackers/ pretzels. I hit the halfway marker and wasn't sure how to feel. Yay - I'm halfway done! or Oh god, another 13.1 miles. I trudged on. At this point I was doing a shuffle run/ walk thingie. I was also laughing at my plan to keep a 10:15 pace ! I hit run special needs just after the halfway marker and grabbed my GUs ... and about 12 little pieces of paper I had forgotten about until that moment. James told me he was putting notes in my run SN bag. I stuffed the notes in my shirt, re sprayed myself with bug spray [and left it on the table for anyone else who was a mosquitoes dinner], and headed back on.


I opened one note every so often.. they were silly, touching, heartfelt notes from my parents, my sister, my BIL, and J. Some that stick out: "you'll never meet a judge as hard as this course!" [from dad] ; "don't worry about your hair!" [my mom, reference to me as a little one in an open top jeep, yelling about my hair getting messed up] ; "the longer you're out, the drunker we're getting" [james] ; "do it for the cats" ... they were so, so appreciated.


at the end of the second loop, I yelled to my family "see you at the finish line!!" and headed out for my very last loop. the third loop was definitely the easiest, mentally -- I knew that there would be no turn around .. just the glorious finish line. At mile 19ish I started chatting with this girl. We were telling stories about our days. I asked her for her name, and she said Janelle.. I said "RUNNERGIRL?!" .. she said "TRISHIE?!" It was my bt.com friend! we had been exchanging inspires and chatting for several months, and to meet her on the run was a gift from the tri gods. we kept each other moving -- mostly running and only walking through the aid stations. When we got into town we started cheering and getting the crowd riled up.

then: the finish line. the lights and the music and the screaming and cheering and yelling.

I was soaking it all in, enjoying the craziness and the thrill of the end of a 140.6 mile race.. although, really, it's the end of years of training, the culmination of 6am swims, of 100 mile bike rides on the eastern shore and 18 mile runs in the city, of countless orders of Infinit and packages from trisports.com, of exhuastion and 3 hour trainer rides and a little dream, the whisper that said I can do this.

PATRICIA CECIL ! YOU ! ARE ! AN ! IRONMAN !


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medal, pizza, family, photos.