Decided to swim together the whole course. The wind was causing some chop and some current. There was a fair bit of poor navigation happening and we got cut off a fair bit....I was keeping an eye on the time, and knew we were keeping a relatively good pace, despite the 'stops' we made to check in. There were signs hung on each bridge with the race distance on them, which was super helpful.

The bridges were full of spectators cheering, which was kinda cool. Tons of weeds here, I had them wrapped across my face as I was swimming...ewwwwww. We got around the buoys at the far end of the course, and then the chop came up, and a current that was pushing us off course to the right. I was trying to aim us somewhat left to keep us on course. I had a moment of panic when I thought we were supposed to be to the right of a buoy--then I realized the buoy had been blown pretty much onto the beach, and figured we were fine :)

Just beyond the aforementioned buoy, it got very shallow. Like about 8 inches. We had a somewhat lengthy stop here, as we were laughing our heads off at some guy who decided that it would be faster to run than to swim. Is that even legal? (For the record, I checked after, and there is no rule that says you cannot 'run' the swim).

Finished the back stretch, made the final turn and headed to the last buoy to turn in towards the finish.

Nothing. I was really really happy with this swim for more reasons than just timing.

Had to pee...

Plan was to stay in low Z2 for entire bike and I did just that. The first section along the ocean was beautiful, if not windy. Mostly cross wind, and I was able to keep a pretty good speed. I was about 10km into the bike when I started having trouble shifting. There seemed to be a hesitation; I was thinking my hands were cold and I wasn't pressing the buttons hard enough, so tried holding them, but it was spotty and random. It would shift, then it wouldn't. I was thinking that this could be really bad...I stopped at about 25km to check the connections--they all seemed fine, so I had no idea what the issue was. Got going again, and I was shifting just fine--yaay! Wiggling the connections must have worked. Then, got into aero, and couldn't shift again. Crap. Took me a couple minutes to realize that shifters on the aerobars were not working, but bullhorns were fine. Okay, not ideal, but manageable. It meant shifting my weight onto my left arm every time to shift, but so be it.

After the turn inland, I was sure glad I had gears. Tons of rolling hills, lots of shifting up and down. Not big hills or big shifts, but definitely glad to have all my gears. It was a beautiful area, lots of farmland, wheat fields. Many people had tables and chairs set up at the end of their driveways, having drinks, picnics, and cheering.

Turn left onto the highway and there was a strong headwind. Like stop you dead wind. Once you got through that, there was one big hill--great crown support here. An announcer was calling out racers, crowds lined the street like you see at the TdF.

Second loop about the same. Kept my HR in Z2. Wind picked up a bit for the second loop. Made sure my nutrition and drinking was on course. First and second loop were pretty close timing wise, maybe a tiny bit of a negative split. My left shoulder and arm were getting pretty tired by this point, and I was happy to make the turn toward the finish. Those last 10km were long though....

Not sure...shifting was just fine in the days before. Something came loose internally, cause there was nothing wrong with the connections that I could mess with.

Stopped at the dismount line, vollie grabbed my bike and I grabbed bag and into tent. Helmet off, bib, shoes, hat on and go.

My goal was to run the whole thing, just walking aid stations. I had no idea if I could, but wanted the goal. I felt tired after the bike, so wasn't sure--but I think the fatigue was neck and shoulder rather than legs. I have only run one Marathon in my life and it was a 4:45; I was hoping for a 5hr here.

Held it reigned in--Z2 again. In Whistler I went out way too fast and died in the heat and ended up walking a lot. Didn't want to do the same here. I had gotten some arm coolers for this race and they definitely helped (although it was not as hot as Whistler).

Crowd support was really great again, lining the course. People calling out "Go Canada" from the flag on my bib. There were a couple small hills--I ran them the first loop, then decided that I would walk some of them as well. It wasn't until partway through the second loop that I decided I should start paying attention to how the course went for psychological reasons if nothing else....

Had a bit of a pity party as I started my third loop. Passing the finish line it tough. Walked the stretch down to the water, thinking I might just walk, but told myself to start running again at the Red Bull arch, and did. Got the wrist band on that loop and moped about the fact that I had one more to do... Walked the aid station in Nyhavn on this loop and kept walking a bit for another pity party. Told myself to start running at the pedestrian sign up ahead, and starting going before it. I'm always amazed at how much we are capable of, if only we just get out of our own way. Tell yourself you can do it, and you can. Tell yourself you can't and you won't. Simple.

Got to the start of the last loop and saw that if I pushed it, I could make a sub 13. Unreal. Everytime I passed any of 'my' landmarks, I told myself "I never have to go by this again." Got about halfway through the last loop when my gut started giving me warning signals. I have never had a 'real' issue in a race--just bloating and gas. So I was pretty sure this was the case here too, so kept going. Got the wrist band and headed back up to second last aid station and decided that I didn't want to risk was could be just gas, but could be a disaster. I stopped to use the portapotty--it was a false alarm, same as always and it cost me my sub-13. Grrrrr!!! :D

Got going, and really tried to push the last couple km. They were my fastest for sure. Finished strong and with a smile on my face.

NOT STOP!!! Nah, not really much.

Wind was really cold! Didn't feel cold while running but cooled off quickly. Showers were available so I took advantage. Got into some clean and dry clothes. We stuck around to watch the last finishers come in, which was really fun.


Not much. I am super proud of my race, even more so than Whistler. Stuck to my plan, was able to keep running for the entire thing.