Sounds like a super slow swim, but the timing mat was at the entrance to transition. I walked though all the sand because it hurt my injured calf to run.

The swim itself was more crowded than I'm used to. I was swimming on top of people, men were catching up and swimming over me... it never really thinned out

Stop skipping swim sessions in training

I was sure I spent much more time in transition than this. I had tons of trouble getting my wetsuit off. Then I had to dig through my bag to find something to wipe the sand off my feet. AND I was in the furthest bike rack from the bike out, so I had a LONG walk in my bike shoes out of T1.

have a towel ready to wipe off the sand.

HILLY! We drove 1/2 of the course the day before, and I was scared out of my mind. It looked extremely intimidating and much worse than the IMLOU course. Tina told me to take it easy on the first leg - just warm up - so that's what I did. I didn't work hard on any of the uphills, but I pushed the downhills. I got up the biggest hill of the course on the first leg and I knew was going to conquer the rest no problem. I was passed by a zillion people on the first leg, but they started getting tired by the 2nd and 3rd, and that's when I started passing everyone. It felt great. The night before after seeing the bike course, I decided that there was no way I would beat my Steelhead time on this course, so I threw all expectations out the window. I ended up beating my bike time by 11 minutes. Yay!


Nothing

I put on some socks and my running shoes, grabbed my hat, number, and some tylenol and took off. I put all that stuff on while I was running.

I was feeling good on the run! I was shocked that my leg didn't hurt - especially when I felt the pain walking through the sand after the swim. It was also hurting pretty bad the Friday before the race when I did a short little brick (and it hurt the entire week before). I guess the tylenol and fish oil I started taking worked wonders (and no more heart pain). Mentally I felt AWESOME. I think I was just so stressed about my leg and when it felt good my mood was just magical. I was so happy on the run... I talked to lots of people. I told everyone not to worry about the dark ominous clouds coming through. The cold breeze felt awesome, and I was enjoying the pre-storm weather. Once I saw the 10 mile mark I cheered outloud "YAY! Only a 5k to go!" I was on my way to beating my run time at Steelhead too (2:21) Then I heard a racer behind me say "oh sh!t!" So I turned around and asked him what was wrong. He heard someone say the called the race. I told him I didn't care - we were going to finish no matter what. Then I saw the aid station ahead was still handing out drinks, so I said they wouldn't be handing out drinks if the race was over. So I picked up the pace to brink in my final three miles. As I got close to the last little 2 mile loop near the finish line I could hear the music pumping. I was happy that the race was still on, and I thought of the guy on Slow Twitch who likes to start false rumors, like the one about the swim being cancelled. The music inspired me, so I started to run even faster. I was on cloud nine. Then I couldn't see where the heck the path was to finish the loop - there were cones and spectators or volunteers blocking the way. They told me the race was over and I had to run across the finish line now. I threw out a couple f-bombs and then covered my mouth when I realized there might be kids standing nearby and I jogged through the chute. Most people were walking because they were confused and ticked off, so I had to slow down and I'm pretty sure there was a guy directly in front of me for the finish line picture.

I got a medal and some water. I could't put the medal on... I felt like I didn't earn it. I waited at the chute for Jackie and Bob who both had a difficult run. I felt bad watching them hear the news about the end of the race. Jackie was almost in tears because she had such a crappy run and then finally felt better, only to hear she couldn't finish. At this point it was raining, and we were freezing, so we just grabbed our gear and started the 1.5 mile walk to the car. We didn't even get food because we were freezing and we didn't know if they would evacuate the post race party as well.


I loved the race. The hills were great training for Louisville, but I was really nervous on the downhills. I heard one guy had a really bad accident and had to be air-lifted out. The bike course also seemed extemely crowded with bikes going in each direction on a two-lane road with no shoulders. I LOVED the run course. A lot of it was on crushed rock, so it was easier on my legs... but at times it was a little too "off-road". Running through all the camps sites was really cool. It's a great course to bring your family to if you like camping... especially for watching the run.