Spent the whole first loop jockeying for position. Got hit in the goggles by someone's hand, and got the squeeze a few times from some men, but other than that it was just the normal jostling about that you'd expect during a mass start.

The second loop I spent trying to pee. I had to go really bad and couldn't do it and swim at the same time, and I didn't want to stop. Finally got the flow going and felt much better.

I will say the swim went by much faster than I had anticipated. My shoulder was a little tired but no real pain, so that was good. I only had about 3-4 weeks (including taper) of swimming with both arms to get ready for this race since I was recovering from my broken collar bone. I managed to just cruise. I think I was on 4 stroke breathing pretty much the whole time. I wanted to take it easy without really being slow, and I think I accomplished that.

I remember how pretty the sunrise was, and how I felt waiting at the back of the pack for the start to go off. Next time I won't start so far back but I was worried about getting kicked in the shoulder. Next time i'm slugging it out up towards the front of the middle.

Eh, maybe bodyglide my hairline better. My neck only got really chafed where my hair started.

I should have never taken this long in transition. I mean, I know it was a long haul up the helix, but I had been shooting for about a 10 minute transition. My problem occurred because I finished with a gazillion other people and didn't get my own personal volunteer. Which I thought was gonna be ok. But putting on my bra and still being semi wet didn't work. It rolled up and was at the top of my boobs and under my arms and I couldn't get it to roll down. I was stuck. I struggled and struggled with the dang thing until some volunteer saw me and left someone to come help me. Which I was very grateful for, but I had lost some time.

And I stopped to pee again before I got on the bike.

Figure out how to get my sports bra on without getting stuck.

The first loop was awesome. I was averaging over 16 mph. But then the second loop came, and the wind picked up. And areas were I was pulling 17-19 mph now was 13-14 mph. So the 2nd loop really pulled my overall speed down, but I still ended up finishing about where I had hoped I would.

Saw lots of guys on the side of the road peeing, and a few peeing on the bike. Yes, I could tell. I however, could not do this. And I didn't want to wait in line at a portojohn. So I held it. I was mighty glad I stopped right before the bike, I would have been in trouble. I didn't eat as much as I should have, but my watch had so much condensation in it, I couldn't use it to time my feedings, and then I lost track. Was this why I had stomach issues later? I'll never know. I did start to have a headache towards the end of the bike. I think that may have played into my stomach issues.

More body glide down under. That's probably it.

This was a better transition. I took my time and changed clothes again. Took another pee break. Talked to LazyMarathoner (she's so cute!)and tried to find something for my headache. All my meds like advil, etc were in my special needs bags, not transition bags. Oh well.

Put ibuprofen in my transition bags

I've heard the run called the death march. That pretty much sums it up.

I felt great during the first mile. Hammed it up for the camera. Had about a 10 min pace. Too fast Suzanne, slow down. During mile 2 I started having the stomach pains. You know when the gas feels like it's lodged up under your ribcage and if someone were to poke your stomach you would explode. Yeh, that feeling.

I stopped in a porto john somewhere in mile 2 and the projectile vomiting started. But I must say i felt much better after emptying my stomach. Got back out on the course. Was trying to sip water and some coke. OMG, my stomach pains got worse. I didn't think that was possible. I stopped two more times at porto johns and would feel better for a while and then the pain would start again. Saw my coach right after the Ford inspiration station (she was on lap 2 and I was on lap 1) and she told me to try the chicken broth. Ahhh yes, the chicken broth Suzanne. So I tried it. And it sat ok. So I drank more. Each aid station that came I would get some. At this point I was walking about 80% and running about 20%.

When I got to the turn around I saw Whizzz and was so glad to see a familiar face. She was cheering hard and it meant so much to see here. Thanks Whizzz!

I stopped at special needs and got my secret weapon. During the myrtle beach half mary, I had been hit with stomach cramps of the #2 variety so bad I thought I was gonna have to go to the hospital. I was hurting and nothing was there. At some point I felt the pressure and spasms like you do when you have a UTI so I stopped and bought some AZO and took it. And in about 30 min I felt tons better. So I packed some of that just in case I got hit with the cramping again. Well, desparate times call for desparate measures. I took it and also grabbed some ibuprofen to take in about 2 miles.

I started feeling nauseated again, but I fought through it and managed to take the ibuprofen. I was 100% walking at this point. Still taking in chicken broth. Feeling dizzy and no energy.

And then the cloud lifted. I started to feel better. Around mile 18 I tried an orange. OMG it was so good. I immediately started to feel better. Then it occurred to me that the only calories I had been getting since 4 pm was from chicken broth. No wonder I didn't have any energy and was getting dizzy. I was about to bonk! So at the next aid station, I got 2 orange slices. Even better. I started to feel like I might be able to pick up the pace and run.

At the state street turn around I saw a girl who looked like she was running a pace I could handle. I ran up behind her and told her I was gonna draft off her for a while. She laughed and we started talking. It was so nice to talk to someone after being silent most of the day. Her name was Judy and she was from Chicago and this was her second ironman. She finished her first in like 16:4X so she was determined to do better this time. We basically just willed each other to keep running. And we did. My coach and friend were waiting for me at the train tracks near mile 23 or so and my coach ran along for a while (they had both alredy finished) and and then told me to just keep on trucking with Judy. Coach Katie was very glad to see me running and to know I was feeling better.

Feeling better was an understatement. From mile 19 on I was a new woman. I felt like I had way more energy and felt the best I'd felt during the whole run. This is how you negative split the death march. LOL.

As we came up towards the capital, I started to pick up the pace a bit. Judy, knowing it was my first, told me to go on and finish strong. I passed a ton of folks in that last mile as I think I was running about a 9 min pace at that point. I pulled out my tiger rag and saw the lady at the corner radio in my number. Then I hit the finish chute and heard Mike Reilly say "Suzanne Schlotterback from Simpsonville, South Carolina" (I can't believe he got my name pronounced right!) and it hit me, I was finishing this thing! And I finished strong! And, in spite of walking as much as I did, and let's be honest, it was a LOT, I managed to PR the mary. My only standalone mary that I've done I finished in 6:30:30 and that was with a 5/1 run/walk combo that I stuck to pretty much the whole race. I didn't really realize then how slow my run was back then. Not a whole lot faster than my walk. Now, to PR that in light of the fact that I had little to no nutrition and had a 114.4 mile warm up prior to that, I think is pretty cool.

Let's see. Not have stomach issues and have better nutrition? I dumped my hammergels at about mile 15. There was no way I could eat them, so why carry them. They felt like they weighed a ton.

My catcher took me for the famous deer-in-headlights picture and then walked me to the food tent. I was ok on my own and he realized that so he left me to eat pizza. My coach, bless her heart, had gotten all my bags, including my dry clothes bag and had them waiting in the food tent. So I was able to put on my warm clothes, eat pizza, and call Derek right away. He was so pumped when he talked to me. He saw me finish and was rooting for me to negative split the run, which I did. Just hearing his voice and how happy he was lifted my already high spirits even more. And then he told me that his mom had had a good day, and that even made it better!


Uh, experience? I know the longer I'm living the multisport lifestyle the faster I'll get. So much of speed comes after putting in the hours day after day. I'll get faster, I just have to keep plugging away.


This race was everything I had hoped it would be. I mean, when I started the run at 4:06 PM, I had my sights set on a 14:30-14:45 finish but it just didn't work out that way. But I know now that I am capable of completing the distances and if I have a good day on all 3 sports and transitions, I should be able to pull off a 14:30 or less IM. Yes, this means I want to do another one. Not sure when I will be able to do it as our adoption will happen by next summer, and IM is a year long commitment, but I know that i will indeed tackle the distance again.

The crowds and the volunteers were AWESOME!! The pirates on the bike course were my favorites. They stayed at it all day and looked like they were having so much fun. The folks that lined the hills and partied and cheered for us all have my gratitude. It made me look forward to those dang hills. At home we just have a hill. At this race we had fans!

The whole atmosphere of the race was electric. Everyone, young and old, fat and fit, all tri-ing to accomplish the same goal. It really was something I'll remember for the rest of my life. It made me realize that the multisport lifestyle and community is one I want to be a part of for the rest of my life. What we have is truly awesome. So many people think triathlon, and even an IM is impossible. It is not.

I want to thank my coach for making sure I was really prepared for this race. I was, even in spite of the little setback I had with my broken collarbone right before IM CDA. She had laid the foundation and the basework for me over the past year so that when I had 6 weeks to build and taper again for this race, it was possible. To anyone who is wondering what the benefits of a coach are, I can't even begin to imagine what this would have been like had I not been coached. I had no overuse injuries. I was not burnt out mentally. I was ready for the hills. I was ready for heat, i was ready to ride in the rain. I was ready for anything IM had to throw at me. She gave me that confidence in training.

Also, I want to thank BT. Being a part of this online community has been wonderful. Yeh, some people may not get it, but those of us on BT understand. It's amazing to me that you can go to any large race in the country and pretty much know you'll run into a friend there. And that my friends, is what BT is built on.