Panama City Beach, Florida United States Ironman North America 74F / 23C Sunny

Total Time = 10h 53m 10s Overall Rank = 481/2255 Age Group = W35-39 Age Group Rank = 11/141

Warning: long RR and might cause some tears.

This is my fourth Ironman (Wisconsin 05, Placid 06 and CdA 07). My PR going into this race was 12:53.13 at Placid. A horrible swim and mechanical issues on the bike in CdA 07, put be 5 mins slower. So going into this year of training I wanted to focus on the things that needed the most improvement and see results when I raced.

My 07 season ended with stress fractures in my shins and derailed a plan for a February BQ attempt. So the early part of the year was focused on getting back to running injury free (50 runs in 50 days), swimming and getting back on the bike to increase my functional threshold. Since biking is what I have the least experience in I knew that building biking legs comes with time and lots of effort. So Jorge setup plans to help me work on all 3 sports while not being too specific to Ironman training as Nov was a long way away.

Over the winter and spring I ran 2 half marathons and a full marathon before Memorial Day - all injury free. And although I still have a long way to go to get true biker's legs, I was starting to see improvement with my bike watts on the trainer and as I moved to outdoor rides. And finally my swim started to show marked improvements during the summer, getting my 100s consistently under 1.30.

This year, I have seen new personal bests in my marathon, half marathon and 5k. I also set a new personal course best at a hilly 1/2 Ironman in New Hampshire this August, even with GI issues. Then in September I setout with 2 crazy weekends in a row: Survival of the Shawangunks (30 mile bike, 4.5 mile run, 1.1 mile swim, 5.5 mile run, 0.5 mile swim, 8 mile run, 0.5 mile swim, 0.7 mile run) on Sunday the 7th and then on Friday the 12th, went on to participate on a 6 person Ultra team at Reach the Beach, personally running for a total of 32.5 miles during the next 28 hrs.

As the year progressed and I was progress I was eager to see how it all would play out on Saturday, November 1 in Panama City Beach.

Going into the race I felt the following were realistic but reach goals:
1:10-1:15 swim (ocean factor puts me slower then Lake Placid and current training pace but faster then other 2 IM swims, but no reason to rush as I still have 138.2 miles left to go)
0:07 min transition from swim to bike (once again, don't want to rush it too much as 112 miles is a long way to go if I forgot something, especially some much needed sunblock or lubrication)
6:15- 6:30 bike (being a flat course and with new race wheel I think this is very doable and keeps me with fresh legs to have a stellar run. But really have not clue as I do not every ride flat courses)
0:04 min transition from bike to run (take time to make sure I am ready to fly)
3:59 run - now this is where I will not hold back. I am going to try to pace a negative split, which will be hard as I have already covered 114.4 miles in the day. But when mile 20 comes and I am feeling fabulous I might even try to push it harder : )

Finish time of 11:45-11:55 - A goal.

Now being that it is a 140.6 mile race, having B and C goals are crucial.
B Goal = finish sub 12:52.13
C Goal = finish with a smile on my face

Jorge was great with my training plans, adjusting throughout the year as life threw me some curve balls and I wasn't always able to get all the workouts in. When I read Tom Evans report from CdA about his training and intensity of training as opposed to quantity of training, Jorge agreed that I was be ready to move to more intense workouts (quality/intensity over quantity). So going into the race I knew that I was ready for improvement.

The week before the race, our son/dog Maddux (11yr old black lab) took a turn for the worse and I was starting to worry about us not being able to go. Then the Friday before he no longer was able to walk on his own and told my husband and I he had had enough. So at 3am on Saturday Oct 25 we had to set him free of his pain. This was the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life and I ached all over. I could not even think about the coming week or the race.

I tried running with our other dog that day and was winded and ached all over. The next day I could not do anything. Finally Monday, I was able to do an easy run and swim. Although I still worried about what I would feel like and if I would be able to do the race without breaking down. Over the next 3 days of driving 7-8 hrs each day Nate and I made our way to Florida and we worked out a lot of our emotions that we were feeling over the last few days, weeks, month and even year.

Once in Florida, I made the decision to not stress and focus on the things I could control. I wanted to use this pain I had for good. I decided that I would do what I could to achieve my goals without being my normal neurotic self. Being around Kristin, Brad, Laura, Tim, Amy, Craig and Bennett helped keep me relaxed.

So on Saturday morning, November 1, I arrived at the starting line with a different perspective on what I was doing and why I was doing it.


up an hour before the alarm and then finally out of bed at 3:45am. Ate a bagel dry, 2 bananas, a cup of coffee and drank gu2o.

to the race site for the special needs bag drop, body marking, check bike, and pump tires. port-o-pots and then sat for 15mins before putting on wetsuit to head to beach. It was strange, but I did not cry before this start. I was ready to go no matter what the day threw at me.