Seeded myself toward the front of the group to see how that would go. I'm not fast, but thought I could get some draft from all of the fast chicks in front of me. I got bumped and kicked, the usual, no biggie.

I was glad I had my tinted goggles, my wave went off at 7:50, sun was in my eyes when I went to take a breath. I could not find any feet that were slightly faster than me to draft off of, no shock there! Along the course people sit out on their docks and watch everyone go by. At one point everytime I would breath I smelled cigarettes, come on people...put the cancer sticks down! Then it was Clove cigarettes and I started to sing, "Oh I get a high with a little help from my friends."

Suddenly I see the turn-around! Hmmm...didn't seem like I had been swimming too long, I checked my watch and saw 22 minutes! At that point I made a bet with myself to be out of the water within 44 minutes. I would do long strokes and then focused on speed. Pretended I was in the pool doing my speed sets.

Found a pair of feet to hang onto before we crossed under the bridge. Thought to myself,"I'm just here for the ride." Passed a few people, not many. Eventually saw the swim exit and really pushed through, got out of the water in 40 minutes! (PRed the swim by 6 minutes over '07 Vineman and 3 minutes faster than '09 NO 70.3!)

Nothing, this was a great swim for me. I will get under 40 minutes the next time I'm doing 70.3!

Ran out of the water....I know, I should not be running DR's orders...let's call it more of a "fast shuffle". I was excited to see 40 minutes on my watch! Saw Matt standing near my bike rack and he said "great job!"

Got to the bike, get everything together and threw my swim stuff in the transition bag (2 tranition spots for this race). There was some drma behind me on the racks, I guess one woman was getting her bike and wound up hitting the bike next to hers over, thus dumping her entire Aero-bottle! She yelled, "why did you do that, now I have nothing to drink!" Yikes, not good...but something for me to keep in mind for my next race when I'm riding my Sparty.

Walked up the hill rather than mount it at the bottom.

Good transition for me, but I didn't wipe my feet off very well.....wound up feeling the dirt on my feet for the ride. Could have been a bit faster in T1 if I could have run more.

The first 5 miles are flat, Tim (coach) he reminded me during the week "push the pace on the race, but remember to go at YOUR pace! Start out easy and get the legs moving". I was averaging about 19-20 MPH here and tons of people flying by me, but I felt comfortable with my effort. I decicded early on that Ironman butts score higher than 70.3 butts. Gotta focus on something, right?

Finally hit the hills. The first climb is not long, a bit steep, but I was ready and downshifted. Spun up it, no problem. Passed a few people that were struggling and I'm just coasting to the top. :) Around here I saw a tree had fallen on part of the course, I found out today, that it landed on 3 cyclists during the race!

Most of the course is rollers so my strategy was to attack the down-hills...no coasting! Lots of men passed me, one guy was in a white tri-suit....eww....this is not a good look. I'm all for pace-booty, but a wet, white tri-suit....Yuck! There was also a guy with what looked like a carpet on his back! No offense to those with back-hair, but this was an insane amoout....I had visions of hair flying back in my face and started to laugh.

Continued riding and saw one guy in a ditch with his feet up on his bike! They were attending to him, but I still hate to see that happen to anyone. I tried to focus on cadence rather than my time/speed and made a bet with myself to be at the Dry Creek Store within 1:30. I wound up hitting the store early, I think it was 1:20! YAY!

After that, got to the long "false-flat" section, I waas ready for it. One girl in my AG and I kept re-passing each other. At this section I passed her and bunch of other people. They were climbing out of the saddle and I'm just spinning enjoying the ride. Almost got to the top, I over-take her and say, "payback for the climb is right around the corner!" There is an amazing descent, I hit about 38 MPH on this section. On every downhill I thought to myself "oh, sake-bombing!" I have NO CLUE why I think of flying down-hill is sake-bombing...it has nothing to do with Japanese booze at all, I'm baffled as to where I came up with this concept.

Hit Geyserville, had some great bottle hand-ups. Focused on eating my Honey-Stinger shots and 1 Enduralyte. I also had water and bottle with my BASE stuff in it, but the bottles (plastic bottle, not bike bottle) were getting hung up eveytime I tried to put it back in the cage...annoying! At the second bottle station ditched the BASE and went to orange Gatorade.

I focused on getting to the Jimtown store next as I knew Mattt would be waiting for me. Made my way there and Matt saw me and yelled out, I just smiled, as I was on a PR mission! The girl in my AG and I kept leap-froggin, but I knew she could not climb. I started to see her stuggle on the up-hills...I wanted to drop her in the last section. During the second half I started to pass a lot of men on the course on the down-hills! They would struggle on the up-hill and just coast the down-hill....I was taking free speed where-ever I could get it!

Finally we get to the rollers on Chalk Hill, I'm still pushing myself with the hope that I would save enough for the climb. I finally get there and I started to pass people like crazy on the climb! I was passing guys with their disc/race wheels and aero-helmets, and I'm just spinning. They all gave me dirty looks while I was yelling "on your left" passing them all on the up-hill....that felt great! I kept hearing Shaun (my cycling coach) in my head yelling "use your glutes! Big muscle group! Find the power in the cadence!"

Passed the girl in my AG for the last time, as I passed by I knew I would not be seeing her again. Got to final kick on the climb and powered over it. I yelled to the 3 people I passed, "let's move it!" Don't think they appreciated that. At the crest of the hill 2 cyclists were there and saw me power by they yelled "you go!"

Continued with my strategy, looked at my watch and saw that I would PR the course and PR by NO 70.3 time as well, it was just a matter of how much time. Played "Eye of The Tiger" in my mind. I kept telling myself, "push through, you don't have a run to do off the bike!" With about 4 miles to go, I tossed my water bottle, figured I should lighten the laod, as I would soon be done. I kept going and wound up hitting T2 in 3:07 and some change!

'07 Vineman PR by 19 minutes and '09 NO 70.3 PR by 3 minutes!





Got into T2, feeling great about my time and really felt that I could have run if I was allowed to. My legs felt really strong. Saw Matt and he yelled "great job!" Found a volunteer and turned in my chip. Watched people head out for the run and wished I was one if them.

Not have a stress fracture 5 weeks prior to racing! I'm not sure that is completely within my control.

Walked around the Expo and got some food. I looked the Finisher's medals and wished that I was able to earn mine, oh well.....my IMKY '09 medal will be that much sweeter this year.


Nothing, this was a great "training day"! Darn stress fracture! Although I think being forced to climb for the past 4 weeks while seated has made me a stronger cyclist and more in tune with timing the gear-shifting on my bike.


It's great being a local for this race and being able to train on the course. This was a huge boost to my confidence going into KY, similar rolling course.

Next year I will finish this race and get my Finisher's medal! :)