My goggles were too loose or something when I got in, so the first 5 minutes sucked as i was constantly stopping to empty the water out, readjust them on my head. Nothing was working, so I knew that I could stand underneath the first bridge, so I swam to there, stood up and took off my goggles, tightened them and proceeded with the swim. Had a really great swim overall. It wasn't too bad, and was kind of nice that it was narrow - not a lot of room to veer off course.

Swim faster. I am capable of swimming faster without exhausting myself. I went into the entire race with a conservative approach being my first IM and all I didn't want to overdue anything.

I took advantage of the wetsuit strippers. That was fun! :) Started to walk the wrong way to my transition area, as I was a little discombobulated coming out of the water, I didn't know where I was in relation to T1.

Rinsed my feet off - tons of gravel - and glopped on some body glide. I didn't want to have any issues w pebbles or wet feet, so I took my time. Sprayed another spritz of sunblock, too. Then had to throw my shit into my bag and run it over to Jeff. My hair was a mess and I had a clif bar wrapper in my mouth and jeff said "that's a nice look for you!" i was laughing along w the other spectators. :)

Got into the line of people leaving T1 and I'm not sure why, but they were all WALKING! Now, I am not sppedy gonzales by any means but I do jog to get out of T1 and onto the bike! So i moved to the right of the people and off the bit of carpet that was there, jogged a bit up the small hill at the exit, walked the rest of the way up and was on my way.

nothing really.

I go into my bike rides with the mindset of not going out too hard. Ride comfortably, don't push yourself and take it easy. So I did that. Unlike just about every other race I've done, I finally reached the point where I am not looking at the age of the people passing me (written on the left calf) or their size. Usually I get very VERY frustrated with myself and the fact that everyone (look, I was #249/544 on my swim time and #528/544 on the bike - I AM SLOW) is passing me. The negative voices usually creep up from the depths of my psyche and start beating me up. Training for this race, along with some stellar coaching, has really brought this conversation to a halt and I was in the right mental space for the entire race. That being said...I'm still slow! LOL

The only problem I was experiencing pretty much form the start were stomach/gas cramps. Sorry if those of you reading this find this to be TMI, but welcome to triathlon where all sorts of nastiness is the norm in tri-related conversations. We're pushing our bodies to all levels and sometimes our bodies aren't really down with what's going on. Some people get injured, others puke, others get gas. Actually, a lot of people get gas. But I digress...

Jeff caught up to me around mile 18-20 and was in the car riding alongside me. Spacey was in the back seat looking out the window, whining and crying that I was out there on the bike and she couldn't get to me. He took pix and video. It was really nice to see him there, as I didn't expect to, but I really wasn't sure who I would see where or when. I saw Captain Jen, mentor Catherine and teammate Tom just past the top of Chalk Hill. i didn't think the ride along Chalk Hill was too bad, at least the first time around...Our training rides have been much harder than that esp in terms of distance, so this was ok.

Other than the stomach discomfort, physically I felt really REALLY good on the bike, at least the first loop for sure. I was not pushing myself to any level of discomfort, I just felt good. I was wearing my HRM and it was not racing by any means. So, then I think around mile 50ish or so, I saw Ellen, Larry & Rachel out near the airport/near their hotel and they cheered me on as I flew past them waving hello. Still feeling good, approaching the turnaround point. I should mention that I stopped twice along the first loop to use the loo. In terms of nutrition, I had my usual mix of Clif lemonade elctrolyte drink mixed w CarboPro and straight water/CP mix. I ate 3/4 of my PB&J and some fig newman's. My appetite was not really raging. And it wasn't terribly hot to cause it to go away. Strange. At the special foods area, I swapped out my drink bottles for fresh, cold ones, took a new PB&J (which I wound up never eating), had a few potato chips and reapplied some sunscreen. I honestly felt really good still. Even had a thought that if the bike portion was over, I was feeling really good to run 13.1 miles. ;) maybe the half ironman is my race distance...

ok so i'm cruising along, feeling good. my bike computer is no longer working properly telling me i'm going 7mph when i am on flats and i know that as slow as i am, i was doing more like 15-17mph. Annoying. So I get to a rest area and it is mile 75 and was completely surprised to see Coach Paul there along w Caroline, Aubrey, Matt & Christina. SO NICE!! I stopped here to use the loo at which point AUbrey held my bike for me (THANKS!). I handed her a tissue to throw out (she offered to take it - THANKS!). Caroline told me I was doing awesome. Paul told me this was it, I was gonna be an Ironman. He also told me that the remainder of the ride was going to be all mental, stay positive. And I told him ya know, i've felt really good in the head all day today. I feel good. And I was on my way. I can't recall if I brought up my stomach issues or not, which were still lingering around. They were changing throughout the course of the bike ride and never went away. There was discomfort all day. I thought it started to get better. Maybe not.

Other things to note for myself, that while I am not strong/fast on the hills, I can get up them without getting off my bike. I didn't drop into the granny gear on the first go on chalk hill. I was struggling the second time and I think I did, but I honestly don't remember anymore...I know that along Chalk Hill Rd there were some smaller hills that we hit and I was thinking "is this it? is this the hill?" ugh...After the stop at mile 75 another 5-10 miles later things just went downhill from there. I was not bonking but I was losing steam. There were headwinds/crosswinds making it more difficult to ride strong. Paul's words kept resonating in my head "this is your race. it's up to you to have a good race and not let anything bring you down that comes your way." so mentally i was there, i was dealing w things - no panic attacks that i experienced on multiple occasions during training. i kept pushing thru, trying to alleviate any of the cramps/pain i was experiencing to no avail. trying to just keep spinning my legs around to move forward. standing up on the hills whenever possible. just keep moving. i did. and cos my bike computer wasn't working, i had no idea how fast or slow i was REALLY going. i looked at my watch and knew that i was headed for a 7:45-8 hr ride at this point. Def slower than i thought. I think my first loop was like 3:30 or so and i figured I could do the second a little slower, maybe even 4 hrs. But i just lost a lot of momentum. My stomach def played a role here cos i stopped a few more times. It was also getting warmer and my drinks were not helping. Maybe i needed to eat more, that is certainly possible and maybe even likely in retrospect, but the stomach problem was not helping me to be able to bring food in. at one point i thought i felt nauseous. oh yea, a weird thing happened on those last 30 or so miles. i was TIRED. like YAWNING multiple times on the ride. that has never happened to me before. strange. Got back in just over 8 hrs, plenty of time before the 5:30 cut off - this was my slowest that i anticipated for race day and it came true. Oh well.


figure out my nutrition plan. maybe carry imodium or gas-x or something w me on the bike ride? i thought my nutrition was figured out cos i've been doing this plan for months. maybe i needed to just eat more. because of the tummy issues and the last 30 miles sucking, i'm rating this ride overall below average.

Had to do another spritz of sunblock. grabbed my water bottle and filled it up. i think i grabbed an oreo here, too. stopped in the loo and thought i'd feel better after that. we'll see...

nothing

oh where do i begin? the stomach problems from the bike proceeded to get worse. different. i was not happy. it got worse as i went along. it was very hard to run - my stomach was jostling. bleah.

As i changed into my race belt skirt :) running sneakers and visor, Larry was over on the side w the video camera asking me how i felt. i had to wave him off, i couldn't talk. i was not feeling very good. i was frustrated. i was happy the bike was over. i was happy that i was 2/3 done w the race. i was happy that all i had left to do was the run. i was not happy that i had 26.2 miles ahead of me. i knew i was going to be walking a lot of it. i knew i could walk as much as i needed to and make the cutoff.

I stopped in at the loo on my exit from T2. Eurie and Arlene had gotten into T2 as I was about to leave. Eurie passed me on the exit. i think she looked about as happy as i did. Jeff met me near the exit of the high school and we were talking. I was having a hard time talking and nearing a panic attack/exercise induced asthma-like symptoms that made it hard to breathe. he told me to calm down and take a deep breath, everything was ok, i was making great time, not to worry. he asked if i wanted him to run w me i said no. i told him about my problems he said i'll muscle thru. i'm sure he said a lot of other stuff but i just can't remember any of it. we walked together over to jim and mary and i saw ellen, rachel and larry's friends cheering me on. spacey was w jim and mary and gave me the greatest greeting when i came by. i stopped to pet her, get kisses and give her hugs. it was pretty freaking awesome. everyone around was smiling. :) i think some people were even taking pictures! LOL anyway...this was the start of a very VERY long run for me.

I went on my way, walked and ran. Was hoping to do a 7 min walk/1 min run as I'd been doing in training. no such luck. my stomach really didn't want to cooperate w that. i did have a great time distracting myself along the course seeing my teammates, cheering them on, slapping their hands and feeling proud of them that they were all finishing before the sun went down. :)

linda kept trying to get me to run faster and catch up to her so we could cross the finish line together. that unfortunately was not going to happen. i stopped in the loo each time on the first loop and again on the second but not on the 3rd i just had to just keep moving. i saw paul at one point and he told me to drink coke. i did that the rest of the time - needed ice in it to stomach it since i don't drink soda at all. saw rad and told him that my ass was on fire. saw jeff, jim and mary as i came in for loop 2 at which point capt aaron came over to see how i was doing - he could obviously see the pain/anguish on my face. i explained what was going on. everyone gave me encouragement to keep pushing thru, i was almost there and i'd make the cutoff. never did i think about quitting. like i said earlier, mentally i was there, i was going to finish this race. all the adversity that i was facing, i didn't let it drag me down. i was pissed but i couldn't let it get to me at least not now.

i saw carlos and allan on the course and walked/ran w them for a few minutes. i saw rizzi and ran/walked w him for a bit. we were all experiencing some sort of discomfort. i ran past everyone on the team - that was really great. it was just like training days where we pass each other on the course. :) louis and i walk/ran together for a little bit but he left me in the dust at some point, i jsut couldn't keep up. PHYSICALLY - my legs and feet - felt FINE. i WANTED to run. I wanted to not walk. I tried to walk between the hills and only walk up the hills. That didn't really turn out to be the case as the nite went on. My stomach was jostling. i did eat some clif blocks, some oreos, water and soda along the course. The 8.7 mile loop each took me like 2:10. i was not happy about that but whatever, i was getting thru it. it was great to see greg on the course too and i wished him well as he went in for his finish. we walked together for a few min and then he was off.

It was nice to see the NoCal TNT group along the way in the same spot cheering us on. I saw BTer ellismichael along the run course and said Hi. I'd seen him on the bike course and then the run, made a point to say hi. I tried running/jogging as much as possible along the entire course but did a whole lot of walking. Tried power walking but didn't really go too fast. As I went in for loop 3, I stopped to grab my headlamp and a jacket. Wound up not needing the jacket at all. As I headed out onto loop 3, jeff walked w me - spacey was ok w letting us go, long day for her she was getting tired. :) he said he'd do all 8.7 miles w me, but i said id be ok. michelle was running for a bit w us as well. they were both a little concerned if i'd get back in time as it was already 8:45 and i needed to be done by 11pm. i said i would be back in like 2 hrs, thinking i could push it a little more on this loop. i hoped at least. jeff kept w me for a bit and michelle turned around to run w little sara. i let him stay w me for like 10 min or so and went the rest of the way on my own. i couldn't see people's faces but told everyone 'good job' as they headed in for their finish. the guy at the turnaround point was a NoCal honoree from TNT and i thanked him for being out there all day and night. he thanked me and called me/us his heroes. that was very touching.

the race crew had already picked up the mile marker signs (thanks) so i didn't know where/how far i was anymore. i saw the TNT crew that noticed i was coming in for the finish, so they got my name and one of them ran w me for a little bit and then i was on my own. i ran the rest of the way (last mile?) in for the finish. i wanted to run the finish w spacey, so out on the street, there was jeff, spacey and efren dressed as pikachu. the 3 of them started running w me. efren was so kind telling me "you got this, breathe in, breathe out. relax, you got it." and i told him i felt fine, my problem was my ass. he said "looks good to me!" as we approached the finish chute, i grabbed spacey's leash and the 4 of us were running down the chute. the announcer was like 'there's a dog on the course'. spacey, all 12 1/2 arthritic years of her had a ridiculous amount of energy and was just taking off that i couldn't keep up w her! i was laughing, trying to run as fast as possible and she was just thrilled to run w me, and everyone was cheering. well, whoever was left...my whole team was there at the finish. it was so nice to get thru it and be done w the race.

a volunteer wanted my timing chip and i saw a chair and said "can i please just sit?" so i sat, he gave me water, my finishers shirt and medal and "ironteam" pin from rachel. i hugged a whole bunch of people and needed to get to a real bathroom stat. i then hit the medical tent, got a blanket and two warm IV bottles to warm me up. i was cold. there was nothing left in terms of food, massage, etc. i got a cookie and come gatorade. warmed up and went back to the hotel.

i am an Ironman.

figure out nutrition i suppose

sitting on a chair in the medical tent warming up.


my ass LOL


I made sure to thank all of the volunteers and the police crews that were out all day and all night. every corner i turned on the bike course i said thank you. all the aid station volunteers i thanked. it was great to have so many people out there, all willing to help and get you whatever you needed.