I saw Joel (my hubby)one last time as I was walking down the dock about to jump in the water. I jumped in the water at 7:40 am and started my long journey to the finish line. The thing I didn’t like about this time trial start was because I was in the back of the line, I felt like I had to play catch-up all day. Anyway, back to the swim. It felt like it took a really long time to get around the first island, and it felt like a fight. Once I made the turn at the buoy after the island I could feel the current of the river and had a slightly easier time. Swimming is hard for me no matter what, I was huffing, puffing, swallowing water, fighting, but eventually I crossed under the 2 bridges and was on my way to the exit stairs. I grabbed a volunteer’s arm at the stairs and he pulled me to the stairs, I got out of the water and was relieved that what I thought to be the toughest part of my day was over. I was wrong about this, but still happy to be out of the water. Swim time was 1:28:46

Got in the swim line earlier, since I didn't get in the water until 7:40, I felt like I was playing catch-up all day

T1 grabbed my bag and entered the changing tent. Took my time drying my feet so my sock wouldn’t be soggy. Was successful, put on my socks and cycling shoes, helmet, dried my face to put my sunglasses on, clipped on race belt, thanked the volunteers and headed out of the tent. Went to the sunscreen volunteers and got slathered up, went to my rack and grabbed my bike, made it to the mount line, got on, and rolled

Nothing, this was my first ironman, wanted to take my time and make sure I had everything

This was to be my longest bike ride ever, and my first time ever climbing hills. I knew there were hills on the course. I live in a pancake flat region, so to compensate I did “hill intervals” on the trainer, just hoping this would be enough to get through the race. I wanted this, I wanted to be an ironman, and I was planning on doing whatever it took. The first 10 miles was a nice tease, nice and flat and easy. Then the hills started. I did my usual grinding up the hills the first 2 hills, but it really hurt my legs and I quickly realized that wasn’t going to work for a ride this long. I started watching other competitors climbing, and paid attention to what they were doing, sort of giving myself a “crash course” in hill climbing. So, I did what they did, it was still hard, but not as hard as trying to grind up the hills. For every big hill there was a big downhill, and not living around any hills, this was new to me too. I will admit, I was terrified going down the hills, and was riding the brakes going down the hills. I know this was probably annoying to other competitors, but I was scared and in a panic, and didn’t know what else to do. This was all so new to me. Going through LaGrange at mile 38 I saw Joel and that brightened my spirits a little. Then at 40 mile I was hit with excruciating pain in both my knees. NO NO NO! Not Now! Not Today! It had the reminiscent pain of ITBS I suffered through earlier this year. At the soft part of the outsides of my lower knee caps, it felt like little monsters were right under my skin pushing and fighting to break to the surface of my skin. It was excruciating. The pain was at its worst when I was climbing hills. I just wanted to stop but I wasn’t going to let the race end like this for me. So I pushed through the pain, with tears in my eyes going up some on the brutal hills, gritting my teeth and grunting. I had to do this. I stopped at the next aid station to go pee, since I don’t sweat much I had to go BAD. At mile 65 I stopped at special needs and chugged my Starbuck Espresso shot and refilled my bottles with Powerade. The espresso shot gave me the caffeine surge I needed, so I had energy but my knees hurt so badly. I saw Joel in LaGrange again, this time he was standing on one of the hills encouraging me to get up it. I was just so ready for the bike to be over, and hope I had enough left to survive the marathon. So I went up and down many more hills, and after taking the pain, crying and grunting over the last of the hills, I was on the last flat 10 mile section back to transition. I was so sick of being on that bike. I made it to the dismount line, got off the bike, and gave it to the bike catcher, at that point not caring if I ever saw that bike again

Learn hills, travel to find hills, not pick an ironman with hills, ride on a hill.

T2 grabbed my run bag, went into changing tent. Took off my helmet, bike shoes, and sunglasses. Put on socks and running shoes, turned my race belt around, put on my running hat, stuffed my gels in my tri suit, thanked the volunteers and headed out. Got sunscreen again, went to the porta potty, and headed out for the marathon

Nothing, same as before, took my time since I didn't want to forget anything

I was actually happy to be out on the run, only 26.2 miles separated me and the finish of my first ironman. To my delight, all the knee pain from the bike went away. I ran most of the first mile, but I was hurting, and I knew then and there it was going to be a long day. I started a system with myself of running for 3 minutes, walking for 5 minutes. This worked for the first few miles, but my legs were just so toasted that after mile 5 I just started running when I could, which wasn’t much at this point. I saw Dan for the first time; he was finishing up his first lap, gave him a smile and kept putting one foot in front of the other. I was having a hard time. I felt crappy, didn’t like the fact that I was reduced to a walk at this point, but I wanted to finish. All my time goals were out the window at this point and I just wanted to finish. I saw Dan again on the other side and he let me know Andrew was about 200 yards in front of me. So I picked up the pace and found Andrew. He looked like he was having as rough a day as me so I felt like I wasn’t alone. I felt a little pep in my step so I ran some more. After I finished the first loop I got to run right next to the finish line, what a tease! I had about 12 more miles until it was my turn to get that glory. I saw Joel and told him it was going to be a long night. It was getting dark, and most of the run course was in a seedy neighborhood so I was kinda scared even with the numerous police around. I did a lot of walking and ran when I could, I was just tired, and the weight of the day was heavy on my legs. Around mile 22 I saw Andrew on the other side of the street, he gave me a high 5 and told me to “run to glory” that gave me the motivation to run until I felt like I was going to collapse. Once again I was running when I could, walking everything else. When I made it to mile 25 I knew it was almost over and I wanted to run so bad but I couldn’t get my legs to do it. I walked another half a mile, then I knew I had to take everything I possibly had in me to run to the finish line. I turned the corner that led to the finish line, and I ran into the bright lights. The crowd was cheering; I felt all the glory of what I had just done, I raised my arms in the air and kept them there. I had the biggest smile of my life on my face. YES! YES! This was happening! I am at the finish line! I had done it! I heard Mike Riley say my name, and then “YOU ARE AN IRONMAN! “ as I crossed the last timing mat

The hills really toasted my legs, had I had experience hill climbing that might not have happened and I might have had more left for the run.

A finish line volunteer put on my medal, and led me to get my finishers hat and shirt, gave me a mylar blanket, and asked my repeated if I felt ok. I was tired, but felt ok and just wanted to see Joel. He was waiting for me at the finish line exit. I practically fell into his arms and got teary eyed. He told me how proud he was of me. We found a place to sit and I told him all about the race. We headed to the convention center where I signed up for a free massage. I had about an hour to kill, so Joel went down to transition to grab my bike and transition bag, and I stayed at the convention center and ate some foods. Joel came back after putting my bike and gear in the car and it was time for my massage, which was absolutely awesome after the knee pain I had during the bike. At this point it was 11:51 so we headed back down to the finish line to watch the final finishers, which was an incredible thing to be a part of.


Hills on the bike, and not knowing how to climb


WTC put on a great race, that finish line was absolutely amazing!If we move somewhere where there are hills and I can train on them, I will definitely be doing Ironman Louisville again.I love my experience, the town was great and the volunteers were awesome.