this went about as expected. I was hoping for a sub 1:20 swim. Its was a bit more swelly than it appeared, probably 2-3 feet. its was challenging to get into and out of the water. I could have been more aggressive with that. On the second loop they had put in all these wonky poorly aligned small buoys. Could not make heads or tails out of them. I just tried to spot the first big buoy and headed that way. There is WAY less ablity to draft in this format of entering the water. I tried to aggressively seed myself.

Be more aggressive getting into and out of the water.

*time off my watch. to honest I am not sure where the timing mat was. I did the first loop in 38 minutes

I walked this. Got wet suit off. Went into the changing tent. even tho this is ironman FLORIDA it is typically a coldish race. This year it was not so I didn't have to layer up. Did my best to get the sand off my feet, walked to my bike rack. No not running in bike shoes on wet pavement with my knees. Ate an uncrsutable on the way out

I could have gone slightly faster but not much

pathetic. Absolutely and utterly pathetic. I USED to be good at biking. I am not even sure where it all went so wrong. I started out OK. Jasha passed me about 10 miles in. I just could NOT get any speed or power going. I did recently put a new pair of bike shoes into use and they have far less stuff in them so my bike fit is probably slightly off but still, should not have made THAT much of s difference.

I felt sick from about mile 40 on. I had 6 servings of accelerade with me and started a gel every 45 minutes After 3-4 gels I just couldn't take another one. I stopped once to see if brake was rubbing because I was going so f-ing SLOW. I was like WTF? what is wrong with me?

I didn't really feel like the hills were super challenging, there was some wind but nothing terrible I Just. had. NOTHINIG. You know you are having a bad bike when you are hoping you get hit by a car so you can stop. I seriously wanted to lay on the side of the road and take a nap.

Thoughts of Sydney, the promise of a finisher medal and a new jacket kept me going. You start to bargin with yourself. I had to walk up the bridge on the way back. At least it was the 100 mile mark. I felt like crap

I wish I knew. my thoughts are

1- I had a terrible bout of attack of the killer TMJ in the week leading up to the race. I could not eat properly for 2 weeks. 4 rounds of steroids it was on the mend by the time we got to the race site but I probably dropped about 10#, which is not all bad but still.

2-I need more outside biking. The trainer is just not cutting it, OR just pump up my watts a whole lot more to make it tougher. The weather here, the road conditions and traffic are barriers for me here.

3-I could be somewhat off on the bike fit right now as evidence by my difficulty in Aero during the race. I recently put a new pair of bike shoes into use and they have far less stuff in them so that is probably off a bit. My seat needs to come forward a bit I am sure

I was never so happy to be OFF THE BIKE. I had been fantasizing about getting to T2 so I could give myself a little spa treatment with the handiwipes in my T2 bag. I had a very nice helper who actually was from lansing!! tried desparately to get the sand off my feet. I had gotten some chafing on my arms during the swim so I just left my bike shirt on.

Cleaned up as well as I could, socks and shoes on, hat on, brace on. Off I go. I stopped to use a porta potty but didn't really produce anything. A bad sign as I probably took in about a gallon on the bike.

Try to get more sand off my feet, but everything was WET

I was in trouble and I knew it. I took FAR too long on the bike. I felt very sick. I still wanted a nap. I was dizzy. The plan for the most part was to walk most of this anyway. I just walked as fast as I could. I took in cola at each aide station, which was really all I could manage. After about 2 miles I was feeling slightly better and was managing to run 30 steps and walk 30 steps which was about all I could muster. The dizzimess got worse with running but I knew I had to pick up the pace.

Just. Keep. Moving. Forward. My fingers were the size of small sausages

Blisters, of course. it mazes me that I trained so much for this race, and every other IM and then you blister in completely new and different places on race. WTF?

Anyway I digress. You try to do the math......with the new format I didn't start at 7 am...what time is it, how fast do I need to go? How fast/slow am I moving? can I go faster? Can I run at all? How much time do I have? Math is really hard at this point of the race.

It took me 4 hours to complete the first half of the marathon. I had 3 left and I was not getting faster. I felt terrible. D and my parents encouraged me to stop. I would have been nice to have ONE person try to get me to keep going but the reality is the best I could hope for is a DNF and an unofficial finish with a DNF. We pulled the plug. I just ran out of time

I need to find my inner biker chick again.

went back to the condo and just splatted onto the floor. I lad there for like 45 minutes. I might have fallen asleep. I was crusty with salt.


Crappy bike, poor nutrition in the weeks leading up to the race. Hindsight is always 20:20. it was not my day. I probably could have kept going on the run but to what end? I would have been a DNF at best, which is what I got anyway. What would the toll have been on my body? I don't think I have ever felt so sick during a race and I have been doing this for 13 years. To say I am disappointed is a vast understatement.


this is a wonderful race. I will be back