**Edited to put splits in..I think my mother could've walked that fast with me on the "run". Well, at least if she had her comfortable shoes on.**

Quick race synopsis if you don't feel like reading all of this: The race was a fiasco, or to be positive, a learning experience. I had a total meltdown, and ended up shuffling probably 12 miles of the run. I did finish, but had to throw out any time goals in favor of staying out of the med tent or the hospital. I am doing this race report mainly to look back at later and pick out things to avoid doing ever, ever again.

I arrived in Clermont about 3 PM, registered, and checked my bike in. I then went for a brief swim, mainly to see what the water temp was like, and to get that incomparable feeling of not being able to see 6" in front of your nose. The water was very warm; I have the feeling that the race directors were very creative to come up with a wet suit legal water temp.

Went over to the homestay, where I met some interesting people, including Tamara Kozulina, a Ukrainian pro who was staying there. She was a great, down-to-earth girl, and I'll mention here that she ended up winning the race the next day. We invited a bunch of people who were staying there out to the "BT dinner" at Outback, and Tamara, Kevin (guy who works for Roark Cycles), Dave (owner of the homestay house) and a couple of others accepted.

We ended up with about 15 people at dinner, and had a great time! I got to see Wendi (G8rsax) and Mike (g8rla94) again, which makes it a good time right there.

It was good to meet Sue (PTSueinVA, I am trying to get the user names right; must go check!), Teresa (Tbatt), Owen (BigO) and his wife, Chris (TriGod), and Eddie (Ellasdad), my blacksmith friend.

Went back and to bed, nearly decapitating myself with a ceiling fan trying to climb into the top bunk I was sleeping in. Must be more careful. I have had just the touch of a cough and deep chest pain for several weeks; I can't seem to get rid of it but it hasn't felt horrible and I didn't really think it would be a problem for the race. More on that later..

Got up, had a sandwich, went down early to the race site and watched the full athletes go off. I was in the 4th wave, and headed out into the swim feeling relaxed.

The swim was uneventful; I was a touch slower than I wanted to be but felt good exiting the water. Saw Wendi who cheered me on and asked why I didn't have a banana taped to my bike this year. :) Sorry, Wendi..and thanks for the support!

I had one mantra for the bike this year: avoid working hard. I went very easy, trying to sit down and spin, never push, and save my legs for the run. I felt like I rode too hard last year and it hurt me for the run. I ate according to plan, took my endurolytes, drank plenty.. Coming in from the ride, I felt pretty good and thought I'd managed the workload well.

That's when the wheels fell off, so to speak. I headed out of transition only to experience immediate, severe quad cramps. I couldn't sit down and I couldn't stand up; I was hunched over holding onto a pole..ridiculous. After a bit of walking this eased and I started to run. I made it perhaps 2 miles, feeling increasingly heat sick, with chest pains starting. I started walking when I figured the options were to walk, or pass out puking.

At this point I was still optimistic that I'd recover and be able to run it in, making some kind of decent time. It never happened. I drank, took ice and held it in my hands, ate a banana..I was shut down and nothing seemed to help. I would try brief run periods but always ended up at a walk.

I just decided that I was going to finish, screw the time goals. I walked the run to finish in a ridiculous 7:20, with a longer "run" than my ride. I saw Wendi and Mike at the finish, as well as my girls, and tried to run the last few steps in, only to almost collapse in the finish chute. I went over to the grass and did collapse, with my legs cramping so badly I basically rolled up into a nice fetal curl. :) Lovely way to finish..thanks for staying to watch me hobble in, guys!

Oh, I have to mention: Tamara won the FL Challenge, finishing in something like 4:30, then went over, jumped in the water to cool down, and came back and volunteered the rest of the day, handing out special needs bags to the GF athletes. What a cool thing to do. Wendi should have a pic or two of all of us with Tamara; I'll post one when I get it.

After the race, when I could stand up again, I cleaned up and we went to Cracker Barrel, then drove home. I am glad I made it home; I was not in the best state to be driving.

I've got to go take Alana to symphony now, I'll post this, and elaborate later when the official times are up. Congrats to everyone who raced yesterday, finish or no..that was a brutal day!