I'm not an Ironman (IMAZ=DNF)

Pirategirl,

Damn right they had to pull you off the course!  That's the only way the Ironman spirit is broken.  You never quit and if they would have turned their back, I bet you would have shot out of T2 in your bike shoes and ran the marathon in them.

You might not have the finisher's medal and you WILL earn the title Ironman...  You have the spirit and you have it inside you.  And don't you EVER again say that you're not good enough.  You toed the line and that made you good enough!!

Keep your head up.  That wind was really bad out there. 

You tried as hard as you could.  That is all you can ask for.  It was just a bad windy day. 

The important thing is that you never gave up. 

Wow - that's rough - I know you're not looking for pity but know that we all feel for you.

Words probably don't help all that much but I am certain that those tears of sorrow and pain will turn to tears of joy when you get back there again and complete the IM - it will be that much sweeter!

I'm sorry to hear about the race.  My cousin had a DNF either.  He crushed the bike and couldn't make it to mile 8 on the run.  He dehydrated himself.  I with the rest of my family felt very sorry for him knowing how much time and effort he put into it.

  I feel the same for you.  Keep your head up high.  Think of it like this 90% of people don't even try an ironman, or even a triathlon.  You made it that far!
 

Keep your chin up, Elaine. The conditions were horrible out there yesterday and some days, the triathlon gods decide its not to be. You will race again and you will become an Ironman. If you're ever feeling down about this, c'mon back to BT and we'll do our best to help pick you up.

Cheers!

Tom 

You did the best you could and that is all that matters.  You'll get them next time.

Thanks for sharing your story

Oh I'm so sorry! I hope he's ok and doing better. Tell him I'm jealous he got to at least do 8 miles of the run course.

I'm sure you are hurting now, but don't worry about what anyone else thinks.  One of the things I have to remind myself of constantly when I feel bad about a performance is that nobody else cares as much as I do - not even close.  So deal with your own feelings about it and don't worry about anyone else.

{{{hug}}}

They shoud all read what you wrote above.

You were a warrior. You fought all day long, and that's pretty amazing. Many, many people would have bagged it after the first loop when it was close to the cut off and the wind was hammering them so hard. But you fought and scratched and clawed through the entire 112 miles of the bike. Just imaginging you going as hard as you could for that long, well, I'm in awe. It sounds like an epic effort, one of which you should be immensely proud.

I know you're sad and bewildered right now, but give it time. Think of Sarah Reinertsen who also barely missed the bike cutoff. She used that experience to fuel her, and now she's an Ironman.

You're not done yet.

I am still trying to wrap my mind around pedaling furiously to go 10 miles an hour DOWNHILL, on a 112-mile ride.  Yikes yikes yikes!

You did some pretty phenomenal stuff out there, you know.  I was cheering for you, and will be next time too.

Man, it really sucks that weather and wind played such a big part in your race. And by SIX minutes? No WONDER you were so upset. Remember though, as folks celebrate around you that they may have had slightly different conditions than you did. Maybe they didn't face as much wind, maybe their bikes can handle high winds better than yours?

SIX minutes does NOT make you a loser. Just getting through that long bike ride in those miserable winds makes you an ironman in my book.

I bet the AZ paper today has some story about how challenging the conditions were for yesterday's race, go buy it and read it. I bet there were a TON of folks who were also impacted. It will make you feel better when you realize you were NOT alone.

Elaine, don't beat yourself up over this.  You were prepared.  You had the will.  You had the heart.  Those winds were brutal yesterday.  That Beeline is a b*tch.  I was so proud of you when I saw you come out of the water.  You looked very strong and happy when you came out of there.  I saw lots of people come out of that water that looked like they couldn't go another step, and probably didn't.  You have the heart of an Ironman and that is what counts.