Ironman War Stories

I always have a hard time sleeping the night after Ironman. We just got home from watching the last midnight finishers and I am just too ramped up to sleep so figured, what better time then to update my blog? Disclaimer: I've had a few beers.

I'm not going to write up a full blow by blow race report but I will note down some of the things I remember from today.

The Swim: It was cold. And I had this incredible need to burp for most of it. When I finally got to burp it was such a huge relief. That came about 55 minutes into my 58 minute swim.

Nalani is such a rock star. 1st amateur woman out of the water. In fact, the only female who beat her today was Julie Dibens. I think she wins some super prize from TYR for that.

There were no hot tubs in transition. WTF?? Obviously I took my time anyway. Mostly b/c I was all numb and couldn't function. Thank goodness for change tent volunteer women! One of mine was from Honululu! She was like, "What do I do with these chemical foot warmer things??" Lol.

Speaking of the chemical foot warmer things... People were like "Are you really going to use those things??" I was like, "Um, YES. Are you really NOT going to use them??" Those things are just flat out genius for bike shoes on cold days.

I never felt super on the bike today. But looking at the splits tonight maybe that was a good thing? I had a rather evenly split 112 miles, even if it wasn't as fast as I was hoping/expecting. It was rather uneventful. But I was on my brakes a lot. This course is full of steep downhills followed by rather sharp turns. I will do better on the Kona course.

Smeone posted a bunch of signs along the bike course... Pictures of badgers with sayings like "The Ironman doesn't care..." It was hysterical and totally made me smile (watch the video I linked to on my previous post if you don't understand this).

Thank goodness for the avg pace feature on the garmin. I took off on the run at what felt like a snails pace... I was afraid to look b/c I thought it would say something like 9:30 pace... Um, 8:12. Yikes. I backed off even more but could not get it down to 8:45 like coach told me to start... Well, until mile 5-6 when we started climbing what seemed like a giant hill. Then 9:30 pace was no problem.

So there was Kerrie giving me shit every time she saw me on an out and back (3 times)... At mile 23 there was one of those 'Motivational Message Boards'... I was expecting something from Scott that would say something along the lines of "Mama's Superfast!" (Moana's favorite saying these days). Instead I saw "I'm coming for you! ;)" Indeed. I was walking at mile 25 (I know- who does that?? I was dying and just over it) and I heard her yell at me "NOOOOOOOOO!!!!" I put my head down and let her pass me and then just wallowed in my own misery.

After (almost) the longest 1/2 mile ever known to man, another gal passed me... Patted me on the back, and then ran on. There was a 36 on her calf and I was too brain dead at first to realize what was happening... Um, did I just lead my age group in this race for 10 hours and 50 minutes only to be passed in the last 1/2 mile?????? She had a decent gap on me by the time I regrouped and tried to answer and by then it was too late. She beat me to the line by ~10 seconds. (By the way, in case you were wondering, that last 1/2 mile today was the longest 1/2 mile ever known to man.) I was VERY confused when I was reunited with my phone and saw like 80 messages congratulating me on my 'win'... (Thanks for that btw- Awesome!! Sorry ti disappoint you now with this news...) Somehow this gal was not included in the timing?? I don't know, but I bet she's pissed. I'll vouch for her tomorrow at the awards if there are any questions. She beat me today fair and square. As did Kerrie. But I'm looking forward to a rematch with both of these girls. I've got more in me. I'm sure of it.