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11/30/07 Ironman Florida Well, this is the last race report for the year!!!! The weather was perfect in Florida this year, thank goodness because last year it was less than fair conditions. The water was calm and a great temperature, so I wasn’t quite as nervous as last year. The horn is blown, and I run into the water hoping to finish the 2.4 mile swim feeling good. I soon realize that isn’t quite going to happen, I am surprised I didn’t have a bloody nose for as many times as I was kicked in the face. I never got into my own water and at the end of the first loop I am stung in the face by a jellyfish, so I really don’t want to see what the clock says for a time b/c I was flustered the entire 1st loop. I look anyway and the 1st loop says 44 something. I am devastated, but remind myself I just need to focus on getting the 2nd loop completed. I still have to fight my way thru the swim b/c their isn’t any free water, but manage to suffer through. My watch was stopped on the first loop and I don’t see the clock when I come out of the water so I just run to transition to get ready for the bike. I get on the bike w/out anything eventful taking place. I soon realize that the body glide plus Vaseline under the arms and on the back of the neck was the PERFECT thing to do. Last year I was chafed so bad from the salt water it left scars, so thank you to Rose Wilson for the wonderful idea. I ask someone passing by how long since we started and soon realize the clock only said 44 something on the first loop of the swim b/c it included the professional’s start which was 10 mins. before ours. My mood picks up a little as I realize I didn’t add 10-15 mins. onto my swim from last year. The wind is in my favor, which is another great thing compared to last year. I manage to keep my heart rate where instructed, which seems to be working as I average 20+ mph feeling pretty good. I do know that the last 30 miles will be a headwind, so I keep that in the back of my mind. See, I have some inside info from Forrest who has done the race too many times to count and he has always said if you are lucky going out you won’t be coming in. Nutrition seems to be working with no surprises. I hit the head wind on the last 30 as expected and just try to hunker down and see how well I can finish keeping my H/R where I should. I pass some crazy woman in a convertible (my mom) and then pass my family and friends and they all inspire me the last couple of miles. I wound up finishing in 5:56 which is 50 mins. better than last year. I wasn’t sure at the time b/c of the watch thing whether I was under 6 hours or not. |
I get into transition feeling good just to
get off the bike. I run out of transition and when my garmin goes off
for the 1st mile (7:30) I realize I need to slow down. I
have issues with the 1st mile, I always feel so good. The
first couple of miles go good, but when I try to take gel at mile 4 I
have to spit it out. My stomach can’t handle it, which is a first for
me. I proceed to try everything at the aide stations to try to find
something that will work. By mile 8 my knees are starting to hurt and I
have realized that I will not be able to nutrition at all. I am glad to
have sunglasses on b/c I start to cry and hit bottom. I round a corner
where my friends and family are and they help me come out of my funk a
little. As I hit the halfway point I try to just focus on making the
loop one more time to finish it out. I pass my friends and family again
and am just happy to have the support. I am almost to the back of the
park again where I see Julie, and she looks like I feel. I see Jeff and
he comments that he’s “trying”. Everyone I see seems to be having
issues, except for Regina and Susan who were happy and cheering me on.
I have to say it has never been so hard not to walk, in fact, I did walk
quite a bit. If it weren’t for those people who helped cheer me on and
keep me going I don’t know what I would have done. I crawled out of my
hole and managed to slowly jog the last 4 miles to finish in a time of
11:50:16. Almost 40 minutes better than last year even with my slower
run time. Mentally, this was my toughest race ever. I continue to be humbled and inspired by these races. I know that I am extremely lucky because I continuously have so much support. If it’s not from my family and friends, it’s from Forrest and Keogh, who remind me to chill out sometimes. So many people help me throughout the year, and I truly appreciate it because without it I wouldn’t do as well as I do. I especially want to thank my sponsors, TriSports.com, Atlanta Bread Co., Dukes Mayonnaise, and Barracuda. Also a little shout out to Polar for helping me through my meltdown when my polar H/R monitor decided to go out of battery 3 days before the race. They were kind enough to come up with a solution so I had a H/R monitor race day that I knew how to work. Thanks Paul!!! My swim time was 1:16 (1,292nd place) My bike time was 5:56 (1,117th place) My run time was 4:27 (738th place) I wound up finishing 17th out of 68 females in my age group and I was 846th out of 2300 (?) people
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