This was my second "official" Ironman 70.3 event. My first was last fall...September 23, 2012 in Branson, MO. It was my 4th time, though, completing the 70.3 distance:
1 - Two weeks prior to Branson last fall, I completed the "long course" at the Square Lake Triathlon in Stillwater, Minnesota with my friend Jillian...it was a non-sanctioned event but was basically 70.3ish miles.
2 - Ironman 70.3 Branson 2012.
3 - The "Kelly 70.3" on July 5th this summer...a good friend wanted to try her hand at the 70.3 distance without it being in an official race situation, so I joined her for some serious fun and great training.
4 - Ironman 70.3 Racine 2013!
1 - Two weeks prior to Branson last fall, I completed the "long course" at the Square Lake Triathlon in Stillwater, Minnesota with my friend Jillian...it was a non-sanctioned event but was basically 70.3ish miles.
2 - Ironman 70.3 Branson 2012.
3 - The "Kelly 70.3" on July 5th this summer...a good friend wanted to try her hand at the 70.3 distance without it being in an official race situation, so I joined her for some serious fun and great training.
4 - Ironman 70.3 Racine 2013!
In my opinion, Racine > Branson times a MILLION!!
Branson was a smaller event...but seeing as it was my first go at an Ironman 70.3 I just kind of assumed that's how they "all" were. The expo was so small and underwhelming (basically a room in a hotel with some stuff for sale) I actually looked around for another "expo", thinking surely that wasn't actually an Ironman 70.3 expo. When I finished, the only food to be seen was some Papa John's pizza and perhaps a few bananas (luckily the finish line was walking distance from an array of yummy restaurants, one of which I hit up right away).
When I arrived at the Racine Civic Center Saturday afternoon the day before the race, it was immediately apparent that Racine was a much higher attended event than Branson. The expo had a lot to look at, including a display for a gel brand I was unfamiliar with: huma. I sampled some (yum!) and bought a few packets to bring home to try during some training rides later this summer perhaps (definitely didn't plan to try anything new during the race the next day!).
Earlier on the day prior to the race, I learned that the water temperature that morning had been measured to be around 55 degrees. This conjured up memories of my 55 degree 1.2 mile swim in the Tennessee River in early May during my leg of the Rev3 Knoxville 70.3 relay. For that event, I borrowed a thermal swim cap from my coach/friend/relay teammate Laura. The thing was a life-saver for sure! During the drive up, I planned to look around at the expo for a thermal swim cap (since I still don't own one of my own...I hadn't seen a point to purchasing one in late spring/summer!). The first retailer informed me he had just run out but directed me to another retailer to check with. Luckily, I found one! It was $28, but I figured it would save my life the next morning and that it would be well worth it.
After standing in a long but fast-moving line, I checked in. I gathered my swag (shirt and bag!), timing chip, swim cap (pink!) and number. I checked out the Ironman gear store but refrained from purchasing any (to be truthful, I am still lusting after a tri top I saw in the store though...). After I was finished, I hung around for the athlete meeting which was held outside.
After the meeting, I walked to my car to gather my bike to bring it to transition where it would spend the night. My arms were full of gear and water, etc., and my head was in the clouds. I didn't notice the 6" or so curb around the parking lot where my car was parked and tripped UP the stinking curb! I fell right on both knees and ended up ripping a hole in the right knee of the jeans I was wearing Worse, I ripped my poor knee open! It wasn't anything "serious", but it was bad enough that it really hurt. Of course, I felt like an idiot from causing the scene (athletes walking around me stopped to make sure I was ok...ha! At least no one I knew was anywhere around!).
I gathered my wits and gear and then headed down to the transition area with some friends and set up my bike...
....and then we walked down to the beach to check out the water situation! The swim was held in Lake Michigan. It was huge (duh!) and quite intimidating to me...I had never swam in such a large body of water. The waves kinda freaked me out as well. The size and the presence of waves made me almost forget about how cold it felt...
Intimidating or not, it was definitely beautiful out there!
Earlier on the day prior to the race, I learned that the water temperature that morning had been measured to be around 55 degrees. This conjured up memories of my 55 degree 1.2 mile swim in the Tennessee River in early May during my leg of the Rev3 Knoxville 70.3 relay. For that event, I borrowed a thermal swim cap from my coach/friend/relay teammate Laura. The thing was a life-saver for sure! During the drive up, I planned to look around at the expo for a thermal swim cap (since I still don't own one of my own...I hadn't seen a point to purchasing one in late spring/summer!). The first retailer informed me he had just run out but directed me to another retailer to check with. Luckily, I found one! It was $28, but I figured it would save my life the next morning and that it would be well worth it.
After standing in a long but fast-moving line, I checked in. I gathered my swag (shirt and bag!), timing chip, swim cap (pink!) and number. I checked out the Ironman gear store but refrained from purchasing any (to be truthful, I am still lusting after a tri top I saw in the store though...). After I was finished, I hung around for the athlete meeting which was held outside.
After the meeting, I walked to my car to gather my bike to bring it to transition where it would spend the night. My arms were full of gear and water, etc., and my head was in the clouds. I didn't notice the 6" or so curb around the parking lot where my car was parked and tripped UP the stinking curb! I fell right on both knees and ended up ripping a hole in the right knee of the jeans I was wearing Worse, I ripped my poor knee open! It wasn't anything "serious", but it was bad enough that it really hurt. Of course, I felt like an idiot from causing the scene (athletes walking around me stopped to make sure I was ok...ha! At least no one I knew was anywhere around!).
I gathered my wits and gear and then headed down to the transition area with some friends and set up my bike...
....and then we walked down to the beach to check out the water situation! The swim was held in Lake Michigan. It was huge (duh!) and quite intimidating to me...I had never swam in such a large body of water. The waves kinda freaked me out as well. The size and the presence of waves made me almost forget about how cold it felt...
Intimidating or not, it was definitely beautiful out there!
After a fun group dinner, I tried to get a good night's sleep (though, as I always seem to do the night before a race, I tossed and turned and didn't sleep all that well). Before I knew it, it was time to roll out of bed and get ready to rock....
THE SWIM
Ohhh the swim.....
The swim took place in beautiful Lake Michigan. Gorgeous. Breathtaking. Serene.
Not on Sunday, July 21!!
The water was choppy and disgusting. It was churning like some sort of possessed washing machine. It was rumored (a friend who did the race told me he heard this) that there were a lot of people who didn't even start because of the water conditions, and that around 150 ended up getting pulled from the water during the race. Sick.
I took swimming lessons, as most children do. However, I was never on any kind of swim team...neither as a child, nor as a student. The most swim training I have had over the past two years is watching YouTube videos and going with three other friends to have a local accomplished swimmer and triathlete give us an hour lesson in a local pool once this winter. My swimming skills are not anything to get excited about.
The water was choppy and disgusting. It was churning like some sort of possessed washing machine. It was rumored (a friend who did the race told me he heard this) that there were a lot of people who didn't even start because of the water conditions, and that around 150 ended up getting pulled from the water during the race. Sick.
I took swimming lessons, as most children do. However, I was never on any kind of swim team...neither as a child, nor as a student. The most swim training I have had over the past two years is watching YouTube videos and going with three other friends to have a local accomplished swimmer and triathlete give us an hour lesson in a local pool once this winter. My swimming skills are not anything to get excited about.
My official swim time was 52:29. This is on the slower end for 70.3 athletes in general...but, more pertinent, is quite slow compared to what I am personally capable of (just to compare: I swam 1.2 miles in 49:19 in Branson last September and in 48:48 in May during the Rev3 Knoxville relay...and I am definitely much stronger now). This was hands-down the most challenging and scary swim I had ever done...taking into account both training and racing. The water was unbelievably choppy. It was cold...buy honestly, the lower temp (low 60's) felt good/refreshing to me. If it were a whole lot warmer I think the heat would've just added to my panic. But who knows.
I was in the 9th wave (of 24 or so waves), the women age 30-34 with last names starting with L-Z. We started at 7:28 am, 28 minutes after the official start of the race. There was a warm-up area roped off to the right of where the swimmers started. I spent a lot of time in the water while I waited for my wave to be called, getting used to the temperature and trying to calm my nerves. When the pro men (7:00am) and pro women (7:04am) went off, I was amazed to see how quickly their arms moved in and out of the water, propelling them forward faster than I could ever dream to move! When the amateur heats started, it was apparent that many people were having difficulty with the strong, fast-moving waves.
When my wave made it to the start, time seemed to move far too quickly! Soon the horn sounded and women around me began hurrying into the water. I ran on the sand in the water for as long as I could (I could touch for quite a while actually) and then started TRYING to swim. I soon discovered that my weakness was no match for the crazy waves. As the waves pounded me in the face, I struggled to get my breathing under control. I quickly decided to simply breaststroke so I could keep my face above water more...or at least see when the waves were coming to hit me in the face. The course went about 200 yards or so straight out into the lake and then made a right hand turn. At that point, the course ran parallel to the beach for approximately a mile or so until it made another right hand turn and brought swimmers back to the beach. I ended up breaststroking until well after that first turn. There were many kayakers around for safety, and I saw a large number of women hanging onto kayaks, gasping for breath (the official Ironman rules state that you may grab onto the kayaks to rest as long as you don't make any forward progress...meaning, you cannot hang onto the kayaks as they are moving/pulling you forward on the course). I was very, very tempted to hang onto the kayaks or buoys myself, but I knew that if I did it would be even harder to convince myself to get moving again...so I didn't.
My swimming wasn't pretty, but it got the job done. I tried to breath to both sides, but quickly realized that if I was breathing to my left, I got pummeled in the face by a wave almost every single time. I resigned myself to breathing only on the right, and for much of the race breathed on every single stroke. Definitely not efficient, but it got me through it.
Once later waves of swimmers started catching up to me, it was hard not to get discouraged. I had a number of larger men literally swim over me. One man actually smacked me in the middle of my back as he brought his hand down and around in a stroke. It definitely becomes survival mode out there! I am sure those men swimming on top of me are as annoyed by me and my slow-ness (and being in their way! ha!) as I am by the fact that they are beating me up in the water.
When I rounded the second right-hand turn and started swimming toward the beach, I was able to pick up my pace (helped out by the waves of course...they pushed me toward the shore!). When my feet hit the sand for the first time, my legs felt shaky...and as if they each weighed 500 lbs. As I exited the water, I knew I had just survived what had been the worst swim I had ever experienced. Even though I knew my time was less than impressive, I was quite proud of myself for getting through it!
I rushed up the beach and entered the transition area. I was greeted by...strippers!!! Wetsuit strippers, that is! I had heard of such things...but hadn't had the pleasure of encountering them until this moment. I chose my two victims, sat down on the ground and they literally yanked my wetsuit off of me in seconds. It was awesome! Wrestling with my wetsuit in T1 (the first transition, or swim-to-bike) is one of my least-favorite parts of triathlon....and these two kind souls eliminated that for me! Score!
My transition time was 7:05. Yeah, I took my sweet time :). I was worried about biking (I am not a strong nor confident biker) and took care to ensure that everything was in place. I gulped down a yummy Powerbar blueberry banana performance energy blend (one of my favorites...basically pureed fruit!), smeared some of my beloved Buttonhole chamois cream down my shorts, grabbed my bike and secured my helmet and was on my way.
Swim Time: 52:29
Transition 1 (swim-to-bike): 7:05
Total clock time thus far: 59:34
Division place thus far: 98th/139
THE BIKE
Some of the roads the course led us through was annoyingly uneven and bumpy. Listening to/feeling the bump-bump, bump-bump, bumpity-bumpity-bump got realllllllly irritating after a while. I had to mentally talk myself down ("Rachel, getting pissed off isn't going to change anything. Calm down and try to enjoy the ride.") and focus on other things (passing people!) instead of the irritating roads.
After I was able to stay over 20mph (a pretty quick pace for me!) for the first 15 miles, I began to wonder if there was a possibility that I could finish the 56-mile bike course in under 3 hours. I was almost afraid to even think that thought...because I couldn't bring myself to believe that it could be within the realm of possibility. Truthfully, biking 56 miles in under 3 hours was something that had NEVER even remotely occurred to me prior to this. I am not a fast/strong biker. I am definitely not confident on the bike and haven't quite figured out "how to hurt" on the bike...which means I really don't push myself. At that 15 mile point, though, I decided to try to stay above 20 mph as much as I could during the course to just see what could happen.
The course had some rolling hills (enough climbing thrown in to keep things interesting at least), but all in all was relatively flat. The course at Branson, being located in the Ozarks, was a FAR bigger challenge for me last September! The hills (mountains?!) combined with my wussy demeanor resulted in a finish time of 4:20.32 (kind of embarrassing to admit at this point, really). I felt like I was FLYING in Racine compared to my experience in Branson!
There were some points where the wind got somewhat irritating, but living smack-dab in the middle of wind farms means I have gotten more than my fair share of biking in headwinds, crosswinds and every other kind of winds!
I did find enjoyment in passing a large number of people during my time on the bike course, which made me feel slightly better about myself after floundering through the swim.
My bike finish time was 2:54.52, which averages out to 19.21 mph for the 56 mile course. This is my proudest accomplishment of the day, even more so than my overall finish time. This is about an hour and twenty five minutes faster than my 70.3 last September. Regardless of the differences in course difficulty, I think this shows VAST improvement in my overall confidence and skill level on the bike! Last summer, during shorter triathlons I averaged 17-18mph...so to be able to hold onto 19.2 mph for 56 miles makes me quite proud! Cruising into T2, I'm sure I was wearing an ear-to-ear smile. I was truly ecstatic.
Bike Time: 2:54.52
Transition 2 (bike-to-run): 5:47
Total time: 3:54.46
Division place...On the bike I moved up to 49th from 98th on the swim out of 139 in my gender/age group (30-34)!
THE RUN
While I am not a super-fast runner, I am very comfortable as a runner. Getting the swim and the bike behind me is always reason for a big sigh of relief for me during any tri!
During my second transition, I decided to "reward" myself for a job well-done on the bike course by visiting a porta-potty in the transition area (as opposed to peeing myself). I knew simply peeing out on the course is pretty widely accepted and practiced, but could also potentially result in some serious chafing as I ran the 13.1 course. I decided it was well-worth sacrificing a few minutes to pee in a civilized fashion in a porta-potty. I also took this potty break as an opportunity to re-apply some serious Buttonhole chamois cream to the chamois of my tri shorts...I didn't want ANY reason to chafe during the run! Looking back, I am slightly disappointed that I missed finishing in 6 hours by 51 stupid seconds. I probably COULD'VE hurried a bit more in transitions. Oh well :).
The run course had a few hills, one of which was right at the beginning. Some people were already walking up it as I approached. Did I want to walk as opposed to running? Perhaps. However, I knew there was really NO reason for me to do so. Tired or not, I was more than capable of running the entire 13.1 course. No walk-breaks ALLOWED, I sternly told myself.
The run course was a loop that you had to complete twice....two out-and-backs. It was nice...I was able to distract myself from the pain of running by spending some time looking for people I knew out on the course. It was nice to be able to shout words of encouragement as we passed one another!
It started to get kinda hot during the run. I took water at each aid station, and often took a second cup to dump over my head to stay cool. A few times I also grabbed some ice cubes to slide down my tri top (ahhhh! so refreshing!) as well as some wet sponges to wipe my face and neck. Water never tastes or feels as good as it does during a hot race, that's for certain!
As I made my way through the run course, it was clear to me that not only would I be finishing in under 6:30...but there was a decent chance that I would finish in 6 hours. This was SO exciting to me, as it was a vast improvement over the 7:35.36 finish I earned in Branson last September!
I finished the 13.1 mile run in 2:00.38, or an average of 9:12/mile pace. This is pretty average for me. My half marathon PR is about 17 minutes faster than this (though that half marathon was completed WITHOUT a 57.2 mile "warm-up" :)). My run leg of the Branson event took 2:14.06...and that course was FLAT as a pancake (I was mentally and physically wiped out from the bike course :)).
I was in the 9th wave (of 24 or so waves), the women age 30-34 with last names starting with L-Z. We started at 7:28 am, 28 minutes after the official start of the race. There was a warm-up area roped off to the right of where the swimmers started. I spent a lot of time in the water while I waited for my wave to be called, getting used to the temperature and trying to calm my nerves. When the pro men (7:00am) and pro women (7:04am) went off, I was amazed to see how quickly their arms moved in and out of the water, propelling them forward faster than I could ever dream to move! When the amateur heats started, it was apparent that many people were having difficulty with the strong, fast-moving waves.
When my wave made it to the start, time seemed to move far too quickly! Soon the horn sounded and women around me began hurrying into the water. I ran on the sand in the water for as long as I could (I could touch for quite a while actually) and then started TRYING to swim. I soon discovered that my weakness was no match for the crazy waves. As the waves pounded me in the face, I struggled to get my breathing under control. I quickly decided to simply breaststroke so I could keep my face above water more...or at least see when the waves were coming to hit me in the face. The course went about 200 yards or so straight out into the lake and then made a right hand turn. At that point, the course ran parallel to the beach for approximately a mile or so until it made another right hand turn and brought swimmers back to the beach. I ended up breaststroking until well after that first turn. There were many kayakers around for safety, and I saw a large number of women hanging onto kayaks, gasping for breath (the official Ironman rules state that you may grab onto the kayaks to rest as long as you don't make any forward progress...meaning, you cannot hang onto the kayaks as they are moving/pulling you forward on the course). I was very, very tempted to hang onto the kayaks or buoys myself, but I knew that if I did it would be even harder to convince myself to get moving again...so I didn't.
My swimming wasn't pretty, but it got the job done. I tried to breath to both sides, but quickly realized that if I was breathing to my left, I got pummeled in the face by a wave almost every single time. I resigned myself to breathing only on the right, and for much of the race breathed on every single stroke. Definitely not efficient, but it got me through it.
Once later waves of swimmers started catching up to me, it was hard not to get discouraged. I had a number of larger men literally swim over me. One man actually smacked me in the middle of my back as he brought his hand down and around in a stroke. It definitely becomes survival mode out there! I am sure those men swimming on top of me are as annoyed by me and my slow-ness (and being in their way! ha!) as I am by the fact that they are beating me up in the water.
When I rounded the second right-hand turn and started swimming toward the beach, I was able to pick up my pace (helped out by the waves of course...they pushed me toward the shore!). When my feet hit the sand for the first time, my legs felt shaky...and as if they each weighed 500 lbs. As I exited the water, I knew I had just survived what had been the worst swim I had ever experienced. Even though I knew my time was less than impressive, I was quite proud of myself for getting through it!
 |
| Checking my watch as I ran up the beach to transition |
I rushed up the beach and entered the transition area. I was greeted by...strippers!!! Wetsuit strippers, that is! I had heard of such things...but hadn't had the pleasure of encountering them until this moment. I chose my two victims, sat down on the ground and they literally yanked my wetsuit off of me in seconds. It was awesome! Wrestling with my wetsuit in T1 (the first transition, or swim-to-bike) is one of my least-favorite parts of triathlon....and these two kind souls eliminated that for me! Score!
My transition time was 7:05. Yeah, I took my sweet time :). I was worried about biking (I am not a strong nor confident biker) and took care to ensure that everything was in place. I gulped down a yummy Powerbar blueberry banana performance energy blend (one of my favorites...basically pureed fruit!), smeared some of my beloved Buttonhole chamois cream down my shorts, grabbed my bike and secured my helmet and was on my way.
 |
| Getting ready to head out on the bike! Here I am staring at my watch...I messed up my timing at some point during transition; I had pressed "stop" instead of "lap"...so some of my transition time was not accounted for on my Garmin. I got it figured out before I departed on the bike....so really no big deal :). |
Transition 1 (swim-to-bike): 7:05
Total clock time thus far: 59:34
Division place thus far: 98th/139
THE BIKE
Some of the roads the course led us through was annoyingly uneven and bumpy. Listening to/feeling the bump-bump, bump-bump, bumpity-bumpity-bump got realllllllly irritating after a while. I had to mentally talk myself down ("Rachel, getting pissed off isn't going to change anything. Calm down and try to enjoy the ride.") and focus on other things (passing people!) instead of the irritating roads.
After I was able to stay over 20mph (a pretty quick pace for me!) for the first 15 miles, I began to wonder if there was a possibility that I could finish the 56-mile bike course in under 3 hours. I was almost afraid to even think that thought...because I couldn't bring myself to believe that it could be within the realm of possibility. Truthfully, biking 56 miles in under 3 hours was something that had NEVER even remotely occurred to me prior to this. I am not a fast/strong biker. I am definitely not confident on the bike and haven't quite figured out "how to hurt" on the bike...which means I really don't push myself. At that 15 mile point, though, I decided to try to stay above 20 mph as much as I could during the course to just see what could happen.
The course had some rolling hills (enough climbing thrown in to keep things interesting at least), but all in all was relatively flat. The course at Branson, being located in the Ozarks, was a FAR bigger challenge for me last September! The hills (mountains?!) combined with my wussy demeanor resulted in a finish time of 4:20.32 (kind of embarrassing to admit at this point, really). I felt like I was FLYING in Racine compared to my experience in Branson!
There were some points where the wind got somewhat irritating, but living smack-dab in the middle of wind farms means I have gotten more than my fair share of biking in headwinds, crosswinds and every other kind of winds!
I did find enjoyment in passing a large number of people during my time on the bike course, which made me feel slightly better about myself after floundering through the swim.
 |
| passing someone...likely illegally in more than the allotted 20 seconds ;). I still have a lot to learn! |
My bike finish time was 2:54.52, which averages out to 19.21 mph for the 56 mile course. This is my proudest accomplishment of the day, even more so than my overall finish time. This is about an hour and twenty five minutes faster than my 70.3 last September. Regardless of the differences in course difficulty, I think this shows VAST improvement in my overall confidence and skill level on the bike! Last summer, during shorter triathlons I averaged 17-18mph...so to be able to hold onto 19.2 mph for 56 miles makes me quite proud! Cruising into T2, I'm sure I was wearing an ear-to-ear smile. I was truly ecstatic.
Bike Time: 2:54.52
Transition 2 (bike-to-run): 5:47
Total time: 3:54.46
Division place...On the bike I moved up to 49th from 98th on the swim out of 139 in my gender/age group (30-34)!
THE RUN
While I am not a super-fast runner, I am very comfortable as a runner. Getting the swim and the bike behind me is always reason for a big sigh of relief for me during any tri!
During my second transition, I decided to "reward" myself for a job well-done on the bike course by visiting a porta-potty in the transition area (as opposed to peeing myself). I knew simply peeing out on the course is pretty widely accepted and practiced, but could also potentially result in some serious chafing as I ran the 13.1 course. I decided it was well-worth sacrificing a few minutes to pee in a civilized fashion in a porta-potty. I also took this potty break as an opportunity to re-apply some serious Buttonhole chamois cream to the chamois of my tri shorts...I didn't want ANY reason to chafe during the run! Looking back, I am slightly disappointed that I missed finishing in 6 hours by 51 stupid seconds. I probably COULD'VE hurried a bit more in transitions. Oh well :).
The run course had a few hills, one of which was right at the beginning. Some people were already walking up it as I approached. Did I want to walk as opposed to running? Perhaps. However, I knew there was really NO reason for me to do so. Tired or not, I was more than capable of running the entire 13.1 course. No walk-breaks ALLOWED, I sternly told myself.
The run course was a loop that you had to complete twice....two out-and-backs. It was nice...I was able to distract myself from the pain of running by spending some time looking for people I knew out on the course. It was nice to be able to shout words of encouragement as we passed one another!
It started to get kinda hot during the run. I took water at each aid station, and often took a second cup to dump over my head to stay cool. A few times I also grabbed some ice cubes to slide down my tri top (ahhhh! so refreshing!) as well as some wet sponges to wipe my face and neck. Water never tastes or feels as good as it does during a hot race, that's for certain!
As I made my way through the run course, it was clear to me that not only would I be finishing in under 6:30...but there was a decent chance that I would finish in 6 hours. This was SO exciting to me, as it was a vast improvement over the 7:35.36 finish I earned in Branson last September!
I finished the 13.1 mile run in 2:00.38, or an average of 9:12/mile pace. This is pretty average for me. My half marathon PR is about 17 minutes faster than this (though that half marathon was completed WITHOUT a 57.2 mile "warm-up" :)). My run leg of the Branson event took 2:14.06...and that course was FLAT as a pancake (I was mentally and physically wiped out from the bike course :)).
 |
| Check out that heel-strike! Yeah...my running stride isn't pretty, but I guess it gets the job done! :) |
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| NOT the most flattering of photos...check out that hunched back! However, I guess it's ok to look somewhat terrible 70.2 miles into a 70.3 mile race! |
I was astounded by my finish...6:00.51. This was 94 minutes and 45 seconds faster than my 70.3 finish in Branson last September! It was a truly amazing feeling to know that my year of training has been paying off...my awesome coach Laura deserves a LOT of the credit for whipping me into shape! Sure, it was a lot of blood/sweat/tears on my part...but I couldn't have done it without her guidance! I am so grateful for her!
Other fun news to report: After the run, I moved up from 49th in my division to 40th (out of 139). I moved up 58 places from where I was after the swim (98th!). Man...do I need to work on my swimming or what?! I also finished 209th out of 760 women and 956th out of 2275 participants overall. Clearly I will never be any sort of world champion, but it is still fun to see where I fall!
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| I was SO proud of my finish! |
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| Cleaning up my pile of smelly gear from transition...the least exciting part of race day. |
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| The day prior to the race, I had scoped out an awesome outdoor shower a ways down the beach from the transition area! It felt amazing to be able to rinse off and change into clean clothing before the long ride home! However, I'm sure I looked like a freak excitedly showering outside. |
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