This was my second REAL half ironman. Scott had jury duty
this week and was selected as the SECOND alternate for a case. That means he
has to sit and listen to everything but when it comes down to the end he
doesn’t get to deliberate and help decide the case at all (unless 2 jurors drop
out, which the judge said he had never seen happen). They thought they would be done by Friday so we were going
to leave at 1ish. Well, they got behind and things dragged on so he had to do
jury duty on Friday too L.
We didn’t end up leaving until 3-3:30. I went out to try to buy Honey Stinger
Chews but they didn’t have any. I decided to use fruit snacks and candy as my
nutrition as well as some bars that I had.
We got down to my Cousin’s house (Zoe and Brad). Zoe had
just had (1 week) a new baby and her mom, my aunt, was in town. It was SO nice
of them to let us stay with them with last second notice and we didn’t get to
be with them that much. We put Emi down and chatted with them for a little
while, but I was fading fast and had an early day the next day so we all headed
to bed. Slept as well as to be expected for me right now, ie horribly. It’s not
anything to do with Emi or Scott, I just have horrible insomnia problems. It’s
rough because even if I end up getting 6 hours of sleep it’s broken up into 4-6
segments so I never go through an actual sleep cycle. It’s like taking a whole
bunch of short naps.
We ended up leaving the house at 5am, which I wanted to
leave around 4:30. I was a little worried. Talked to my sis who I’m sure woke
up early just to give me a pep talk call (THANKS). Everything went without a
hitch packet pickup and setting up transition. In fact I was getting all my
fruit snacks together for the run and a guy asked if I wanted a little baggie
for them. I said no, this will work just fine, I actually usually use honey
stinger chews, but my bike shop didn’t have them. He said what flavor do you
want? So, he gave me a package of chews! SO nice! I meant to write him a note
and stick it on his bike after the race, but that didn’t happen.
While I finished setting up transition the announcer said
that the fog was too bad to start at 7:00 so they would reevaluate at 7:10 and
let us know if we were going to start at 7:15. I still had to pump so it worked
out perfectly for me! Instead of pumping I went off to a corner and fed Emi.
Another woman came over and fed he son too. As we were feeding the announcer
was talking about different rules and mentioned no public nudity! Thank
goodness for breastfeeding laws! The announcer was hilarious and enjoyable to
listen to as the race kept getting delayed. He mentioned that there were 666
participants so we needed someone else to sign up so it wouldn’t be bad luck.
They kept delaying and ended up deciding to start the race at 8:15 and open up
the water at 8:00 for warm up (if the coast guard said it was fine). Around
7:50 he announced that another participant signed up for the race! So now there
were 667! Literally right after that the fog decided to lift, it was SO
uncanny! The announcer said he wasn’t superstitious but that was just weird!
Well, by the time we were going to start again the fog had come back, not as
bad as at 7am but we literally couldn’t see the first buoy to swim to. I heard
people talking about cutting the course etc.
The women also had to start in wave 3 after all the males
and Clydesdales (bigger males). I thought this was ridiculous! But we were off!
Swimming into the dark mist to something we couldn’t even see! Finally it came
into view and was way to far to the inside. I swam back out even though I saw
some people just turn right. Then we were going down the far side of this lake.
They only had 2 buoys to spot off of the entire .5 stretch down! So really it
was just swim. I kept thinking what my sis has taught me about my swim technique
and also this is the ONLY thing you use your arms on! Well the next turn buoy
was in site and I again was WAY too far to the inside (at least 100m) So I had to
swim back in and turn to go back across the lake. This time I guess I was
determined not to be on the inside because I ended up 150ish meters to the
OUTSIDE of the buoy! Well, It was the home stretch now. Because everything got
delayed they had to start the Olympic distance right after us so we were all
together the last .5ish miles. I got really bogged down. The end was in site! I
kicked harder to get blood flow back down and got out. They had people helping
us out of the water because the boat ramp was so slippery you fell right back
down if you tried to stand on it.
Transition! The last half mile of the swim I kept repeating
in my head: jersey, glasses, helmet, shoes, salt, nutrition (ie candy), water.
I ended up getting everything done except I forgot my candy! This crazy race
only had ONE aid station on the bike and it only had water! I was off on my
bike. The first bit was hilly but doable. I finished a water and switched
things around and think I lost my salt pills then. I also though I lost my candy
because it wasn’t in my jersey. I had three water bottles on my back and one on
my bike. I ordered a rear double cage for bottles, which will conveniently get
here on Monday. I hit the water stop and got two more bottles. Yes, I drink
THAT much water. I’m a breast-feeding mom and it was HOT. Scott told me I was
15
th out of the water for women; I thought that that was impossible
unless people really cut the course! I knew I would catch them on the bike and
then if not I would on the run. I kept going back and forth with this girl who
I though was doing the half until we talked with 15 miles to go and she said
she was just doing the aqua bike. After the water stop things got CRAZY on the
bike. It was SO SO hilly. I saw Scott and Emi right before the first big hill.
That helped a lot with what was coming. My chain slipped 6-7 times for some
reason to. And as I was going up a hill it locked up on me. I almost fell over
because I was clipped into my bike but got off right in time. It took me a
little bit to figure out what was happening and to get started up this huge
hill again. I’ve never had to stop and it did frazzle me a little bit.
Scott was able to drive the course, park and cheer for me.
The roads were all open to traffic, which did cause problems now and then! I
was able to see Scott SO many times, which really did help on the bike SO much.
I didn’t have my salt pills, my back was killing from having all this water I
had to carry, and I didn’t have ANY gummy nutrition so I was having to talk ALL
solid nutrition. Scott said I looked mad at the world a couple of times, I
really might have been. The biggest hill out there he actually was on and
cheered for me up. THAT was SO helpful. I was literally in granny gear grinding
out 3.5mph. 5 miles left I knew it was mostly down hill! YAY! I didn’t end up
having as much nutrition on the bike as I did in Muncie, probably because I had
8-900 calories for breakfast this time around. I had 2 bonk breaker bars and another
nutrition bar to total 700 calories on the bike.
Into transition! I saw that there was a girl close behind me! I racked
my bike and sat down to put my shoes on. My stomach wasn’t too happy with me
because I only had solids and I saw my candy sitting there on my towel so I
snacked on some melted candy (93 degree heat) as I got everything ready for the
run. I really had no sense of time or how fast I was going. I left transition
and ran into the port-a-potty that was already past the transition mats. I
didn’t like that because I knew it would be part of my transition time. My
watch that could do instant splits broke, the band did anyway so I just had a
stop watch. I though about restarting it every mile so I would know but thought
better of it because I wanted to know my total time more. I came up to mile one
water stop where two ladies were sitting in their chairs. I called up two water
two waters! They ended up getting them out to me but they were literally
BOILING HOT! I thought great, this is how the WHOLE race is going to be?!?! Hot
water and people not paying attention! The next water stop was better but I had
to call for water 3-4 times each stop. From mile 1.5 to 11.5 it was on a rail
to trail. It was mostly shaded which I think saved me! The water stops didn’t
have any ice and only semi-cold water. Because we were on a trail, I didn’t
think I would see Scott at all. I was mistaken. I came out of the trail at mile
5 and saw Emi and him! That made my day! Then the trail turned into a gravel
trail. At the turn around I looked at my watch so I would know how far ahead I
was of the next girl. I kept waiting and waiting and finally she showed up
after 5 minutes! That meant I was 10 minutes ahead! I knew I easily had the win
in the bag, which might not have been the best thing! I saw Scott and Emi again
and gave her a high 5 on her foot. Scott said “you’re having WAY too much fun
with this!” I really was. I felt like I was running easy and smooth and didn’t
feel tired at all. An official drove by and asked if I wanted some ice. He gave
me a handful, which I stuffed into my bra and was gone less than .5miles later.
One mile to go I got another water from the horrible aid station. I looked at
my watch at 2 miles to go and knew that I would be just over 5 hours! I was a
little bummed because I wanted to break 5 hours again. It was hard to push it
in because I knew I would win and knew that I wouldn’t be under 5 hours. Scott
was standing right on the other side of the finish line taking pictures.
The food was great even though half of it was gone because the
sprint and Olympic distances had already finished a while ago. I had to ask for
my award early because we had the BYU game to get to. I asked for it and the
guy put my number in and he said 3
rd overall! I said umm I don’t
think so. Scott said there still hasn’t been another woman to cross the finish
line (happened about 27 minutes after I did). It ended up being because Two
women got penalties and so their time was coming up as 2:00minutes. He fixed it
(eventually) and gave me my award, which I greatly thanked him for doing.
All in all it was a decent race. I didn’t really tapper for
it because I want to do one more this season and that one be my last hurrah for
the year! My swim ended up being a 37:27 (with a lot of extra swimming) bike:
2:52:24 (19.49 mph, 3,500 elevation change), run 1:26:50 (6:37/mile pace, I
think around 500 elevation change). I was a little bummed that I only had the
second fastest run. The guy who won did a 1:25:27 on the run.
Thank you to all who were/are involved with this insanity!
Thanks to Zoe and Brad for a place to stay and to Aunt Gloria for letting us
kick you out of your room on the last night you were there! Also, thanks for
the breakfast for Scott in the morning! It helped him have enough energy to
cheer loud for me! Thanks to my parents who were cheering for me the whole time
and tracking me and texting with Scott.
Thank you to my sis who woke up early in order to help me
with my race plan and pep talk! I thought Scott told me once that I ate hills
for breakfast and it kept me going knowing you were there cheering/tracking me!
I wish we lived closer together so we could train/hang out more often! We are
PERFECT workout partners because we can push each other in the others weak suits!
Hopefully some day (soon)!!
And thank you to my most
AMAZING husband who was out there cheering the whole time! I know how tiring
cheering can be for one of these things and appreciate all the time he helps me
out, taking care of our little girl and many other things so I can train and
race. I wouldn’t be able to do it with out him and his enormous amounts of
patience! LOVE YOU!
