Learning Experiences  😉

I was really excited to come back to Cabo and repeat (more or less) a course I had done before. I just wanted the chance to compare myself to myself and see how much faster I had gotten.

This fall and Winter I felt like my biking was really on track and I was getting a lot faster (I wasn’t) and I still felt like I was running really well. Interestingly, the only discipline that I had been feeling a little “eh” about in training was my swim, which turned out to be awesome!

I should preface this race report by saying that I was disappointed in my race, but I still had a really good time and I’m totally ready to do another one. I was proud of how I handled some things on the course, but I don’t think I left everything out there  and that’s frustrating in a race you train 6mo (or more) for. But, I do think I learned some things and I continued to figure out some problems (I haven’t really solved them yet, but at least I know they are there). I’m also happy that I had a learning experience race and still PRed. I think that is a testament to getting faster and I just have to execute better next time.

Also- I have to quickly say thanks to Matt (seriously- go to Mile High Multisport and get a coach. Amazingness!) And Tribella and Denver Fit Loft- even looking at the pics I’m like, “Wow- my bike fits so well and looks so fast!” Plus- no chafing. None! Yay kit! And my mom and Iron Uncle Bob were in full wonderful force out on the course (other athletes even told me: “Your mom is the best cheerer ever- she kept me going throughout the course!” (We’re going to work on not cheering for other people so that I can beat them 😉 )).  (Wow- that was a lot of parenthesis to close after a smiley face).

So- lead up to the race was fine. This school year has been exhausting to say the least and when I got to Cabo I think I slept 13 hours a day Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It was amazing! Coming back to the same race was wonderful because I knew what was going on. Cabo is a little scattered- check in, swim, banquet, T1,T2, and finish are all in different places, so it can be a little confusing. This year it felt easy.

For some reason I was really nervous. All weekend my mom was like, “Whoa. You are really nervous.” I think it was because I really thought I could do well. This was my 5^th Ironman (yikes! They add up quickly) and the personal stakes get higher each time. I did realize, though, that most of the people I was racing had done so many more than that. It really can be a numbers game (you obviously get better at things you practice) and since I’m not Rinny or Chrissie, I think I will get better with more race experience.

I got to see Shelley, Beth and Cory at the practice swim and that made me happy and comfortable; familiar faces are always nice. Then I met a few people with whom I have mutual friends at the athlete informational meeting. It was mostly the QT2 team and they were all really nice (and had an epic adventure in their week before the race in Cabo including a variety of flat tires and a trip to the local hospital after one of them fell in a hole and punctured a huge hole in his leg. It was disgusting but awesome and he still raced- I’m not joking when I say you could see his bone in the picture of the cut. And then he did an Ironman. What?!). I also met Dominico Passuello, who ended up getting 3^rd in the men’s race. He was swimming next to me in the practice swim (which was CRAZY CHOPPY) and I said, “Good conditions for swimmers!” (Because since the swim is by far my best part and he was right next to me, I figured he was a swimmer). He said, “So sad for me. It’s my worst.” I thought, “oh- shut up!” Anyway- he was very nice and used to be a professional cyclist, so I was okay that he was better at biking and still as fast of a swimmer as I.

At the meeting I sat with Haley Chura, which was fantastic! Haley and I swam and ran against each other a very long time ago when we were in high school. She went on to swim at Georgia and was a kick butt 400 IMer and 200 backstroker. She is currently the fastest swimmer in women’s Ironman. (That is not an exaggeration- she’s never been beat and led the women out of the water in Kona- a “pretty bad swim” for her this year). She also led the amateurs out of the water the 4 years prior to that.  Best of all?? She’s SO FUN!! Just really happy and loves to train and race and is kind to everyone and chatty and happy. So- we had a great time in the meeting not paying attention at all. Then the announcer would say something like, “Don’t worry about this stuff unless you are planning to lead the men or the women out of the water,” and Haley and I would look at each other and think “Oh shit! That’s what we’re planning to do! Where do we go?!”

A couple funny stories from the meeting:

They had combined the pros and the amateurs because they were running behind. So they mentioned that between 4:30 and 5:30 there would be a podium presentation for the top 3 finishers. The guy behind me said, “Hmm- 4:30. Perfect! I can watch while I’m in T2!” Hehe.

They mentioned that both parts of the course were 3 loops about 9 times. They guy said, “I know we’ve already mentioned it, but unless your name is TJ (Tollakson) you probably aren’t going to ride 4:30. So, if you get to transition in 4:30, you might need to do another loop. I know it sounds stupid, folks, but we get people at these races who are really fired up that they ran 2:20 marathons. It’s only 3- please count!” Hahaha! What’s ridiculous is that we were also tracking Ellen Hart in her (successful!!) quest for a Kona slot, and there was a woman WAY in front of her who had bike 5:19. I was like “Whoa! She’s 57 and she biked 5:19??” Nope. 2 loops. Count!

Okay- I promised myself I would not make this quite so long and I haven’t even started the race. Sorry.

So- jumping forward to race day.

Got out there pretty easily and got my stuff set up and then just sat against a fence for a while. I saw Ellen again and we chatted for a while and tried to remain calm. I was nervous and not that chatty. I had time to get a little warm up swim in and then we were corralled up with the pros. Then a girl mentioned that the buoys were weird and she couldn’t figure out where to come in. And everyone started going crazy and trying to ask the race director where the buoys were and which side you were supposed to be on and all this stuff. (I will admit, it seemed like some of the intermediate buoys were a little out of the way). Anyway, I was a little nervous about that because I honestly thought Haley would drop me and then I would have to lead the whole pack to the beach and I didn’t want us all to get DQed. I also didn’t want to go way out of my way if I didn’t have to. Anyway, usually once we are that close to the start I get calm and sort of like, “eh- it will work out. Nothing I can do about it now.” So it was okay.

(Meanwhile, there is a band of like 20 drummers playing the Mexican National Anthem and we are pushing the start time back).

(They had specific boats set up for the spectators of each individual athlete. No- just kidding. My mom found a KATY boat!!)

Finally they take the men in to start. They are supposed to start 3 minutes before us. They go off and they immediately line us up. I usually start my watch with the men so that I don’t have to push the button. I still get my splits and if I want to, I can subtract 3 minutes to know where I am overall. So I look down and we are at 1:05, and I hear the announcer say, “Atletas. ATENTAS,” which basically means “Ladies, on your marks.” I was thinking, “That’s a little early, but I think we’re starting,” so I got set and sure enough- air horn. It was awesome! I got a step on a bunch of people, so this time when I straight up face planted into the water (I don’t know how to do beach starts yet), it didn’t matter because I was in front of everyone. I took off swimming hard and could see Haley to my right. We were V-ing away from each other, but we were sort of going into the sun and I figured we’d bump back into each other at the first buoy. We did.

We also caught the first boys. Poor men- they didn’t know we’d gone off early, so they must have been really frustrated that we made up 3 minutes in 400 yds.

I tried to get on Haley’s feet, but I’m really bad at drafting. (She even said that. After the race I said, “Thanks for pulling me through the swim!” She said, “Pulling you?? You were either 5 yards to the side of me or 10 yds back!” Yep- I tried to stay draft legal on the swim. Oops). No matter if I was actually drafting or not, it helped to be able to see her and just pace off her. And I felt good. In the middle we got mixed in with 2 big groups of boys and I lost Haley for a bit and thought, “okay- swim doesn’t matter- you can make up the time later,” but as soon as I got out of the cluster of men (really- a total cluster- yuck), I saw her and just sort of swam up to her. I think she might have been trying to figure out where we were going (there was a large gap right then in buoys for some reason).  So I weirdly caught up. I felt so smooth and strong and easy, it was awesome. As soon as Haley saw me next to her, she sped up again, so I followed her into the beach. Then we both tripped our way up to transition (seriously- the sand was deep and I have pictures of both of us falling in the sand).

(Model sand running)

She was too focused on not tripping, so left her wetsuit up, which means I passed her in transition and got onto my bike first- fun! I was leading an Ironman race! (My secret plan, unfortunately, was to be behind her getting on the bike and then just sprint for 1 mile to pass her and successfully pass someone on the bike for the first time ever. No luck. Hehe).

Swim Time; 47.59 (I think it was a little short, but who cares! PR!)

Bike:

I got to hold the lead for about 16 miles (mostly because Haley dropped her chain, but whatever). During this time the cameraman followed me a lot and filmed my ankles with his weird little extenda-camera. I’m never really sure what to do with those guys- I kept looking over to smile and wave. Fuck, Blakemore, get your head in the game. (Great song, by the way- HSM!)

(This is the camera guy filming me- cool!).

I felt good on the bike, but not great. Just sort of pedaling. First loop was uneventful and I was happy to stay in the lead to the turn around. But at the turn around I quickly realized I was about to be caught. Carrie Lester caught me first and I was disappointed because, despite all the improvements and work on the bike, she passed me at exactly the same spot she had passed me in Lake Placid. Blah.

My mom and my uncle would drive around on the course and stop every 10 miles or so. (I honestly have no idea- I am a terrible judge of time and distance in these things and they didn’t have mile markers).  My mom had an awesome sign that said “When I PR, I’m going to DISNEYLAND!” on one side and “Katy- No seas una weanie” (“Katy- don’t be a weanie” in Spanglish). They both made me smile and try harder.

The bike course this year was “easier” than last year. I actually had been a little nervous that it would be faster, but harder. I know that seems silly, but it’s totally true. The best comparison I can give is that riding in Sedalia is much faster than riding up to Peak to Peak, but it’s not necessarily easier. When you ride to Peak to Peak, you get to coast for ½ of the ride. Last year there were some reasonably large hills, but you also got to come down them. This year, there was 1 place where I forced myself to coast so I could pee. (Yep- I peed on the bike again. Real Ironman status!)

Anyway, the support out there was actually awesome and I loved the Spanish cheering. “Animo Animo!” (Like- “energy!” or “spirit”) and “Vamos. Duro!” (Let’s go! Harder!”) Plus, when I would see a Mexican flag on someone’s bib, I would say something quick in Spanish like “let’s go” and they would all say back, “Yes! Well done m’ija” or “let’s go hermanita” because in Spanish they always use little terms of endearment even with people they don’t know.

My mom also met up with someone who was cheering for a Matt (I think maybe Matt Russell (who interestingly enough also got 6^th)), and so my mom made him hold her sign while she took pictures and cheered. Thanks random guy who is friends with another random guy named Matt! You looked fit and awesome with a Disneyland sign!

I also had the joy of having Beth and Cory here again. Seriously- I’m tempted to only do Ironmans that they are at. Cory ran along side me taking pictures and when I said, “Hi! Thank you!” He said, “DON’T TALK TO ME! JUST RIDE YOUR BIKE!!!” Haha. Sorry Cory.

Also at the turn around was some random girl who said- “Oh! You’re the Colorado girl! I know people from Colorado who say hi!” She never told me who they were, but hello back to those people.

I basically tried to drink as much as possible and eat my normal planned food. Last year I felt like I executed this race really well and I think that’s because I played the nutrition game really well. I think this year, I just didn’t plan for going faster and therefore eating less. I also think I drank more Gatorade than last year. Plus, last year at mile 100 or so, I vomited a lot, so I think I forgot how much more nutrition I probably took in this year. Still, I wanted to err on that side of things. It’s much better to have a full tummy and some port o potty trips than be dehydrated and have no nutrition and have to DNF. And that happened to a lot of people- it was very hot and pretty still.

Anyway- I drank A LOT! They said the aid stations were every 10k, so there were 6 on each loop. I definitely drank a full bottle between each station and sometimes more than 1. That’s 18 full bottles of liquid. Whoa. I did have to pee, which was good. I also kept taking in salt.

For the first 80 miles my right inner thigh and my left butt were really tight and sore and I have no idea why. My left butt gets sore biking sometimes, but it really used to happen a lot in about 2012 and it hasn’t happened very often since. (I probably put my bike back together wrong. Oh! I put my bike together!! I should have celebrated that earlier in the post- good job me! All the pieces were on it! (I think they were all in the right place and the right direction except maybe one that I wasn’t sure which way it was supposed to face). Anyway, I would sometimes try to scoot forward and jam my seat into my glute to massage it, but I also didn’t feel like I was losing any power- just was sort of tight, so whatever.

Then it just went away. I was really happy until maybe mile 45. Around 40 Linsay Corbin and Karen Thibodeau passed me going very quickly. Thibodeau went by first and then Corbin passed her right after and then I think Corbin was pretty sure that Thibodeau was trying to draft because she kept swerving sideways and looking back. Who knows, though- they got so far in front of me so quickly, she may have just been avoiding glass on the road or something.

Then I had a little down moment from 45-55 or so, but got back out of it. I never really felt like I totally got engaged in the bike, though. I was pedaling hard and I was tired, but it was never just the pound it out tunnel vision that I think you need to ride 5:10 or 5:15 like all the people passing me were doing. I think that was just poor mental racing. Well, not poor. I definitely race better when I’m happy and I stayed very positive. It was just mediocre mental racing (or even good) but not great. It was interesting because obviously drafting is something people whine about and worry about all the time and I was just thinking, “When do people even draft?” I honestly was by myself for almost the whole bike. Even on the last lap when we were lapping a lot of people (we had a head start, so it wasn’t really fair), I still felt like I was kind of all by myself. That’s actually usually good for me- I like to train and run and ride by myself (not all the time, but a lot) and just sort of get in the mode, but as I said, it wasn’t that fantastic of a mental race.

Anyway, the bike was 3 loops and the first loops the first couple hills were sort of big and I shifted and even got out of the saddle maybe 2 times, but rolled most of them. By the third loop- ha! I was in the little ring the whole time. The wind picked up just a little bit- not enough to make a difference except when combined with me being tired, but mostly I think the problem was that the hills grew. 😉

Honestly, the last trip back I was getting very happy to get off my bike. My butt had stopped bugging me and I felt tired of biking, but still pretty with it and was definitely well hydrated which was awesome.

Around mile 100 (??- no mile markers) Beth Shutt and Lisa Roberts came by me. I had seen them both at the final turn around and I wanted to stay in front al the way back, but no luck. Luckily, they did not get too far in front and I saw them in the transition tent when I got to T2.

As I was turning into T2, I started taking my shoes off and remembered that last year I had taken them off way too early. Same mistake twice. Luckily it’s this big downhill into T2, so it was fine to coast with my bare feet on top of my pedals, but I still felt a little dumb that I probably did a full mile without shoes :-/ Totally professional.

Bike Time: 5:25. PR, but about 10 minutes slower than I wanted and at least 5 minutes slower than I think I could have reasonably done on Sunday.

Run. (Disclaimer or warning or whatever- I spend some necessary time at a couple pit stops, so if you don’t want to read about that, you can stop and jus skip to the bottom).

I crushed my transition again (seriously good day for swim, T1 and T2) and got out on the run right behind Beth Shutt and Lisa Roberts. Lisa had run from 9^th to 3^rd last year and ended up running 3:02, so she was way off in the distance only about 1 mile in.

(We all got a little rosy on the run)

Beth (whom I had met a few days before, but have heard of for years and she is just as wonderfully nice as everyone told me!!)  was running about my speed, so I just kept the distance. She dropped a little salt stick container which I picked up and said, “Do you need your salt?” I figured it would be motivation to catch her and hand it back, but she said no, so I got to stay behind 😉  I tossed it to this guy on the side of the road and said, “I’m going to leave this with you.” I have no idea why I remember saying that, but I remember thinking that it would really suck if I got a littering penalty for picking up her stuff and then dropping it again. I think by giving it to the guy it felt like I wasn’t really littering.  The first 2 miles felt a little rough, but I was okay with that. We were running fast and I figured my legs would get under me. They did! I came by our condo and soooooo many people from the condo complex were out cheering. It was really sweet J They made me happy. Around 2.5 miles my legs started feeling great. I took a quick pee break (and peed a lot- maybe not enough salt?? But still very happy to be peeing- did not want to be dehydrated). And got back on the course and felt amazing. I was clicking off 7s or 7:10s consistently while at the same time really holding myself back. I felt like I could reasonably run 3:10 without a big problem if I paced myself well, so I tried not to pay attention to what everyone else was doing and just run. I figured Lisa was probably gone and Beth would either fade a little (she did a little tiny bit, but not much (and not nearly as much as I did)) and I could catch her, or she would be much faster than me, too. In the first 10k of an ironman run, there is no reason to chase people down. (Unfortunately, had I kept my self together, I might have chased some people down in the third lap, but alas.  Also- this isn’t really fair to those competitors- they were running hard and much faster than I was and probably would have raced me had I been near to them- I don’t mean it as though I could have crushed them or something; I just mean that for race strategy I didn’t need to try to pass them at mile 4).

(The only run pic where I look like I’m actually running).

I’m taking ice at all the aid stations and sticking it down my pants and in my bra. Oh! At the first aid station, I asked for ice in Spanish and they brought it out and Beth grabbed it and I yelled (in Spanish) “I’M THE ONE WHO ASKED!!!” So they brought me some more. I apologized. Poor volunteers work harder than the athletes and we get really type A on them.

At a later aid station that I think was sponsored by the local high school, I dumped ice in my pants in front of them and I guess no one had done that yet because they were floored! Every time I came by (on both sides of the road) they would say, “She’s the one for ice- give her ice!!!” And then they would cheer when I put it down my pants. Hahaha! It made me smile.

(Yep- that’s my knees bumping into each other)

So- I’m feeling fantastic until about mile 8 or 9 when my stomach starts to hurt. It’s not a big deal- my stomach hurts a little during all my ironman races. I sort of started holding some ice on my stomach for little periods of time, but I’m also just feeling like maybe I’m gassy.  My mom had been talking to Matt, my coach, who was saying things like, “GO CATCH PEOPLE!!” I said (insert sad voice), “Call Matt back and tell him I’m not catching anyone. I’m tired. I’m fine, but I’m tired. How soon can I start drinking coke??” I was having a little bit of a pity party. :-/ Those happen sometimes in Ironman.

So- gassy. Wrong guess. Just before mile 11 I pooped a little in my pants. I was literally 5 yards from a port o potty, so it didn’t matter and I was in and out and clean pretty quickly. I dumped some extra water down my pants and kept running. (Does it make me a real ironman if I poop?)

It was clearly a hot day out there and people were tipping over (the one girl I “passed” on the run had actually just dropped out- she was on the side of the road stumbling around (luckily with a course marshall next to her) around mile 6. Lots of people on the side of the road vomiting. It reminded me a lot of my first Ironman in Louisville where I got really scared because all these people who have bodies exactly like Craig Alexander are literally tipping over. Doesn’t really make you want to push it. Luckily in this race I’ve had more experience and I knew I was really well hydrated, so I wasn’t worried about passing out. (Sure enough- not the problem on the day for me).

Anyway, post poo- I felt much better and didn’t need to take coke until my normal time between mile 16 and 18. I ran a little slower trying to stay controlled and not repeat the errors of mile 11, but I also was trying to figure out nutrition at this point. I didn’t think I could go calorie-free for 16 miles (I probably could have), but they also had switched the gels from gu to these awful powerbar fuel to go or something like that. Ugh. I think I got grape the first one I took and it was terrible. But- again- you learn from the things you do and last year I really nailed nutrition and I had taken a gel every 30 minutes on the run, so I wanted to keep that up. But I also really did not want to. I did end up taking one more and I don’t know if that was the offending issue, but something came back to haunt me again at mile 19 or 20. I was sort of spitting up acidic Gatorade at this point, but my legs were not burning at all, so I wasn’t really sure why I was lactic acidy. Every day I have a new theory- I wasn’t very swollen after the race, so I might not have had enough salt. Who knows.

So- I should say that one of my favorite things about Ironman is that I’m always going to have a break after the race. And so anything that comes up, I can tell myself “I’ll deal with that tomorrow.” For example- I had a big blister pop in Lake Placid, but I just didn’t care- tomorrow I could put stuff on the blisters or wear sandals or whatever. Same with last year (and this year) getting sunburned in Cabo- it was hot, but it was just not an immediate problem and tomorrow (the day after the race), I just wouldn’t have anything else to deal with so I could solve those problems. In the immediate moment I’ll I had to do was run.

Well, I learned that there are things you cannot deal with “tomorrow.” They need to be dealt with right now.

So- dealing with those things around mile 19 or 20:

This time it was not preceded by a tummy ache. I suddenly had to go to the bathroom. I was about 10 yds past an aid station and was too competitive to go back, so I kept going. It was only about 500meters to the turn around and then I would be back. But then I pooped again. (Sorry- this is so gross to write about- please stop reading if you are grossed out).

This time I pooped a little more and was not that close to a port o potty and was pretty embarrassed, but I didn’t really know what else to do about it. I wasn’t about to stop running. So I just kept going and then jetted across the street to the one I should have stopped at 4 minutes earlier. I took a nice little break in there and used up all the TP and so sorry for the next person, but what are you going to do? I came out and took as much water as I could grab (no bags this year- come on!) and dumped it down my pants. Front and back and just tried to get clean. Then I tried to spin my head around a few times and stick out my butt and see if you could tell that I’d had a little mishap, but I couldn’t tell. I had just over a 10k left at this point and was like “well- we’ll deal with it at the finish line.” (yay- back to my strategy!). Modesty has never been my strong suit and how many of these people are you really going to see again?

Later my mom said, “How is your tummy feeling?” I yelled back, “I pooped my pants twice, but I’m feeling great now! Can you tell?!” She told me you couldn’t tell at all, so that was nice. Plus, I did feel great! Sure enough- I was fixed and read to rock. Unfortunately by this time I was about 5 minutes behind the nearest person in front of me and about 5 minutes in front of the nearest person behind me (which isn’t a lot in an Ironman, but is a lot in the last 6 miles of an Ironman). I cheered for Beth at the last turn around and after the race she said “How do you have energy to say that stuff with 3 miles left?” And I was thinking, “Well, I just took a 5 minute rest, so now I have lots of energy.” (it wasn’t actually 5 minutes, I don’t think. Or I hope anyway!)
I feel proud that I stayed strong those last miles and tried to really push it in. I (obviously) decided I did not need to eat any more, though I did enjoy coke at all of the aid stations and kept taking salt and Gatorade.  I also kept dumping water in my pants just in case.

I counted my steps for the last 4 miles, which was wonderful and is far and away my favorite strategy to get through miles. But, as with the bike, I was just never quite in the zone of “holy shit- this is the worst thing ever, but I can do it.” That’s probably because I put some rest stops in, but it’s still disappointing. I’m learning to mentally balance the fact that I definitely feed off other people and cheerers and I genuinely am happy while I race (like really happy!) and the fact that sometimes I need to just put my head down and ride or run and sort of have tunnel vision.

I feel like I had 12 minutes left on that Ironman course. (That’s why you keep doing them!).

So- while I wasn’t super pleased at this point with the race, I still was ELATED to come into that finish line. I mean, really, it just does not get old. That is the greatest feeling in the world. Wow! I high fived a lot of people and went up over this weird ramp like a bicycle jump that they had build at the finish line and then tried not to fall down the other side.

(This is actually after I threw my arms in the air, and I think I’m just dropping them down, but I like how this picture captures the relief and joy of finishing an ironman).

I thanked everyone in Spanish and one guy congratulated me for remembering my Spanish even after the long race.

(This is how I feel about Ironman!!!!)

Haley Chura and Doug Maclean were both at the finish line (as was a guy convulsing on the ground- scary! Doug said it was from taking too many caffeine pills. Whoa). Doug and I had met on the course last year when he passed me and so we celebrated our 1 year “anniversary.” (Actually when he passed me this year on the course he said, “Wow- I’m passing you so much earlier than last year.” Thanks Doug. I had a good swim and I think was still leading at that point, so it didn’t really hurt my ego, but I did make fun of him for it after).

Haley and I chatted for a long time and chatted with families (because I’d met her family when we were 15 or something- crazy!) and then I went to clean up a little more. Like really do a great job cleaning up. Yay. Good grief.

So if you read any race report about this race, you will see that everyone says, “Best massage ever!” It was true last year and it was true this year- the massages are sooooo amazing at Ironman Los Cabos! I had 2 people working on me plus a lady that came over and rubbed peppermint on my neck and under my nose. Oh my goodness amazing. I kept telling them how in love with them I was.

When I turned over onto my stomach, the masseuses said, “Can you take off your top so we can do your back?” I said sure and took off my kit and then she said “Sports’ bra?” I basically figured my modesty was down the tubes at this point, so I just stripped (I was on my stomach, so it wasn’t a big show or anything (I feel the need to make some joke about the fact that it wasn’t that “big” of a show anyway because I train 20 hours a week and your boobs get small when you do that)). Anyway, showing a few people your boobs is just not a big deal after you poo your pants.

(Meanwhile, by the way, Ashley was on the table next to me and didn’t even want to take off her shoes, so that was an interesting contrast).

I then went back to try and get some food but was already outside of the gates. I think it happened to me last year and it’s hard to explain how stupidly sad this makes you. I didn’t actually cry, but only because I was using all my power to keep my tears in. My mom was like, “We can buy food. There is other food around here. It’s okay.”

I stayed awake and went to dinner (best burger ever!) and then went to last finisher (which is a much smaller event than the races in the states), but Beth and Cory were there and were cheering for some of their friends and house mates, so that was exciting. I cried. Of course. We also walked down a little ways and a guy came and was sort of just barely making it on time and so Cory ran off with him and pushed him all the way in. Did I mention that Beth and Cory are the best people in the world?

Days after the race were amazing! I’ve never stayed past Monday morning after an Ironman and I got to stay until Thursday!!  Shelley, Beth and Cory all let me crash their party at the beach on Tuesday and we went SUPing and “surfing” and stuff like that. I was really good and swimming the boards out past the waves. I was not good at any of the other stuff. It was great recovery, though, playing in the ocean- you moved a lot, but didn’t actually have to hold your body up.  So my body feels pretty good. (Apparently didn’t go hard enough).

Overall I feel really proud of how I handled some things in the race and I feel really good about my training because I PRed on a day that wasn’t, as Matt said, “coming up all roses.” However, I do believe there aren’t good days and bad days; there are just days you execute well and days you don’t. I like the idea of being in control of the outcome of my race. Still- if I am going to have a “learning experience” race, this wasn’t too bad J And it definitely got me fired up for my next one!! Yes!! I think a little laziness first, though.

Wow! Did you make it this far. Well done, reader 😉