Long Awaited Post...

Or maybe not...but to my few readers, it may be interesting. More for me though, it will be nice to go over the race in my mind now that a few days have passed. To be honest, I think the only reason I avoided a feeling of massive letdown post race was that I jumped right into school on Monday and moved officially to Boston. However, as a result of that, I haven't been able to think about the race, or my accomplishment, and that in itself is a bit of a letdown. Anyway, as I mentioned in my last post, the race went well overall and I was so proud of myself for finishing it. I wasn't sure in the immediate aftermath if I'd ever want to do another but now I know, I definitely do. In fact, I'm a bit antsy to get going and find one, but I probably need to figure out my school schedule first. But rest assured, there will be another one. Now, before I get into a report on the race, I need to say a special thank you to Scott and Rebecca DeWire for not only creating my training plan but for acting as great coaches along the way. I would not have been nearly as successful without their advice, support, and reminders that this was all supposed to be fun. You both were right, it was amazing. So here we go...

Final time: 6 hours, 14 minutes. I placed 406 overall out of over 700 athletes, and I believe 19th in my age group.
Swim: This was the leg I was least worried about right up until the morning of the race when I saw what 1.2 miles looked like stretched out. I got pretty nervous so decided to be conservative and put myself at the back of the pack, thinking that I wasn't as strong of a swimmer as I thought. This turned out to not be the best decision as almost immediately I was crawling all over people. I kept stopping to let the space open up a bit, but then I'd start swimming again and within two strokes, I'd be crawling up on people. I guess I'm stronger than I thought. I think I could easily shave some time off this event by positioning myself a bit better, and learning how to swim straighter! Practice... I got out of the water feeling a bit disoriented but fired up and in retrospect, I think I had more that I could have given to the effort. But now I know a bit more about pacing, so that's really positive.

Bike: I ran into the transition area, flopped on the carpet to have my wetsuit stripped (and pretty much giggled to whole time) and shoved a banana in my mouth. I had expected to take longer in my transition in order to get some calories in, but my shoes went on quickly and I was too pumped up to wait. And I felt great! It was such a rush when I ran my bike out of the area and heard my name announced. I booked it! A mile or so in, I remembered what the course had to offer and decided just to try to settle in and see what happened. At the base of the first real climb (and the worst one on the course), a woman was there dressed in a devil costume, blaring music from her van. I couldn't help but relax and smile. Again, the reminder that this was for fun. I dropped my gears down and began the climb, and to my surprise, passed every single person in front of me on the hill. I heard so much complaining, and people lamenting their lack of training and I was suddenly grateful for my hill training (despite my endless complaining along the way). That trend continued where I pretty much dominated on hills, but then on straightaways I would get passed again. So something to work on, keeping that pace going beyond the hill.
The bike was a two 28 mile loop course, and after an uneventful, wonderful feeling first lap, I cruised back by the race start and was again given such a boost by seeing my family and friends there cheering me on. The second lap felt much faster, although I believe it wasn't, and I met up with a woman who I had evidently passed on the swim (she was two heats ahead of me) and we proceeded to push each other--I'd pass her on hills, she's pass my on the straightaways, but for over 20 miles, we were in each other's sights. She was fantastic, really helped me to dig deep. Whoever she is, thank you!

Run: Again, my plan had been to take my time in transition, stretch, get some calories in me, and get on my merry way. Once again though, the adrenaline took over and I just wanted to keep going. I can't even describe how great it felt to know that I was 2/3 of the way through and I'd completed a 1.2 mile swim and 56 mile bike ride. I was so proud at that point and really felt strong. And then I started to run... I had expected the usual disembodied feel to my legs, and was fully prepared for the first few miles to be awkward and uncomfortable before settling into my pace, but I hadn't noticed during my ride that it had climbed to over 90 degrees outside. The run course had very little shade to speak of and even with water and sponge stations every mile or so, I was still hurting. Ordinarily, heat doesn't bother me too much, but two days before the race it had been in the 50's and raining. I had no acclimation time and even though I was hydrated, I just couldn't make myself keep going. I had moments on the run when I thought I couldn't finish, but I finally reasoned with myself that even if I walked the whole course, I was strong enough to finish. I have to say that my only disappointment with Sunday is that I couldn't run the whole course. I don't believe that this particular race really tested my abilities and I got a bit frustrated that I just couldn't keep my feet moving. But the weather was out of my control, and when I saw a woman get taken away in an ambulance for a heat related illness, I realized that my health was more important, and finishing the race on a stretcher was not what I had in mind. I have to give a special shout out to the race organizers (as well as the people who lived along the course) for having enough water (for drinking and dousing) to go around. I'm sure the weather caught everyone off guard and the 2007 Chicago Marathon kept playing in my mind in which all kinds of runners had heat related problems due to a lack of water. I've never run so wet, and my feet definitely blistered, but I wouldn't have been able to get through the course otherwise. So while I'd gone in expected to run at my slowest 9 minute miles, but more like 8:30, I ended up at a 10:15 pace (I guess that's what happens when you walk all the hills!), but I wasn't alone in that. Everyone who finished around me ran similar paces, and it wasn't until you got into the top 100 places that most people were putting out stronger performances. So I wasn't alone in my misery. I actually started talking to a guy at the end of my first lap (of 2) who was finishing up. We got chatting and really kept each other going (he'd give me shit when I stopped and vice versa). It was his first half iron as well and I hope he finished strong.

Well, that's probably more of an update than most people bargained for. I won't be offended if you don't read it all the way through, I just needed to relive at least one more time. I'm still in awe of the accomplishment and am looking forward to really seeing what I'm capable of at this distance. My friend Anna asked me what was harder, this or a marathon. It's a tough one. This one didn't leave me feeling as physically wiped, and I really haven't been sore at all. The half also keeps you from getting bored because of the variety, but I'd say overall, this race caused me to dig deeper than ever before, and really made me feel like a fantastic all around athlete.

Thanks to all of you for your support!!