RACE DAY!!!

30th May 2009

It is 4:15am and I wake up before my alarm.... I am ready for this!! I kinda beat the Distraction to his coffee duties since I was up so early :-) This mornings agenda is to drink, eat, go to bathroom and get to the race start :-) Oh yeah... and finish the race of course

While Dad, Brent, and I were walking to T1 I couldn't contain my excitement, I wanted to run. This is the biggest race that I have ever been in and I was ready. I pumped my tires, got my water and my food on my bike, and strolled down to get body marked. It was crowded and loud and I liked it. 5 years ago, I would have needed to be in a club or bar for kicks, but this is WAY BETTER THAN THAT!! I ran into a few old friends and got my picture with Mike before the start, he decided to do this race last year about the same time as me.

I think both of us were clueless on how to swim or ride a bike at the time. WAY TO GO MIKE, you had a great race!!

I was excited to see Brent and Dad when I came out of the water (5 mins faster than I had expected) and now I am off for a nice hot 56 mile fun ride ;-)
The bike for me was great, I felt good and kept telling myself to remember that this is a longer race and not push to hard in the beginning. I had to remind myself to save it for the 13 fun miles of running that was next. After the bike leg I get to T2 and the volunteers made me play Where's Waldo with my bike slot..... they had me going all over the place. I think it would have been better if they wouldn't have told me anything and let me find it on my own :-( Oh well, I am sure that someone else had a longer than 6 minute T2 (isn' t that crazy!!) I put on a bandaid, some sunscreen, and took another pee and I was gone.... all smiles coming out of T2!!

HOT HILLS LAVA HOT

These words pretty much cover the run course :-) I was in pretty good spirits the whole time, I was just so stoked to be doing this thing!! I stopped at mile 3 to get another bandaid for my hot spot on my toes and I took a little to much time enjoying the aid stations, but I had a good run. I didn't start hating myself until about mile 10 so I was happy with that.

After the race, I couldn't really enjoy myself. Something was "off" with my body! My head hurt and I just wanted to cover up my head and lay down. I didn't have the energy to do anything, but managed to force some food in my mouth. I think it took me an hour to be able to have a conversation with my Dad and Brent. Thank you both for being there for me and treating me like a superstar after the race! I really appreciate it!

So we headed back to the house after my attempt to feel normal again. I don't think that I ever really felt normal for the rest of the day. I am happy with that because it makes me feel like I gave that race everything that I had in me.

I want to say thanks to my supporters at the race.... Thank you Brent, Dad and Debra!!! It is so nice to see your faces while I am suffering with a smile!!

I also want to thank my friends (you know who you are) Who were out there racing that day.... I look up to you all for being such great athletes and friends and just great people in general. You are all what makes this sport so much more fun and I love you for that!! YOU MOTIVATE ME!!