Its Done!!!!

My trainer told me to not do anything the day before the race and I thought I could handle that, but with two kids and a list of things that had to be done before the race I didn't really have much time to rest. The resort was huge and my legs were tired. I could only hope for the best.

The morning of the race I woke up about 4:00 and got all my stuff together and had a light breakfast. I took a long time in the shower trying to picture the swim and couldn't really get past the start. I finally just headed out to check-in.

I rode the bike to the transition area to setup. I was very nervous that I would forget something. I went through the list of what I would needed for each event several times. I felt a little inadequate because some people had big backpacks of stuff. I stayed simple.

After setting up my transition I got my number, #389 stamped on my arms, my age marked on my calf (that doesn't seem cool, but it made people watching interesting to see who looked their age and who didn't) and I headed to the beach to watch them setup the course. Cindy came down to watch the start of the race. She got the before pictures.

The water was completely calm. There was almost no wind. I was happy. The starts were staggered. There were 3 waves before mine. Each wave had a different colored cap. My group was bright pink. We were following the yellow caps and were followed by the orange/red caps.

I stayed in the back to avoid getting run over since I knew I would be slow (I'd only swam a mile once before). The water was 73 degrees and it felt pretty cold. The horn blew and we all went out. I remembered my goggles today. I felt good and the cold quickly went away. I just talked to myself the whole way reminding myself to keep the buoys on the left and to pace myself since I had two events to go. My goal was not to stop.

The first turn looked really far away and it felt like it took forever. Right before I got there I passed a few swimmers. One girl was doing the back stroke and then I passed a yellow cap. I felt good that I hadn't stopped but I was worried about reaching that point before the end. As soon as I thought that, I saw a sea turtle. "Hello Mister Turtle!" It somehow made me feel recharged.

I made the turn and kept going. All I was thinking about was "be consistent, don't push too hard, you still have to bike." I made it through the next two turns and was now headed to the end. The next group caught up with us and they were super aggressive. I saw a swimmer literally run over a girl next to me. At the end of the course everyone clumped together. The reef caused us to funnel in together and I got kicked in the face. I held back a little but did not stop swimming. I was happy to reach the shore. Most swimmers took off running but I just walked to the transition area. I had to save my energy (or so I thought). My swim was about 48 minutes.

I got my bike gear on, took a quick potty break, and swallowed some energy gel. The announcers stated the leaders were about 15 minutes out. I definitely wanted to be on the highway before the leaders came in. The wind was only slightly blowing now, still calm so it was an easy ride to the highway. The leaders passed me about 4 miles out. I watched to see how the wind was headed back and it didn't look like it was much of an issue.

About 10 miles out, the wind started to pick up. It wasn't as bad as the past few days but I was concerned about what it would be when I turned around. The turnaround through the tunnel was pretty easy. We had been warned that the downhill was steep and the uphill was tough, but I didn't really feel that way. I got a new bottle of water and got sprayed by the volunteers. The thermometer on the bike said it was about 84 degrees so the little shower felt good.

After about 5 miles the wind really kicked up. I was still able to go about 15 mph but it was slower than I wanted. Then the wind started to gust. For awhile it kicked me back to 8mph, I tried shifting which helped my legs but not my speed. The last 5 miles were impossible. I was almost blown into the traffic lane and the odometer read 5mph. At one point I felt like I was going to get push backwards.

I was starting to feel very sad. It took forever to do those last 5 miles. I expected the bike to be the easiest part of the race but I was really behind. At the transition I saw one of the captains on the phone discussing his race, he told me I would love the run, the wind really helped with the heat. I was no fan of the wind at this point. It was already 10:30. I did a much quicker transition and headed out on the run. My legs felt like jelly but not as bad as I had imagined.

I started the run on the lava field but nearly twisted my ankle. I decided I would walk through the rocks. Once on the street I started to run. I expected the first 3 miles to be the worst but it wasn't so bad. I tried to pace myself because I didn't want to burn out before the end.

At 4.5 miles we hit the single track on the hotel shoreline. It was very rocky so I had to walk again. The trail at the end of the resort was a little flatter and I was able to run and then we hit the sand for the last mile. I think its kinda mean to make the last mile on sand. Everyone said to run near the water, but the course didn't really allow for that.

I had to walk part of the time on the sand, but then I saw the finish line. I ran in and spotted Jeff and Riley at the chute. I sprinted to the finish line. My finish time was 4hr and 20 minutes. I was happy that I finished but sad that I didn't finish in less than 4 hours.

I was #776 out of 900+. I really just wanted to finish but I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. I thought I would feel estatic but I couldn't shake the disappointment. I had to think back to when this all started....

I had only been back to work after a 5 month leave for a month. I had not worked out since I found out I was pregnant more than a year ago. I returned to work in a new position with lots of new challenges. I had a 6 month old and a 2.5 year old both transitioning to a new school. I had never swam a mile nor owned a road bike. I hated to run and couldn't really run a mile without stopping. I had to appreciate that I'd come a long way.

BUT..... I'll have to do better next time ;-)