Hypothermic Half Marathon

At family prayer the night before, Riley asked Heavenly Father to "bless mom that she'll be as close to the front of the race as possible."  Driving over to the race Saturday morning I was telling my kids that it was good I was wearing my bright pink coat because it would be easy for them to see me.  Kyla said, "mom, make sure you smile the whole time too cause then we'll look for the woman with a bright pink coat and a big smile."

It was a race that I won't forget.  Mostly because of the weather but also because of Amanda.

As most of you know, I didn't specifically train for this race.  I only ran it because a friend of mine at the gym offered me her registration because she had hurt her back.  I hadn't done a run over an hour since before Christmas and this race reminded me how much training makes a difference.  It's easy for me and for others to forget that sometimes.  I think sometimes we think that some people are just born to run or that running just comes so easily for them.  I don't think that's true.  It is true that some people have body types that suit running a little more but that's certainly not the most important factor, as I have seen some solid, stocky first place finishers.  The most important factor to running success is time and training.  That's it.  That's the only reason I have become an endurance athlete.  I've put in the time and the training. 

My muscles and joints were quite painful this race, due to a lack of training.

(With my kids at the starting line)



The first half up to the turnaround point, I kept reminding myself to 'relax into it' and save myself for the second half.  I felt good the first 5 km but then some mild suffering set in.  There was this chick in orange lululemon spandex tagged in my mind as a target.  I do this every race; choose people that I want to make sure I beat.  It makes racing more of a game and keeps me motivated and determined. 

At the turnaround point my orange spandex friend had stopped for a port o potty break so I made my pass.  Then the sun started really breaking through the clouds so I gave Adam my mitts.  I started taking off my coat, moving my race bib to be underneath my coat, so that the next time I saw Adam I could give him my coat as well.  That was a highlight of the race, those 5 minutes of sun and feeling so refreshed and strong.  My pace was picking up a bit and it felt good to be on the second half.

Then I looked up and some ominous, dark clouds started rolling in.  I hoped I would bypass them.  Within a couple minutes I felt like I was in the eye of the storm.  The wind and snow were insane.  I couldn't believe it.  My cute little family was right in the middle of it, cheering me on again.  I asked Adam for mitts because my hands were so frozen.  Funny thing is, my lips were so frozen too.  Adam ran back to the truck and found me a couple kms ahead to give me mitts.

That's also when I met Amanda.  She was my next passing target but when I went to pass she asked if she could run with me, or rather told me she wanted to run with me.  I was ok with that, I just had to change my perception of her from target to buddy.  The last 6 kms of the race she chatted a lot and told me how she had a collapsed bladder from childbirth a few years ago and that this was her first race since then.  She was told she'd need surgery but decided she was going to work hard with physio to get better.  This race was a big deal to her, for those reasons.  She explained that at 15km she was starting to get really discouraged and was going to call her brother who lived nearby to pick her up.  Then I came along and in her words, "my feelings of isolation disappeared because of you."  Amanda is a high school teacher and has been teaching her class this week about the importance of connections with others.  I felt that the blessing of helping Amanda was God's plan for me in this race.  I would have never suspected that outcome.

Amanda and I suffered through that storm together and it was so insane.  We couldn't see the markings on the sidewalk for the course anymore and since we were following the guy with the blue shirt in front of us, we ended up crossing down the wrong bridge until we realized we were off course.  We found our way with Adam's help.  Honestly Adam was such a big help that race.  He went and bought me some gatorade when I realized they were only offering water on course.  Him and the kids found spots to cheer me on all along the course.  Adam said the kids got so into it, high fiving all the runners.  Amanda commented on how cool it was that they were there and that I was such a great example to my kids of being healthy and doing hard things.

My left knee started throbbing beyond my ability to run with only 1 km left.  I told Amanda I needed to stretch and she said, "that's great, I'll stop and have a drink."  Wow, were my quads and hamstrings ever tight.  I was able to run again after a quick stretch though.  As we neared the finish line my kids ran up to me and Riley said, "I want to run to the finish line with you,"  Of course Kyla said, "me too."  And Adam joined in too.  That was special.  I've never run through the finish line with my kids and husband before.  The time clock said 2 hours 12 seconds.  I gave Amanda a big hug and told her how proud I was of her.

(Right before the finish line.  Amanda ran ahead so I could stop and run through the finish line with my family)

I ran a marathon.

Yesterday I ran a marathon...on a treadmill.
I'm a little timid to broadcast that because I know it's odd.  Let me explain.

Ironman Cozumel was both a major accomplish and a huge disappointment.  The accomplishment was in the preparation (so many hours of training), the swim and the bike went well and I finished that marathon despite being so, so sick.  The disappointment was that the marathon was much slower than planned and due to my "digestive" problems, I was not able to run the speed that my fitness would have made possible.  After that race I said out loud that I would never do a marathon again but in my head, there was a little voice saying, "you will do that again and you'll do it well next time."  I ignored that little voice in my head for awhile but last summer I decided I was ready to listen to it.

Timing was an issue.

I already had enough races going on in the summer and early fall.  I didn't want to wait too long to do the marathon, so winter made the most sense.  There's no local marathons and I didn't want to travel for this one.  So, I decided I would just do it ON MY OWN.  The treadmill made the most sense because then I could have my water bottles filled with electrolytes and calories.  Not to mention the fact that it's 30 degrees warmer in the gym than it is outside right now (my knees get sore in the cold).

I was nervous this whole week.  I trained for this but I cut my training short because I was getting bored and impatient with building up my times.  My longest training run was just short of 3 hours long.  Adam reassured me saying that whatever I lacked in training, I would make up for in mental toughness.  Ironman training did give me that gift of being able to suffer through loooonnnngg workouts.

At 9AM I took my kids to the gym childcare.  Adam planned to pick them up at noon (on his lunch break) and take them to my parent's house for the rest of the afternoon.  I set up my station next to the treadmill with my water bottles, change of clothes, sweat towels, electrolyte drinks, snacks, extra runners etc.  Yep, it was quite a pile of stuff.

I broke the marathon up into 4 sections in my mind, one hour at a time.  I started at a 5:30/km pace and actually held that pace right through to the end.  Adam put a few movies on his ipod for me to watch.  I hooked it up to the TV on the treadmill and that really helped pass the time.  Of course there was suffering but nothing I couldn't run through.  By the third hour I started feeling somewhat lightheaded and my joints and muscles were achy.  My knee hurt off and on (my IT strap helped with that).  My left hip flexor was sore for the last three hours but it didn't get bad enough to make me walk.  I changed shirts three times and re-applied vaseline to any potential chaffing areas (think anywhere that clothing rubs).  I remembered from IM having a chaffing line at the top of my shorts that was bad enough that it bled, so I was generous with the vaseline.  I was so grateful for Silvana, who was there to support me by running on the treadmill next to me.  Thanks Silvana!

I finished in 3:50 (time on the treadmill) and 4:25 (total time including time off the treadmill for bathroom and changing clothing/runners).  It was weird to get off the treadmill with my wobbly legs.  The other people at the gym had no idea what I had just done, they probably wondered why I was walking funny though.  No cheering crowds.  I stretched, showered and came home to meet Adam.  He said, "I have something to present you with."  Then he put a medal around my neck and I cried.  I had been battling doubts about whether this marathon "counted" and so that medal meant a lot to me.  Thanks Adam!

Harvest Half Marathon

Saturday I ran in the Harvest Half Marathon in Calgary.  I finished in just under 1:52.  I'm happy with that, especially considering I ran with a sore knee for the last 6 km and had to stop and stretch twice.  I know I could have been under 1:50 if it weren't for the sore knee.

I was kind of emotional when I crossed the finish line.  So much relief and joy.  Races can be a little intense: the preparation, the pre-race nerves, the visualizing, the doubts that try to creep in, the pleasure of pushing and racing, the suffering as it gets difficult....there's just a lot of emotion there.  I really doubted my fitness this race because I chose not to make this race a priority in my life.  I wondered what I could really do on the course and felt concerned about my knee because it had been bothering me in training.  I knew this would be my last race of the season and wanted to end the season on a good note.

I started the race at the front and ended up racing around some great runners.  Fish Creek park is SO beautiful to run in this time of year.  When we were descending into the park from Evergreen and our view took in the golden rolling hills surrounding the valley, I commented to the runner beside me, "isn't it so beautiful!"  She looked at me like, "why are you talking to me?"  My recent approach with races has been to really soak in the scenery as much as I can.  It helps pull my mind out of the racing and just breath in the beauty.

One of my favorite parts of the race was having all my family cheer me on at SEVERAL points along the course.  THANK-YOU!!  My other favorite part was seeing this guy run barefoot next to me.  I wondered how he felt about his lack of footwear when we hit some rocky path

Here's some pics from the race:

Magrath Olympic Tri

Driving over to the race I started to feel nervous (yep I still feel nervous for every race) and I thought, "why do I do this to myself".  It was 6AM and I could have been at home sleeping in my comfortable bed.  But instead I was about to put my body through a short and intense triathlon.  I must be such a succor for punishment.  Even well I thought that, I knew that as soon as I started racing I would be having the time of my life because I love to race.  Even though it hurts, it feels amazing to push yourself that way.

Putting on a wet suit is such an attractive experience:

The first lap of the swim was kind of rough.  People seemed more aggressive that usual.  I was kind of jostling for position with this guy next to me, when he stroked hard near my face and ripped off my goggles.  I grabbed them and thought to myself, "hmmm...I've been wondering what it would feel like to have your goggles ripped off.  That really wasn't so bad."  Then almost as soon as I got them back on, someone else punched me pretty hard in the head.  So I decided to look for some room and quit trying to jostle so much.  The second lap I got into a beautiful rythym.  It's kind of magical when that happens.  I felt relaxed.  My stroke was strong and smooth and my breathing was full and relaxed.  I was loving it.

Then I pulled strong on the last stretch and came up out of the water to the sound of the cheering crowds and noticed this tall man next to me who looked familiar.  "Is that Adam? No, it can't be? Wait, it is!"  So I shouted, "Ad!" a few times as we jogged over to transition and he looked around confused, thinking it was a spectator calling him.  Finally he saw me and looked stunned, saying nothing.  I was like, "are you ok?",  thinking something must have gone wrong.  He responded, "yep."  So I started thinking back to whether or not I had rounded all the buoys.  We said nothing else cause we were both trying to hurry but when I stopped at my transition spot Adam grabbed my wet suit zipper and pulled it down.  A nice gesture considering he was in a moment of great defeat at having his wife match him on the swim.  My swim time: 30:57.60.  Adam's swim time: 30:57.95.

It drizzled rain through the bike, so the conditions weren't ideal.  The first segment of the bike was an out and back, so I counted the women ahead of me.  There were 9.  I wanted to pass them all.  I pushed hard and could feel the lactic acid building in my legs, especially as I climbed the hills.  I didn't care though.  I was hoping my body would flush it out before the run but that didn't happen.  I finished the 40 km bike in 1 hour 10 min plus a couple minutes for transitions. 

After running the Raymond 10km race in an aerobic heart rate zone and experiencing how uncomfortable that is, I decided to race the first half of the run aerobically.  My legs felt like lead, so I quickly realized that because I had pushed hard on the bike, there was no chance of a sub 45min run.  I adjusted my goal to be a sub 50 min run.  I ended up making that goal (barely) and had an overall time of 2:32.56.  Wasn't quite what I had dreamed of but it's still a personal best for me.  I was the 5th overall female.

Adam finished in 2:19.46 and was 7th overall.

We are so grateful for all the races we've been able to do this past year.  It's been an amazing adventure and we're both really proud of each other and grateful for all the adventures!!

I LOVE having friends and family to race with.  Macey and Sheryl, you both did amazing!

Raymond 10 km race report.

Imagine the fastest pace that you can run.  Ok, now imagine holding that pace for 46 minutes and you'll basically understand what I did last Saturday.  It was kinda painful.  I may have said a few "mormon" swears under my breath during the race to express how I really felt.

You'd think that with the amount of races I've done I would know how important pacing is.  It's just that running a road race feels "new-ish" to me because I've been so absorbed by triathlons for the last 6 years.  Plus this is a really short distance for me, so it was tough to know what pace I could actually hold.

Only about 100 competitors felt like a small group.  We all lined up and I was chatting with a couple girls waiting when the gun shot took us by surprise.  I ran off and just kept with the top group, just behind "the girl in the blue top".  There was one other girl out front of us but she didn't look like much of a runner, so I figured she'd drop off soon enough and I didn't need to worry about her (I know, I'm judging...but I was right).  I looked down at my watch and was like, "oh man, we're holding a 4 min/km pace".  I didn't mean to start out that fast but I felt good at the time and wanted to stick with the lead females, so I held the pace.  At about 4km we ran up 'Temple Hill' holding a sub 5min/km pace and I totally killed my legs doing that.  I was still behind "the blue shirt girl" but another chick had managed to pass us both and was incrementally increasing her lead.

I wanted to take the female lead on the downhill and tried to will my legs to do so but they would not cooperate.  They felt like lead and didn't want to "fly" with me.  So we chugged. At least it felt like chugging but it was still a fast pace.  At about 8 km I had some good self talk.  "Ok Kim.  I know you have hardly anything left but remember Hawaii.  Remember what you did there.  Dig down deep and find some more.  You have to leave it all on this course or you're going to be disappointed with yourself."  So I found another gear and picked up my pace enough to finally pass the "blue shirt girl".  The lead female was only a couple hundred meters ahead of us, so in a spirit of camaraderie, I said to my blue-shirt friend, "come on, let's catch her."  I guess in my head I figured that if we worked at it together, it might be possible.  Apparently she didn't have another gear to find because I just carried on right past her.

I tried to catch that lead girl but realized that it just wasn't going to happen and decided that 2nd place female was pretty darn good.  I kept looking over my shoulder to make sure that 2nd place didn't become 3rd place.  I tried to sprint but it was probably really ugly and awkward.  Understandable, since I had basically been sprinting for 10 km.  At the finish line I asked Adam, "how did you do?" between gasps for air.  He showed me his watch which had been paused at 39 minutes and said, "good, I got second.  I just couldn't catch this old guy in front of me."  I was like, "sweet, we both got second."  It's really a good thing because we would have been a little jealous of the other person if one of us had won.  Maybe next year we'll take first.

I know I've said it before but I'll say it again.  Sometimes I stand outside my life and look at it with interest.  Two years ago when I was 'training' for the Magrath triathlon I only ran 10km twice because it just hurt so much to do it and I really just preferred the classes at the gym.  It has been a miracle to me to watch how with consistent training my fitness has improved exponentially.  It makes me believe in goals, growth, change and miracles.  I've realized that I have far less limits than I thought I had.  You do too!

The family reunion was a tonne of fun.  I love Adam's family like my own.  One highlight was the giant slip and slide...

Hawaii Half Ironman

We arrived in Hawaii on Wednesday afternoon, so we had a few days to prepare for the race on Saturday.  Our first day there, we drove the bike course and were both surprised at the hills.  We wondered, "are there no flat roads here or what?"  It was kind of intimidating.  Keep in mind, a year ago I was a brutal hill rider.  It had a lot to do with the fact that I really didn't know how to change gears smoothly and even ended up falling off my bike a couple times going uphill, in my training for Ironman Cozumel.  We chose to do Cozumel, in part because it was flat.  So my choice to race Hawaii was a choice to do something hard and far out of my comfort zone.

Thankfully the training I've done on hills recently has helped a lot because when we actually got out and rode the race course, it wasn't so bad.  But we both figured we were going to be slower than we had planned.  Slow but steady.

We couldn't check out the run course because it's located on the Fairmont golf course.  We swam at Hapuna Beach where the swim was located.  Everything I experience is related to Cozumel because that's my most recent race.  So the water in Hawaii was a little colder but there was more to see on the ocean floor (beautiful fish and coral) and best of all, NO JELLYFISH!!

After the swim, we'll be running up a nice little hill in our bare feet to get to our bikes:

I love the events before the race because it's so great to rub shoulders with like minded people.  People who love the same sport as us and are passionate about health and fitness.  The athlete meeting began with the Fairmont manager quieting the crowds by blowing into this shellfish horn of sorts.  Then he spoke a welcome to us in the local dialect.  Throughout the meeting we were reminded of the culture of Hawaii where respect and love of the land is vital.  The race director explained that Ironman champion Mark Allen learned that when you give to Hawaii, it gives back to you.  Mark went out of his way to give to the land and people of Hawaii and only then did he start having success racing there.
He said, you are going to suffer tomorrow like you may not have ever suffered before but don't blame your suffering on the volunteers.  He also let us know that the conditions on race day were going to be the worst they had ever had for a race there.  There would be 50 km/hr winds and it was going to be hot!  Also, just to make sure we were prepared for the next day, he let us know that the run course was the hardest in the Ironman 70.3 circuit.  I kept thinking, "wow it sounds like this is going to be a tough course but I just did a full ironman last fall, so it really can't be THAT hard."

I may have bought a few things at the expo.

Setting up our swim to bike transition:

My tradition for a couple of years has been to eat ice cream the day before a race.  I've found I have insane amounts of energy the day after I eat ice cream :)

We prepared all our bottles of electrolyte drink the day before.  I froze mine overnight and they were still warm by the time I started drinking them on the bike.

Race morning I woke up naturally at 3am.  Easy to do since we were staying on Calgary time and had gone to bed at 7pm the night before.  I ate (really drank) my liquid diet breakfast of milk with a chocolate powder I had brought from home.  Going liquid on race day was part of my plan to avoid the GI issues I had at Cozumel.

We drove to athlete parking, caught the shuttle over and arrived at transition at 5:30am.  I loved being there early with plenty of time to set up our bikes, visit the port o potties, get body marked and watch the pro swim start.  The sun wasn't up yet and it was peaceful and quiet at transition, as not many athletes had arrived yet.  Adam filled our bike tires and then being a nice guy, filled the tires for three other ladies who were having some trouble with theirs.

The Swim (2.1 km)

After the horn for the pro start we waded out into the water to find a position among the 1,600 athletes.  There was a thick group up front and then the majority of people were spread out into a large area along the beach.  At first we stood near the middle but then Adam decided we should move up to just behind the thick group of starters.  We had planned that he would 'clear the way' for me again so we wanted to start together.  Before I really felt 'ready' the cannon sounded and Adam said, "ready??" and I said, "yep" and off we went.  We were next to each other and I didn't even get in behind him before getting swarmed by everyone.  It was a crowded mass rush to that first buoy.  Lots of contact this time, mostly because we started so close to the front.  In fact, the whole swim I had people close to me on both sides and felt like I was constantly in a crowd.

Rounding the first buoy was crowded, as people slowed to round the buoy as tight as possible.  Similar with the second buoy.  Then my goggles fogged up and I couldn't see a thing.  (Apparently I rinsed out the ani-fog solution a little too much.)  I stopped swimming and took off my goggles to sight the buoy but by this point the current had picked up so much that I couldn't see a buoy because of the crashing water.  A lady next to me was doing the same thing and I asked, "can you see the buoy?".  She responded, "no!"  So I put my goggles back on and tried to swim the direction of the crowd.  It was so unnerving to swim without being able to sight the buoys at all. I just prayed that I would stay on course and wouldn't get pulled out of the race for missing a buoy.  I stopped a couple more times on that long stretch to take off my goggles and try to sight, without any success.  Finally I could see a big red buoy and knew I was still on course.

I love the feeling of touching the ground again after a long swim.  Running across the sand I could see a big timer that said 52 minutes.  I was disappointed but I didn't know at the time that it was the pro time and my time was 49 minutes, which is at least a little better but still slower than what I'd hoped for.  Although, perhaps my time was great for how far I went (I'm sure I went quite a bit further than 2km, since I couldn't sight at all.)

A quick rinse off in the shower and then I ran up the hill to my bike. I noticed the lady next to me spraying herself with sunscreen.  I thought, "oh crap I totally forgot to put sunscreen on at the aid station at the bottom of the hill!"  So I asked if I could use some and she said, "definitely, you have fair skin like me!"  Such a tender mercy that she was there because the little spot on my hand I missed spraying was badly burnt and that would have been my whole body if that lady hadn't been there.

The Bike (90 km)

An awkward part about this course is the bike start is on a steep uphill.  Tricky because it's hard to clip into pedals and get going on an uphill.  There were volunteers giving people 'push starts' so I took mine and off I went.  I decided not to wear a heart rate monitor this race and to go by perceived exertion.  So my plan was to keep it at about a 6 on a scale of 1-10, so that I could save my legs for the run.  This course is the difficult half of the Ironman World Championship Course.  It was constant hills and extremely windy.  I even saw a girl who had just gotten blown off her bike by the wind gusts.  When I looked ahead it seemed like everyone was riding at a 45 degree angle.  I plugged away at the hills, tried to stay in the right heart rate zone and I actually really enjoyed myself.  There were some highlights.

One was that as I was cycling along all of a sudden I saw someone coming the opposite direction (it's an out and back course.)  I looked closely and saw "Livestrong" on his gear and realized it was Lance!  So cool to be racing in the same race as him.  Then awhile later I heard the words, "hey Kimmy!", as Adam passed going the opposite direction.  I love racing with Adam, even though we don't technically race together, we are still a team of sorts.  One of my favorite racing moments was just after the turnaround at Hawi, there was a big, long downhill stretch coming back.  I didn't need any more water at that point so I passed by a bunch of people breaking at the aid station there and sprinted to pick up speed for the hill.  It was so fun flying down that hill for a few kms.

The winds kept picking up speed and were random and gusty, so I spent the second half of the race in what I'll call "half aero".  One hand resting in aero to stay low and the other on my handlebar to maintain control of the bike and be prepared for the gusts.  It worked well!  My nutrition was great.  I've learned from Cozumel.  I made sure I drank all of electrolyte drink this time (600 calories) and took two gels (200 calories).  I didn't need to worry about taking in as many calories/hr this race because I've been training my body to be metabolically efficient and use more fat for fuel.  Heading into the Fairmont resort there were lots of crowds cheering and I felt strong and ready to kill it on the run.

The Run (21 km)

Running is my strongest of the three sports, so I was excited to see what I could do.  I started at an easy pace because I knew if I went anaerobic too quickly then I would put myself at risk for GI distress.  So I kept it between a 5:00/km - 5:30/km pace for the first half an hour.  I had absolutely no issues and did not have to spend any time in the port o potty.  Hooray!!  Unfortunately I realized about a km into the race that I totally forgot my salt pills in my transition bag.  Dang it!  I hoped I would be ok without them, especially since I had kept my electrolytes so topped up on the bike and it was half the distance of the full in Cozumel.

The course was unique and beautiful as it weaved all around the golf course.  After a little while I started passing people quite a bit so I decided that to pass the time and to get my mind off the numbers on my watch I would count how many people I passed and try to get to 50.  I made it to 50 and thought, "hmmm....I wonder if I could make it to 100."  This little mental game continued through the race and helped me stay positive and keep a relaxed but fast pace until I passed almost 200 people.

I must say it felt amazing to be picking up my pace and passing so many on the hot, hilly little course.  I learned from Cozumel how much ice helps with keeping cool so at every aid station I grabbed 2-3 cups of ice.  One down the shorts and one down the sports bra and then I'd hold some in my hands and let some melt in my mouth.  I also made sure I got a few calories by drinking a cup of perform at each aid station and then I had a couple gels near the end of the race to give me a boost.

The last 6 kms or so of the course is infamous because it's an out and back on the black lava fields.  The out is downhill and the way back is uphill.  Me and Adam planned that this is where we would lay it all out there because everyone else would be struggling and slowing up.  So I picked up my pace and gave it everything I had.  I had been trying the whole race to work with the elements (the water, the wind, the ground).  With the wind at my back on this final uphill stretch I really allowed it to push me up that hill and felt like I was flying.  With the field being mostly men, I loved seeing a woman out there and I encouraged each female I passed to "finish strong, you're almost there."  To which a few responded, "holy crap, you're flying".  It felt amazing.

After cresting the hill, it was just one more mile through the golf course to the finish line.  I didn't have much in my tank at this point and this it where I had to dig into the mental reserves to keep my pace strong and finish this thing off.  It was tough on the little rollers and I kept looking at my watch and thinking, "aren't I there yet?"  Then I decided to stop looking at my watch and to just pass ten more people and by then I would be there.  So I passed ten but I wasn't there so I said to myself, "just pass ten more and I'm sure you'll be there."  So I started counting it down, "one, two, three...." then finally the finish line was in sight and I tried to muster up some sort of a sprint but from the finish line pictures it looks more to me like an awkward, gimpy, knock kneed kind of a run.

I pumped my fist in the air and a thrill went through me, as I knew that I had left it all out there on the course and was so proud of what I'd just done.  Adam was there for a big hug and he was like, "wow you did great?"   My time was 6:15 and he had finished in 5:25.  He thought I'd be coming in a bit later so he had just barely showed up at the finish line.  A little different experience from Cozumel where he waited for hours for me at the finish.  He said, "come here, I've got a spot in the shade for you."  I was teary as we walked over and felt so grateful for the race.  I've come to humbly realize that no race is guaranteed.  Even when you do all you can to prepare, there are always things out of your control.  This time there were difficult conditions with the choppy water, the wind, the hills and the heat but somehow it all worked for me this time.  I am grateful for that and do not take it for granted.

We went and sat in the shade next to two older men.  I rambled on and on about the details on the race to Adam and he shared details of his race.  The two men seemed like they were in a different zone, as they were both tired out and grieving a difficult bike and run.  I know how that feels too.

We both got a massage, ate a chicken burger and some chips, drank lots of water, showered off and then got front row seats for the awards ceremony where Lance Armstrong received his first place award.  He's a hero of mine and obviously of many others.  He got rushed by the crowd for pictures and autographs. It's constantly amazing to me to learn what the human body is capable of.  Lance Armstrong can go from excelling in cycling to excelling in triathlon within a matter of a couple of years.  I can go from having a hard time running 10 kms last year to now running a half marathon in 1 hour 55 minutes.  It's truly amazing.  
If you're reading this, then I hope you can imagine what you are capable of doing in the next few years and I encourage you to try it!!

Here's our numbers:

CONGRATULATIONS, KIM, ON YOUR FINISH!

Swim DetailsDivision Rank: 59

Split Name	Distance	Split Time	Race Time	Pace	Div. Rank	Overall Rank	Gender Rank
Total	1.2 mi	49:56	49:56	2:35/100m	59	1171	360

Bike DetailsDivision Rank: 36

Split Name	Distance	Split Time	Race Time	Pace	Div. Rank	Overall Rank	Gender Rank
4.8 mi	4.8 mi	15:26	1:11:26	18.66 mi/h
12.8 mi	8 mi	32:31	1:43:57	14.76 mi/h
30 mi	17.2 mi	1:11:31	2:55:28	14.43 mi/h
48 mi	18 mi	47:37	3:43:05	22.68 mi/h
56 mi	8 mi	33:46	4:16:51	14.22 mi/h
Total	56 mi	3:20:51	4:16:51	16.73 mi/h	36	977	249

Run DetailsDivision Rank: 27

Split Name	Distance	Split Time	Race Time	Pace	Div. Rank	Overall Rank	Gender Rank
3.3 mi	3.3 mi	29:02	4:48:20	8:47/mi
7.2 mi	3.9 mi	38:55	5:27:15	9:58/mi
10 mi	2.8 mi	23:11	5:50:26	8:16/mi
13.1 mi	3.1 mi	24:09	6:14:35	7:47/mi
Total	13.1 mi	1:55:17	6:14:35	8:48/mi	27	683	165

Transition

T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE	6:04
T2: BIKE-TO-RUN	2:27

CONGRATULATIONS, ADAM, ON YOUR FINISH!

Swim DetailsDivision Rank: 68

Split Name	Distance	Split Time	Race Time	Pace	Div. Rank	Overall Rank	Gender Rank
Total	1.2 mi	41:48	41:48	2:09/100m	68	751	529

Bike DetailsDivision Rank: 56

Split Name	Distance	Split Time	Race Time	Pace	Div. Rank	Overall Rank	Gender Rank
4.8 mi	4.8 mi	16:08	1:04:00	17.85 mi/h
12.8 mi	8 mi	28:08	1:32:08	17.06 mi/h
30 mi	17.2 mi	57:52	2:30:00	17.83 mi/h
48 mi	18 mi	41:58	3:11:58	25.73 mi/h
56 mi	8 mi	28:39	3:40:37	16.75 mi/h
Total	56 mi	2:52:45	3:40:37	19.45 mi/h	56	461	372

Run DetailsDivision Rank: 34

Split Name	Distance	Split Time	Race Time	Pace	Div. Rank	Overall Rank	Gender Rank
3.3 mi	3.3 mi	23:58	4:07:29	7:15/mi
7.2 mi	3.9 mi	33:08	4:40:37	8:29/mi
10 mi	2.8 mi	21:14	5:01:51	7:35/mi
13.1 mi	3.1 mi	22:35	5:24:26	7:17/mi
Total	13.1 mi	1:40:55	5:24:26	7:42/mi	34	269	218

Transition

T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE	6:04
T2: BIKE-TO-RUN	2:54