Motivation

This is my third post in four days. I know I don't usually post more than twice a week so if you haven't checked in a while, scroll down to see what else I've been up to.

Today I headed out for my weekly long run. 5 weeks until New York - Holy crap! This week was not a great training week. Between traveling, not sleeping so well, and dealing with a severe case of jogbra chafe from last week's long run, I had a hard time motivating. I did manage a few good workouts, though.

I didn't sleep well last night and was seriously not in the mood to run. Fortunately, we had a drop in temperature and humidity last night - probably from one of those tropical depressions in the Atlantic - and the wind picked up. It was a balmy 75 with 60% humidity when I got started. It was lovely weather, unfortunately my legs were feeling a little cruddy, and I was having a hard time staying mentally focused, which meant my pace kept falling off. I was really missing running surrounded by all the people on the hike and bike trail in Austin. Even if you aren't running with anyone, there is something uplifting about running while surrounded by lots of other runners. Today I passed one other runner - not so uplifting.

As I'm running along not really finding a groove, my theme song, as designated by Joey, came on my ipod. It made me laugh and put an extra bounce in my step. I said a silent thank you to my awesome best friend who has given me some great running music over the years. I started thinking about motivation and what keeps me going on the days when I would be just as happy sitting on my butt watching football. I was reminded of a conversation Joey and I had not too long ago about Steve Sisson's most recent blog entry. I commented that Steve must have been a Buddhist monk in a former life, and Joey countered that it was the countless number of solitary long runs over the years that had given him lots of time to think. Perhaps it's a little of both.

So as I'm running along my thoughts turn to motivation. What motivates me to get out there and train particularly on a day when things aren't going so well? There are the obvious answers - fitness, health, a sense of accomplishment, the desire to find my limits and push beyond, the fact that I've registered for a marathon and made a commitment to do the race so I damn well better train, even guilt to a certain extent, and of course, enjoyment. Yes, I do actually enjoy this stuff - I know that may seem sick and twisted to some of you. Those things get me started, and on a day when my body feels good, they are usually more than enough to get me through, but on a day like today what gives me that extra push? Where does the motivation and, just as importantly, the inspiration come from? For me the answer is easy. It comes from the people in my life. So here is a list of the people that kept me going today, and on many other days as well. They are listed in the order that they came into my mind today so if you are not on the list or are wondering about your order on the list, it was fairly random.

Joey-he was first in my thoughts because of the music, then I thought of the awesome shirt (to be revealed later) from Running Banana that he had made for me to wear when I run the marathon, and hooking me up with my excellent coach. The shirt is hanging up in our guest bathroom, which functions as my locker room, so I see it every day. Joey has been motivating me to do triathlons for a few years now, and I was fortunate to be present when he completed his first Ironman. I will be attempting my first Ironman in Novemeber 2008, and I'm thrilled that Joey has decided to do the race with me. He is always willing to mock me, harass me, or say whatever it takes to get me through a workout. He will also occasionally keep me company via text message when I am suffering on the treadmill. Thanks J!

Rachel-it's unusual for me to think of Joey without Rachel coming to mind, but in this case, it's more than inspiration by association. Rachel and I completed our first marathon together in Austin in Feb 2005. It was my second year of grad school, and I had no intention of doing a marathon that year. Rachel said she was going to do it so I decided I would try. After all, she has a full time career and a child. All I had to do was attend three classes and get busy writing up my Master's Project. If she could find time to train, I really didn't have a good excuse. Not only did she motivate me to do my first marathon, but I am pretty damn sure I would not have finished without her. We ended up running together for the part of the course that went through East Austin - around mile 20 I believe. There was little shade and it was so hot. I might have given up without her company. When I was visiting last week, I saw her medals from the half marathons she ran last year hanging on a hook on the wall. Last winter, in an effort to PR, Rachel ran four half marathons from December to mid-February. That's four 13.1 mile races in 2.5 months! Today on my run, I was thinking of the dedication and perseverance it took to accomplish that. Thanks Rachel!

By the way, I told Joey that he needed to frame those medals, but really they need a display case for all their combined hardware. I'm thinking something with spotlights, a small disco ball, and a motion sensor that triggers a trumpet fanfare whenever someone gets close. Seriously!

Brian-really there's way too much to cover for one blog entry, but what I thought of today was that this will be the first marathon that Brian has seen me run, and really one of the few races that he's been to so I want to do well. He's not big on coming to my races or anyone else's either-partly it's having to get up so early. He feels like his job is to get me to race day, which he does admirably. Now here's where some of that guilt comes in. Brian will be taking time off work to travel with me, and will likely spend most of our time in NY entertaining my nieces, who think he is the best thing ever. Now some of you might be thinking that taking a long weekend isn't a sacrifice, but Brian is trying to get tenure and has lots of grant deadlines coming up. I've been teasing him that he's obligated to watch me race since both our families will be there to cheer me on so he really can't get out of it, but I am so thrilled to know that he'll be there.

My family in New York-they will be waiting for me at mile 17 after I cross the 59th Street Bridge into Manhattan and again at mile 24 before I enter Central Park. I've never had a large group of people ready to cheer for me so I'm really excited. I'd like to look like I'm not ready to keel over when I see them.

Brandon Marsh, my coach-there's the guilt factor again. He has put in the time and effort to develop a training program for me, the least I can do is execute it to the best of my ability. Yes, I known he is getting paid for his services, but that's hardly the point. Also, I wouldn't want to reflect badly on him by having a crappy race.

Maggie-last but not least. Maggie did Ironman Florida with Joey so I got to be there with her for that, which is inspirational in and of itself, but today she helped keep me sane. I finished up my run on the treadmill at the gym. My workout today was 15-18 miles but not more than 3 hours, but do the last 5 miles at a fast pace. I knew I needed the treadmill to help keep my pace up. So there I was trying to stay focused and finish strong without having a mental meltdown - the TVs were showing a religious service, Nascar, and bowling. It was too early for football. Seriously, just kill me! Maggie texted me about her morning workout and we proceeded to have a conversation that got me through the last 3 miles. Yes, I can text and run on a treadmill - as long as it's not speedwork. Thanks Chica! You rock!

So these are the things I was thinking of as I went through my run today. Perhaps this was more of a look into my psyche than anyone really needed, but that's just how it is. Thanks to all my family and friends. Even if you weren't on today's list, I couldn't do this without you. The marathon might be a solo event, but no one gets to race day on their own.

Ft. Desoto Triathlon

This past weekend was the Publix Family Fitness Weekend at Ft. Desoto Park near St. Pete's Beach. A while back Joey had decided that this would be a good weekend for a visit to Florida and that we should do a triathlon. Ft. Desoto was the most promising race so we thought we'd give it a shot. I didn't need to do this race - I've already done 4 tris this season and am doing an olympic distance tri, the HOT, this Sunday, August 26 - but I haven't done a race with Joey since last year's HOT. I figured what the heck? After all, it's only a 400m swim, 11 mile bike, and a 5K run. Let's do it!

I was super excited for the weekend. The race didn't have much to do with it. I was mostly looking forward to seeing Joey, and going to the beach - even if it was just overnight.

Joey arrived Wednesday night. Thursday was mellow - we slept in, watched a little tv, Joey did some work, I chilled out, we met my friend Barry for our regular Thursday run, then it was off to the gym for the cold therapy pool and the hot tub. Very nice! We had a lovely dinner out at Cabana Cove complete with fried plantains for an appetizer and $3.00 mojitos. Yummy!

Friday we headed out to St. Pete's Beach. We picked up our race packets, checked in to our hotel, and drove to the race site. Since it was a sprint distance race, we weren't too concerned about checking the course. Mostly we just wanted to know what the drive time was from the hotel to the race site. I do like to see how far the swim is from the transition area, since I have been dealing with Plantar Fasciitis for nearly 9 months and doing anything barefoot is hard. Everything looked fine at the race site including a large circle at the end of the road for the bike turnaround ie no slowing down on the turnaround-wohoo! We headed back to the hotel to scope out some restaurants for dinner.

I have mixed feelings about our hotel - technically a motel. I decided to look for a place in Pass-a-Grille, which is the historic part of St. Pete's Beach. On my last trip to St. Pete's I remembered that area just feeling much more comfortable than the more resorty area. Room rates in St. Pete's are pretty expensive, but most places have rooms with kitchens. Our motel only rents rooms with kitchens for 3-day reservations, but they were the only place that had late check out - 2pm - which was perfect since Joey was considering doing the openwater swim after the tri. The room was clean but small. Since it was only one night, who cares? Not having a kitchen was a bummer especially considering that Joey usually eats leftover spaghetti for pre-race breakfast and I eat my usual eggs, oatmeal, oj, and coffee. I figured since it was a sprint race that we would both make do. I was pretty conflicted about the lack of kitchen vs the late checkout and almost changed the reservations 3 or 4 times before the weekend. I'm still not sure I made the right choice.

Saturday morning was the typical race morning - get up at 5am, get dressed, load the bikes on the car, and head out. Since there was no kitchen, we were on the road quickly. I had a Starbucks frappacino beverage, oj, a couple of powdered sugar donuts, and a banana for breakfast - no I'm not kidding. The breakfast of champions it wasn't. Since I had a good dinner, I wasn't too concerned - other than feeling a little nauseous. We set up our transition area - I racked next to Joey which meant I only had to deal with the possibility of the other person next to me screwing with my stuff - and headed off to the beach.

My goal for this race was to average 18mph or faster on the bike, keep my run below 30 minutes, and finish in under 1:20. I only met the first goal. I thought I was under 1:20 but I must have stopped my watch accidentally during T1 so the time was off. I'm pretty bummed about that because I wasn't really pushing on the run. I kept zoning out and slowing down, but according to my watch I was going to make my overall time goal so who cares. If I had been running the way I should have I would have met all my goals. Oh well!

Here are the high points of the race:

• I had a solid swim
• I was able to jog barefoot between transitions - the PF is definitely getting better
• I averaged 18+mph on the bike
• Since my feet didn't hurt during T1, I decided to leave my shoes on the bike and dismount barefoot coming into T2
• Passing people on the bike turnaround - it's a huge, wide circle, why are you hitting your brakes?

Overall it was a decent race - a nice tune up for the olympic distance coming up. Joey had a solid race - a bit of a rough swim that involved him getting kicked in the face and puking, a decent ride considering the rough swim and not being on his own bike, and a good run. Oh, did I mention he broke his toe earlier in the week and did the race any way? Way to go, Joey!

My coach had put a 30 minute post-race run on my schedule, since I am in marathon training mode. Joey was still feeling a bit yucky and was trying to decide about doing the openwater swim at noon. I told him not to worry about running with me, that he should get some food and water and sit in the shade. It was so hot on my run so I'm sure that was the right thing for him. After my run, I got some food and beverage, and Joey and I volunteered to help with the kids race - a duathlon. It was so much fun cheering on the kids and keeping them on the course. They were so cute!

By this point, Joey was feeling much better and decided he would like to do the openwater swim. No problem! I changed into my swimsuit. There was no way I was going to hang around on the beach in my disgusting tri clothes. While Joey was swimming, I hung out in the water. It was really hot on the beach. The water wasn't much cooler, but it was better than nothing. Joey had a really good swim complete with dolphins hanging out just to the side of the course. Very cool! I was really proud of him for sucking it up and getting back in the water after his yucky swim that morning.

We headed back to the hotel for some very much needed showers and our well-deserved post race meal. We decided to eat at the Brass Monkey, a pub- style restaurant next to our hotel. Now it could just be that I was super hungry but I'm going to say that this meal was the high point of the trip. Don't get me wrong - the race was fun, but this food was yummy! I opened the menu from the back, was glancing at the entrees some of which had names like Chicken Chesapeake and Assawoman flounder. Are the owners from Maryland? Assawoman Bay is a body of water near Ocean City. It's a fairly obscure reference. I turned to the front of the menu and sure enough, the owners were in the restaurant business in Maryland for 18 years. Instead of my traditional post-race burger, I opted for a crabcake sandwich. Joey and I shared an order of wings seasoned with Old Bay. Awesome food, excellent service, and the company of my best friend - darn close to a perfect afternoon!

After lunch, it was home to Gainesville. It was an uneventful drive and we were home by 6pm. Brian was happy to see us. After unloading the car and doing some laundry, we headed out to the Swamp Restaurant for dinner and drinks. I was acting as designated driver so the boys could indulge themselves. We had a good time!

Overall, it was a fun weekend!

Free at Last!

Summer camp came to an end on Friday and I am officially unemployed again. Wohoo! Now before you think I didn't enjoy myself teaching camp - that is absolutely not the case. I love teaching, and I really enjoy camp because you have the same kids all week. In many cases, you have the same kids most of the summer. That being said, camp takes a lot out of you. When I worked fulltime, the end of summer camp was always followed by a vacation. I don't have a vacation planned, but I am getting a visit from my best friend, Joey, which is super exciting.

This summer ended on a bit of a down note. I was teaching the insect field camp for the 5th-6th graders and I had a special needs child in my group. To say this child was difficult is an understatement. I did the best I could, but finally had to ask that the child be removed from camp on Thursday morning. Not only was he monopolizing my time, but his behavior was impacting the other campers to the point that they were starting to become verbally aggressive towards him. If I hadn't had two amazing Junior Volunteers, Ali and Sheri, I wouldn't have been able to keep it together. They are the type of teenager that keeps you positive and hopeful for the future. They will also make excellent camp teachers someday soon. The rest of Thursday and all of Friday were so much fun I really regretted not having him removed sooner. I feel like I didn't have much time to bond with the other campers, but I must have done something right because I got hugs from everyone at the end of the day on Friday - and hugs are unusual from that age group. I also got lots of hugs from the younger campers that I had taught most of the summer, but that wasn't surprising. They've been giving me hugs all summer.

Some highlights from camp:

• teaching 1st graders how to fold paper airplanes for the first time. Way too much fun!
• having my 1st graders help the 5th graders paint murals of Australia
• playing freeze dance
• silly jokes
  
• visiting the new Megalodon exhibit - over and over and over!
• getting 12 3rd graders quiet enough to stalk egrets
• bringing in a special snack on Fridays
• Hugs!

Release the Kraken!

The 4^th of July was fairly uneventful. I got up early to help out with the Melon Run – the Florida Track Club’s annual 4^th of July 5k race – so dubbed because we serve watermelon at the race finish, and the age group winners get a watermelon to take home. I had decided not to run the race. A 5k didn’t really fit in my training for the week. I really needed to ride. Also, I had stayed up way too late the night before and was just plain tired. I ended up taking care of the post-race food table. The event was a success. We had 400 participants, which is a great turnout for a town the size of Gainesville, and a course record of 15:02. Everyone had a good time, lots of watermelon was consumed, and the rain held off until we were all cleaned up.

Back at home, I decided that I probably needed to take a nap at some point. It was a steady rain outside and showed no signs of clearing up. I ate some breakfast, did some laundry, and settled on the sofa to watch some Wimbledon. After getting the important details from Joey about Jordan’s first triathlon, I crashed out. I was awakened around 2:00 pm by a text message photo of some crazy person in disguise. I wonder who it could be?

Let’s hear it for friends who go above and beyond to make you laugh. I had a bad headache and felt truly horrible so I went back to sleep. It was still raining and Brian was working so I really lacked any motivation to move. I woke back up around 5:00 pm and still felt yucky. I grabbed the remote and started looking for something to watch. I found a Godzilla movie marathon on Encore. No kidding – they were showing all 29 Godzilla movies to celebrate the 4th, and since it’s Encore – no commercials. So I settled in to watch some cheesy Japanese scifi. I do wonder if the Japanese people are fixated with seeing their cities destroyed on the big screen, but that is a discussion for another day.

The Godzilla movies reminded me of the St. Augustine Triathlon turned duathlon. I had done this race last year and Brian and I had such a good time, I decided to do the race again. When we arrived at the race hotel Friday night, the wind was absolutely horrendous. It was so bad that it actually lifted my bike as I was walking across the parking lot. Insane! Of course there was concern that the swim would be cancelled. While we were eating dinner, I checked the weather on my cellphone. At the top of the page in big red letters was a coastal flooding and wind advisory. I showed it to Brian and he remarked that the locusts would be arriving at 6 am and there was a Godzilla alert until 8 am. I laughed pretty hard, and decided to share with Joey. I knew he would find it amusing so I sent him a text message. He replied that the Godzilla alert was nothing, at 7:45 am they are releasing the Kraken. Now I should know better than to be eating or drinking anything when I read one of Joey’s texts. I almost choked and then had a good laugh, as did Brian. If you don’t get why this is funny, you need to watch more cheesy scifi.

The swim was cancelled the next morning. The ocean was one giant froth and you could actually see the riptides. A sea monster rearing up out of the ocean wouldn’t have surprised me. The tri became a du. My first one ever. Everyone had a good time even though the wind was crazy. Brian and I spent the afternoon in St. Augustine before heading home.

Here's to lazy, rainy days spent on the sofa, friends that make you laugh from 1000 miles away, and cheesy scifi.

Orlando Ironman 70.3 -Finally!

Warning - This is way too long!

Here it is - the long anticipated and long overdue Florida Ironman 70.3 report. Sorry it’s taken me so long. Summer camp is in full swing and I am getting behind on everything. I know everyone has been going out of their minds with anticipation. I wrote a good bit of this before Brian and I headed off to New York and I’m not feeling inclined to edit it much so it’s pretty long. I figure it should keep everyone busy for a while and let me off the hook for not posting in a while.

Sunday, May 20, was the much anticipated - and dreaded - Florida Ironman 70.3. I left for Orlando on Thursday and returned on Monday. It was a really awesome trip if a bit stressful. Joey was working the race expo for Trigger Point so I had invited him to stay with me. I had reserved a truly awesome condo at the Blue Heron Beach Resort right on Lake Bryan just outside of Disney so there was plenty of room. I decided on a condo because I wanted a kitchen. Also, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be alone so I wanted to be in a place that would be comfy to hang out in. The condo complex is pretty new – they are still building the second tower – and the unit was perfect! I arrived in Orlando around 3:00 pm on Thursday – just a short 1.5 hour drive from Gainesville, checked into the condo, went to the grocery store, unpacked and got settled. By that time Joey was done working so I went over to his hotel and picked him up. It turns out that the hotel he was booked in with his co-worker, Thomas, was right around the corner from the condo – very convenient. He needed to spend some time dealing with Austin Triathletes Open Water Swim logistics with Maggie, who was covering for him, but eventually we made it out for a quick dinner at Carraba’s. We spent a little time catching up but it was pretty much off to bed after dinner.

Friday was the first day of the race expo. Joey went off to work and I did an easy 30 minute run on the treadmill, then picked up some lunch for him and Thomas and headed off to the expo. The race was hosted by Disney so the expo and transition area were located in Disney’s Wilderness Park near the Magic Kingdom. If you weren’t staying in the park, you had to take a shuttle from a designated parking lot. It wasn’t too bad but just inconvenient enough. I got to the expo and went to the Trigger Point booth to give the guys their food and use the tools since I hadn’t done so after my run. I was pleasantly surprised to see my friend Denise at the booth. Denise and I went to grad school at Duke together and she and Joey both did their first half-iron distance race, the Duke Half Iron, and their first Ironman, at the same time. I had thought about emailing her to see if she was doing this race but then had totally forgotten. Denise is an exceptional triathlete and has a great support group that travels with her – truly an entourage. For this race, her mother, Christine, and her friend, Naomi, had come up from Barbados to compete also. Very cool! We hung out for a bit and then they headed off for some food and I sat down to do some Trigger Point work. The booth was super busy so I kept having to move so Joey and Thomas could work on customers. It was fun hanging out with them but eventually I went to get my race packet and do some shopping. The pickings were slim. It looked liked they had rolled out whatever was leftover from last year. I managed to find a cute shirt in my size and a pint glass but not too much else jumped out at me. I made one more stop at the TP booth to say goodbye to the guys and headed back to the condo. Now if you’ve never been to Disney, here is something important to note – Disney is designed to make it exceptionally easy to get into, get around, and stay, but leaving the park is a whole other adventure. I finally got back to the condo, did some more TP work, stretching, and yoga. I was contemplating either a trip to the hot tub or a nap when Joey arrived. We chilled for a bit and then headed out for dinner. We had a nice little adventure in downtown Orlando complete with a ride in a pedicab. I watched some of the Spurs – Suns game before heading to bed. I also made the mistake of checking the weather. Half the state of Florida was on fire and Friday was pretty smoky so I wanted to see what Sunday looked like. The forecast was for lots of wind. Every tri I have done this season has been in ridiculous wind conditions so I was less than thrilled. I was nervous about the bike and I knew wind was just going to make it worse. Oh well! Since there wasn’t anything I could do about it, I went to bed. Saturday was bike check-in and after Friday, I had a pretty good idea of how long it was going to take to get in and out of Disney.

Saturday was indeed windy – crazy windy – but no smoke. The expo opened at 10 am so Joey headed out around nine. I kind of putzed around – I’m not really sure what took me so long to get going – I think I was feeling a little avoidance. Anyway, I ate breakfast and loaded my bike on the car. My original plan was to ride my bike from the parking lot to the race site so I wouldn’t have to deal with the shuttle bus. I had told the guys I would bring them food again and decided it would be more of a hassle to ride my bike since the only backpack I had was my transition pack which had all my race gear in it. I got to the shuttle site and was informed that we would be laying our bikes down inside the luggage compartments of the charter buses and that bikes would be piled on top of each other. Seriously WTF! If I had known this ahead of time I would have emptied my backpack and made plans to ride. There were several reasons why this situation was irritating. First of all, the transport buses that Disney uses throughout the park are the type similar to city buses – there is plenty of room on these buses for the bikes – but we had been provided with charter style buses. Second, there was plenty of room in the luggage bays for the bikes to be upright. All that was needed was a few straps. I was really not feeling the Disney love at this point, and frankly rather disappointed in Ironman also. As athletes realized how the bikes were to be transported, more and more of them opted to ride. I didn’t have my helmet or I would have put my bag and all the food in the bus and ridden also. I put my bike on the bus, covered it with a packing blanket and got on the bus so I wouldn’t freak out when someone put their bike on top of mine. It was small consolation that the other athletes on the bus with me were also unhappy. Of course everything was fine but that is hardly the point. I got to the expo and cruised by the TP booth to drop of the food. The booth was in chaos! They were slammed and it looked likely that they would sell out of their product. Way to go guys! Joey was surrounded by Ironman officials. He had called me earlier to see if he could use my car during the race to provide race support. Of course I said yes – I wasn’t going to be using it, and I thought it would be more fun for Joey than sitting around waiting to catch glimpses of me coming in and out of the transition area. Spectating for a half-iron can be a tedious thing especially if you are by yourself. I had a moment where I was feeling a little abandoned – I’m pretty used to doing races by myself but I was looking forward to having someone there to cheer for me – but I really did want Joey to have some fun especially since he had been working so hard. Later when things had calmed down at the booth, Joey told me that he would be spotting the male pros on the bike and run and would be back in time to see me on my run. By this time, I had checked in my bike, cruised the expo again in hopes of improved shopping – no joy there - chatted with Denise and company, and was generally feeling better about everything. Joey handed me my Ironman VIP bracelet and told me that as a race support vehicle, we would be able to drive right to the race site in the morning. Wohoo! The VIP bracelet would get me into the VIP tent at the race finish. By this time, I was definitely ready to leave the expo. My feet were hurting a bit and Joey recommended I get in the pool. I went back to the condo and did just that. After paddling around in the pool, I took a bath in the whirlpool bath tub, and started cooking dinner. I made a simple but yummy pasta dinner and had a spinach salad to go with it. I did another check of my race gear and it was pretty much lights out around 10 pm. Overall, I was feeling less anxious than I had been, but I was still pretty stressed out.

The alarm went off at 4 am – no that’s not a typo – and I thought about crying. The race start was at 6:20 am which I am pretty sure is the earliest race I’ve ever done. I got dressed and had my usual breakfast of eggs, oatmeal, oj, and coffee. Joey and I headed out around 5 am. We got to the race site easily, parked right behind the transition area, and headed to transition. Getting set up was a little difficult because it was so dark. I realized I had forgotten to get a throwaway water bottle for the run. I like to carry a bottle of Nuun to start the run. Oh well! I could always sacrifice one of my bike bottles if necessary. I got set up, chatted with the women around me, sunscreened, and headed off to the race start. Joey had to leave before the race started to get in position for his race duties but he walked with me down to the race start so I was able to keep my shoes on – very important for a plantar fasciitis sufferer. I had to leave my shoes in transition at the Lonestar tri and it sucked! Anyway, the race start was on nice soft sand so my feet were comfy. The race site and beach are surrounded by trees so it was hard to get a sense of what the wind was like but it didn’t seem too bad. I ran into Christine as she was lining up for her wave and we chatted for a bit as I ate my pre-race banana. Then Denise and Naomi showed up and I hung out with them until it was time for my wave at 6:47 am. The swim was a walk in beach start. The course was pretty much a 3 sided rectangle. With the rising sun, the buoys were often hard to see, but I managed to stay pretty tight on the course. I was surprised when I started swimming to feel crud in my quads – not a good sign and not something I’ve ever felt at the start of a tri. I could also feel that my swim was slower than I wanted but I was having a hard time finding a rhythm at a faster pace so I just went with it. Heading back to the beach, there was definitely some chop but overall it was good conditions. My transition was long, mostly because running back to the transition area in bare feet is hard for me. Before the race, I had heard some garbled announcements about putting your bike shoes on your pedals before leaving transition but hadn’t paid much attention because I need even the small amount of cushion you get from bike shoes. I soon found out why the recommendation had been made. Before the bike mount there was about 100 ft stretch of sand. Yes, we had to get our bikes through very powdery sand. I have tri bike shoes which are ventilated so they totally filled up with sand and of course I wasn’t wearing socks. That sucked! At least the sand was powdery enough that it didn’t stick in the cleats. I didn’t worry about the sand in my shoes because part of my bike plan included getting off the bike to alleviate crotch pain which has been an ever increasing issue with me for about the past year. I figured I could empty the sand at that time if I needed to. Well, I never needed to get off the bike so the sand stayed. At least I know that I can bike 56 miles with sand in my shoes. Once out on the course, I realized it was pretty windy but not brutally so. I settled in for my ride. My goal for the bike was to keep my average mph above 16. My target was 18 mph but I realized about 15 miles in when I hit the first real headwind and the hills started that averaging 18 mph was going to be too hard. Yes, I said hills. There was a significant stretch of the course that had rolling hills worthy of Austin. Well, there are no hills like that in Gainesville so it was a bit much for me. My cruddy quads seemed like they had cleared up after 10 miles on the bike until I tried to get out of the saddle for some of the larger hills – owww! Oh well. The worst was a nasty uphill ala the Pace Bend Park Road loop that was directly into the headwind. I don’t think I’ve ever heard so much swearing during a triathlon. Yes, I was swearing too. There were police officers at the top cheering us on, but I didn’t see an intersection. I think they were there in case anyone keeled over. There was one extremely frustrating stretch of the course where we were biking through a town and there were no shoulders. We were intermingled with the cars. When the race information said it was an open bike course, they weren’t kidding! What was frustrating was that it was a straight, flat stretch out of the wind but you couldn’t go that fast – mostly because the cars were freaked out and driving really slow. I won’t complain about that. At least they were being careful. I didn’t start having serious crotch discomfort until the last 10 miles which got pretty uncomfortable. I just kept looking at the avg mph on my computer. As long as it stayed above 16 mph, I didn’t mind coasting and standing as needed. Back at the race site, there was the pesky sand again. I almost face planted into it, it was so churned up. I took some extra time in transition to wash off my feet and reapply sunscreen. The spray-on sunscreen has got to be the best invention ever! I stopped at the port-a-potties on the way out of transition and was off on the run. The run was a 3 loop course which has its pros and cons. Pros – you are never alone on the course, spectators get to see you three times, you know what to expect after the first loop. Cons – gets a little boring, you have to run any difficult section 2 more times. The run was flat but about half the loop was on grass which normally I don’t mind, but the soil in Florida is very silty/sandy so you sink a lot in the grass. It was hard for me to get good traction and I had very little rebound so it was very hard on my feet. It was such a relief to get on the paved part of the run. I wasn’t sure what to expect from myself on the run but I got out there and I realized I was really hot. My heat conditioning has been minimal since I’ve been running on the treadmill so much. When I realized how hot I was I started worrying about overheating and stressing my kidneys. I decided to walk until I felt a little cooler and hopefully that would get me close to an aid station. I had brought my remaining bike bottle with me so I had fluid to tide me over. I walked for about 10 minutes and felt good enough to run again. The wind we had been cursing on the bike was absolute heaven on the run! At the first aid station, I ditched my bottle, grabbed Gatorade, a cup of ice, a cup of grapes and pretzels – yummy! - and doused myself repeatedly with cold sponges. Once I was wet I felt infinitely better. I basically stayed wet the whole race and carried a cup of ice with me between aid stations. I was a little disappointed in the aid stations – several ran out of sponges and none of them had sunscreen or Vaseline. I’m so glad I put on sunscreen before leaving transition or I would have been crispy. I’ve also started carrying a packet of Chammois Butt'r on the run which is great for chafe prevention so I was good to go despite the lack at the aid stations. Christine, Denise’s mom, went blowing by me on my first lap. I assumed it was her last lap by the way she was cruising. She cheered me on and I shouted that she looked great. The guy next to me agreed that she looked awesome and yelled out “You’re lying about your age!” We could see her laughing. I told him that she was indeed 54 and we both agreed that it would be nice to look that good when we are that age. Heck, we agreed it would be nice to look that good now! I didn’t see Joey on my first loop, but I figured I’d see him the next time around and I did. It was really good to have someone to cheer me on heading into the last lap – I was definitely fading. I settled into something between a run and a walk – a trot would be the best description and finished it out. Joey met me at the finish and walked me through the shoot to pick up my finisher’s goodies and then took me to the VIP tent. The tent was pretty empty by then but I didn’t really care. What was super excellent was that it was right at the finish line and there were chairs. It was so nice to sit, take my shoes off, and put my feet up. They were throbbing by then. Joey brought me some water and munchies, and I rested for a bit while he told me about his day. Then we headed to transition, got my gear together and headed out. I was so glad to have the car parked close by. I really can’t thank Joey enough for being there at the finish to take care of me, for getting me the Ironman VIP treatment, and staying an extra day in Orlando to be at the race with me. It was so nice having a sherpa. I haven't had one in years and Joey was awesome! We had to swing by the airport to return Joey’s rental car, and then back to the condo. We had decided that we had enough food at the condo so we didn’t need to go back out. We ate, I showered, and then we headed to the hot tub for a nice soak. Love the hot tub! I wasn’t feeling too bad by this point. There was a little tv time and then off to bed. Joey had a 6 am flight so we were going to be up at 4 am again. So wrong! I dropped him at the airport, went back to bed for a bit, and then packed up and was headed back to Gainesville around noon. The drive home was uneventful and involved a nap when I got home.

Overall, I am pleased with my race. I improved my time from the Gulf Coast half-iron last year by 11 minutes – my swim was a little slower, my run was a little faster, and my bike time was 15 minutes faster. I averaged 15 mph at Gulf Coast and was at 16.2 mph for Orlando. I’m really happy about that because Orlando was a much harder course. I’m not sure I would repeat this race. There were enough logistical issues to make it annoying, and the cost of the race as well as the cost of staying in Orlando are definite drawbacks. The expo was so-so and there was no swag if you didn’t finish the race. The post race swag was okay – a knapsack, a finisher’s hat, and a finisher’s shirt. Of course, they didn’t have any mediums so I will likely never wear mine as it is ginormous. The main reason that I will not be likely to repeat this race is that the Gulf Coast Tri is the weekend before and that is a much better race so if I am looking for a half-iron in May, Gulf Coast is it. I only chose Orlando because I had a scheduling conflict. Next year is Gulf Coast for sure! Come on out and join me.