finally a race report - IMCZ

i guess its time for the race report although my race reports never seem to be what the typical race report is supposed to be.  i will start there. this journey was nothing like it was "supposed" to be.  in the past year i've learned more than i ever thought possible, then i ever dreamed.  i never imagined training for two ironmans and completing two ironmans all in the same year.  when new years eve hit on 2011 i was more ready than anyone to start the new year.  i lost a love, a spent some time alone and very scared, i saw my sister get married and battle a son's diagnoses with autism, i watched as my oldest sister and brother in law as they waited... and waited.... and waited... re routed their process... and waited some more... to finally receive the news that they would be parents, i lost friends, i comforted friends who lost parents, i watched cancer take people away, i trusted myself to head out on my own only to find the greatest strength was myself, i questioned my ability, i questioned my being, i found support with people that were strangers just one year prior.  i believed in my journey and i found it brought me to this....

here is my journey. my race report. my second ironman finish in less than 12 months.

cozumel mexico ironman 2011.

it was a tricky start, this time i didn't have my mom.  she couldn't come nor could anyone elses support system.  that is hard, not to have people to anticipate being at certain points in the course it changes the way i race, it changes the finish line experience, and it changes the outcome but the irony in this was really the greatest part of the race.  i set out on this journey trying to prove something to someone else.  the whole reason i signed up for an ironman was out of spite.  yes spite.  it got me up every hill and to every camp without a doubt.  but for mexico i decided i was on my own.  i hadn't been racing or competing or "just getting to the finish line" for very long.  pre st george i had only done 3 other triathlons.   i ran before i knew how to do that part.  the bike was my struggle, but i was going to "trust it", the swim was just something to get through.

again, i've said it a million times before, i train and race with high caliber people.  i race with the best and i didn't or don't train like the best.  this race taught me that if i do, i can.

leading up to the race i felt great, not nervous. i had been sick for a straight 3 weeks prior and developed pleurisy, which i'm still to this day battling.  it sucks.  but my legs and body were otherwise in good shape.  i didn't log the hours i did for st george but i wasn't stupid either.  this is a very thin line when participating in these events.

RACE DAY
we woke up and headed out in our matching kits, swim start was a in water jump off the dock clear water start.  i took it in and got hit, kicked and punched the entire 2.4 miles.  my googles fogged up,  came off and water got in them which if i had to guess a calculation would say it cost me 5 minutes.  i knew where i was in the swim and stuck on the heels and hip of any guy (or girl respectively) that would allow for it.  transition was a bitch.  i pretty much took a shower for fear of late day chaffing, couldn't find sunscreen and then couldn't locate my bike in the mess of a maze.  I ended up with a 12 minute T1.

i got on the bike and killed the first lap.  i was an average 17.5 which is fast for me, i tried my best not to get caught up in all the drafting but it was useless and not being called so i just went with it.  the north end of the island was nothing but  clear blue water hitting the rocks and me.  amazing.  second lap i felt okay too, third lap the sickness hit, the head wind picked up to 20+ mph and in the distance i saw the  black cloud overlay.  i was puking every 10 minutes, lost my water cage, and was feeling like i couldn't finish.  i was emotionally spent and started to cry.  once i started i couldn't stop and then i thought about just finishing i could do this, i told myself.  mile 100 i hit the rain.  the hurricane rain.  it was brutal and the streets were flooded and it was hard to see where i was even going at that point.

i exited the bike with high hopes for my run.  i got to T2 and hit the run hard.   its 3 laps and raining. hard.  i headed out through town working off most of the energy from the crowd.  the water tasted gross and was in plastic bags that i had to bite the plastic off of. i was getting sick again and the porta a potty's weren't helping.  trust me i won't go into details here but triathletes have a great knack for "missing" anything and everything when it comes to those things.  i got lapped by a team member but it was a bitter sweet lap because it was a familiar face on the course.  i pushed through.  thinking mostly of my nephew, dangisoironman"

and i crossed the finish line in a a sub 14.  i was disappointed. i was disappointed in myself.  but i finished and i learned.  i will continue to learn, continue to beat what i always thought was unbeatable.