My race report is going to be a little different from most of the ones that I've heard in that instead of being based on how fast I was going or how my performance was going, it will be based on sheer survival and the overwhelming desire to beat the cut off. Doing this race was more about me changing from the fat couch potato that I was to someone committed to an active healthy lifestyle. My times are significantly slower than most, but I am absolutely delighted with them and I don't think that I currently could have done any better. Sorry, it will also be a bit long as this has been an incredible experience for me.

Ahhh..... the best laid plans....

I got to the venue on Thursday afternoon only to find that a mountain directly adjacent to the town was on fire. Apparently arson and the locals that I spoke to said that they would like to hand the culprit over to the folks on the Indian reservation on whose land the fire was set. They were sure that they could do a better job of meting punishment than anything that us pasty white men could do. Anyway, that is all besides the point. The problem came in that thick black smoke covered the whole area. Visibility was very low not to mention that awful way that my throat burned whenever I went outside. Yuck! I began to worry that the race would be cancelled due to the health hazard. Yikes! All that training and costs just to turn around and go home? How very disappointing. Tension was definitely mounting in the athletes that I came across as to whether or not we would have the race. Little did we all know, our trusty RD was spending all of his time addressing the situation. It was announced that the solutions he had come up with would be explained in the pre-race meeting the night before.

He changed the race! Completely. The only thing that stayed the same was that we were still swimming in Banks Lake and climbing the Almira grade. No longer were we biking over the Grand Coulee Dam. He was taking the racers a completely different direction to keep them out of the path of the smoke. The only drawback that I could see was that I now had to climb the Almira grade twice instead of just once. Ugh! That hill has been a thing of my nightmares for the past year since I first did it as part of my half-iron. It is what has driven me to find the worst hills in the area and attack them. This was not a change that I relished. The run also changed from the pretty little packed dirt trail along the Columbia river where the smoke liked to settle to an absolutely gorgeous and very scenic run out on the highway. I was thoroughly impressed with the RD's commitment to providing a safe, quality race. The last minute changes did provide some glitches as well, but they did their best to work them out. At least it wasn't cancelled.

Race morning:

I ate a clif bar and a high protein slim fast for breakfast. I sipped on gatorade at the venue, but didn't take much of it due to nerves. I have to admit that I was a little anxious about the race. All the normal stuff. Did I train enough? Did I forget anything? Will I have technical difficulties? Am I going to die? Was this a really stupid idea? What in the world made me think that I could do this? Am I going to regret last night's salad and french dip sandwich? Anyway, I busied myself with my normal pre-race routine of checking over my bike, getting my bags where they needed to be, the wetsuit wiggle, etc. I managed to stay in control.

SWIM: 1:34:59 - 2.4 miles

The swim was held in beautiful, clean Banks lake. The water was about 68 and it felt perfect to me. I felt fairly strong through this and easily made the cut off on this. My goal was between 90-100 minutes. I did it in 95, so I think that was really good. I had rented a wetsuit because someone convinced me that wearing the suit that I bought when I was near 200lbs would slow me down more than it would help me. I had never used a full wetsuit before. Mine is sleeveless. Let's just say that was an interesting experience and resulted in a whole new set of wetsuit burns that are new and unique to this suit.

T1: 5:58

As I exited the water and ran up a grassy bank to collect my swim to bike bag, I realized that I was not the last person out of the water. Yeah! The changing tent was close by and my transition was fairly quick. I didn't rush. I just got things taken care of and ran and hopped on my bike. Sometime I should really learn to put on my shoes while on my bike. It might have made things easier.

Bike: 8:48:00 - 118 miles

The bike starts out nicely for about .25 mile. Then it gets pretty ugly. The Almira grade. Ugh! Now it depends on where you start measuring it as to how long it is. Let's just say, my bike computer registered almost 3.5 miles before it was over. It is about 8% grade and fairly brutal. Yes, I walked some of it. I need to do more hill work. I have got to conquer this fear of hills. I know it is all in my head. Ahhhh.... another something to work on. Anyway, after the Almira grade, comes about 15 miles of "Oh my gosh! Not another one!" rollers. Then you get a fairly fast couple of miles descent into a little town. Then you get another 35 miles of fairly fast tuck and aero riding. 25 of those miles are on a hard butt bumping bumpy road.

Until a couple of weeks ago, I had done a really good job of training so that I would be injury free at race time. Hah! Then I crashed my bike and messed up my knee. The last couple of weeks have been very focused on getting my knee better. Unfortunately it was quite 100% by race day. I was REALLY feeling it by about mile 30 on the bike. Knowing that I would probably be hurting, I put an Icy Hot patch in my special needs bag. As I started getting closer to the end of the first lap, I started counting down the miles until I could get those patches on. Unfortunately, those things don't stick to things that move. It came right off.

Speaking of special needs. I did not have an egg sandwich in my bag. I opted for getting down half of a high protein slim fast instead. It was perfect. My nutrition until that point consisted of fueling every 20 minutes alternating between a fourth of a peanut butter clif bar and a gel. The gels alternated between a gu and an accelgel w/protein. It worked well. I started some endurolytes on the second lap of the course. I started to get a little muddleheaded on the second lap and kept forgetting to fuel. That probably contributed to my mental crash that I will explain later.

It took all of my willpower to actually start the second lap. It started with another go at my best friend, the Almira grade. Ugh! I was a bit longer than my goal for the first lap, so I was now a little worried about the bike cut off at 5:30PM. I originally planned on making it back by 4:30, but with the added miles and my knees, things weren't going as planned. I was struggling to keep my speeds up to anything close to what I did on the first lap. I started to get really, really worried. At about mile 60, I had almost decided that I should just get to the next aid station and ask them to radio in for someone to come get me because I just wasn't going to make it. There wasn't any sense in completely ruining my knee for a race I wasn't going to finish anyway. I was really down. It was awful! Somehow I figured that I should at least keep biking until they pulled me off the course. I wouldn't quit. I just couldn't live with my self if I did that. How could I go home and tell my children that I quit? I figured that I would likely be pulled from the course after the bike, but I wouldn't quit. As I rounded the corner and headed out on the bumpy highway, I calculated what pace I would have to keep in order to make it in on time. The RD's signs were not accurate, but I knew what mile marker the end was at and so I could figure it out from them. Somehow, I managed to keep a faster pace on this leg than I did on the previous lap. I beat the cut off by 5 minutes. I came in at 5:25. Unfortunately someone had told my husband that the cut off was at 5:00. He was sweating bullets for me and sendtmy step dad out to go find out where I was. Because the course was 4-6 miles long(depends on whose computer you used), they eventually changed the cut off to 6:00. Either way, I made it.

T2: 6:21

I was soooo glad to get off of my bike! I think that my blood sugar was a little low and I was very muddleheaded. I was having a bit of trouble figuring out how to get my bike into the rack and my body back out for the run. I sat in the changing tent and tried to put on my shoes. Dianna came in to check on me. I think she was a little worried about me. I know my mother was. I couldn't hardly walk. How could I run. This happened last year at my half and I knew that I would feel better once I started running. I tried to stick more Icy Hot patches to my knees. They wouldn't stick, so I dumped them. The only pain reliever that I had in my bag was Tylenol and Midol. I opted for the Midol. That choice proved interesting. I never did start my cycle before the race, but I came prepared just in case. Unfortunately, it has a diuretic in it. If I had started my cycle, it would have been perfect. I usually carry 5-10lbs of water and I thought that having to go to the bathroom more often would be worth it if I didn't have to carry all of that with me. Because I hadn't started, I wasn't carry the extra water and the diuretic dehydrated me and I had to pee 5 times on the run course. Oh well, at least my knees were feeling better. I just made sure to take fluids at every aid station. I honestly don't remember what I ate in transition. My head just wasn't with me. I know I sucked on a hard candy. But that is all I remember. I may have drunk some high protein slim fast, but I don't remember.

Run: 6:09:05 - 26.2 miles

I knew that this would be the hardest part for me. My run training had been pathetic. I had managed to get up to 13 miles and that was two months before my race. Ugh! Still, I figured that if I could get back from the bike in time, I could walk the marathon and get in on time. Unfortunately, I did not get back from the run on time and so I really had to move on the marathon or I wouldn't make it.

The run was a two loop out and back on a mainly straight but slightly hilly course on a highway that runs along banks lake. It was beautiful! I actually preferred it to the trail along the Columbia River. It was sooo pretty. I started the run out easy. I ran 5 minutes and walked 2. Then I ran 10 and 2. Then I ran 15 and 2. I did fairly well with that the first 6 miles or so. The aid stations every mile or so were fairly well stocked. I alternated between hammer gels/water, endurolytes/gatorade, and salted potatoes/gatorade. They offered bananas, soup, pretzels, grapes, pizza, snickerdoodles, etc. The soup didn't sit well with me, so I decided to play it safe and stick to what I had been doing. I discovered that I run better when I run by myself then when I do when I run with people. Somehow, I almost always end up talking and walking instead of talking and running. Let's just say that I made quite a few new friends on the way back from the first loop. It was hard to get started running again on the way back. I grabbed my sweatshirt, flashlight and half a slimfast from my special needs bag before I headed back out. I started running down the hills and walking up them. I figured that if I could get to the turn around by 10:15, I might just have a chance at making it back before midnight. I made it to the turn around by 10:14. I quickly realized that I was going to have to run more if I was going to make it back in time. So I started running the road reflectors along the side of the road. I wouldn't let myself walk more than one at a time.

It was so dark out there. There were no towns, no street lights and no moons. The stars were beautiful though, if not enough light to see by. My light sticks barely showed me the white line on the road. I had a flashlight, but it died by mile 15. I was afraid that I was going to mis-step and tumble off the highway and into the ditch. It was now that Dianna, my mom and step dad and my husband became life savers! They tag teamed me with their headlights and kept my path lit up. It was great. I think that I ran more because I knew they were watching me.

I was one of the last people in from the race. There was one guy behind me and as he passed the aid stations, they packed up into trucks and headed into town. They honked their horns and cheered me as I ran in. It made me feel that they were out there just for me. I just wanted to hug every single one of them. As I came into town and down the last hill, I could hear the music and the announcer. I tried to pick up the pace a little. I saw my husband at the corner sprint ahead to the finish line to see me in. Just as I rounded the corner they started playing the Rocky theme. I was sure that James had asked them to do it and I took it as a love note from him. I tried to sprint to the finishline. I don't think that it looked like I was sprinting, but that IS what I was doing. It was 11:44:25 and I was soooooo glad to be done! I made it.

Overall time: 16:44:25 Yeah!!!

The next morning at awards, I was surprised to be presented with a 2nd place ribbon in my age group. I have never placed ever anywhere. I was thrilled! I had checked the website and there were 5 people registered in my age group a couple of weeks ago. Only four were still registered by race day. Only 3 started the race and only two finished. I am absolutely delighted to be the 2nd of the 2!

 

This is a report a friend of mine gave who was doing the half iron on the same course that day and was there to support me

 

A few external observations on Kelly's race.

First, it was great to be there and watch Kelly throughout the daying knowing where she came from. I remember last year she was scared to do the half and at the time it was an exploration to see if she could/would do the full. At that time, she didn't think she could do the swim within the iron cutoff time of 2:20. I was thrilled to see her come out of the water at 1:34 - Saweet!

Then, the difference between us over-zealous gotta-kill-myself-and-go-fast athletes became apparent - Kelly was chatting up a storm in the changing tent! It sounded like a party in there

On to the bike she went and I figured I'd see here again between 4:30 and 5:30. My race started at 9:30, so I knew I wouldn't be done when she started her second lap.

At 4:30 or a little later, I found Kelly's mom and hubby at the park and they'd had a sighting of her still 9 miles out. James thought the cutoff was at 5 and was in a panic that she'd be pulled from the course. We talked to the volunteers and they said they would pull up the bike mat at 5:30 - we knew she would be close. The last few bikes trickled in and Kelly came in at about 5:25. She looked like he$$ when she got off the bike (sorry Kelly). She was bent over, moving slow, talking slow and generally looked to be in a world of hurt.

I took advantage of my athlete wristband and followed her in the changing tent to see how she was, give encouragment, whatever. Her blood sugar was really low - she was pretty out of it. She drank her slimfast, dropped her candy, managed to get a hard candy in her mouth, put on shoes - she said they felt heavenly - and then she got up to head for the run course. She headed for the wrong door and I had to turn her around while she said "why do I want to go that way?" Then we got outside and she asked where she should go. I pointed to a flag pathway and told her to start out walking between the flags. She walked about 100 feet and started running. I was really impressed that she started running that soon, when I knew she really was hurting.

I was concerned about Kelly on the run, but mostly because I knew her run training had not been optimal and I know how rough a marathon can be when you go in undertrained - and that's without riding a bike for 8 hours before. But, I also knew how determined she was to finish, so I planned to spend a lot of time on the run course cheering and cajoling.

It was great to see Kelly running strong with "PinkGirl" at about mile 7. Talking and laughing and she even let out a Xena Warrior Princess yell. She was alert and in much better shape than an hour before. It was fun to cheer on the other competitors, too, and talk to other supporters along the course. The volunteer support at the finish line/special needs turn around was not stellar for the slower athletes. It was really dark and they didn't have lights on the bags. Quite a few athletes before Kelly were unable to find their bags because the volunteers were off chatting instead of helping, so Bill got a flashlight and when Kelly came in he had it pointing at her bag, which was good, because the volunteers were still busy elsewhere. She ate, she drank, she put on a black jacket (note: if you're going to be out late, white/ reflective clothing is good

2nd lap - it was really dark out there. The stars were awesome. The glow sticks helped make the athletes visible, but, did I mention it was dark? Really dark! Eventually we started leaving the lights on for the atheletes. Eventually Kelly just went into her own little world. The smiles and handwaves got smaller and eventually disappeared. The smile was replaced with a determined look of intense concentration.

Finally, she hit Electric City and street lights and we headed to the finish line the watch the last few people come in. Finally, it was Kelly's turn. The announced queued up the theme from Rocky, Kelly's husband got a big grin on his face and she came racing in - fastest I'd seen her go all day and on an uphill finish - nice!!! She gave a little jump as she crossed the line. It was so cool. I don't think she cried, but I did - I was really happy for her

This was really a new perspective for me and it was really fun to watch. Now about my Ironman -- NOT!!!! Inspiring, yes, but I didn't get the IM bug - I'll leave that to all you crazy people

Congrats again Kelly!!!!!!

 

Note:I just signed up for Ironman St George which is scheduled to be run on May 1, 2010.  I am soooooooooooo excited!