Mommy Tri's: 70.3 Half IRONMAN!!! Utah Half

This is what I had worked towards all spring and summer long. Completing a Half Ironman! 1.2 miles of swimming, followed by 56 miles of Biking, then you get to run a half marathon - 13 miles.

It seemed so daunting at the beginning of the season and I was scared to death the few days before it. But I knew I had trained as hard as possible - Really. Who else would bike 56 miles and then run the 13 miles as a training?!?! well, I did! And I only made it running about 10 of the miles and then walked about 2 before my husband picked me up. That day was a lesson in hydration and fueling - one I am glad I learned before race day. Although I was still nervous the same thing might happen on race day. But, thankfully, it did not, and race day was as perfect as it could be.

Exiting the water after 1.2 miles of swimming -The mass start didn't bother me, I have yet to get bloodied up - I'm sure it's just a matter of time - but for now I've had pretty good experiences. I definitely need to learn to swim straight. I kept veering to the left or right and would have to correct myself when I'd site. I started swimming last February. Actually learning how to swim correctly. I am hoping because I am so new to the swim that my times will improve quite a bit over the next year or so. My goal for the swim was to be under 42 minutes, I was 46 min (169/301) - nothing to brag about - that's for sure - but I guess that includes all the guys too - that makes it a bit more respectable!! My girlfriend who did the race with me was pretty convinced the swim course was longer than 1.2 - I was glad to hear that (and others have reiterated that fact too) - my longest 1.2 in a pool was 44 min and typically race day is faster -and wetsuits make you faster too - So i'll just hope it was long and that my time isn't as bad as I thought it was! power in positive thinking!

My friend Kari and I rode almost the whole bike course together - it was fabulous! The Bike course was mostly flat, so it was just a matter of pedaling through it. My goal was to be under 3 hours, I was 3:01:10 with a 19mph average, and 195/301 (not very good!)

The run is my strongest part - not that it's great - but at least so far in the races I've done, there are very few (females) who pass me on the bike and the run - especially the run. My goal was to run a 9:30 pace (which is not very fast - but after that swim and bike, it was what I realistically hoped for). When I started the run I could not believe how hard it was. I had done so many brick workouts (bike to run in a quick transition) that I felt I would be ready for this, but man oh man it was hard! The first three miles were the worst and I kept telling myself, "wow, you just have to finish," and "I will NEVER do a full ironman, NEVER." and "this is absolutely insane", then I'd see a smiling girl pass me coming the other direction (there were a bunch of out and backs in the loop and we did the loop twice, so you kept seeing the same people as you passed them going the other direction) - there was one girl that in particular made me smile and realize I was doing this because I wanted to. She was always smiling and saying hi to everyone she ran by. I looked forward to seeing her and actually started closing the gap between us as she was maybe a half mile ahead of me at the start of the run. After the three miles passed I got into a groove and just started to reel people in, my goal would be to reel in the next person in front of me, and just focus on that until it was accomplished. At about mile 11ish - I passed my smiling girl , she was sitting down on the side of the path and was not smiling, I talked to her as I passed and asked if she was ok. I told her she was my smiling girl and that I looked forward to her smiles when we passed. I was happy to see her finish a few minutes behind me, to know that she was able to finish. I ended up with a 9:20 min/mile pace and a 2:02:24 run (107/301)
Here I am running in with 2 of my boys! (this was the best pic we got - sorry it's so small!)