Wow, I can’t believe I was gone for 12 days!!
While in Penticton, I had very limited computer time as well as phone. So I apologize for not updating my blog.
I left August 17th for Kelowna (a neighboring town to Penticton) to stay with my friends, Scott and Kathleen Wood. I really wanted to get out there early so that I could see the bike course. I have heard of how difficult the climbs were as well as the decents. And I am really glad that I got a chance to see what the race was all about.
Scott and Kathleen are vetrans of IM Canada. I think that Kathleen has competed there about 10 or 11 times. So I knew that I was in good hands as they went through the course with me!
Scott took me out to the course on Sunday morning to ride the decent from Yellow Lake. I have to say, I was pretty terrified with the traffic and loose gravel on the shoulder. However, I made it in one piece and I felt good!
I moved to Penticton on Tuesday to get ready for the race. I had a great homestay with Graham Fraser and his wife, Sue, as well as Ironman great, Paula Newby-Fraser. I was so relaxed all week, that I almost felt dead! I enjoyed my taper week and felt really great about my race. All was going well and I was determined to have an awesome day on race day!
Sunday morning, I did my usual race day prep with latte, brown rice, honey and 2 eggs. About 600-700 calories. I usually like to eat a lot more than that but with the tapering, I just got too full.
Michael and I got to the swim start with plenty of time to spare. For once, I was early! I got in the water with about 10 minutes to go and I felt amazing. I, unfortunatley, had a slow start, however, I was really able to build into it and I ended up having a really great swim. I came out of the water with Lisa Bentley! I hadn’t ever done that before! On the bike, I felt pretty good. My goal was to slowly build into it and have a solid 2nd half. About 2.5 hrs into the bike was the turn around. This is the spot that i could see everyone coming through. I felt good about my position although i didn’t feel good about my belly. I had the worse stomach cramps (very gross gas!)and was unable to take in much nutrition. I just kept the faith that it would come around…and eventually it did. I knew that when Istarted the run, I was low on calories. I usually start out at 6:50-7:00 pace and blow at mile 15. However, this time, I started at 7:45 miles and blew pretty much at mile 5. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other and kept pluging along. I managed to finish in 11th place, just behind Ironman great Wendy Ingrahm in about 10:30.
Ironically, I got a slot for IM Hawaii. However, I passed it because I have other things going on right now that are super important to me. My girlfriend Sara is getting married in 2 weeks in Baltimore, I have a couple of houses to sell, I have a baby shower in a week, and last but not least, I have a lot of repect for IM Hawaii and I know what sort of shape I have to be in to be able to compete at a high level. Truthfully, I’m not there right now. I think that I had a great race for only starting consistant training in May. Right now, I am taking a small break before I start training for either a open marathon or IM Florida. In the meantime, I plan on making my husband an his race in Hawaii a huge priority as well as my buddies and work!
Thanks for reading!