Salt lake city marathon: April 2012
Although I did not reach my goal time, I did get a PR of 3:09:39 and placed 4th overall the women . Had some stomach issues, and ended up racing to get third by 1 second ( yes 1 second), to find out she started about 9 seconds back on the start line so I placed 4th! Yes that was a major buzkill, but that's the way it goes in racing. I can honestly say I learned a lot about myself that day. What a race! Here are some pictures of me and my friends that did the half!
Well this was probably the coldest that I have ever been in my life and as the first tri of my season it sure put my mental strength to the test!! To make it short, the air temp was about 50 degrees, with high winds and freezing rain, which eventually turned into snow right before plunging into 57 degree water. Not ideal for hopping on a bike and blazing straight down a hill when all extremities are numb. Which is probably why some athletes ,(including the male pro who won), wore their wet suits on the bike!!! Wow wish I had thought of that:) Due to the weather conditions, the bike was cut short to only twelve miles because of the chance of hypothermia and the 40 mile an hour winds. All in all I ended up with a good run split, (1:30), placed 7th in my age and got a spot to the World Championships 70.3 , yay!!
Here is a pic from the race with me and my friends Jess and Pete, about 3 hours before the start. You can tell it is a while before the start because we are still smiling! ha
Next Up, Boulder Half Ironman: August 2012:
Ok so this is one of my favorite races. The swim is warm, the bike is fast and the run.... well it's pretty hot... but that was to be expected in Colorado in August. Although I once again had some really bad stomach issues, I had a lot of fun on the bike portion which has been my weakest link and newest athletic endeavor. I dropped a significant amount of time on the bike and I owe it all to my coach Aaron ,who has worked specifically with my bike fitness to gain some speed in that area. I ended up with a 2:38 split which I was happy with but a far cry from my buddy cherell who CRUSHED the course with a 2:24, one of the fastest amateur splits! GO Cher!! The run split on the other hand was not what I hoped for but all in all we had a good day. I placed 5th in my age and Cher placed third and qualified for Worlds!! Canyon Cycles tri team represent!!
Here is a pic of me and Cher with our plaques. They were made out of the wood from all of the fires in Colorado this summer. I thought that was a really cool idea :)
Feelin HOT HOT HOT... Wow! That would be the theme of this race for me and I am sure many others!! As Boise was the coldest I have ever been, this was the hottest I have ever been. I normally do not mind the heat, but this was a bit overboard. The swim was even hot for me which never happens and didn't go as well as I had hoped:( Then onto the bike which was a challenging course with a lot of climbing but I found it kind of fun because it was constantly changing. On about mile 49 I was feeling extremely hot and just could not get cool. I backed off the eating because nausea was setting in and I knew I had a very toasty run ahead. I ended up having a really hard time on the run and felt very sick for about the first five miles. This definitely affected my pace in a negative way but I stuck through it and finished as did my Canyon Cycles buddies, Ali and Cher!! They finished stronger than me for sure, so congrats ladies on such a tough day. I ended up with 25th in my age which I am satisfied with and a night in vegas with my best friend Jess and boyfriend Jake!
Me, Ali and Cher the night before the race:) These girls kick butt!!
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