brizz's blog: IRONMAN 70.3

I'm a little behind on my blogging!!

Sunday April 5th was the Ironman 70.3, the race was amazing!!!!

I'll start from the beginning.... Adam dropped me off at the race at 6a.m. just in time to get body marked, lay out all of my gear in transition and walk the mile to swim start. The swim heats were by age group and the 1st group left at 7 a.m. There were 20 heats about 4 mins apart. I was in the 30-35 females and we started at 7:40. I had just enough time before to visit with some friends and get some last min. good luck wishes from my parents.

1.2 Mile Swim 39:54: My swim was great, calm water and I couldn't have asked for anything better except the ability to swim in a straight line. At one point I found myself headed straight for a Kayak, I am convinced I added some milage on to my course. The hardest part for me was getting out of my wet suit, I was stuck! Lucky for me they had "wet suit strippers" waiting when I got out to rip it off of me.

56 Mile Bike 3:17:11

If you have read my previous blogs you would know that I was dreading the bike! Well it wasn't that bad at all and I even finished almost 45 mins ahead of my estimated time. The ride out to Venitian Isles was not bad, it was a bit scary riding over the seabrook bridge even if they did have carpet on the grate. The wind picked up on the way back and the second trip over the bridge was just plain hard. I was never so excited to get off of that bike. I took my time in transition when I got back, drank some gatoraide, visited the restroom, chatted with the girl next to me etc. maybe I can work on my speed in transition for next year.

13.1 Mile run 2:23:43

Now the run was surprisingly HARD! I started off in 8 min miles and it was downhill from there. Nurtition wise I felt great, had eaten enough gu's and taken in enough liquid's on the bike but my body just HURT. I felt every muscle , joint, and bone on every step. The first part along lakeshore drive was brutal, it was windy and there was no shade at all. I was thinking it was going to be a long 13 miles ahead. Then around mile 2.5 I caught up to George. The same George who toasted at New Years that his resolution was to beat me in the ironman. He had started a good 20 mins plus ahead of me in the morning so I was very excited. I decided if I was going to finish this thing we would need to stick togther. So we ran the last 11 miles side by side, complaining to each other the whole time:)

We stopped at every water stop and many many places in between! I don't think either one of us ever disagreed when the other would suggest a walk break. My miles quickly went from 10 min miles and at one ponit I think we hit 13min miles! But we were going to finish:)

Running down Decatur street toward Jackson Sq was awesome the crowds were big and we could see the finish line! All of my friends and my parents and Adam were on the sidelines cheering. I finished in 6 hours 35 mins, just behind the average time of 6:23. 1428/2310 overall people and 338/644 females.