half Ironman report
Ok, folks, here it is, and I know why it took so long to start writing about it. I believe
myself to be an exceptional athlete. Strong, powerful, graceful? (no) quick, fast. And triathlon really has nothing to do with those gifts. I am slow in triathlon.
So, Yes, I did finish the Utah half
Ironman. It was hard. I wanted to quit many times, and probably would have if it weren't for friends along the way. For some reason, in my mind, it is really no big deal that i did it. It didn't give me any sense of accomplishment, or grand 'ah ha' moment, and i couldn't understand why (
cuz i really was expecting one or both of those moments). So I have been pondering. I figured it out on Friday, and ran it past Dwain. He disagrees with me, so I will run it past you.
See, I have been training really long and hard for this 'race'. I would wake up early and get in time on a run or bike, then have a workout scheduled for the evening, usually a swim. There were lots of "2-a days". about 4 hours a day working out. and I did the workouts, almost all of them. I missed quite a few swim workouts, because they are the hardest to schedule and that is my best event of the 3.
Now here is where you will want to pay attention. I know that even though I did what I did, y'all could do it too, and do so much better than me. Yes, you could. I know most of you don't want to, and that is fine. But IF you decided, "Hey, Anita did it. I want to do one, too." then you could, and you would be great. I am certain if you spent the time training and working with a group of fun people to prepare for your race, you would do better than I did.
Do you know I haven't even checked my times, yet?
OK, I am back. I just checked my times.
Here they are.
| Place | Number | Name | Home Town | Class | Swim | min/100yd | T1 | Bike | mph | T2 | Run | min/mi | Total Time | Back | Penalties |
| 224 | Anita NORRIS |
| Athena | 00:57:41.100 | 00:05:27.8 | 00:04:58.100 | 03:27:43.100 | 16.2 | 00:07:36.900 | 03:30:29.400 | 00:16:04.1 | 08:00:51.7 |
| +00:00:00.000 |
They said the swim was long. GPS isn't what it used to be. so we swam 200
yds longer than the 1.2 miles. and that is an exceedingly slow time for me /100
yds. I did stand up a couple times to adjust equipment. (yes the lake was that low in the harbor.) I was so anxious/nervous/terrified of this race distance that I had to just enjoy the morning, and think about the swim only during the swim, and the bike only during the bike. that helped, but still i knew there was a run. See, even now i can't just look at one aspect of the race. I enjoyed the swim. It was a beautiful morning. I watched the sun come up over the mountains and it was really stunning. We had 2 laps to do, and I was enjoying it. I even had enough gas in the tank at the end of the swim to push hard to the buoy to get out passing some men in the process. (they started 5 minutes ahead of the women)
Transition. I took my time. i don't know why. I wanted to make sure I had enough fuel for the bike ride. I loaded up my shirt pocket, and away I went. But I left my
odwalla bar there. that was my actual food for the bike, and I put it down to pick something else up and left it there. The bad part of that was I need food in my stomach to take the gel packs, otherwise I get
crampy in the tummy, and need to find a bathroom. I did the gel pack anyway, and it turned out to be
ok. I don't know why, I don't care why, it was good to not have to find a bathroom on the course. My goal for the bike was to ride the 56 miles in less than 3:30. I did it. It is a nice ride. Flat and fast, not for me of course, I am not fast for 56 miles, but I am consistent and I do finish. The ride took us out to West Mountain, past pastures and
hayfields and cows. It is a nice morning ride. I had to think about that, and not the run. With about 15 miles to go, I started to feel my leg cramp. It wasn't bad, just the beginning stages telling me I needed more electrolytes. With 8 miles to go my coach rode up to me. I told her my dilemma and she promptly handed me electrolytes. She is great. She was being bike support for her athletes who were doing this event. She rode with me for about 5 of the 8 miles and kept me going, not allowing me to slow down. I told her I was hungry, and NEEDED food, she said she would take care of it at transition. She is just a little bit sneaky about motivation.
Let me elaborate. About 3 weeks before this race I had a 3.5 hour bike ride for a workout. It nearly wiped the floor with me. i was exhausted. I couldn't imagine trying to run after being on a bike that long. I called
Keena and talked with her. I was so emotional and tense until we agreed that I would just do the swim and bike and work on the run for next year. Or since the run had parts to it, I could just do one part, and then hand them my timing chip and be done.
So I am chowing down in transition on any fruit I can get, and I see my friend Sherry come in and go. I commented to
Keena that we were supposed to walk together and eat skittles. I guess that got her attention that I was still standing there eating and drinking, and she kicked me in the butt and told me to get out of transition and onto the course. So I did. I took my cold water and some pretzels, and WALKED. It took 3 miles of walking before I could sustain a jog.
Then I didn't want to go any farther, but there was
Keena as i was coming back past transition and she got more food and water and electrolytes for me and persuaded me to keep going. that motivation lasted to the next aid station when i heard my Jill-friend call my name. She was willing to walk with me. so I kept going.
Then we saw Sherry. She was jogging toward us, coming back from the mile out and mile back. I was only a quarter mile out, but turned around and walked with her. So I missed about a mile and a half of the 13.1 miles. (yes I told the race director)
Jill headed to the finish line when i still had 6 miles to go. Erica joined sherry and I and we walked on. Erica is training for a marathon and she was great company as that 6 miles didn't seem like too long, until I started on the path. 3 miles out and 3 miles back. We walked, we talked and we even jogged every now and then. Sherry took off about a mile and a half into the 3 miles out. So it was Erica and me. She cheered on those who were coming back, telling them they were awesome and to keep going. She is amazing. After the turnaround at the 3 miles out point,
Keena came up on her bike and challenged us to get my butt moving to finish before the time ran out. Run 3 and walk 1 I think is what she said. But we jogged 6 then I sat in the river. Then we did it again. Jogged 6 and sat in the river for 30 seconds. It felt
sooooo good.
we jogged and walked, with more jogging than I thought was possible. Erica and Jill and
Keena get all the credit for getting me to the finish line. Thank you.
I made it there almost a full minute after the 8 hour cutoff time.
Sad, but true. they still gave me the medal for finishing, and I will PROUDLY display it somewhere knowing that you can do it, too.
games and we start the season feeling good about our chances.
