HALF IRON-MAN

August 28th 2010~
I completed my first Half-Iron Man (Bear Lake Brawl). The race was delayed almost an hour due to a storm that had gone through the night and still lingered in the morning. Janet and I left the cabin at 5:00 am to head down to the lake. While driving down to the lake, lightning was really lighting up the sky. I was kind of half hoping maybe they could cancel the swim and make us ride a few extra miles on the bike!

I won't bore you setting up transition details, but Shane was a great help to me. The swim went really well for me. I was one minute behind my friend Janet who is a really good swimmer! I was a little bummed to see two ladies start with the men, because that meant they had a 5-10 min. head start on the rest of the women.

I headed out on the bike and I was really makin' some bacon! It was a great ride until I turned on the North Shore at Bear Lake. The winds had started up. After I turned around at the 1/2 way mark the wind was a little more bearable until I turned to go back on the east side of the Lake. I figure that the winds slowed me down by at least 20-30 min. JT, Shane and Arie would drive by and cheer for me. It took around 3 hours and 11 min.to bike the 56 miles.

I was happy to get off the bike because of the wind......but I think I should have stayed on the bike! The wind on the run was even worse than on the bike! I was by far the worst run I have ever had in my life! It was almost half walk/ half run. My body had no more to give, especially fighting the wind. The aide stations were out of water and gatorade. I started to cry when the volunteer told me that there was no water...he took off the lid and poured me out the last few drops of water. Luckily Shane, Brynne, JT and Arie came by soon after and Brynne had a little water left in her bottle. I told them to go back and check on Janet, because she would need some water also. They kept checking on me every few min. which was nice. Shane was really nice to tell me I was looking good, (which I really was not!) I was able to run/walk with a guy for awhile which was nice to visit with someone. I gave him some of my swedish fish and sport beans. He was worse off than me some I moved on. Shane told me that everyone in the race was walking, the wind just simply took it out of you. The best part of the race was when I had less than a mile to go Shane drove by in the truck holding a bottle of Diet Coke out the window!

I didn't make my goal time, but I did accomplish two of the three goals. I did work really hard all summer to do this, and I am not so sure I will do it again! It was the worst organized race that I have ever attended. I am now excited to ride my bike! I have missed riding my bike as much as I am used too!

Race distance for Half Iron Man- Swim~ 1.2miles Bike~ 56 miles Run~ supposed to be 13.1 but this race was 14.

Pictures to follow----maybe :)