"CHECK!!"

DONE. 13 hours and 35 minutes. What a beautiful course, "fan club" and townspeople of St. George. The weather was spectacular and the race is over!! :-) CHECK!!

We got up at 3:40am (although I'd been awake since 1:30 - ugh!), grabbed some quick yogurt, grapenuts and gatorade and Steve drove me to the bus and gear drop. They shuttled all athletes out to the reservoir - made it there in now time. Time to go through all the gear I'd dropped yesterday, add some food, water, pump up my tires and then a little sunrise yoga. Just beautiful! Around 6:15 I headed to the women's changing tent and got my wetsuit on.

Pro's took off at 6:45 and the rest of us mortals lined up in the shoot. Who do I see first thing? THE FAN CLUB! Very fun! Adam got a car pass and they'd driven straight down to the reservoir (spectators were supposed to take buses in - it's good to have friends in 'high places' :-)

I staged very far right as it was a counter clock wise course (thank you, Jen Reinhart!). With 2340 people starting at I did NOT want to get clubbed, swam over, pushed under, goggles ripped off, etc....it ALL happens in IM events. But my staging worked and even though I swam a bit farther, I enjoyed having a bit of space. I think I only made slight contact with a couple guys twice.

The water was beautiful - about 59 warm, chummy degrees. I was blanketed in warmth...I thought. I started getting a little bit chilly at about mile 2, but more strangely things started becoming "surreal" - I kind of lost touch with reality, like I was out of body or had vertigo. An hour and sixteen minutes after I'd entered the water, I very zigzaggy ran up the timing mat to wetsuit stripping and was useless. Two guys pulled and tugged my suit and booties off. I grabbed them, went through and grabbed my T1 gear bag and then my "escort" (sweet volunteers assigned to help the next athlete get geared up for their bike) scurried me into the women's changing tent. I plopped down and literally felt like I was in that weird drug zone of just coming out of anesthesia. ODD! My arms weren't working, my legs certainly weren't working - so I was dressed for my bike leg by some sweet St. Georgian who probably saw more boobs and crotches from other states yesterday than she could have ever had nightmares about. But she did it. Got me dressed, I quickly stood up, bobbed left, bobbed right and then slithered back to me chair. Try again. Nope. Repeat. Yup. Good enough. I can stagger to my bike eight and a half minutes later - and I didn't even coif my hair :-)

When I got to it my jaw was chattering and my body shaking so bad it took me 4-5 times to get my leg over the frame (still in that anesthesia haze so I don't remember how many exactly - but too many!) But got it. I rode the preset gear for a few miles, then my Kmart garden glove-clad hands managed to find a more appropriate gear (yes, high tech fans, I bought cheap garden gloves that I could wear and toss later; guess I should have kept 'em for 'Neth or Julz...)

And off on the 112 mile bike ride I went, knees quivering, jaw chattering like I'd never experienced (it's actually sore today...hmmm). It took me 25 miles to quit shaking and chattering...ick. But I did get warm fuzzies when I came to an intersection at about mile 11 or so and THE FAN CLUB was bringing down the house! Some bike guy looked at me and said "Wow, you've got tons of fans here!"

Into town we sped, through town, around town, across the main road toward Red Mountain, through their village and out toward the little country road to get on "The Loop" - and whoala - there's THE FAN CLUB again! Big smiles.

"The Loop" had pretty strong head winds - going downhill required work. But I was no longer cold (not hot, just not cold) so I'd take it. The scenery was God-given and just astounding too look at. I giggled as athletes charged past me on their bikes, their heads never looking left or right and what surrounded them. Their loss, my gain :-)

Every significant hill I would come out of the saddle to work my hips and keep them moving and stretching. There were significant climbs on the route but the kind I like - long, rolling hills - kind of like climbing from Mansfield Dam to 2222 but a little steeper (last gear steep :-) There was an awesome switchback climb ("The Wall") - one of those Colorado style switchbacks that you look up from your road and see towering on the diagonal above you. It was awesomely long - about 12-13 minutes of pure pumping. But very doable (and walkable for many). I stayed very comfortable riding - my goal was to manage heart rate. It was going to be a long day and as my first one, I didn't know where I could blow myself up and still get through the day. My average heart rate for the 112 miles was 138. I rode with the mindset that I was riding to go do a run - so management was key.

A big shout out to the volunteers on top of the "plateau" - they were my bathroom stop on both loops - I'd pull in, they'd hold my bike while I hit the porta pottie, they'd fill my profile water bottle, restock my caged water bottle - I'd pop out of the john to the "full service" stop, give them huge thanks and merge back into traffic. Sweet!

The backside of the loop was 17 miles of amazingly scenic downhill. There were a few very long inclines on the front portion, but after that - downhill, Baby. The crosswinds were significant so white knuckles ruled. Little me managed to break 40mph several times - I can't do that in Austin!

Back to town we bombed, turned back on the loop and did it again! I was stuffing my PBHoney sandwich into my mouth coming around the "entry to the loop" corner - and there was THE FAN CLUB again. Woo hoo (and yes, they were definitely the loudest people ANYWHERE on the course - small in numbers, huge in decimals!)

Seven hours and sixteen minutes after getting on the bike I came blasting down main street to transition. Amongst the banners and hundreds of hooting and hollering people, there was THE FAN CLUB (and Jack, might I add! His pictures throughout St George document he had a really big day while I was workin'!)

Transition was much easier this time. A bike handler took my bike from me in the street, I ran through the gear bag section, some sweet volunteer had already pulled it for me, put it in my hand, and voila, there was another changing angel to escort me into the changing tent. Lucky for her, I wouldn't be butt-naked this time (although lots of folks were) so she wouldn't have to put her blinders on while kneeling at my feet and gear bag. She dumped everything out, I could actually use my mouth and lips this time to communicate, we got what I needed and in 2 minutes and seven seconds I was off - right into long, long hills. For the entire marathon.

I was pleasantly surprised to have my legs for 13 miles. It was at about a 4 hour marathon pace - about 20-30 minutes faster than my goal. Into the roundy-round about 100 feet from the finish line (to the cheers of THE FAN CLUB, a quick look at the finish line - and then routed back out for the second loop past THE FAN CLUB and Jack again.) But then my tummy went south - very south - nauseated, bloated, felt like I had to go to the bathroom really bad - couldn't keep running. I had to walk probably at least half the second lap. Spent lots of time in the bathroom hoping to either puke or poop, - but neither, all the while dropping my average pace time by sitting in the head :-) Started drinking some chicken broth at rest stops; I don't know if that helped, but my feet could start rolling the downhills. There was also a period I considered wearing a trash bag as it was very windy and getting quite cold - but after about 5 miles the weather improved a bit. The tummy funk has me baffled so I'll be studying that and getting with a sports nutritionist to figure that out back home. I was able to come out of it a bit at mile 22; my downhill paces were back to normal and I walked the uphill culdesac loop and then it subsided a bit at mile 23 to run it in.

My legs were really good for the marathon. Ok, of course they were tired, but nothing odd sat in (like the San Antonio marathon where my hips started hurting at mile 7!) I got a blister but that's pretty normal and it didn't hurt during the run. So training wise - I think I was on target. I've got a few things I'd refine for my own personal needs, but having self-coached myself through this, taking wisdom from athlete friends, literature and "gut instinct" for what would work for my needs, it was good. Training partners and spin class friends, there were many points when your words would echo in my mind - and spin class, every time I came out of that saddle on those long climbs "my words" to you kept me going - smooth, easy, rolling my hips, belly button side to side - with all of your eyes on me, who could get sloppy??

I crossed the finish line at 13:35:01 - faster than I'd expected to but slower than I probably would have finished it if I hadn't been dealt the tummy problem. But it's always all in the day and how we deal with the day. That's the growth of it - that's one of the aspects I love about triathlon. Mentally, the fortitude to keep going when your body wants to just stop (or hide out just "sitting" in some isolated porta pottie out in the middle of absolutely no where, on the edge of a red cliff with wind howling through it - but it's wonderful solitude - and I think one could really just disappear and escape an event there ;-)

Before the gun fired at the start of the day, I found myself smiling and wondering just what I would be dealt today? What would create those conversations between body, mind and spirit that leads athletes to the debate to continue moving somehow, to stop, to hide or to simply run. Oddly enough, since I hadn't competed since last fall, I'd missed the pain that surrounds that conversation - and the strength that shows up to get you through it.

I sit here humbled and surrendered. Steve sent me this today from yesterday's e-devotional that we receive: "The greatness of a man's power is the measure of his surrender." William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army. Although I'm not feeling real "powerful" this morning (but not too sore and miserable - a little stiff, sore quads from all that crazy climbing and a blood blister) I do feel at peace and surrendered - to the journey that family, friends and God have walked me through in preparation of and throughout the IM. Those that were here - wow. I'm still in awe of your love and support. Those that kept in constant contact, tracked it, watched it, checked in with me daily and showered me with emails and facebook posts last night and today - thank you. It certainly takes a village and I'm so blessed with our village.

I just heard my stomach growl for the first time in days - it's baaack! So we're headed out for a latte and breakfast - that DOES NOT consist of anything remotely resembling grapenuts, yogurt, bagels, powerbars, gatorade, powergel, peanut butter or Gu. I don't even want to look at any of the above OR pasta for the next month!

Cheers, hugs and eternal thanks to all!!

xoxo