09/23/2021
Now that my Ironman 70.3 World Championship St.George is behind me I have had time to reflect on the most challenging race I have ever done! This race required every ounce of perseverance, determination , grit along with mental and physical toughness! It was about facing my fears. As many of you know the swim is not my favorite discipline in any Tri let alone a 1.2 mile swim without a wetsuit! My swim didn’t start out well as the 50-54 women were coming from behind, splashing, kicking and bumping me. I had to stop as I had choked on some water. But that was not going to be my last encounter with my fears. Further along I saw lightning off in the distance, followed then with rain pellets coming down and the wind blowing turning the water into a mix off white caps. I was petrified! Fortunately the Ironman safety crews were on it and a speed boat was heading toward me. I waved screaming and within minutes they were pulling me into the boat. I knew by the looks on the guys faces this was serious and I was watching this mayhem unfold with my own eyes. After pulling more gals into the boat we were taken back to the shore. At this moment I figured the race I had trained so hard for was done. But they told us we could continue onto the bike, our race was not over. It took me a minute to regroup my thoughts and tell myself, you can do this as the rain was pouring down on us in transition and volunteers were putting pieces of space blanket into my Tri suit (Boston 2018 2.0😱) to keep me warm, That saved me!
56 miles of climb after climb in the rain, wind and of course a little hail, I made it !
The picture in this post is in T2, getting ready to run 13.1 miles , now facing the heat and so exhausted physically and mentally from the swim and bike. But I dug deep and pulled out all the reserves in my tank. John’s words of GO, GO, GO
got me on my way. He knew what I needed to hear. He kept the emotions out because he knew I was on the breaking point. He believed in me so I had to believe in me too! My fear now was not crossing the finish line but with each mile marker I passed I began to realize I was going to make it. I finished and with it the feeling of accomplishment. I did not give up! I faced my fears, conquered them and won! I won the race of determination!