Ironman Florida Part 1

Below is a little race report Jen sent out to few of her girl friends. I thought i would post this as a pre-amble to my report from the race with everyones exceptional efforts!

Hey Girls,
Thanks for all your kind messages. Everyone did great & is very happy. Coach Dave and Sister Amy were awesome race sherpas and put up with all our crap! Not an EZ task with 3 nervous athletes to look after.
The swim had a few jelly fish but was really cool - I swam more aggressively but tried to stay relaxed and flow with it. One day I will make this swim my bitch! Mark my words. Layne and I finished our first lap together in 37min and went thru the lap 1 chip mat together before jumpin' in for round #2. I somehow lost the draft on the last bit in - oh well. I was relaxed & enjoyed myself :)

The weather was great though there was a nice 15-20mph headwind on the bike and for a short bit on the run. LOTS of drafting and penalties AND big draft packs! If I'd done some I might've road 6:10-6:15 but alas I cannot resort to cheating.
The run was good but hard as usual. The road was pretty canted & both Layne & I struggled with knee/ITB issues. I tried to run down the middle of the road as much as I could. But nice course - fabulous support :) I had some stomach problems thru the first 10miles & couldn't seem to find my groove. But it finally worked itself out by the turn around & chatting with D. I felt really great from miles 14-20 and finally got into a steady group & rhythm. Tried to lift the pace after mile 20 a bit but my ITBand & coughing started kicking in. So I just did what Coach D said - I ran the fastest pace I could maintain without coughing or blowing up my knee. At mile 24 I lifted the pace again & passed SO many Men! My last attempt & bit of energy I dumped into the last 10k & on guts alone. The final two miles I decided to let it all hang out - I just drilled it - I didn't care what hurt or if I blew. I was running too fast to breath much less cough and that ladies was it. Not my best run or what I'd wanted or was trained for - but it was definitely the best I could muster on the day & at that time. And for me that is the essence of the Ironman.

I ended up 39th/100. Not many women here - lots of men. My age group was the largest for the women. Pro's were cool to watch and loads of Europeans here to try and qualify for Kona. 10:45 was the slowest qualifying time in my age group - 10:06 the fastest - all I can say is WOW! So yes - that was a 25min PR for me, though not the race I was hoping & trained for. For now I really won't complain too much. Given the circumstances I'm lucky I did that. I'm still very sick with this stupid cold I've had for two weeks now - grrr! I've never been sick and tried to race before. I'm STILL coughing (its driving me crazy) and D is off buying robitussen so I can fly home tomorrow. I pray my ear drums stay intact. But man - am I looking forward to relaxing and having fun with you girls!Thanks again for the support! Both Layne & Cheryl are relaxing and happy!
:) Jen