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Race Morning...woke up at 4:00am to torrential rain. Just
POURING harder than you could imagine. Had coffee and ate
some eggs for breakfast and hoped for the rain to let up.
Just before we had to leave for check-in, it came down hard
again. Not the nicest way to put you in a good frame of mind
for the race! Luckily, by the time we got body-marked and
went to our bikes to dry them and put the bottles on, the
rain was more of a light mist, which eventually stopped
about an hour or so before the race.
Sat around outside waiting for the start with Heather Fuhr
and Belinda Granger. We swam around from the opposite side
of the pier, over to the start. This year, we were told the
pro women could stay to the right of the swim buoys for the
first 500-800m's, and everyone else was supposed to stay to
the left. Well, they didn't enforce the rule, so it was a
free-for-all over on our side. So much for a clean start!
Really, it felt like the same old rough mass start we are
accustomed to here!
After getting knocked around and swimming through people and
big swells for awhile, Heather and I found ourselves
swimming close together, which almost always happens weather
we plan it or not. At least it is always nice to see a
friend out there!
After the turn around buoy, I managed to find clean
water...although, I would have preferred just a few more
bodies...as I found myself swimming along and working alone.
Oh well, at least I wasn't getting hit. Managed to finish
the swim in just under an hour, which doesn't sound great,
but was actually my fastest swim time ever here in Kona. The
swim times were mostly all slow, so it seems that was a good
swim for me, on a day when the swells were huge and you
seemed to get pushed all over the place.
Onto the bike, it took me awhile to get my legs going, and
also got dumped on with rain during the first 20 miles.
Almost as quickly as it came, the rain left, and the sun
came out in full force and started scorching us. Managed to
feel like I was really getting going on the bike, and by the
turn around I had passed a ton of people and it was looking
good. Unfortunately on the way back, I ended up getting a
penalty. I was in total shock and couldn't believe the
marshal had pulled me over. When he stopped me, I asked what
it was for, as I couldn't believe it, and he told me I had
re-passed someone too quickly after they had passed me.
Well...and age group guy had passed me, and then went SO
slow, I just pulled around and way ahead, whereas, I should
have dropped back longer, and then pulled ahead. Well, the
penalty sucked, but I had to serve 3 minutes in the penalty
box at T2. C'est la vie. I tried to stretch and eat some
Clif shots while I was waiting, for what seemed an eternity.
Finally I was able to
Well, kept waiting for the legs to come around and start
going really fast, with little effort, like my speedy run at
Ironman Canada, but that never materialized. I think it's
kind of hard to do a 2:56 marathon, then try to repeat that
kind of effort so soon again, but I was hoping! Oh well.
Instead I just shuffled, and SUFFERED in the heat. I swear
it felt like it was over 200 degrees out there. I would have
like to slow down, but by the turn in the Energy Labs, I
could see the fast feet of Fernanda, Heather, Karin Thurig
and Beth Zinkand not too far behind. I still had another 8
miles to go, so knew that I had to try and keep the same
pace. It was a long 8 miles, but slowly I knocked the miles
off one by one. It was SO nice to finally be going DOWN
Palani hill and seeing crowds of people again. I didn't
celebrate too much, as I had no idea how close the rest of
the women were to me, but knew that Heather was flying
somewhere close behind. Finally got a chance to do some high
fives and slap hands with
I did a few quick interviews, greeted Heather at the finish
line, and also Fernanda, then went to drug testing, then ate
some Ben & Jerry's ice cream (chunky monkey!), then the
press conference, then back to the condo to shower. After
showering, a bunch of us went out for some nacho's and
fries, then back to the finish line for the last two and a
half hours, where we put some flower lei's on some
finishers, cheered people on, and threw some goodies like
Timex watches, towels, t-shirts and hats to the crowd.
After it was over, we walked back to our condo's in a light
rain, but it felt really good!
I've only had about 4 hours sleep at this point and will
have to take a nap during the day I think!
Can't wait to head to Denny's for breakfast in a couple
hours! Get some eggs, and good ol' Canadian bacon for
breakky! MMMMmmm!!!!
Thanks to all my friends and well wishers for your support
before and during the race! I was thankful of all the
positive energy you sent my way! I used it all!
It's been a tough year for various reasons, and in my head
100 times I would go back and forth wondering if I had what
it took to get to the start line in Kona this year, or to
finish the race. As hard as it is, I enjoy all this madness!
I'm glad I came and raced, and survived! :)
more later, but for now,
aloha!
Lori
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