IRONMAN CANADA - AUGUST 29.2010 - PENTICTON, BC

With your help (and my craziness) we raised $1,836.00 for Snowdrop Foundation!!!! Thank you soooooooo much!!!

Below is my race story:

IF I say I was excited about doing Ironman Canada, I would be lying. I completed my first ironman back in November 2009 and doing that was AMAZING. I was excited for that race for 2 years...count them...2....one leading up to signing up in 2008, after going there in 2007 to cheer on my friends....two the year leading up to the race. Excited....for two years about November 7, 2009.

My friends, did IM Couer d'Alene in June 2009....and then in August, well....IM Canada was open online....and one.by.one...registration.after.registration....I succumbed to peer pressure and signed up for Ironman Canada...BEFORE I ever did Ironman Florida. Something, I told myself I would not do....but everyone was signing up...so how could I possibly not? ...and hence began my double Ironman pursuit. One at a time....but two nonetheless.

I won't make this about Ironman Florida...but let's just say that the Ironman Canada course is "less flat" than the Ironman Florida course.

Josh and I flew into Vancouver on Thursday evening...thinking that we were arriving at 845PM we thought, no prob...about 5 hours later we should be arriving in Penticton and sleeping in our condo....what we didn't take into consideration were the following:

1) Continental's welcoming into Canada by making us wait for at least 1 hour for our luggage.
2) rain...rain...and more rain...
3) unlit highways, mountain passes, and unreflected roads
4) CONSTRUCTION!

So....somewhere between "Chilliwack" and Hope...we stopped for Tim Horton's dinner of wraps and sandwiches and Tim Bits - - - we proceeded along the unlit, unreflected, dark, cold, un receptioned Canadian highway to the little town of Merritt....where we pretended to be truckers and pulled off the road at circa 2am Canada Pacific time (that's 4am Houston time folks)....for a four hour nap, before we headed the rest of the way to Penticton...coming in through, Kelowna, Peachland, and Summerland...

We met our friends at the condos and headed to Ironman Village for a little registration and shopping...bad juju.
****I purchased a sleeveless IM Canada jersey (longish so I don't get a lower back tan) - an Ironman Canada hat and a Visor :) woooo....(refer to this section later)*****

We then had lunch at the recommended Dream Cafe and followed that with a trip to Tri Bike Transport (TBT) to give our bikes a little test ride. or so I thought. I get my bike...and yes...yes...that is definitely a flat...a tubular flat...curse curse!. I have a flat. I immediately go into panic mode. the boys at TBT direct me to "The Bike Barn"(TBB) where I continue my hyperventilation exercise and panic mode....once there...I don't know why...I thought that I would give them my wheel with a flat, and minutes later they would return it with a new tire and I would be ready to go...WRONG.....I forgot that the wonderful tubulars have to a) be stretched, and b) be glued!!!!!!!! OVERNIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FREAK OUT MODE TIMES 9 BIZZILLION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bruce and Evan (my new best friends at TBB) assured me that all was going to be fine, that the tire would be ready by the time I got there in the morning .... no bike ride that afternoon for me...instead...I proceeded to worry about my wheel and tire for all night....

Shellie and I hit up the town in search of a grocery store...which we finally found :) and shopped for our dinner ingredients...Lisa had similar Continental problems....
We had a delish Hali-BUTT dinner and yummy cobbler for dessert. (ps. this area of BC is like fruit heaven)

The next morning, we headed to get my tire and a swim...CRISIS AVERTED FOLKS>...my tire was great!! woooooooo! We turned in our bikes, swam in Okanagan Lake (what a beaut) and then headed to get lunch. YUM! OH and we saw Sister Madonna! She is the 80 year old nun who was doing her 19th ironman CANADA...she has finished way more than that (she unfortunately did not finish the race, but she put on her volunteer attire and did that instead...wow. I would be sulking and in bed). We then prepared our transition bags and headed back to IM village to turn in our stuff followed by a Drive of the run/bike course. we needed to know what we were in for....gulp.

the bike course looked...well...ridiculously challenging...I was really nervous about the downhills after that drive. We headed back to the condo for our pre-race dinner. And then we were in bed by 9. goodnight.

Race morning + swim:

we were kindly dropped off by our chef and her sherpa at transition...we got body marked and then we lost everyone, josh and I headed to the swim start together. good luck good luck...Oh Canada, and then we were starting right next to each other! Josh took off and I tried to stay calm for my swim. stroke after stroke...I got "caressed" by other swimmers. I followed the buoys one by one...around one house boat...got kicked in the left eye....water in the google...stopped to fix it....around the next house boat and now I am on the home stretch (which is longer than the first stretch) I was swimming in a cluster of yellow caps (mine was red) and then some %%^)(*YIUHAG%#%$ dude in a yellow cap decides that kicking hard is the best way to get to the shore...while doing so, he kicked my right goggle, knocked it off and water came flooding in, I stopped, fixed it, cursed at him, let him go...and proceeded on my merry way. away from stupid men that waste their legs on the swim. oh and I have the eye bruises to prove all this. I arrived at the shore....thinking that I swam like a 1:20 swim...nope....59.27 yeyay!!!!

into t1 I go to see Lisa and Ingrid, who help me get ready for the bike.

off I go....

bike:

leaving penticton...there were a few hills that were challenging. we rode though orchards and vineyards...and as we approached Osoyoos I knew Richter pass was near...Josh passed me between Penticton and OK falls...and here this whole time I was thinking that he was ahead of me....yes...I beat him out of the water. I was the first girl from texas to be out of the water :) go meat! anyway....I decided that I would stop at the aid station before richter pass to take off my arm warmers and use the ladies (port-o-potty) - - - as I arrive to aid station...I noticed something....a FLAT...on my front wheel...(not the one that had gone flat before...the other one) ENTER FREAK out #2 simultaneous with CROCODILE tears. Enter jerk official who proceeded to tell me that the bike SAG was not near, they were held up in traffic, and who told me that if anyone helped me I would be disqualified. CRY CRY CRY CRY = energy wasted energy wasted energy wasted. I kept trying to change my tire and thinking about all the (refer to above) ironman gear I had purchased that I would a) have to return or b) give as xmas presents and never be able to wear. I was so scared that because of something that was out of mycontrol I would not be able to complete this race. And that is when I realized that I really did care about doing this ironman and that I was happy to be there...and that I wanted more than anything to be able to complete it.

A nice competitor helped me (this is allowed) put the tire on my wheel and finally I was able to keep going ... forever later...but I was able to keep going...so I charged on up Richter pass ... followed by the 7 w(read b)itches....which seemed more like 20...these were some tough shorter climbs one after the other....until you finally descended into the town of Keremeos....where you would think that it would be nice, flat, and calm....no....it was freezing (enter arm warmers again) and windy...I passed by some signs that said "windy valley" man were they right when they named that...there was then an out and back where I saw Nicki and Shellie...and where I started to get light headed....I briefly stopped for a half banana and some gatorade...I was not about to become a statistic...only a ride to/from Belin left (with an nasty climb) at mile 90 .... I was there...in the spitting rain...I climbed the 3 miles to yellow lake...crowds all around...cheering me up the hill....it was amazing....I charged up the mountain as if there was gold on top of it...I climbed well and got to the top ... no guts no glory...and my new tire was holding up...all I had left was the descent (eek) and the ride into Penticton. The descent (where Tessy clocked at 45mph....was scary...but I took it calmly and went down at a slow 34.5 mph....I even passed a person :) The rest of the ride into Penticton was smooth but windy....apparently a hurricane was coming through just as I was finishing the bike...but hey key point here is "I was finishing the bike" and from now on....if I didn't complete this IM it would be for things I could control...but that was not my mental game at this point, I was excited to be off the bike and on track to a 4x10K + 2K run.

run:

lisa warmed my feet before the running shoes came on...I had frozen toecicles. I headed out for my run...I ran the entire 10K...the first one...then started getting light headed again...took my gu....started eating some oranges at aid stations....run walked...through mile 8 or 9....then Nicki came along :) what a blessing!!!!!!!!! she and I stuck together the rest of the way into Okanagan falls... helping each other up the hills, down the hills and thorugh the aid stations....we just ran, walked, and talked :) we made the turn around and decided that we were on pace for a great run...we just had to keep it up. so we did...we walked up the hills and down them (if they were steep) and then before we knew it....we had a 10K left...that's 2 loops of Memorial park!! off we went...cheered on by spectators....we ran the rest of the way into town...the last mile was forever long...but we knew we were there...and we were about to finish....and Finish we did...in 14:40 hours....Nicki and I crossed the finish line. a 2 time and first time ironman :)

things I learned:
sometimes you don't know how much you value something until you realize that it can quickly be taken away
my flat before richter ended up being a blessing in disguise...because Nicki and I would not have been running together if I had not had that flat.
this stuff is much funner to do with friends
I am ready to do another.....after I get married
I am crazy
I love BC wine
I feed off this stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ironman Two Timer :)


Thanks for your support!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS....after the race...we toured all the wineries on the bike course....haha!!