GoBigGreen: Ironman Canada: Run and the End. ( I promise)

I got into T2 and was so relieved to hand that bike off. Sweet. My lowerback was tight! My new bike is a bit more agressively fit so I felt it a bit running into the change tent. A nice volunteer helped me out and she said she was supposed to race but her bike didnt get here, so she did the swim and then vounteered. How neat is that. First off I sat on my glasses. So i said " your most impt job all day is to get these lens back in." and she went to work.

When i returned home I had a friend request from her, turns out she is a PT and lives near CDA where she had raced earlier this year. I knew i could have hung out in T2 and talked with her. But i got on my way.

Running out was as usual like running on coals. FAST! I had to scale it back and try to slow. it. down.
My legs did feel a bit ( ALOT) trashed from that ride but i didnt spend too much time dwelling on that.I Really had a pretty good head thru this entire run. Yay me running. I honestly was so excited to run:) not only bc i felt PREPARED for it but bc i love to run! My fuel plan was good, and i was ready for some hot running!

Leaving T2

I was thankful for the sunscreen people who made me look like Casper but this pic doesnt even show it!

So miles 1-13 clicked off pretty good. I was holding around 8:30-8:40 and wasnt in distress at all. Taking fluids each station. I did have a feeling i may need to pee or....and so i stopped. That was good but it took me awhile to get rolling again.It did get hot and yes be careful what you wish for, but i was never OVERHEATED. I Took ice and water mostly, the Perform just was like rot gut especially hot. I stuck to my fuel plan and until about mile 18 that was just fine.

The course is great. I can only report on what my Garmin said and what my legs said but i did not have more than 1k of climbing. I am reading all sorts of crazy reports but this was not a hilly course. Rolling yes espec around the lake on gravel but that was shaded as was at least 60% of the course. So I did not feel this was a hard run course and there was nothing like Observatory hill where you are really looking UP and your legs are screaming at you. Like Madison lots of pathes and turns and not alot of open road but it was great to have so many people ( ala state street) SCREAMING your name and telling you how great you looked. Even if they were lying it made my day to hear people say " your cadence looks good, your form looks great!" bc as we all know a blank look from someone means we read it as " You look like crap." ( or they are just tired, which i also get)

I know was WAY OFF the mark for 1-5 in my AG but i never gave up hope to chase a few down. On the 2nd loop I know i passed a few but at that point compression sleeves and washed off ink make it hard, and is that woman on her 1st of 2nd lap? You sorta just go into your own world. As I said i was good for 1 loop then i got a bit of that tunnel vision. I didnt feel bonky but i did make it my mission to control this and if that meant slowing at all the aid stations it did. I stopped to walk all the stations and was there 1-2 minutes getting what i needed and then back up and running. I didnt micromanage my watch /garmin and i did stop a few more times at the porta potty but all was fine. When i was running i think i was moving along at 9 min miles. So actually not as slow as it appears. To be honest I havent looked at the results. Its hard for me to see them. Maybe i am just being a fragile ego but getting spanked that bad on the swim and bike was not my plan. But it is what it is and i just decided that i wanted to stay positive about this entire race and experience so why look and get down on myself ? I will look when i am feeling a bit less vlunerable about it all. When i am recovered.

Feeling pretty good here, and you know what? why not smile and wave. I was having fun!

So that last half of the marathon I never really had any LOW LOW I am so miserable moments. I did have some anterior hip pain ( TFL if you care) that around mile23 decided to bark at my ITB and i thought " Hey,thanks for waiting till mile 23 and not at mile 20 like in Wisconsin" and i managed that. It hurt but i ran thru it and honestly? That was it. I was happy with how i finished and that all the sudden the finish chute was THERE! Having no clue on my time ( total time) to see sub 12 made me super happy and i thought i was pretty close to 4 hours. 4:05. Sub 4 is gonna happen as is sub 6 on the bike. Yes I did say that.

Analyzing my form is my fun time, and looks ok. Upright not all hunched over, a bit of lateral whip on the finish pic on my right side but not alot of hip drop. My glutes did their job and i think the ITB thing happens when my glute med got tired. Mile 23 isnt bad afterall. Ok that ends the PT talk.

Am I happy with this race? YES. And i am happy with how i am recovering. I had such a distorted race and recovery in 2012 that it makes me super happy and also sort of feeling like a ROCKSTAR today, that i feel so good. Then i go " oh ya last time i did an IM my recovery was not really that happy or recovery-esque bc of Rich." and i mean that in a loving way not in a selfish way.

So today to be thinking about another, and to ready to swim biek run NOW ( i am not doing anything hard or formal dont worry) is fun. I dont take any of this for granted and i am super thankful that my body lets me do this.

Do i think about changes for next year? of course. But my number one goal with all this is always to be injury free and healthy. Meaning not to do something that would endanger my overall health. And i think so far I am doing well with that.

Many thanks go to my sister Elizabeth who sherpa'd me like a star. Cant do it without her.
My rehab hands, Heather, Crystal and her team, Kevin my rolfer, Kara my DC who puts my first rib back in place and any other random thorax issues, Christine who is my LMT and of course Jen my coach.
Cant leave out my family and Mike who somehow think I am crazy but love me anyways. And when i asked Mike if i could do another one he said " who am i to say you cant ?" So may need a bit more discussion on that :)

Here are a few more pictures: