TRANSCRIPT:
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah! Today is my birthday, and one of the super-fun stories i have is that I was brought home in a stocking on Christmas day. :-). Since my birthday lands right in the middle of “the whole world is dressed up for a party and it’s GIVING season,” I learned early on how much I love giving! So today has a VERY SPECIAL PRESENT at the end for you!
AND, I promised you a VICTORIOUS RACE REPORT from Ironman 70.3 in Haines City on Sunday Dec. 11 2022, and I am HAPPY to deliver! If you’d like the quick video recap, just click below!
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Just a heads up, you’re going to get a real story here, not just a “I came, I saw, I conquiered” sort of a tale.
Saturday morning, the day before the race, I woke up early but I was moving a little slow. By the time I had finished packing and grabbed what I needed from clinic (including a little time on our BEMER & Infrared Lights!), it was one pm already. After check-in, I grabbed lunch with my friend and coach,John Slocum, and we headed out to drive the bike course. My good friend and Sherpa Extraordinaire (and essential oils guru!), Miranda Lessie, met me for dinner afterwords. We headed to the hotel and I prepped gear for the next day – this is an art. BUT! At 9 pm, an hour after I planned to be in bed, it was clear that one critical piece of gear was MISSING! I looked and looked and looked, but my arch supports for my running shoes which I wear 100% of the time, were nowhere to be found. My stress-relief move is to hum, and so there I am humming along as I’m looking and looking and looking. By 9:15, I’m ready to head back to Sarasota to go fetch them – over a 2 hour drive each way. But not competing isn’t an option, and doing so without my key equipment would set me up for a bad race day. So just before I’m about to head out, thinking this is REALLY uncharacteristic of me to forget this one key piece of equipment, I suddenly remember the one place I haven’t checked. Whew! Greatly relieved, I tuck in and get to sleep.
Race night sleep is notoriously lousy. Athletes know this and plan for it, making sure to get a good night’s sleep in the days leading up to race day. This night was better than most and I got a good five and a half hours before the big day. Miranda got up at 3:40! clearing the way for me to get those precious extra 20 minutes of sleep. We were at Transition by 5 am. I had plenty of time to set up my gear, warm up and use the restroom about 5 times before race start at 7 am! 🙂
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The 1.2 mile swim took place in a lake, so it didn’t have the “washing machine” choppy waters that I experienced at IMFL in 2020. I took off, followed my plan, and ended feeling pretty strong, ready for the bike. The moment I got out of the water, I was having flashbacks to that 2020 race. That was the year that all but one Ironman competition was cancelled, and spectators were strongly discouraged. Some locals turned out, and dear God were we grateful for them! You don’t realize how important something is to you until you lose it, and being cheered on my total strangers as I’m witnessing my body disintegrate in front of me is something I will never forget. You see, Ironman Florida was a really really rough day for me. I had major unexpected issues, and by the time I got to the marathon, I could barely hold down even a sip of water. One of the locals who had come out to cheer on some friends saw the look in my eyes as I started the marathon, and at first she gave me her cursory standard, “You can do it!” cheer. But something made her look deeper at me, and she caught my eye and said, “Ok honey, this is what you say. Are you ready? I AM REALLY STRONG RIGHT NOW.” Wow, were those words powerful! And I repeated them nearly every step of that race – later learning that during my toughest times my friends and clients who were tracking me started ferverently praying for me. I truly believe I completed that race on prayers. It was beautifully humbling that the people I had spent so much time lovingly helping were doing the same for me on my big day. <3 THANK YOU so much, everyone who has held me in their heart, prayed, and sent light for me on this journey!
Yet that sweet angel was one of the few people on the race course back in 2020. And doing a full Ironman to very little outside encouragement is TOUGH. Flash forward to Dec. 11, 2022, and there are lots of people out cheering – and I thank every single one that I can, which is most of them. :-). One fellow even said, “Pass that girl, she’s talking too much!” LOL! I loved it!
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After the swim I hopped on my bike and took off, faster and stronger than I expected! That lasted until about mile 40 (out of 56), at which time three things happened nearly simultaneously which made for an uncomfortable last 16 miles. 1. Here’s a fact you might not know about cyclists and triathletes. We wear lube under our bike shorts to prevent chafing. I’ve always had to stop on the bike before so I have re-applied. This time, I had perfected my ratio of fluids and I didn’t have to stop. When I noticed I sweated through my lube, I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. 2. My legs started cramping up. This is not a mild “oh it kind of hurts” cramping. My feet are clipped into my pedals, and the leg cramps are so strong I can lose control of my legs and not be able to get unclipped. 3. My neck and shoulders started to really ache – like something was out of alignment.
What to do? In order to deal with issue #2, I had to keep my legs moving at a lower speed, not stopping at all for anything! This meant not reapplying the lube, AND barely being able to shift in my seat to deal with the neck and shoulder issue, or the tender lady parts! I had been taking a supplement to decrease cramps, but it wasn’t working enough. I started praying. I prayed fervently for the next 16 miles. I never had another cramp. To those of you who prayed for me that day: THANK YOU! IT WORKED! 🙂
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As soon as I hopped off the bike, I liberally applied linaments to my legs to keep them from cramping. I donned my fancy rainbow knee-hi socks 🙂 and I set out on the 13.1 mile run during the hottest part of the day. Compared to the last time I did this race – which was my first half-Ironman in 2019 – I noticed that the route was better – they only made us go up the hills twice instead of three times. It was cooler, and I was able to plan my hydration pretty well. The last time, it was very hot and on my last round they had already taking up two aid stations and I was dehydrated and starting to see black spots. This time, although I wasn’t moving fast, I felt pretty good!
And then it started going downhill, and not in a good way! My stomach started cramping up, giving me flashbacks to IMFL and 26 miles of stomach cramps. I was so frustrated! I started praying with all my might – even I would say, angrily. I am so careful and meticulous on my diet and training that I KNEW I deserved to know this answer. Not only did I want my stomach to stop hurting, but I also wanted to be in a good mood! With all the work and exercise I was doing, I deserved that. After a time, I got the nudge to apply one of my lineaments to my belly. IMMEDIATE relief! Oh dear God! After a time, I took one of my supplements again, and I had immediate cramping – while it felt bad, it also helped me realize I was taking too much of that supplement on race day. A-HA! That’s GREAT to know!
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Thanks for reading my story and being part of my journey! 🙂