The eagle has landed. Literally. And it left behind two Kona slots – one for me and one for Chris.
What’s better than going to Kona? How about going with your husband…..wait a minute – why is it that by late August I will be rethinking that? Twice the laundry, twice the food.Little does he know the pain, misery, and weariness that is about to settle into his life….for the next 4 months.
What a great race. It was flat, fast, and I don’t think I’ve ever hurt that bad. I’ll take the hills anyday. The flats just don’t give up. You have to keep going, and going, faster, and harder.
But, I accomplished what I set out to do – break 4:40, break 1:30 on the 1/2 marathon, and win my age group. I ended up 2nd *amateur* overall in 4:32.
When I hit mile 12, I thought to myself….oh sh*t, I have to go back to Kona. What have I done? Needless to say I cried when I crossed the finish line. The guy taking my chip asked if I was ok. I wanted to shake him and say DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA of what my life will be like for the next few months – ANY IDEA AT ALL?
Chris did what he set out to do – win his age group and nab a slot to Kona. Plus he went 4:08. Seriously – 4:08?I’ll post a complete story of my race in another day or two.
Little does Chris know what lies ahead until mid-October. Lots of long rides, endless pursuit of snacks to satisfy, little containers to hold things like salt tabs, pooping in the woods, all that stuff that makes Ironman training so much FUN.
GOOD JOB to my coach, Jennifer Harrison, who also qualified for Kona by winning her AG for the millionth time at Blackwater. And her husband finished 3rd in his AG, also winning a slot. He didn’t know that – and neither did anyone else until 5:30 pm when we were back at our car and heard the Race Director trying to garage sale the remaining slot in M30-34.
So I guess this will turn into a blog about Ironman training again which is funny because that’s where it began about a year ago. Until then, I’m going to sharpen my short course legs one more time at nationals in a few weeks. And then I’ll be sitting on my bike until mid-October.
