Half Iron Race Report

So I haven't posted in a while, but I thought I should at least post my Longhorn Half Iron race report, mostly so I would have it to look back on some day. I'm just going to post what I sent to my BMC e-mail list serv:

Time: 6:44:17 (yes, that six HOURS!)
Calories Burned: ~5,000
Toe nails remaining: 4
Fire ant bites: 3
Current ability to walk: minimal
Lessons learned:
-Drink lots more water on the bike
-Eat more gel on the bike
-Slow the f*ck down on the bike you still have a run you moron!
-Cut your toenails
-If you are going to attempt to do a 13.1 mile run after a bike and swim,
train the running!


Thanks for all the good weather thoughts, it helped. It wasn't that hot
until the run. The bike was beautiful.

So the long and short of it is that all the whining I seemed to be doing
about the weather making the events too easy, well this was not too easy. The swim felt good and I love long swims because people start out
sprinting and get way ahead and I just stay steady and I pass some of them
around the 800m mark as they have burned all their energy. I finished
strong and beat a girl who had been on my tail. that always make me happy.
I got on the "firebolt" and started the ride part. Really uneventful
except for the fact I notice that I was going pretty fast and if I could
keep it up, I would have a fantastic time. So I kept it up and pushed
really hard. The last 6 miles were brutal and the last hill "big bastard"
was bad, but I finished! My friends were cheering part way through the
bike course and that gave me a lot of confidence. One of my friends had
done a half iron last year and I was gunning to beat his time. He was
great to hear him tell me to keep going and beat him good :) At the end
of the bike, I put on my running shorts and started the run.
As soon as I started I thought I was going to die. Like pass out
and get carried off in a stretcher. After the 1st mile I really really
really thought about giving up. There is nothing like feeling like you
are going to pass out 1 mile into a 13 mile run. I just could think
about how far I still had to go. I thought I would just get to the first
water station, have some water and Gatorade and see how I felt in a bit. Needless to say there was very little actual running going on and I would
hesitate to even call it walking.... I passed my friends again and they
lied through their teeth and told me I looked great. It helped. I was
originally going to run 3 miles and run 1. That was quickly changed to
walk up hill, walk the aid stations, and if you feel up to it, run the
rest. I stuck with it for 3 miles, drinking two glasses of water each
station and running with ice nestled snugly in my sports bra. I cooled
down a bit, got my legs working, and started the running again. I can't
even tell you how close I was to giving up in those first 3 miles. I
walked every uphill and a bit at every aid station. I saw my friends and
Ned 4 times though out the course. The second time I saw them I could
tell they were relieved that I was looking better. I survived the run, and
it was one of the hardest things I have ever done. Each step was hard.
When I hit mile 12 I told myself I was going to run all the way to the
end. I made it as far as the next aid station, and walked to the point
where I came out of the woods and people could see me again. I did run
the finish, but damn, that was not easy. That run was just about the
worst thing ever. All of my whining that previous events didn't count,
and that I wasn't placing as high as I wanted, all of that was taken away
by that run. It made up for everything. I can truly say that event took
everything I had. Literally. That was so f&cking hard.
It is done now, I didn't get last, I beat my friend's time (he is ok
with this level of competitiveness, he tries to bring it out in me), and I
am, for the first time in 7 events this summer, just feeling like I
accomplished something amazing. Whatever I felt like I needed to prove
this summer, I just proved it. I could have gotten dead last in this
event I would would be strutting around today like I owned the world. Out
of a field of ~900 30 people didn't finish, but I wasn't one of them!!!
I went to lunch/dinner with my friends and Ned afterward and managed to
sit up long enough to realize that I didn't want to eat anything. My
blood sugar was so low that I was so nauseated I couldn't eat. I forced
myself to eat a bit and felt better. By the time I got home I really
couldn't move anymore. I took a shower that involved a lot of sitting on
the edge of the tub. I was so sick to my stomach and tired and sore. I
knew I had to keep eating or it would just get worse. Ned says one of the
funnies things he's seen is me trying to force feed myself ho-hos.
Normally I need no coercion..... I woke up at about midnight and felt a
lot better. I slept until 9am this morning and I feel close to normal,
but really really sore.

damn that was hard. I'll forget by next week and sign up for something
else stupid I'm sure.

If you want to see pictures, here's the link:

Pictures

Click on "Longhorn Half Iron" and search for 749, or Thompson-Flagg


I did sign up for something else stupid, Arizona 2008, Nov. 23rd. Yep, I'm going to try it.... I'm going to try to post about training here, but we'll see what happens. :)