Eagleman 70.3 RR = Aloha!

**I'll post pictures once they're posted**

After doing Kinetic last month and then a solid four day training block in Lake Placid, I knew my fitness level was higher than it was in previous years for Eagleman, but I still wasn't overly confident that I had a chance at qualifying for Kona at Eaglmean. As "luck" would have it, I discovered at 6pm on Saturday evening that I had left my wonderful Soas shorts at home and we made a mad dash back to the race site (40 minutes away) that evening before the expo closed at 7 pm for a new tri kit for me. I was so sad not to wear my pretty Soas kit, but the whole saga had me so stressed out, that all my race nerves were gone and the Newton kit I got did match my pretty pink Newtons. Chris and I were able to go to bed relatively early that evening and the 3:45 am wakeup call wasn't too awful.

Race morning was luckily fairly uneventful and before I knew it, I was helping Chris get into his wetsuit so he could head over to warm-up and start. I started 30 minutes after him (wave 13), so I dawdled a bit longer before putting on Lindsay's awesome Aquasphere suit. I got in the water a bit and played - temperature felt fantastic and I knew it was the only time I would be cool ALL DAY LONG. I did my best to stay calm and focused on thinking about my family and friends.

Swim (26.46)

For once, I lined up on the front line and was one of the few people that lined up in front of the buoys. The current was fairly weak and I had no issues swimming straight. Within the first few strokes, I lost everyone around me and could tell that I was going to make it to the first buoy right when two other competitors did from the far right. Once I got to the buoy, I assumed I got on the shoulder of Megan Martin and enjoyed the ride for the majority of the swim. I hardly had to sight, my shoulders didn't hurt and for the first time EVER, I did not stop ONCE during an open water swim. SCORE. My tow tried to swim away from me about 200 yds from shore, but I thought for certain it was Megan Martin (Knepper at the time) who beat me my entire childhood in swimming, so I would not let her go. I found out after the race that Megan Martin did not show, but it definitely kept me motivated. I swam hard until my hand hit the sand and ran for the shore.
TI

I was overly confident that it was not going to be wetsuit legal, so I didn't bother to practice unclasping my wetsuit. D'oh. Had to get a volunteer to help that maybe added 20 seconds, but of course that seems like an eternity when you are watching other swimmers from your wave fly by. Did my best to be quick once I got to my bike, but made sure to spray on sunblock and pull on the arm coolers.

Bike (2:32.47)

Out from the dismout line, I spotted a few people from my wave up ahead. I passed them all within the first mile. At the point, I was leading my AG and just focused on hitting my power range. I was pleased to have no cramps, but I took a salt pill and waited a little bit to start my fueling plan since I had smartly drank some river water. My head started hurting 30 minutes in and I got the chills, so most of the bike was spent passing people (remember, started in wave 13), drinking and pouring water all over me. I was having a hard time focusing on the race and since my heart rate and power was right in range, I sang songs and started thinking about my family. I got a good laugh at the number of people that told me they liked my Netwon kit. Around 2 hours in I was getting tired of the headwinds and pretty frustrated since I realized my time would be slower than last year even though I was riding the same power, but I focused on making sure I was hydrated, cool and ready to run.

T2

I really tried last week to learn how to do a flying dismount, but I had no luck, so I stuck to my normal dismounting the bike and running in my tri shoes. Oddly enough, I passed three men all running barefoot from the dismount line to my rack. Racked, changed shoes and grabbed my fuel belt and started running for the exit.

Run (1:41.52)

As I was leaving transition, I kept reminding myself that Lindsay told me to settle in and my legs would come back, but the thing was, my legs felt great. I kept thinking my calves would start cramping before the end of the first mile, but my first mile was a 7:25 and I was passing people right and left. (umm, what?) The first few aid stations were super congested, so I never grabbed anything until roughly mile 3 or 4. By that point, I was overheating and I was very happy to put some ice down my sports bra. I kept running wondering when I would see Chris and when I did around mile 5, he screamed a few things and I think I just stared. . just slighly disorienated and wishing to be done :) I saw Steve Breeden soon after and probably once again gave a disorienated stare. It did pump me up for a bit to see them both and kept me running strong until the turnaround. I realized then my pace was still under 7:50 and I thought if I held onto this, I may get my Kona slot. I was really overheating at this point and starting to get the chills, but I so badly wanted to qualify for Kona that I kept pushing and trying to keep the miles under 8. I planned at first to pick up at mile 10, then at 10 I was feeling pretty rough, so it was pushed back to mile 11. At mile 11, I thought I was going to hurl, and was starting to get really worried I would pass out before the finish, so I made sure to grab Pepsi (where was the COKE?!!) and a cup of the Gatorade at the last aid station. I passed one guy and said "only 8 minutes of torture to go" and started running as hard as I could towards the finish line. I turned around quite a few times during these last few minutes expecting to see someone, but luckily I never did. I've ran scared in almost every triathlon I've done, so it was surreal to be the one passing people and running strong.

I crossed the finish line completely done. I had two volunteers helping me - one put three colds towels on me, got some water, and the other helped me over to sit down. Not sure why they didn't take me to medical; so instead, I sat down and waited for Chris. I tried to get up and go look for him, but I made it five seats before I sat down again and waited for him to find me.

We found out about 20 minutes later that I was 1st in my AG and 4th amateur. While many people thought this would happen and I dreamed it would, I almost started to cry I was so happy and surprised. I may do the workouts and get up at ungodly hours every morning, but I wouldn't be able to do this without the support of my family and friends.

So, thank you to my family and friends who listen to me babble on about triathlons, support me, get me balloons and bring me congratulations donuts :) Thank you to CTS's Lindsay Hyman for coaching me, loaning me her awesome Aquasphere wetsuit and always being there when I have a ridiculous question. Thank you to Powerbar for the fueling products, Cyclelops for keeping me dialed in on the bike and Swim H20 audio for making swimming fun again.