FINISHED!!!! 2nd in Age group!!

The Racing For Recovery racers :)

OK, I know I am mean, but had to wait for a photo to go with the report (thank you to Kevin and his brother Rich for the photo) It took A LOT of yelling and beating myself up to finish this darn race :) The weather was brutal 95 degrees HOT...which I can deal with HEAT...BUT the wind is what killed me 25-30 mph head winds...which not only caused a hard ass bike ride, but also choppy swim conditions....I am sure everyone knows I am not a fan of the swim....I told Bree this time I would really try and swim with my face in the water this time...WELL, I did try at first...but I panicked...so yip swam the whole swim with face OUT...I made it to the first orange float...wanted to quit but knew Todd and many others would give me so much crap...I was seeing a lot of people getting pulled into shore by wave runners, so I knew I was not the only wuss out there :) Plus I still had a lot of swimmers still behind me....so keep flopping along..the wet suit was driving me nuts..I was getting too hot...I am coming to the conclusion that I am fine in the pool with putting my face in the water and just go, but in open water swim with ANY little ripple in the water I panic!!! I finished the swim 8 mins quicker than I did in St. Croix..still not fast, but better!!
On to the bike...I was feeling pretty good, until I hit the roads outside of the park...Headwinds the whole time..we had to do 3 loops of the same wind.....I witnessed a bad bike wreck...this guy with a disk wheel came flying by me cut right in front of me and then the wind picked up right when he was starting to pass another guy and both guys went flying into the air bikes and the 2 guys landed in the ditch I was right behind them...SCARY...I slowed down to make sure they both got up, which they did and I was waiting for disk boy to come fly by me to call him a jack-ass for being so crazy in those conditions, but never saw him again!!!! I was working my butt off into the wind and I was trying to decide if riding the hills in St. Croix was worse then riding into this wind...I think I would take the HILLS...I was looking at the bike splits and only 15 people (all men ) made it over 20mph....

I was trying to get over my death grip hadle bar hold...they had 3 water stations I past the first one...and the second one, I chickened out on the bottle hand off so pulled over and drank...the third one I said OK be brave and I got the hand off, but needed to turn to head back to transition..so I took the turn right into the wind and damn had to pull over to drink...(I really need to work on the balancing thing)I was so happy to finish the bike..I could start to feel my blister by now(thank you Rachael for the idea of liquid skin..it did help some)
It was really getting HOT and the wind was still going, I could tell I had no zip, the bike did me in...I was having some female issues I was dealing with and could not get the cramping to stop...the blisters were stinging like you would not believe....I was walking and said keep going..who cares about your time.....just finish this dang thing.....One of the Racing for Recovery racers Kevin caught up with me on the run...so ran with him for about 5 min and was slamming the liquids down to the point I looked like I was pregnant :) Around mile 4 I look down and yip the bloody shoes started again..the toes were screaming in PAIN..I was dumping cold water on them and my stomach was starting to feel bloated and ill I just need to BARF....I bent over in straddle position and was dry heaving...started to run again and could feel it coming up so stopped again and straddled and let it all out!!!....I hear someone yell..I did my barf and started sprinting...let me get this race over all ready :) Well to find out it was my friend Kevin and another guy he was running with, witness me barfing and couldn't believe I started to run again...how embarrassing :) I was feeling a little better and was able to run more..but still at a slow pace...I was thinking why am I sucking so bad today...I just did a half marathon in 1:35(7:15min pace) a couple of months ago...and now I am doing a half in 10 min pace....but to me today it is all about finishing!!!! so walk/run I will go to the finish were my kids and husband will be waiting for me!!!! I get close and I can already hear Skylar yelling "come on Mom" and there was Konor and Madison right behind her running towards me (Mason was sleeping in the shade...smart kid) we all took hands and ran in together with BIG smiles on our faces :) Todd was there putting the medal around my neck the moment was sweet....but short lived..as I had to rush to ladies room and take care of some female issues and get these damn shoes OFF and clean my bloody mess up...
The day was brutal weather wise and my mental toughness started to get the best of me...and I keep telling myself I AM RETIRED...but now I am wanting to do one more half..some where I will know the weather will be GOOD..I know I am better then this...I need to prove this to myself!! Some how I did manage to pull off second place in my age group...was really shocked there, as my times were slow in all 3 events..but I will take the second place AG and run with it :)

Big congrats to Kevin and Eddie for completing there 1st half...Aaron completing the sprint tri and what ALL you guys have achieved in a few months...Be proud guys!! Way to stick it out and suffer...you guys rock!!!
BIG THANK you to Todd(my husband) for putting a awesome Racing for Recovery race on which drew in over 300 participates throughout 17 states..the race was VERY organized and a really good one to do...fantastic set up...and HUGE thanks for sponsoring me and the Racing for Recovery guys....it was tough and brutal, but well worth it!!!!!
I am hoping to post some Finishing photo's soon...as soon as the race photographer gets them up!!!!!

Thank you for all your good wishes...you guys are the BEST!!!!