Gulf Coast Half Ironman 70.3 (5-11-19)

Back to Panama City Beach, Florida to hopefully complete the full distance.  Back in 2017 when I did the race they canceled the swim on race morning.  We still did the full bike and run and even received our medals, but I never felt it was a real 70.3 race.  That's probably how the people felt in Chattanooga this past September for the full ironman when the swim was canceled.  It just kind of makes it not feel as real.  So this time I was going back in hopes that all 3 events would take place and I'd have me another 70.3 under my belt in preparation for my full coming up in September.  Just so happen the race was going to be on Mother's day weekend so what better way to spend Mother's day than by taking my mom and daughter with me to be my sherpas. :)  

We left on Friday arriving at the beach around lunch time. 

It was HOT and MUGGY.  It started to bring back memories of my HOT run 2 years before for the event.  I took my mom and daughter with me to the expo because it wasn't quite time for us to be able to check into our room.  My mom went with me on my first half ironman so she was familiar with all the bikes and people you'd see.  This was my daughter's first time.  Let's just say I think she learned a lot about what all I go through to do a race like this. :)   I  believe she was amazed and probably also thought I was a tad crazy. Hee Hee

 Packing and checking my list.  Thanks LISA for a nice list!

Lisa wanted me to do a short bike check, leg check, and swim to test the body out.  So after picking up my bib, I went to check my bike in and walked pretty far on my legs stretching them out from travel. 

Then we headed to the beach for me to test the waters.  I noticed it was RED FLAG and everyone was looking at the water trying to decide if they were going to test swim or not.  I decided I needed to if the waters were going to be like that on race day.  I was literally beat up by the waves.  When I came out my daughter said I looked like I had gotten beat up. :)  Here's a picture mom took of me walking back up the beach.  I was thinking to myself... Oh .. sh@t.... this will be bad tomorrow.  Not only did we have the waves, we had chop and a current pulling us north.  It was going to require a lot of sighting to stay on course.  I was very worried about making my 1 hour 10 min time limit in these conditions.  

Needless to say I was very unsettled the rest of the evening.  Even tough we went to eat at Olive Garden and I had a nice time with mom & Erin, I was worried deep down about the swim.  When we got back to our room I googled videos of how to swim in chopping ocean waters.  I'm so glad I did because Saturday morning while swimming in the race, I kept telling myself so many things that I heard on the videos and one bible verse I kept quoting over and over....  "I can do all things through Christ who strengths me". 

Race morning came early with a 6am swim start!  In the previous year the race started at 7am.  I guess they changed it to try to beat the heat.  I was calmer now.  I ate and left the room to go to transition to fix all my stuff by my bike.  Mom & Erin would come later closer to 6am to see me swim.  The two ladies next to me in transition said this was their first half ironman.  They were very nervous about the swim.  We chatted for a minute and all told each other we would survive the swim and complete the race.  I love how encouraging TRI people can be!  The water temp was 78 so that meant it would be wetsuit optional.  I heard so many people saying they were still going to wear their suit due to the water conditions.  I also wore mine!  I wasn't getting out in that rough stuff without mine.  I knew I wasn't there to try to win anything... my goal was to finish.  The wetsuits started last so we got to watch as people entered the water and fight the waves just to get out far enough to try to swim.  The waves were bad.  They were knocking people down as they tried to walk out to deep water.  The pros started coming back in and were cussing as they exited the swim.  I knew then it was going to be a tough swim.  When it was my turn, I took a deep breath and said let's do this.  As I saw many people raising their hands for the people in the boats to get them out, I kept also telling myself I was not a quitter.  I tried to remain as calm as possible and just keep moving forward.  It was hard to swim the proper way.  Here's a picture posted by a news paper of the water.   

The chop was rocking me every where and when I'd tried to breath the wave would hit me with a mouth full of water.  It felt like I was in a washing machine being constantly shaken and rocked all different ways!  I kept spitting out salt water and telling myself not to panic.   By the time I finished I was so beat.  It seemed like it took me 10 minutes to get out of the shallow water to get to the shore with the waves beating me.  And then your time didn't stop until you ran up the beach in the sand a little piece and went under the arch.  I kept telling  myself don't stop until you get under that arch.  You've got to make the time.  My daughter was standing there and hollered at me smiling.  I figured that meant I had made my time, but I still wanted to see it.

  I tried to fix my watch so I could see the time, but my fingers were a mess.  I didn't see any wetsuit strippers so I had to pull that thing off myself and get to the showers to get the salt water washed off me.  When I made it to the showers and guy was there that was sick.  He was throwing up.  He said he had swallowed so much salt water he didn't know if he could go on.  I told him he'd make it just don't quit.  

I finally made it to my bike where one of the ladies was also just arriving.  We were both on a high from finishing the swim and chatted for just a minute while getting on our bike gear.  I wished her luck on the bike and went to the porta potty before heading out on the bike.  I didn't see my mom.  I was wondering where she was at because I didn't see her with Erin when I came out of the swim.  I got on the bike and hoped I'd see her soon.  

The bike out was GREAT.  We had a nice tailwind.  It was like I barely had to pedal to maintain a 18-19 mph.  I felt great!  When I reached the half way point to turn around my pace was 19 mph average.  I was grinning from ear to ear and then it hit me... oh crap... head wind going back. LOL  And boy was it a head wind! and it also seemed the whole way back was uphill.  It's a flat course except for 1 overpass bridge and another hill so I knew that wasn't the case.  It was just the headwind making it feel that way.  I came into the finish line and there my mom was hollering at me.  Boy I was so glad to see her and Erin waiting on me.  They were cheering and taking pictures.  Mom later realized she just thought she had pictures of me on the bike.  The sun was so bright she couldn't see that her phone was not taking pictures. :(  Erin got a couple from a distance of me inside transition putting bike up. 

By this time the sun was blaring and it was heating up.  I knew the run was not gonna be fun.  I got changed into my bike shoes and stopped for the volunteers to spray me down with sunscreen.  I felt like my body was on fire.  Heading out on the run. 

We had 3 loops to do to complete the half marathon.  I had planned to stick to my 5 min jog / 1 min walk program, but after almost 2 loops... I had to walk a lot more than I wanted too.  However, I looked at my total time on my watch and knew I would beat the 8 hour 30 min time limit so I didn't stress over walking.  I was still doing this thing. :>)   I talked with several other participants while walking on the run.  Heck it seemed everyone was walking off and on.  There were no fast runners zooming by me.  The heat was getting to everyone.  Not to mention we all had worked hard to finish that swim.  I talked with one guy that lives there that has done the race several times and he said that was one of the toughest swims he had done.  That made me feel better with him actually living there and doing the race several times.  Soon I finished my 3rd loop and was heading in.  I felt so great to be finishing!  Mom & Erin were at the finish line waiting on me.  I couldn't have asked for better sherpas!  I'm so glad they were with me!   

My time wasn't a PR.  My first halfiron man was 7:12 and I had just finished this one in 7:17.  However, my bike and run was faster this go around.  It was the swim that killed my time.  I swam Augusta halfiron man in 33 minutes 56 seconds (now that's a downstream river swim)... vs this ocean swim of 1 hour 1 minute.  Can I say how much I like a downstream river swim :>)

I told mom and Erin to let me get cleaned up and rest and then we'd go out to celebrate Mother's day and me finishing!   They spent the afternoon sitting on the beach and I stayed in the cool hotel room.  I didn't want to be hot or sandy again.  I was over the heat for the day. :>)   The water was beautiful that afternoon and even looked much calmer than that morning although the red flag was still up. 

We went to a nice restaurant that night for dinner.  The food was awesome and the company even better.  We toasted each other and celebrated.  

The drive home the next morning was not so nice.  He hit heavy rain.  You could barely see the road.  I was so glad once we got that 5 hour drive over and I was able to relax at home.  I can't express enough how much I love my mom and daughter!  I'm so blessed they were with me on this adventure.  My daughter did tell me while we were eating dinner after the race that she had googled the full ironman ..... and she was like ... that's double what you did today.  I was like yep... :>) She said that's ALL day into the night... I was like Yep.... Lord willing I'll complete that also.  AND the plan is for my hubby, my mom, my daughter and my son to all be with me on that day! :>) 

 

So glad I had on my bracelet that says Philippians 4:13 the whole race. :>)  I'm a tad tired today.  Usually that 2nd day after a race is worst than the day after for me.  Too bad I have work. LOL  But at least Lisa has me on a recovery week so I'll get a couple of days of rest. THANK YOU LISA! 

Natchez Trace Bike Ride 5-4-19

Natchez Trace Bike Ride 5-4-19

Another training day for me.  This time in Jackson on the Natchez Trace.  I really love this course.... when it's not raining.  I'm so glad that this year I was not doing the 100 miler again because last year I rode 80 of the 100 miles in complete rain.  The forecast for Saturday's ride was 100% rain starting around mid-morning.  Lucky for me it was taper week and I only had the 25 mile ride on tap.  

I kind of hated driving to Jackson just for 25 miles, but I had other plans too.  I was in a need of new running shoes and wanted to go by Fleet Feet to use my discount card I had gotten at a recent race.  When buying good running shoes I need all the discounts I can get. :>)  

It was an early morning at 4am getting up and heading out.  The drive was nice and quiet being it was just me.  Again... my friends all had other things going on or wanted to skip due to the forecast.  I was shocked when I arrived that the parking lot was already slam full.  The rain did not deter people from coming out to ride.  It was a full house.  The 100 milers left out at 7am.   The shorter distances left out at 7:15am.  I saw my friend Sonya and we talked for a few minutes and then we were off.  The weather was nice.  Just a tad humid.  It felt great to be riding.  My body felt great.  I begin passing several people.  Soon I was way out ahead with 7 guys.  They were all drafting and hollered at me and told me to hang with them.  I just laughed and told them I didn't like to draft.  One of them hollered back and said, "oh you superwoman and want to do all the work yourself".   I just smiled at him.  It's in no way that I want to be superwoman.  I just get very nervous when drafting and all the bikes are like 6-8 inches apart.  If one little thing goes wrong, the whole bunch can go down... I've seen it happen.  

I couldn't get way in front of them because they were going pretty fast so we kept going around each other several times.  I was so glad when they told me they were doing the 50 miler because when I turned at half way, I was rid of them. LOL  I will say they did keep my speed up by me trying to prove to them I could ride like them. ..... you know..... that crazy inside voice telling you to prove them wrong... LOL

Anyway, it was a great ride.  I was very pleased with my time.  I can tell my body is getting stronger.  I actually came in first.  It's not a race, so they don't give out awards.  Heck the didn't even have a timing mat or anything.  Just a finish line.  However, they do give out nice finisher medals. :>)  We got some nice swag too...

 A bag & a shirt.

Here's the finish line.  I had some random stranger take the picture since I was alone.  

Here's my time:

As soon as I got my bike loaded, the rain started.  I was thrilled to be done!  I headed to Fleet Feet and got me 2 new pair of shoes and 3 new pair of socks.  Cost me a small fortune, but I've learned that our feet are so very important.  We have to take care of them.  They take the full load of our bodies on them.  Fleet Feet is a great store.  They will put you on a machine that tells them what shoes work best with your type foot.  If you haven't had that done, you should go get it done if you are a runner.  It's free at most running stores.  

Well, that's a wrap on another training bike ride.  This coming up weekend I have a BIG race.  I've tried not to think or talk about it.  Been just taking it one day at a time.  Everyday I just pray for God to let me complete whatever training is on my schedule or race with no injuries.  The race is a half ironman.  It is also training leading up to the full ironman later this year, however, it's a race... which means I'll get NERVOUS.  And the swim is in the ocean!  Last time I did this race the swim was canceled due to the rip tides.  I'm praying for smooth waters on Saturday this year.  My mom is going with me since it's Mother's Day weekend.  I'm very excited that we get to spend the weekend in Florida together.  

I'll be focused on this Bible verse for my race:

Psalm 28:7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.

Dream Bike Ride 4-27-19

Long Bike Day..... I love doing these rides to get in my long bike workouts.  Especially when it's for a great organization like Dream of Hattiesburg!  My plan was to do the 65 mile loop per my coach.  Everything for me is training these days leading up to that big race in September.  :>) 

The Hattie Hundred is a cycling event. All proceeds go to DREAM a local non-profit that works with youth and families to address the prevention of bullying, suicide, alcohol, tobacco, and other drug abuse.

I had attached my new "sound defense" to test it out.  I figured I wouldn't need it on the trace for dogs, but wanted to see how it rode and if it aggravated me where I had attached it.  I did blow it close to Bassfield at a dog and he shut up immediately and sat down.  I sure hope that is the case the next time I'm out on the road biking.  I'm so sick of aggressive dogs trying to get me on my bike!! 

 Bib and Shirt... Love the soft cotton shirt this year! 

The morning was perfect.  Cool and sunny.  I was a tad sad that none of my friends were doing the ride this year.  Some times every one's schedules don't workout for you to all be together.  That's when we must have that strong since of dedication to go ahead and get in our workout even when we do it alone.  I had hoped that I'd end up riding close to a couple of people, but that didn't work out.  It kind of started out that way, but a group of bikers kept trying to draft off me.  I was getting so frustrated!  Drafting isn't legal in ironman races so there is no need for me to practice it.  They were staying right up on my back tire.  It was making me so nervous.  I was so GLAD when they stopped at the first rest stop .... 15 miles into the ride.  I wasn't planning on stopping until the half way mark unless I just had to stop.  I kept going and then was all alone.  All the really fast riders were way ahead and others were stopping at every aid station.  

I didn't put in my ear buds so it was just me and nature.  I had a long talk with the good Lord and thought of so many things that needed to be done at my house. LOL  You can't wear ear buds in ironman races either so I need to go without them more during long bikes to be prepared for that LONG time on the bike.  I felt great.  I was moving along very nicely and kept thinking to myself that my time was going to be so much better than last year.  

A nice kid volunteering at the finish line offered to take my picture.  I was glad since I didn't have a group of my friends with me for us each to take each others pictures.  

 Rode in my bike shirt I got in Kona when I went to Hawaii last year. LOVE

 Nice finisher medals!  The people that rode the 100 miles got a nice railroad stake! 

Well.... to my disappointment... my time wasn't faster.  I was so surprised when I pulled up my results from last year on my garmin.  My overall speed was basically the same. 

 2018 bike results & 2019 bike results

I must of had to stop more for cars at all the crossings this year since my total average was slightly lower than last year, but my total moving average was the same... LOL  17.2 for both years.  I would have never thought that to be true.  I was telling 2 of my friends about my time and one of them made a very good point... She told me that to her that just showed I've made a good comeback since my accident.  I hadn't really thought about it that way.  I was more thinking I should have been faster this year.   But she's right! and that's why I love her.  She always gives me a different view.  I have improved because I was very skiddish after my accident.  I still have nerves and still see my accident while riding, but I'm much better than I was a couple months ago.  Thank you sweet Jesus.  Without him watching over me, I'm not sure what I'd do or how I'd do it.  I give him all the glory! :>) 

So it was a great day! Absolutely beautiful outside.  

I have another bike ride this coming weekend.  I'll only be doing the shorter distance since it's a taper week.  It's looking nice on the weather.  I'm glad for the ones riding 100 miles.  Last year I rode the 100 in complete rain on the Natchez Trace.  It wasn't fun.  

So that's a wrap on the Dream ride.  Training for ironman going well.  I feel my body getting stronger and my mind.  I did however, miss a TRI on Sunday.  I should have went to bed early to get up at 3am to travel to the coast, but that didn't happen so when my alarm went off, I turned it off.  I never do things like that.. ha   I think the good Lord had other plans for me like making sure I was at church since I have 2 weekends in a row coming up with out of town races.  I needed to work on some things at home too.  So I grabbed me a nice 5 mile run before church.  It felt good to shake out those bike legs. :>)  I was a tad disappointed I missed the TRI when I saw the race results and the ones that placed in my age group are slower than me.  Well let me say... I'm usually faster when things all fall right on race day.  Just cause I'm faster in training doesn't always mean the same on race day.  Too many things can impact race day. :>)    .... But oh well, I missed the race and must move on.  

Remember..... 

And always...

God bless you always!

D

RnS Half Marthon #36

A half marathon that I didn't have to travel out of town to get to.... no added expense.. YIPPIE

  I love seeing this race grow.  This was the 8th year for the race and my 5th time to run the half.  I had to look it up because someone asked me how many times I had ran the race since it was a local race and I wasn't sure.  This was my 36th half marathon so it's beginning to get hard to remember how many times I may have run some of them.  LOL  Yep, I'm getting old.... I need a post it note for everything! :>) 

So I had to look up my past results... you know us crazy runners... we like to compare results..... I first ran the race in 2012 with a time of 2:11.  I had just ran my very fist half marathon in 2010 with a time of 2:06 in November and then this race in April.  I skipped 2013 due to neck surgery and then was back in 2014 for an even better time of 2:04.  Looks like I was trying to get to that 2 hour mark. :>)  Then in 2015 I sat out on the sidelines.  I had ran several races in a row and developed bad shin splints so I decided to stand on the side and take pictures of all my friends racing.  I'll never forget that day.  It was an odd feeling being on the sideline.  Then in 2016 I was back, but this time I had been asked to run with the Freedom Riders and help push an ARC child.  We finished in 2:11.  I was thrilled with that time because it's tough pushing a stroller for 13 miles.  But guess what? I did it again in 2017!  I missed the race in 2018 because I choose another half marathon on the beach that was to benefit soldiers.  But then here it is 2019 and I'm back at the RnS and running AGAIN with the Freedom Riders. :>)   

When Terri first asked me to push I was a tad down about it.  My running has been getting back on track and with it being a local race I kind of wanted to run it to see how good I could do.  But then I was reminded of one of my favorite Bible verses.  

Acts 20:35 "By all these things, I have shown you that by working in this way we must help the weak, and remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.'”

I really do love helping with the kids and it's a wonderful thing to watch them enjoy the race.  So I told Terri to count me in!  I would be team up with Matt & Amanda to push Korbin.  Some races you just do for others... time don't matter. 

I was also thrilled when the race director told me I could have a table at the EXPO on Friday to spread the word about Team Run4TheKids and our upcoming race in May.  Here's a picture of our table.

We passed out over 300 flyers on our race.  I hope that helps us get more participation.  I learned last week that there is now another race the same day in Hattiesburg.  The Blue Line Challenge.  GRRRRR   

Now on to the race...... 

Now Korbin is a character!  I had just helped push him at the 10K Children's Classic back in February.  He is smart as a whip and will quiz you on movies and stuff.  Saturday he was in rare form talking smack to all the runners that passed us. :>)  We laughed and had a great time with him.  It was extremely MUGGY.  The temperature at the start of the race was 69 degrees with 100% humidity.  The Humidity was so thick it looked like you needed a knife to cut it.  

Frank & I at the start line.  He had on his ham radio.  He planned to listen to all of them during the race.  

Freedom riders lining up to start

Bikers from Jed's Perfect Endurance bike shop planned to ride along the course to help. 

The race was under new direction this year with a new course.  They had said the course was flat but I disagree with them.  LOL  Actually one of my running friends described it well.  He said it was a technical course with hills and flats.  Now that's the truth!  It had several turns which I'm so thankful they were all marked with either a sign or a person standing there to tell you to turn or I would have been lost.  And yes, there were hills and flats.  The hills seemed bigger when it was my turn to push. LOL  We attempted to change who was pushing each mile so that no one would get too worn out.  Sometimes we'd let Matt keep pushing when he'd offer to.  He was pretty good about that.  Guess he felt sorry for us girls. :>)  But don't worry, I got my share of pushing and my shoulders and arms knew it after the race.  Our time was 2:19 according to the results.  My watch had a moving time of 2:16.  Around mile 7-8 I noticed Korbin got very quiet.  He wasn't talking as much smack and he wasn't smiling anymore.  I thought he had said something about the bathroom but wasn't sure.  As we kept running I asked him if he was ok and he'd just said yes.  However, I could tell the way he was squirming and not smiling at all that something was up.  So I told Matt that I thought he needed to go to the bathroom.  We weren't sure where he was going to go or if  he'd even go for us.  The only big compliant that I have on the race is that there were no porta potties!  I only saw one along the course and that was way back around mile 6.  

By mile 8 we were getting back on the Long Leaf Trace to run the last 3 miles to downtown to finish.  There are trees along the side of the trace so me and Matt both started looking for options.  Matt spotted a place that looked easy for Korbin to get to that had a small fence and trees so we asked Korbin if he wanted to stop and go to the bathroom in the bushes.  He immediately said yes.  We got him out of the stroller and Matt & Amanda walked him down to the site.  Korbin's walking is a tad off due to his legs and his disability.  I stayed with the stroller.  Several people came by as we waited.....and waited... and waited...I decided to stretch while waiting.   Finally Korbin is ready to come back to the stroller.  When we finally got him back in and all strapped up, he said, "I've been holding that a LONG time".  I felt so bad for him!  I know what it feels like to go to the bathroom bad and it's no fun.  Poor kid!  But now he was back smiling and talking his smack.  We had also stopped several times at the aid stations to let Korbin drink water before we started running and pushing him so he wouldn't spill it on himself.  So that's why my watch had a total time of 2:19 like the timer, but an actual moving time of 2:16.   :>)  Due to the heat and humidity I was pleased with our time.  I was drenched.  It took me all day to cool off.  Even after I got home and had a shower I was still hot.  My cheeks were so red and my whole body just felt like a heating pad until very late Saturday night.  I was also very tired.  Races that include heat & humidity just seem to take it all out of me.  I was useless the rest of the day. :>)  My husband even asked me what I was cooking HIM for supper.  I just laughed and told him he was on his OWN!  He should have been cooking for ME, right?? 

I didn't take any pictures along the course! I should have but never thought about it. I hope when the race pictures are posted that I'll find some decent ones of us on the course to update this blog.  AND here's the Pictures from the photographer at the race:

Here is a picture of us at the finish line and some from the post race party. 

Me, Matt, Amanda, & Korbin

The official beer of the Boston Marathon was at our race.  I had to get a picture because I just love the Boston logo! The beer has been exclusive to Boston in the past and is just now being released to other races.   

Frank and I went to waffle house afterwards.  That little bowl of food we got at the race was not enough.  You could buy more if you wanted, but the runners only got 1 small bowl free.  That's the only other thing I can think of about the race that needs improving.  You could get plenty of chips & bananas, but not real food.  If they add the Full marathon as planned next year, they will need more FOOD for the runners.  So proud of Frank! He's battled a few injuries and hasn't been running long distance in awhile and he ran the half.  He ran with Julie and they both did awesome and encouraged each other. I LOVE team Run4TheKids team members!

Well that's a wrap on half marathon #36.  I still can't believe I'm getting close to 40 half marathons since I didn't do my first till 2010! I've only been running around 10 years.  Yep, I started late in life. :>)  That's an average of 4-5 half marathons a year!