This was part of our race crew! Awesome!!!!

November 5th was a pretty perfect day....starting with waking up to my wonderful husband who was doing Ironman Florida with me and ending with ME announcing finishers crossing the line after I became an Ironman for the 3rd time a few hours before with a PR time! If that's a good enough race report for you, stop here. If not, below are the details :)

After training and preparing for Ironman Louisville last year without Dustin, I was very thankful he was by my side this year as we drove to Panama City on Wednesday night. Hilary was nice enough to let us stay in her condo one night because we were sitting on a fundraising panel for the Ironman Foundation for raising money for Challenged Athletes Foundation on Thursday morning. Through this, we got to meet Michellie Jones, 2 time Ironman Hawaii Champion, so that was a pretty good start to our Ironman experience. My parents drove down from Missouri and they watched us answer some questions and raise awareness for our causes, along with a few other athletes. That morning, we met Wolf and his family and a few other club members for a swim and it was a bit rough for the gulf, but glad we did it! We made it through athlete check in with no problems and my parents were nice enough to wait in the long line at the store while we got some crepes and threw some Powerbar bean bags (highlight of the weekend, I made 4 in a row and kicked Dustin's butt :).

We were lucky enough to score some VIP passes through our fundraising for the Welcome Dinner, so we didn't have to wait in line and we got to sit up front which was kind of nice! The presentations took a bit long, but Dustin and I got up on stage for being husband and wife racing together, along with a few other couples. The athlete race meeting seemed to drag on forever, but our good friend, Andre did well with the run portion (both in speaking and directing during race day!) Most of the Hammerhead Triathlon Club members doing the race were able to get together for a picture after and then we went back to the condo (Laketown Wharf, less than half a mile walk and highly recommended with full kitchen and sleeps 6).

On Friday morning, Hilary, Dustin and I went for a 20 minute bike (brrrrrr, glad my new arm warmers made the trip), and then 10 minute run and we were all feeling pretty good! We walked our bikes and gear bags down to transition and dropped them off with ease. We scoped out where our parents were going to watch from and see us in different spots, and we absolutely loved running into other Hammerheads all over the place in Panama City! We went to Panera for lunch and picked up Dustin's Mom, Becky at the airport and then drove part of the bike course where our parents were going to cheer around mile 53 and 60.

We got back to the condo and prepared for the Hammerheads and their families and friends to come over for dinner and to hang out. Our parents made pasta and garlic bread and we had some salads and dips and a little wine and beer! All of the parents/friends got to meet eachother and all the racers got to ask each other last minute questions. It reminded me of the college parties I used to throw, in a tiny place with around 40 people there and it was absolutely AWESOME to have that commradery! Susan gave us all our Hammerhead shirts and we posed for some more pictures and then tried to get to bed soon after that, but with all the good luck emails, phone calls, texts, and facebook messages, it was hard!

Warning, warning.....the next sentence might be TMI.........I wanted as much family there to cheer as possible, but I did NOT invite Aunt FLO, if you know what I mean......but she made an appearance! Why in the hell did I have to start the NIGHT before Ironman....really??!!!!! I usually get pretty bad back cramps, so I was a little worried, but I tried to ingore it and went to sleep.

Saturday, we woke up at 4:30 AM, and I showered like I always do to loosen everything up and did a little stretch and ate my almond butter and jelly sandwich and sipped on some Ironman Perform drink. Before we knew it, we were in transition, setting up our bottles on our bikes and walking our special needs bags down to the trucks. We started to head to the beach in the massive crowd and realized we had to go back into transition to drop off our morning clothes bags.....ugggg, that sucked to get back through there, but we did it and then met our families and friends on the beach by the Hammerhead flag and hugged and wished eachother luck!

Dustin and I gave eachother one last kiss as we started right in the middle of the 2800 people, pretty close to the front and I was really nervous about doing that, but I think it was the right decision! Yes, I got kicked in the face and in the stomach, and hit on the arms and head numerous times, but I kept thinking of Al with his shoulder injury, and Giselle with her arm injury, and I just kept pushing it! The 2.4 mile swim really seemed to go by fast with the two loops and I saw my parents because they were holding the huge umbrella (a must do if you want to see your spectators and them see you!). The swim was weird because at times, I would feel like no one was near me, and then there would be 20 people wrestling with me; it was actually fun! Way more fun than swimming in a pool with a black line (maybe that's why I only swam less than once a week in training, and glad I didn't "waste" my time with any more than that because I ended up with a 1:12:46 and I was happy with that! Dustin's time was 1:15:52 and he was happy with that and I was happy I beat him! :)

After an 8:50 transition (Dustin's was 10:50.....Angie 2, Dustin 0), we were off for our 112 mile bike ride and boy, the winds were not in our favor for the first half AT all! I tried to keep positive and hoping that my average on the 2nd half would be better! I had to pee pretty bad from mile 30 on, so I finally stopped on the side of the road behind a fence just before mile 50 when we were going to see our parents! I wanted to be able to smile and enjoy seeing them, instead of worrying about a portapotty! They were there along with Michael and Melanie with their signs and noisemakers and it was great to see them. Then we hit the most annoying part of the bike course with huge bumps every 2 seconds that jarred everything on my bike and in my body! I kept thinking of Jessica who was competing out there with a broken pubic bone and I was hoping she would make it through that part okay. We headed out to a turnaround and the special needs bags where I grabbed my 2nd water bottle (only had 2 on my bike at a time, decreasing the weight tremendously and I think that helped in the wind!). I saw Dustin and knew he was right behind me, so I didn't stop long. I was trying to hold him off as long as possible! I saw our supporters again and their smiles and cheers fueled me for the majority of the miles. I couldn't wait to see them at the finish of the bike! I had my Garmin set to go off every 10 minutes so I would drink my EFS and I just kept sipping water and taking a TON of Power Bar energy blasts (Cola and Raspberry) and a few Gu's here and there. My lower back was hurting pretty bad at times, but kept thinking of Brian, a fellow Hammerhead with a herniated disc, who was competing out there and I just had to suck it up! When we made the turn back towards the beach, the winds had shifted and were BACK in our face! Lovely! I just tried to keep my heart rate down in the last portion and was hoping Dustin wasn't going to catch me! I finished the bike in 5:57:31 with an average of 18.8 mph, so again, extremely happy with that, especially with those winds! Dustin finished strong with a 5:59:17 (Angie 3, Dustin 0) and we saw our parents as we came through into transition. Dustin finally scored with a faster transition (5:42 vs 7:05 but I'm blaming that on womanly problems :).....(Angie 3, Dustin 1)

I was SOOOOO happy to be on that marathon course and off that bike seat. My shark hat was getting people to cheer for me so loudly and I was LOVING it! I saw Jo, Owen, Katie, Annie, Michael and Melanie and of course smiled for pictures! It was amazing how well everyone was spread out throughout the course and it helped so much!!! Julie and Blaine, Freddy, then a little bit further Kathy and Maggie and their energetic crew giving us stats, a little further Shawn Burke handing me "lucky" cola, the energetic Heather Davenport running around everywhere, and then a little bit further at the entrance and exit of the state park, were Scott's parents, Craig and Cyndie giving me stats on how far Dustin was behind me! Then seeing all those same people on the way back for the second loop was awesome, and I knew Dustin was gaining on me!

I all of a sudden needed to hit a portapotty NOW, so I pulled on a door that was locked and I heard, "ANG!!!!"....it was Dustin coming behind me.....so glad I didn't get into that portapotty or we might have missed eachother. Instead, I sucked it up and tried to keep running with him, even if it was for a few steps. A few steps turned into longer and then he had to hit the portapotty too, so we did a side by side stop....it was pretty funny, I asked him, "everything coming out alright?" and he said, "yes, but go ahead when you get out, I'll catch ya" so that's what I did and I saw our parents shortly after and then got the special needs run bag where I grabbed Tylenol for my back cramps and vaseline for my chafing on my arms. Then I slowed down a little bit because I wanted to be running together when we saw Jo, Owen, Michael and Melanie and they were able to get a good video and pic of us! I tried to keep up, but my heart rate was getting too high, so I told him to go ahead, after we awkwardly kissed with those shark hats on top of our heads....that got some laughs from the people lining the streets. They were great though with all their costumes and funny signs. It kept us entertained! It was also great to see all the other Hammerheads out there, some feeling great, some not, but as my hips started to complain, I thought of Elizabeth with her torn labrum, who would be kicking our butts if she was healthy, and I sucked it up! All those first timers with guts enough to compete with those injuries really inpsired me!

Your mind starts to wonder during this long day, and during the hard times, I would think of those who we were raising money for through Challenged Athletes Foundation and their determination in life and I used that energy to my advantage to keep pushing forward. I saw the same supporters from Jax on the way out on the second loop and I just kept wondering when I was going to slow down, but I never did. I just kept running from one group to the next, wanting to make sure I was smiling when I saw everyone. One of the funniest moments was when this woman said to me, "Go, go, you are almost half way done!" and I said back to her, "NO, I am almost DONE!!!!!" She must have thought a silly person with a shark hat on their head couldn't be very fast! :) I averaged 9:13 miles with walking most water stations and the portapotty stop and I very rarely looked at my watch except to check my heart rate. I had no idea how well I was doing until Kathy did some math for me (I wasn't capable at that point) and I had a chance to break 4 hours on the marathon and possibly get a marathon PR (my best ever marathon by itself was 3:58), so I started trying to push it a little more, but I also wanted to enjoy myself and remember the moment. I was going as fast as my body would possibly let me, when I saw Jo and Owen on the sidelines and they were so surprised to see me! Jo started running along the sidelines with me and almost tripped, so that was hilarious! I was running faster than Jo Shott for once! I pushed it all the way into the finish line and saw our parents right at the end in the VIP section as I crossed the finish line with a HUGE smile! 11:26:42 and I would have never thought I would have been able to go that fast! Although I was 32 seconds over a 4 hour marathon, I was very proud that I left it all out on the course and I finished with a true smile on my face and saw Dustin right after as we posed for finish line pics together. Dustin ROCKED the marathon with a PR (best marathon before that was 3:50 and he ran a 3:47!)....(Angie 3, Dustin 2) and finished in 11:18:55 (Angie 3, Dustin 3!) I'll take the tie.....just kidding, he beat me, I can say it, but I am so happy we both had our perfect races!

Then we got pizza and a margarita and met up with our awesome supporters who got our bikes and gear bags (thanks Jo and Owen) and took them back to the hotel for us! We got massages and sat inside to warm up a little (never cold on the course except for after we finished). We were able to see quite a few Hammerheads after their amazing finishes and hear their stories, but we felt bad that we missed a few people crossing the finish line! Sorry Hilary, didn't know you were going to be that fast! We got our second wind and then we went back out to cheer (and eat dinner at the VIP tent). We finished before 630 PM and didn't leave the finish line until after 11 PM. They had an open mic portion on the announcer microphone for finishers at 15 hours, so my Dad announced some finishers and I did too and it was amazing to call out to first timers, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN! Wow, that was a highlight of the day, as I danced and had the crowd doing some raise the roof moves! The day was perfect from start to finish and ended with the most inspiring finish.......Jessica had to walk the whole marathon portion because of a broken bone, but she ran in the finish line shoot with tears streaming down her face and we were so excited for her to complete her first Ironman after a bike accident at the end of September. Wow! That's what Ironman is about.....pushing yourself and not knowing how it will turn out but being willing to do it anyway! It was a pleasure to share in this race experience with all 13 Hammerheads, especially my husband (and fastest Hammerhead of the day)!!!! Thanks to everyone who helped along the way and who followed us online during the race! I feel like retiring after that (kind of like Tony Larussa....going out on top), but that damn 32 seconds on the marathon portion might bring me back...........

In the triathlon world, we give "race reports" but I thought we should start this in other facets of life too, so this is my Lasik Eye Surgery report since many of you have been asking for specifics.

I have worn glasses since 4th grade and got contacts in 7th grade. As an adult, I barely have ever worn my glasses, sleeping for months at a time in my contacts, which I knew wasn't good for my eyes and posed risks for infection and other complications, so I started looking at laser eye surgery. I got a few recommendations for who to see here in Jacksonville and decided to go with Dr. Bowden (off of Philips Hwy and JTB). He is the Jaguars team doctor for all their eye surgeries, etc, so he has to be good, right? He was also covered on my insurance for routine visits, but lasik is not covered by insurance. I was told on my initial appointment (where they did many tests and figured out that I have different size pupils, high pressure, and astigmatism) that it would be somewhere between $2100-$2900 PER EYE minus the $150 fee for the consultation. Because of my abnormalness (is that a word?), of course I would have to do the custom procedure which was $2900 per eye. An 8% discount was offered if you put it on a debit card. Also because of my abnormalities (yeah, that sounds better), I would have to do 4 different drops 3x/day, along with warm compresses, eye massage, and this scrub on my eyelids. All of this information was pretty overwhelming and I was very frustrated when I left their office, even though everyone was very polite, professional, and answered all of my questions.

At first, I decided I had wasted $150 and I didn't want to do it....it was just so much effort before and after to get the desired results. Then, while drinking wine one night with Dustin, we started comparing it to preparing for an Ironman Triathlon.....how many hours do we spend preparing for ONE day? How many things do we buy to help us get in better shape? This was no different, except for I wasn't preparing for ONE day, I was preparing for great vision for the rest of my life (of course this doesn't stop the need for reading glasses in your forties!) So, after that conversation, we decided to go for it! I diligiently did all of the above mentioned routine 3 times per day up until surgery, but I had to make a spreadsheet in order to keep up with it!

I had to go in for another pre op appointment where they gave me two more drops to do and then they only perform the laser surgeries on 1 day out of the month, the first Wednesday, so my date was set as December 1st (which I hated to miss the triathlon club holiday party that night!). I was told I wouldn't be able to sweat, or swim, or get any water in my eyes for two weeks afterwards. I was also told that I might have significant red spots on the whites of my eyes for up to a week afterwards....so much for wearing red at Dustin's ship's holiday party.

Thankfully, Dustin was able to take me in for the surgery. I could eat and drink normally the morning of, so I ate a big breakfast, because they told me they would be giving me Valuum, and I really don't respond well to drugs, so I figured I needed some calories in me. I got there at 7:15 and I was told it would be about 2 hour total process, but the lasers only take a few seconds. Dustin waited patiently outside for me. I was taken back to a big room with about 6 other people and we all sat in these uncomfortable chairs that were extremely upright as the nurse came around and put tons of eye drops in all of our eyes and gave us Valuum. I think I was the only one getting the custom lasik so they did me last. People kept coming out of the first room, being led by the nurses, with iodine all over their faces, squinting and walking really slow. It looked like a death march and I just had to keep watching it over and over! They took me across the hall to do some more tests on me. The girl was really nice and kept me calm by telling me about her lasik. She said that Dr. Bowden was a perfectionist and he wanted things done right the first time, so that's why they had to keep repeating these tests on me. Apparently, all of the screwed up surgeries end up being fixed by Dr. Bowden, so I was feeling confident about his abilities, but still a little nervous.

I insisted they only give me one 5 mg Valuum, even though everyone else around me was getting 10-20 mg. She kept asking me if I was relaxed and I really wasn't so I conceded to a second 5 mg Valuum that helped me relax a little bit more. I really never felt completely groggy like I thought I would though. I found it funny that they were explaining to a bunch of drugged up people all of the eye drops and how many times we had to do them. Thankfully they provided us written instructions too. They finally took me into the first room where they reclined me back and held one eye at a time open with these forcep thingies. This is where they were creating the flap, cutting into the cornea......it just felt like extreme pressure, like a suction cup pulling on my eyeball. The second one hurt a bit more than the first, but it was only for about 10 seconds or so, then they led me back to the main room and said that I could open my eyes if I wanted to, which scared me! I have a freakin cut open cornea here people! I sat there and waited for a long time and the nurse put more eye drops in my eyes. Then I was taken to the second room where Dr. Bowden pulled the flap open and that was weird. I had to keep staring at a red light and he kept pulling and pulling on it and then my vision went gray for a bit, then the laser lasted about 18 seconds, with little pulsations I could barely feel. Then he pulled the flap back into place, and smoothed it out and moved on to the left one. This one was a bit more stubborn, but practically the same thing. I came out of there and they said I could open the eyes if I wanted to, but I just tried to rest. Dr. Bowden came out one more time to look at my eyes through one of those machines to make sure the flap was back in place and then I could leave with these REALLY stylish goggles that I had to wear until I came back the next day for my follow up (and then continue to wear while sleeping for two weeks!). Something else they told me that day was that I couldn't wear eye make up for two weeks and I had to throw away all of my old eye make up and buy new stuff. Again, lovely for the upcoming holiday parties!

I was told to go home and sleep, not to watch TV, not to get on the computer and to avoid doing those things for very long in one sitting.....therefore why it has taken me this long to write this Lasik report! I had some pretty intense pressure behind my right eye at first in recovery and then the left and asked for some Tylenol, which they gave me and I think I took some more once I got home too. Dustin brought me home and I went to bed and he went back to work. I pretty much slept all day with no problem thanks to the Valuum. Dustin can fill in any blanks that I'm missing here.

The next morning, I woke up and I could see pretty well! I was impressed, but it was still a bit blurry, which was expected. I drove myself to my follow up appointment and they told me I was 20/20 in my right and 20/25 in my left, but that I had an extreme case of dryness and they gave me MORE drops to use. They said the bluriness and halos around the lights would go away eventually, but that I had to keep my eyes saturated at all times! Then when Dr. Bowden came in, he prescribed tear duct plugs...what!!? The girl said, "10 day plugs?" and he said, "no, she needs the 90 day plugs"......so then another guy proceeded to insert these little itsy bitsy cylindrical objects into my bottom eye lids where my tear ducts are. He said it wouldn't hurt and the first one I could feel it, but he was right, it didn't hurt. The second one (my lovely problem left eye) did hurt! He said, "this one's being stubborn, " and I was like NO SHIT....get it over with! No anesthesia or no numbing drops or anything, just another thing that sucked. But, they will dissolve in 90 days and keep it so that the moisture stays on my eyeball instead of draining out of the eye. Weird, I know. So, since Wednesday, this has been my routine: Refresh drops 1x/EVERY HOUR, Sooth XP drops 4-6x/day, Durezol drops 3x/day (steroid), Azasite drops 1x/day (antibiotic), Vigamox drops 3x/day (anti inflammatory), Nevanac drops 3x/day, and Restasis drops 2x/day, plus 1000mg flaxseed oil pill, and to not have any fans or wind blowing on me at all. Hmmmm, I sleep with a fan, I own a boat, a bicycle, I love to drive with the windows down and my AC blowing right in my face.....could this all have contributed to my dry eyes in the past!????

So, I will admit, I am very frustrated that I am not seeing perfectly already. I am an impatient person and I want it to be perfect right away, but from what I have heard from others, it will take a few weeks for the bluriness to go away. It always feels like what it used to at the end of a long day outside with the contacts, dry and a like a little buildup over the contacts, except for I don't have contacts now! I'm happy about that, and I'm sure I will eventually be happy with my eyes, but for now I am a bit frustrated that every single Christmas light I see is blurry! Hopefully by the 25th, they will be clear!

I think most of the people that are interested in reading this are my close friends and family, those who have done this race before, and those who might be interested in doing this race in the future. If you like a difficult non wetsuit swim, a hot, hilly but fun bike course, and a HOT but flat run course, this is the race for you! It also helps if you are racing with others you know, you bring along 20-30 of your supporters and dress them up in matching tshirts and big hats, supply them with cowbells and noisemakers and signs, have your husband lead them all over the course to see you multiple times, and force yourself to wear something silly on the run so even the strangers cheer for you.

Brevity is not my strong suit, so I will start way back in January when I decided to do this race! (If you want to skip to race morning, scroll down, but you won't get the full story! :)......... Why Louisville, everyone asked? It fit within my timeline of when Dustin was going to be back, so that I could do my long training right before he got back, and it was a drivable distance and close to our midwest families. I decided I would have Wolfgang Guembel, a professional triathlete from Canada (and a friend) coach me to really hold me accountable for my training. I am so glad I did this, because even when I didn't want to go out on those hot summer days, I knew I had to do multiple 100 mile rides and multiple 3 hour runs to prepare for this. I also went to Masters swim twice a week pretty religously. I logged all of my miles through Training Peaks and got feedback from Wolf. I spent a good deal of time figuring out my nutrition and trying to take in 75 carbs per hour and 1000mg of sodium per hour during my long trainings and the race per Wolf. This took awhile for my body to adjust to this (or did it ever really??)

With Dustin deployed, it made it a little easier to roll out of bed most mornings at 5 AM and train on the bike with Bob's group or Hilary or go for a run with Jo. I never really trained too much with people who were doing the race, but I was so thankful that Hilary and Jo were willing to train with me and it kept me positive and motivated, along with seeing all the fast swimmers at Masters swim motivating me to improve.

Dustin and I left Wednesday morning for KY (many jokes were made using these two letters!) We packed up the car with Margarita (my bike), ALL of my crap, including a small fridge since our hotel didn't guarantee we would get one. Dustin insisted that we not take an empty fridge, so he loaded it with beer, and to our surprise, was still cold when we got the hotel outside of Louisville about 12 hours later!

My plan for Thursday was to get up and ride part of the bike course, but when we drove it on Wed night, it was a bit intimidating with no shoulder and tons of hills and I didn't really want to ride it alone, so we decided to go for a short run that morning instead. It was a cool morning and one of those runs where I felt like I could go forever; just what I needed mentally. Then, we headed into downtown to the Athlete Check In. Seeing the Ohio River and where transition would be set up always gives me woozies, but they were excited woozies! I checked in and got my number 70 and checked in at the Janus Charity Challenge.....$5090 total raised for ALS...that's why I got the low number....so people thought I was a pro who was really slow all weekend! We met Dustin's sister, husband and three kids for dinner at the Old Spaghetti factory walking distance from the downtown Marriott where we were staying. That was fun and then headed to the airport to pick up Dustin's Dad and step Mom (from TX) Mia (our friend from Baltimore also doing the race-her first!) Dustin went out for drinks with them as Mia and I chatted about our training and the race!

I slept like crap, but Friday still was upon us, so we headed to check Mia into the expo and ran into some Jville friends there too! We went to lunch on 4th street Live food court, then headed to the Louisville Slugger Museum which was cool. Dustin went on some cave tour with family while Mia and I unwound at the hotel for a little bit. Kat and Scott (from Cali!) met up with us and we hung out for a bit.Then, it was time for the Welcome Dinner and athlete meeting at the convention center. It was HUGE, one of the biggest in Ironman history they said, people were standing room only on the sides. Mike Reilly (so glad he came to ours instead of Canada!) MC'd and motivated us and we ate loads of pasta and salad. It was nice to hang out with Michael and his twin brother who were doing the race to celebrate them both being in remission from thyroid cancer; motivation in itself right there! We saw Skat's friends from St. Louis and gave them their team shirts and then listened carefully to the athlete meeting and each race director (swim, bike and run) gave us info (our favorite was Andre from Jville, race director for the run course!) Notice I said listened carefully......that will come in handy later. After the meeting we met at our hotel bar, where my parents showed up from MO, Dustin's Mom and friends from KS, and Jo and Shivella from Jville! I decided since before all of my good training sessions, I had a few glasses of wine, why should this weekend be any different, so I drank myself some Merlot. I always have a hard time leaving a party, but I knew I needed to try to sleep, so I tore myself away around 11 PM, but still didn't sleep!

Saturday morning was the practice swim and it was a bit crazy, long lines to even get in the water. Mia and I stayed together and Skat and Dustin watched our stuff (thanks guys). We swam for about 20 minutes, then got on our bikes for about 20 and then ran for about 20....(I remembered when that was all I could do when I did my first sprint, and now I was doing that the day before an Ironman, wow!) Dustin and Skat "ran" into an underwear run, so we had to go take pictures of that spectacle, then we went to Panera for lunch with my parents, and Walt. Jeff and Kendra showed up by then (from Cali) and they helped us (along with my parents)get our bikes and T1 and T2 bags checked in. The other crew members met up to discuss their plan for the morning with the swim start/exit/transition and figured it all out perfectly! Disclaimer: There was a LOT of walking before this race since it is downtown and there's not a lot of places to park.....it's just easier to walk, especially when you have a big group.

It was SO nice to get rid of my bike and not have to worry about it anymore! Then we headed back to the hotel and got our feet up for a little bit while visiting with everyone. Mia and I headed down to the lobby to fix our pasta, but they wouldn't let us use the microwave, so the front desk girl had to fix our pasta and she wasn't too thrilled about it. Oh well, we ended up eating our usual food which we wanted to do and met up for the spectator meeting at 5 PM. This is also where the HAT contest started and boy, was it a doozie! Everyone was so decked out and I was so excited! Dustin lectured about the points on the bike course and the plan and estimated times as they all ate pizza that we got delivered. Then, we went down to the pool, where I put my feet up some more and got on my laptop to see everyone's well wishes and to try to figure out my tracker that I was wearing to test from Art Perez. Skat's hat and J and Ks hat tied for first place and you gotta check out the pics on FB of how similarly creative they were. My Dad came in a close second with his horse hat! Kat and Kendra drug me away from the party around 9:30, but once again, I slept like crap!

RACE MORNING: Sunday, August 29, 2010

I wake up around 2 AM wondering if I had saved a power gel from my bags that I could take before the swim start and I dozed on and off until my alarm went off at 3:30 AM! I woke up with extreme nervousness that I was NOT ready for. I had to force down my two boosts and a almond butter and jelly sandwich. It took me longer to get everything together than I wanted, despite Skat, J and K, and Dustin's help. We met Mia, Shawn and her parents and walked to the transition together (about a mile) as they all carried my special needs bags (thanks guys!) We got there, pumped up our tires, put our bottles on our bikes, and turned in our bags, then another 15 or so minute walk to the swim start by Tumbleweeds restaurant. The site of everyone rushing was getting me more and more nervous. See, for this swim start, people start forming lines WAY early in the morning because we jump off the docks one at a time (instead of the normal mass start in all other full Ironmans). We were lucky enough to jump in with the St. Louis group who had been saving spots since earlier. I went to the portapotty 2 times and had some extreme nervous energy. In my first Ironman I was nervous leading up to it, and excited on the day of......this Ironman I was excited leading up to it and ready to puke nervous the morning of! It was really making me mad as I stood in a bathroom line and the swim line started moving forward! I hoped that I could still find Mia, Michael, and John to start with them! Dustin and Scott tried to calm me down, but I didn't feel better until I found them again. I downed my power gel and sipped on gatorade and water, and before we knew it, the line started moving more! They are screaming, "goggles on, goggles on!!!!" then you move further down the dock, "get your watches ready, watches ready!!!!!" I see our light blue crew with their crazy hats and I'm jumping up and down wasting all kinds of energy but I don't care! I hold my goggles as I jump in the water and I'm off at 7:04 AM......not too shabby.....4 minutes after the very first people in the water.

All we have to do is swim around an island, under a few bridges and we are out, right? WRONG! I got hit and kicked a lot during the swim, the Ohio River tasted awful, and I just felt tight! It took me 57 minutes to get all the way around the island and I wasn't feeling this current that I heard about. I was able to pee about 5 times during the swim, which was good and the site of the hot air balloons was prettty! But everything else was just causing me to question, "Why am I doing this again?" Once, I had something fairly big hit me on the very top of the head.....what the heck could it have been? A branch? A beaver? A dead body? I'm going with a branch. My new, old goggles (I couldn't find the ones I'd been training in for the last month that I loved, so I used old ones) were a bit too tight and they were giving me a headache, but I needed to pick up my pace big time, so I just dug in and pushed myself to get this swim over with. I've never wanted to get on my bike so bad in my life! I was wearing JC's speed suit, but it sure wasn't feeling speedy! I kicked a bit more at the end to get my legs ready for land and just kept envisioning our crew waiting for me on the sidelines! I came up the steps and up the chute and there they were yelling, snapping pics and video, and keeping me motivated to see them again soon! 1:19:50 (just 7 seconds better than Dustin's previous time! Yeah!)

I ran into transition and got my bag (I thought they were supposed to get it for you, but they weren't ready for me) and headed into the changing tent, but I didn't change clothes. I actually started putting on my race belt on top of the speed suit (can you tell I'm not used to wearing one?)....after a laugh from a few people, I got that off and showed off my USA Kswiss tri suit that I got printed "Hammerheads for ALS" down the side and "CRAWFORD" on the butt! Dustin snuck a note in my bag that said good luck and that was really sweet! I grabbed my helmet, bike shoes, bike gloves, sunglasses, salt tabs and had the lady spray me with SPF 80 spray that I brought which worked great! I had my nutrition already on my bike, so I was ready after I stopped in the bathroom one more time.

I saw our crew as I cruised out of transition and prepared to be with Margarita for 6-7 hours! The first 5 miles went down like nothing and I was averaging 20 so I knew I needed to slow down, but then I had to STOP! My back bike bag was almost all the way off, hanging from a thread with my tubes and CO2 in it and I couldn't afford to not have that or I would get a flat for sure, so I pulled off and fixed it. I envisioned people watching from home on my tracker seeing that I already stopped, so that motivated me to fix it quickly and hop back on, but my right quad seized up as I lifted it over the seat, so I had to take a minute to shake that off! Back on the bike and I tried to remember to spin it out so I wouldn't burn out my legs too soon. I really didn't feel like I was working too hard and before I knew it, I was at mile 23 where our crew was loudly cheering! It was so fun to see them and to know that I would hopefully be seeing them 4-5 more times according to Dustin's plan was very motivating (they took four packed cars to all these spots!) One of my favorite parts of the course was going through LaGrange, a small town that fills the streets behind barricades and yells their butts off for hours! I was in my aerobars, but able to make the "raise the roof" sign as I flew by and the crowds went crazy (on both loops! that was fun!) I gave out high fives to our family and friends constantly at miles 34, 50, 74, 80! The miles just kept cruising by as I thanked them for being out there with their ever changing signs cowbells, HUGE HATS, clappers, and even Dustin had the portable radio blaring for me up one hill "Just gonna stand there and watch me burn? That's okay, cause I like the way it hurts" which became my motto for the race in the last month! I thanked every volunteer, and every cop on the course holding up traffic for us. I stopped at special needs for my only pee break on the bike other than both transitions. I knew I had slowed down on the second loop, but I wasn't about to kill my legs before the marathon. The last 30 miles were the toughest after I left THE best spectating crew ever. It was getting hotter and cyclists were pulled over everywhere trying to hide in the shade. I was SO glad I listened at the athlete meeting and grabbed an extra water bottle at the third to last aid station because the second to last aid station, they were telling us they were out of water and I remembered them saying they were spaced far apart! Oh NO! I just kept yelling "WATER!" and the very last person had one more bottle that I took. The guy next to me grunted as he missed getting any fluids, so I offered him mine, but he refused (glad he did cause I needed every last bit of it!) I was trying to do nutrition every ten minutes when my watch would go off, first Accelorade, then Perform, then Water, with a gel on the hour, clif blocks on the fifteen minutes, and salt tabs on the half hour. It was hard to keep the timing with the hills, but Wolf had told me to take nutrition in on the uphills, so that's what I did! Down to 20 miles and I just kept getting slower and slower, despite being on the downhill section.....there was a headwind and I was TIRED! One of the St. Louis crew, Dana passed me and cheered for me and I swear, I was asleep until she did that! I looked down and I was going 13 mph, so I picked it back up to around 17 and cruised for downtown. I couldn't wait to see everyone and get off this bike seat! Margarita treated me well, but I was glad to see her go as I headed into transition 2. Bike time of 6 hours 26 minutes and I was happy about that. I had been averaging around 18 on flats in training, so I was hoping for anything over 17 and it was 17.4 mph average and I was ready for that run!

I saw the crew again as I entered and exited and gave Dustin a kiss as I started on the HOT marathon course. No one knew that I was ALSO going to representing Kentucky derby style with a huge white flower on top of my ALS cap. I planned to wear it only for a little bit, but so many strangers were screaming for me, that I ended up wearing it for the whole marathon! So, they torture us with an up and over a bridge right away, but it there was a little bit of a breeze and I liked the contour change, knowing it was flat from there on out. As I cruised down the bridge, it was fun to give high fives to our family as I rounded the corner to do two out and backs. It was HOT, but the sun kept hiding behind the clouds ever so often and every time it did, I would be SO thankful. Seeing the 11 people I knew out on the course throughout the day made it much more enjoyable. I was passing people left and right and felt thankful that I was able to stick with my nutrition plan througout the bike and the run. My stomach was a little sloshy, but I was thankful that I had absolutely NO aches and pains. I walked every aid station to get two cups of water and one cup of Perform, and a gel every thirty minutes and a salt tab (215 mg Sodium) every hour. I was wearing Zoot's cool sleeves which helped a lot as I grabbed ice cold sponges and rang them out over those and then stuck more in my shirt. When I was feeling hot again, I would ring them out again over the sleeves! I saw our crew at mile 13 and smiled and high fived a bit! They take you RIGHT up to the finish line where the FAST people are sprinting in before you turn to do one more out and back. Simply torturous! Dustin ran up a little ways to walk with me through the aid station. I thought everything was going well, until I tried to ingest a power gel, dry heaved on a little girl at the aid station, then projectile vomited three times, emptying EVERYTHING from my stomach! As puke was streaming from my mouth and my nose, I looked over at Dustin and said, "Did you get a picture of that?" Jeez, the one time he didn't have a camera! I wanted proof! Well, my stomach felt better, but it made me nervous that I was dehydrated now. Dustin decided he wasn't going to tell the parents about my mishap because all it would do was make them nervous and they'd be at the finish line regardless! After a few more miles, I had to use the porta potty in a bad way a few different times. My darn stomach....my body was feeling great, no blisters, no aches, but my digestion was having a hard time. I continued to walk the aid stations and was able to get a little more in me, and I stuck with my plan of running from aid station to aid station! Kat and Scott were absolute lifesavers for being at the far end of the course when I needed it most and they kept me going with some figuring of how slow I could do the last few miles and still make it under 13 hours! I kept saying good job to everyone I passed; so many people were walking the majority of the run course (and apparently I passed a lot of people in my age group on the run). I really wasn't in too good of a mood by about mile 18, but because I was wearing that damn flower on my head and people were smiling and laughing and yelling like crazy, I couldn't NOT smile! I highly recommend wearing something silly during long races. I contemplated it this time, thinking I was now a "serious triathlete" and wanted to look "serious" but it helped SO much and what was I thinking? I'm not a serious person anyway! Even as tired as I was, I kept walking the aid stations, but running between them and before I knew it, I was running back into downtown again. Scott put Dustin on the phone and I asked him "Just gonna stand there and watch me burn?" I was faking all the humor and smiles I could just to keep myself positive. I thanked every volunteer and slapped every kids hand that I could find. I started to hear the finish line jamming and I finally knew I could do it! I started picking up the pace, but not too fast to not be able to take it all in. Scott told me where Dustin and the crew were on the finishing chute. I have NO idea what song was playing as I came in (that's something that I had envisioned being, "tonight's gonna be a good night" over and over in my head during training) but the cheers were SO loud, I couldn't hear the music! I slowed down to give my crew high fives and a quick kiss to Dustin, who I was so glad the Navy cooperated with his schedule so he could be there! I crossed the finish line and tried to pause for a picture upright before I did the symbolic ALS roll in memory of John Blais.....I didn't think I would be able to get back up,but I did! The finish line pictures were awful, but hey, our crew got so many good ones along the way! A volunteer caught me and walked with me and Dustin came running around the corner. I was SO glad to hug him and then to see everyone else! 12 hours 48 minutes and 7 seconds. I was an Ironman....for the second time! I got 23rd in my age group out of 128 women and I was in the top 30% of finishers (that doesn't count the around 15% of people that dropped out either!) On a day where people were complaining that they were one and two hours over their previous times or goals, I crushed mine by almost an hour and a half and "totally dominated" Dustin's time too (now he wants to do another one....ughhh!)

Dustin had a Pepsi for me at the finish, and I got a hot dog at the corner stand, and hugged and kissed all our AWESOME crew! I did a TV interview with WLKY that aired on the 10:00 news; I was told I got more face time than the male and female winners of the race! Ha!

What made my fundraising experience even more worth it, was the fact that a man came up to me afterwards thanking me for doing the ALS roll and for raising money because his father lost his battle with ALS. Later, he came back and introduced his kids to me and I found out that he just lost his Dad on July 19th, five years after he had been a completely healthy man. There sure is more work to do in research about ALS and it's tie to those serving in the military.

But as for now, I was the one who needed Medical. I headed to the tent where SO many others were as well. It took forever for them to take my vitals because they were so busy (but very nice) and then they started my IV. I suddenly had to pee, so they walked me to the bathroom and as I stood up, my IV shot out of my arm and started spraying blood! This scared me, and I started breathing hard and freaking out! Then, I got the chills and couldn't "shake" them. They made me change my shirt and wrapped a blanket around me and gave me HOT chicken broth that burned my tongue it was so freakin hot! They said I didn't need any more fluids after taking my vitals and just wanted me to stay there until I got warm. My tongue was on fire for sure and was honestly the part of my body that hurt the worst in the days to come....no joke....closely followed by my quads, hammies, calves, shoulders, and low back! Absolutley NO blisters, which still amazes me after my feet hitting the ground 50,000 times and my knees bending over 70,000 times in just that one day. To say the least, I was SO thankful as I headed to the finish line with Mia (after her amazing first time finish of 14:10) and our crew to cheer on the last of the competitors coming in between 11PM and 12 AM. I really felt like going to the hotel room to shower, but I forced myself to support the other athletes after they had been out there for 17 hours. The finish line was jumpin and one person made it with 15 seconds to spare and a few came in just minutes after the cut off. Wow!

I am simply so thankful for my experience and all those I shared it with, both in person, and over the internet. Thanks for being part of my journey! Now, what's next? :)

My travels started on April 22nd as I flew to Phoenix for Paul and Patty's wedding weekend, which was beautiful and fun! I am so lucky to have in-laws who I love so much, and want to go across country to see the extended family even when my link to them is deployed! It was a great weekend, and Dustin even made a suprise appearance by recorded video on the big screen to congratulate Paul and Patty and to say that he loved and missed me.....tears, yes, tears did flow.



Then, on the 22nd, I flew to San Fran to hang with Jeff and Kendra in their new home in Menlo Park....very cute! Went for a walk/run around "the dish" which was very hilly but overlooked San Fran. Then, we went to Muir Woods and hiked in the beautiful redwoods. Then, we went to a Giants Game which turned out to be VERY exciting (but the Phillies won). We then went to Thierry and Stef's for a yummy dinner and wine and met our friend Dave from Jax there too (he was in the city for work).



Thursday, after Kendra got off work, we drove to Monterey (about 1 hour 20 minutes) and it was beautiful! It was a bit cold, and very windy, but pretty! This is where Dustin might go to Naval Post Graduate school in the future. Then, we drove the "17 mile drive" which went through state parks along the coast and then into Pebble Beach. It was absolutely beautiful! We went to eat on Cannery Row at Louie Linguini's and it was super yummy! Then, we decided to drive inland to Salinas to get a little closer to the campground before the morning. We stayed at a Quality Inn an woke up the next morning for our true journey.......



The journey to Wildflower, about another hour and half was a beautiful scenic drive with mountainous but vegetative terrain, out in the middle of nowhere with no McDonalds, no grocery stores, not even a gas station close....we got into the campground and were immediately greated by free Avia visors and free gelato! Then, we drove around for way too long looking for a campsite! There were a lot reserved and then many people got there a few days before to pick out ones with picnic tables, but finally we found the perfect one and started setting up shop. Others started trickling in the campsites around us and the park was filled with triathlon campers! How cool! I figured that I would allow myself to drink on Friday, but not on Saturday, so I got started early as we played games and hung out with great friends.

Saturday morning, Jeff and I went on a short run around the campground and decided to go down to the start, where we had to make a brief stop for the National Anthem.......great moment. We ran down and up the big hill. Then later, we all hiked down the hill to the transition area. They had a free yoga class that we ladies did outside in the fresh air overlooking the beautiful hills. It was one of those priceless moments. We looked around at the amazing finish line with pizza places, gelato places, even eggroll places, just to name a few. I kept saying, tomorrow after the race, I want that....and that.....and that.....Kendra and I sat at the finish line and cheered people in for awhile. Later, Scott, Kat and I went on short bike ride to test out Sunshine (Kat's bike). She seemed to be working well. Then, we all made dinner (I was still able to make my pesto orzo on the gas stove Jen brought, but then Jeff and Kendra were also making these yummy looking steak kabobs. Now, I really haven't been eating much meet since January, and no red meat, but these looked so good! So, of course, I had 5 pieces! Prolly not a good idea...more about that later. I can't NOT mention that we started hearing cheering from afar and it was coming closer. We ran down to the road, and we saw around 30 naked guys and girls running through the campgroud! It was hilarious! After some more good conversation around the campfire, we retired into our comfy tents.....didn't sleep great, but pretty well considering it was tent camping!

Kendra and I woke up on Sunday morning, ready to go! We started biking down to the start, and somehow I realized that I didn't have my run number with me, so I had to go back and get it! We had to bike down the hill that we would later have to bike up right out of transition. My hands were burning from squeezing the brakes by the bottom of the hill. We set up our transitions and then just sat and waited as our waves didn't start til 10:25 and 10:30, so we waited and waited!

As my wave started, I got kicked in the face soon after the start, giving me goggle problems that I struggled with the whole swim. I wore my neoprene cap again which helped for the cold water around 60 degrees. But, you can't hear with those things on, so when the kayakers were trying to re-direct me, I couldn't hear them until they tapped me.....three times! Yes, the siting was horrible! I was siting off the buoys that were the ones coming back, but I was still on my way out! I swam way out of the way three different times. Plus, I was dry heaving in my mouth, from the food I ate the night before mixed with the rougher waters than expected. When I got out of the swim, I was hoping for under 30 minutes, but totally expected to see 45 on my watch due to all the problems, so when I saw 33, I was happy with that! T2 was probably the longest T2 ever; fine motor skills just wouldn't work correctly! So, I was pissed even before having to bike straight up Lynch Hill out of transition! Luckily, Sunshine wouldn't even go in her easiest gear (sense some sarcasm there?).....after having some aero bottle issues and issues getting my gus open, I had to laugh out loud at how much was going wrong in this race. Obviously, the gearing was the most bothersome, but I decided to laugh it off and have fun! As many people were walking their bikes up a few of the hills, I was going around 4 mph....smokin! I couldn't wait to get off the bike and onto the run! I saw our support crew a couple times on the bike, so that was really helpful!

As I started the run, I was passing people left and right. Hardly anyone was actually running up the hills because they were so steep, but I wanted to try to run the whole thing. Sometimes, I probably could've walked faster, but I stuck with my plan! I do believe only two people passed me the whole run! I sure wasn't flying, but it was SO hilly and SO hot....not humid though, thank goodness! I ended up averaging 8:53 miles, so I was happy with that.

At the end of the race, we had to run down the hill we biked up.....yuck....my knees did not like that, I would have rather ran up it! I ran into the finish line with a time of 3:15 on an extraordinarily hard course! Kat and Scott greeted me at the finish line and took pictures and got me some pizza as we waited for Kendra! After she finished, we got some gelato and called it a day! I was so thankful for my wonderful friends that day, but of course I missed Dustin. Kat kept him updated with emails though!

If you are a triathlete or a camper, or both, you HAVE to experience Wildflower SOMEday! I didn't wash my hair, body, or even face all weekend long.....no makeup, hardly any cell phones except to send an occasional pic to Dustin, and a connection to all the other people camping that I can't explain! It was a unique, fun experience that I will never forget! Now, onto that training for Ironman Louisville in August!

I refused to set my alarm beginning with a 3 something, so I woke up at 4 AM sharp on March 27th, 2010! Usually I am not in a good mood anytime I have to wake up this early, but today was different! I was in Southern California with all my old friends, getting ready to embark on my first triathlon on the west coast! My early morning So-Cal supporters, Jeff, Kendra, and Kat and I left Tony and Sue's house at 4:30 to head about an hour north to Oceanside! They were extreme troopers getting up that early and helping me load my bike and all my goodies into the car! Thanks guys! We traveled up the 5 Hwy to Mission Avenue and drove toward the Oceanside Harbor where two days before Scott had taken me to the Expo. When I first saw the swim course buoys I got a little nervous, but it was unique in the fact that we were swimming inside a harbor with tons of boats around us! Scott suggested that we drive around the harbor to look at the swim course and I am so glad he did because it made me feel much better. For some reason in my head, I was imagining the freezing Pacific ocean with ice crystals and huge crashing surfable waves, but it was pretty sheltered! Scott took a video of me and the future swim course to send Dustin and I checked in and picked up my packet at the Expo. It was sponsored by Rhoto Eye Drops, so luckily they gave me two boxes of those.....yipeeeee (sense the sarcasm?) The back pack was cool and the shirt was a white dry fit with cool design. We also got a finishers hat so I liked all that! They also had a 10 minute repeating video of the race directors talking about specifics of each portion, so that made me feel more prepared as well. Anyway, back to the drive on race morning.......I was all calm, cool, and collected until we pulled in the parking lot and saw everyone with their bikes (yes, we took our bikes there on race morning, no bike check in before, which actually was nice). So, Kat not only let me borrow her bike "Sunshine" that she rode in Florida Ironman, but she also pumped up my (her) tires. (I did go on two bike rides after getting here on Wed on Sunshine before the race and she seemed to fit me perfectly even though we didn't even change one thing about her! Pretty crazy, I know! ) So, I saw some other racers riding their bikes toward transition so I just followed them, but no one seemed to know where they were going and it was dark, so I just kept following some other people who finally knew where they were going. We were cruising at slow speeds along this bike path and all of a sudden it turned sharp and there was a steep incline.....had to get off my bike and push it up....already! Wow, the race hadn't even started and I was pushing my bike up hills! Yikes! I set up my transition with the other 2300 people doing the race and immediately got in the bathroom line. I called Jiea (who had said she wasn't doing the race because she broke her foot about a month ago, but she tore off her cast and decided to do the race...guess that shows how good of race I was about to be a part of). We waited in the long *** bathroom line and caught up on our latest life happenings. Then, I turned around and saw a familiar face. I said, "Hey, I think I played basketball with you about five years ago when I lived here, what's your name?"....."Mistiza, oh yeah, Angie!" It was hilarious that we ran into each other there, then it turns out we were on the same bike rack, the same swim wave start, entered the water together, and I saw her on the bike and after the race. Long story short, we are now friends on Facebook.....small world! I saw Kat, Jeff, and Kendra before the race at the edge of transition and it took Jeff and Kat to get my wetsuit zipped up! I ate a bag of prunes and I was ready (not really, just posed with them to pretend.....that wouldn't have been a good nutrition plan.) However, my nutrition plan from Coach Wolf was 70-100 g of carbs per hour on bike with 1 liter/hour of liquids, plus 60-70 g of carbs per hour on the run, stopping at each aid station for 2 cups of gatorade and 1 cup of water, plus 2-3 salt tablets every hour on bike and run. This was TONS more than I have ever consumed before on races, but I decided to trust him since I am paying him to coach me and he's a pro so he probably knows more than I do (about triathlons anyway). Plus, this would be great practice for Ironman Louisville in August. So, we enter the water, and even though I borrowed the neoprene cap from Jiea, it was freezing *** cold! It was 58 degrees and I think my face went numb in two seconds! Nothing else really bothered me too much as I started to get into the groove. Then, everyone stopped! What the heck was the hold up? I couldn't hear anything with the neoprene cap. A guy on a surfboard was talking to the group but I couldn't hear him. I asked the girl next to me and she said he was warning us about rocks on our right side. I said, "so the race hasn't started yet?"....that got some laughs.....well I had no idea and that wasn't in any of the written material or the video. I have never done a tri that we didn't start the swim as soon as we hit the water. I was a little embarrassed, but I took out my frustration on the swim with a faster start than I have done before. I usually kind of wait back a little, but I decided to go for it when the gun sounded. I was feeling pretty good (trying to do my newly learned breathing on both sides....notice I said, TRYING....the majority I still breathed on my right....sorry coach!) When we turned around to swim back, I couldn't see a thing! The way the sun was hitting the water, I couldn't see buoys, people, nothing, so I just made sure I didn't hit the rocks on one side and the docks on the other. I got hit and kicked a little (actually, first time that I ever had my goggles readjusted by another swimmer). The swim finish snuck up on me, turned the corner and they helped me up the ramp 40:45....a PR for a half ironman swim without a current (Augusta was 29 minutes but I really don't count that). I was happy with that, but I'm not going to be happy with my pictures because I was trying to get the snot off my face (lovely getting a cold two days before the race). T1 was good except I couldn't get my sunscreen to spray, so I was pissed and threw it down. As I sped off on Sunshine, Kat and Jeff and Kendra were right there to snap pictures and cheer! It was great! Then, there were a lot of little windy turns but pretty flat for the first part, until we headed into Camp Pendelton, a few ups and downs (for us Florida people anyway, for Cali people it was still flat). I remembered I put a small packet of sunscreen in my bento box, so I got that out at about mile ten and put it on my face and shoulders at least because there was no shade on the course at all! It was such a beautiful ride, the ocean on one side and the huge green vegetative mountains on the other. It was probably the most scenic bike ride I have ever been on, but I also had to remember to focus on the road and the fact that I was "racing." I was feeling pretty good on the ride, sticking to my nutrition plan, and encouraging other riders as I passed them and as they passed me. Usually, I would pass them on the flats and then they would pass me on the uphills, then I would pass them on the downhills. I kept wondering when I was going to see the monster hill. Because most of the bike course was on a military base, no one could get on to ride it before the race, but I heard it was around mile 35. As I turned a corner and started heading into the wind, it was so beautiful! I was busy taking in the scenery and realized that holy ****, we had to go up that thing! I could see people pushing their bikes and I was still far from the peak of the hill. I told myself I would not push my bike up if at all possible. I was steadily making my way up, but realized that some people who were walking were sticking pretty close to my same speed, 4 mph! Yes, 4! I made it up the biggest hill I have ever biked with my heart rate racing, way steeper and longer than Sugarloaf in Clermont. We had to do two more similar hills, but they weren’t quite as steep. There was a downhill portion that had a no passing rule with a speed limit of 25 mph because it had some swirly turns in it. They also had barricades put up on one of the curves! Crazy! I could feel my stomach doing some weird things and I knew I would have to stop on the run if I didn’t on the bike, so I pulled over at one of the portapotties about 5 miles from the finish. I didn’t want to ruin possibly breaking 2 hours on the run, so I went then! As I approached transition, I could NOT wait to get on the run. I was looking forward to seeing all my friends and hearing them cheer! I had a pretty fast T2 and was able to get the sunscreen working thank goodness (again, no shade on the run). I started off the run at 8:30 pace, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to maintain it. My goal was to do 9’s and stick to my nutrition. I walked every aid station to get a full cup of water and full cup of Gatorade each time, along with a gu, or some chomps, or some sports beans (which I decided I don’t like anymore) to add up to my 60 g of carbs per hour. We ran along the pacific ocean most of the time by the Oceanside Pier, 2 down and backs that were about 3 miles out and 3 miles back, with a couple of inclines, but pretty flat. The cool ocean breeze was blowing most of the time and I couldn’t help but think that I loved feeling this instead of the freakin hot/humid wind in Florida. Some racers were saying how hot it was, and all I could do was laugh! I don’t think it got over 75 degrees! My cheerleaders saw me just a little out of transition and then 3 more times! It was great they were out there to hold me accountable for my pace I was trying to keep! I guess I was going faster than they thought I would, because almost every time, I had to yell to them to get their attention! Susan even did a cartwheel and some kind of cheerleader jump for me! Kat was yelling loud and taking pics and video and sending them to Dustin! Amy was taking pics! Jeffrey was yelling and running up beside me over and over again to try to get a good pic! Jen Merlo was giving me high fives and looking cute as usual. Dave and Molly were out there yelling, but I only saw Dave once for a second. He still has to work on his cheering voice! J Kendra ran with me for just a little bit around mile 11 which I needed so badly! The mile before was a 9:30 and I felt I was slowing down a bit. She helped me to pick it up and then Jeff and Kat also were trying to run beside me to get pics toward the finish, but they couldn’t keep up with me because of the crowds of people. That was pretty funny, I felt like I was racing them! As I turned that last corner, I still wasn’t sure that I was making it under 2 hours on the run because I was pushing the lap button on my watch for every mile and I didn’t know how long I had been on the run course, so I picked it up a little bit. I really left it all out on the course and I even felt like puking after the finish , but I held it in! When I found out I had done 1:58 on the run, it was a great feeling! I got some pizza, soda, Gatorade, got a massage, picked my bike and my favorite blue seventy transition bag up, and we were on our way. Kat was nice enough to push the bike, and Susan carried my packed full bag and we were on our way to eat Mexican food and margaritas! I told them I couldn’t wait to be doing that race next year with all of them as fellow San Diego residents.

Well, I guess this blog can turn into it's name again......after a couple bottles of wine the other night, I signed up for Ironman Louisville on August 29th, 2010. It was a bit of a crazy decision, but one I think I needed to do. I'm sure I could have kept myself busy when Dustin is deployed, but this will give me the extra motivation that I need. I am super excited and thank you to Amber, Stuart, Kat, Kendra, Dustin, and Wolf for helping me make the decision. Wolf is a friend who we met through another friend and he just so happens to be a professional triathlete. So, I think I'm actually going to have him coach me starting in January. I think I need that accountability since I won't have Dustin to train with this time. It will be a much different Ironman training experience, but one that I am looking forward to, so I'll keep you posted on my progress.



So, as far as dealing with being a Navy wife, well it sure is hard at times.....he's been gone, then here, then gone a LOT in the last few months. He left again November 2nd and I have hardly been able to talk on the phone with him at all this time, which has really sucked. He wasn't as much of a part of my Ironman decision as I would have liked and I think he felt a little left out, but what am I supposed to do.....wait for the Navy to make all my decisions and plans. I don't think so, or I would be waiting a long time. Their schedules change so much that it's always a hurry up and wait thing and I don't do well with that. Everyone knows I'm not a patient person, but I have been forced to get better with that in the last few months!



I am very much looking forward to Thanksgiving when Dustin's family comes in town, and then in mid December I am surprising Dustin with a trip before we DRIVE home for Christmas to Kansas and then Missouri, then coming home to host a New Years Eve/Dustin going away party! Then, he will be going to Rhode Island for three weeks while his ship leaves on deployment. So, yes, his ship will leave without him.....so I am going to travel up there with him and do a travel PT assignment for 3 weeks as long as everything gets transferred for my license, so that will be different. I've never done home health in the cold, good thing I just bought a real coat! Then, after that 3 weeks, the Navy will fly him out to the ship, either from RI or from here in Jax, so that's going to be a weird time because we won't know when he will leave and we might get a call last minute saying he has to leave. That's going to be hard, but I'm glad that I at least get a few more weeks with him.

So, I did a 1.5 hour bike and a quick 10 minute run on the beach yesterday. Now, I'm getting ready to go see a patient up in Fernadina Beach (where they have nice bike lanes and pretty scenary) so I'm taking my bike and all my gear and will ride after I see them. I am slow this week with patients, so I get to do some of this fun stuff in the middle of the week. My other goal this week is to actually ride to a patients house on my bike (I think when I get there, I'll just slip my scrubs over my bike shorts and walah (spelling???), cyclist turns Physical Therapist! I hope I don't sweat too much on the way over there. Then, I can just strip down the scrubs, put em in my backpack, along with my paperwork and ride back home......we will see if that happens or not. If I get busier with work, it won't be possible.

Okay, gotta actually go to work now. I will hopefully do better about writing in this. Angie

Well, I finally ran an under four hour marathon! I've only been trying since 2001 and finally completed that goal on Feb 15th 2009. Now, I'm going to warn you because this is going to end up sounding like an acceptance speech because I'm going to thank so many people, but honestly, I REALLY could not have done it alone.

First of all, getting my butt in gear a few months ago was hard. I had to really stick with some tough runs on the weekdays and long runs on the weekends. In past years, I hadn't really pushed myself during the week like I should have and I think that helped this year. Beth, Martin, and Kathy were able to run most long runs with me while Dustin was out to sea and their constant enthusiasm and encouragement were what pulled me through 17, 18, 19, and 20 mile runs. That, and the fact that I had to run fast to keep up with their speedy legs so I woulnd't get lost!

Beth and I started to get excited about "dressing up" for the marathon in the weeks leading up to it. We went shopping a few times to find the perfect outfits. We finally found some shirts and proceeded to form our complete outfit around that with necklaces, hair bows for our pigtails, hats, high socks with pink and red hearts on them, letters to spell out our names, who we were running for and that "cancer sux." Then, we couldn't pass up the bright pink skirt we found on the sale rack (even though we already planned to wear our white skirts). Hmmmmmm, who could possibly where this? I know! Dustin! He was out to sea and he couldn't argue with us, so I bought it!

I really have no idea how I found such a supportive husband, but I truly am thankful for him. He honestly will do anything to make me happy and seeing him in that skirt kept a smile on my face from the first time I convinced him to put it on and run around the house, to that finish line photo! He was wearing his shirt he wore last year that said, "Dustin in Pink" on the front and "For Gramma" on the back. This year, the addition in white letters on the pink skirt was "SKIRT-NOT MY IDEA" He sure got a lot of attention for his ensemble, but deep down, he really loved it. It was hilarious to see him keep pulling the skirt up because it was falling down cause he's so skinny.

We saw so many people we knew that morning from past running groups and from the Hammerhead Triathlon Club. We were even on the local news with guess who getting all the talk time......yes, Dustin. He did talk about his grandma and it was very sweet.

For some reason, as we started the race and passed Tim and Donna, we were running kind of quick over the JTB bridge (maybe it was cause the weather looked like it was going to dump rain on us, but never even drizzled the whole day). When we got to mile 5, we were averaging under 8 minute miles-way too fast. We saw my parents at the entrance to the beach and then we saw them again and again and again....they were everywhere, they just kept hopping in their car and driving up, getting out, cheering, and repeating that! I really have no idea how I got such supportive parents as well, because all it took was one plea to them to wear our shark hats and they sported them all day!

We ran 2.5 miles on the sandy beach and we were SO glad to get that part over with. Beth, Dustin, and Catherine and I ducked behind two guys at the end of the beach to try to draft off of them and Dustin tried to block the wind from slowing me down (awwww, sweet!) I was still feeling great until about mile 11 (warning-yuckiness ahead), when I puked in my mouth! I tried to not let anyone know I was starting to feel bad and just kept running, but slowed down a bit.

Kathy Hunken was out on the course on her bike here and there, running around picking up our stuff we threw at her and refilling water bottles and cheering her butt off. She biked and ran a lot of miles that day and we are so thankful for her! We expect a lot out of her since she's a fellow St. Louisan who we met here. JC was also out there in a few places cheering us on, motivating me to keep smiling cause that's what I always tell her as she's running her 5 minute miles!

We saw so many other people on the sidelines and they really helped us along. We were slowing down, but still keeping a decent pace. Aaron Shady passed us, Millie Tanner passed us, Roberta Coltman passed us.....all great runners, but still, mentally having all these people start to pass us and my quads not wanting to stay with them was very challenging. I would have loved to keep up with those three, but couldn't. I was forced to walk a few times, but inside my head, was the voice of Kellie Smirnoff, saying "YOUARESOGONNABREAKFOURHOURSYOUCANDOIT!!!!" in her quick enthusiastic chant she had for me right before we started. Dustin and Beth were also trying to help with words of encouragement. Catherine was hanging on with us in a silent determination (this was her first marathon and she was kicking butt staying with us almost the whole time).

As we went past mile 20 where the Hammerhead Water stop was, it was so great to see familiar faces, but I was faking smiles, that is for sure. Then, we saw all our old Team in Training friends and ran by to give them all fives (again, fake smiles!)

Then, we saw our peeps from the new running store, Jacksonville Running Company. I begged Jo to run with me for a short time. Josh refilled water bottles with gatorade for us which we really needed cause there was some gross drink out on the course that wasn't good. They ran along with us telling me I could do it in under four hours, but I was majorly questioning myself by that time. I told Jo that it was my quads tightening up, that they'd never done that before and it sucked! She started massaging them AS we ran! It was hilarious but it felt good!

I could NOT let all these people who helped me down and run even a second over four hours. Dustin suggested that I put my headphones in and that helped, the Fort Minor song, 50% Pain pumped me up a lot and Maroon 5, It's getting harder and harder to breathe was coming true! I had to take the headphones out when I saw Alicia and her three kids alongside the street! I couldn't believe she brought them out there to cheer and I so needed that then. I put the headphones back on to hear, "Move, Bitch, get out the way, get out the way bitch, get out the way" which is a funny song anyway, but when your husband is just ahead of you in a skirt, it becomes hilarious! Again, faking a smile to myself and telling myself that I could do this. Dustin and Beth kept encouraging me and there were so many people out there on the course the last 6 miles, but I don't remember very much and I don't remember what anyone said to me.

I just kept thinking that I couldn't be opening up the door to our party later that day and telling people that I didn't meet my goal. I wanted to have champagne in my hand celebrating! Somehow, we pushed through the last few miles on JTB and then we saw Kathy running back to get us over the bridge and it was so great to see her! As we turned onto San Pablo road, we could see the finish and I still wasn't sure we would make it! Dustin, Beth and I got closer and closer, saw my parents on the sidelines cheering and we held hands to cross the finish line in 3:58:15! Thank goodness! After crying and hugging them, there were so many others, Lisa and Samantha, and Martin at the finish to hug. I truly could not have done it without Dustin and Beth pulling me along at the finish, so thanks guys! I think the first thing I said was, "That sucked!" But, man, was it worth it to come in under 4 hours. Now I can be done with marathons.....maybe, unless they start with a 2.4 miles swim and 112 mile bike. :)

I also got so many good luck emails, phone calls (the best was right before we were falling asleep on Sat night, Jeff and Kendra called to wish us luck!), texts, and so many congratulatory emails, phone calls, texts, and facebook comments that I felt VERY loved and supported that day! It was great to have my parents there to share it and it was great to have good friends at the party afterwards. We were also celebrating that the Hammerheads made it to 3000 run miles in February thanks to the marathon and half marathon. We were "racing" 59 other clubs around the nation and we won, thanks to our efforts to enter everyone's miles in when we came home from the marathon. It was a very successful day.