Race Coverage

After checking all of my bags, dropping off special needs and putting nutrition on my bike, I had a few minutes to chat with Jon, throw on my wetsuit and head to the water. The swim is always interesting. Definitely my weakest discipline, I felt good about where I had positioned myself for the start. After 10 minutes or so of treading in the 62 degree water, the cannon went off and I proceeded to flap my arms about for the next 1:10. I was pretty disappointed with my swim and had really hoped for about 5 minutes faster, but after swimming a bit off course into the sun and failing to find any clean water to swim in, I accepted the time I saw on the clock, put it out of my brain and ran like hell through transition in the hopes of making up time.

I was excited to get on my bike! I have been working hard on making this a strength for me. Over the summer I have dedicated many an hour to being on my bike and I was excited to see what I could do. This course is a 3 loop bike with a slight climb the entire way out. Winds were predicted to be "light and variable" by AZ standards, but I think that really means that the wind will shift around in every direction in the course of 5 hours! The first loop meant a headwind out, but a sweet tail wind back in for several miles. I was absolutely loving the fact I could crank out 31mph in a race and feel good! But as I suspected, that would not last and the last 2 loops saw shifting winds, but some more even bike splits in both directions. Nearly 3000 people on this course over 3 loops means congestion and plenty of drafting penalties were being handed out. Thankfully I stayed out of that drama, rode my own race and had a good bit of fun making up some time on the field. Originally intending to bike in the 5:15-ish range, I was happy to be handing off my bike at the 5:18 mark. Another tour through transition and it was time to run.

I felt slow and heavy coming off the bike, but hoped I was making descent time. I really don't pay attention to my watch, I never wear a GPS and generally do a lot of my running off of how I feel. It was a nice surprise looking back to know how well I was moving through the first half of the marathon. It wasn't until mile 14 or so that I needed to start walking through the aid stations. Clearly this wasn't my intent, but it was getting pretty warm out and my quads were really starting to tighten up. After suffering a rolled ankle at the end of September during a trail race, I simply had not put in any long mileage (my longest run was 15 miles the 2nd week of October) and I'm sure this was some of my undoing in the final stages of the race. Jon was doing a fabulous job of trying to keep me informed of where I was, but slow updates on the website made that a challenge. So, I just kept doing my best to throw down food and drink and keep a descent pace. In the end, it just wasn't enough and I let myself get passed in the final mile of the marathon, finishing the marathon in 3:38 and the day as the F35-39 runner up. I joke that in racing I