I'm going to try this one again and hopefully it doesn't get erased when I'm almost through
writing it!
The run started off pretty hot, but it was to be expected. I was surprised my legs were running so fast, around 9 minute/mile pace, but that quickly ended. The first mile was fine, but even by mile 2 I started walking more than I should have. I took iced sponges at each station and put one in the back of my visor and one in my top. I had infinit in my small handheld bottler and just supplemented that with water at the first few stations. I was covered in sunscreen, so I wasn't too worried about burning. Somewhere between mile 2 and 3 my spirits were getting very low and I was facing the prospect of walking the rest of the marathon and I just wasn't happy about that. I felt like I had nothing left and had no motivation to be out there any longer. I knew I would finish, but didn't think I'd so much enjoy any of that. Right about then Trent from Houston came up on me and I was embarrassed I had been "caught" walking so long. He was on loop 3, me on loop 1. Lovely. I was quite impressed though at his ability to stuff what looked like 15+ sponges in his tri outfit. I think he probably lost count and just kept stuffing new ones in at each station.
Right at mile 3 I was running along the portion of the course that shared the road with the bike course. A woman was off her bike in the middle of the road screaming for help because her bike wouldn't go anymore. I ran over and she asked if I would hold her bike up while she tried to move the pedals with her hands. They weren't budging. Finally I started shifting gears (it was a road bike so it took me a while to remember how to shift the gears) and we got the pedals to move like they should. She thanked me and hopped back on her bike and was on her way. When I turned to start running again there was a small crowd cheering me on as if I were winning the race. They yelled that I was a true ironman and that I was awesome for stopping to help her out. They were holding up posters too and the last one just said "Believe." I started crying but once again remembered that I can't cry, run, and breathe at the same time. I decided from that point on that just because I wasn't having the race I wanted didn't mean I couldn't help someone else have the race they wanted. I decided I was going to make sure anyone around me that looked like they needed help was going to get it. I ran down the bridge at the turn around in the middle of the first loop and saw my family. My spirits had been lifted tremendously from helping the lady out and I told my family I was doing better. I saw Jen and asked how far ahead Shellie was and she said "oh, I don't know, maybe 5-10 minutes." I told her I needed more details than that!!
Just past the next aid station I saw a guy sitting on a hill
between two little trees and I asked if he was ok and needed anything and he said he just needed to sit there for a while. This would be repeated over and over again throughout the rest of the day. All men too, oddly enough. I saw Robin right about this time too, coming back on the end of her first loop, and she was looking strong. I crossed the Rural bridge and headed back into no man's land to finish the first loop. Josh saw me at some point and he looked like he was doing well. I also saw Luke at some point too. I think I saw Michelle going out on my way back on this loop. She was looking great too.
I had started taking chicken broth by this point and I think it was really helping me out. At the end of the first loop I saw Jen again and she said I was 3:55 behind Shellie as she was timing for me this time. I saw my parents and told them I was feeling much better and that I thought the broth was helping. I was off to try to catch Shellie. I knew that if I did my race would take a 180 degree turn for the better. I felt like I had a purpose now, to catch her, and it made my race not seem as lonely and unmotivated. As I was heading on the long stretch on the NE side of the lake I finally spotted it - the most beautiful white tri top and pink hat I'd ever seen. I'd finally caught her! I quietly snuck up
on Shellie and put a handful of ice down her back. She said she knew it was me without having to turn around. My race was good to go at this point. I'd made it to her so I knew I'd no doubt finish with her help. We walked and ran a good bit and I was just soooo happy to have someone to talk to. We speak each other's "running" language too and were on the exact same page about when we wanted to walk, when we wanted to run, and how fast we were going to do all of it. We came down the Mill bridge at the middle of loop 2 
and started looking for her family. We found them and posed for a picture, but there was no one to take it! Her family didn't have a camera, but then some nice stranger took it for us. Just as we were posing, we felt hands on our shoulder, assuming some random stranger was joining in our pic. We turned around to see it was Randy! Another familiar face and such a welcome sight. We ran up to my family and asked them to take pics too. Just then Laurie came up on us and we sent her on saying Randy was just ahead. I told Shellie my mom would be very glad to see that we were together and wouldn't be nearly as worried about me.
We got to special needs and I didn't need a long sleeve shirt for sur
e, but we both picked up our light sabers and I grabbed a pack of crack beans (jelly belly sport beans in watermelon...true crack). Shellie and I continued on at a good pace and I still felt pretty good. We danced a bit, scared several volunteers, and just chatted the night away. It has been a while now, so I don't remember who else we passed, but I know we saw Michelle again at some point and she still looked good. We tracked down Bob and Fred at some point as well and they were looking strong 
as ever. As we were finishing our second loop, a guy ran up on us and said "hurry, come with me!! If we run fast, we can make it in under 12:30!!" We just died laughing. As if we were on our 3rd loop...ya right. We told him we appreciated him assuming we were that fast, but that we would need a helicopter to cover the distance we needed to in 8 minutes or whatever it was. Back by the family again and still grins and happy times. I was thrilled to be starting our last loop. We started doing finish time math and said we'd try for 14:30, but however long it took us we knew we'd still both have big PR's. Shellie wouldn't let herself get excited until mile 22. I was excited before that, but didn't want to talk too much about it until she was there 
with me. After the second aid station on the the 3rd loop, Shellie grabbed my arm with a very alarmed look on her face. She said "Kathleen! We're on loop 3, right???" I just started laughing and ensured her we were indeed on our last loop. The miles ticked 
by and at mile 22 Shellie said she could finally get excited. 
Mile 23, mile 24, all good. Mile 25 is when it was time to party. We ran strong, and it felt good. Most of the last 2 loops, when we were running, we were passing people. It was fun to see the spectators almost surprised that we were still looking as strong as we were. We made the turn off the course towards the finish line and decided we'd better take a very short break so we could still look cool and sprint to the finish! We saw some guy going crazy just before the chute and didn't realize until we were right there that it was Josh. We made one more left turn and were in the chute. We matched each other step for step as our pace increased as the line drew closer and closer. Right before the finish we grabbed each others hands and threw our arms up in the air. Best finishers picture ever!!
Run time: 5:58 (13:40 min/mile)
Last year: 6:21
Run course
Total time: 14:40
Last year: 15:31
writing it!The run started off pretty hot, but it was to be expected. I was surprised my legs were running so fast, around 9 minute/mile pace, but that quickly ended. The first mile was fine, but even by mile 2 I started walking more than I should have. I took iced sponges at each station and put one in the back of my visor and one in my top. I had infinit in my small handheld bottler and just supplemented that with water at the first few stations. I was covered in sunscreen, so I wasn't too worried about burning. Somewhere between mile 2 and 3 my spirits were getting very low and I was facing the prospect of walking the rest of the marathon and I just wasn't happy about that. I felt like I had nothing left and had no motivation to be out there any longer. I knew I would finish, but didn't think I'd so much enjoy any of that. Right about then Trent from Houston came up on me and I was embarrassed I had been "caught" walking so long. He was on loop 3, me on loop 1. Lovely. I was quite impressed though at his ability to stuff what looked like 15+ sponges in his tri outfit. I think he probably lost count and just kept stuffing new ones in at each station.
Right at mile 3 I was running along the portion of the course that shared the road with the bike course. A woman was off her bike in the middle of the road screaming for help because her bike wouldn't go anymore. I ran over and she asked if I would hold her bike up while she tried to move the pedals with her hands. They weren't budging. Finally I started shifting gears (it was a road bike so it took me a while to remember how to shift the gears) and we got the pedals to move like they should. She thanked me and hopped back on her bike and was on her way. When I turned to start running again there was a small crowd cheering me on as if I were winning the race. They yelled that I was a true ironman and that I was awesome for stopping to help her out. They were holding up posters too and the last one just said "Believe." I started crying but once again remembered that I can't cry, run, and breathe at the same time. I decided from that point on that just because I wasn't having the race I wanted didn't mean I couldn't help someone else have the race they wanted. I decided I was going to make sure anyone around me that looked like they needed help was going to get it. I ran down the bridge at the turn around in the middle of the first loop and saw my family. My spirits had been lifted tremendously from helping the lady out and I told my family I was doing better. I saw Jen and asked how far ahead Shellie was and she said "oh, I don't know, maybe 5-10 minutes." I told her I needed more details than that!!Just past the next aid station I saw a guy sitting on a hill
between two little trees and I asked if he was ok and needed anything and he said he just needed to sit there for a while. This would be repeated over and over again throughout the rest of the day. All men too, oddly enough. I saw Robin right about this time too, coming back on the end of her first loop, and she was looking strong. I crossed the Rural bridge and headed back into no man's land to finish the first loop. Josh saw me at some point and he looked like he was doing well. I also saw Luke at some point too. I think I saw Michelle going out on my way back on this loop. She was looking great too.I had started taking chicken broth by this point and I think it was really helping me out. At the end of the first loop I saw Jen again and she said I was 3:55 behind Shellie as she was timing for me this time. I saw my parents and told them I was feeling much better and that I thought the broth was helping. I was off to try to catch Shellie. I knew that if I did my race would take a 180 degree turn for the better. I felt like I had a purpose now, to catch her, and it made my race not seem as lonely and unmotivated. As I was heading on the long stretch on the NE side of the lake I finally spotted it - the most beautiful white tri top and pink hat I'd ever seen. I'd finally caught her! I quietly snuck up
on Shellie and put a handful of ice down her back. She said she knew it was me without having to turn around. My race was good to go at this point. I'd made it to her so I knew I'd no doubt finish with her help. We walked and ran a good bit and I was just soooo happy to have someone to talk to. We speak each other's "running" language too and were on the exact same page about when we wanted to walk, when we wanted to run, and how fast we were going to do all of it. We came down the Mill bridge at the middle of loop 2 
and started looking for her family. We found them and posed for a picture, but there was no one to take it! Her family didn't have a camera, but then some nice stranger took it for us. Just as we were posing, we felt hands on our shoulder, assuming some random stranger was joining in our pic. We turned around to see it was Randy! Another familiar face and such a welcome sight. We ran up to my family and asked them to take pics too. Just then Laurie came up on us and we sent her on saying Randy was just ahead. I told Shellie my mom would be very glad to see that we were together and wouldn't be nearly as worried about me.We got to special needs and I didn't need a long sleeve shirt for sur
e, but we both picked up our light sabers and I grabbed a pack of crack beans (jelly belly sport beans in watermelon...true crack). Shellie and I continued on at a good pace and I still felt pretty good. We danced a bit, scared several volunteers, and just chatted the night away. It has been a while now, so I don't remember who else we passed, but I know we saw Michelle again at some point and she still looked good. We tracked down Bob and Fred at some point as well and they were looking strong 
as ever. As we were finishing our second loop, a guy ran up on us and said "hurry, come with me!! If we run fast, we can make it in under 12:30!!" We just died laughing. As if we were on our 3rd loop...ya right. We told him we appreciated him assuming we were that fast, but that we would need a helicopter to cover the distance we needed to in 8 minutes or whatever it was. Back by the family again and still grins and happy times. I was thrilled to be starting our last loop. We started doing finish time math and said we'd try for 14:30, but however long it took us we knew we'd still both have big PR's. Shellie wouldn't let herself get excited until mile 22. I was excited before that, but didn't want to talk too much about it until she was there 
with me. After the second aid station on the the 3rd loop, Shellie grabbed my arm with a very alarmed look on her face. She said "Kathleen! We're on loop 3, right???" I just started laughing and ensured her we were indeed on our last loop. The miles ticked 
by and at mile 22 Shellie said she could finally get excited. 
Mile 23, mile 24, all good. Mile 25 is when it was time to party. We ran strong, and it felt good. Most of the last 2 loops, when we were running, we were passing people. It was fun to see the spectators almost surprised that we were still looking as strong as we were. We made the turn off the course towards the finish line and decided we'd better take a very short break so we could still look cool and sprint to the finish! We saw some guy going crazy just before the chute and didn't realize until we were right there that it was Josh. We made one more left turn and were in the chute. We matched each other step for step as our pace increased as the line drew closer and closer. Right before the finish we grabbed each others hands and threw our arms up in the air. Best finishers picture ever!!
Run time: 5:58 (13:40 min/mile)Last year: 6:21
Run course
Total time: 14:40
Last year: 15:31
Comments
And next time you get to doubting yourself, pull out these pictures and see how powerful you look. You.Made.That.!!!
i snapped a pic of you and shellie, i'll send it to your personal email.
i saw all your supporters out there for you on the course at IMAZ!!