Race Report - Nice 70.3 World Championships (better late than never!)

Race week started out a bit wonky as our flight was delayed over 5 hours and we were concerned we would not make it to Nice for another 2 days!  They finally fixed the plane and we got a hotel at the Paris airport and managed to find seats on a new flight to Nice the next morning.  We did make new friends in the process, so it was all good.

We stayed with Kenny Glah's group and headed out for a recon of the bike course on the day of arrival which was great.  I elected to do 5K of the final bit of the climb followed by about 2/3rds of the descent.  I met some lovely people from Argentina that we rode with much of the time.  The course did look a bit more ominous than I was expecting, but it turned out to be one of my favorite courses I have raced on.

Overall, the week was great and I was excited to see what I could do on race day.  I had a perfect lead up to this particular event as I was injury free and had the most spectacular coaching from Bek Keat that had me both physically and mentally ready to give it my all.  I was really ready to leave it all out there.

Race day came along and it was quite windy out and much cooler than anticipated.  They called the swim wetsuit legal that morning (which wasn't the case the next day for the men).  They started the swimmers by age group with 10 going at a time every 15 seconds.  I lined up in the 4th group so was 1-minute back of the leaders in our age group of about 200 women (an all-time 50-54 record I think!).  After jostling over those pointy rocks on shore, I was off.  I felt fabulous the whole time in the swim and tried to push myself a bit more than usual as I knew I had the swim fitness to do so.  I found some perfect feet, but they only lasted a few minutes as the girl was going too far off course for me to follow her.  Much of the time I spent swimming solo with no draft.  In the final leg, I was swimming next to another gal and we were going the exact same speed.  I decided to drop back behind her and cruise for a while as it was much easier in the draft and I was going the same speed as earlier.  There was a lot of chop and currents in the swim and that made for a longer swim for everyone.  Regardless, I knew I had a great swim and went flying through T1, feeling really light on my feet and strong.

The bike leg was really excellent.  I loved it and I couldn't believe how strong I felt on the bike.  It was fun, even on the 90-minute climb.  Nobody passed me on the bike until the final 2K of the climb, when a pack of 3 younger athletes passed me.  I passed one gal from Germany in my AG near the top of the climb who ended up 3rd in our AG (she descends like a maniac and runs fast!) and got passed by the duathlon world champ at one point (who I then passed again on the descent).  I loved every minute of the bike course.  It was super challenging and incredibly fun on the descent too!  I even set a new FTP on the 90 minute climb by 15 watts!  I had the fastest bike split in my age group, but not by much, and I had the Olympic gold medalist from 2002 still ahead along with one other speedy descender.

Starting the run, I felt surprisingly good!  I was digging incredibly deep, drawing inspiration from my coach and my best friend who was battling cancer. The run course was flat and fast.  It was one of my best run performances in years despite getting outrun by 3 more stellar women in my age group and not slowing down one bit in the process.  It was truly a performance of a lifetime from a personal and physical standpoint, but I managed to just miss the podium, finishing in 6^th place.  It’s the proudest 6^th place I have ever encountered! 

I want to give special thanks to my amazing husband Dean who had a less than stellar day on the course, but is still my hero always, and also to the Team Sirius Tri Club, my amazing coach, Bek Keat, AltRed (this stuff is amazing), the Rocky Mountain Multisport Team and ENVE racing.  It was a near perfect end to a perfect season and I am so grateful.

P.S. I'm an AltRed ambassador, so if you want to try it for 15% off, enter code dhassel-altred.

IRONMAN HAWAII 2017 RACE REPORT

Well….it finally happened!  Since 2002 when I snagged the victory at IM Hawaii as a 30-34 year-old in my 3^rd IM Hawaii, I have been trying and trying to get to that spot again.  It has eluded me until now and I had come “oh so close” on more than one occasion!   Well…here is how the day unfolded…

The swim was a somewhat brutal hit-fest with a lot of aggressive women fighting for feet, but fortunately there was no blood or wounds involved!  I had to readjust goggles on 3 occasions and exited the water with blurry vision from the stinging salt water in my eyes the whole way.  All in all, I was happy with the swim and ready to get on to my favorite discipline, the bike.

I’ll start by acknowledging the amazing volunteers in the change tents for both T1 and T2….nothing short of spectacular!  Getting rolling on the bike, I always take it easy those first miles through town and up the Kuakini Hwy.  I also get the opportunity to see my wonderful hubby, Dean, my daughter Mikayla and my brother, Vince twice in those first few miles which gives me a real boost.  I watched tons of women fly by me up the Kuakini Hwy and figured I would see most of them later, which I did!  Once getting up onto the Queen K, I got into my groove and started my race.  On that day, something didn’t feel right in my legs.  They felt incredibly flat and I would look at my power meter and it was reading power values that were way under what I would expect based on feel.  I have been riding with power for 16 years now, so I have a pretty good feeling about how many watts I am pushing.  I had a goal to hold 185W for the bike, but the power meter was reading in the low 160’s with my legs kind of suffering.  I figured the calibration was off, so on the next downhill, I did an on-the-fly calibration by spinning the crank backwards, but the numbers didn’t change.  Oh well, I thought…I am just going to go by feel, so that’s what I did.  My legs felt a bit better as the ride progressed, but the numbers didn’t ever seem to be right.  Madame Pele was kind to us with the winds on race day, but not so kind with the scorching sun on the cloudless day.  On the descent from Hawi it was a little scary for a bit as I was nearing 40 mph and those crosswind gusts would hit, but I just envisioned Natasha Badmann who always stayed aero in wicked crosswinds.  A nice little bee also decided to sting me on my left quadriceps as I was descending at high speed from Hawi.  That was fun trying to get the darn stinger out while flying down the hill!  I made it through Kawaihai and on to Waikaloa where I knew I had to put the hammer down for the final 20 miles.  I ramped it up a bit, ignoring the power meter and got to T2 with some very stiff legs.  So just today, my husband discovered what probably caused my low power numbers.  He pulled my pedals out of the bag (Speedplay Zeros) and they are literally welded by rust and do not spin AT ALL on the spindle.  My guess is the rain the night before the race wreaked havoc with the lubrication of the pedal spindle.  I think the pedals are quite old and I am not so certain I have ever had them serviced!  Live and learn!!  I’m pretty ecstatic that I had a bike split only 40 seconds off the leader with the extra 20 watts of resistance!!  It did make for a challenging marathon however!  It does crack me up how hard it is to try to run in T2…I always feel like a little old lady that can barely move.  Somehow though, a marathon comes out of those legs a few minutes later. 

Again….the volunteers in the tent rock!  I said “can I have some sunscreen?” and the lady with the sunscreen ran over and smeared it over every exposed part of my skin as fast as she could.  How’s that for service?  Off I went on the marathon, feeling not so spry, but getting it done.  I was happy to hold a 9-minute mile pace for a while including some nice lounging stops at every aid station.  I just took the marathon 1 aid station to the next and tried not to think about what was beyond that.  It was great seeing my support crew again on the course cheering for me even though I’m sure they couldn’t tell I was happy to see them (due to the suffering factor!).  Now here is the good news….my feet were happy and my gut was happy.  When I have those two things going for me I just tell myself, “No excuses!!”  The other approach I took this year was ignoring my competition on the course.  I did not want to know what position I was in nor did I want to know where my competition was.  I wanted to just run my own race and do the best that I could.  That tactic was golden.  I told my husband, when I get to 3 miles to go, you can tell me what place I am in!  I think it was killing him because he knew I was in 2^nd for the majority of the marathon but he couldn’t tell me!  It turns out the leader (9-time age-group winner, Lisbeth Kenyon) had an 8:30 lead on me coming out of the energy lab with 10K left to go.  Normally that would be insurmountable, but Lisbeth was suffering from heat stroke and was not moving very fast.  By the time I hit the top of Palani I knew I was very close to her and let it rip on the Palani descent.  I passed her right at the corner at the bottom of the hill and tried to give her some encouragement to get to the line as she and I have raced together many times and have tremendous respect for one another.  I cruised in to the finish and enjoyed every minute of the crowds and encouragement on Ali’i Drive!  It was truly magical!  I even attempted a jump at the line to duplicate my 2002 finish line picture and it’s pretty darn close! 

Photo credit: Wagner Arujo

What a day!  I have to again thank my rock and the love of my life, Dean, for all of his support!

TRAINING AND INJURY PREVENTION FOR THE MASTER'S ATHLETE

I have been longing to share some of my personal perspectives on training for the masters athlete for quite some time, but sometimes it’s just hard to find the time! Well…with the New Year getting rolling, I have finally found the time.

First…note the photo of two great friends and highly successful, multi-time masters+ world champions at Oly distance to Ironman, Cherie Gruenfeld and Ellen Hart. I am also no spring chicken, entering the 50-54 age group this year, I am definitely recognizing the differences between training at the age of 30 and now at the age of 50. As a perennial Kona competitor striving to get faster and faster with age, I go through a tremendous amount of experimentation to make myself a better athlete. Some “Ah hah! moments are what I wish to share with the SmartTriathlonTraining athletes.

One thing that has become extremely apparent to me as a masters athlete is that success in triathlon is all about recovery, recovery, recovery! How I accomplish that is primarily with incorporating good nutrition, supplements and recovery modalities that I know work for me. In addition to those staples, it’s important for the masters athlete to take a bit longer to recover from key workouts, to prioritize good sleep in both quality and quantity, to shorten the running mileage a tad from the earlier years, and to consider the role of shoes and cushioning in running recovery. For me, the discovery of Hoka One One shoes made a world of difference in my ability to withstand longer and more frequent run training, and even to recover from an episode of plantar fasciitis induced by long hours at work in flat, unsupportive shoes. Now, the cushioned, minimal drop shoe is en vogue and is made by just about every major shoe brand. I know from experience that Hokas do not work for everyone, so find that perfect shoe that works for you and absorbs enough impact to reduce trauma to the body. Of course, good sleep is also key for recovery and stage III (deep or slow wave) sleep is when most of the beneficial effects of physiologic HGH release occurs to help repair and restore the muscles.

Nutrition and supplements: It’s no secret that nutrition is an essential component of recovery. I

discovered a few years back that a magical meal consisting of a very sweet, very high calorie margarita combined with unlimited chips and salsa followed by some delicious chicken enchiladas with rice and beans was the only way for me to get in enough calories after a 6-hour Ironman training day to prepare me for my long run the next day! Now I am not advocating margaritas on your big training days by any means, but this particular margarita no doubt caused a substantial insulin spike that set me up to replenish my glycogen with all of the food that followed. The take home message here is, a bit of insulin from high glycemic foods after a monster day is not a bad thing, followed by plenty of calories with high quality protein included. Do not skimp on the protein! On that note, my absolute favorite supplement for recovery is a combination of branch chain amino acids and glutamine. The version I use is called “Platinum Power” but you can find BCAA’s and glutamine in any health or grocery store. This particular supplement has helped my recovery more than any other food or protein powder. The other key supplement I like to include, especially in the winter months is vitamin D. You can never go wrong with vitamin D! We bundle up enough in the winter that we are lacking in the sun exposure we need to create our own vitamin D, so a little supplementation is a good thing!

Recovery modalities: The most cost effective recovery modality I use is the basic foam roller. In fact, I will sometimes use it as a method to warm up and activate my muscles before a session. I have also integrated the use of a super roller called the hyperice vyper massager that uses both pressure and vibration to get results. It’s almost as good as a visit to the massage therapist. Speaking of massage, I feel that regular massage is integral to maintaining healthy tissues in any athlete. It can be a bit pricey, but 2 massages per month is a requirement for me during peak training and I have been known to go weekly if I can pull it off with my on call schedule. A good therapist will find your problems before you even know they exist! My other two favorite muscle recovery modalities that will unfortunately cost you a few bucks are electrical muscle stimulation (e.g. Compex) and compression boots (e.g. Normatec). I have been using electrical muscle stimulation for over a year now in the recovery mode (and occasionally in the strength mode…but be prepared to get sore!), and it has without a doubt improved my quadriceps and hamstring recovery from long or intense training days, allowing me to put in a quality effort the next day. Although I do not own a set of compression boots, I have tried them and also feel they likely can make a significant impact on recovery of your legs after races or hard training efforts. If you have the financial means, investing in one or more of these gadgets may prove rewarding for your recovery and overall race performance.

Last but not least, I am a huge believer in strength training for the masters athlete. Injuries of the calves and hamstrings seem to be extremely common in the older athlete; so specific attention to those muscles as well as the glutes is key for injury prevention. Regular stretching as well as strengthening seem to help me the most with keeping the posterior muscles happy. I have even adopted doing a set or two of calf raises after almost every run, just to stay on top of my calf strength. A good and gradual warmup prior to every workout session with some muscle activation techniques is also recommended.

In good health…Diana

IRONMAN HAWAII 2015 - LESSONS LEARNED

Ironman #18 is in the books!  Boy...was it a tough one!  The week started out with a bit of a setback as Dean and I were seated next to a sniffling, coughing guy on the flight to Kona.  Well, it didn't take long for that to latch onto me as I woke with a scratchy throat and cough on Sunday, 6-days pre-race.  It didn't seem to affect me much though as I could get through all of my pre-race routine without any apparent loss in strength or even an increase in HR during my workouts.  I didn't think too much of it as I was seeming to be almost over it by race morning.  Dean wasn't so lucky and ended up going on antibiotics for an upper respiratory infection on Thursday!

On to race day!  I felt perfectly tapered and ready to rock it race morning.  The women went off at 7:10am this year, making for some increased current on the way home and some longer swim times.  That said, I had a great swim this year (albeit long) and found the perfect feet to draft off of all the way back.  Last year was brutal, getting my goggles knocked and filled with salt water 4 times. This year was smooth sailing.  I was excited to get out of the water and see my swim time and was a little shocked to see I clocked a 1:09.  Oh well...I figured everyone's time was slow and off I went to my favorite leg...the bike.

I knew I had the potential to do some damage on the bike this year as my watts in training have been 10-15 watts higher than last year at the same time.  I figured I could probably match last year's average watts and that would give me that extra little bit of rest I would need for a solid run.  My heart rate was nice and low (130's) at that effort, so I knew it would work.  The bike started out

well, with a nice conservative start through town and then I got into my race rhythm.  I felt pretty decent along the Queen K but then some large stinging insect flew into the one hole in the front of my aero helmet and started repeatedly stinging my forehead. I had to stop to get that thing out of there as it obviously had the ability to sting over and over again!  After a quick stop and helmet removal, I was back on the road, spending the next 30 minutes passing all of the people I had already passed earlier.  The climb to Hawi was a bit less friendly than year's past, as we often at least started with a nice tailwind which this year was nowhere to be found.  It was a long, hard climb and I was surrounded by several other women who were battling it out.  My advantage came after the turnaround where I could make some big gains on the Hawi descent.  This is where I started making headway on my competition.  We also had a short bout of heavy rainfall which was the highlight of the bike ride due to the temporary cooling effect!  Getting back out onto the Queen K, there is almost always a 5 mile section with a beautifully strong tailwind, that later turns into a headwind. This year...all headwind from the get go!  That was a long last 30 miles! Normally this is a part that I enjoy as I feel strong through here, but this year, my power wasn't there.  I couldn't seem to get my average power over 178 watts despite the hard push home through the headwinds.  I knew something was wrong as a result.  I had tons of mucus in my sinuses that I was clearing throughout the bike ride and figured that was the residual respiratory virus that I thought I had put behind me.  I guess I hadn't. Oh, and did I mention it was HOT?!!  Wicked hot, is a better description.  To quote another competitor, "I think that was the hottest bike ride of my entire life!"  Drenching my head and body in cold water through the hole of my aero helmet at every single aid station only provided relief for 1-2 minutes. I drank more fluids than ever before.  My usual concentrated drink mix that gets me to special needs was out a good 15 miles prior to getting there.  That meant Gatorade Endurance Formula was now part of my bike nutritional plan.  I had been training with the powdered form of the drink, so figured my body would handle it just fine.  I was wrong about that as the bottled form is quite different and my GI bloat began on the way back from Hawi.

On to the run!  Getting into transition, I was already hitting the porta potty, trying to rid myself of the bloated feeling.  Although my legs and feet did not feel bad and I was well hydrated, the rest of me was complaining.  I chugged along for 7 or 8 miles, barely hanging on to my top spot in my age group with a couple of porta potty stops on the way.  I realized the Gatorade that I was chugging at each aid station was only making things worse and I switched to Coke and salt, but it was too late.  My guts were toast for the remainder of the day. That is when the initial walk/jog began followed by the very long walk.  In between waves of nausea and abdominal pain, I did my best to enjoy the rest of the day and cheer on friends.  I even managed to run a little bit intermittently in the final 5 miles. The finish line was spectacular with rows of encouraging spectators all down Ali'i Drive!  It's just that more spectacular with the later finish in the dark with the bright lights of the finish line!  

Special thanks to my wonderful husband Dean, without whom I might have not survived to the finish line!  Although the day did not turn out as I hoped, it's always a blessing and honor to tow the line at Ironman Hawaii.

Ironman Boulder!!

Ironman Boulder 2015...

I was pretty excited to race IM Boulder this year as it was my first non-Hawaii Ironman race since 2003 and was held right in my backyard.  I knew there would be tons of friends both racing and cheering which makes any race a joy.  Plus, my husband Dean was also racing and I love sharing race day with him.  Preparation for the race was good, but I felt just a tad underprepared, having missed my two most key bike and run workouts leading up to race day.  I figured that was a good thing, as it's better to be a little undertrained than overtrained!

I was not too excited about the wetsuit ruling, as I LOVE my wetsuit buoyancy and I knew it would prolong my swim by a fair bit. Once I got going though, I thought, "boy... I would be roasting right now in my wetsuit!"  I was happy to see the swim was 2.6 miles instead of 2.4 on my Garmin, since I had my slowest Ironman swim time ever (1:11).

On to my favorite leg...the bike.  It was just as fun as I anticipated!  I rode parts of the course in training on a few occasions and loved it just as much on race day.  It was a beautiful day on a perfect course...albeit a wee bit hotter than I would like.  I had a goal for wattage that was 5-10 watts below my goal watts for Hawaii and I pulled into T2 right smack in the middle of that goal (177W) which gave me the 2nd fastest female bike split of the day!  I stuck with my nutrition plan for the most part, but thought I didn't drink quite as much as I should have.  While sitting in T2 getting ready to run, I realized I was parched and craving water.  Uh oh!

After some great help by the amazing volunteers, I was off on the run with my first ever bicycle escort for "2nd place female"!  Wow...that was pretty cool!  The crowds were over the top awesome and when they saw that I was the 2nd place female, they screamed their lungs out.  That was so much fun!!!  The crowds and the volunteers really make this event special!  I actually felt amazing at the start of the run as the dehydration hadn't really set in yet.  I cruised along, just waiting for my fellow competitor, Heather Gollnick (5-time Ironman Champion as a pro) to pass me.  I was actually really wanting her to catch me early on so I could ease up and cruise through the rest of the marathon without traumatizing my body too much.  Heather had assured me on more than one occasion that she had no interest in the Kona slot, and that was my primary purpose for this race.  I had no interest in getting 1st place, but had lots on interest in the Kona slot.  The miles kept going by and Heather was not gaining on me...ugh!  By mile 12, the dehydration from the bike caused my gut to start wreaking havoc.  I started running porta potty to porta potty, and the dehydration worsened as a result.  I was passed by another young gal and switched to the "3rd place female" bike escort until mile 18 when Heather finally caught and passed me while I was in a porta potty : ).  In the out-and-back section, Heather looked like she was flying and I was starting to get dizzy.  By mile 20, the dizziness was really strong and I had to walk for a solid 5 miles before it subsided enough to run again.  After getting passed by Stacia (2nd place in my AG), who was super awesome and checked in with me to make sure I was okay, I rallied for the final 1.5 miles downhill to get to the line in 3rd.

A concerned John Lawyer during my dizzy walk sufferfest!

That was one of my toughest Ironman runs, as I have never gone through that level of dizziness with so many miles left to go.  That said, I think the Boulder Ironman course ranks among one of my all time favorites.  Between the amazing volunteers, the support of friends and family, the perfect course, and the general feeling all day long, it's definitely one I will do again in the future!

Thanks to everyone who screamed for all of us crazy athletes on the course, to my wonderful husband Dean who shares my passion for Ironman, and to the volunteers and friends all over the course!  What a great (and painful) day!!  Next up....Kona....baby!!!

Kona 2014!

Approaching this year’s Kona, I was so excited to get away for my favorite 10 days of the year!  For me, Kona holds a very special place in my heart and I always feel so happy just being there, especially after family joins in on the fun!  My run training has been going better than ever and the run has always been my weak link at Ironman.  I blame that on a great coach (Luis and SmartTriathlonTraining), some great advice from Michellie Jones, Platinum Performance (they rock), and my shoes (Hoka Cliftons) that allow me to run as long and as often as I wish.

The Fam!  Dean & Mikayla

Race week was relaxing and incredibly awesome as it always is.  The beauty and extraordinary sanctity of the island was present in full force, and I thrived in it.  This year was wickedly hot every single day though and locals were saying it was the hottest October in over a decade.  I believe it.  Made for excellent heat training leading into race day for sure!  It was a joy to have family and friends with me for the journey to give me that extra strength for race day!

Me and my buddy Cherie at swim start

I was excited for the new, all women’s swim start in Kona.  Here I thought I could finally start out without getting completely swallowed up, hit and kicked by the big, aggressive German dudes who I always blamed for the rough start!  Little did I know it was the women who were the aggressors!  I started counting after the 3^rd time my goggles got kicked into my eye socket or knocked part way off letting the stinging salt water in.  The total count for how many times I had to stop to readjust my goggles was 9!  A record for sure!  On top of it, we had some really rough water…lots of waves and a tremendous current keeping us from returning to shore in a decent time.  Despite the contact and lots of salt water driven into my sinuses, I did feel fantastic from a swimming standpoint with no bruises from the swim fight and didn’t bother to look at the clock at the exit (a good thing, as it was one of my slowest swim times ever in Kona! – 1:09).

Off to my favorite part…the bike!  I started off nice and conservative as always and felt decent starting off.  It

was fun seeing Dean, Mikayla and many other friends in town before hitting the Queen K.  Boy…did it get hot out there with the blazing sun out for the entire bike ride!  I watched my watts and stayed somewhat conservative as the winds picked up very early on the bike.  I thought to myself…”I wanted wind…but not this early!”  Then the crosswind gusts started and I think I even screamed a little once in fear when a gust hit me unexpectedly on the road to Hawi.  Once I got to Hawi, I typically put the hammer down on the return trip.  The crosswinds played with my mind a little though so I stayed a little conservative compared to my usual tactics on that fast section after the turn in Hawi.  Once I hit Kawaihai and turned back onto the Queen K, I had plenty of reserves and was able to push hard all the way back to Kona.  Despite the extra long time spent on the bike (29 min slower bike split than last year), I felt quite strong and was excited to see what I could do on the run this year with my recent running improvements.

I hit transition feeling pretty decent.  A bit stiff initially, but felt quite good once I left the change tent.  Starting the run, I felt pretty darn good.  I kept my heart rate under 150 yet was holding an 8:00/mile pace for the first 10 miles!  That was a first for me (at least since 2001)!  I slowed down a bit after that, but generally felt better than most years on the Queen K.  It was a relief to finally hit the energy lab and seeing so many friends and teammates out on the course gave me a bit of renewed energy.  As is typical for me, I could have sworn I saw not 1, but 2 women in my age group 4 minutes and 6 minutes behind me at the mile 18 turn around point in the energy lab.  It turns out there was only 1, with all others a good 30 minutes back.  I was cruising along at a reasonable pace in the final 10K, popping lots of salt pills as needed, but with about 3 miles to go, my left calf seized up on me bringing me to a complete halt for a moment and needing to stretch a bit.  I tried to keep moving, but my pace slowed dramatically while trying to will my calf into not seizing up the entire way home. 

With only a mile left to go, I headed down the steep Palani hill headed toward Alii Drive, still in 1^st place in my age group!  I kept thinking…wow…could this be happening?!...and then it happened…that dejavue of Karen Smith motoring past me just past the Palani hill aid station and rapidly distancing herself from me.  She did the exact same thing a few years back (although we were racing for 4^th and not for 1^st at the time), but it was literally at the very exact same location in the exact same manner!  Weird, eh?  She blew by me at what must have been a 5:30/mile pace down the hill and I yelled something like, “Karen!...I can’t believe you are doing this to me AGAIN!!” (in a playful tone, as I knew I had no chance of catching her with my seizing calf muscle).

I finally hit Ali’i Drive in good spirits despite losing my top spot so late in the game as I was excited to have had such a strong run off the bike for the first time in 13 years!  It was so fun to see friends on Ali’i Drive and of course the crowds were awesome!  I made sure to get lots of high-5’s on the way to the line.  Madame Pele was very gracious to me this year and brought me lots of rough water and high winds on the bike like I hoped for!  (yes, I know that is sick : )

I finished knowing I gave it my all and I am ecstatic with the result!  I even managed myself well enough to avoid the med tent and could even come back to the finish line through midnight with my wonderful husband to enjoy watching the final finishers!  I am so grateful for the opportunity to participate in this event, and even more so to do it with my family and friends there to support me, both on and off the course.  What a wonderful end to a wonderful season!