KONA NUMBER 9!

Kona number 9 was a great one for me! I felt very prepared coming into the race after having raced a very strong LOTOJA (206-mi bike race) 4 weeks earlier. My running was a bit in question, but seemed to have come together just in time over my last 2 weeks pre-race. I had every confidence that my coaches, Luis and Mark, had prepared me well, and just had an overall good feeling about this year, more from a spiritual standpoint than physical. This was also my first Kona as a married woman, and both my husband and daughter were there on race day to cheer me on, which was a real treat!

I was not even an ounce nervous this year…slept like a baby the night before the race and felt calm and comfortable most of the day. Even the swim start didn’t get me too panicked this year…I just felt protected somehow from the potential beatings of six-foot something German men in the water! I did manage to get a swift kick in the calf about 10 minutes pre-swim start, which sent my calf into a nice spasm for a good 5 minutes. Fortunately, it cooperated the rest of the day and the next time I noticed it was after crossing the finish line : ).

I lined up in my usual spot…right on the inside line against the pier, grasping onto the slimy tires to rest a bit before the gun went off. The start was hairy as always, but I somehow managed to avoid any goggle incidents and kicks in the face, which is always my major concern in Ironman. Once we got rolling, the swim went along fairly flawlessly. I even started picking it up a bit toward the end, rather than just sitting comfortably on a pair of feet that didn’t challenge my swimming fitness. Out of the water in 1:06 and change…check! Now, the fun begins!

I had a quick transition with fantastic volunteers in the change tent, but couldn’t seem to find any sunscreen. Good thing I packed my own in my Bento Box!! As always, I started out the first 8 miles of the bike in town very conservatively, watching everyone fly by me at high speed. I sat up on the Kuakini climb and applied my sunscreen and started my fueling process. I was feeling great and knew the race would begin once I hit the Queen K…and so it did. The legs felt fantastic the entire bike ride. The winds leading up to Kawaihae were more gentle than in recent years, but we did end up having some pretty strong crosswinds on the road to Hawi (yeah…love when that happens!). They were of course much scarier on the return route while riding at speeds over 30 mph, but were nothing compared to the treat I experienced the Sunday prior on my training ride up there! I always know I’m good if the legs say they are happy at mile 80 of the bike, and they did! The return trip was uneventful and had a bit less headwind than usual in the last segment, which was a pleasant surprise! The result…5:15 and fastest bike split in my age group finishing on a set of fresh legs!

After a quick stop in the porta potty to empty a full bladder (I never have been able to master the peeing on the bike thing), I got started on the run. We were blessed with a bit of cloud cover for the Alii Dr. section…a huge bonus for me! I can’t remember ever feeling so good on the first 8 miles of the marathon in Kona! I was clicking off 8:00-8:15 minute miles including walks at the aid stations and at a nice comfortable effort level and HR of 142-145 bpm. I got to see tons of my MAO teammates and other Ironman buddies, as well as Dean and Mikayla on the out and back on Alii Dr. Between them and the crowd, the whole experience was absolutely amazing and uplifting. I also found out I was first off the bike with a decent lead to the 2nd place woman! Well, everyone seems to have a low period at some point along the day, and mine started when I hit the Queen K. I learned than 2nd place was a mere 1min 15 seconds behind me, so I think my mentality changed for the worse. Rather than just running my own race, I started trying to race the competition…MISTAKE! It seemed no matter how hard I ran, my heart rate was rock bottom low…hanging between 132 and 135, and my pace had slowed to 9-9:30/mile. I remembered Mark Allen telling me that a low HR is a sign of a lack of calories, so I started taking about 1/3 of a gel along with my full cup of Perform at every aid station, despite the fact that I knew that would probably wreak havoc with my stomach. The calories didn’t seem to help much…maybe I had just dug too deep a hole? My stomach complained some, but a single quick stop in the porta potty fortunately solved that problem. After an eternal climb to the Energy Lab, I finally felt some relief. The downhill and cool breeze in the Energy Lab was very welcoming. However, I also got a glimpse of the lineup of girls in my age group flying behind me…vying for my podium spot! Once again, my mind was in the wrong place, just trying to will my body to run faster to hold all of them off. The heart rate remained rock bottom low and I was passed by 2 girls in my age group on the Queen K who happened to be among the 4 fastest amateur women overall in marathon times (3:17 and 3:18). As I was coming up to the last climb on the Queen K up to Palani Road, I came upon a girl who was severely impaired and high stepping with her eyes rolling around. I stopped to stick a salt tab under her tongue (she bit me as I did that) and made her sit down as others joined in to come to her rescue. As I left and headed forward, I was joined by a very friendly Australian gal from my age group. We ran up the last climb together until she gapped me toward the top. I was completely depleted by that point! Then, only moments later as I was making the final descent toward Alii Drive and the finish line, another gal in my age group came barreling by me at what must have been a 5:30 min/mile pace! At this point I knew I was in 5th place (at best!) and I ran as hard as I could all the way to the line (just figuring there might be another one right behind her). The crowd was so incredibly amazing along Alii Dr! They were screaming their hearts out, but due to my extreme efforts at that point, I had trouble cracking that smile until I had the finish line in site. I saw the clock as I ran toward the line and was really pleasantly surprised with what it said…10:17:22! You can bet I crossed the line with a HUGE smile!

My 9th Kona was a very memorable one and extra special with my family there to cheer me on. Mahalo to all of my teammates and friends who cheered me on along the way!

St. Croix 2009

Just back from one of the best vacations of my life (even though it was technically only 3 days long). The trip to St. Croix was an all day adventure…left the house Thursday at 5:45am and arrived to my hotel in St. Croix at 11:45pm on Thursday. The trip went incredibly smooth and for the first time, I had company the whole way (my man Dean, who was also participating in the race). The trip over was perfect and amazingly, our bikes and luggage were waiting for us on the baggage belt as we walked off the plane!...a very unusual scenario for St. Croix! Our first day in St. Croix was action-packed, so we were quickly off to bed and up and rolling by 7:30am. After a quick bike build and some good coffee, we headed off to the infamous climb (the Beast) to check out the hill and do a little 45 minute spin. We were back in town in time for the 11am group swim and had a wonderful ocean swim and had a chance to catch up with some good buddies from the MarkAllenOnline team, as well as several other acquaintances from the triathlon world. After a great lunch at Rum Runners with friends, we headed off for a sail to Buck Island on my good buddies luxury sailboat, “the Crissy.” That was without a doubt the most fun I’ve ever had on a boat! Saturday came and went quickly, and next thing I knew it was time to race!

Race morning was calm, cloudless, and nice and toasty out. Personally I was hoping for high winds, big waves, and rain on the technical bike course (as we would have had if the race was 1 day earlier) to give me a big advantage on the swim and bike course, but that wasn’t to be. The race directors ended up separating the 40-44 yr old women into their own wave (2nd to last), and that resulted in me taking the early lead on the swim with someone incessantly tapping my feet for the first 200 yds. Finally someone else passed me on the left and I jumped on her feet for the next 5 minutes. She was a great person to draft off of, as she pushed me to my aerobic limit and I knew I would have a great swim time if I could stay with her. Unfortunately she somehow managed to create a 15 ft gap during the commotion of passing one of the early buoys, and despite my attempt to accelerate, I wasn’t able to close the gap. The water was a bit choppy until we made the far turn and headed back to shore. I had a blast swimming the back half, swimming along with the ocean current. I felt like I was moving through the water really well and my swim split was over 1.5 minutes faster than last year, despite having no draft at all for 90% of the swim! T1 was lonely with what appeared to be a full load of bikes on the old lady rack…always a good feeling. I took off and hopped on the bike with my shoes clipped into my pedals as I always do, quickly realizing that I managed to forget to open the Velcro on my shoes during my transition setup! Needless to say, I spent a little time slowly coasting along the road as I tried to undo my Velcro straps and get my feet into closed shoes. Of course at one point I pulled the lower strap completely out of its holder and I had to thread the little strap of Velcro into the small slit on the shoe while holding my line on the road. After probably 40 seconds of fiddling with shoe straps…I was off on my favorite race leg…the bike! I just received my new Cervelo P3 carbon bike from Outspokin Bike Shop about 10 days before the race, so it was fairly new to me, but I felt ultra comfortable on it. I raced the bike leg hard (as I always do), realizing about half way through that I forgot something…my mid-ride PowerBar snack! I managed to get about 200 calories/hr in via liquids, but I realized I had a bit of a bonk going on the back side of the race when I grabbed a powergel at an aid station (something I would normally never consume), and felt like a million bucks about 10 minutes later. I’m not sure where my head was race morning when I set up transition…but the whole trip felt more like a fantastic vacation than a race, so I guess I had a relaxed Caribbean mentality going on race morning (not conducive to remembering important details like opening shoe straps and providing nutrition).

After feeling quite strong for the last 10 miles following my gel supplement, I made it to transition in 1st place in my AG, and right on my heels was the woman who has been passing me on the run in every WTC race, including Kona (Peggy Yetman). I figured I needed a 16 minute lead off the bike to fend her off (she’s an amazing runner), but instead, she took 3 minutes out of my bike split and came in with me (and beat me out of transition as well)! At least I didn’t have to watch her run by me like I was standing still (a sight I’m getting sick of ; ). The only good news about all of this is it didn’t matter if she beat me, as she already had an automatic qualifying spot to Kona from winning our AG last year. Now, my goal was not to get passed by anyone else! The run went really well for me…I even had several moments when I felt fantastic and was able to pick up the pace to 7:30 for a few miles in the middle, despite a complete lack of heat or humidity acclimation in my body. It’s funny how I just seem to love the heat and humidity of the Caribbean because it so reminds me of Kona (even when fresh out of a cold and dry winter in Colorado). I ended up finishing in 5:15:01 (2nd AG, 4th amateur), just under 2 minutes slower than my last attempt at this race, but with both a faster swim and run split than last year. Overall, the entire trip experience was one to be forever remembered. Great race…great friends…good times!

Kona '08...a near perfect day!

Well…it’s 3:30am the morning after the race and I’m wide awake so thought I would get my race report written, especially for those of you who supported my efforts to battle ovarian cancer in honor of my friend, Sue Robinson, who passed away on Sept 6, 2006. We raised an amazing $6115.00 for the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center!

The days leading up to the race were fantastic. I felt like my taper was perfect and I was enjoying the entire Kona experience each day.

Race morning finally arrived (after a great night’s sleep…unlike tonight) and I headed off to transition at 5am with my roommates Crissy, Dennis and Joe. We were greeted by the friendliest of volunteers at arrival who efficiently body marked us and wished us luck over and over again. I can’t get over the volunteer staff yesterday. They were phenomenal the entire day…even more so than usual (as this was my 7th IM Hawaii)!

The pre-start time in the water was chaotic. This year I decided to line up on the left side for the very first time, thinking that it would be less sardine-like than along the buoy line, and my only concern for the entire day was getting through the swim safely and without blood loss. While treading water for 10-12 minutes, waiting for the gun to go off, the start line toward the front got incredibly packed…so much so that everyone’s legs and arms were hitting each other and you were literally getting pushed under water by the movements from trying to keep your head above water. A few people were really panicking and had this look in their eyes like they were incredibly scared that they would drown before the race started. It was a bit crazy. Life was actually better once we got started. Amazingly, I got through the entire swim unscathed…lots of body contact, but no direct hits or getting pushed under water. I really enjoyed the swim. It felt effortless the whole time. I just love swimming with all of that extra oxygen that is lacking in the air at home in Fort Collins! As I did the swim without a watch, I didn’t find out my swim time until post-race…a respectable 1:06:06…16th fastest of the 69 athletes in my age group.

As many of you know, my favorite leg is the bike as my other hobby is bike racing with Team Rio Grande! I tried hard to follow my HR parameters set up by MarkAllenOnline, hoping to keep my HR capped at 145, but drifted above that several times in the early part of the bike leg. It was great watching my HR, as it helped me not overdo it early on. I was very surprised to see my teammate, Cassie McWilliam on the bike within the first mile, as she normally outswims me by a few minutes in a half Ironman, so I figured I had a fantastic swim…which I did! We said a few words of encouragement and I pushed on. I was all smiles at this point…and most of the day, come to think of it!

I moved along the Queen K, picking off hundreds of cyclists, and moving myself into the lead position in my age group (which I didn’t know at the time). The bike leg was moderately windy as we approached Hawi and remained so until the finish of the bike leg, with a steady, but not too strong headwind the last 20+ miles, making for some slower-than-usual bike splits. I felt incredibly strong in this last segment as a result of some of the long training rides I did with the MAO program. The only unpleasant thing on the bike was watching this 28-year-old Belgian chick cheat like crazy, sitting directly on the wheel of whatever guy was in front of her and looking back over her shoulder for officials every 30-45 seconds to make sure she didn’t get caught. Anyone who knows me knows how much I hate drafting cheaters. I remember her number well…1729. I just looked her up and unfortunately she won her age group due to her extremely fresh legs coming off the bike (at least I beat her to the finish line by 30 seconds : ). Despite that minor annoyance, I got off the bike with a smile and ready to give it a go on the marathon. Bike split: 5:25, fastest in my AG and 1st off the bike! AHR 142.

It was hot and sunny through the bike leg and the sun continued to stay out for the Alii Drive section (first 9 miles) of the run. Fortunately the clouds and vog moved in after that and we were blessed with some cooler weather for the remaining 17 miles.

The run started out with me feeling better than usual and effortlessly (well, sort of) clicking off 8 minute miles, keeping my HR below the cap I set at 150 (4 beats above my MAHR). I soaked in the crowds and volunteer enthusiasm and discovered at the Alii turnaround that I was indeed leading my AG at that time. I also saw the uber runners in my AG making their way towards me, but I seemed to have a nice cushion at mile 5. I did my classic walk/run alternating tactic up Palani hill, and felt a lot stronger than usual at that point. I think all of the strength training I did this year really showed at that point. Once on the Queen K, I felt quite good, although my pace was beginning to slow down a bit. I was battling cramps in my calves early on, and successfully stopped them by popping a salt tab in my mouth whenever I felt a muscle twinge coming on. Unfortunately, I only brought 5 tabs with me on the run, as in the past, I didn’t typically need to use salt. That ended up hurting me quite a bit in the later stages of the run, as I no longer could control the cramping in both calves (boy, my calves are sore today!). I had to stop several times from miles 21-24 to stretch my calves, and of course it was mile 22.5 that I was passed very decisively by the eventual winner of my AG, Peggy Yetman. She ran by me like she was in a race car and I was walking backwards…dang that girl can run! She put 8 minutes into me in the last 3.5 miles and ran a 3:13 (probably the fastest ever run for a 40-44 yr old age-grouper in Kona). I knew the others were probably not far behind, so I had to push hard all the way to the line and successfully managed to hold on to 2nd place in my AG! Run split: 3:49:29, 13th fastest in my AG and fast enough to qualify for the Boston marathon! AHR 142.

All in all, it was a near perfect day in the lava fields. If I had more salt tabs, it would have been PERFECT! I know Sue was there watching over me and helping me have one of my best Ironman experiences ever!

Day before the race : )

Below - The girls post-Master's women's breakfast:
Crissy, me, Laura and Kimmy.
Right - Me before my last little ride pre-race.
Well, just 16 hours to go until race morning. I'm getting excited and feel great. I had an unpleasant surprise today...my period decided to start 3 days early (that never happens!) and now I get to do Ironman on my worst day for massive hemorrhage : ). Well...on the good side, both women I told had great stories to tell me about how the timing is perfect and they had their fastest ever Ironman with the same scenario happening to them! I did have to make an extra trip to the drugstore and hide some tampons in little plastic baggies behind my race number for quick and easy access on race day (thanks Laura for that cool tip)! Maybe the extra water retention will make for the perfect race ; ).


Got my mini triathlon workout in quite early today and felt really great in all 3 disciplines. I'm liking the taper that my program with MarkAllenOnline outlined for me. I should be ready to rock! Today the ocean and winds were very mild and the vog and clouds settled in early for some cooler than usual weather. Hoping for more winds, but some nice cloud cover on race day.

Well, time to head down to Kailua pier to drop off my bike and transition bags. Then I'm off to Laura's for a great homecooked meal!

Next blog entry will be my Ironman race report! Thanks to all of my buddies for sending me luck on race day and to all those who donated in my battle against ovarian cancer in honor of Sue. I'm hoping she'll be out watching over me tomorrow.

Kona Blog

It's day 2 of my 10 day visit to Kona, and so far I'm having an absolute blast. I started the day with a short swim at Kailua Bay just to check out the new Xterra skinsuit and to enjoy some time in the ocean. The conditions were perfect and it was really fun swimming in the Hawaiian salt water. I also was fortunate to run into several buddies at the water including the Lovato's, my buddies Laura Sophiea and Kevin, and got a close up glimpse of the Norminator : ). Got to hang out with Luis and Mark later this morning and get out for a training run on the Queen K with a number of MAO athletes. Crissy, Cassie and I ran together for about 40 minutes in the blazing sun and enjoyed every minute. This year I have a fun and busy week ahead with 3 organized breakfast or dinner events and two parties to attend. Looking forward to every moment!

My Race for Sue

On October 11th, 2008 I will be competing in the Ironman Hawaii World Championship on the big island of Hawaii. I am racing with a special purpose this year, in memory of my friend Sue Robinson, a fellow Ironman athlete and age-group competitor who died from ovarian cancer almost exactly 2 years ago at the young age of 39. While she was still alive, along with my good friend Lydia Schlosser, we raced at Ironman Hawaii in her honor, raising $10,000 for the Nat'l Ovarian Cancer Coalition. Now I will be racing in memory of the amazing woman she was. Donations raised will be supporting the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, will all funds directed toward ovarian cancer research and education. I wanted to choose an institution that is active and successful with clinical cancer research and education and I found that in the MSKCC. The picture to the right is one of Sue who is running next to her daughter, Katie, who on a whim, decided to run a marathon to raise funds for ovarian cancer when she discovered her mom was sick. Her longest run prior to that marathon was 6 miles.
I would love for everyone to view a short video of part of a talk given by Sue at a local triathlon in September '05 that I think everyone should hear, along with the message she would like to share..."live every day as if your life is a gift." There is also an interview of Lydia Schlosser that gives you some further insight into the kind of woman Sue was. Please watch it...it's about 4 minutes long and worth the time. Go to YouTube.com and type in my name in the search box (Diana Hassel) and it will come up. I have yet to begin my fundraising efforts, as it's been a crazy last few months at work, but I'll be hitting it hard in the next few weeks to hopefully far exceed my fundraising goal of $5000. If you would like to support a great cause, and have another nice tax deduction when you file next April, please consider visiting my Janus Charity Challenge donation page:
https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorreg/donorpledge.asp?ievent=263050&supID=87443991
Thanks for reading!!

Buffalo Springs 70.3 Race Report

It finally arrived...my last chance race for a Kona slot, and I felt race ready and very fit with my MAO training. There's something about the aura of the Lubbock race that really appeals to me...I think it's the great, down to earth race directors and the field of master's and grand master's Hawaii AG world champion athletes that always seem to make this a must do race each year. I think the young crowd doesn't view Lubbock as a "destination" race, so we see many fewer youngsters...but the one's there this year were top notch! This year was a particularly competitive one, with large numbers of former Hawaii AG world champs and ex-professional women competing for the coveted Kona slots. I didn't really know who my main AG competition was until Jerry (race announcer extraordinaire) spelled it out for me the night before the race...so much for avoiding pre-race nerves!

Race morning I was in great spirits. I said my little pre-race prayer asking God for the safety of all the racers, with of course the underlying main self-serving purpose of my need prayer...no mechanical breakdowns on the bike! Truthfully, I made the mistake of thinking...well, one flat might be okay...but no broken chains, frames, derailleurs, etc!

On to the race...
Swim: Now this was an interesting one! Watching the 1st wave go off (the pros), I laughed as they all ran to the edge of the water and just kept running in calf-deep water...for a long way...we're talking several hundred meters! I noticed that the runners definitely had an edge over the swimmers, so I figured I would be following suit, along with the vast majority of my AG competitors, and that's exactly what happened...in every wave. Apparently there was a cinder block buried somewhere along the way that sent several people into a water faceplant along the shore, so I was pretty cautious trekking along the shore behind the gals in my wave. After getting totally winded from running in knee-deep water, I was finally able to take the dive and begin the swim leg. I felt really good and felt like I was keeping a good pace, but found it very hard to find a good pair of feet. Fortunately, I finally found some in the last 6-700 meters and stayed with them the rest of the way...only later to discover they were the feet of my 40-44 AG competitor who would dominate later on the run. I felt fantastic getting out of the water. With all of the extra swim training I've done this year with MAO, the swim leg doesn't seem to deplete me at all.

Bike: I jumped onto my bike in a hurry and headed up the first 2 steep hills of the bike found within the first mile of the race. On that 2nd hill I was passed by that same gal who I would become familiar with later when she would fly by me on the run : (. I decided to just hang back a bit and see what kind of pace she was going to ride and also it helped keep me from going ballistic too early on. After about 5 miles (the perfect warm-up for me), I put the hammer down and dropped her and another gal that managed to pass me early on. I felt absolutely fantastic and was flying down the road and up the hills effortlessly and making up tons of time. I had a very healthy lead on all of my AG competitors by mile 40 of the bike when it happened...that strange feeling in your bars like there is no padding between you and the road. I looked down to discover my front tire was pancake flat as I crested the hill of the canyon. I couldn't believe it...but got to work right away to change the flat. I had a cheap spare tubular that had been folded up for about 4 years (i.e. the whole prestretch thing was history) with no glue on it either and I was a little worried that it would fail me. I whipped out my trusty #10 scalpel blade, chopped the $120 tire in half and ripped it off the rim of my nice new Zipp 404. Then I went to take off the valve extender, as it would be impossible to fill my spare without it. It was applied with a bit of lock-tight solution and boy did that stuff live up to it's name! I was cussing a bit as I kept trying to use my teeth to unscrew the darn thing from the valve...with mud flying everywhere as I was spinning this torn tire all over the place (did I mention it was raining and wet the whole time with no grip available?). After about 4 attempts, it finally looked like it was coming loose!...I was ecstatic. I kept prying it off with my teeth only to discover the entire inner part of the valve stem had come with it! Now I was a little annoyed : ). I tried the teeth thing again with the little valve thing to no avail. At that point, some other guy flatted about 50 feet behind me and said he was out of the race with his second flat (what's with all of the flats anyway!!). He offered me one of his valve extenders and I left him with mine (nothing that 2 pairs of pliers wouldn't fix!). He was my tri guardian angel for the day, as I was out of the race without that black chunk of metal. Then came stretching the cheap, ancient, glueless tire onto the rim...but I think I had superhuman strength at that time so it didn't take as long as usual. My CO2 cartridge actually worked, and I was off seconds later. I kept in mind that I probably shouldn't go too crazy on the last 16 miles, as I still had a 13 mile run to do, but I do think I took it a notch higher than I would have without the flat. So how long did I spend on the side of the road?? Well, I didn't know myself until I got home and downloaded my HR monitor data an hour ago. Looks like I wasted a minimum of 7 minutes with the tubular fiasco...but fortunately it wasn't 9 minutes (stay tuned for why...). AHR on the bike: 149 (incl. 7 min tire fight rest)

Run: I came into transition and noticed there still weren't many bikes around...a good sign, but figured there had to be some gals in my AG ahead of me with the long delay I had. I started my run with the best run legs I can remember in years. My first mile was a 7:30 and I was feeling comfortable at that pace, but then again, that mile didn't include any monster hills. I suffered some on the bigger hills, allowing myself to do my little hill running technique of 10 counts walking, 20 counts running up the steeper parts, while trying to take maximum advantage of the downhills. It was really hard to tell who was who on the run and where I was sitting in my age group, but one thing I knew for sure was that Peggy Yetman (the winner of our AG) definitely passed me between miles 4 and 5...and it was one of those where you ask yourself...am I running, or am I walking backwards? types of passes. She was flying...like Miranda Carfrae pace...really! I cruised along with some high points and low points, but the best part was miles 9-12. Now usually those are some of the hardest miles for me when I really slow down, but not this time. I actually managed to negative split this race (thanks Luis & Mark!), getting me to the line with a 1:42 half split (stellar for me in recent years). Now if only I could get back down to those 1:38's of my early triathlon days...maybe next year! I do seem to be getting faster with age. I finished the race in 5 hours flat and in 2nd place in the W40-44 division. I've done this race 3 times and every single time I've finished in 5 hours flat...but this time, I had an extra 7 minutes lost on the side of the road. To me, that means I'm still getting faster with age : ). I love that! AHR on the run (first half 154; last half 157)

Overall it was a fantastic day for me and with the exception of the flat, I had a perfect race and really had a blast! I thanked every volunteer and every policeman at every intersection, and they were all so great. I also really enjoyed racing with so many friends that I only get to see once in a blue moon when we happen to do the same races.

Oh...and that coveted Kona slot went to Peggy Yetman. However, there were a few slots unaccounted for in other female divisions, making me first in line to get the first rolled down Ironman slot!! Whew!!! A happy ending to a fantastic day. As far as the 7+ minute time loss...Peggy Yetman beat me by NINE minutes (she ran a 1:27 half marathon!), so the flat didn't alter the outcome of the day...a thought that really made me happy, as losing a race from a mechanical is not the best feeling!

Until next time!