Rolling hills are NOT all created alike...

As I mentioned previously, I really expected the "rolling hills" of Memphis to be like the "rolling hills" of Chattanooga...

They. Were. NOT.

The rolling hills of Chattanooga are LOVELY...they climb a tiny bit, they descend easily and then immediately roll up the next hill...you get momentum from one hill to the next that carries you most of the way up the next hill. It really doesn't feel like a lot of climbing...except for the one hill on Andrews...that's a big climb.

When I did the Chatty 70.3 I was NOT trained. I had not ridden my real bike more than maybe 20 MILES leading up to race day! (Don't do that...it was DUMB.) I wasn't teaching spin more often back then. I definitely wasn't running much then. All that to say I know I wasn't just in better shape then...in fact I was in better shape this year (for sure). 

The morning of the race it was cool outside. I talked with a fellow racer as we were setting up who asked my thoughts on the temperature.....I said I was giving myself options with both a jacket and arm warmers at my transition spot. 

I actually got a little hot in my wetsuit during the swim (probably because I kept stopping!) so when I got to transition I decided I didn't need anything extra. I simply got my helmet, bike shoes and sunglasses on, grabbed my bike and headed out. As I started riding I thought I might have made a mistake because it was a tad chilly, but I just knew I would warm up quickly...and I was right.

As I think back on the bike course (now that it's been three LONG weeks since the race...) the things that really stand out to me are the sheer beauty of the course--it was SPECTACULAR! I thought Chatty 70.3 was a pretty course, but Memphis is even prettier! The hills were NOT wonderfully rolling ... they were hills that made me work just a bit to get up (but NOTHING major at all)...and then the downs were mostly slopes that lead to just enough flat road that zapped all the momentum out...which meant more work to get up the next incline! 

And then there was the road surface. It feels like it was mostly chip-seal (even though it really wasn't). The hardest part about that was that I was relying on fluid nutrition from my aero bullet bottle. It's HARD to drink from an aero bullet when the road surface is so bumpy!

For bike fuel, I had made up a very concentrated bottle of Tailwind (along with a regular bottle of it in the aero bottle to start). The plan was to drink the aero bottle in an hour, then squirt out 1/4 of the concentrated bottle every hour after that, mixing with water I got from aid stations. Thankfully it wasn't too hot early on so I didn't really need much extra water beyond that. 

That worked the first 2 hours...but the road surface being so bumpy (combined with my own fears) really thwarted those plans. So much so that I really got behind on fuel. I think I ended up taking in about 2/3 of what I had intended. And, it started getting VERY HOT toward the end of the bike.

My power plan was to keep my watts right around 115-120. I surprised myself and was just a tad over that. Not so much that I blew up my legs for the run, but enough that I felt like I had given about what I had to give!

When I got off the bike I asked the volunteer if she wanted to buy a bike! The person behind me said "I'll take it if you are giving it away for free!" I laughed and said I might change my mind after the run!

The aid stations seemed to be well spaced and well worked but just a tiny bit cramped. I only stopped once-for a VERY much-needed potty break.

When I finised the swim I was in 44th place in my age group (out of 71)...when I got off the bike I had moved up to 36th. (I moved up 58 places, from 287 to 229, for all females, and I moved up 88 spots, from 946 to 858, overall. I knew I had passed quite a few people but I also know I was passed by quite a few. And, as always, I played leap frog (without drafting) with a few as well.

If I hadn't stopped so much on the swim who knows how that might have shaken out...

Next up...the run...

"You Never Have to Swim Again"

I had been nervous for a while about the swim at the Memphis 70.3. 

I don't really know why but my swim has been the last thing to "come back" since the brain disease/treatment. I don't know why but when I have tried to swim I just feel like I can't breathe. I can't relax. And nothing really seems to have helped...well, except swimming with fins! LOL

I started swimming regularly in April this year....usually three times a week. I started conservatively at about 1000 yards and then ramped up...but most of each swim session was with fins and a lot of each session was drills. 

How much I've been swimming the last 6 months...

Just before the Huntsville Sprint Tri I swam my first straight 400 yards without fins. I did that about 3 times before race day. I was VERY shocked and pleased that I did "okay" at the race. (9:16 for 400 is not great by any stretch of the imagination, but it's a congested swim and I didn't stop to hang on to the wall so I counted it as a win!)

Not only did I feel like I couldn't swim, swimming was also WIPING me OUT more than running or biking.

My last two 70.3 swims were Chattanooga in 2021 (downstream, point to point) and Augusta 2017 (FAST downstream, point to point). The Memphis swim was in a small lake. The good thing about the swim is no current...the bad thing is no current!

But going in I reasoned that all I really had to do was keep moving forward. With a 70 minute cutoff time, that is a 3:18 pace. Surely I could manage that.

I've never watched the weather hoping for a wetsuit swim. Ever. Until this year. Even though I only practiced twice, and even though the suit chafes my neck a little, I hoped and prayed for the race to be wetsuit legal. I wasn't going to wear it if it was optional because I think it gets too hot if the water isn't cold enough to be wetsuit legal. (Although I SERIOUSLY considered wearing my floaty pants if it was wetsuit optional...)

I was very happy to find out the water cooled down the week of the race to make it wetsuit legal!

I walked down to the swim start with my friends...two of them seeded much faster than Coach R and I did. We talked about how our swims had really tanked in recent years and we lamented over the loss...and we realized we were both signed up for Coach Tom's "swim school", hoping it would help. 

The closer we got to getting the water the more nervous I got. At one point I "jokingly" said "Nope, I changed my mind...I don't want to do this..." (Sure, I was "just joking"...sure...sure I was.) We inched closer and closer and all I could think was "okay, finish this and you never have to swim again...but you have to finish this swim...just keep moving forward and finish this swim..." I told Coach R if I finished in under an hour I would be happy...and then revised that and said if I finished in less than the cutoff I would be happy...

Before I knew it, it was time for me to walk in that water. It was warmer than the air temp which was nice. It was MURKY...REALLY REALLY MURKY. But I expected that because people had been talking about it on the Facebook page. I immediately moved out of the way to gather my wits and try to relax.

"You never have to swim again....but you have to swim now...you have to finish this swim..."

As I slowly started moving forward telling myself to "JUST RELAX FOR CRYING OUT LOUD" I saw a woman treading water...she looked panicked a little bit. I asked if she was okay. She said the water was just so cold she couldn't breathe. I encouraged her to focus on her exhale and to relax...really I was talking to myself-she just happened to be there to hear it!

After I made sure she was fine I started telling myself to just swim buoy to buoy. At the briefing they said they were about 100 yards apart. So I made a deal with myself...swim 100 yards then take a breather.

That didn't happen...it was more like swim 25 yards, take a breather, swim 5 strokes, take a breather, swim 50 yards, take a breather.

I am not kidding when I say I stopped every few yards!

SO MANY kayakers asked if I was okay. I would just give a thumbs-up and then start swimming again. 

It was only about 200 yards in a guy just ahead of me quit and took a ride to the shore on a medical boat....

"You never have to swim again, but you have to keep swimming NOW...you HAVE TO FINISH THIS SWIM."

There was a fog on the lake much like there was when I did IM Lake Tahoe (but the water, and the air, was MUCH warmer). It made seeing the next buoy a little challenging. The beauty of that was that I certainly couldn't see PAST the very next buoy so I really couldn't tell how much farther the turn was. When I got to the different colored buoy I was thinking that meant it was 1/2 way....I took a peek at my watch and saw "45"..."well, crap...if that is 1/2 way I'll NEVER finish in 70 minutes"

"You never have to swim again, but YOU CAN NOT QUIT....PERIOD..."

I realized if I missed the cutoff I wouldn't be pulled off the course because there were TONS of people behind me...I would "just" get a DQ for the race...but I'd be able to get on the bike and would be able to finish the race, cross the finish line and get a medal....so I stopped looking at my watch and I stopped trying to do the math of how far I had to go before I could stop swimming FOREVER...because I was sure I was never going to swim EVER again AS LONG AS I LIVE...

I FINALLY made it to the turn buoy...and then the next turn buoy.....and then just beyond that was the only right-hand turn on the course...and BAM....right into the sun. I knew it was coming but I wasn't fully prepared for the blinding light searing my eyeballs! 

Speaking of the sun...I got SO HOT I briefly considered taking my wetsuit off and giving it to a kayaker....but I realized that might be only thing keeping me on top of the water....

Let me take a step back here.....usually in open water swims I try to find someone who is going about my speed and someone who is sighting well and I draft off them. It's perfectly legal to draft on the swim...but it's a little risky if the person isn't sighting well. That was IMPOSSIBLE in this race because it was IMPOSSIBLE to see feet in front of me...I couldn't even see my hand in front of me!

When we turned into the sun I realized there was someone on my right side who seemed to be sighting well, so I tried to just stay with her...which worked for maybe 20 yards... 

(No idea what the blip to the shore is...probably my watch picking up on my wishful thinking!)

Thankfully it didn't take long to get to the ramp...and I was done swimming FOREVER and EVER....

Just after I got out of the water I clicked stop on my watch and saw "53:??"....and then I heard Dwayne's voice yelling my name saying "YOU MADE IT"! I knew some of my other friends/family were there but he was the only face I really locked onto...and I said in all sincerity "I DIDN'T DIE!"

I mean I wasn't REALLY afraid I would die...but I have NEVER been so happy to be out of the water.

Then I ran to transition to get on the bike...

Spoiler alert...I did swim again... I am submitting myself to Coach Tom's tutelage hoping it will help my swim improve. I know it's going to work...there is something almost magical about someone else programming workouts for you. His workouts are similar to what I've done before (CSS swimming) but he has added snorkel swimming which I've never done before. It's only been four sessions but I think I like it. 

It's a really good thing I'm liking it because the day after Memphis I registered for IMChoo 144.6 next September! I guess I will actually HAVE TO swim more...

Stay tuned for the bike and run recaps...

The Lead Up...

Sometime prior to the race I rented a house for friends, family and us to stay in and I lined up the dog sitter. I didn't pay attention to the fact that October 1st (race day) was a Saturday (instead of Sunday). I was thinking we could leave early evening Friday, check in for the race on Saturday, race on Sunday, hang out on Monday then go home Tuesday. It wasn't until I saw a post on the Memphis 70.3 page saying check in was closing at 4 on Friday that I was jarred into reality! I'm "sure" I would have realized it at some point, but maybe not! The main thing that had to change was when the dog sitter was getting to the house, so we could leave earlier.

Dwayne and I ended up driving separately because my brother-in-law was flying into Memphis (from a work trip to Arizonan) and needed to drive from Memphis home. We ended up talking on the phone most of the way there. It reminded me of when we were dating. We talked on the phone A LOT...especially after he would leave my house (or I would leave his) to go home.

Dwayne drove to pick up by BIL while I drove to Shelby Farms to Ironman Village. After finding a place to park (NOT in a "DO NOT PARK" spot as many people did) I headed over to check in. On the way over I ran into Rick-a local triathlon legend, coach, and friend. Just as I got to the bike rack outside of check in I ran into the crew I run with! One was there to do the whole thing (just 2 weeks after a PR performance at IM Maryland), three others were doing the relay. It was good because checking in together meant we got to rack our bikes together. We shopped a bit (HOLY MOLY-$78 for a Finisher shirt!? Yes, it was LuLu, but $78?! No thanks!) and then we headed over to bike check-in. When we left there we went over to the swim start...that's when I started to doubt that I had made a sound decision in signing up for this race. The swim looked LONG. Like REALLY REALLY REALLY LONG. It was set to be in a little lake with different in and out points. 

I didn't have a lot of time to panic because we had to get over to the athlete briefing.

At the briefing they asked how many had been doing IM for 10 years or more and I realized that was ME!! I did my first 70.3 (NOLA) in the spring of 2012....well the swim was canceled for that race so it ended up being a 67.1 duathlon instead, but it counts. It's crazy to think it's been that long! 

When the briefing was over we headed over to the house to meet up with friends that came into town to cheer me on! We got settled in just a bit and then headed to dinner. Somewhat by "chance" we met up with the other crew (I say "somewhat" because I knew they were headed to that same location-but there were multiple places to choose from at that location...); we ended up eating with them which was nice.

Then it was time to get all my stuff lined up for the next day.

I had planned to wear my favorite tri kit but looking at the weather I thought it might be cold at the start of the bike so I also packed a jacket and arm warmers. I packed both my floaty pants and my sleeveless wetsuit. (NO idea why I thought I would opt for the floaty pants over the wetsuit, but Friday night as I was getting ready it seemed like a perfectly reasonable option!) 

For my bike nutrition, I decided to use Tailwind. I made up one bottle of caffeinated that I would put in my aero bar bullet for the first hour. Then I made up a concentrated bottle with non-caffeinated for an additional 3 hours (just in case I had an issue on the bike). The plan was to have a bottle of water, and the concentrated bottle on the wing behind my seat with the aero bottle between my bars. I would drink the aero bottle in an hour, and squeeze out 1/3 of the concentrated bottle with a bottle of water in my aero bottle for each hour after that (getting additional water bottles on the course). That could have worked...(more on that later.)

I got everything else packed up-race issued swim cap, goggles, bike helmet, bike shoes, running shoes, socks, race belt with my bib attached, sunglasses, Body Glide, Skin Sake, Butt Butter, Desitin (in case of chafing)...and then I remembered that I had forgotten sunscreen! No worries...they ALWAYS have sunscreen at races... And I put my watch on the charger. I got to bed around 9 which would have been fine, if I had stayed asleep...I didn't! I woke up about 12:30 for a couple of hours...I did eventually go back to sleep just in time to wake up!

I had my pre-race oatmeal (brown sugar and cinnamon, with some protein powder, blueberries, and trail mix (walnuts, pumpkin seeds, and cranberries). Before I knew it, it was time to head out...

We had to park about a mile (or more) away from transition but it was an easy walk over with the other thousands of triathletes. I got my tires pumped, my aero bottle filled and attached, my other bottles in place, and then got my spot all set up....bike shoes, sunglasses, helmet, running shoes, jacket and arm warmers (just in case), Butt Butter, and race bib... then I gathered my other stuff and headed to find a toilet.

It was a strange thing-they had A LOT of toilets in transition but they were all "closed" until after the start of the race. I get that they wanted to make sure we had "clean" toilets for the run, but the more important time to have ALL the toilets open was pre-race! It ended up being a good thing because I found a real bathroom that didn't take any time at all to get in....and it was a VERY good thing I had a real toilet...

Before I knew it, it was time to don my wetsuit and head over to the swim start...

Why Did I Even Sign Up?

Back when I did IMLT in 2013 I had a shoulder injury. I knew after that race I would have to have something done to fix it but I didn't know what that might be. I had spent the year of training trying to figure out what was wrong. I had been to SO MANY doctors, physical therapists, massage therapists, a chiropractor and wound up at the pain clinic getting injections to fight the pain. After the second visit there I decided that was NOT the place I wanted to be...

After the race was over I went down to Andrew's Sports Medicine in Birmingham and started at square one with them...initial consultation, PT, return visit, more PT...and then when I went for a guided injection they FINALLY found that I had a completely shredded biceps tendon. A very short time later they removed it completely! (There are 2 biceps tendons-a long and a short head...I'm 99% sure it was the long head they removed.) Rehab took about 6 months to really get back to mostly normal, and another 6 months to get all the way back. During that year I focused more on running and completed the Huntsville Grand Slam (Dizzy 50k, Rocket City Marathon, Recover from the Holidays 50k and Mountain Mist (I can't seem to find race recaps of Recover or RCM....I think that's because I ran with a pregnant friend who had not told anyone she was pregnant so I kept very quiet about the races since how I ran them was VERY guided by running with her!)

After those races were over I set my sights on IMChoo (2015). I was coaching a lot of adults and that summer I had a full team of kids. Looking back I think the symptoms of brain disease were already creeping in but I didn't see them.

My plan was to do an Ironman every other year. I wanted to do Louisville or Arizona in 2017 and the other in 2019. But my plans got totally derailed....

In 2017 my husband, brother-in-law and I did a relay at IM70.3 Augusta. We all signed up for the Chatty 70.3 that was going to take place in May of 2018. I don't remember why by BIL didn't race, but not only did Dwayne and I start directing the Rocket City Marathon, we were also both injured just before the race.  

I think truth be told, my fitness just wasn't coming back like I had hoped it would. Every time I started working even the slightest bit hard I had a bit of a flare of symptoms (the biggest of which was crippling fatigue). 

In July 2019 we pulled the trigger to race in 2020...but we all know what happened in March of 2020. I knew that race wasn't going to happen so I really stopped training. 

Then I had a very personal (and private) tragedy hit in May of 2020 that shook me to the very depths of despair. In the midst of the Covid shutdown I felt like life as I knew it was going to be over.

Slowly but surely I began to heal. 

We were all deferred from Chatty 70.3 to Augusta 70.3 in August but, again, I knew that race wasn't going to happen so I didn't train. When that one was cancelled we were deferred to Chatty 2021. In December Covid numbers spiked. Once again I knew that race wouldn't happen so I didn't train.

But then in like early May it became obvious it WAS going to happen after all...by then it was too late to train! One month earlier I started eating "functional food". (The Functional Food Center defines this as: “Natural or processed foods that contain biologically-active compounds; which, in defined, effective, non-toxic amounts, provide a clinically proven and documented health benefit utilizing specific biomarkers, to promote optimal health and reduce the risk of chronic/viral diseases and manage their symptoms." (The food I was consuming was whole food in a capsule.)

I fairly immediately started feeling better. My iron (which had been low enough that I had gotten 3 infusions in the previous couple of years) actually went UP for the first time. I was sleeping well and feeling great. So I decided I would just start the race and see what happened...

On NO training, I finished. It wasn't pretty but it was within the cutoff time! That experience emboldened me. But following that race, I was (once again) up and down with fitness...then we went to Colorado Springs for 6 weeks. Just before we left I needed another iron infusion. While we were there I tried to build up my running miles because we were signed up for the Boston Marathon (I was doing the virtual on the course, Dwayne was doing the real race)...it was held in October last year due to a postponement from Covid.

Shockingly, with my longest run being about 13 miles I finished in my best marathon time since before the brain disease!!

With that success in my back pocket, I signed up for the Little Rock Marathon the following spring. But, thanks to VERY bad information at the pre-race early start meeting, I ended up DNFing.

Fueled by a DNF fire, I started swimming again consistently in April of 2022 thinking I would sign up for another 70.3 but I wasn't sure which one. Then I started running more consistently. 

And my fitness FINALLY seemed like it was going to catch on! 

Several friends were headed to Memphis for the 70.3 so in May I decided to pull the trigger and sign up...and actually TRAIN.

See, I don't like to let adversity stop me. I don't like to let circumstances stop me. I believe completely God created me for endurance sport. I LOVE it. I love everything about it. I don't always love training because sometimes that is hard. And I have been very scared of flaring up the brain disease...I NEVER want to go back to that again and I NEVER want to have to be back on steroids again. Until the day God impresses upon me to stop I will keep running the race set before me with endurance so as to win the prize.

I keep pressing, even if I end up falling a bit behind with each step...hoping eventually my efforts will result in forward progress!

This is why I have already signed up for IMChoo 144.6 in September 2023. Ten years after my first full IM I will (God willing) complete my third.

Memphis 70.3 race recap coming up....

Expectations

When I signed up to do the 70.3 in Memphis I compared the elevation gain on the bike course (total of 1696) to that of the 70.3 in Chattanooga (2218) and compared the elevation profiles...

I concluded Memphis really didn't look very difficult compared to Chatty. 

Now, let me be clear...the 70.3 course at Chatty is not easy, but the worst part is the big climb at Andrews. You come down a little hill and then make a sharp left hand turn and IMMEDIATELY go up the biggest climb on the course. But the rest of the course is NICE. It's "rolling". That's how the course at Memphis was described..."rolling".

I expected to love the Memphis course like I love the full bike course in Chattanooga (it's SO much better than the course at the 70.3 because the full course doesn't have that one big climb in it).

My expectations were NOT met.

The rolling hills on the courses at Chattanooga are glorious! You get to gain power and speed when you go down that carries you up the next little incline up. The road isn't super smooth, but it's not terrible.

The "rolling" hills in Memphis aren't really rolling...they are UP and ...slightly down...then flattish then UP again. A good part of the course is chip-seal road which is jaw-jarring rough.

AND...the course at Memphis is BEAUTIFUL!!! I mean TRULY BEAUTIFUL. There were NO major climbs and one nearly perfect downhill section-at least for me. I am a nervous descender. I don't like steep downhill sections, even if they are straight. The one fairly long downhill section on the Memphis course was just curvy enough to make it interesting but not curvy enough to make it scary. I only got up to 36 but by that point I was also pretty tired!

This brings me to the run course...Chattanooga 70.3 has 820 feet of gain whereas Memphis has a measly 470. 

I expected it to be mostly flat. 

My expectations were NOT met.

I was shocked at how "hilly" it really was. There were no big climbs. There wasn't anything that was just awful...but the ups were just relentless. And it seemed like every incline was in full sun!

But, once again, the course was BEAUTIFUL!!! I mean TRULY BEAUTIFUL! And I think one of the most spectator-friendly courses out there! 

I will write up a full race recap later...for now, I can't tell you how much I LOVED the beauty of the bike and run courses. They were (are) ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!

And "hilly". Nothing horrible...no big climbs...but relentless!

Thanks for stopping in and sticking around!!

Coaching a Coach

I coach VERY few adults anymore. But a little over a year ago a friend of mine, Blair, came to me and said he had a goal of training for/completing an Ironman. He asked if I would coach him. After we met and talked (in probably WAY more detail and depth than he expected) I said I would be very happy to be part of his journey.

If you've known me any length of time you know I typically do not talk about who I'm coaching and I "never" name people in my blog, and "never" post on social media about my athletes. I feel like their story is their own to tell... but I got permission to make a post about Blair (even though he has no idea what I am going to say!).

I started a FaceBook post, but as I started writing, I realized it needed to be a blog post, because it is going to be long...just get a cup of coffee, or a tall glass of tea and settle in for a minute or ten.

I met Blair many years ago. Maybe I met someone who worked out at Iron Tribe Fitness, or maybe I just saw the gym off the parkway and wanted to know exactly what it was. I remember being very immediately impressed with the place, but more impressed with Blair as the owner/manager. Although I think I was training for the Grand Slam at the time I signed up to start working out there. I loved it. I think I worked out there about a year...maybe until I started heavily training for IMChoo 2015. 

At that time I was also training A LOT of adults, I had a big kids team, I was training for IMChoo, along with teaching several Spin classes at the Y. There are only so many hours in a day so something had to give...the first thing I gave up was working out at ITF. Thankfully Blair and I remained friends over the years.

So when he said he wanted to take his time working toward completing an Ironman I was thrilled to be part of that journey with him.

I won't go into all the details of Blair's story, but suffice it to say, he has A LOT going on that takes priority over training. WAY more than the average person. The truth is, most people wouldn't even think of adding to the already full plate he had going on...but Blair is not like most people.

Blair is a man of strong character. He is the consummate family man (at least from the outside looking in). He's a business owner. He's a coach. He's very strong, determined, and dedicated. I told him he already had all the qualities that people usually do IM to prove they have. (I won't share his reasons for why he chose to make IM a goal-again, those are his to share/not share...but he could absolutely articulate a reason-which is a crucial foundation I require of anyone I choose to coach.)

Not long after training started, Blair had some MAJOR upheaval in his life (business and house moves to name a couple of the biggies). Then he had some knee issues and, illness...nothing major there just some nagging "stuff" going on that was counter to "perfect" training. 

But Blair kept pushing through.

And that was the theme of his race yesterday. He just kept pushing through.

Now, let me be clear...that's the theme of pretty much EVERY Ironman race. In fact, that's the HALLMARK of an Ironman...we keep pushing through. We don't let obstacles stop us...we simply figure out what has to be done to get over, around, under, or through them. We don't get permanently derailed when we are thrown off course, we do what we must to get back on track.

Back in May Blair toed the line at IMChoo70.3...but he pulled himself off the course during the run. He had been really sick leading up to the race and realized almost immediately during the swim that he was not better....but, true to form, he pushed through the swim and the bike. In an astonishing display of strength and self-awareness he realized when he got to the run it was not wise to continue. The cost of completing that race was not worth the bragging rights to say he finished what really amounted to a training day. 

He kept the end goal, finishing Ironman, in the very front of his mind.

Some people may have sacrificed other areas of their lives to make sure something like THAT never happened again. But Blair held steady. That apparent "failure" didn't shake him. (At least not outwardly.) It didn't cause him to doubt himself or his goal.

He never wavered.

One thing I've struggled with in life is balance. I'm an "all-in" kind of gal. Sometimes I've been "all-in" on something that was decidedly not the best thing for me....and oftentimes "all-in" has caused me to be very out of balance with everything (for example, I really NEED to be taking a nap, or maybe cleaning my house, but I'm "all-in" on this blog post!) Ironman seems like it's an "all-in" kind of endeavor, but the truth is, no sport we do for fun should rule your life. Training should fit your life, not the other way around. There's a very funny meme that I tried to find but couldn't...it shows a house with a VERY overgrown lawn and flowerbeds badly in need of weeding and it says something like "what Ironman training looks like". The point the "funny" meme is making is that oftentimes people training for Ironman neglect most of the other things in their life.

Now, I am not close enough to Blair personally to know if he did or didn't neglect other things. I mean, the truth is there are only so many hours in a day. Training hours have to happen at some point...people with busy lives do have to push something "out" to make room for training (show me an IM who doesn't have a busy life...). Sometimes what gets pushed is family time or time with friends, sometimes it's sleep, sometimes it's yard/housework...sometimes athletes will pay money for things they could do themselves (yard/housework, grocery or meal delivery....). From what I saw (again, on the outside looking in), Blair worked to make sure the big rocks got put in the jar first...and training wasn't one of the biggest rocks many days. 

(If you aren't sure what I am talking about watch this.)

That is NOT to say he didn't train...but let's just say he didn't do every workout as written.

He was balanced.

Yesterday was the culmination of over a year of hard work. I won't write out his race report...but I will give you my spectator report...I saw him at the start, then twice out of the water (when he came out of the water then I sprinted across the green to watch him go up the "ramp"). Then I drove out to a spot on the bike course that allows spectators to drive from one side to the other of the "finger" ....so I got to see him 4 times on the bike-each time he looked strong despite the POURING rain! Then I waited on the Riverwalk (playing some music for the runners)...until I got worried. The (stupid) tracker made it look like he had stopped when in reality he was walk/running the whole time. I saw him twice more on the course, and then at the finish line....I cried like a baby when the announcer said 

Blair Morris...YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!

Ironman is tough. Different people approach it in different ways. Getting to the start line is HARD, getting to the finish line is harder. But once you do it, it can never be taken away. It's not for the faint of heart.

This Saturday I will toe the line at a 70.3 once more...I'm not as ready as I'd like to be, but I have been training, and I'm as ready as I will get! Right now my plan is to, once again, set my stake in the ground of another Ironman next year. I hope I can be as balanced, unwavering, and push through to get to that start line (and ultimately the finish line) once more.

Putting the Last Bit of Hay in the Barn

In exactly one month I'll be "competing" in IM70.3 Memphis. I say "competing" because I've been (sort of) training for this race. I won't be competitive in the grand scheme of things-not against any other person in the race...but I will be competing against the voice in my head...okay, voiceS, plural. 

A couple of months ago I had made up my mind to train hard but life gets in the way when training isn't a top priority. But I have been at least sort of training. I'm swimming regularly, running 2-3 times a week, and riding my bike at least once a week (ugh). It's not the full-blown training plan I intended when I finally pulled the trigger and signed up for this race, but it's more than I've done consistently since 2015 when I was training for IMChoo.

I'm not as ready as I would like, but I still have a month to go. 

Let me be clear--you should not/can not train for a 70.3 in a month. But that's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying I intend to get the last bit of "hay in the barn" before race day by being very intentional about what I'm doing. Last year when I did IM70.3 Choo I had done MUCH less before race day and I at least finished and I felt good the next day (other than a blister on my foot). My time was just barely less than the cutoff time, but I made it.

My A goal for this race is around 6:30. Looking at what I've been doing in training I think it's possible...not highly likely but possible. More likely my time will be between 6:45-7, but even that is huge given all that I've been through the last 7 years.

I still can't believe it's been that long since I started having big noticeable issues, but it was the fall of 2015.

For a while I thought it was just going to be a minor setback. I thought it was going to be like a minor injury that would resolve fairly quickly and I'd be back to my "normal" self, training and racing. My plan when I finished IMLT in 2013 was to do an Ironman every other year. But that plan was completely derailed. There was a time when I questioned if I'd ever be able to return to endurance sports.  Then it became apparent that I could "participate" in events with longer cutoff times, I questioned if I'd ever be able to "really race" again, 

But here I am!

One of the biggest things that has changed has been my thyroid meds.

When I was first having issues in the fall of 2015 I was on Synthroid. Somewhere along the way I switched to Tirosint (a more pure form of T4). Then after I finished the steroid treatments I was on a quest to figure out why my brain was attacked and ended up seeing a doctor in Kansas who put me on a desiccated thyroid hormone (first NatureThroid then Armour) which is a natural T4/T3 compound. But after a couple of years I realized what I was doing wasn't working as well as I wanted it to so I switched back to my local endocrinologist who put me back on Tirosint. But it didn't take long for me to see that wasn't the answer either. He ended up sending me to a different doctor who put me on a synthetic T4/T3 compound where he controlled the amounts of each I was getting. He also prescribed LDN (a medication that is meant to fight general autoimmunity).

At the same time I also got another iron infusion and I started eating Juice Plus. I almost immediately felt better. But I didn't get repeat blood work for my thyroid...fast forward to that fall (2021)...

We got to go out to Colorado Springs for 6 weeks. Just before we left I got another iron infusion. While we were there I started noticing a MARKED improvement in how I was feeling. Then the month after we got back (after I did the Boston (virtual) Marathon-on the course) I got covid.

My immune system went completely haywire. When I got my thyroid numbers checked they were WAY WAY WAY off (VERY high antibodies, high TSH, low T4, low T3). We figured it was due to covid and he increased my LDN. But that didn't work. So he increased my T4 and T3. But that still hasn't completely worked (my numbers are still not where they need to be).

I think my thyroid hasn't ever really been "right". I think it was close but not really ideal between late 2010 and fall 2015. But I don't think it's been even close since then. I don't think it's really good even now.

The thyroid impacts EVERY SINGLE CELL in your body! It regulates the rate your cells use energy. So if the thyroid isn't working properly you might be either amped up (hyperthyroid) or sluggish (hypothyroid). 

So, in the analogy of putting hay in the barn (training)...if the thyroid is slow to produce or if it isn't converting what your body makes (T4) into what your body uses (T3) then you will not be producing much hay, not matter what you try to do...the hay is going to be VERY SLOW GROWING and you'll be able to store VERY LITTLE of it in the barn. Now, I think I'm doing better than I have been in a VERY LONG TIME, but I'm still not where I need to be.

But I'm so much farther along than I have been in the last 7 years! I've FINALLY started losing weight...I'm at my lowest weight since early 2016. I'm running better than I have since like fall of 2015! My swim is not great...I don't understand why but it's just not. I'm attributing it to a lack of upper body strength which is the most likely culprit. My bike is "fine"...but I REALLY need to put more time in the saddle. The hard part about bike training is that Dwayne REALLY does not want me riding anywhere except the Arsenal-that makes it nearly impossible to get good miles in. I do have a trainer, but it's a PAIN to take the back tire on and off...(excuses excuses...)

Well...I have one more month until race day! By this time a month from now I should be on the run (I better be on the run by now!). I'm so stinking excited!

Challenge Accepted...

Several weeks ago a couple of the kids I'm coaching challenged me to a duel...okay what actually happened is this...

One of them was training for the Huntsville Sprint Tri, the other one was training for that race as well as the Kids Fly Tri (a local kids triathlon I direct). They asked me if I was going to do the Sprint. I explained that I wasn't going to do it because my personal opinion is that race should be "reserved" for beginner/novice triathletes. It sells out pretty much every year so if "seasoned" triathletes flock to it, that doesn't leave spots open for first-timers who are maybe on the fence about signing up. I also prefer long SLOW races over short (pedal-to-the-floor) sprint races. At each training session they kept saying "Coach Dana, you should 'slow down' and do that race with us." I explained that I wouldn't be "slowing down" to race "with them"...I would have to speed WAY up to be "with them". Along the way it seemed they were spending more time fishing than training so I agreed to race them. I told them they should easily beat me so I made a deal with them-if I beat them they had to wash their mom's car! For the record they didn't accept those terms, but I did sign up.

I started training harder for all things sprint-snake swimming in the pool, fast transitions (including putting speed laces in my shoes), and I even practiced faster turns on my bike (I usually slow down quite a bit in turns). I coach these things but it's been a LONG TIME since I've raced a sprint, and I've only ever done one pool triathlon (my very first).

I was NERVOUS leading up to the race. I can't remember a time when I RACED an actual person (two people in this case). I have mentally set my sites on people in races trying to pass them, or I used to find out who was racing in my age group and I would have a goal of doing better than someone who was about my speed but they never knew that was my goal! I figured I would do the swim in about 9:15-9:30 based on paces I had been swimming (I predicted 10:00 when I registered). I figured I'd ride about 17mph with little/no wind. The run was truly a toss up. Some days I can run well, some days I can't. I was thinking I'd end up with about a 10:45ish pace. 

I was certain the boys would beat me on the swim-although they didn't seem to be swimming very well in terms of endurance. I was certain they would beat me in transitions because I was going to be riding with bike shoes whereas they would be in tennis shoes. They should have EASILY been able to beat me in the run, but they had not been running any distance so I wasn't sure what their endurance was going to look like. I was HIGHLY confident I would beat them on the bike because I have a fast bike, but I knew it wouldn't be enough to really make up for time I would lose on the swim and run --IF they put in time training, even just a little bit.

I picked up my packet on Friday and found out I was number 135 out of 400 (that seemed like a LOW number given my estimated time of 10:00 for a 400m swim). One of the boys was number 77 the other was like 153 or something like that. Interesting side note-the boy who was behind me put down 10:00 for his predicted swim finish time--that means A LOT of people predicted (guessed) 10:00. 

RACE MORNING

I woke up super early race morning and debated back and forth about eating breakfast. I typically workout fasted and don't eat until about 11ish. I was estimating a finish time of about 1:10-1:15. I usually workout longer than that so I decided not to eat breakfast (I think that was a mistake). I had packed my bag the night before so I just puttered around the house until it was time to go. I got to the race and set up my stuff and talked to friends until the boys got there. They got set up and we walked through all the transitions (swim in, bike out, bike in, run out). Last minute potty break, and I got in the shower to get my hair wet (so it wouldn't soak up as much chlorine). We listened to the pre-race announcements and then got in line. As we got in line my stomach started to GROWL! I had brought a pre-race Gu so I choked it down without water and told myself I would be fine.

This race sends swimmers in two at a time about every 6 seconds. The line moved really fast. There was a little girl of about 9 behind me with a man I learned was her coach. She is a fast swimmer and had a very low number but held herself back so she could be on the road with him for the bike. We ended up going in the water together so I moved her closer to the lane rope to give her a better line.

I've been training for IM70.3 Memphis since April, but my swim has been SLOW. Like SUPER SLOW. And I've had a VERY hard time swimming without fins. I actually went last week to have my iron checked because I really seem to get very short of breath swimming more than biking or running. Last week I practiced 400s in the tri kit I intended to wear and shockingly my times were faster than they had been, but still very slow. 400y (swimming short course) is the longest continuous swim I've done without rests in probably a few years! (I only did that because of this race). All that to say I fully expected to be one of those people hanging on the end of the pool to catch my breath. Instead, I actually swam the whole thing with two tiny little stops (only because of congestion in the water), and I passed A LOT of people. I did get passed by several people...including the boy who started after me that I was racing!! As he passed, on the last like 25m, he said "hey Coach Dana!!".

I was JUST behind him coming out of the water. I ran to my spot, put my sunglasses on, helmet on-snap, and bike shoes on...grabbed by bike and ran to the mount line. I wish I could do a flying mount, but I've never even tried to learn how. I used to start with my shoes on my bike already but I decided not to try that this time-since it's been so long I figured I'd lose time fiddling with my shoes vs just climbing on. I didn't realize it at the time, but saw it in the boys' dad's video-153 FLEW out of transition and did the most beautiful flying mount to get ahead of me on the bike!! So I was a little shocked to see him about 1/2 mile in when I passed him. He was on a slower bike so I told him to catch me on the run as I raced to try to see if I could catch his brother.

The course kind of makes a big square of right hand turns, but there's one little section where you make a left, right, left, right then left again to go down the wrong side of the road...then you turn around, come back up on the wrong side of the road...then move over to the correct side again. As I was headed to the U turn I saw 77... I yelled out "I'm coming for you!!" and I cranked it even harder!!

Coming into that turn around I made sure there wasn't anyone behind me (some people will try to pass in turns even though it can be dangerous, but I also knew I was going to slow down to make that U turn)...it was clear. I started slowing about the time I heard the volunteer say "watch the hole"...about that time my tire apparently hit that hole and I was going down-pretty much directly onto my hip (good thing that's the most padded part of my body!)! A police officer ran over to make sure I was okay. I was up and checking my bike-it was fine...I quickly checked to see if I was bleeding-I was not, and then after a few people I had passed earlier passed me I got back on and took off knowing that was probably going to hurt later. I passed several people and played leap-frog with a few people...I kept telling people I was passing "I'll see you later when you pass me on the run!" 

I came to the mount line and got stopped without incident, ran my bike in, racked my bike, helmet off, bike shoe off, bike shoe off...and proceeded to put my bike shoe BACK ON MY FOOT! LOL. This is why I preach "THINK about what you are going to do in transition before you get there!" My fastest transitions are always the ones I'm thinking about every move. I do NOT like my current running shoes. They are HARD to get on my feet. I bought new ones but since I had not been running in them I didn't want to start on race day. I got them on, grabbed my bib, my hat and a second Gu I had left in my hat and I took off. 

The run is where the rubber really meets the road. Did I push too hard on the swim and bike? How will I hold up on the run with only 2 Gus worth of nutrition? (It had only been about 35 minutes at that point so I didn't feel like lack of fuel was going to be a factor.) I realized that if I could hold about a 10:00 pace I would come in a little over an hour...but almost immediately I "had to" walk.

I truly don't think lack of fuel was the issue. I found out today my iron is actually looking good. I discussed with my hematologist how I feel when I try to push (like I just can not get enough air and like I'm just gassed)...she really believes it's related to my low T4/high TSH (thyroid). If she is right the increase my thyroid doctor just made SHOULD have a good impact on my performance. 🙏🏼🤞🏼 

I had talked to a guy earlier about the run...he LIED TO ME saying the greenway part would be in the shade...it was definitely NOT in the shade! But it was super nice to know I wasn't going to have to do two loops like the course used to be. It was also SUPER nice to be able to see 77 on his way back as I was on my way out...but he was looking STRONG. I "knew" there was no way I would catch him-I didn't. I saw 153 as I was on my way back (he was on the way out)...he looked like he was hurting (stomach/side cramps). I told him he was strong and he could catch me-he didn't.

I shifted my focus to the next person in front of me...I played leap frog with several people. One guy I passed on the bike was particularly memorable because he is a bigger guy wearing an orange tank top. As predicted, he passed me on the run (actually in transition because he was riding flat pedals and didn't have to change shoes in T2); he was just ahead of me at the turnaround. I laughed and said "see, I told you you'd pass me on the run!" He laughed as said something like "it won't stay that way" implying I would pass him eventually. I wasn't so sure, but I was trying.

I was playing leap frog with a 52 year old woman (age is on the left calf)...I couldn't see the number on her arm so I didn't know if I had started before or after her. In the last like 1/4-1/2 mile I passed her with orange shirt guy in my sites....about that time he turned around and jumped as if he had seen a bear chasing him...and he sped up accordingly!

I usually have a decent finish line kick. As hard as I pushed, I was certainly not feeling like I was really speeding up...and then I saw my honey pot at the finish line! I had seen him twice before (at the start and end of the bike course). Seeing him always gives me a boost...but it wasn't enough to pass orange shirt guy!

I finished in 1:07:32. 

Swim: 9:08
T1 1:20
Bike 24:15
T2 1:10
Run 31:38

Good enough for 2nd in my age group (out of 17), only 1:19 behind a really fast Ironman athlete...I found out later she hadn't trained at all but I was super stoked to be so close in time to her! I was 27th out of 93 females and 74th out of 272. Interestingly enough in my age group I came in 3rd for the swim, 5th for the bike, and 4th for the run. I came in 1st in T1 and 4th in T2....it's incredible that I came in 2nd in the age group. (First place came in 4th in the swim,  3rd in the bike and 2nd in the run.)

Overall I feel VERY good about how well I did. I can see a few things I could (should) have done better...

I should have eaten breakfast (although I really don't think it made a big difference)
I should have paid closer attention at the turn around to have avoided the hole (although I felt like I was paying CLOSE attention so I don't know...)
I should have maybe run in my new shoes-or my old ones (although that might have saved a few seconds on my T2 time, it might have hurt my run)
The main thing I should have done... focused harder on embracing discomfort on the run...I talked to a lot of people on the run (not conversation, but cheered). I think I could maybe have pushed harder, but who knows.

Before IM70.3 Memphis I need to move my aero bar pads-they are new and they are too close together to be comfortable. It wasn't a big deal for this race, but for a 70.3 it will be annoying. I'm REALLY looking forward to Memphis! I have FIFTY-FOUR DAYS to keep training! It will be here before I know it!

Lucky Number 13

 Memorial Day marked my 13th running of the Cotton Row 10K (sort of...thanks to Covid there was not a race in 2020 but I ran "most of" the course...last year the race was postponed from Memorial Day to Labor Day...thankfully I ran it on Memorial Day because we were "living in" Colorado Springs on Labor Day!)

Cotton Row 10K is the only 10K race I've done, and I've done it every year since I really started running! (Well, I did run a 10K at the end of Rocket Man Olympic distance triathlon, but I don't count that!)

This year was the first year in a LONG time that I went in having been consistently running. My expectations were still very low though because I had not many hills and my endurance had not really been tested in a while. My A goal going in was 1:15 or better (about a 12min pace), my B goal was to just finish.

Dwayne was announcing the race so we drove separately that morning. I had volunteered to get the awards so I did still get there earlier than I might have if I was "just" running but not as early as Dwayne got there! Since I had several boxes to carry over to the awards tent I got to park fairly close which was very helpful since I made a few trips back and forth. It was already getting hot but it didn't seem as hot as years past.

After I worked with another volunteer to line out all the awards I went to the bathroom and lined up in about the middle of the pack. It was nice to hear Dwayne's voice booming over the speakers! 

This race is special in that, because it's on Memorial Day, they have a pre-race program that honors our fallen soldiers. This year marks the 50th "anniversary" of the Viet Nam war so the main speaker was the daughter of an MIA soldier from that war. She had a gripping story to tell. This was the very first year it seemed EVERYONE in the crowd was silent as she talked about her father. They called veterans to salut and then played taps -- that gets me every time I hear it. After "America the Beautiful" we were off.

My plan going in was to NOT run with anyone else, but to just do my own thing-ideally working to do my very best ....

I can NEVER say/think/hear that phrase without thinking of this scene from Facing the Giants...

...anyway...My plan was to give my "very best" and see what that might end up being. 

CR10K is an interesting race. The first 3 miles are basically uphill culminating in "the hill", then the last 3 are basically downhill. Because of that, it's crucial that I not go out too hard on the front half so I will have gas in the tank to really fly on the back half. So I wore one earphone and played music that I could sing to! A friend passed me and asked how on earth I was singing so I explained I was running intervals and trying to keep gas in the tank. I saw her a few times but at some point she passed me and was gone.

I saw another friend, the gal I leap-frogged with at Cookie Dash...she is older than me but she is an awesome runner. She had no idea I decided I was "racing" her but when she said she was taking her first walk break I decided that's exactly what was going down-I wanted to finish in front of her somehow.

Here's the thing-I had no idea if she was injured, tired, training for something else, running both the 10K and 5K afterward...I just knew from experience that she is faster than me on any given day so I wanted to try to "race" her to give me someone to compete with. It would have been much more meaningful if she was a willing competitor, but that wasn't the point for me...I just wanted someone to "target"...and it worked. 

Up until the first decent incline (when my friend took her first walk break and I was taking my 5h!) I was trying to maintain a 3-4 minute run and a 1 minute walk interval. After that however my intervals devolved into "by feel/by hill". But I believed once I go over the major climb I'd be able to pick up the pace so I wasn't horribly upset.

I got through the first 5K right at 35 minutes. I was on track to slay my 1:15 or less goal since I believed I would negative split the race. I felt STRONG going up Mountainwood...a little too strong if I'm being honest. But I had not done any kind of speed work or hills (other than one interval run several weeks before with a friend who is running MUCH faster than me, but I felt like that was a one-off and she was pacing/pushing me).

On the way down Bankhead I opened myself up just a little bit and it felt GLORIOUS!!! It reminded me of the good old days when I could run fast! I only got down to about an 8:17 pace but it felt wonderful the short time I ran it. I actually had a 10 minute SOLID run!! After that I started the negotiations with my interval. It wasn't as hot as it has been in the past, but it was pretty darn hot out. Other than a couple of intervals I was feeling too good to walk I pretty much ran the last 1.8 miles as 1 minute of running and :30 walking. I took my last walk break with a half mile to go and then made up my mind to run it in from there.

When I rounded the last corner I heard Dwayne cheering for me and then saw him running beside me a little bit. I immediately got worried because he still hasn't recovered from knee surgery so he should NOT have been running! He only went a few yards with me and then encouraged me to pick it up to the finish line!

I got my pace down to a whopping 6:16 for the final few yards!!! The back half was right at 5 minutes faster than the front half!! With a finish that strong I probably held a little too much in reserve, but I ended up with my FOURTH fastest Cotton Row time EVER--1:05!! Here's the thing...I've only ever broken an hour one time, and the other two times I was working HARD to break an hour so I was just seconds over an hour both times. To be THAT close to my best times was HUGE!! (My next closest time was 1:06 in 2014 and then 1:12 in 2015 (that was the year I "ran" with Dwyane who ended up SICK with the flu that night!). 

The bigger shock was after I finished the race I was able to work the awards (which is a production since there are 2 races to give awards for) and I NEVER felt tired, stiff or sore even one time!!!

I was SO PLEASED with this race!! And, I honestly felt like I was actually "racing". Unlike Cookie Dash where I was convinced every single person was leaving me in their dust, I felt STRONG in this race and I passed SEVERAL people toward the end....including passing my own expectations of myself which is the most important win of the day!

The women in my age group are FAST so I ended up 24th out of 56 (still in the top 50% - YAY)! I was 742nd out of 1284 listed finishers (so not in the top 50% overall, but close enough for me!). I have no way to know what place I was among the females...results aren't broken down that way.

Overall I am THRILLED!!! This gave me the confidence to move forward with full on training for my next big adventure-Ironman 70.3 Memphis on October 1st!! I pulled the trigger and paid my money a couple of weeks ago and laid out my training plan. I've been very consistent in execution so far and I'm feeling stronger every day!! My swim is incredibly slow, but I started strength training today to help that along. Dwayne bought some new race wheels for my bike and power pedals ((that is the pedals will tell me the watts I am generating, not that they are powered LOL)). (It sounds like he was being really nice but the truth is I let him "borrow" my race wheels with a power tap hub and he didn't want to give them back!! But he could have given them back and then bought new ones for himself so he really was being super supportive and nice! He also bought me a super awesome Garmin for my bike that allows me to have maps and data in my face instead of just on my watch!)

I am just so encouraged and hopeful about what this summer will bring!!! 

Stay tuned!!

Negotiations

It's been a while since I have run with the intention of running "as fast as I can"....a LONG LONG while. Because I had not run the Cookie Dash 5K on the new course I decided to sign up and attempt to "race" it. My A goal was to run the whole thing, but I knew going in that was unrealistic because I haven't run more than a full mile straight since last fall. (When we came back from living in Colorado Springs for 6 weeks I ran 3.5 miles of trails without stopping!! I thought I was queen of the world!)

One fact I wasn't considering-this is now an afternoon race. I do NOT like running in the afternoon. I don't see how people do it. I feel like if I haven't gotten my workout in by 10am the day is lost! That is especially true for running! 

Dwayne volunteered to make cookies for the race-which I found amusing since he NEVER cooks/bakes. But he did this all on his own! (They were the break and bake cookies, but he made a special trip to the store to buy them and baked them all himself-like 5 dozen (maybe more!?))

We loaded up the cookies and headed to the race. On the way we saw what should have been a TERRIBLE wreck! Thankfully it happened at the exact right time for us to avoid being hit head on, and at the exact right time for it to only be a single vehicle accident where no one ended up hurt. Guard rails SAVE LIVES! But it really shook me up to say the least. We also found out there was STANDING WATER in Dwayne's back seat (but that's another story for another day).

We got to the race; Dwayne scooted off to get in place to volunteer, I visited the potty and then lined up in what I thought was about the middle of the pack. But when the race started it seemed as though I was in the back.

Almost immediately I felt like I was the last person running and every person was running off and leaving me. I looked down to check my pace about 1/3 mile in-8:45. I wasn't running slow but it honestly felt as though EVERYONE was running off and leaving me. Small children, a man with a cane, a woman pushing a stroller...what felt like EVERY SINGLE PERSON in the race was leaving me in their dust. It was mind-blowing and oh so discouraging. I kept thinking "how is everyone here so fast!?" I questioned my data but I certainly felt like I was running "fast".

I knew I couldn't keep it up, so I started negotiating with myself. I landed on "I'll run 5 minutes and walk 1 minute"...after all I had been doing a 3/1 or a 4/1 leading up to this race so 5/1 was pushing it. I was also running much faster than usual. That first 5 minutes was an average pace of 9:18. After my minute walk break I started running again-with no hope of catching the runners in front of me (but I did realize I was indeed not dead last). My second 5 minute run was an average of 9:22. I was pleased that I hadn't slowed too much, but I also didn't think I could keep up with that interval. My heart rate was 177 which was fairly high for me. 

The negotiations resumed..."Okay, I will walk until my heart rate is 155 and then run again"...that took about 75 seconds. Hmmm..."Okay,  I will run 4 minutes for the next interval"...This time my heart rate got up to 179 but my average pace dropped to 9:19.

I was about 1/2 done and I was feeling it. I was wishing at that point that I had signed up for the one mile instead of the 5K. I kept playing "leap frog" with several people. One pair was a woman I know who is a little older than me (and a lot faster than me) running with a young gal. They were running solid so when I walked they passed me but when I ran I passed them. But they were talking NON STOP and I was doing good just to BREATHE.

After the 3rd "long" interval I started to walk but realized the aid station was just up ahead so I forced myself to "run" to it. That's when I saw my sweet husband! He and one other guy were the only 2 working the aid station. 

I SERIOUSLY considered stopping to help them but I quickly realized they didn't need help because I was so close to the back of the pack we were spread far enough out that two people could easily cover it! At that point my overall average was 9:47. I just couldn't understand how everyone was SO FAST in this race. Dwayne told me later that I was NOWHERE near the back. I think it was just a case of it being a very small race so everyone was very spread out along the course.

I grabbed water from Dwayne and he asked my how I was doing. I really couldn't talk at that point but shook my head and kept going.

Dwayne "gets on to me" when we run together because I talk A LOT. He says "if you wouldn't talk so much you could run faster". But 1) when I'm running with him talking IS the point, 2) I like talking more than running and 3) I haven't really thought about running "fast" in a VERY VERY long time. Well, on this day, in this race, I couldn't talk. I could barely tell the volunteers thank you.

After I left the aid station I renegotiated my interval to 1/1. My HR dropped to 154 and went up to 172 then back down to 153 for the next walk break.

I had a chat to remind myself my goal was to "race"...to "push". My HR was recovering quickly so I renegotiated again to 1 minute of running and :30 of walking. I only had a mile to go. Ideally I would just run it. I briefly considered slowing down to try to run the whole last mile, but I truly felt I would have a lower average pace if I did the interval so that's what I landed on, for the next 3 intervals.

At some point I passed a friend of mine who passed me back just after the aid station. We might have played leapfrog just a bit but at some point he left me behind. He was close enough that I thought I might be able to catch him so I set my sights on him. About that time a woman and her daughter who looked to be about 8 or 9 passed me chatting about my hat...I was wearing my Flying Pig hat (not from the Flying Pig race, just a hat with flying pigs on it). I felt so very discouraged that I was running as hard as I possibly could and this little girl was passing me, chatting it up with her mother.

I don't remember a time I felt so utterly discouraged in a race. It was the strangest feeling. I honestly couldn't figure out how EVERYONE was passing me so easily. It wasn't as if I was running super slow, my overall average at that point was about 10:11 which "should be" about middle ground for a 5K. (It WAS about middle ground, but at the time it didn't FEEL like it!)

When I got to where I could see the finish I had about 1/3 mile to go. I kept telling myself to just RUN the whole thing but my HR was telling me to take the :30 walk breaks. Even though the breaks weren't enough to bring it down more than a beat or two it was preventing it from climbing higher.

When I hit 3 miles I ran in the last .1 in 90 seconds at an 8:26 pace (peak HR of 182) to finish in 31:57. I finished 174th place out of 324. Solidly in the middle of the bell curve, a bit slower than 1/2 way, and certainly NOT in the very back like it felt. I was 8th out of 16 in my age group (17 really but the last one was the sweeper so I'm not counting her). Interesting side note, the female masters winner was 63 years old and she ran a 21:42!!

When I take a big step back and examine my performance against the backdrop of my "training" I did phenomenally well! That's the fastest 5K I've run in 7 years!! The closest I've come to that time was a 5K I ran with Dwayne in 2019 at John Hunt Park. We ran it in 33:34 with him pushing me the whole time. Before that I ran a 5K training run in 31:15 (9:54 pace) (surely with Dwayne) in October 2015, and a 5K run in 30:01 (9:09 pace) that was much of the Cookie Dash course (but backwards) on a random Tuesday morning. 

I completely believe I still have speed in me...I just have to train it back out!

Since Cookie Dash I've made the decision, and signed up for, Memphis 70.3 (October 1st). I've been swimming 3 times a week for a few weeks now, and I've been running fairly consistently on Tuesday and Thursday. I have ridden my bike twice...I've already "trained" more than I did for my last 70.3!! But the plan is to ACTUALLY train, with an actual plan that I will write up today that will include not only running, biking and swimming but yoga and strength training!! 

Here goes something!

Another Half with a Friend

After Oak Barrel Half a friend asked me if I was going to run the Bridge Street Half. I had not planned on running it. I don't love that course -like AT ALL- but I do love the finish party and I usually love the medal. This year the medal was fine, the registration shirt looked really awesome, but the price was more than I really wanted to pay for a cool shirt. But when my friend said she was considering it I said I would absolutely do it with her. She is the gal who ran with me for my first ever Rocket City Marathon. She is in the group I've been running with on Tuesday and Thursday and I just love her to pieces. I knew we'd talk the whole time and I knew I wouldn't even see the course for the conversation, so I signed up.

The shirt didn't disappoint, except WHY do shirt makers think women like v neck shirts? I don't understand why 95% of the time men's are crew neck and women's are v neck? I like a more fitted CREW neck shirt....and the shirt is super thin....but I love the way it feels and it's sweet looking.

The morning of the race my friend picked me up and the chatting began! Another friend was going for a PR (sub 2 hour half) so we talked some about that. I knew it was going to be "easy" for her because she was BARELY over at Oak Barrel and Bridge Street is a much flatter course. 

We went to the bathroom and then lined up...minutes later we were off. We set out to run a 3/1 interval (just like we do Tuesday/Thursday mornings). My legs were TIRED. I was wondering when we first started if I was going to be able to hang on the whole time. My friend had been having some issues with her hip/piriformis; she was saying it was going to take a little bit for it to loosen up so we commiserated a little bit but we stayed on target almost the whole time. It felt like we blinked and we were at mile 3 or so. 

I saw another friend who had been at Oak Barrel; she asked what interval we were doing (3/1) and asked if we minded if she stayed with us. Of course we didn't. But I think we didn't give her an opening to join in our conversation! She stayed with us quite a while and was running strong but I noticed that she was holding her head down and breathing heavier than I would have expected in the run intervals*. At one point I looked back to see where she was; she said she was fine and told us to keep going.

(*When I saw her after the race I asked if I could share a couple of my observations with her...when she said yes I talked to her about keeping her chest "open" and her head up while running...she told me a few days later she tried it and felt much better! YAY!)

The miles were really flying by. It didn't really register on me just how far we were running until about mile 8 and I realized we still had 5.1 miles to go! I have to admit, I was TIRED and HOT. I think that race doesn't have quite enough aid stations but then again, it would help if I carried water with me! I also wasn't paying close attention to fueling. 

Dwayne was watching my live track and was texting that we could break two and half hours but we slowed way down toward the end. We were both tired and she was in pain. There's a couple of little hills on the backside, and then there was the zig zag of the Double Helix... (I'm in the minority probably but I do NOT like that part of the course-running on concrete and zig zagging along a DNA strand is tiring to me!) I had to laugh because his mentality in a race is "run the fastest time possible"...my mentality lately has been "run with friends I love to chat with and enjoy my time with them!"

We were both ready for it to be over about mile 12...we ran around the Westin for the 2nd time of the day and then jumped a curb to run into the heart of Bridge Street and across the finish line! 2:33:05. Sweet! I felt confident if I had been out there to get the fastest time possible I would have broken 2:30...but I knew without a doubt I wouldn't have enjoyed it nearly as much! We found out just after we finished that our friend had indeed broken 2 hours!

We got water and a banana, chatted with more friends, and headed home. 

Later that day Dwayne and I were running errands...I told him about reading a blog when I first started running written by a gal who had run a half marathon and then was doing all kinds of things with her family the rest of the day. I remember thinking how crazy that seemed to me. In my mind I would have needed a nap and would have been wiped out the rest of that day and the next! But here I was doing that very thing.

It's funny because I'm pretty far into my "athletic career" as it were but I continually find myself struck with shock over where I'm currently at. I think the biggest factor at play is the five years I've battled with the effect/after-effects of the brain disease. To be at a place (FINALLY) that I can run a half marathon on a whim and then run errands the rest of the day (and then teach a hard Spin class the next morning, that I actually DO myself)...shocks the crap out of me!

Thanks so much to the friends that keep me going! 

Next up--my first RACE in a LONG time...and more shocking myself!

Thanks for stopping in and sticking around.

Whiskey Hill

About 3 weeks before the Oak Barrel Half Marathon a friend of mine (who lives out of state) asked me if I was running in it. I said I was not but I would see if I could get a spot...turns out they do have charity slots! If you aren't familiar with that race, it's a half marathon in Lynchburg Tennessee (home of Jack Daniels) that goes up what I've heard is a beast of a hill (Whiskey Hill). I had never done the race before because it sells out within hours (maybe minutes?) of opening every year. I signed up in 2020 but...we all know what happened in the spring of 2020. They did actually have the race that fall but it was on the day my son was getting married so I couldn't defer. The only races I've ever signed up for super far in advance have been half and full Ironman races....

I've always heard wonderful things about this race...any race that sells out super fast has to be good, right? I've even been up there to spectate once. Other than knowing the race director, the course goes up a massive hill and people love it, I didn't know anything else about the race at all. But my sweet friend (who I LOVE spending time with) was signed up and she was willing to run slow so I sent in a check made out to one of their charities in order to get my spot secured.

I'd like to say I trained, but, other than running 21.8 miles at Little Rock, and a few 4 and 5 mile runs, I didn't.

Dwayne got up super early in order to come with me to Lynchburg Saturday morning...that was a really nice surprise. (A friend I was going to ride with got sick the day before so I thought I might be going up alone.) The instructions STRESS STRONGLY that you need to arrive early because parking is limited. That fact along with the fact I had to pick up my packet that morning had us getting there about 90 minutes before race start.

I got my packet from a SUPER friendly volunteer-who was FREEZING COLD and still smiling-that included a NICE quarter-zip sublimated pullover. Then I went to wait in the car until it got closer to start time.

About 20 minutes before the start I made a quick trip to a portopotty (there were A LOT of them so the line went FAST) and then I went to hang out in the back of the race crowd to wait for the friend who roped me into this. I got to see several people I had not seen in a while and I got some great hugs! My friend and her husband showed up...more great hugs! After the National Anthem and some announcements that could NOT be heard AT ALL in the back, the race was started and we creeped up to the start line. 

I will say I was nervous. My friend told me her longest run was 8 miles, but she's always been faster than me so I didn't really know if our definitions of "slow" were going to line up. I had been doing a 3/1 run/walk so she said that was good for her so we started that from the get go.

The course for this race is BEAUTIFUL! Like SERIOUSLY BEAUTIFUT! There is ONE part where you go through a cow farm that was eye-watering pungent but other than that blip this is hands-down the best half marathon course I've ever been on! I LOVED IT. It's challenging but I didn't think it was horrific. I think I had built Whiskey Hill up to be so horrible in my mind that when we got there I was like "is this really it?" Don't get me wrong, it's not easy. It is a switch-back steep hill for a bit, but it's nothing like Mountainwood on the Cotton Row course. I didn't feel the need to take a breather. I couldn't have run up it this day but I can actually see getting to the point I could run up it (but I don't know if I would want to because the "cost" of running it might truly be more than it's worth...other than to say "I did it!").

We ended up negotiating on our run/walk intervals because it feels like wasting a downhill to walk there and it's HARD to run uphill so our intervals became haphazard. There were a few times I was really watching the time, wanting to walk before the time was up...but there were also a few times we ran through our walk break knowing an uphill was coming soon.

The best part of the race was getting a chance to catch up with my friend. I love her so much. She moved a while back but when she was here I didn't get to spend a lot of time with her. I have been to see her a couple of times but it's been a long time. She's just fun and smart and super happy...I love being around her so getting to run with her for 13.1 miles was a treat!

After you go up Whiskey Hill you run along the top from about mile 4.75-8.5. After that you get a GLORIOUS, easy downhill to the finish. I was feeling SO STRONG. Like crazy strong. It was a shock how strong I felt actually. It was incredibly encouraging.

Dwayne kept messaging me with predicted finish times and encouragements. He wasn't factoring in the MAIN reason I was running this race was to SOCIALIZE with my friend-not to run the fastest 13.1 mile race possible! I think I'd have been happy if we walked the whole thing-more time to talk! 

As we neared the finish line I fought the urge to speed up so we could finish side by side...it worked we ended up with the EXACT same finsh time! 2:38:25. 

Here's the Relive video of our race...

The finisher party was fantastic! They had delicious Brunswick Stew! They also had "hoecakes", pimento cheese sandwhiches and grilled cheese sandwhiches...I didn't eat those since I'm not eating gluten and dairy. The whole square was shut down for the party. I picked up my finisher socks and bought a Lynchburg magnet; we said our goodbyes to our friends and we headed back home.

I will certainly be online when registration opens up next year to make sure I get in...this race sells out FAST every year. Now I understand why! :D

Thanks for stopping in and sticking around.

Bad Information = Bad Planning

We worked the Little Rock Expo, advertising The Rocket City Race Weekend (we are moving to a two-day event with a 5K and 10K on Saturday, and TWO half marathons and the full marathon on Sunday).

--Okay, I know some of you reading will be wondering...why two half marathons? Well, our half marathon has always been the "BACK" half of the marathon course. That's the part of the course that runs through the Space and Rocket Center and Botanical Gardens. We have to limit the number of runners who can register for that race because we can't flood the back half of the course with too many people. So we worked to make the front half VERY interesting and fun so that we could bring in more people to our wonderful city.... 

Back to my Little Rock Marathon race report...

If you read "Part 1" you know I thought I had done my due diligence in gathering information with regard to doing/not doing an early start at the Little Rock Marathon. 

Years ago Little Rock didn't have an early start at all...everyone started at the same time... which meant the police were out there a VERY long time for the slowest runners. They have a slogan "the race for all paces" because for years they basically didn't have a cut-off. They might move you to the sidewalk, but they wouldn't cut anyone off (at least I had never heard of anyone being cut off). A few years ago they implemented the "early start" for anyone who was going to finish in "MORE than six and a half hours"...saying the cutoff for the regular start was 6 hours. I was caught up in that the last time I did the marathon. I was thinking I would be right at 6 hours and had no idea when I should start so I went with the regular start. I think I finished in JUST SLIGHTLY over 6 hours (and still got a listed finish time).

This year it was ever so slightly clearer-6 hours or less meant a regular start, over 6 hours meant an early start. But I really wasn't sure how we'd finish. I was figuring 5:45-6:15. So I went to the early start meeting and got information...They said early starters were ABSOLUTELY NOT ALLOWED to pass the 6 hour pacers-AT ANY TIME, even at the finish. They also said the "hard cutoff" was at mile 19.2 and was going to be at 12:45pm. That meant with a regular start we had to maintain, at the very least, an average pace per mile of 14:50. I figured there was NO WAY we'd miss that. And, I was right...but...

Well...let me back up and explain why they won't allow early starters to pass the 6 hour pacer (who starts early). That pacer "opens" the race. The police stay in front of the front runner...the schedule of police working the intersections and the aid stations are based on a 6 hour pace starting at 7am. If a faster runner were to get out in front of the 6 hour pacer the police would not be ready at intersections and the aid stations wouldn't be open and ready to go on time. It would set up a very unsafe situation.

If you are a runner and a mathematician you can figure out the leaders of the regular start would overtake the 6 hour early start pace group but that doesn't happen until about mile 18. It's MUCH easier for the sake of having easy to follow rules to say "early starters may not EVER pass the 6 hour pacer" rather than allowing that rule to be fuzzy. I understand and can respect that rule. I can also fully understand why there is a cutoff time on the course. It's at the perfect spot...at 19.2 the course turns left and does a VERY VERY VERY long out and back along the river. Not meeting that cutoff time allows the runners to be turned so the course can be shut down. Totally reasonable. I thought 12:45 was VERY generous...and it turns out it was "too" generous...

But let me start at the beginning

I met my friend in the last corral...where I was supposed to be. She was actually supposed to be further up based on her projected finish time of something like 4:30. Since she had run Snickers the day before she had planned on taking her time with me and just having "fun" running back-to-back marathons. She had never been that far back in a marathon before so she was enjoying the antics that happen with the people who are out there getting our money's worth (costumes of all sorts!). The gun went off and we crawled to the start. 

The race was smaller this year so it didn't take nearly as long to get to the line and before we knew it we were off. We started out next to the 5:45 pace group (there was NOT a 6 hour sweeper/pace group) but we quickly realized that group was NOT running a 5:45 pace so we didn't try to stay with them. We settled into an easy run. Mile 1 12:26. Mile 2 12:45. Mile 3 13:20. Mile 4 12:11. The course was different this year than the other 3 times I've run it so it was fun to try to figure out where we were. I realized we were close to the school I went to in the 2nd grade so I regaled my friend with stories of how my brother and I would walk to a school that we lived almost right beside only to be bussed across town. One day we missed the bus so we set out to walk there. We found a little (TINY) mom and pop store where we spent $.25 of our $1 lunch money to buy a Hershey bar... We started skipping school after that when were realized no one seemed to miss us at school that day! (We did eventually get caught!)

Mile 5 we came upon a friend of my friend's so we started running with her. That mile was 13:39. That was the mile we "stopped" at the first aid station of the day...I got the LAST cup they had! And, they were out of Gatorade! That was NOT a good sign. There were literally hundreds of people behind us. Mile 6 was 14:08...so I told my friend we had to leave her friend so we could stay on our pace target. Mile 7 12:47. 

Mile 8 takes runners back over the Arkansas River bridge....13:45. Dwayne was messaging the whole time giving us updates on our predicted finish time. We were WAY ahead...and at that point VERY (VERY) glad we didn't start early (forcing us to slow down from our overall pace thus far). Mile 9 12:39. 

Mile 10 has one little stinger of a climb and goes past the School of Law. I couldn't help but remember my high school self dreaming of going to Law School there. It's obviously changed a lot but I was flooded with memories. We also had a potty stop...14:00. Mile 11 we made up some time with a 12:29 split. However, we encountered another aid station that was out of Gatorade! This was shocking...it was a hot day and this was too early in the race to run out! 

Mile 12 takes runners by the governor's Mansion--the Governor was actually outside taking photos with people!! I (we) didn't stop because there were a few people waiting to get pictures but how cool that he was out there!! There's some elevation gain there and we were feeling the lack of Gatorade at that point. That mile was 14:04.

Mile 13 seemed like it was faster but we had lost the half marathoners at the split, it was HOT, and we were climbing. The course goes by Central High School--famous because in 1957 the Governor of Arkansas actually brought in the Arkansas Army National Guard to prevent school desegregation. My dad was actually one of the National Guardsmen who was there carrying out the Governor's orders. (Shame on them.) That mile was 13:49. Mile 14 13:54...I was getting worried. We had seen too many miles over the 6 hour pace but Dwayne was messaging our predicted finish and we were still on target for about 5:45ish so we were doing fine. 

Mile 15 is really where the Marathon truly begins...that mile takes runner by the Capitol Building and just beyond that is where the wonderful climbing begins. The Capitol Building is so impressive to me. It's an exact miniature replica of our nation's capital! I love seeing it and LOVE "running" past it in this race. I remember thinking on this day it was the hottest LRM I'd been to. What's "funny" is that they had been calling for storms ALL WEEK LONG. I honestly expected the race to be canceled, or for us to be pulled off the course because the storms were predicted to be BAD. We had maybe 4 drops of rain. At that point I was praying the sky would open up on us just to cool us off! We were slowing WAY DOWN but I expected this and had accounted for it...15:19. Looking at the time of day we needed to cover JUST over 4 more miles and we had like 90 minutes. We had PLENTY of time to make the 12:45 cutoff at 19.2...

Mile 16-18 is the most challenging part of the course. That's the long slow climb that makes you understand why LRM has a dinner plate sized medal!! THIS is where you really earn it. On this day I started wishing we had actually started early-not so much for the additional time as much as for getting us out of the heat 2 hours sooner! 16-16:23. Mile 17 14:07. 

Then mile 18...I was telling my friend this was the hardest part of the whole race but we were WELL ahead of that 12:45 cutoff time at mile 19.2. So she stopped at a potty for an apparently very necessary "visit". By my watch we lost 4 minutes there...but, again, we had like 30 minutes to cover a mile (point two). We were golden even though that mile was our slowest of the day at 17:27. 

Mile 18 to 19 the course goes through Allsopp Park and is a fairly steep(ish) downhill section that leads to the LONG out and back along the river. When I was in high school and college this park had a VERY bad reputation for being filled with drugs! It's a VERY pretty park actually. It's strange because you feel like you are in the middle of the woods there, not in the middle of a major city! That mile I was feeling really good...we were coming up on 19.2, we had PLENTY of time to make that 12:45 cutoff, we were both feeling decent enough to pick up the pace on the flat section so we could make up lost time to make the 6 hour cutoff...SWEET! The biggest complaint was that several aid stations had been out of Gatorade and the gels we expected were NOT at the aid stations! Mile 19 was 13:35.

The course crosses a major road, goes up and over a little "bridge", then turns left at the 19.2 mile aid station to start that LONG out and back... When we were on top of the "bridge" we could see the aid station...we had right at 15 minutes...SWEET!!

Just then a city vehicle sped past us and pulled sideways at the bottom of the little hill, the guy got out of the car and said something to the volunteer...my heart sank... The volunteer pointed to his left (our right) and told the 2 runners in front of us they had to turn...then told us the same thing. 

HOW DID WE MISS THE CUTOFF WHEN WE WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE ALMOST 15 MINUTES??????? 

I did NOT want to argue with the volunteer-he was just doing what he was told. It was a city vehicle so maybe there was something I didn't know? The aid station was to the left. I considered saying "hey, we need water (and hopefully Gatorade if they weren't out)" and then quietly continue on our way...but that felt very WRONG to me to "sneak" past this volunteer who was just doing what he was told.

I pulled out my phone and called Dwayne to tell him that we had gotten turned...we missed the cutoff and were now DQ/DNFs. That call was placed at 12:33, after we had turned and started walking. (This is important...)

My friend was PISSED. I was devastated. I am the one who made the decision for us to skip the early start. I felt like I must have somehow gotten the cutoff time wrong. I wasn't thinking clearly enough to check my text message to Dwayne. But even if I had checked it right then I still would not have argued with the volunteer. 

We walked all the way to the lipstick stop (LRM has a lipstick station right before the finish line where they give free lipstick and they have a mirror for you to apply it...so you'll look good for the finish line)! Thanks to the idea from a wonderful Marathon Maniac who goes by the name "Lipstick Lady"! Then we ran in to get our 21.81 mile medal with a DQ story.

My friend said she would never to LRM again, but I told her this was a one-off kind of thing...I LOVE that race almost like she loves RCM. She caught them on a bad day-running out of cups at that early aid station, running out of Gatorade, us getting turned on the course by the volunteer...those were not the normal LRM experience!

Later I checked my text message to Dwayne--I was right, it said 12:45...I also went back to the race instruction email...the one that said the cutoff for the regular start was 6 hours (14:53 pace) AND it said the 19.2 mile cutoff was 12:33....

Here's my BIGGEST mistake...it wasn't that I relied on the information given in the meeting. It wasn't that I didn't start us early. It wasn't that I didn't speed us up along the way. It wasn't that I didn't argue with the volunteer. It wasn't that I didn't find a way to sneak around the volunteer who told us to turn. It was that I didn't VERIFY the cutoff time. The information in the instruction email regarding the cutoff pace was wrong and that was clarified in the meeting...I should have clarified the cutoff time rather than just taking what was said without asking. That is on me.

Running out of cups and Gatorade...I blame the weather! :

At the end of the day I still love this race. I don't know if I'll do the marathon again, but most likely I will. I will just make sure I'm trained up enough to not get caught in the early/regular start delima. I'm also going to recommend that they have a 6 hour pacer/sweeper at the end of the regular start. That would have saved us. 

Probably most important...this experience gave me some very good lessons learned for a potential early start option for Rocket City Marathon!!

Thanks for stopping in and sticking around. I know this was long...but so was the race! :D