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Ironman World Championship Race Recap

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Going into 2023 if you had told me I would do not one, but two full Ironman triathlons this year I would have said absolutely not. I’ve done triathlons for years now, but never a full Ironman distance (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and a 26.2 mile run). My plan had always been to do one Ironman in my life, maybe at the very end of my “career”, check the box, and move on. But I have friends (I blame you Alicia!) that love to do crazy things and I love to join them, so I signed up for Ironman Coeur d’Alene in June and qualified there for the World Championships in Kona, Hawaii so how could I say no?

We’re heading to Kona!

Fast forward 3 months and I was questioning all my life choices and wondering why I didn’t say no! Work was a lot, the general back to school activities with 4 kids was a lot, and of course training was so much. The last few weeks of training consist of two workouts a day and very very long Saturday and Sunday training sessions. But I had lots of friends to do these sessions with and they say that when you’re just over it all, that means you’re ready. So I guess I was ready.

We brought the entire family with us because the timing of the race was perfect, over their fall break. They had never been to Hawaii so everyone was very excited. Everyone but me. I boarded that plane feeling like a loser. I felt like a loser at work, a loser with some personal things, and a loser because I had been injured since April and hadn’t been able to run until the end of August. Hip tendinitis and an Achilles issue. My training had been very slow run/walks so I really didn’t know what would happen.

But all of that worry left me as soon as I stepped off the plane in Hawaii. You could feel the excitement in the air. We were at the World Championships! For the first time ever Ironman had split the men’s and women’s championships into two separate races. The men had already competed a number of weeks ago in Nice, France, so Kona was an all women’s race. There were strong, impressive women everywhere; it was awesome just to be a part of it.

The day before a race I’m always super nervous, but on race day those nerves are gone and I’m ready to go. Kona was no different. I was ready! But then I had to wait…and wait. My age group was the last to go and time goes so slowly. I decided to use the bathroom one last time while I was waiting and while I was pulling down my kit it ripped all the way down the middle of the top Janet Jackson style (luckily I was wearing a sports bra so no slips!). But that meant I would now be doing the entire race with my top flapping in the wind. But there was nothing I could do about it so I put it out of my mind.

Finally it was time for my age group to start. It’s a deep water mass start at Kona so we’ll swam out and treaded water until they said we could go. And we were off in the typical craziness of a triathlon swim start. The course is a rectangle; so you just swim straight out for 1ish miles, turn right at the 2 boats marking the turn, and then swim back. I was so nervous about the swim. I am not a good swimmer and couldn’t imagine swimming 2.4 miles without a wetsuit. But I really, really enjoyed the swim. The salt water kept me very buoyant and the temperature was perfect. The loved looking down at the tropical fish swimming below me (so much better than nasty lake fish!). Earlier that week I had swam with a sea turtle for awhile; such a great experience. Before I knew it I was rounding the boats and starting the swim back. I was alone for a bit and when a group of girls began passing me I realized I had really slowed down being alone, so I hoped on the feet of one of them and stayed with the group until the end of the swim. I got out of the water smiling because I had just swam 2.4 miles and had a great time doing it!

I ran(ish) into transition, hosed the salt water off, put on my bike gear, hopped on my bike, and was on my way to face the longest part of the day. I took the first few miles easy, just adjusting to being on the bike and getting ready for the long ride. My tongue felt swollen from the salt water and it always takes a bit to get my leg moving. The first few miles were an out and back in town through streets lined with spectators cheering us on. It was so great to feel that support, but all too soon I turned onto the Queen K Highway with virtually no spectators and miles and miles of empty lava fields. It was here I would spend the majority of the ride and it was time to get to work.

I love the bike portion of the race. I pass people the entire time and just have fun with it. This course suited me too; long nonstop rolling hills. There wasn’t a flat section in the entire course. It was here that I realized just how hot it was and how important keeping on top of my hydration was going to be. I decided to alternate water and Gatorade at every aid station to make sure I was getting enough electrolytes. That decision seemed to work because, although I was thirsty the entire ride and felt like I couldn’t drink enough, I never cramped or had any other issues.

The bike course is an out and back with the turn around point being after a 7 mile climb up into the town of Havi. I made the climb up fine, turned around in town and started the descent back down the hill. This was the point everyone had warned me about because the cross winds can get really bad and shove your bike around as you’re descending. But I don’t think the winds were as bad as they normally are so it was nice just a nice, long downhill section before I started back on the rollers of the Queen K.

I hit mile 90 and was over the ride. There was a headwind and the climbing just felt slow. I still felt fine, but definitely ready to be done. The last few miles into town I was biking next to the run course and began to brace myself for that long hot run.

I dropped my bike off in transition, happy to be off of it, and began the run. I had no idea how my hip would hold up but just planned to keep moving forward.

So happy to see my family

As with the bike, the first few miles are an out and back in town on Ali’i Drive. The road was filled with spectators holding signs and cheering in many different languages (70 countries were represented) and views of turquoise waves crashing into the black lava rocks. So beautiful. People had written with chalk on the road words of encouragement to specific runners and people stood with hoses to spray us with cool water as we ran by. It was a nice way to ease into being in my feet. I ran past my family here and seeing them filed my soul. Then we turned and went up Paulani Rd and were back onto the Queen K.

First few miles looking all happy

The heat hit me here. It was hot! It was going to be hot for quite awhile. The mountain to my right had a nice dark cloud hanging over it just teasing me with shade that would never come. I walked through every aid station chugging water then pouring it down my back then grabbing ice and dumping it down my shirt. The volunteers were amazing- offering to pour water on us, asking how we were doing, and encouraging us while they had the never ending task of filling cups to hand out.

So hot on the Queen K!

I saw some of my teammates out here which was a great encouragement. We would talk for a bit before one person would move on ahead of the other. Just keep going, we’re getting there.

The Queen K felt like it was all uphill as I ran on. So many miles running out away from town. Finally…finally, I reached the left hand turn down into the energy lab. I would spend a few miles here running down towards the ocean and back up. The wind was in my face as I ran down which felt great and the sun had begun to set. Everyone talks about how this is the worst part of the run, but I didn’t think so probably because of my timing. As I was running out of the area the sun went down into the ocean, creating another beautiful Hawaiian sunset. I turned numerous times to gaze at it, thinking about how blessed I was to be doing a triathlon in Hawaii! What an experience! The air finally grew cooler as I turned back onto the Queen K to head the last miles towards the finish line.

It quickly grew very dark with the sun gone and I pulled out and held a headlamp I had picked up in special needs to see the road. My stomach was starting to protest the nonstop sugar I had put into it all day but I was getting there so I just kept running; forward motion.

Soon I made the turn towards town and ran downhill. People along the course there were already shouting congratulations. There was a man with a mic at the bottom of the hill calling our names, shouting encouragement, and cheering us on. He said it was just one mile more. So close, yet it was the longest mile of the race.

I ran with a girl that last mile and we kept asking each other when the turn to the finish line would get there. Finally we made the turn and headed down the red carpet to the finish line. I started smiling and picked up my pace because I was about there. Then I saw my kids cheering for me. That made me smile even more as I ran over and high-fives them. I crossed the finish line with my hands in the air; I had done it.

All and all it was a good day. I had no pain on my run and having my family there was the best. It was also so fun to compete with only women. Hearing various stories of what these women had gone through just to get to Kona was inspiring. From people scared to death at the thought of taking on the course all the way to those trying to make the podium; the physical and mental toughness of every last woman was amazing. For the first time ever in a World Championship, every single person completed the swim within the required time and the race had one of the highest ever course completion percentages (97% completed the course). It was definitely an experience I won’t soon forget.

Ironman 70.3 World Championship Race Recap

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So much can change in a year! I qualified for the 2023 70.3 World Championships in October of 2022 by coming in 3rd in my age group at Ironman 70.3 North Carolina. It was a goal of mine because I’ve never been to Finland, which is where the 2023 World Championships were and I’m all about the trication (triathlon vacation). Plus I was curious to see how I would do in a “real” world championship. I had raced in St. George 70.3 World Championships in 2021 but that was during Covid so it wasn’t truly the world.

But, life happens and priorities shift, so this would not end up being a year to race the 70.3 Championships. It’s been a rough year personally, I decided to race my first Ironman back in June and qualified for Kona so I needed to save energy for that which is coming up in October, and I developed an injury- hip tendinitis and Achilles issue- and have not run in months. This race would become an “enjoy the day” tri. And enjoy the day I did!

First of all, I love Finland! The race was held in a great city, Lahti, about an hour northeast of Helsinki in southern Finland. It’s situated on Lake Vesijarvi, the lake we swam in, and is flanked by a set of ski jumps which are used in the annual Lahti Ski Games. As soon as we landed in Finland (our flight from Dallas was full of people doing the race and had 64 bikes on the plane!) we drove up to Lahti to do the race check in (and of course spend lots of $$ on Ironman WC clothes) and spent some time walking around the lake. It all really got me excited for 3 days later when I would race with the women.

I brought with me my favorite Sherpa (and husband!) Jeff who knows how to do all the things pre and post triathlon as well as be my best fan during an event. He put my bike together, helped me gather and distribute my bags in their proper places, finds me food, and serves as a calm presence when I get nervous before a race. Yes, even this one! The day before a major triathlon is always the worst.

Hiking with my Sherpa later that week

Race day dawned cool and foggy. So foggy that they delayed the start by a half hour to let the fog lift off of the lake so we could see the buoys. The pro women went first and then we all started by the age group we were in. My age group, 45-49, is the last to go which meant that I didn’t start until an 1:40 after the first wave started. I always try to start towards the front in races that we can self seed ourselves in, so the wait just felt like forever. The only cool thing about going last is that I got to watch all of the pro women start the bike portion of the race.

The front group of pro women

Finally…finally, it was my turn to start. We all lined up and the announcer said that we were one of the largest age groups there. We all danced to the music until he put on Abba’s Dancing Queen and said here’s a song from your generation. We all shouted-hey, we’re not that old! We were either babies or not born when that one came out. So insulting to us old ladies!

We worked our way up to jump off of the dock into the lake and it was finally my time to go. I jumped in and began to swim. The water was cold but not horribly so, especially wearing a wetsuit. I was towards the back of the group starting so I began to wondering if I would be the last person out of the water as women began swimming past me. I’m not a good swimmer (understatement!) and really worried that would happen. Finally I told myself to stop thinking about it and just swim. So I swam my slow pace and enjoyed the water. It was a point to point swim and the water was clean and felt great. People would bunch up around the buoys as always happens but spread out again in the straight-always. Soon it was over and I was running into T1.

I got on my bike with no issues and was off working my way out of town. The course was one big 56 mile loop through the Finnish countryside dotted by a few small towns and ended up being one of my favorite bike courses that I’ve done. It had a lot of rolling hills and was on a completely closed course. There were no cars. It’s the first time ever I’ve done an Ironman bike course that was completely closed to cars so thank you Ironman or Finland or whomever allowed for that; I just felt safe.

I passed so many of the girls who passed me on the swim and just enjoyed the course. These were country roads (with imaginary lines?!!) but passing was easy and everyone whom I was around were not drafting and being very courteous to each other. It’s why I love races with just women. There were so many times that I would have stopped and taken a picture if it hadn’t been a race! I would get to the top of a hill and look out over a golden field of hay with a cute farm in the distance surrounded by pine trees. It was beautiful!

Around 30 miles in we made a sharp turn and rode into a headwind. We pretty much had this the rest of the way back and I felt like it was hillier too so the second half was slower than the first, but still I really had fun on the course. We eventually made it back into town and just before the end there was a super steep hill. I rode by a girl and said- this is just mean to put at the end. That hill was followed by a steep downhill with signs to go slow because we were about to dismount off our bikes. We dismounted and ran our bikes inside a convention center (a first for me) where we grabbed our bags with our run things, got ready, and then ran out of the building to start the run.

Ski jumps behind me on the track

I had not run at all for 7 weeks due to injury until the week before the race and with those runs I was doing a short run followed by a lot of walking just to see how things held up; so the plan for this race was to continue a run/walk and make the run really slow and hopefully I would be fairly pain free at the end of the race. Not how I would have wanted things to go, but what I needed to do.

The run portion was two loops and started with us going up and over the street on a very steep temporary pedestrian bridge. We ended up running it 3 times. We then did a lap on a track right next to the convention center and in front of the ski jumps then ran out to spend the next mile climbing a hill. I had not really paid any attention to the run course since I knew I wouldn’t really be running it, but maybe I should have. I hadn’t realized how long the hill was! At the top the course flattened out for awhile and then ran downhill through a little neighborhood with lots of people out cheering for us even this late in the race and then ended up next to the lake for a few miles.

I ended up running slowly until I came to an aid station and then walked through every aid station. It was actually kind of hard to run that slow and depressing as everyone I passed on the bike now passed me on the run, but I just kept reminding myself that the goal was to be pain free after the race and the next day. It definitely made for the easiest 70.3 I’ve ever done, but also my slowest.

Running next to the lake was beautiful as was the weather. It was in the high 60s and the breeze coming off the water felt amazing. I started the second lap and thought to myself, one more lap and vacation begins! My husband and I were going to explore Finland for a week after the race and I was ready for that portion of the trip to begin.

Soon I went up and over the pedestrian bridge for the last time and turned to the finish line. I crossed the finish line feeling the most fresh I’ve ever felt after a race but I had achieved my goal. My hip and Achilles were not in pain nor did they hurt the following day so it was a good race!

I have nothing but good memories from the 70.3 World Championships. I love seeing all of the people racing from all over the world and admiring how many insanely fast people there are out there. So motivating! Now to just convince my husband/Sherpa that I need to qualify the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in New Zealand next year. I mean it’s New Zealand!

Ironman Coeur d’Alene race recap- my 1st Ironman

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I just completed my first Ironman! I’ve been doing triathlons for years now. I’ve raced in every popular triathlon distance except for a full Ironman. This year I decided it was time to change that so I signed up for my first Ironman in Coeur d’Alene Idaho. Just thinking about the race made me feel slightly nauseous and my heart beat faster but I was curious to see if I could complete one, so I signed up and got to training.

All too soon it was time to head to Coeur d’Alene for the Ironman. My training had gone well for the most part with just a slight hiccup towards the end of the training block. I developed tendonitis in my hip and was banned from running for the last three weeks before the race. Whether or not I be able to complete the marathon at the end of the race was unknown.

Race morning dawned calm and clear and sunny even at 6am because it was northern Idaho in June. It was a beautiful day with temperatures that would eventually climb into the 80’s, but early morning was still nice and cool. I got everything set up at my bike and went to find my friend Alicia. We, with the help of my husband, got our wetsuits on and walked down to the lake where we met up with a few other friends. Alicia braided my hair as we waited in line to walk down to the water. Nerves were high but honestly at this point I was just ready to get the race over with.

Soon enough they let us walk down to the water and line up based on estimated swim finish time to start the race. Alicia and I joined our friends and we all gathered in a group hug right before we headed to the water. I stood at the water’s edge and when the buzzer went off for my turn to start the race, I pressed start on my watch and ran into the water and began to swim.

The water was beautiful. Cool, but not overly cold, and so clean feeling. I swam and swam and it actually wasn’t too bad! I’m a slow swimmer but can go forever at a certain awkward ugly looking pace so I told myself to just do that. People would bunch up and things would get a little crazy around each buoy, but then things would space out in between allowing for some nice consistent swimming. The course was two loops. After the first loop you run out of the water onto the beach, go through an archway, and head back in to swim the loop for a second time. I had been worried that I would not want to go again but I found myself really not minding it. I ran back in the water and swam a second loop with no issues. And suddenly I was finished, running out of the water. I had done it- swam 2.4 miles! Something I truly never thought would be possible for me. I remember thinking that no matter what happened the rest of the day I would always be proud that I swam that far.

In an Ironman race there is a volunteer to help you with getting off your swim gear and putting on your bike gear. So an amazing woman got my wetsuit off, handed me my shoes, sunglasses, helmet, asked if I had everything, gave me words of encouragement, and sent me on my way. I grabbed my bike and ran it out of transition.

When I reached the line to mount my bike, I hopped on and tried to pedal and nothing happened. I figured I must just have the bike in a hard gear so I tired again and still I could not move the pedals. A volunteer ran over to me and said he’d help me get on the bike but then he looked down and said- wait, your chains off. He pulled me over to the side and went to work getting the chain back on the gear but it was really jammed in, stuck to the side of the bike. He kept working on it and after a few minutes finally managed to get it unstuck and back on the gear. My savior! I’m not sure I would have been strong enough to do that myself. I thanked him profusely as he helped me on my bike that now worked and I pedaled off to start the 112 mile bike portion of the race.

Ironman Coeur d’Alene is known for its hilly bike course of which you get to do two loops. It consists of two separate out and backs. The first out and back is flat and goes through the town and follows the lake for some beautiful views. The second out and back is on a highway and is where the hills kick in. It’s honestly nothing horrible or too steep, but it’s just a lot of slow chugging away up hills. We had driven that part of the course the day before so I knew what to expect and it all felt pretty much as I thought it would. I chugged up those hills and tried to make myself go as fast as possible downhill- not my favorite thing to do.

Soon I was back to the flattish out and back section for a second lap when I began to realize that I’d made a mistake nutrition-wise. I had been drinking water at every aid station but not dumping extra into my bottles so I completely ran out of water. I still had about 5 miles to go until I reached a point 62 or so miles in where we had “special needs” bags waiting for us in which I had placed a refill of water and some liquid nutrition I was so thirsty and could feel myself getting that tingly dehydrated feeling and began to get worried but managed to make it to my special needs bag, filled up my bottle, and from then on made sure I refilled my water bottle at every single aid station. After that I was fine but definitely a lesson learned.

The second loop of the hilly section went well at first but around mile 85/90 or so I just felt slow and over it. It was windy there too which made progress feel even slower. I kept moving forward and suddenly came to a downhill section where moments earlier a rainstorm had passed by. It was no longer raining but the road was wet enough that the water sprayed up on me in a nice cool mist. Everyone around me, myself included, all sighed “awww” when we hit that section. It felt amazing! The wet road lasted for a few miles and completely revived me. I was happy after that and started to get very excited about the fact that I was about to complete the bike portion of the Ironman. Each section felt like such an accomplishment.

I rode into transition grinning and sat on the ground to get my running shoes and race bib on. I also pulled on a pair of compression socks. A lot of triathletes pee on the bike during such a long race but I just couldn’t, plus I was probably dehydrated the first half, but sitting on that ground it all came out. I was definitely re-hydrated and ready to run. I got up and began the 26.2 mile run of the Ironman.

My first thought as I began to run was- how in the world am I going to do this? Running felt horrible. I ran out with another girl and we made a turn past a group of people who yelled- looking good! She laughed and said to me, “we look good?” I told her, “well, I’m glad we look good because I sure don’t feel it”, and she agreed. But I figured as long as I kept moving forward I could complete the race now within the 17 hour time period even if that meant walking the entire thing. Just knowing that was an encouragement. Another encouragement was that my hip seemed ok! The bike ride had warmed it up.

The run course consisted of 3 loops through town and along the lake. This gave me lots of opportunities to see my husband, friends, and coach, all of whom shouted words of encouragement, asked how I was feeling, and gave me updates on my place in my age group. All was good until around mile 5 my stomach revolted and I quickly got to a port-a potty. After several minutes of not fun I felt good enough to get back to it and continued on my way. Luckily my stomach was fine from then on.

I settled into a pace that felt difficult but not impossible and just kept running. I walked through every aid station drinking some water, pouring the rest on my head, and dumping ice down my sports bra. Then I would start running again until the next aid station where I would repeat the process. About halfway through I began to add coke (the drink!!) to the ritual which tasted amazing at that point.

Towards the end of my second loop my calf’s started to cramp up some. I switched to Gatorade at the aid stations in hopes of staving off severe cramping which I could see had happened to many people out there. At this point more and more people were walking but I never felt like I had to, just kept running at a pace that felt doable.

I saw my coach at the beginning of the third lap and he informed me that if I kept running at the pace I was I should outrun 4 girls ahead of me in my age group’s ranking’s because they were running at a slower pace than me. I told him about my legs cramping some and he said- “this is the part of the race that feels like hell; just keep running.” And so I did. I kept running, my pace definitely slowing but kept the effort the same. I still walked through every aid station but at this point there were a few where I just dumped water on my head and didn’t drink because I was becoming water logged. The miles slowly ticked off.

Finally I made it to the split in the road that I had been waiting all day to get to. “To finish line” was written on the ground with a large arrow pointing to a spilt in the path away from the path that brought you to the second and third loop. I turned onto that path with a massive smile on my face- the finish line was right up ahead.

Only it wasn’t! At least not as close as I wanted it to be. I turned a corner into downtown Coeur d’Alene and there was one more hill for me to run up. So cruel! But I happened to be the only competitor at this section and the streets were absolutely packed with spectators all of whom were cheering me on. It was amazing and I could not stop smiling, even running up that one last hill. As I reach the top a guy yelled out- turn the corner and there’s the finish line. And he was right! I turned the corner and saw a nice downhill that ran into the red carpet Ironman finishing shoot. People were cheering and screaming all around me. I got in the shoot and gave high-fives to every person that stuck their hand out. Then I head the announcer say the words every first time Ironman competitor dreams of “Heather Goyette, you are an Ironman”. It was surreal and so amazing. I couldn’t believe I’d done it!

Because far fewer women compete in Ironman’s than men, certain races will offer more slots for woman to go to the World Championships in Kona Hawai’i (the birthplace of Ironman) and Coeur d’Alene was one of those races. With my place in my age group and those extra slots I was able to qualify for Kona. Another surreal moment!

I’m excited for Kona, but that’s not my favorite part. I loved to learn that I could really push myself in both training and the race to do things I wasn’t sure were possible. I loved the process, the hard work, the exhaustion, the pain, the eating all the things, and then whining about it all and getting up and doing a little more the next day. Such a sense of accomplishment. But truly my favorite part is the triathlon community. All are amazing people and athletes, everyone with their own story and reason for completing an Ironman. Every last one of them inspires me. It’s a community that I’m very proud to be a part of.

Training Partners

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As much as I love triathlons, running is my first love, but I had never done the one distance that would make me a “real” runner- the marathon. It was time! So my friend Alicia and I decided to run a marathon together during our triathlon off season. And, to add some extra pressure, decided that our goal would be to qualify for the Boston Marathon. We set out to find the flattest January course that we could find and decided that The Chevron Houston Marathon was the perfect race for us and got about training.

Okay, so I should clarify. I actually have run a marathon. The best marathon ever! The Marathon du Medoc in France. It’s a 26.2 mile run in the Bordeaux region of France that consists of 23 wine and food stops. You can read all about it here and then go sign up because it’s the most fun you’ll have running. So, to be more correct, I had never raced a marathon.

As much fun as a race is, the real fun in my opinion is in the training and doing so with good training partners. A good partner is someone who will listen to you whine and complain and then tell you to get up because it’s time to move. A good partner gets the freak-outs, often will freak out with you, but also will be your biggest fan and motivator. There is no rivalry with a good training partner. A good partner also knows the importance of plannng a run around bathrooms and will always examine your chaffing and black and blue toenails and not bat an eye. And a good partner will nerd out on Garmin stats with you and encourage you to buy more running shoes because you can never have enough shoes.

Alicia is my favorite training partner. We’ve gone through so much together and have very similar styles of how we approach our training and life and buying all the gear. She my biggest fan! So it was an easy transition for triathlon training to just running. We quickly realized we might have made a mistake in our timing, though, when it occurred to us that we would be at the peak of our training over the Christmas and New Year holidays, but knowing that you had to get up for an 18 mile run the next morning definitely helped reign in the eating and drinking.

About halfway through our training we headed down to Huntsville, AL to run the Rocket City half marathon with our friends Angela and Kevin; two more of my favorite people to train with. We had all run miles together in the weeks leading up to the race. Runs where we got lost, almost got hit by a car, slipped our way over icy bridges, literally blew backwards with wind gusts, and runs that were just way too hot for a December day. By the time the race rolled around, we thought we were prepared for anything. Unfortunately storms in the area that morning forced the race to be canceled. It was disappointing but we made a quick pivot and went to bunch instead. We had a great time and, of course, spent brunch planning our next races.

My longest training run, 20 miles, came all too soon. It was now just Alicia and me running together and we were nervous, but ready to see how it went. The mid-December morning started off rainy so we postponed our start time a bit, knowing that we would be running deeper in a day that was going to be warm and humid; unusual even for Tennessee. We asked some of our “real” runner friends about a route so we had something different to do. They recommended a route and told us that there was a church about halfway through that would have a place to refill our water bottles. Perfect!

We started the run just as the rain was ending and the day became warm and humid as promised. We became very thirsty as our water dwindled to nothing but we remembered the church. When we finally reached it we began to look for the water. Then I spotted a old fashioned water pump in the front of the church near the road. There was our water!

I began to pump and pump, not sure if anything would ever come up. Finally, though, water came flowing out. We were so happy and drank and drank and then filled our bottles and dumped the water over our heads. Feeling better we finished the run with no issues and texted our friends thank you about the water. Well, turns out the water is actually inside the church which always leaves it’s doors open. Here we were recreating Little House on the Prairie and all we had to do was walk in the front door to have access to water and a clean bathroom, but it literally never crossed our mind to try the door. So many people have told us that they had no idea the pump actually worked and probably have wondered about us. I laugh every time I think of what we must have looked like to passerby’s, so proud of ourselves, pumping that water from that pump and dumping it over our heads. But hey, we’re nothing if not resourceful!

Obviously it’s not possible to run every run together, but even when you’re running solo it’s nice to know that there’s someone out there doing a similar workout. Someone you can call or text as soon as the run’s over or, at times, even in the middle of the run, to discuss how difficult it felt or how you’re never going to make it 26 miles or how you’re about to eat everything in the house. I remember after one particularly difficult run on a warm and very windy day (there were so many windy days!), I was feeling down because the run had been so difficult. Talking to a few friends who had also run and felt the same way made me feel so much better. It’s always nice to know that, even when training solo, there are friends going through the same experiences.

All too soon race day arrived and we headed down to Houston. We had a few other friends who were running the marathon and the half marathon as well and we all went out to dinner the night before. Talk focused on the weather and what to wear because it was going to be cold and windy. Then we moved on to past races and strategy and nutrition and, most importantly, our after race party plans. Just being with these women who are all absolutely amazing runners, eased my nerves and made me excited to see what I could do.

Race day dawned as predicted; cold and windy, but with a bright sunny sky. Alicia and I ran the first mile together talking and joking and then she was off because she is so much faster than me. I picked up my pace too and just ran, watching the miles tick away.

Just a few miles into the marathon I rounded a bend and could see ahead of me thousands of runners crossing an overpass framed by the city of Houston. I got a huge smile on my face because this is what you train for. This is what makes a marathon or any distance race so fun; all of the people around you who have gone through similar training experiences. We had all worked so hard to be there and will work so hard to complete the race and then have stories and memories, good or bad, that we will retell over and over again.

The Houston Marathon went well for me. I never felt bad and did qualify for Boson (but, let’s face it, I’m old now so it’s not super impressive. The one good thing about getting older I guess!). Alicia killed the race and qualified too! All of our other friends had great races and we had a really fun time celebrating. We laughed and joked and told our race stories, and, of course, planned our next races.

Now I’m back to training for the next race. Just the other morning I ran with a couple friends, one with whom I haven’t run in a really long time just due to life. It was a bitterly cold morning but the three of us were up bright and early and the run filled my soul. We talked and laughed and complained and helped solve the problems each of us was dealing with. I left that run with a huge smile on my face because, a much fun as races are, this is why I train and this was exactly what I needed.

Race Recap: Ironman 70.3 World Championship 2021

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A goal of mine has been to qualify for the Ironman 70.3 World Championship and this year it happened. A couple days after completing the 70.3 in Chattanooga in May I received an email that I had qualified (they didn’t do anything in person due to COVID). I was shocked and excited, but not quite sure if I should do it because I had another race, an Ironman 70.3 in Memphis, less than two weeks after Worlds. But I decided that you never know, this might be my only chance to race in Worlds, so I signed up for the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in St. George, Utah. Then I looked at the course…

Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga

The course looked brutal. The run course was a double loop with a 1293 foot elevation gain, most of it being in the first 3.5 miles which you had to do twice. Not to mention the insanely steep downhill sections that leave your quads and toenails crying.

It was bike course, though, that scared me the most. There was a total of 3442 ft of elevation gain along the course which is a lot, but it was Snow Canyon State Park that really had me worried. From miles 38-46 on a 56 mile ride, I was going to have to climb 1200+ feet with some pretty steep grades the final 5k or so up the mountain. I really wasn’t sure if I could do it.

I never really gave a thought to the swim course, but little did I know what was to come (cue ominous music…)

A couple weeks after I found out that I qualified for Worlds; my friend Alicia qualified. I was so excited! Not only did I now have a training partner, but it was one of my very best friends.

We got down to business and started training in the heat and humidity of a Tennessee summer. So many early mornings with dew points already hovering in the 70%s and so many hills. The summer was a rollercoaster of emotions for me- one minute I’d be excited about the race and the next I’d be nervous and scared and so tired.

My biggest breakthrough came with a weekend trip back to Chattanooga, TN. Alicia, our friend Armand, and I spent two days just climbing mountains on our tri bikes. I never dreamed I’d be able to bike 5/6 miles straight up at a steady incline of 10%+ grades without tipping over. But I did it! Just kept chugging along until I reached the top; shocked that I had made it up. Armand had planned our mini-bike camp and I am forever grateful to him. After that weekend, mentally, I knew I could do the St. George bike course.

As race day approached, Alicia and I narrowed our concerns about the course to 4 things: the extremely high 100 degree temperatures that Utah had been having all summer, how to stay hydrated with no humidity, the elevation gains on the courses, and a fun bonus anxiety- parasites in the lake we’d be swimming in that cause an itchy rash called swimmers itch (what?!!) We developed plans for all concerns (even the parasites) and headed out to Utah with our amazing Sherpa husbands feeling pretty prepared.

Race Day!

The day dawned cool and clear and calm with a beautiful sunrise. Our first couple concerns of a hot, dry race were unfounded. The sun was just breaking over the horizon as the pros, who went first before the rest of us, got into the water. The rest of us non-pros are called age groupers and we compete mainly against other people our age and sex in 5 year age groups. Because of changes that Ironman made since a lot of the world was not able to get into the US due to COVID restrictions, I was the very last age group to get into the water (a fact that I most definitely whined more than a little about!)

It actually made for a very weird morning. I got to sleep in, take my time getting to the start of the race, and then tried to figure out nutrition timing with not starting the race until 9:52am. I have never started a race so late in the day!

There go the female Pros!

Finally it was my age group’s turn to line up and head towards the water. Every 15 seconds they would have 10 of us run down the end of the boat ramp we were standing on into the water to start our 1.2 mile swim. I looked behind me as I was waiting for my turn and noticed that clouds were beginning to build in the distance, but the view over the water was all blue sky and sun.

Sand Hollow Reservoir looking calm and beautiful the day before the race.

When it was my turn to go, I ran into the water and started to swim. I am not a fast swimmer but I can get into a groove where I feel like I can go forever. My coach calls in yoga swimming. Even though a lot of people passed me on the swim, I was ok with it because I knew my heart rate was low and I could just keep moving forward.

Storms a coming.

I got to the buoy furthest away from our start which is where you turn, swim parallel with the shore for a bit, and then swim around another buoy to start the swim back to shore. As I was swimming around that furthest buoy I glanced at the sky and, what had been tiny clouds in the distance when I started the swim, was now dark and angry. I just kept swimming. I swam around the buoy at the halfway point to head back towards the shore and noticed that it had started to rain a little. But it was no big deal, I’ve swam in the rain. Then in an instant everything changed and all hell broke loose.

This is a video someone took from transition. I was in the water during this.

I have never seen the water conditions change so fast. I couldn’t wrap my mind around what was happening because I went from swimming to being tossed around in a churning lake just struggling to keep my head above the water. I tried to find the next buoy or even just sight the shore but I couldn’t see either because of the waves and rain. I noticed red and blue lights of the sheriff rescue boats heading out into the water towards us and thought, this can’t be good. I started to freak out a bit so I flipped on my back and started swimming towards shore. It was easier but then I began to worry that I wouldn’t make the cut off time that you had to complete the swim in and would receive a DNF (did not finish- every triathletes greatest fear!). So I gave myself a pep talk about this being Worlds and I was with the best of the best so I needed to act like it and get to shore. I flipped back around, was immediately slapped in the face by a wave, and started attempting to move forward.

Meanwhile, Alicia running in from the swim as the storm approaches. The storm hit her as she was out on the bike course.

I looked around and it looked like a scene from the movie Titanic. There were women bobbing in the water all around me. One woman was on her back crying. I tried to say something to encourage her but just got a mouthful of water. Then I noticed that we were surrounded by volunteers on boats. Canoes, kayaks, paddle-boards, jet skis; they were all in the storm with us determined to keep us safe. I never feared for my life because of them! My biggest fear was actually that if I went up to one of the boats I would get a DNF. At one point someone had thrown out a rescue float and I got tangled in the strap. I quickly got it off of me still fearful that it would result in a DNF. I later learned that the race officials called the race for the women probably right behind me (I was pretty slow in my age group) and did pull them from the water but let them continue the on with the rest of the race which I was happy to hear.

This picture made me laugh. I am exiting the water completely shell-shocked like what just happened out there!

I finally made it to shore and ran to the transition area to get my bag with the items for my bike in it. As I sat it began to hail and rain even harder. I laughed at the towel I had placed in the bag to dry off with as the girl next to me said, almost to herself, “I didn’t travel all the way to Utah to quit after the swim.” That was all the motivation I needed. I threw on the rest of my bike gear and grabbed my bike.

As I was attempting to run out of transition with my bike, the rain and hail pelting me, they announced the first male Pro had just finished the race. I started laughing at the absurdity of what I was doing in that minute and got on my bike for a very scary descent out of transition.

One of the race officials was yelling at us to get out of the lake area as quick as possible because the weather would improve. I pedaled quickly up the hill in the 30mph wind and driving rain and came to my first descent. I thought to myself that as long as I didn’t have to use the breaks I would probably be okay, so I went for it. And it did get better as I went along and the storm passed. Eventually the rain slowed to a drizzle, the wind let up, and then finally it all stopped.

The bike course was hilly as promised, but after what we had been through it seemed like no big deal. I was around only women because of when I had started in the race and everyone was amazing. I have never had such a respectful, encouraging, and really good group of riders. I had fun through much of the course. The spectators were amazing; out there cheering us on despite the weather. It also helped that I had decided to not push the ride real hard. I rode the entire course at 70/75% NP so I just felt good. And all too soon I reached Snow Canyon State Park, the part of the ride I had been most concerned with.

Snow Canyon picture from a few days before the race. Absolutely beautiful!

I entered the park and began to climb. It’s a fairly steady climb but the grade doesn’t really get bad until the end. Again, I loved all of the women around me. We laughed and joked and sang and kept moving forward. I kept waiting for the “bad part” and it never came! All at once I was at the top. I had trained so well over the summer that my biggest fear of the entire course had been fine.

I turned out of the park and began a 9 mile descent back into town and the run transition (T2). Suddenly storm #2 hit. Driving rain and 20-30 mph crosswinds smacked me sideways as I tried to pedal down the sharp descent. I immediately sat upright on my bike and took it easy. I was amazed at the women who flew by me in aero position like it was no big deal, but that would not be me. I made it to transition ready to get off my bike.

The rain let up while I was in T2 and I started the run which was all uphill for around the first 3.5 miles. I felt okay and began to run along when suddenly I saw my husband, my coach Nicole, and friends all cheering me on. It was so great to see them! My husband ran with me for a bit asking how I was and then I waved goodbye to them, revived.

The run was as I thought it would be, a slow slog up the steepest section to a beautiful view of St. George far below us. Again, everyone was so encouraging to each other. I made use of way too many aid stations just so I had an excuse to walk a bit (I’ve never been so hydrated!). I reached the top and began the steep run downhill. My husband, coach, and friends were there on the downhill and they asked how I felt. “My poor toenails!” I yelled as I headed down the 11% grade. I reached the turnaround point and did the entire run again; albeit a little slower this time up that hill. The sun was out in full force now, the storms long gone, and it was hot.

Before I knew it I was running towards the finish line. I had done it! I crossed the finish line with my arms held high feeling good. It had been the craziest race I have ever done weather-wise, but all in all a great race. I finished with a time and place in my age group that I feel good about and am happy to have never felt miserable.

One of my favorite parts of the 2021 Ironman 70.3 St. George has been listening and reading about everyone’s experiences. We are always advised to run our own race, and nothing has ever been more accurate. Every single person on that course hit the storms in a different location and had a very unique race based on where they were. Yet, for the most part, we all persevered and are stronger for it and have memories and great stories that we will all be telling for years!

The ghost town and the train house

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The first thing I noticed was the vast emptiness. I looked around and realized just how alone I was. Rolling hills of grass reached out as far as the eye could see to touch the sky. And it was so quiet. There was no sound except for the wind; hot and dry and incessant. It all gave me an odd feeling of claustrophobia to be in a space with so much nothingness. Grass and sky and nothing more, save for the deserted house next to me. How had someone ever lived here?

We had headed south out of South Dakota, driving in a land so foreign looking to us easterners. A dry landscape of brown and muted greens had replaced the bright greens and humidity of the east coast.

Soon we passed through Ardmore, a modern day ghost town on the South Dakota-Nebraska border. Abandoned homes and cars still stand; its residents finally abandoning the town in the 1980’s due to lack of fresh drinking water. Ardmore was a town founded by the railroads and became a thriving community as its people managed to make a living on the desolate plains. But when the trains that had once brought clean drinking water to the town no longer stopped, the town could not survive. It literally dried up and it’s residents abandoned the town leaving what remained to slowly be reclaimed by the grasslands.

Once in Nebraska we turned off of the tarmac and onto a crushed gravel road. We drove past a couple farms and soon were alone, nothing but miles of grasslands around us as we drove deeper into the landscape, our car kicking up a plume of dry dust so that we could no longer see where we had come from. Our road followed a railroad track which was still in use. We passed no other cars and saw no one as we drove on. After miles of driving through the rolling plains we saw something ahead on our right. An abandoned farmstead. We decided to get out and explore.

The house was set just a little ways off of the gravel road, surrounded by the grassland on all sides. This grass that had looked so soft blowing in the wind from the car window was anything but. The grass was dry and sharp and crushed beneath my feet as I walked along toward the house under the hot sun. I also realized that there were cactus’ mixed in as my heel brushed against one giving me a good scrape. Such a harsh landscape to build a house.

The house was a bit rambling with three separate buildings butting up to each other at 90 degree angles. We speculated that maybe the owners added on to the house as needed. A few outbuildings and farm equipment lay scattered about the property as well. The hot dry wind blew as we explored, rattling a piece of lose roofing.

We walked inside one of the sections of the house and the first thing I noticed was a lack of the mildew smell that’s so prevalent in the abandoned buildings at home where anything left on its own long enough will rot and decay back into the land. Here buildings seemed to reach a sort of dusty mummification, standing proudly as if to prove that someone had once survived in this harsh climate. The second thing I noticed was that this had not started out as a house.

The long, narrow room had walls that rounded up into the ceiling, a seemingly odd choice for such a rustic structure. We looked up and saw an area where the ceiling had come down. Instead of finding roof rafters above the ceiling dry wall, there was the ceiling of a beautiful old train car. It hit us then, the house was made out of old train cars!

There were three train cars to be exact. The owner had moved train cars from the nearby tracks and created a house, drywalling over the inside cars and covering the outside with wood siding and a traditional roof. The cars were placed together to create a home. All throughout the house in places where the dry wall had fallen down you could see the train cars still in really good condition. Such ingenuity!

We wandered around to some of the outbuildings and saw that these too were old train cars. It was easy to spot once we realized what they were. As we explored, we speculated on why the home was built this way. Was it because this was the best option financially for the owner? Or were the railroad cars a temporary solution to a house that just became permanent? Maybe it was just a fulfillment of the dream every child who has read The Boxcar Children has had; to live in a train car? We could only guess. Whatever the reason, it had been someone’s home. A life or lives were lived here, hard work was done, dreams were fulfilled or crushed. And then, in the not so distant past, the home was abandoned and left to the elements.

As we began to leave, I stood alone taking one more look around. The loneliness of this home and this place filled me. Such quiet and isolation. It must have been so difficult to scratch out a life here. Nature appeared to have won, yet I was glad the house remained, standing proud amongst the grasses and the never ending wind. A train whistle blew in the distance and I turned toward our car, ready to be back with my family and keep moving forward down the road.

Getting away from it all during Quarantine

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The late afternoon sunlight danced around us; an ever-changing movement of light and dark, warm and cold, as it filtered through the tunnel of trees we walked through at the edge of the lake. The water sparkled as a duck quietly drifted by. I took a deep breath and briefly thought how nice it was to be out hiking away from it all. Then I stopped and laughed because I was hardly “away from it all”.

Our world’s have all become very small this past month. Most of us are in our home now almost 24/7. The place you know better than any place in the world just feels different when you can’t leave it. For some it might be filled with loneliness as you spend each day alone in your home’s rooms and for others your residence might be becoming exceedingly crowded, filled to the brim with family members who are always around, day after day. I, every once in awhile, will feel claustrophobic, missing driving hundreds of miles each day for work.

What helps is getting outside. It’s spring which means the weather here is all over the place. Some days and warm and sunny, others cold and damp. The wind always blows, carrying with it pollen and, some days, the threat of tornadoes. Yet, we get outside daily. With most parks and trails closed and travel discouraged, outside is now what is directly around us. We walk, circling our neighborhood and those nearby. Houses with manicured yards, rows of townhomes with the end units still being framed, apartments with kids on scooters circling the parking lot; we walk past it all. Over and over…and over and over again.

Then one day my son and I decided to venue out of our daily circling on pavement to an area across from one of the developments we frequented. We stepped off of the sidewalk and onto a faint trail and followed it into the “wild” and into our own small adventure.

The trail started around a lake. We passed a number of people who were fishing. I asked a man who was watching his young son cast a line into the lake if they’d caught anything. “Oh yes, we’ve caught a lot,” he told me as he held his hands up to show the size of what they were catching. We continued on and soon reached an ancient man-made dam. Water flowed out of the lake here and disappeared underground as it descended to a river far below. We too turned and scrambled down to the river.

At the river we stood and watched the water that had disappeared underground at the lake’s edge, reappear creating a couple small waterfalls as it flowed into the river. It had rained a lot earlier in the week so the river was high and flowed past us splashing noisily over rocks and creating some nice rapids.

We hiked back up towards the lake, crossing over the dam, and continued on into a large field. As we walked we heard some chattering and saw a bird running along the ground beside us. She ran up to us and then flew in a large circle around us only to land and run beside us again, chattering the entire time. We quickly realized why as we passed a nest with four speckled eggs in it just a foot off the path we were walking along. “Don’t worry, your babies are safe,” we told her as we quickly moved along.

A little further along we came to a basketball hoop in the middle of the field. An old soccer ball lay next to it so we shot a few baskets. It’s all that remains of what was once someone’s home and was a good reminder that we were not on a trail in the wilderness somewhere, but rather we were walking along a bit of land at the edge of civilization. A bit of wild surrounded on every side by suburbia.

In fact, a major highway ran north to south next to us; its noise a constant reminder that we were not in the middle of nowhere.

I love that there are scraps of wild left in the middle of civilization. Places where the road ends and cities have not yet encroached upon. These little pockets of wilderness that are easy to get to and explore. They’re often places where people once were and have left, allowing nature to once again take over. And nature does take over; the trees and grasses and birds and deer not caring that they are near civilization as they create their own pocket of wild.

As we continued on we came upon more old homesites. Nothing was left but the flat area where a home once stood and a few trees that would have shaded the house from summer’s heat. Here, the homes would have overlooked the lake. We stood in the empty space and, with the birds chirping around us and a warm breeze lifting our hair, for a moment we could imagine how peaceful it would have been to have a home here. The only sound’s then being the wind in the trees and water lapping along the shore. The spell was broken as a semi drove by on the highway behind us and we moved on, exploring our bit of wilderness.

How to add more adventure to life

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It had been a lonely month. A month of solitude and forced rest. And now, driving through the barren winter fields, vast and silent and so still, I felt it all catching up with me. The boredom, the slight depression, the sudden slamming to a halt of any and all movement; I was so over it.

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Hiking the magical Lauterbrunnen Valley Waterfalls in Switzerland

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The day had begun misty with low hanging clouds, concealing the mountains all around us. But by late afternoon the clouds had lifted, once again revealing the majestic Swiss Alps. It was time to hike!

Lauterbrunnen Valley is one of the most beautiful places I’ve visited. It was also my favorite hike that we did in Switzerland. It’s a hike we’ll all remember the rest of our lives.

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The loneliest spot on earth

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“Mono Lake lies in a lifeless, treeless, hideous desert, eight thousand feet above the level of the sea, and is guarded by mountains two thousand feet higher, whose summits are always clothed in clouds. This solemn, silent, sail-less sea–this lonely tenant of the loneliest spot on earth –is little graced with the picturesque. “

– Mark Twain

My first glimpse of Mono Lake was late at night. We had just driven up and over Sonora Pass, which had opened for the season a few days earlier. The road had been descending out of the snow covered mountains for quiet awhile when I caught a glimmer out of the corner of my eye. I glanced out of the window and saw nothing but thick darkness. A few minutes later we rounded a bend and there far below us was a glistening moonlit lake. The road continued down and ran alongside the lake. From this viewpoint the lake seemed to go on forever and it was impossible to tell where it began or ended. Then we rounded another curve and it was gone and we were left to stare into the inky blackness of night.

A few days later we made it back to Mono Lake, this time in daylight. Even in the light, we still felt a moment of surprise to round a corner and come upon the lake. A shimmering mirage in the middle of a dry, dusty landscape.

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