Ironman Arizona 2008 RACE!! part 1

Let's see where did we leave off?

Oh yeah, Dan heading for the mosh pit...and me having a good feeling about the day ahead =)

BAM! gun goes off, it's time to swim! This is it...Hopefully less than 12 hours til I can stop moving!

I was pleasantly surprise with home much room I had- I wasn't getting clobbered, I was doing just fine. No choking to death for me today. Swim felt fine. I relaxed, and didn't really think too much for the first 15-20 minutes. I just went with the flow and kind of tuned out. Once we got in the shade of the next bridge I realized that YES, this water is COLD. But hey, all I have to do is swim to the bridge, under the bridge, swim a little more, turn around, and head home. got it. For the rest of the swim I was cold. On the way back I got roughed up a bit since the buoys were all zig-zagged so the path wasn't exactly predictable, but whatever. My hands started going a little bit numb, but nothing like IM CDA where I swear I lost function in my wrists. I was very happy to be confident in finishing the swim (I'm always nervous about that since I don't swim too much!)

I didn't see a clock when I got out of the water, and I wasn't wearing a watch yet since my mom's garmin was in my transition bag, so I didn't know what my time was, but I predicted it was under 1:33. I saw my mom cheering like crazy for me when I got out of the water so that made me happy =)

***Actual swim time: 1:24***PR by 6 minutes (I didn't know it until after the race though) 7th in AG


For this race, I was unusually scared about being frozen when getting out of the water and onto the bike (probably since it didn't have a HOT TUB in T1 like IM CDA!!!) So I opted for the full change-a-roo...I just wore a swimsuit for the swim, then changed into completely dry clothes for the bike. I did the best I could, even with help of an amazing volunteer, but it is QUITE DIFFICULT to put on spandex when you are wet! I anticipated this, and put some more of my handy vegetable oil in my T1 bag...Gosh I hope all the fat didn't penetrate through my pores, layers of skin, subcutaneous fat, and make it to my bloodstream! haha.

I wore the same outfit that I did for CDA...and the zebra arm warmers made a comeback, you know IT's ON when the zebra arm warmers make an appearance...I also decided to go with a pink/green theme for this race...I got a new pink helmet (Thanks Koren!) and lime green bar end tape. I think it's cute.

HEY TRI-SHARKS - WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT A NEW AWARD...BEST DRESSED? haha
(not that I would win it, I think it would get some funny nominations though...a la Tuma at Evergreen...)

I'm pretty sure I had the slowest T1 time in my age group...9 minutes and change...whoooops....