Ultraman musings...

Last weekend was alot of long slow distance for me. 2 x 2.5 hours on the bike trainer, 5 hours of riding in the foothills, and 5.5 hours of walk/jog/hiking. Lots of time for me to think about this race.

This race is a biggie for me. It was the start of my ultra-triathlon binge, it is a race that has beaten me three times (the first by clock, 12:44 on the run day. The second by water, a bad swim in bad conditions eliminated me on day 1. The third by sickness... nausea and vomit by mile 30 of the run left me unable to contonue).

This race is an opportunity to catch up with my friends, and a time for me to face the worst of my internal demons. I go into this race filled with hope for a great finish to what has been an exceptional season, and filled with doubt in my ability to beat the clock three days in a row.

The format of the race, 3 days in a row with a 12 hour cutoff each day, is a challenge to me. I tend to do better when I can just keep moving from the start through the finish, the stage race format exposes my nutrition and rest difficulties. The first two days are swimming and biking, and provided conditions are not horribly bad should go rather well. The last day is the run... hot and brutal along a highway through the lava fields. My worst event, in the worst conditions... this is where the rubber meets the road for my 2008 season.

And, that's whats been messing with my head. Can I finish the run in under 12 hours? My training says likely. My head says likely. My heart says I'll give it everyhting I have. The little demons in the back of my head laugh and giggle and tell me there's not a chance. I'm working on ignoring those little guys, and giving it my best shot and no matter what the clock says I will finish and know I did the best I could.

In 5 weeks it will be over and time to rest and recover and to look ahead to miles and miles on the bike... I have just under 5 weeks to shut the demons up and to find that happy place to race from so I can be the best Leslie I can be.

In the end I realize that I am an incredibly lucky girl to be able to go and challenge myself like this in such a beautiful place - surrounded by friends, supported by a hubby who loves and believes in me and by Marsha and Robin who think I'm nuts but love me anyways.

Denver Marathon

Yesterday was the Denver Marathon... really cool course through downtown Denver hitting some nice parks... lots of hills and totally perfect weather. Both Drew and I ran, and then he headed to work for several hours while I did some other training (and whined alot).

Drew had a really good day with an easy 3:08 on very little marathon specific training (he's done a long run of like 1:30 since his 7:20 IMKy marathon)... He's now thinking maybe all that training he did for Boston (he followed a 18 week plan) was a bad idea... Drats. How do I enforce good training patterns when he can go snap off a 3:08?

For me the weekend was good hard. Saturday I split a little firewood, then went down to swim, to pick up my race packet, ran 5, and did a 35 mile bike. Was kinda tired by the end!
Sunday was the marathon. I think the cold I was fighting last week coupled by a good day Saturday made it a good test for running tired.

It went okay, but not really inspiring. I ran 4 minutes, walked 2 minutes from the start (it was a test to see if this strategy works for me). I felt that really slowed me down in the first half of the race, and I didn't feel particularly "fresh" at the end of the race. The soles of my feet were quite sore (ordering yet another new pair of shoes today for the end of the season). It was nice to have the beeping to force my to run in the last 6 miles of the race. My time was 5:45… okay… that gives me a 15 minute "cushion" for the third day of Ultraman but not great. I think I am not fast enough to balance the slowness at the beginning of the race with the running ability at the end.

My strategy for Ultraman is now looking like run easy the first hour (downhill and no sun) and then maybe go for something like run 8 minutes, walk 2 for as long as I can hold the 8 minute run. Then maybe switch to 4 and 2 at the end when I'm really tuckered out… The run day at Ultraman is right on the threshold of my abilties, but I will finish it! Hopefully the clock will be with me and I can be a legal finisher, but even if it is not I want to hobble away from this knowing that I did it as best I could.

For the Rim Rock Run (21 miler through the Colorado National Monument in 3 weeks... An AWESOME race I must recommend to you!) I might test this concept a little with run 4/walk 2 up the first 8 miles of incline, then run 8/walk 2 through the next 10 miles of rolling/slight downhill, and then run the rest (walking only the water stops) as the downhill is steep the last 4.

I'm pretty tired today, and have some foot tenderness I'm not happy with including a bit of facia pain proximal to my left heel. Will ice it this week for sure. This week is pretty easy runs through the week, with a 2 hour hike Sat (and 8-10 hour bike) and a 5 hour hike Sunday (with a 4-5 hour bike) to get some time on my feet but still allow for recovery from last weekend. Next weekend is "running camp" which basically means a high volume running week with very little biking and swimming.

Less than 6 weeks to go for me to Ultraman, and 5 for Drew to qualify at IMAz... 3 more weeks of good focus and then it'll be time to get ready to go play with my friends!

Taking charge...

This is Leslie and I now have the password to edit the blog.... (insert evil laugh here)

I don't know if I'll do any better at updating than Drew, but I'll try... will see if I can throw in at least some update once a week...

It's October now which my big running month, got to get my body ready and my head wrapped around finishing Day 3 of Ultraman in good form. Gorgeous fall aspens and nice weather have helped!

Drew is trying to motivate for Ironman Arizona... he's going to have a great race... I can feel it!

Other than that we're firewood splitting, TV watching, and watching the sunrise as we drive down the hilll to go to work. Days are getting shorter and the "off-season" (December) is just around the corner after we both rock the end of this season...

Keep on runnning...

Leslie

Hoodoo 500 - Sept 13th

As ya'll know, my big plans are to do the Race Across the West next year, and then RAAM in 2010. So, this season is my last season of Ultra-Tri for awhile… but, I figured it made good sense to jump into a long bike race now and just make sure that this cycling thing is really what I want to commit to.

So, I entered the Hoodoo 500, a 518 mile bike race on a single lap course through Southern Utah. The past two weeks haven't been ideal lead up conditions, with (my favorite local race ever) the 24 Hours of Triathlon (didn’t write a report on it but it was a really good time and an okay race for me) and then a business trip to NYC where I was putting on my first conference… We drove out to Utah Friday morning, got in with just the right amount of time to set up the car, meet my support crew and coach, spin on the bike for a few minutes, eat dinner, and go to the meeting. To set up the car we needed to put my race number all over it, put two yellow flashing lights atop, add a "Bikers ahead" magnetic sign, and oh yeah organize all the food, supplies, coolers, wheels, etc inside.

My crew consisted of my hubby and best supporter, Drew, and a friend of my coach's from Vegas, Larry. This was my first time meeting Larry and he is just great. I found him to be warm and supportive, funny, awake and alert, and just a really kind man. Drew tells me he had some good stories, and as a couple of Civil Engineers they had some good things to talk about as they whiled away the hours of the race in the car. My coach was there supporting another of her people, a really fast and nice guy Urs who went on to finish 2nd. She kept asking if I had any questions, but I reckon I didn’t know enough to know what to ask… I was just ready to get on with the biking! She provided a lot of good tips, and I think she and Larry talked occasionally throughout the race.

I also picked up my ride-along. The "Bow". There is a group of women cyclists who have this bow made of ribbons that travels around the country and goes on bike rides. A few weeks before the race Deb, the co-RD for Hoodoo, had the bow riding with her at the Tour of Utah which is a week long tour on the same course as the Hoodoo. She asked if I would bring the bow with me on the race, and of course I would never turn down the good luck. The bow was attached to my seat post, an fortunately had seen all the course before because I'm afraid on this ride she got a slow tour looking at my bum.

The race started with a neutral 8 miles Saturday morning. Brian (Deb's hubby and co-RD) rode us out and we had the usual morning chatter. Finally we got to the real start and the fast guys just took off. We there was a slight grade and I settled in and tried not to look back to see if I was last. We hit a road ("Hwy 9") that I thought we were supposed to turn on, but it wasn't really the T intersection I expected. The guy ahead of me went straight, I got stopped by a light, and a guy rolled up next to me. I asked if we should turn or go straight and he said in very accented English "go straight". Okay, light changes, we go. A few miles later the other guy is coming back at us. Drats. I call Drew and ask if we should have turned at 9 and he said yes, so quick Uturn, a reminder to myself that this will be a long day, and back we go. Up and down and then psst… Flat tire. DRATS! I'm still a few miles away from where I can meet my crew so I try calling again, no cell service at their end so I leave a message, take a deep breath and change the tire. Repeat a gain slowly. It's a long day. At least I've got the bad luck out of the way now. It's a long day.

Finally meet up with the crew and we settle into the bike race. They give me a walkie talkie, which is kinda cool because as I go up this 3ish mile climb I hear "You are almost at the top. Looking good". I think I like this thing! (Note to self, make a mount for it on my handlebars for the next long race). Go through Colorado City but I don’t see any interesting people there (I was looking… since the town has been in the news a lot recently). Get a nice long flat downhill, and eventually make it to the first CP. I see one other crew a lot, turns out they are the Finnish guys sisters and he speaks very little English (I wonder what he thought about out little getting lost earlier).

After the CP there's a 5ish mile climb and some kids go by in a convertible and throw cheeto's at me. Made me laugh! Michelle has this thing about eating cheetos in long races and I wondered if it was a sign!

The miles pass. Many climbs, most long (20-30 miles) and gradual. Lots of pee breaks. Bryce canyon, gorgeous. I see some racers on occasion, enough to not feel too isolated. I did the first night downhill alone (pretty steep and fast) and we decided from then on my crew would sit behind me on downhills. Scary stuff going that fast without much light. Somewhere in the middle of the night on a long climb I decided to take a nap. An hour in a sleeping bag on the side of the road. I didn’t sleep, but I did rest and it felt good. In the end I'm sure it didn’t hurt me, but I'm not sure it helped. Finally daylight came again and more of the same.

The scenery was absolutely gorgeous. The miles just passed by. I wasn't moving fast but I was really having fun. It was hard to eat solid food, got my gag reflex up, but we tried to get nibbles into me as often as possible. I thought about everything and nothing. This is the best part of the deal for me. I had flashes of good riding, flashes of laziness, and generally just rolled along. Finally we were at the "last" 30 mile climb before a big drop-off and then 85 miles of "easy to downhill" to the finish. The climb was pretty fun for the first 25 miles but then it was dark and I was tired and it got endless. At some point (Saturday I think) my breathing got all weird, I was breathing rapidly and shallowly. It didn’t seem to bother me, but was just strange. On this climb of climbs I would stop and just hang over my handlebars for a minute, then get back on a pedal some more. The guys were following me in the car and would get out and see if I was alright and I was, just pooped. I'd ride. I'd stop. I'd ride some more. Finally to the top and Larry says the next 6 miles are short steep climbs with downhills between. I think I screeched at him "WHAT, I thought I got to go DOWNhill". (The section wasn't actually that bad). I added all the clothes I could and we headed out and then started down a 20 mile 8% grade into a town. I was shivering so bad my front end was shaking, but I was flying down this hill. A couple of deer came across the road and fortunately I was too tired to react. Instead it was more of "huh, glad I missed them".
I thought about stopping when we hit town, I was cold and tired and ready to be done but Larry bounced out of the car in town and said "Great, it's easy from here, take off some of those clothes and lets get going" so I did. It seemed easy and warm, and then 5 miles later I started climbing again. WHAT? That's not easy! The map showed a slight grade but this was not slight. 30 miles took over 3 hours. The last 5ish were downhill and froze me solid. All I could think about was that it was 2am, I was cold and tired, and we had a 9.5 hour drive back home and no one had slept. Stopped at the next turn and I just was done.

So, I called the race a 471 miles (on my bike computer) and 42:08. I learned a lot and I am really excited about the next two seasons when I focus on this bike racing stuff. I am going to go back to Hoodoo next year I thing, with specific time goals in place for the checkpoints, knowledge of the course, and some decent hill training and I'll see about finishing with a good solid time.
This season still holds Ultraman. So, in two weeks I go to Tampa for some long ocean swim training. Then October is running month (200 miles, one marathon, and one big back to back weekend). The November is Ultraman. Finally the monkey will get off of my back!

Thanks for reading my stories… I'm really looking forward to the journey to Annapolis (where RAAM will end in June, 2010) and if you keep reading, I'll take ya along…

Keep the rubber side down and a smile up,
Leslie

Where's Drew? - Part II - Quebec

So you've read Leslie's rather short race report (short for her). I'm going to give you a little more from my perspective - support crew.



This was quiet the whirlwind trip as is standard practice for us. We got in to Quebec City around 10 or 10:30 pm and the race director for the double had promised to pick us up and there he was. On the way to the dorm/apartment (I know, pretty basic, but it saved us a ton), leslie was trying to confirm how to get to the race course and all from the dorm since we were not going to have a car. The race director, Jean Guy, just ended up taking us to the race site, how cool. He then walked us to the swim start and the bike transition. On the way back to the dorm, he stopped at a grocery store so we could get a couple things to eat.


Well, morning came early, I believe the sun was up at 4:30 am, felt like 11 am. Anyway, leslie put her bike together and we headed down to the race course so she could swim and ride a little, I ran along side on the way there. What a nice bike trail. So the St. Lawrence river is a huge, long river and has maybe a 10-15 foot tide, who knew? Well, we got to the swim site and it was on its way to low tide, I'll show you some pictures during the later to give you a perspective but note the trees and where the water is in this one. Leslie went out and eventually got in deep enough water to swim a little then did a few laps on the bike before we started to head back to the dorm. The intent was to run back and she would ride of course, but very quickly it was all about food. We stopped a pizza place and sat outside which then turned into a walk back to the dorm basically but the weather was just about perfect.


Our friends were due in from Pittsburgh and we were going to have a casual dinner and get all caught up. Well they didn't end up getting there until 10 pm or so, so we went and dinner at a little pizza place at the corner. They have this item called a poutine, that in our opinion just rocks! It basically is french fries with cheese curds (big ones like buffalo mozzeralla slices) smothered in brown gravey, Ooooo!!!!! Anyway, the next day thursday was the pre-race dinner and introductions. Not much interesting here, except that leslie was kind of feeling like a little fish in a really big sea.



Next day, Friday, was the race. We got leslie down there early but with the sun up at 4:30 am it felt late. They lined the athletes up by country and they walked across the bike trail and then were given a few minutes to get ready to swim. Because you swim down stream and the water seems to edy out, pushing you back up, it was expected this would be a fast swim. Well for the leaders it was pretty fast. For leslie, it got a bit challenging with 4 laps to go. Anyway, she came out of the water 5 minutes behind Astrid (a former world champion and course record holder) and 3 minutes behind Syria from Great Britian. I was very encouraged by this. On to the bike, and things seemed to be

going quiet well. Astrid only had a one lap lead at best, but didn't really look comfortable, might be how she always looks. Anyway, I'd ask leslie what she wanted and she'd just grin. So I had to just start handing her anything to eat and drink, so that she would. I would say that this was the best I've seen her eat and drink on the bike in a long race in long time. It took a few hours for us to notice, since we were trying to get food, drinks, and keep track of Wayne and others, but at some point I was at the lap counter table and Leslie had 2 or 3 laps on Astrid. Then after it got dark and had rained at least a couple times, it was very apparent Astrid was not riding very well. Syria was just no where even close. Well, after many pee breaks, it was time to get off the bike and run. Leslie had a 7 lap lead on Astrid. They were riding 9 to 10 minute laps at the end so I figured Leslie was over an hour ahead. Our plan going into this race was for Leslie to concentrate on getting a double marathon time as close to 12 hours as possible.


Why? The whole goal for the year is get to Ultraman Hawaii and finish and this was on of the big tests. Well the week or so before we were coming up to Canada, Leslie got an email from the Ultraman folks saying they had concern about her running and not finishing on previous occasions and wanted her to prove she could do it in under 12 hours. Sure they said they had others they were requiring a qualifing time from but this is a first for them. I was not happy about this, it really irritated me, still does. It just crushed Leslie's spirit and quiet frankly spit it the face of what Ultraman is all about, or at least what I thought it was.


Anyway, we were thinking that at the end of the bike she would sit down, maybe take a 20 minute nap, and generally get as refreshed as she could then get out and run without any stops or breaks, because we knew the run was not going to be easy if she wanted that 12 hours. Alright, it wasn't going to be easy no matter how you looked at it. Well, that whole plan didn't happen. Leslie wanted to stay in the lead and get as far ahead as possible since Astrid has the course record and supposedly can run. Leslie was racing!!!!

First marathon was 6:11 or so, pretty good considering a few bathroom breaks, so I figured that she might be able to even split the race and 12:20-12:30 would be good enough to get in Ultraman since the format is different. Here the race is continuous and in Hawaii it is more of a stage race and you get to eat, sleep, rest after 12 hours each day. At this point, Astrid was still 5 1/2 laps behind or so and really did not look like running was something she'd ever done (i.e. really looked like she was going to fall over), let alone look like she was going to be able to make up the deficit. So this was a big festival, they had the double but also an ironman, 1/2 ironman, an olympic, a duathlon, a 50k run, and a 100k run which all started on saturday morning and ended up being on the same run course about the time Leslie still had a marathon or so to go. I think this helped her a little, if nothing else gave her something else to look at and focus on. So somewhere around 27 laps of 42 for Leslie, I noticed Astrid talking to her crew and in the medical tent. Come to find out that her crew was telling her that she wouldn't make the cut off of 32 hours and shortly there after she dropped out. The race director came out and started talking to Leslie every few laps telling her she could finish, and Leslie was like "I'm going to". (I have a picture somewhere showing the director with leslie)






Well, the long story short, Leslie won!!! Leslie is World Champion!

So I'll leave the details of the awards and after to a conversation you can have with Leslie personally. The general gist is she got a standing ovation.

The next couple days after we went to Quebec City and saw the city and went in a bunch of shops and went whale watching. I was a little sceptical about the chances of seeing a whale, I don't anyone I've ever talked to that went whale watching ever saw a whale. Well we did!! A bunch of them too. I managed to get a couple shots which seems to be a challenge because you never know where or when they are going to surface.




Well, that's the short story I guess. Ultimately, Leslie sent her results in the Ultraman and they have invited her. So we will be heading to Hawaii for Thanksgiving one more time..........To finish!!! and kick its ass.



Remember..............


Ciao

Where's Drew?

Okay, So I haven't been so good about writing like I said I would be. So I'm going to do a whirlwind wrap up of the things I've done since the Boston Marathon. Oh and our cool dog Gretchen wanted to say hey.

You read Leslie did the 18 hrs of Fruita and was pretty happy with how that went. The next week Leslie decided we needed some speed of some kind so we jumped into the Highline Canal 10k. This should have been a fairly nice day and solid training. I ended up having trouble really getting into the mood, maybe just a little to low profile to get worked up about. The gun went off and I was in front with some other guy. Just before the mile mark some kid (I say kid because he was easily 10 years younger than me) came by with his ipod jamin'. That was the race basically, from there I increased the gap on 3rd and he increased the gap on me. It was a rather deceptively uphill course for the first 4 miles or so but it ended up being a good hard effort. I finished 2nd overall, 1st in the 40-49 age group and ran 38:55. I was a little discouraged by the time but not too badly.

That was May 10th, the next week was the Davis Phinney ride on May 17th and then Leslie thought it would be good to get a medium distance had run in. So Sunday the 18th we ran the Colfax 1/2 marathon. This was interesting, I was hoping to run around 1:21 or so and I ended up at 1:25:05. I was 4th in my age group and 13th overall. I was in a tie for 3rd/4th for the first 3 miles then settled down and ran in 4th through 8 miles and right on pace to do something under 1:21. Then I just seemed to not be able to drive through well or something and started fading a bit, one person a mile or so. Then 2 or 3 guys came by and I just couldn't stick with them. It ends up that if I hadn't faded the 1:21 would have put me in 2nd in my age group and 4th or 5th overall. Oh well, can't have it everytime I guess.

Two weeks later, June 31/July 1 was the opening of the triathlon season for me. Leslie went to Dirty Kanza and I went to Show Low, AZ for the Deuces Wild triathlon festival. I like this race, its warm...........ok its hot usually and good honest race courses, plus they give kind of cool finisher medals and have a huge raffle that Leslie and I have yet to get anything good out of. Saturday I did the Olympic triathlon in 2:15:57 for 3rd in my age group and 11th overall, that actually was a slight improvement over 2007 but only a few seconds. My run split was 2nd overall. Sunday I did the Xterra. The mountain bike course has a stretch of big river rock that starts out ridable but if you are close to anyone ends up being a hike-a-bike to the top, then its pretty fast back to the transition with rather wet/muddy culvert crossing. Anyway, I went 2:21:40 for 4th in my age group and 22nd overall, my run was 3rd overall. I ended up riding around 5 minutes slower than 2007 and the only idea I have is in 2007 I crashed pretty hard and I subliminally didn't want to do that again. Oh well!!

The next two weeks was about training and doing a stroke & stride. On June 15th I did the 1st race in the 5430 series, this actually the first time I will have done all three of these races. Anyway, the 5430 Sprint had almost 1200 people if I remember correctly. I went 1:19:07 which got me 42nd overall and 9th in my age group, rather humbling and amazing how many people are really fast and I'm barely even close. This was a 1/2 mile swim, 17 mile bike, and 5k run and was semi happy with how things went speed wise, although it has become very apparent I've lost some speed on the bike, I only average 23.1 mph for this short distance. Just 2 or maybe 3 years ago I was over 24 mph still. Could be the long distance training, I hope.

Another stroke & stride and then Xterra Buffalo Creek on June 21st. I like this race because the course has a fair amount of climbing which really helps bring me in contention with the downhill Kamakazi's. Leslie and I both did some volunteer work for the race director, trying to improve our karma or something like that. Stuffed race bag, painted some signs, and leslie ended up directing bikes on race day. I had a pretty good day going 2:50:07 for 5th in my age group and 44th overall. To put it in perspective I did this race in 2005 and went 2:42:59 for 2nd in my age group and 19th overall. Yeah, I probably rode a little cautiously in a few places like I did in Arizona but this was only the 2nd time I'd been on my mountain bike this year and it really was just a chance to race, build some strength and keep me honest.

This week, June 29th was the week all the other races were kind of gearing toward and ultimately Ironman Louisville at the end of August. Buffalo Springs 70.3 is normally just one hot, breezy race that I know I should be able to do pretty well at and yet I always struggle for some reason. Oh yeah, I think that's why I like doing or something like that. Normally in the 90's, breezy to windy, and with a few hills to slow things down a little, and almost no shade on the run. This year was totally different. It ended up being very windy and at times it always seemed to be in your face and it rained almost the entire bike and part of the run. When we left it was basically sunny. I had a decent swim 31:27, probably aided by another first. Everyone ran the first 200 yards out of the beach area. I didn't know that was an option but I sure got in on the deal. I thought I was riding pretty strongly into the wind and even down the very wet and slippery hills on the bike but only managed a 2:50:42 (I'm usually 2:40 here and last year I was 2:36 or so). So out on the run, I felt pretty strong through the first 2 hills, running stride for stride with some other dude and passing many. Well comming up the second hill I lost touch with my running partner and ran into an old friend we made at Great Floridian in 2000 (I think). I ran up on him but we really were running the same pace somehow. I moved on past him at the turn around and really thought I was moving pretty good, especially with the overcast skies, wind/breeze, and rain. I ended up finishing in 5:11:35 for 24th in my age group. I think I may have really worked hard on the bike and that took it out of my legs for the run since I ran 1:46. When I looked at the top guys in my age group and others it seems that everyone had a tough time on the bike because their times weren't out of control and yet their runs should have been faster because of the cool temperatures. Overall I guess I feel like I'm on track but we'll see when it really gets hot in July and August.

I guess since this is getting rather long and I still have more we'll go to part two in a few.

Ciao Drew

I'm a World Champion!!!

Just got back from the Triathlon De Levis Double Ironman World
Championships and I'm exhausted, but cannot stop this big grin on my
face...
I am the 2008 Double Ironman World Champion!!!!!

Quick report here, and then more details this weekend...

At the dinner the night before the race they introduced the athletes.
The other gals were Astrid Benohr and Suraya Oliver and got long
introductions as they are both top multi-ironman distance athletes
(google their names, I did before the race and it was scary!). They
introduced me, "Leslie Holton... she's done ironmans"... well, okay
I've done a bit more than that but I am certainly the baby at this
sport and the race fodder!

Slept pretty good, and Friday morning arrived all too soon.

SWIM: The swim was in the St Laurence river, 12 loops. The tide was
high when we started and dropped enough to expose 30 feet of beach by
the time I finished. Each lap was a different challenge with
different circulating currents sweeping us around. Finished the swim
and was 5 to 10 minutes back.

BIKE: Quick(ish) transition and onto the bike. Passed both gals in
the first lap. Astrid looked strong but Suraya was clearly not
feeling good yet. The bike course suited me well with 1.2 miles on
lightly rolling road with a kicker at the end (a steep hill that was
about 20 pedal strokes standing up hard) and then 1.2 miles back on a
super sweet in the aerobars bike path. Really good sweeping turns at
each end. 92 laps. I could see folks on the opposite side of the
course as I was riding and tracked Astrid each lap. I tried to ride
steady and easy but with a rabbit like that it was fun to see what I
could make up each lap and I ended up having just a blast oon the ride
grinning like and idiot even through the 3 short storms that blew in.
The storms actually changed the winds, which were strong and
relentless, but just added to the fun. After dark set in it was
harder to keep a consistent pace, and other riders became just
headlights but finally it was done and I hopped off the bike.

RUN: I had planned a slow leisurely maybe even a nap transition but
Drew told me I was 7 laps ahead of Astrid so instead it was a quick
change and go. The run was out and back, 2k total, 42 laps. I tried
running the middles and walking the ends. After a few hours Astrid
hit the course and it was a question of whether she could hawk me
down. She did not pass me in the first marathon, though she caught up
a bit each lap and we did get a chance to chat. She said she left too
much on the bike trying to stay close... The sun came up, things got
hot, life got hard. Astrid quit after 28 hours or so when it was
clear she would not make the cutoff. I was not allowed a pacer
because I was in the lead. My guts turned over, settled down, and
turned again. Finally it was 5 to go, then 4, then 3, 2, and the last
lap where I cried most of the way because it was over and I was so
darned happy!

AFTERMATH: Finished the race and all I wanted was a Pepsi. Nope.
Drink only these sealed water bottles, got escorted to the drug
testing room, chug more water til I could produce 100ml. Strange
formal surreal process of drug testing where I had too pee in front of
a witness and create my A and B samples that will be sent off to the
lab. Crazy!!!

Won the biggest heaviest trophy I have ever seen. When the drug tests
come back clean I'll even win a prize purse!

Whew... it was a really really special week!

Leslie