Ironman Florida

We arrived at the airport with sufficient time for TriNick to visit "the bathroom"... you know... the one made famous by the horny still-in-closet senator. Nick promises he did NOT tap his foot or reach under the door, as this security guard will attest.

After we arrived, we headed down to the beach for a warmup swim with some of our Minnesota buddies: Nick, me, John, Leanne, and IronGirlNyhus. I got stung three times by jellyfish.

Here is the group picture of the MN Ironmen.

We made a bunch of signs for our friends... that's Betty, Laura's mom on the left.

And Laura made one for the legendary Frank Ferrar. Do you realize he raised over $200,000 in charity for this one race? He is an amazing man.

... that night we found a few bloggers (surprisingly!) in the hotel bar... MicheleK, Lana, Trimama, me, and Mrs. Bigun.

Here I am on the bike course... IronGreg drove by ringing the cowbell. Can't ever have too much of that... I did have some trouble on the bike between mile 49 and 63 when my heart started pounding out of my chest. I could not get it below 230 beats, so I sat upright and coasted at about 15 - 17 mph for about 45 minutes. I threw up when I tried to get back into my aerobars. I was getting freaked out because I was in the middle of nowhere, so when I got to the aid station at mile 63 I got off my bike, went to the bathroom, ate, put some more sunscreen on and stood next to my bike until my HR was down to 139. Then I got back on and was fine the rest of the day. Hence my negative split if you were following irnmanlive.com.

... and dancing on the run course - halfway there! My heartrate average was only 132 on the run - I never even SAW 140 beats. So I was low on the run and high on the bike. Weird.

... and at the finish with IronGirl Nyhus. Laura decided not to race, so she took pictures and supported/ cheered all day. Thanks Laura! I love you!

So my stats were:

Conditions: no wind on the bike; nice breeze on the run. Low temp maybe 55; high temp maybe 75degrees. Ocean? not even a ripple. Smooth as glass. I did see two jellyfish on the swim, but did not get stung.

swim

2.4 miles - 1:08:15 (pace 1:49/100 meters)

bike

73 miles - 3:53:14 (pace 18.78 mph)

39 miles - 2:00:36 (pace 19.4 mph)

112 miles - 5:53:50 (pace 18.99 mph)

run

13.1 miles - 2:27:02 (pace 11:13/mile)

13.1 miles - 2:35:54 (pace 11.54/mile)

26.2 miles - 5:02:00 (pace 11.34/mile)

TOTAL

12:12:13

Here we are at post-race registration for 2008 with Lana, MicheleK, Taconite Boy, and Trimama - who is on the phone with Kahuna, who said he'd do it with us.

The day after is always a relaxing one with chillin' and swillin'. Here are Bigun and Tac Boy getting out of the water after about an hour swim. Di and I watched them for a while, but they swam too far down the beach and our Bloody Mary was getting hot, so we gave up.

Me, Di, and Bigun poolside. Have I told you how delightful and funny these people are? I would go anywhere to a race with them.

Blogger girls: Trimama, IronGirl Nyhus, TriFeist, Mrs. Bigun, me and TriandBeHappy.

This is Di, Trimama, Bigun, me and Taconight Boy after the awards ceremony, posing with my 1st place Athena trophy. Even though I was 24 minutes slower this year, I defended my title!

Last day - meeting at Java Joey's to share pictures and say goodbye.

... and a good time was had by all...

The End!