part 2: the actual race or, another day at the office, or, what the HX(( am I doing again? or, WHAT have I done?
arrive Houston, Thurs. pm put bike together and did a short test ride, test run at 3pm, went well- race packet in hand, athlete's dinner prep w/ Waco Tri Club-very moving but long... drank lots, slept well, up fine the next morning... bike to transition and check that out, over to the swim start and in the water to check that out- NICE- I'm calm now- Cherie tells me "another day at the office"  dinner w/ WTC again, ate well, drank a lot, in bed by 8pm- slept great til alarm at 4:30- seemlessly moved through race a.m. prep and on to the course-that's when things begin to get twingy...you choose! that line a mile long just for air in tires? or this line for Mechanical which also has air-air is all i needed so... mechanic finds my rear wheel is not holding-rips it off an resets the valve stem which was LOOSE! then tightens all my bolts and I'm set. Rack and run to the swim start 1 mi away- as soon as the pros start we are called to the water w/ 15 minutes to wait, treading water for our start? no way! I hang out on the side waiting until then shove me in-i get on the right side and stand on the waters edge-watching-thinking- about 2500 swimmers at one time.  BOOM and we begin-never had clean water, got clobbered constantly by men.  Women would swim w/me but were polite and moved if they needed to, men? no way, they would hit my feet and then proceed to come right over me rather than slide off to the side a little- they would steal my draft, they kicked, they elbowed- it was mean so i swam harder- the final channel and last 1/3 of the race is narrow, 25 ft wide at most so enter the washing machine of waves and bodies.  I exited in fine time adjusted to swimming with my legs getting constantly knocked down etc.-in and out of the change tent, in and out on the bike course-wow! Beauty of a course, felt downhill for the first 10 miles and then the small hills began... constantly rolling but beautiful scenery.  Clean fast pavement-some wind and lots of sun! eating, drinking and feeling fine until 80 mi. girl #1 in the AG was over on the side of the road 2nd time and another AG gal went by me asking where i thought we were-we talked and agreed to stay legal that is until another pack of men and 2 more AG girls blew by us and she hopped on!  completely demoralized at this blatent cheating for a Kona slot- that's when several more groups of blatent drafters started to go by- the last guy on the end was the look-out for the motos-ick! I'm doin my own thing-my own race and Francois told me to ride easy which I stuck to but why the heck is my HR 20 beats higher than norm and why are my legs cramping? this NEVER happened in training... I begin to worry.  At 100 miles of the bike I'm ready to get off but nooooo- 12 more miles of torture! finally off the bike and into the tent-it's HOT now and i'm thirsty but hey, onto the run I feel good! legs feel great! mood is great! just run right? ease into the pace and again the course is a beauty; trails, woodlands, shade... but when the sun was on you and the wind was at your back? OUCH-people walking in the first loop? I felt fine so trotted on getting on course nutrition as well as my own water to cool myself and my salt pills... 2nd loop felt that tired feeling comiing on... just hang in there to loop #3 I felt sorry for the people just entering the course for their lap #1-then it struck- I got dizzy.  Mind you, there were people all over the place, passed out, on IV's mid course, ambulances running back and forth like crazy-it was scarey and when it hit me I was on a wooded secluded part of the trail.  I got scared! I walked, 1 mile from one aid station to next, and then again onto th e next section of trail- my HR was low, I had been eating and drinkiing on target so what was this? my HR was actually now 15 beats lower-at mile 20 I resolved to trot and get this over with... trotting on to the final 6 miles lined with so many people like you've never seen! high fives galore! saw my first chicken broth at mile 23 so took some, then again at 24, 25 felt better but stomach was sloshy... final 1/4 mile was deafening! as I rounded the corner and saw the clock it read 11:59:)) I kicked in to get under 12! 11:59:something I didn't care! and now the emotion smothered me- I couldnt breathe! I wanted to see the faces of my family!  i wanted someone to be there besides my "catcher".  He did a great job tho-steered me iin for a pic-then steered me over and turned me around to get my medal from "do you know who this is?"  I screamed! "no! it's not you!" and she said "yes, it's me, give me a hug you are an Ironwoman"!  came outa Chrissy Wellington's mouth :)  :)  :)  once in a lifetime and then I BAWLED!!!!! to myself of course and asked to be taken to medical- I didn't feel right...
Chapter 3:
I wasn't right- started shaking violently cold-nervous-they wrapped me up and after 10mins of shaking drs decided to strip me to get me warm-get some blood and hook me to an iv-ice cubes fell out of my clothes-nurses were shocked-Dr. said "get a blood panel, her temp is 97"  still shaking uncontrollably- the nightmare began.
i sat bolt upright:  "I don't feel good- I'm gonna pass out' and pass out I did- HARD- woke up to Doc in my face screaming at me-nurses never left my side- now I'm scared witless which didn't help my shaking and i'm still COLD- they start trying to get me to eat bannannas and chicken broth- I do and they pull more blood- Doc comes back and starts the talking coherency test :)  he does tell me I'll be fine in a few hrs and i look at the clock; i've been in the tent for 4 hrs now-2 hrs til the race is over-he looks at the latest blood panel and says " off ya go to the hospital- you need a potassium bag and a magnesium bag now!"  Noooooooooooo- I say noooooooo- i'm all alone!  he then says well you better get to eating a lot and now then and i'll check you in a bit- 11pm no better so I call him over and said " send me away" tucked up tight by the EMT's I take a sweet little ambulance ride over to Hermann Memorial ER-and proceed to spend another 4.5 hrs there getting bags of this and that until I finally feel good? call husband and parents to tell them the bad news/good news.  THAT was scarey- now how to get back to hotel?  call a cab- cab driver was good but 20$ for 1.5 miles? fine! I'll pay anything at this point.  Good Grief!  what did I do? and NO I will never do this again!   ( oh  yeah, I said that after my first marathon too).  i keep repeating "one and done!" 2 hrs of sleep later and into Sunday morning I go find my bike and bags in the back of a truck at lost and found and amble my way back to the airport to fly home....
Chapter 4:  the aftermath....

Its that last minute detailing... and I waited to say it for fear that I wouldn't make it through 4+months of training for Ironman Texas.  I don't know how i kept it together;  family, kids, school, work, training 20+hrs a week AND remaining lively and lovely.  Yes!  I will be at the start line for my first full Ironman distance triathlon; 2.4swim, 112 bike, 26.2 run.  I entered on a bet with coach well after I had already decided to do IMMOO in Sept. same year.  "Lets see what Francois can do with me for IMTX" I thought to myself.  I 'd seen other athletes go through his rigourous programme and it wasn't pretty-SCARED!  weeks, months, racing and I'm feeling fine! actually ridiculously great!?  maybe I can make it to the start injury free? ready to race?  y ou betcha!  Thanks Francois for a fantastic programme and I see ya'll on the other side (Sunday May 20th!).
Goals: to finish? perhaps a slot? there, I said it... KQ
Training:  mid week long runs, wknd long rides, swimming A-LOT! everything else QUALITY work-summing up to 20+hrs a week.  I had no "need" for a massage, I felt only latent soreness after a race or two but I was able to race and train right through with amazing results.  How did I manage?  up at 5am sometimes running then, otherwise kids to school and then run before hitting work at 8:30am, lunchtime swims 1:30 long,  biking eve.s or stationary until the weekend then out the door as soon as it was light.
Nutrition: well, it's simple really: eat good! practice with everything on those long bikes and runs and change nothing before a race.  Get good sleeps-I'm lucky as I'm a good sleeper :)
SWA flies straight to Houston Hobby so there I'll be tomorrow! I'm all alone but I have a huge cheer base back here in El Paso and I'm meeting up with some old/new friends and race participants from my hometown of Waco, Tx.
 part two will have to wait for next week!