Tough Course + Tough Competion =

What a way to cap off my 3 week training camp (aka Introduction to Fitness 101)...a fifth place finish at Ironman 70.3 Lake Stevens.  I took the ferry across from Sidney to Anacortes, gorgeousness!  Then I got to pick up Randy at the airport, Yippee!  I hadn't seen him in forever!!!  Then it was time to settle in and get focused on the task at hand.  I rode the bike course a few times and knew it was gonna be killer...then got to the race and taking it up a notch made it seem ALOT tougher!  And speaking of tough: there was some stiff competion!  Let's see, there was Melanie McQuaid (congrats girl!) 3 time Xterra World Champion; Tyler Stewart, Ironman Champion; Sam Warriner 2 time Aquathon World Champion, 7 time World Cup Champion; Sam McGlone Ironman 70.3 World Champion; Linsey Corbin, Ironman Champion; Joanna Zieger, Ironman 70.3 World Champion, and a slew of other great racers.  So even though I got my butt kicked a bit...at least it was in good company. 

The day started off with a stellar swim.  I exited the water with over 1min on Joanna and it was over 3min until the other ladies started to chase me down.  I tackled the hills right off the bat, hoping to stay 'out of sight, out of mind!'  Melanie came flying by me around mile 25 and I did my best to keep her in sight.  As we started lap 2, the bike course got a bit crazy and crowed with the age-groupers and traffic.  I got caught behind a car twice and had no where to go...a bit frustrating, but what can ya do?  Towards the end of lap 2, Tyler and Sam went by me too...so I entered T2 in fourth place.  I had high expectations for my run and was hoping to run some of the girls in front of me down (now looking back on it, I've only done one speed workout since my last 70.3 race in Florida in May...so not sure what I was thinking?!)  The run was tough and hilly, I did my best to hold off Sam and Linsey.  Sam passed me at the final turn-around and at that point my hamstrings started cramping.  I went into survival mode (thank goodness it was mostly downhill) and crossed the finish line in 5th.  Happy and a good post-surgery starting point.  The only way is UP from here!!!

Super job to everyone who raced!!!