This was my second go round of the IM World Championships, and I must say, this year was a bit tougher. It was a somewhat typical IM race morning with the super early breakfast and a nap before heading down to transiton. The morning scene is pretty intese at IM WC’s. My favorite part is the body marking … big fat stamps for numbers. So cool!

After body marking, I headed to transition to find a pump and get my bike ready to roll. As soon as I was done, I jumped in the port o potty line and waited for quite some time. Before I knew it, the cannon went off for the pros, and I was in the water waiting for the age group cannon to sound. For some reason I was not nervous, which could be because I knew what to expect. Last year I remember the swim to be very brutal and I couldn’t get any open water. I really got my arse kicked out there.

I was hoping this year’s swim would be a bit different. Once the cannon went off, I just put my head down and swam. I actually had some clear water for the first few minutes. This didn’t last, but I took what I could get to settle into a groove. Eventually, my space was gone and I was swimming on top of, close to, or under the other swimmers. I did what I could do to make it through. As I rounded the first buoy, I knew I was going to have a similar time as last year. It just seemed as though I was out there forever. On the way back into the bay, we had the currant against us with some decent swells. I drank a ton of water on the way back in. Yuck! I finally had the pier in my sights. Once I made it to the stairs I saw the clock… 1:13. Yup just what I thought.

This year I remembered exactly where my T1 bag was with my bike gear. I made it to the tent quickly, changed, got lathered up with sunscreen, and was on my way. I got to my bike and noticed there were a lot of bikes gone. Usually the case seeing I am not a fast swimmer out in Kona. The plan was to ride hard until I got to the airport, which would allow me to catch up with some of the other female riders and hopefully beat some of the winds. Well, I was able to ride hard, but not sure it helped much. My ride out on the Queen K wasn’t bad, however, I did have an upset stomach. I think it was that salt water.

Once I turned off the Queen K I saw TIm and Brian on the side of the road. It it was great to see two friendly faces, and of course Tim had the camera. It wasn’t until I hit the climb to Hawi that I actually thought I was going to die. I knew this was the breaking point of my race. The cross winds were so bad. I regret having the race wheels and aero helmet. I was getting blow all over the place. I hate to admit it, but I did cry at one point. I need to work on riding in crazy winds. Anyway… I made it to the turnaround and then took my time getting out of Hawi. After I saw someone get picked up by the winds, I was very skidish. At that point I decided to just take it easy and make it out of Hawi in one piece. Finally, I was done and turned back on the Queen K where I could finally ride and get into a groove. I did make up some lost time, but not enough. My bike time was 6:17, which was 10 minutes slower than last year, and around 20 minutes slower than my target. Truthfully, I was just glad to finish without taking a spill.

It was time to get the running shoes on and hopefully run down some peeps. Coming into Kona I knew the run would be a gamble. I hurt my ankle a few weeks prior and hadn’t run for about a month. Two weeks prior to the race, I hat a cortisone shot as a last resort. I was hoping it would hold through the marathon, but that wasn’t the case. I felt great at mile 1 and then once I hit mile 2, the ankle slowly started to fail me. The 7:50 pace eventually went downhill and turned into a power walk/ run. I walked more than I would have liked, but it was all I could do. The pain was creeping and it didn’t let up. Later on the run I saw Tim and Brian with the camera, and yeah they gave me some motivation and yelled at me to keep running. I only had a few downhill miles left, so I was trying to walk less and run more. I was also starting to get hungry out there seeing I was out on the course a lot longer than I had anticipated. It was dark!

After I made the turn off the Queen K, I was home free. I pushed as hard as I could the last mile or so. Once I hit Alli drive I was psyched. I crossed the finish in 11:49, with a 4:10 marathon… not bad with all the walking. Oh and I did play the air guitar with my leg once I crossed… hahaha! Not sure where that came from.

My second IM Kona in the books… awesome stuff! Thanks to my family and friends for dealing with my crazy training schedule. Thanks to Coach Jesse and the entire QT2 team for a great season.

Congrats to all the QT2 athletes that rocked IM Kona 2010!!!

Filed under: Race Reports