DNF at IMAZ

These kinds of race reports are never any fun. But I know when I watch the IM online and I see a bunch of blank fields for an athlete I'm tracking I want to know what happened. So I'll tell everyone exactly what happened.

PRE-RACE:
I arrived in Tempe on Thursday to get ready for the race. The expo was just open, so I was able to get my packet without standing in lines. All of the volunteers were great. Then I stopped by the IM booth and bought a IMAZ shirt, jersey, sticker, and a few other things. Not sure what I'm going to do with those now. Maybe I'll wear them anyways to remind me and keep me training hard for next time.The big stress for the week was getting my husband here. He was on travel for work and was supposed to fly in to Tempe from Boston on Friday night. His plane was late and got struck by lightning as it headed into Dallas. Dallas was a mess and shut down, so he got a hotel and an 11am flight on Sat morning. That flight was late because 30 planes were damaged due to hail. He finally got here, butI only had a little time to visit with him before getting ready for the race. Saturday night we went to dinner with the Tucson Tri Girls, then I mixed all my bottles and got everything ready. I only got 5 hrs of sleep that night. Got up at 3am when I couldn't sleep anymore and got ready. My stomach was so nervous that I kept having to go to the bathroom. Finally left the hotel room and walked to transition. Filled my bike bottles, dropped off my special needs bags, then sat around waiting. The Tri Girls found us and took lots of pics, then it was time to get in the wetsuit and head to the water.

I couldn't believe the number of people on the dock waiting to get in the water. I found Holly and Kyle, and hung out with them andthen I saw Welshy (a guy from BeginnerTriathlete.com) and said hi to him. We finally got in the water. I was expecting stairs, but we hadto jump off the dock. Into the water I went, and started heading forthe start line.

SWIM:
This was a really slow swim for me. I seeded myself towards the backand right on the buoy line. I could barely hear the announcer. Finally the gun went off and we started swimming. From where I wasit wasn't too rough. Didn't get beat up or anything. I tried to stay on the buoy line, but had a hard time sighting into the sun. At one point I heard someone yell, and it was Holly! After I realized it I yelled "Go Holly!" to her. It made me feel better knowing someone I knew in all this mess of 2000 people was right there with me. I kept popping my head up to see, especially after the Rural bridge. I thought the turnaround buoys were right after the bridge, but theywere quite aways. Swimming with my head up for that long tired me out. Towards the end of the swim I could only swim a few freestyle strokes before having to stop and breast stroke. It felt like it took forever. I was fully expecting to see 2 hrs on my watch when I got out, but was surprised to see 1:47. I was just glad to be out of the water. I got to the wetsuit strippers and heard "Go Tri Girls" and looked up and it was Kathy! (from the Tri Girls) I was so glad to see her! My suitwas off so I jogged along the path, and saw my husband, in-laws, and friends along the fence and waved to them. "I'm so glad that's over!" I yelled to them.

T1 (SWIM-TO-BIKE):
I jogged along the path, which was really long, and got my T1 bag. A volunteer came up to me and took my wetsuit and guided me into the change tent and helped me the entire time. I was really grateful to have someone there. I took my time just to make sure I didn't forget anything. I had a small hand towel in my bag, and the volunteer gave me a towel for my feet. My feet were covered in dirt and grass, so I took extra time to towel them off all the way. Got my gear on and hit the porta potty on the way out. Then I got my bike and headed out on the course. I heard a bunch of people yelling "Go Tri Girls"along the way. It was great!

BIKE:
I was so glad to be on my bike. I decided to get my legs under me and try to take it easy for the first loop. Little did I know what was ahead. I settled into the aerobars and spun in an easy gear. The road was really rough in spots, and I was worried about getting a flat. Finally I ended up on the beeline and saw Tri Girls on the course along the way, both in the race and cheering on the side ofthe road. I made it to the turnaround and was faced with a horrible headwind, and my speed dropped. This was not good. I pedaled along and finished the first loop and checked my time. I would have to hammer the second and third loops in order to make it. I bit my lip as I passed my family that was cheering, because I knew I was going to be close to the cutoffs.

At the start of the second loop I put the hammer down and pushed hard. I was going 20 mph UP the hill on the beeline. I hit the turn in one hour (15 min faster than first loop) and headed into the wind. The wind was so strong, and the gusts almost pushed me off mybike. Getting to the special needs area was especially tough. I looked down to see my computer at 9 mph. I pulled in to SN and got my bag to get my pretzles and handiwipes to wipe the salt off of my face. I got back on the bike and headed out. The wind was stripping all of my sunscreen and face oils off. At one point I pulled out my Vaseline from my bento box and put it on my lips, nose, and cheeks.

The wind was relentless. On a hill I normally went 20+ mph while coasting I was going 10 mph with peadaling hard. All I knew was thatI had to start my 3rd loop by 3PM in order to make the first cutoff. But the wind was pushing me back. I pushed and pushed and finally got back into town. I got to the start of the 3rd loop at 2:45PM, with 15 minutes to spare. I stopped by the first aid station to use the bathroom, and pulled my bike off the rack when I was done and discovered my rear wheel locked up. I looked down and the skewer was out of the dropouts! I put the wheel back on and tightened the skewer. I think what happened was the lever of the skewer got pulled open on the bike rack when they were pulling bikes out. So I rode over 80 miles with an undone rear wheel. Thank goodness for lawyer tabs on dropouts! Everytime I think about the corners I railed through with the wheel like that gives me the willies. I avoided disaster on that one.

The 3rd loop was empty, except for the few of us struggling to make the cutoff. I remember I kept looking for Holly. We always seem to be near each other in the races, but I didn't see her out there. I was hoping nothing bad happened and that she was OK. I pounded the pedals as much as I could and hit the turnaround 20 min before the 4:15PM cutoff. I knew it was going to be close to be back by 5:30PM. The winds were really strong at this point, but I pushed harder than I ever have. It was the worst wind I have ever felt on the bike. I thought about everyone out there, and everyone that was watching and cheering for me. The Tri Girls came out to the course and cheered for me every few miles, which really helped. It was just like Ragnar! They would drive up a bit ahead, then get out and cheer. It made me feel like I wasn't alone out there. At this point I just wanted to get off the beeline and back into town. I hoped and prayed for the wind to let up, even if just a little bit. But it wouldn't. I pushed and pushed and pushed. I passed 5 other people while pushing hard. The last 17 miles I went into sprint mode and stopped taking on my nutrition. My heartrate skyrocketed as I pushed, but even with all the pushing I was only going 11 mph into the wind. My mind raced frantically as I did the math. Time was slipping through my fingers, but I was going to fight. The cops at each corner cheered as I came through, probably because I was grimacing as I pushed the pedals. I was topped out and couldn't push any harder. Each gust of wind stripped more and more from me, so I dug deeper and deeper into the energy reserves. I knew I was fighting against the wind, against time, against a DNF. I had to keep going.

Finally I turned onto Rio Salado and checked my watch...10 minutes left. The transition area seemed so far away, but I slammed the pedals down as hard as I could. My arms were yanking on the aerobars as I diverted all of my energy and everything I had left into my legs. The windblew hard but I kept pushing. I started yelling and screaming as I pedaled. It hurt so bad and I couldn't go any faster, but I had to keep going. I passed through an intersection and the cop lady there cheered for me as I yelled. I frantically pedaled, my mind focused on nothing but pedaling as hard as I could. I wanted to throw up from pushing so hard, but I coudn't stop. I figured I would puke on my jersey if I had to, but I was going to keep going. Just keep going...just keep going...I turned onto the Mill Avenue bridge and there were only minutes left. I couldn't let up now even though it hurt so bad. There was I guy just in front of me, so I worked on chasing him down. As I crossed the bridge I looked down at my watch...10:30 total race time, that meant it was 5:30PM. I didn'tcare, as I figured maybe my watch was wrong and off from the official race time. I rolled over the second bridge on the way back and the Tri Girls cheered for me. I stood in the pedals as I headed back into the wind on 3rd street. I made the next turn and the guy in front of me had pulled off to the curb, talking to some people. I kept going. I learned from racing motorcycles that you don't ever stop racing until you see either a red flag or checkered flag. I made the turn into the parking lot, and pushed the pedals hard all the way up to the transition area.

The volunteers yelled for me to slow down and dismount from the bike. The following conversation was surreal.

volunteer: "Ma'am...we can't let you continue."
other volunteer: "Don't let her cross the timing mat."
another volunteer: "Take her chip off."

I looked at my watch...5:36PM. I had missed the cutoff by 6 minutes. All I could do was nod and point at my left leg. They were going to have to take my chip off, as I wasn't going to do it. They took my bike, and one of the volunteers, a large guy, walked with me and held me up. "How are you feeling?" he asked. I looked over at my husband and shook my head and started crying. "I know...it's hard."The volunteer said as his voice shook and he choked back tears. "I'm going to take you over here." He led me to the med tent. "Do you need anything else?" he asked. I turned and hugged him and started crying uncontrollably. "It's ok...I know this is hard." He said as he cried a bit and held me. They sat me down on a lawn chair and I kept crying. Another volunteer came over and said he had racked my bike. "I do triathlons too and I know this is hard" he said. His name was Jason, but all I could do was nod as I bawled. "You did great Pirate Girl!" I looked up...who knew that was me? (that's my BeginnerTriathlete.com handle). It was "Stands With A Fist" who was volunteering and had a BT tattoo on her wrist. All I could do was nod and cry.

They checked my blood pressure and my pulse which was now racing as I cried. They told me to breathe, but I couldn't. All I could do was cry. I thought about that scene in the '04 Kona race where Sarah Reinertsen missed her bike cutoff and started crying, and I knew how she felt. They let Zac (my husband) come over.

"I tried so hard!" I told him through the tears.
"I know you did...I'm proud of you!" he said.
"It wasn't the distance...it was the wind" I said.
"I know it was bad. But you did it! You finished the bike!" he said.

I took my shoes off. My feet were killing me, especially my big toes. I had blisters on the bottoms of my feet. I sat in the lawn chair, drinking Gatorade. They had offered me chicken broth, but I told them I was vegetarian. Kind of funny. I finally stopped crying and they brought my transition bags over. I was able to stand up, and walked over to my in-laws and gave them a hug and started crying again. We had to move out of the way of a truck backing up, so I wandered over and got my bike. I leaned on it as I wheeled it out of transition. It was tough because other people were picking up their bikes, and they were wearing their running shoes. They were finishers.

I walked in my bare feet with Zac up to the entrance to Tempe beach park. We turned and went to the right along the side walk, because I didn't want to see the finish chute. I couldn't look at it. We walked behind the bleachers and found a dead-end. I mustered all of my strength and climbed over the fence. I'd rather climb a fence than see the finish line at this point. I walked with Zac back tothe hotel, leaning on his arm. A woman passed by going the opposite direction on the sidewalk. "How did you do?" she asked. "I didn't finish" I replied. I didn't wait for a response, and kept walking.

We got back to the hotel and I immediately put on clean clothes and sat down on the couch. I fell asleep for a little while, then got upto get a quick shower. I discovered how sunburned and windburned Iwas. I got into my jammies and wrapped myself in a blanket. I was freezing! I called Niki (Tri Girl), and she came and visited me in the hotel room as I couldn't move. Looking back, I'm not sure how far I would have gotten on the run. I had sprinted for so long and not taken in any nutrition that last 20 or so miles that my body probably would've been in a really bad state. Still, it would've been nice toat least have the opportunity.

It was hard being in the hotel that night and the following morning, hearing everyone in the hallway talk about the race and congratulating each other. It felt like everyone finished but me. I wished I could be like them and be happy and be a finisher. But I'm not. I never pictured this happening. All I could visualize the whole time thinking about the race was running down the finishers chute and hearing "You are an Ironman!" But it didn't happen. I tried my hardest and left it all out there on the course.

Some positives:
- I have less recovery that my body will need to do.
- I learned what to change for next year.
- I know what to change and do for a training plan next time.
- I can consider this to be a dress rehersal for next time.

And the good news: I just registered for IMAZ 2008. I'll give this another whirl! This race may have beat me down this year, but I'm going to do everything I can to beat it next year. The SOMA 1/2 Ironman did that to me, and IMAZ appears to be it's bigger brother. Although I'm not mentally ready right now, the race does sell out, and I didn't want to miss the chance to come back next year and try to be an Ironman.

-Elaine
(I found out later that day that winds on the Beeline had been 35 mph gusting to 40).

Countdown to IMAZ: 1 day!

My husband is stuck in Dallas right now. He was on travel for work this week, and was supposed to fly directly to PHX last night, but got stuck in Dallas due to the weather. He's supposed to arrive by noon. So I won't have much time with him before the race.

Last night I went to the athlete's dinner and sat with Heather, a fellow Tri Girl. Food was ok, but the presentation was nice. The oldest competitor is a 78 year old guy that has done 47 Ironmans, and he didn't start doing Ironmans until the age of 64! Oldest woman was 74. Pretty cool.

They kept showing IM videos, and in each video they showed the crazy swim. Both Heather and I wished they'd stop showing that. The swim looks totally insane.

Today I am going to take my bike for a quick shake-down cruise, then check it in. I need to fill all of my bags, and check my T1 & T2 bags. Then I'll mix all of my drinks for tomorrow and put them in the cooler. I'm going to meet the Tri Girls for dinner, then it will be off to bed early.

Countdown to IMAZ: 2 days!

Today was pretty low-key. I hit the athlete expo to draw a TTG poster for the run course then pretty much just sat around and rested. I have done no swimming, biking or running while here. Tonight is the athlete's dinner and racer's meeting, then off to bed early.

I took some pics of the venue, but don't have the interface CD for the camera to my laptop. So posting pics will need to wait until I get home. I did go to the pro's press conference, which was really short. Tim DeBoom seemed really quiet and tired, whereas Michael Lovato was cheery and a really good speaker. The press conference was only about 15 min or so. I wished they would've spent more time interviewing the pros.

Tomorrow I will take my bike out for a quick shake-down cruise, rack it in the rack, and pack all of my "official" bags. Maybe tomorrow will be my freak out day. Maybe not. I'll be hitting the sack early tomorrow night for an early morning on Sunday!

Countdown to IMAZ: 3 days left

3 DAYS!!!!!

I'm heading up to Tempe today to pick up my packet and wander around the expo. I'll try to get some pics and post them here. I stayed up late last night packing the last of my bags, making sure I have everything. Race day is going to be here before I know it!

PM update:
I've arrived in Tempe. The drive down the freeway was super windy with dust and tumbleweeds blowing all over the place. I parked at the hotel parking lot and headed over to the expo. I'm at the Courtyard Marriott which is an easy walk to the venue. I got my packet, bags, stickers, etc. As they were explaining the stickers that go on my bike and gear, I looked up and there was Paula Newby-Fraiser! I wish I could've gotten a pic. After I was done getting my stuff she was busy eating, so that wouldn't be a good time to get a pic.

I hit the IMAZ product tent and bought $200 in IMAZ stuff. Hey, it's like your first time to Disneyland...you gotta dump a ton of coin on the "official" merchandise. I bought an IMAZ bike jersey, shirt, some reflective stickers (as required on jerseys for race day), bumper sticker, hat, and picture frames. If I don't finish, then I can always sell it on eBay. But none of it says IMAZ Finsher, just IMAZ.

Today was the right day to hit the expo. They were still setting everything up, so it wasn't crowded at all. I could shop at my leisure. I figured it was best to buy stuff now rather than later when it might be gone.

My hotel room is awesome! I scored a ground floor room, with a patio door that opens to the pool area. It took me forever to unload everything, but it's all done. I'm going to get a bit of rest, then head off to dinner with a good friend of mine that lives in Tempe. No pics today, but maybe I'll have some for tomorrow. :)

Countdown to IMAZ: 4 days left

This pretty much sums it up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh1yMnrby3w

Today is going to be a useless day at work. My mind will constantly be on the race. I'm e-mailing everyone with my online tracking info. If I get to a low point in the race and want to stop, I'll just think of all my friends online that are watching and I won't want to let them down.

Even though I'm thinking about the race, it really hasn't "hit" me that I'm going to do an Ironman. It seems like it hasn't sunk in yet. Right now everything feels surreal, like I'm doing just another race. Maybe it will hit me when I go to Tempe tomorrow and get surrounded by Ironman fever. If not, it will probably definitely hit me when I get in the water on Sunday. The whole "Oh my god I'm doing an Ironman this is crazy" feeling.

Countdown to IMAZ: 5 days left

Bib # = 2108

5 days until IMAZ. How did this happen? I swear it was just a few months ago that I was starting on this crazy adventure.

So with the house stuff I am tapering well by doing no training during the week. I won't have time for anything until Thursday. But they say it's better to go into an event undertrained than overtrained, so I'm definitely in that undertrained category.

This week has been crazy. I packed all of my race gear in grocery bags, and they are labeled "Dry clothes", "T1", "Bike Special Needs", "T2", "Run Special Needs." This way all I have to do is transfer everything into the real race bags. I stopped by Trisports and got a few final things for my bags, along with some things from Walgreens. So here's what's in my bags o' fun:

Dry clothes
This is actually all of my swim stuff for now. I have my repaired wetsuit, cap, goggles, earplugs, flip flops, Bodyglide, and swimsuit in this bag. I'm wearing a 2 piece swimsuit for the swim under the wetsuit.

T1: Swim to bike
Helmet, shoes, jersey, bike shorts, sunscreen, bodyglide, socks, sunglasses, towel, race belt with bike number. My swim top doubles as a sports bra.

Bike Special Needs
2 tubes, 2 CO2 cartridges, kleenex, pretzles, Carbo-Pro powder, Cliff Shot Bloks, electrolyte tabs. I'm going to have all liquids with me on the bike, but the powder is in case one of my bottles gets ejected. I'm planning on saving the Bloks for the run, but will only use them on the bike if something goes wrong in the nutrition plan and I need to do something different. I know Bloks work on the bike, but would like to save them for the run so that I don't get tired of my fuel.

T2: Bike to Run
Run jersey, run shorts, run socks, run shoes, hat, sunscreen, bodyglide, clear glasses, race belt with run number, Cliff Bloks, electrolyte tabs, handi-wipes. The bike number has my last name, while the run number has my first name. I bought 2 race belts so that I could easily switch. I'm definitely changing shorts and jerseys to be comfortable. 2 bags of Bloks should get me through the first half marathon.

Run Special Needs
Bodyglide, electrolyte tabs, Shot bloks, peanuts, kleenex. Pretty minimal stuff in this bag.

All of my food in the bags is in a cheap insulated lunch box (courtesy of giveaways from work). Hopefully this will keep everything from baking in the sun. I'll also use what's on the course. I'm planning on bananas for the bike (along with my strawberry newtons and pretzles). The run I'll eat little bites of pretzles and fruit as needed. I'm only going to go for the Coke at the very end, or unless I'm in dire need and have to have it sooner. I won't be doing broth. I'm vegetarian, so dead chickens don't go well with me. I've been vegetarian for 16 years, so I don't think my body can even digest animal parts anymore. I know it would cause major puking, so I'm not even going to go there.

So here I am, a week out from the race. When people ask "Are you ready?" now I just say "Yes." To say it is to think it. I figure if I keep saying it, my brain will agree.

Right now I feel that the swim will be no problem, the bike shouldn't be too bad (as long as the wind stays down), and the run is where it will hit me. I've conviced my head the run is 2 laps and a parade lap. NOT 26.2 miles. I don't care about mile markers or mile splits or anything. It's 2 laps. My last lap is to hug all of the volunteers and say goodbye to the course.

Even though I might be undertrained, I feel like Ironman is really a mental effort and I'm ready for that. For some reason I have this feeling that I'm going to finish. I can see myself crossing the finish line. I've already had a few crying spells. In the car, in the shower...anywhere where I start to think about the swim, seeing all the people, and starting the race. Then I think about finishing the race, the crowd, the finishing chute, what it will be like, and I can't help but start crying. I'm going to be a mess out there.

I leave for Tempe Thursday morning. I'm taking my laptop and camera, so I hope to keep updating this blog. It's a goal anyways.

5 days to go...

Race Report: Ragnar Relay Del Sol

Tucson Tri Girls On The Run
Van 1 photos by Rhonda Berdinner, Van 2 photos by Elaine Seasly

Who wouldn't want to run 189 miles from Wickenburg to Scottsdale, AZ on a team of 12 people? Sign me up! Actually, Holly had graciously participated on our 24 Hours of the Old Pueblo mountain bike team, so I decided to sign up to be on her Ragnar relay team. If it involves 24 hours of some sort of athletic event, I'm in. Besides, I had never done anything like this before, so it was bound to be fun. Holly was leading up the teams, so I knew we were in good hands.

Thursday evening Holly rolled by my house and dropped off Van 2. She had everything ready in a nice purple bin. We had maps, the race bible, and I was given a bus route and timetable for picking up the other Van 2 members. Van 1 was rolling out early Friday morning, and those of us on Van 2 were rolling out mid-morning. We were all given cute goodie bags from Holly which were totally awesome! Each bag had some race treats, salty snacks, and a super cool purple hoodie with the TTG logo and all of our names on the back. It came in handy that weekend.

I loaded up the van with coolers and decorated the outside with fun sayings and lots of "Tucson Tri Girl" stuff. I spent the rest of the evening getting everything that I would need for the next 36 hours ready. It was an insane amount to pack! I decided to taper my sleep in preparation of the event and only got 6 hours of sleep last night. It was unintentional, but "taper" sounds like a good excuse.

The next morning I left my house at 8AM sharp to start on my bus route. I picked up Alison, Janice, and Allison who were all within a 3 mile radius from my house. We then picked up Lisa Abramson and set out. Shari was planning on meeting us at Exhange Point 5. Our team was well prepared with a ton of food and something like 80 gallons of water. Everyone only brought 1 bag of clothing. You could see where the priorities were.

We got to Lake Pleasant and picked up Shari. We then proceeded to Exchange 4 and met up with our Van 1 peeps, who had been racing since 11AM. Everything seemed to be going smooth. We exchanged Alison for Holly and backtracked to Exchange 6 where our vans would meet up again for the hand off.

Van 1 team at the start.

Holly handing off to Polly.

Exchange 6 was at Lake Pleasant, and we had a little bit of time to hang out and take in the sights before it was our van's turn. Alison came into sight and handed off to Holly, so it was now "Game On!" for Van 2. We drove up ahead a little and waited for Holly at the top of a hill and when she passed by we cheered and drove to the next cheer spot. We then drove to Exchange 7 where I got ready for my first leg of the race.

Alison coming into view at the Lake Pleasant exchange.

Alison glad to be done and Holly rocketing out of the exchange chute.

Van 1 team, all done with their first legs of the race.


Van 1

Van 2

Van 2

Van 2

My first leg was only 4.0 miles, but it started straight up hill! Ugh! I chugged my way up the hill and waved as Van 2 rolled by, tooting the horn. I ran along Hwy 74, which had a ton of busy traffic and trucks. At one point a huge truck passed by and blew my TTG hat off, so I had to run back to retrieve it. I couldn't be without my TTG hat! I saw Van 2 up ahead and heard the cheering and waved. I yelled to Shari "I wanna get back in the van!" Driving the van was way more fun than running at this point.

I turned onto New River and the wind was now a cross wind for me. It was a little more pleasant as the sun was beating down. As I ran I saw a structure to my left with a lot of razor wire and wondered if this was some sort of prison. It turned out to be the water treatment facility. After the gates there was a huge river of water running across the road. I watched the runners in front of me and saw how wide the river was. Well, there was no getting around it, my feet were going to get wet. Thankfully when I hit the water the cars that were passing slowed down so I didn't get drenched. But 2 steps into the water I felt my running shoes swell up and start to squish. Crap! This was the only pair of running shoes I brought! The weather was bone dry and here I am with wet shoes on my FIRST leg of the race! I got across the water and squished down the road. Finally I saw the exchange point in sight and waved to Lisa and the other TTGs waiting up ahead. I snapped the bracelet onto Lisa and was done with my first leg, and at a much faster pace than I was expecting!

Lisa was off in her little running shorts and sports bra to work on her tan as well as complete her leg. Once I got to the van I stripped my shoes off and poured the water out. I needed to start drying the shoes, so I tied my bandana around them and hung them on the passenger's side mirror to force air through them as we drove.

A desparate attempt to dry shoes.

We drove up ahead a few miles to our cheer spot and stopped to wait for Lisa. I opened up the van doors and changed on the side of the road to get out of my nasty clothes and into clean clothes. It wasn't much of a changing tent, but it worked. Lisa ran by, so we drove up ahead and got Shari ready for her leg of the race. Shari's leg actually went under I-17, and also had some hills. But she completed it in an awesome time and Janice was up next. The sun was setting, so Janice donned her running vest and lights. Shari rode the bike next to her to pace her, and eventually take over the Camelbak of TP that was weighing Janice down. Janice pounded out her lap and handed off to Allison (with 2 L's). Her first lap was crazy, with a ton of turns through the residential streets. We caught up to her in the van and yelled "right turn" at just the right moment, and she and another guy turned down the correct street. We wound our way through the streets, with some of them being VERY busy.

We continued on through our team rotation of runners and drivers. My first night lap was one that I had taken over as an extra lap, and I quickly realized that was a mistake. The hills were insane! I'm a slow enough runner as it is, but throw in darkness and hills and I felt even slower. Thankfully Kathy came along on the bike and paced next to me, and that saved me! We climed and decended a ton of hills. It felt like I was running the loop at Saguaro East, but with houses close by. The houses were very posh, but I tried to focus on the road. Both TTG vans kept an eye on me as I climbed and climbed. Finally I got onto a straight stretch of road and it was flat for the last 2 miles or so. I got to the transition and handed off to another Van 1 member (I can't even remember who). I got back to Van 2 and everyone mentioned the killer hills. Allison offered to take over my next lap, which was a 3 miler so that I could get some rest, and I was SO grateful!

Sunset on the Ragnar Relay.


Janice ready for her night lap with Lisa and Holly (sporting the fabulous TTG Ragnar hoodies).

At least there was some moonlight for the night laps.


Janice is glowing!

Shari handing off to Janice for the beginning of the night laps.

We rolled in to one of the major exchanges in a dirt parking lot of some sort of Trail Dust Town thing. Very bizarre. What was even more strange was that a ton of people were in sleeping bags on the ground next to the vans. So it looked like a war zone with bodies in bags everywhere. At least that's what I remember at 1AM. We rolled in and settled for a bit of rest. Word got to our team that teams weren't allowed out on the course at that exchange until 3AM...something with Tonto National Forest. I stretched out on a bench in the back of the van, while Allison and Lisa opted for the body bags next to the van. I got a whole 2 hrs of actual sleep before getting up again. Our Van 1 team came in right after 3AM, so we were back out on the course and hadn't lost any time.

More driving, more running at night. It's all a blur. We tried to find food but the only places open were gas stations and bars. We had tried to go to Subway eariler that evening but got there a few seconds after the 9PM closing time. ARRGGHH! So we ate what we had on board, which was fine, just not hot. We got to Exchange 26, which was a middle school campus. The sun was starting to come up, so we parked the van and waited for Allison to arrive. While waiting we hit the bathrooms that had real flush toilets, and the pancake breakfast. The bathroom was a madhouse. Tons of women washing and primping in front of the mirrors. Is this a race or are we getting ready for prom? As TTGs we decided showers were for wussies and were going to stew in our stench all weekend.

As the sun came up my clock re-set itself and I slowly came out of the stupor I was in. The 24 hr mountain bike race had reminded me of this feeling, so I knew everything was good from here on out. Van 1 arrived, and shortly after that Allison arrived and handed off to Van 1. She got a bit of breakfast and we headed out on the road.

The next major Exchange was 30 at the Pebble Beach picnic area of the salt river. We figured we only had a little bit of time before the team would arrive, so we set up camp. "Camp" in our case consisted of Allison and Lisa pulling out their sleeping bags by the picnic table, me in my camp chair, and the other gals on the benches in the van. We dozed for a little bit, but no one actually fell asleep for a long time. I checked status with Holly and she said Van 1 runners got into some nasty hills and were another estimated hour and a half away. That meant more rest time for us.

My camp chair was set up to face the salt river, and I enjoyed just sitting in the sun and listening to the water. The race crew set up a portable shower by the bathrooms, and a change tent. None of us TTGs even bothered. The funny thing was, I saw a ton of guys using the shower and saying how much they needed it. Wussies.

Holly was up next, so we parked the van and waited for Alison (with 1 L) to arrive. We took a quick team pic while waiting with 10 of our team members. We also watched a guy stretching by the road and noticed he almost looked naked. From here on out he was referred to as "Naked Guy" and Naked Guy got a ton of cheering from our van. Hey, we were punchy and low on sleep at this point.

Most of the members of our Tucson Tri Girls team. We're sporting TTG tattoos!

Naked Guy getting ready.

Alison and Holly.

Van 1 was officially finished with all of their legs, so they headed back to Tucson. Just a few more legs of running were left and we were done! We set off and headed up the road, sharing the road with the El Tour de Phoenix crowd. So we got to cheer for cyclists as well. I noticed that cyclists responded more to cheering than the runners did. Or maybe the runners were so tired they couldn't respond.

Another funny thing was that I ran into a friend of mine on the route. I looked out the van windown and noticed one of the cyclists in the bike race looked familiar. I yelled to him and it turned out to be Luis from work. How funny that we'd be doing two different races and we'd run into each other on the course.

We continued on our way, and I was finally up for my last leg of the race. It was a 6.2 mile leg that went along Usery Pass down to McDowell. Holly came into view, and before I knew it the bracelet was on my wrist and I was off, starting my final leg. Compared to the night lap, this leg was much better. I spent my time watching the cyclists go by. I took in the scenery around me and it was all pretty familiar as we had ridden mountain bikes on the trails out there before. Soon I saw the TTG van, and the team was there on the side of the road. Shari had a water bottle for me and I grabbed it and dumped it on my head. It felt so good! It was hot at this point. I turned and ran down the stretch of McDowell road, and a few miles later came across a lady with a squirt gun who gladly hosed me down. The stretch on McDowell seemed to take forever. I did, however, pass 2 other racers. They had been walking in spots but that didn't matter...I still passed them, which NEVER happens for me in a running race.

Finally the exchange area came into view and I pushed as hard as I could for the final little bit. I slapped the bracelet onto Lisa and I was officially done! But there was no time to dilly dally as it was back in the van to continue on. The day got warmer and warmer as we sent our runners out, but everyone kept their spirits up as we all knew this was the end of the race.

Mini ponies on the course.

Allison was our final runner of the day, so we sent her on her way and headed to the finish line. The parking lot was a zoo, but we got a spot and booked to the finish line. Just a few minutes later they called out that our runner was just a short distance away. Allison came into view, so we took our positions and met up with her right before the finish, and ran across the line together as a team. It was so awesome! We got a quick picture taken and then it was off to find food. Food tasted so good after living off of van food for 36 hours!

TTG team at the finish!

Everything worked out well for our team during this event. Everyone pulled together as a team, and there was no arguing or issues or injuries or anything. If someone needed something, we worked to get it. It was amazing. We were all out there to have fun, and that was the perfect attitude to have for an event like this. This weekend made for some good memories, jokes, sayings, and tales. It was a pleasure to be on a team with such awesome ladies. Big thanks to Holly for finding out about Ragnar, organizing the team several times over, getting race day stuff in order, and being an awesome team captain! I have a feeling the Tri Girls will make another appearance at this race in the future! :)

Tucson Tri Girls On The Run: Holly Justice, Lindsay Barker, Polly O'Rourke, Rhonda Berdinner, Alison Medina, Shari Howard, Janice Atchison, Allison Showers-Chulp, Lisa Abramson, Kathy Cunningham, Elaine Seasly

Until the next crazy event... ;)