Augusta Half IM Race Report - Don't Eat the Paste

Some of the fab athletes on our team pre 70.3 (I'm second from the left)

I'm going to keep this entry limited to just the Augusta wrap up vs catch you up on my missed weeks of training updates. This race was a 'training day' for us as we enter our last 6 or so weeks of training. We were supposed to test ourselves but not go all out. 


Woke up race morning to 95% humidity and overcast (slightly spitty) skies. My wave didn't go off until 8:44a so since we had to be out of transition by 7a, I caught the shuttle over, set up transition and then caught the shuttle back to the hotel to chill out before walking back around 8:10. Put my wetsuit on and got lined up, time was flying. Pre race I had a couple of sport bottles of EFS. It was a little hard to figure out nutrition as I haven't started a race that late so was hoping I didn't screw things up by drinking too much pre-race.

Beth B, Me, Ann heading toward the swim start

My husband, Brad, and 4 year old daughter, Brooke, made it just in time to see me head into the water. I got the best pre-race kiss from Brooke, I was thrilled to see them as my day was starting.

Go Mommy, Go!

Swim 1.2 miles: 0:29:22 (1:32/100m)

Swim was very murky with lots of random weeds, branches. The great news is that the field was pretty spread out and there was a nice current working positively for us. I was really happy with my swim, felt strong the whole way and even caught people in the waves ahead of me (a first).


T1: 0:5:37
Ran up the hill and met the wetsuit strippers around the corner. Picked the biggest guy I could find and off it comes, I was shucked like a big ear of corn. Got on socks, shoes, my number and off I went.

Bike 56 miles: 3:18:10 (16.9mph)
Weather was still overcast and it was just a nice rolling course so I was trying to hold back some. I felt so good so I just kept saying to myself, "Don't eat the paste", as my girl Paige reminded me. Basically meaning don't get pulled out with everybody, let them fly by. I didn't eat the paste for a long time but then, guess what, I ate it... I had 2 bottle of EFS and 2 bottles of water with gel. Didn't eat my luna bar (critical error), just drank all of my calories. Sun came out full force at about 30 or so miles on the bike. I mean HOT. Was starting to dread the impending run. 


Funniest part of the bike was a guy standing at the end of his driveway with a sign that said, GO HOME on it. I saw him and started laughing thinking it was a joke. That was until he started saying, 'Go home, you're an inconvenience to the community, don't come back'. What?! So then I pedaled a little further and his next door neighbors were on their driveway saying, 'Don't listen to him, we think you guys are rockstars. Please come back'. Too funny! Sweated out the last 25 or so miles with the sun baking down and then hit the transition area.


T2: 0:4:26
Threw my bike back, grabbed my shoes, did a porta potty break and off I went. I felt pretty good other than hot. Unfortunately that feeling didn't last.

Hello Sun! 

Run 13.1miles 2:42:10 (12:24 pace)

Yep, the wheels fell off. Don't get me wrong, I'm no speedster runner but I can pull off faster than this. I made it to just mile 2 before I reverted to a very sporadic run walk. Basically it was based on my stomach. I had so much fluid in there that my stomach was sloshing every time I'd start running. I'm running next to this guy (stranger) and he hears it and says, 'is that your shoe?' I say, 'nope, that is my stomach'. Ohhhhhhh. Yeah, not good. Major gastric issues. 

Brooke and me - about 5 miles into the run

Generally when I do races, I run with friends that are new runners or I'm pushing a jog stroller running with my husband or something that has me go at someone else's pace. It cracks me up because people look up race times and think I'm so much slower than I actually am but the reality is that I almost never run my own pace at races. Well, this time, I completely own this run time. I didn't hang back to stay with anybody, didn't  push 35 pounds in a jog stroller for the distance. Nothing, it was just a rough run. Sun baked until about 8 miles in for me, shoving sponges down my jersey, running through hoses (yep, blisters). Then, the thunder started and a downpour. Every type of weather decided to be represented during the race at some point. It felt great to get rained on though my two toes with new blisters weren't so happy. 


Despite some challenges during the race, I smiled the whole time. Seriously, even the worst day out there beats what other people go through on a daily basis to just live. Whenever I hit that pity party moment I try remind myself how lucky I am to do this sport no matter what the day brings. I have to smile.

Hopefully this crazy finish photo makes you smile too

Finish: 6:40:10

Note to self, before attempting a finish line photo where you jump, let the photographers get ready so they catch you in the air. I was a cheerleader from grade school until college. We used to do this 'C' jump where your body forms a C. This was me either jumping or landing while doing the C. I can't tell what it looks like I'm doing, some sort of dance maybe? I might need to have a caption contest to do it justice. 

No more races until the big dance on November 20th. The next several weeks are brutal looking at the schedule but our team has raised over $250,000 now so I'm going to keep smiling through it! Thanks for reading, I'll try to update this weekend. As always, your donations are appreciated and help find cures for blood cancers so thanks for your donations!!