Wildflower Race, Take 2

On Saturday, I raced the Wildflower Long Course (Half Iron distance). The best thing I can say about the race is that I finished...

I started out the day feeling drained. I had a tough week at work and was still sick from the week before. I got suited up for the swim and figured I'd see what happened. Once the swim started, I knew I'd be in trouble that day. My head wasn't in the game and I couldn't concentrate on anything. I just kept swimming from buoy to buoy until I finished the swim. It felt like it took forever even though my time didn't reflect that.

In Transition 1 (T1), I wasn't sure I'd keep going. Some friends saw me and asked "are you ok?" with very concerned looks on their faces. After the race was over, they would tell me that I looked terrible and were very worried about me because of how dazed I looked.

I headed out on the bike and figured I could pull out if needed. By mile 20, I was ready to stop. I decided that I wouldn't make myself run if I didn't feel better by T2. I stopped to help a TNT racer from NY. I figured it was her race day. It was just another training day for me. I kept riding after that and stopped a few times to gather myself. I've never stopped before on that course during a race, so that's a good indication of how bad I felt. I also felt like I could fall asleep at any moment during the bike. Not good.

At T2, I changed and was still trying to decide if I would run or not. I made the bike cut-off time and figured I should just walk and see how it went. I met up with a teammate around mile 2 and we stared running/walking together. I started feeling better on the run because my sinuses cleared up and my ears finally unplugged from my cold.

Once at mile 4, I knew I would finish the race and 9.1 miles later, I finished. While I am glad I finished the race, I was as close as I have ever been to pulling myself out of a triathlon. The plan for this week is to recover and rest. I need to put some fuel back into my tank so I am ready for the rest of the training season to Ironman. Less than 4 months to go.