Years of Race Memories

A couple years ago Bill suggested that I use the laundry room shelves for my some of my awards. People used to ask me what I did with all the hardware I won. I only kept the ones that meant a lot to me. I was in there the other day folding clothes and was looking at them. What I remember most from these is not the actual race, but the friends who raced with me in these events. So I'm going to go through them as my way of remembering these people who I met along the way! Thank you friends!

Tashka Trail in Tuscaloosa, Alabama! Thank you Ed Freeman for encouraging me to do this race. We worked together at Wagner's RunWalk, and I got him interested in triathlons! 

USAT SMW Hall of Fame! Thank you friends on Team Aquaphor for nominating me for this amazing award. One of my best moments in all the years of racing! I choked up when Matt Brown read the letter that they wrote for my nomination. Steve Ford, Ande Wegner, and the rest of the team. What an amazing ride we had on TA!

Sunrise Triathlon Club Athlete of the Year! Thank you Angel Martin, Jason Riffle, Eric Sullivan - I miss you guys! Shreveport was good to me! What an outstanding group of people in this club!

Cobb Mobb Top Performer! Big thanks to John Cobb for running this team. What an honor to be invited to race for Cobb Cycling and Johnny Cobb. 

Ironman 70.3 Austin! First time to place in such a big race. This was an amazing girls trip with Deanna, Lesley, and Judy. My training partners from Hattiesburg. Strong women, and good friends. 

Turkey Trot from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. We had just moved there and I felt the need to let people know I knew how to run! (heh, heh, heh). When I see this award I think of Ann Besanceney, an amazing woman who would have run away with this award had she raced that morning! Miss you, Ann!!

Disco Triathlon in Dallas Texas. Drove back to my home stomping grounds to race for Team Cambridge and see my long time friend and team manager Scott Eder. Surprised myself with this win! I think I surprised Scott, too!

Ignite SwimRun last year! I so wanted to do another one of these with my good friend Casey Lee. We have known and raced with each other for so many years, that teaming up with this amazing women is one of my best race memories in my life! 

The Power Mile in New Orleans! These awards will always make me think of the team at Varsity Sports! Racing with your co-workers for one of these coveted gorillas is a good, and painful memory. Covid cancelled the race this year, but hopefully it will be on again in 2021! Thank you Nicole, Brett, Kevin, Kyle, Meredith, Bud, and Chris for this memory!

Abitaman! This is a very old award, one of the first races that I ever won. My best memory from this race is about a girl that I helped just before the swim start, I don't even know her name. We were all lining up, and I showed her the best line to take to the turn buoy, it was her first race and she was nervous. Years later, (I think it was in Alabama) she came up to me told me the story. She was still racing and beat me that day! Good to help new people!

Heatwave Triathlon in Jackson, Mississippi! I raced in Jackson a lot when I lived there. I went back one year and saw some old friends, including Stacy and Roy Martin! What a memory with Stacy from a race when a man came out of the cornfields and flashed her during the race. She came back to the finish freaking out. Her boyfriend at the time Roy, and a bunch of other triathletes from Jackson raced back out onto the course to try and find him. Fortunately for him they didn't - a bunch of guys running down the street in speedos would scare anyone!

Sunfish Triathlon! This race makes me think of Casey Lee again! We have raced this one so many times, and always made sure to get our annual picture together. Love you Casey!! 

The 25th Bud Light Mardi Gras Marathon in New Orleans! 1990 and my very first marathon. It was a downpour and I remember running through foot deep water along the lakefront. I drove from Baton Rouge, where I was living, to my parents house on the Gulf Coast. They took me to the race and stood under an umbrellas and a bunch of spots along the course to cheer me on, and hand me bites of a Powerbar. I sure miss them. 

Ironman Florida! My husband Bill, and my mentee Margaret Lloyd! What fun training with a college student who is 36 years younger than me. I never thought I had another Ironman in my knees but after finding Hoka running shoes I thought I'd give it a shot. Bill supported me ever step along the way and was out on the course with Bogey to keep me motivated. Margaret and I built a friendship that I will always cherish! My Mentee and I both took 3rd in our age groups that day!

Possum Town Triathlon! Racing for the Cobb Mobb and having Bill there provided some great performance pressure at this one! The Mobb was pretty spread out over the country but this was one race where a teammate was there. Thank you Les Carr for representing!!

River Cities Tri 2007! I raced this event 22 or 23 times, this was the first time that I won my age group at RCT. Mary Tubb told me that it was "Big" to win here! I miss that girl, we trained together for IM Louisville. Some good cycling memories with her getting ready for that one!

Race of Grace! Won overall and had the company of my Hattiesburg girls! We all got up super early and traveled on race morning! Those were some fun days with D, Lesley, and Judy! Some good times in my life. When I did the Rock and Roll Half marathon in New Orleans they drove down and surprised me at the finish line! Beautiful and strong women!

I love seeing all these people in my memories when I look at these shelves. There are some other things scattered around the house as well that bring more people and places to mind. Definitely some Crawfishman awards and beautiful artwork, makes me think of Mark Salvetti, and Charlie Hoolihan.  What a great racing life I've had. What a great group of people I've had the privilege to know. What an incredibly lucky life I've led!

What a year! 2018

It’s been over a year since my triathlon retirement as well as my last blog post. I thought I would catch you up on what has been happening.

We moved from Tuscaloosa to Covington, Louisiana about this time last year. The actual move was quite a fiasco with our household belongings not getting delivered for weeks after we moved into the house we bought. We lived with a couple stadium chairs and a blow-up air mattress. Colonial Movers and Alvarez Moving subcontractors were a nightmare. Buyer beware.

I started working at Varsity Sports in Mandeville just after the first of the year. Varsity Sports is a running specialty store, so I am right at home selling and fitting running shoes. Fitting in to the staff took a little bit of adjustment but now it feels like family.

In February we said goodbye to our Golden Retriever, Phoenix. We miss that sweet soul every day. This will be the first Christmas without our boy, and his presence is truly missed. His stocking is hung, and the red birds visit us daily to say hi. We had a cardinal build a nest and hatch an egg in a hanging fern on our front porch in the spring, another sign that Phoenix is still here. Bogey is 10 now and lively as ever! Someday soon we want to get another puppy, hopefully also from Halo Goldens (where Phoenix and Bogey were born.)

In the spring I started coaching Master’s swim at the Pelican Athletic Club. The group was very receptive to my practices, which I run more like age group workouts. Lots of intervals and new lingo for many of the swimmers/triathletes to learn. I’ve had a couple Challenge swims, one was a 5,000 yard Saturday workout. And we did a two-day 10,000 yard challenge with 4,000 on Friday and followed up the next day with a 6,000 yard workout! I love how they have embraced the challenges. In December we are having another one – it will be another 5k swim based on the 12 Days of Christmas! I have really enjoyed working with some of the swimmers in the program. They work hard and appreciate the technique corrections and pointers and are good people too. Bonus!

I’ve done a few races, even though I haven’t been running this year very much. I was pleased with the results!

Crescent City Classic 10K

Crescent City Classic 10K is one of the oldest races in the country. Originating in 1979, it has been going on for 40 years! It draws over 20,000 people every year. I placed 5th in my age group and averaged 8:08 miles – nothing to complain about there! Top 500 men and women get a commemorative CCC poster, I was running for a poster for sure!

Varsity Sports Mandeville group at The Power Mile!

Power Mile Trophy!!

Then came The Power Mile. This race was entered also at the last minute. I had a bad cold which may have been walking pneumonia for a month and had a total of 22 miles of running in the month prior to the race. “The Power Mile Road Race is the 2018 RRCA Louisiana One Mile State Championship, a chip-timed road race on a USATF certified course in Lakeview, New Orleans.” The award for the Power Mile is one of the most coveted awards in NOLA, this cool metal gorilla that you literally could use to kill someone, that thing is solid. I ran a 7:07, won Grand Masters Female and took one of them home! 

After that was the Pelican Athletic Club Masters Swim Meet. I swam 6 events in this quick running morning meet. I remember getting up on the blocks for the 100 free after just have swum the 50 fly. My arms were still shaking, and I knew it wasn’t going to be a great swim. But I had a good time at the meet. I did add time to everything except the 100 back. I’ve changed my stroke after reading some good tips and it resulted in almost a 2 second cut in time.

Turkey Trot!

Fun Pom Pom hat instead of a tshirt!

I did one more race in 2018, another last-minute decision. The Tammany Turkey Trot here on the North Shore (vs. The South Shore, a.k.a. New Orleans) held its inaugural race this year. There was a 5 mile and a 5k. I chose the 5 mile and again without very many miles under my belt ran a pretty decent race. The course was a little short, but I managed 8:09 miles and placed 2nd in the Masters Female category. Not to shabby for almost 58 years old! The race benefited the Northshore Food Bank and runners were encouraged to bring donations – over 1300 pounds of food was donated! Nice success and a great turnout for a first-time race.

I've missed this girl! #menteementor

My Mentee Margaret and Averi came to New Orleans a couple months ago. The three of us did IM Florida together last year. Averi was racing the NOLA 70.3 and they came to see me at Varsity and I went over, and Margaret and I cheered her on in her race! I miss those girls and my Tuscaloosa friends. I’ve met a couple of quality women here and hope to do some more cycling with them next year. I’ve missed being on the bike and hope to get out and ride more next year. 

I’ve been thinking about my race calendar for 2019, and I think I might just have to dust off the tribike and race the Crawfishman triathlon! I’ve done a lot of swimming this year, now just need to amp up the run and get on the bike!

Cheers to 2019!

Cheers to a decent 2018, and hope for an even better 2019! I am planning on racing on January 1st at the Iceman Dip & Dash at Franco's! It's a 2 mile run, a 110 yard swim across the Tchefuncte River, and a 2 mile run back to Francos... yes I must be crazy! I've wanted to get involved in the Swim/Run Otillo endurance events, I guess this will be a way to try it out in a very small scale!

I got accepted as an ambassador for Headsweats (my favorite hats and visors), and I think I will get to represent SBRSports, Inc again also!!

Girls Ride!

Swimmer Girls at the Turkey Trot!

Ironman Florida Race Report! Last One Fast One!

Sometimes you need a little time to digest just what happened in your race. This race report has been rattling around in my brain for a week or so, and I’d better get it written down before I wait any longer.

The Short Version

Swim 1:08:32 / T1 6:06 / Bike 5:52:05 / T2 6:07/ Run 4:33:48 – Total time 11:46:38


The Long Version

I signed up for Ironman Florida with just at 4 months to race day. My “mentee”, Margaret had signed up for it the year before when the Alabama Triathletes were there volunteering at bike special needs. I watched an old DVD while I was on the trainer one day, and it inspired me to do “one more Ironman”.

My Mentee, Margaret after a lake swim!

I wrote out a detailed training program for the 4 months, and pretty much followed it to the letter. Monday was a swim only day, so it was kind of a rest day, but other than that I think I only took 4 or 5 days off completely from any training. But I believe I trained smart. I like having a plan that is consistent week in and week out. Sometimes it makes it difficult to get training partners, because it is rather rigid, but for me it works best knowing that on Tuesdays I have my long run, Wednesdays are a swim, mid-distance ride, and run off the bike if I feel good, etc.

So here is how my week was laid out:

Monday: Long Swim (not a continuous long swim) 5000 yards.
Tuesday: Long Run

Wednesday: Swim, Mid-Distance Ride, Transition Run (only 1-2 miles if I was feeling good)
Thursday: Mid-Distance Run (this started 4 months out at only 4 miles, it was the longest I was running)
Friday:  Swim, Short Ride (23 miles), Transition Run
Saturday: Long Ride with the local bike group
Sunday: Recovery Run

Once the long rides became longer than the typical Saturday Druid City Bike Club rides I switched them to Friday. Up until then I would ride the typical 50 or so with the group and then head out for some more miles. I also wanted to do my long rides on my tri bike by that point, and not on the road bike. So I scoped out the flattest roads I could find, even if that meant multiple (and I mean multiple) loops on the same roads. I parked at a place along the course so I could stop at the car to refuel my hydration. I trained with the same thing that they were serving at the race. This way I didn’t have to worry about bringing my own on race day. I had a plan and stuck to it. One e-Gel at the bottom of the hour, a salt pill at the top of the hour, and the Gatorade Endurance. I also had some mini Payday candy bars that I took when I felt hungry. When the weather was hot I tried to get one bottle of water and one bottle of Gatorade per hour. Once it cooled down some I decreased that amount somewhat.

Refuel after a long ride!!

I built my midweek long ride from 50 miles, which was the typical group ride distance, to 70. It took 6 weeks of increasing the distance to get it to 70, and then that is what I did every Wednesday following a swim with the Crimson Tide Masters. That swim was typically 3000-4000 yards.

The swim was the easy part for me. Monday I did a longer swim, in the month of September it was a 5000 yard swim. Not a straight swim, lots of different intervals, varied through the weeks. I don’t believe in the long straight swims, the main set needs to be close to what you will be swimming in the race. So on these days the main set was about 4000.

Now for the running…I have “bad” knees. I’ve written about them before, two micro-fracture surgeries, one in 2002 following IM Florida, and one in 2008 following IM Louisville. Last December I had one more for a torn meniscus, removal of a loose body, and some debridement. My longest run training week was 31.4 miles, and my longest run was 17. Every Thursday was the mid-week long run which I built to 8-9, typically this would have built to 12-13, but here is one of the areas that I held back. My long run was on Tuesday, trying to keep it from being back to back with the long ride is better for the knees, giving them some time to recover.

The RACE!

We're here!!

We got to Florida on Wednesday, rented the most amazing house from VBRO, it had a giant Swim Spa Hot Tub, a fenced back yard, and it came with a golf cart, so it had a one car garage! (Perfect for the stinky bike post race).

Got Bill a VIP pass to make the day easier!!

Thursday Bill, Margaret, and I went to the Ironman Village to get our race packets, and do a little shopping. The “expo” was a little unimpressive, but we did spend some time in the Normatec Recovery Boots. These were amazing, would love to have had these during the training. The next day was bike and gear check in, all went smooth.

Pre Race Practice Swim!

Race Morning:

I had a very uneventful race morning, which was good. Dropped off the special needs bags – nothing special in them. The bike SN had a PayDay, a couple gels (in case I dropped one while riding), a tube, quickfill, and tire irons. Run Special needs had another Payday, a gel flask, and a short sleeve shirt.

I had my wetsuit, goggles, cap, and a can of Skin Slick with me, so before I put my wetsuit on I sprayed everywhere that there would be possible chaffing. A guy saw me, and asked if it was lube, and if he could use some. So I sprayed his neck for him – one of the best things about Skin Slick and TRISLIDE (other than the fact that they work amazingly) is that you can share it and not have a stick glide toughing someone other than yourself.

Warmed up some before swim start, this is important to me because of the wetsuit freak out that I experience. Margaret and I did two ocean swims when we got to Florida, and my new Roka wetsuit with its very flexible upper body felt great.

IM Florida is a two loop swim, I lined in about the middle of the first corral of swimmers. The time for this group was actually 1 hour or less, but after talking to my friend Becky who has done a bunch of Ironman races, she reminded me that people lie. There was a very old man in front of me in the corral, absolutely no way he was swimming a sub one hour. After the gun went off I scooted around him because he was walking super slow and I didn’t want to get stuck behind him. I had absolutely no bumping or issues on the swim. I started on the right hand side of the corral and angled in like Becky advised. Only one time did a man cut in front of me (twice) as he was zigging and zagging. I did the roll over his back with a backstroke and kept on my merry way! Came out of the first loop in 32 minutes but had a tough time angling back to the course once I started on the second loop. So my second loop even though I swam straighter was slower than the first. Bill found me in the corral just before the gun went off, he said he had been looking for me for an hour. He asked what time I thought I would swim and I told him 1:10. Total time 1:08:32.

Running to the change tent on the asphalt was tough. I stepped on a rock or something and the ball of my foot behind the great toe got bruised. In the change tent no one was there to help me so I just was going to stand up and get ready, so I dumped my bag by a trash can. Then changed my mind and sat in a chair a few feet from my pile. A volunteer then came over and shouted “WHOSE STUFF IS THIS??” I said it was mine, and she got onto me saying it couldn’t be in the aisle (it wasn’t) and that the aisles needed to be kept clear. I said “Thank You For Reprimanding Me!” She then apologized and said she thought one of her people did it… yeah right, there was no one helping me remember? I finished getting ready, and carried my shoes with me until I got to my bike. (No bike shoes allowed to be attached to your bike.) Transition time 6:06.

Onto the bike ride!! Started out and felt great! My right piriformis had been bothering me in the few weeks leading up to the race, and I felt it twinge, but then just backed off and it went away. In all of my training rides I followed the exact same protocol. Easy ride for the first 2 hours, and then increase and build speed. In training this meant in the 17+ mph, but this was a race so I held it closer to 18. I don’t wear a heart rate monitor but I could tell that I was riding easy. Within the first 5 miles a woman in my age group went by me, DRAFTING. Uuuuuuggggghhhhhhh!! Just after she passed me, I could still see her up ahead, a marshal came by and waved to me! I waved back and said “old lady in the white jersey drafting”. They zoomed up and rode next to her for a long time, maybe a mile or so. I didn’t see her at the first penalty tent, so I don’t think she got dinged. And who knows if she continued to cheat later on in the ride. Why why why….

I was totally planning on stopping to use the bathroom, went by mile 20, 30, 40… I guess I just wasn’t paying attention at the aid stations because toward the beginning of the bike I never saw the port-a-potties. Margaret and I had talked about peeing on the bike and I wasn’t planning on it, but did it anyway… ewww gross. I just rinsed after wards with water. They say in Ironman if you don’t have to go at least 2 times during the bike then you’re going to be in trouble on the run. Well, not to worry, I think I went about 5 times. Guess I was well hydrated…

Bill, Margaret and I talked about bike times before the race and I didn’t think a sub 6 hour ride was possible, but I was happy to see that I made it with 8 or so minutes to spare!! Yay!! Right before I got off the bike I had an average of 19.1, that made me unbelievably happy. I was hoping for an 18.5. Bike time 5:52:05.

I could have easily kept riding. In the three other Ironman races I did, I couldn’t wait to get off the bike. I’ve actually described it as dislodging the bike from your body. But on this day it felt like I could have ridden another 40-50 miles! Nothing hurt, I was really comfortable. This goes to show you just how much a good bike fit is worth. I got mine from John Cobb years ago on this bike and it was the best investment ever! I ride a Cobb V-Flow saddle, and have for years, I am biased but I honestly think that Cobb makes the best saddles out there!

T2 was also uneventful, I kind of wish the nice volunteer didn’t help me. It almost felt like it slowed me down, she knelt there holding things out for me, but in a really strange order. I sprayed my feet all over with TRISLIDE - bottom of the feet, heels, between the toes. I had also sprayed them the day before and put my socks on, then took them off to put in the transition bag. This way there was a light coating inside the socks. I did this before every one of my long runs and never had one problem with hot spots or blisters. Proved again in the marathon!! T2 6:07.

Our numbers both added up to 19 - Prime Number!

I had dorked my watch coming out of the swim so when I was running out of transition I stopped it and switched to run mode. But like an idiot, started it as I ran out of the changing tent. Then I stopped at the port-o-potties while still in transition and my watch kept running. What an idiot.

Saw Bill as I ran out and stopped to give him a kiss and a sweaty hug! As soon as I started running I realized that the bruise on my foot was going to give me some problems, it was hurting bad! And I had put some different insoles in my Hoka Bondi running shoes because I had been having some plantar fasciitis problems, and while this worked well on fresh feet, it did not when my feet were slightly swollen from the bike. My little pinky toe on my right foot (the same one as the bruise) felt buzzy and numb. I tried not to think about my feet and after a while (like 10 miles) I stopped thinking about them.

Bill brought Bogey out on the run course!
He got lots of pets!

Becky and I not only talked about the swim start but a lot about the run too. She said if you want to have a good Ironman run you’ve got to keep moving. So I only walked enough to get two cups of water or Gatorade down at each aid station. I had my e-Gel flask and mostly used water. By this point the sweet Gatorade starts to get cloyingly sick tasting. The water cups were paper and made the water taste bad, so I finally started getting a cup of ice and a cup of water and pouring the water into the ice, that way it was colder and didn’t taste as bad.

Lap 1 Feeling Great!

I had my watch set to alert every three miles to remind me to take a gel, and I was taking one salt pill per hour. Before the race I talked with some of my friends at work and felt that I would be okay in the marathon as long as I didn’t cramp. Well, around mile 18 or so I felt the twinges of a cramp in my upper left leg. Not so bad as it shut me down, but bad enough that I knew if I stepped wrong it would seize.

Just before the turn around in the State Park there was a tent for Base Performance. Margaret uses Base salts and gave me a little vial once, I tried it but didn’t like it so I gave it back to her. On lap one of the run (Florida is a two lap out and back course), I took one of the vials and had a few licks but then ditched it at an aid station because the salt was irritating my tongue. But on the second time I went by the tent, just after my leg cramp I stopped for a second to try and massage my leg. One of the guys, who I later learned was Matt Miller, came sprinting over to me. “Are you cramping?” “Yes” “Have you taken any salt?” “Yes I just did.” “A salt pill, that will take like an hour to work. Here take 6 licks of this, and drink this down and I promise you won’t cramp for the rest of your race.” I looked at the little bottle of light pink liquid, couldn’t read the label, and thought for a minute that this might really mess up my stomach. Then I thought... what have I got to lose, I have to do something. So I took the 6 licks and drank the little magic bottle of liquid. And guess what… no more cramp. It was like magic, and I am now a believer.

Lap 2 after the Base Salts!

Without a watch running constantly from the beginning of the race I had to keep switching mine to look at clock time. I thought we started at 6:40 am, so I kept doing the math in my head of where I was and my predicted finish time. By this point in time you can calculate it, but then a mile later you’ve forgotten what you were thinking and have to do the math all over again. If I’m running 10 minute miles it will take me an hour to run 6 miles, but it’s really 11 minute miles at this point so I need to add 6 more minutes…so it will take me 66 minutes at this pace to run 6 miles. Then another mile goes by and you do the math all over again. And all of a sudden I realized that I was going to break 12 hours if I could hold on. At mile 24, the guys were out there with the glow sticks, also known as “THE STICK OF SHAME”. My friend Laura named these, that if you were out on the course after dark you had to carry the stick of shame. It’s also a tradition to toss it to a kid before you finish, so it’s not in your finish picture. Well the guy offered me the glow stick and I remember saying “I don’t need one, I’m about to FINISH!

Running down the finish shoot, and knowing I broke 12 hours was pretty emotional. I honestly did not think I had that in me. My “best” race scenario was to finish in 12:30. I did it in 11:46:38. After I crossed the finish I turned and looked back at the clock, and started crying. My marathon time was 4:33:48, just 10 minutes slower than in my very first Ironman when I was 31, 25 years ago this year. Bill was right there at the sideline and called out to me. It was so great to have him there and see what I worked so hard for these last few months. I was dedicated, I trained hard, I raced smart, I stuck to my plan. A 13 minute PR from my very first Ironman! It all fell into place for the best race of my life.

My retirement race, what a way to go out.

I placed 3rd in my age group at an IRONMAN.

I still can’t believe it.

I was hoping, hoping, hoping to be in the top 5.
.
But I got 3rd, me it may as well have been 1st.

I have lived the Tri Life for 33 years.

The best sport in the world!

Thank you for coming along on my journey.

Margaret and I both placed 3rd in our Age Groups!!!
Her first Ironman!!

Some super cute deer we saw on our
easy ride a couple days before the race!

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!!

My Ironman Support!

This goes into the category “Above And Beyond”!

My Ironman is almost here, and I want to share a story about my husband that happened at IM Louisville in 2007.

Ironman Louisville has a perfect spectator viewing point on the bike course at La Grange. There is a highway that spectators can take to get there without having to be on the bike course, and the bike route goes by the town two times, so there are a couple opportunities to see your loved ones.

I searched the crowd both times and was able to spot Bill! We waved, and yelled, he cheered me on! It was such a good feeling to see him during the race!

After I went by for the second time he got back in the car to head back to transition to see me start the run. As I left transition, I was looking and listening for him, but didn’t see him. I figured that I must have just not seen him in the crowd.

On the second loop of the run I found him and ran over to give and get a hug!

At the finish line he was there and we were able to get a picture together, he had brought my recovery drink in a plastic bag filled with ice so it would be cold. I hadn’t asked him to do this, warm is okay, but he knew it would be better cold, so he carried around a leaking bag of ice so it would taste better.

Got changed and we got in the car to head back to the hotel. Not until this point did he mention anything, he said “Notice anything different about the car?” The car we had rented smelled like Spencer’s Gifts, apparently they had sprayed a ton of air freshener in it to mask the smoke smell. The smell was gone. Then I looked around and noticed it was a different car.

After Bill had left La Grange and was driving through a neighborhood a car came across an intersection and hit him. It spun the car around, and Bill hit his head on the driver’s side window. The rental was wrecked bad enough that it could not be driven. The police came, and an ambulance came.

The ambulance driver told him that he needed to go to the hospital because he had a slight concussion. Bill told him “I can’t go to the hospital; I HAVE to get back to transition!!”

He had to call a taxi to take him back to the airport, rent another car, and book it back to the transition area. This is why I didn’t see him after the bike.

He never said a word until I was finished and safe in the car.

He also got my bike, and bags and took them back to the hotel in the time that I was running.

With a concussion.

Watching an Ironman is tough, it is super tiring. Your feet and legs hurt from running all over the place to cheer for your athlete. But you feel like you can’t complain because the person you are watching just did an Ironman.

Bill never uttered a peep. He even went back out after we got to the hotel to get me a milkshake and something to eat.

Let’s pray that nothing like this happens at Ironman Florida!

So here is to my super amazing husband, Bill! Thank you for supporting me through this crazy life of triathlon! You are the BEST!

I just bought him a VIP pass for the day... shhh it's a secret surprise!!

p.s. The house we rented for Ironman comes with a golf cart, so getting around should be a lot easier!

In Napa at our nieces wedding! 

This picture is appropriate since we are moving to south Louisiana!!
This was the year that the Saints won the Superbowl!

Bill kayaked for me at the 4 mile Take The Lake swim!

Rock n' Roll Half Marathon! With no training Bill ran just over a 2:00 Half!