Before I knew it I was flying back to Houston for IM Texas. When I registered for Texas after Kona it was all part of a plan to get me set up for a successful return trip to Kona. I wanted to win my age group. But as my winter training progressed...or didn't...we knew that we were going to have to adjust the plan. Even if I didn't win my age group I still needed to place high enough to secure my Kona slot. This particular race had a bunch of women slots so I went in thinking that I just needed to place in the top ten and it relieved some of the stress. Even though my build was not great or traditional in any way, I still went into the race with a fair amount of confidence. I had just spent 27 hours training on the Texas course. I knew the swim. I knew the bike. And most importantly I knew the run. Because of all that confidence the few days of final race prep were fairly stress free.
I went running to learn the layout of transition.
I went to lunch with more Smashfest sisters.
And I thoroughly enjoyed the peace that comes when you know you've done all you needed to do and there's nothing left but to execute the race.
Athlete welcome banquet with a preview of Hippie Hollow and a speech from Jocelyn.
I ran into a friend at the athlete briefing and welcome banquet who reminded me that the Houston Temple was only a short drive away. I didn't have time for a full endowment session, but I did have time for initiatories. It was so nice to feel my heart and mind just settle. I was glad that I made time for that. 
Jeremy flew in the night before the race to cheer me on. He was able to use the Quinn's house as home base during the day, and they even let him borrow a bike so he could hop around the course and see me throughout the day. The swim was Lake Woodlands. I had been warned that I shouldn't drink the water, especially because there had been a thunderstorm the day before. I had a hard time with my sighting and for the first time ran into a kayak on course who had to point me in the right direction. I ended up swimming more than I needed to. The final stretch of the swim in down the waterway canal. There are spectators lining the banks and I could see Jeremy walking next to me as I swam into T1. I think this picture he took from a bridge is just so cool. I was first out of the water and thought that was a pretty good way to start my day.
On the bike I felt really good for the first ten miles or so. I thought that perhaps I was finally going to have a breakthrough ride. We rode on a road named Grogan's Mill and the song that kept playing in my head the entire day was "Bill Grogan's Goat" from my grandpa. It's definitely not a typical pump up type of soundtrack but it was better than nothing. This bike course is not very exciting, it's basically two loops out and back alone the Hardy Toll road-a freeway. There are no turns, there isn't much to see, and the only elevation are the overpasses. I was worried about being really bored on the ride but ultimately I kind of enjoyed not having to stress about the road conditions. Around mile 30 I started to notice my legs were hurting, and not in a normal effort kind of way. Something was going on with my bike fit and my legs felt like their were seizing up. I jumped off at mile 40 to do what I could to stretch, but it didn't help. On the way out there was a headwind and I'm afraid that I adjusted my position to battle it which wasn't good. It meant there was a tail wind on the way home, but everything still hurt. I began getting discouraged and could feel my day slipping away with every girl that passed me. On the second lap I was surrounded by middle of the pack riders and it was such a different vibe. Jeremy found a way to find me on the bike course and I saw him about five times which I think is one thing that kept me going.
I knew starting the run that I was going to have to run all of those ladies down. I've done it in the past and I hoped I could do it again. I didn't have the run volume I would have liked going into the race. My longest training run was Oceanside just two weeks earlier, and before that it was only nine miles. That is not the way to prepare for a marathon. It was a three loop course and I knew I was probably going to hit a wall about mile 13. Well, I hit that wall earlier around mile 9. I took some ibuprofen from my special needs bag and hoped that was going to be enough to help the pain. It had been a long day by that point and I wasn't very good at responding to Jeremy any more. I had turned into a running zombie and didn't think about anything. Around mile 13 I started counting miles. 13, 13, 13, 13, 12, 12, 12, 12...
I had Jeremy giving me positions on course and knew I was sitting about tenth. I hadn't moved up. The women in front of me were having too good of a day. But as I started the third lap he told me that my pace was faster than theirs and if I dug deep I might be able to catch the three ladies ahead of me. I passed through Hippie Hollow and they were blaring out "Hall of Fame." That was the final push I needed to bring it home. My paces went from 8:30 miles to 8:00 miles to 7:30 miles. My last 10k was a 48:08, and I managed to catch those three women. I came across that finish line with the strongest running legs I have ever had. I had no idea where that strength came from.
I was shocked when I looked at my run split and learned that it was a PR marathon time. I had wanted to walk. I had wanted to stop the pain. But I didn't and ended up having a pretty respectable day. I took 7th in my age group and was the 23rd female (not including pros).
Swim 59:37, T1 3:58, Bike 5:41:38, T2 4:07, Run 3:35:10, Overall 10:24:29.
Walking to bike pickup, backwards through Hippie Hollow. Those guys are rock stars!
My everything.
The next morning Jeremy and I had to change our flight so we could go to the awards ceremony and roll down. While I wanted to be up on that podium the quality of women who showed up that day was phenomenal. I would have had to had some type of insane day to knock 45 minutes off my time to take that top spot. As it was I legitimately secured my spot back to Kona. They called my name. I received my lei. And I walked up there with my head held high for a day well done.
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