Ironman Florida - Part 3 - the run

yay! windy 112 miles done and i quickly hand my bike off to a volunteer and start running to the T2 bag area, which was very close this time compared to where the first transition was, and i hauled butt to the same changing area as before. plenty of space, even more than before and i quickly removed my bike shoes, the volunteer dumped my bag out and handed me my running shoes, and the other volunteer (yep, I had 2 helping me) sprayed sunscreen on me and i was out the door running. time in T2: 4:49.

this picture sums up how great i felt during the run but unfortunately, it doesn't reflect in my time: 4:08:28

i learned at about mile 8 that the few big gulps of salt water i took in the swim had done some damage to my GI system over the last 6-7 hours. i figured this out after the race while talking to at least 2 handfuls of others who had the same experience and could only attribute it to the salt water. i would say for me that it couldn't have been anything else as my eating is ALWAYS the same leading up to a race, my nutrition and hydration were exactly the same as last year when i did my first 140.6 race, and always the same as i do during training. i have never had stomach issues in a race. i also have never done a race of this distance that had a salt water swim. so with that being said, i had to make a couple of not so fun pit stops at the port-o-lets which started to eat into my time.

i would have killed for a vanilla frosty from Wendy's across the street right about now

my "should have been" marathon time should have been closer to 3:45-3:50. i never felt bad while i was running and never slowed down my pace but the time i spent reading magazines, really hurt me and does reflect negatively on my run. oh well, maybe i will experiment in my training by drinking salt water.

the spectators along the way were awesome. tents were set up along the side of the road as if people were tailgating for the big game and they were rooting for their favorite athletes. it was great and i had my share of cheerleaders along that stretch. thanks you guys! overall, the course is okay, maybe a little boring on some stretches in St. Andrews State Park. the aid stations were plentiful and i used them at least every 2 miles. i lived off the course for the marathon. i did a post last year regarding my hydration and nutrition during the Great Floridian 140.6, which was flawless, and i followed that again this year and it worked like a charm. if you want to read it, go HERE.

the finish was just as i thought it would be ...bright lights and lots of screaming spectators. the words, Kristie Concepcion, you are an Ironman never sounded so good. i felt fine when i finished, had a great catcher walk me thru to get my finishers medal, t-shirt, hat and then a finishers picture. i found the J-man right away and quickly found a spot to sit down and stretch out. then got changed into some dry clothing and headed to Wendy's for that vanilla frosty i wanted. we were going to stay and spectate until the cutoff but we all were so tired that we hopped on the shuttle and headed back to the car and then to the hotel. on the ride back to the hotel, i told the J-man i wasn't sticking around to register for next year, however, before my head hit the pillow, he had me talked into signing up for IMFL 2012, so that's what i did before rolling out of Panama City Beach on Sunday. I'm so glad I did it and I look forward to next year with even better results. 

        ********************************

Swim - 1:20:30

T1 - 8:26

Bike - 5:43:16

T2 - 4:49

Run - 4:08:28

Finishing Time - 11:25:29

544th OA

15th AG/120

much love and peace out!