Not having had the opportunity to pre swim here, was a problem. There was a short swim on saturday which basically served as a "Yes, your booties and neo cap are perfect for this water temp" swim with a chance to practice the weird bleacher exit and that was it.

Since swimming is usually my strong suit I did not put the effort into being as detailed as the bike and run in my race prep. I figured (incorrectly!) that since it was a single loop with out an exit like IMFL and IMLP I would be able to swim as fast as IMFL with a bit less training, capitalizing on the non stop draft and no land time. WRONG! My pace for the distance was correct for my 1:10-1:12 swim I was thinking I'd get, but my sighting was TERRIBLE! Lesson learned!

I got beat up pretty good this race...it seemed I was out of the main draft, but getting clobbered anyhow! More dudes felt me up in that swim than my whole four years in college lol! I got calf, foot and hamstring cramps at different times in the race...the hammy cramps are scary, but I knew from my crappy experience in Spain it would not affect the bike or run, so I just slowed, and relaxed till they stopped. The repeated beat downs meant tensing up and repeated cramps though. Not fun. As is my norm in IM swims, I got the obligatory kick in my face so hard that I lifted my head up and yelled "F*CK!" Gotta love mass starts! ;)
The other challenging bit to this swim in particular (other than no race rehearsal) is the exit. The exit is a set of sunken bleachers that I was told would have volunteers helping you out of...kind of swim up and they haul you out. Nope. I swim up (a cluster as you'd imagine) and the volunteer says "hop up...use the rail"...so I try and hoist my arse up and miss...back into the drink. Try again..fumble fumble crawl and finally got up. Booooo!

Take this part of the race just as seriously as the rest of it. I was a bit fluffy on my swims leading into the race as well as not planning a more detailed race plan for this leg. Next IM will not be a personal worst swim time!

Well, my hostess and Kona Krush Marie gave me a stern talking to about my transition times. I listened. And visualized on the ride from Scottsdale to the race site. It seems to have worked! I hustled and got in and out quickly with the help of some awesome volunteers. They helped sunblock me, put my jersey on and handed me my glasses and helmet. They rocked!

Not much...this was very speedy for me...very speedy!

We had just about PERFECT weather. Chilly early, and minimal winds. The first lap there was a great tailwind on the downhill after the turnaround. The wind and congestion on the course was higher on the second lap. Third lap the wind was a bit higher, but still not bad at all.
My goal was to be steady eddy on the entire course, staying super aero and consistent with my power output. Because of the nature of the three loops it was much more congested than I felt comfy with and my power was not nearly as steady as I had hoped it would be. It wasn't horrible, but could have been better. I got off the bike twice to pee (darn it! still can't go on the bike!)
My other goal was to put out gut issues if they flared up. And of course they did. I trained from 8/13 on to use perform and power bars. No issues during training, but a little in the last two race rehearsals. I was prepared with Immodium and I had to take it quite early in the bike. Most of my cramping was reduced and I was able to ride as I wanted about 45 minutes after that. I had taped a couple gels to the bike in case the power bars were not going well, and I'm glad I did. I used them at mile 80 and as my last feeding before getting off the bike. The caffeine was a nice boost too.

I think I will take the Immodium pre race from now on and practice that next season. I always seem to drink a bit of whatever body of water I swim in (yuck!) and perhaps this will nip the gut issues in the bud.
I also need to ride even more steady. I was short of my watts goal and left a bit of time on the table I think. And PEE ON THE BIKE ALREADY lol!

THE best volunteers ever! I even switched out socks (which I should not have...I didn't pee on the bike after all!)

One gal put my race belt on, one gal sprayed me with sunblock and put my visor on me while I got socks and shoes on....I grabbed a biogel, face wipe and split.

Keep the socks from the bike on. I don't usually ride with socks, so that was out of my norm to have um on. Other wise nothing. Seriously, this is LIGHTNING fast for me lol!

HOLY SH*T! I did it! I finally had the run I've been dreaming of and working on since IMFL 2010! I ran from aid to aid, NO WALKING IN BETWEEN! Whooo Hooooo! My garmin got bumped about 2.1 miles in, so I had to reboot the watch to get splits. I was not sure where I was chasing my time goal of sub 12. I just kept on staying steady, and taking in my nutrition as planned. I ran up that damn Curry hill both times, and LOVED it! I kept waiting for the wheels to come off, but they never did. My buddy Trish smacked my butt at mile 20 in my first IM and I promised her that was her mile...I even smacked myself on the fanny! ;) The big fat full orange moon rising was a blessing to see. Just gorgeous! Being cheered by Brian (who was all over the course...my adoptive sherpa extrodinare!) and all my friends and their families and Marie and Eric was great! Eric told me to hit my time I had to run 10:20s and I figured there was no way. Endurance Nation execution means no racing till mile 18, then get it going on...use your one thing...the reason you are racing. Mine was NO REGRETS. I had itb pain and I put my biofreeze on it and told myself NO REGRETS MARSHALL! In mile 24 a gal in my ag passed me...I was like...ah NO. I passed her back, looking for her shadow as I passed under lights and finally checking over my shoulder to see where she was. She was far enough behind that I could get one more dose of coke at the last aid. Then it was about 1.3 to finish. Some guys said we were one small hill away from the shoot...I started to run harder, having no idea where I was on the clock. Then I saw Marie and Eric going NUTS...screaming YOUR GOING TO MAKE YOUR TIME!!! I had no idea how close I was to 12 hours so I put down the hammer (lol...9 minutes miles...felt like 6:30s lol) and low and behold...I see the clock...11:55:xx!!!!!!! HOLY SH*T! I did it!

Not much at all. Maybe try and push harder the last 10k. I had to take another Immodium early on the run and wish I could get my stomach issues to settle down, but I did triage and it seemed to work.

This is the first long distance race I did not get passed by people on the run. I passed 146 runners, and one girl in my AG, also a first. Super happy with my run and beating my big fat hairy goal. Landing 8th in my AG was awesome too! I've never placed higher than 31in an IM. Even if I didn't age up this year, I'd have been 14th in 45-49. Color me HAPPY!

The poor volunteer who caught me...got the most excited athlete EVER! I was so geeked and in shock that I'd met my goal I could not shut up lol! I met up with Marie, Eric and Steve. Got my picture with Steve!!! Walked a bit and finally found a port a pot in the medical area. I felt much better than in races past. Whoda thunk going faster would leave me feeling better!


The swim was my achililes heel this race. If I would have put down the 1:10 swim I know I'm capable of I would have no complaints at all. That and my persistent gut issues on the bike. I think if I can get that handled my bike times will definitely improve.


As always, racing is so much more meaningful to me when shared with friends. There was a LOT of love out on the course with 20 of us from MI racing, my host and hostess (and kona krush) Marie and Eric,Not to mention Coach Rich from Endurance Nation at mile 18. All my ATCK friends families and Fraser families cheered like crazy for me and that meant the world on the run and bike! All my friends following along at home...well, I got all the love they sent. Dave even had the neighbors over to watch my finish on the big screen! LOVED! Thats what I am!

There is something about IM...Part of me hates the commercial jazz that IM is, but there is this other part of doing something with your body and pushing your limits that just can not be replicated...IM gives you the challenge and thousands of friends to share the day with. This year I was fortunate to race with five first time racers and to feed off their excitement and share my limited knowledge of the IM distance race. It was a great opportunity once again to be a part of their days. I'm looking forward to playing in the Mountains of Quebec with many of them next year! :-) After a nice break of course!