So that happened

The lack of a race report is due to a virus hitting my computer the second day in Cozumel...back in November.

The Wifi at the hotel was ridiculously priced, so I opted to try and log into an unsecured wireless network. A couple seconds later, my computer froze and it had to be sent back to the company when my mom got back to Texas, where it remained until my brother brought it back to me two days ago!

IM Cozumel....uhhhmmm...yea I don't have much emotion attached to my race. In large part because it's been almost a month, and my mind has been preoccupied with more important matters like being able to get back into the US.

The event itself is spectacular and I definitely look forward to coming back in 2011. The swim is a gorgeous tour of Chankanab bay- coral, fish, crystal clear, and warm! The bike is toasty and windy- mostly headwind with some cross on the other side of the island. Its pancake flat terrain I believe makes it tougher than a rolling course because you're grinding away the whole time. The run is amazing- lined with spectators (most of whom don't even know what the point of Ironman is...although I'm sure a lot people that do the sport don't know either haha), all cheering until the last hour.

I had a fantastic swim. My mindset was "I am a swimmer"...so, accordingly, I lined up in FRONT (not like in Kona with a couple people slightly ahead of me...no, no, I was the line). That worked out great and I'll definitely be doing that every race from now on. Came out in :56 hehe :)

The bike went well, I felt good. Myself and another girl got swallowed by like 30 guys and got a drafting penalty. Kinda sexist that only us girls got it, but whatever. I wasn't going to get mad. Hell I was dying to pee so I just took it as my pee break- we both did- and stood there peeing as the ref counted down the time.

Biked a 5:38...not good, not bad.

When I hit the run I thought "oh f&*#k!"...it was HOTTTTT! I love the heat, but right away I didn't feel my run there. In other words, I've always gotten off the bike in Ironman feeling ready to roll mentally and with a good little skip to my step. But this time my legs were heavy and I knew I had to get some coke and any other source of caffeine asap.

I wasn't going to run like in Kona. That was very clear. However, I figured each of the three loops in 1:12-1:15 and I might break my PR of 10:24- which was my goal for the race. I was 3rd or 4th amateur off the bike so definitely wanted to stay up there.

But come the end of loop 2 on the run and BOOM diarrhea- like on the spot, not even time to hit the portapoty. Great. In a few seconds I was EMPTY. It was weird to have nothing fueling even a jog effort, and any attempt at jogging triggered the desperate need to go to the bathroom again. So I tried to trot to the turnaround (start of loop 3) where my parents were and let them know this was going to take longer than expected.

I found 2 friends from Mexico- both Kona finishers from 2010, and both in walking-state. That was a blessing. We walked a good 3 miles and then started to try and jog/walk intervals of 2-3mins. Those 8ish last miles felt like a lifetime.

There's nothing you can do at that point. You can quit or just finish. I had no reason to quit as I had plenty of hours to even bear crawl before the cutoff, so of course I was going to finish.

11hours 19minutes later I crossed the finish line. I won my AG but a "congratulations" or "great job" is irrelevant. I appreciate those words, but really the only good job I did is in not DNFing...my race itself was not win-worthy. I really wish I hadn't won m AG.

Looking back, I think it's my fault that I got diarrhea...I don't think I ate something the night before because that would've hit me in the morning or at least on the bike. I think I made a HUGE mistake in starting loop 2 of the run and drinking Pure Kick (200mg caffeine berry flavored powder) mixed with maybe 3oz of water so it was super strong and could easily have caused mayhem in my stomach.

All that caffeine made the walking so frusterating because aerobically I felt great and I was WIRED. I went in feeling fitter and stronger than for Kona.

Once it was over, I just sort of brushed it off. I wasn't angry, sad, or feeling sorry for myself (after all it could've been my fault with the Pure Kick). Nor was I proud or happy. I was just like "ok cool, that was fun, I'll come back next year for sure to RUN that damn thing....now let the R&R begin!".

Carlos & Charlies was fun the next night, after awards, with some friends. Then I flew to Cancun the following day to be with my dad.

I've been here since, except for a 3 day trip from hell to Mexico City to request my new visa- for temporary worker status. I'm stuck in Cancun until they deliver my passport with the new visa that was thankfully approved. That could be today or in a month.

I have my flight booked to go back to SD the 30th but if the passport isn't here by the 29 I'll have to change that flight to like mid January.

I'm in paradise as my dad lives in a 5star resort in Playa Mujeres. I can run on the protected trail and golf course, I have a state of the art gym, and I can swim in one of the many pools or the ocean at my leisure.

However, I can't ride a bike. The stationary ones are so uncomfortable so at most I'm on them 30min. More importantly, I've been here alone. Yes my dad's here but that's different. If friends were here I wouldn't mind the visa taking 2 months to be ready.

It's off season so I know training is meaningless right now. I've been swimming, running, and lifting consistently but mostly because I've been bored. I believe I'm taking a much bigger off season than 95% of triathletes. I'm doing nothing over 45min, have no logs, no fixed schedule/goal when I get out the door...so it's more to keep sane than anything else. Mentally I'm super relaxed. Every year it becomes more evident how far away Kona is from January and how easily one can burn out or get injured, as well as how quickly you can get into amazing IM shape with smart training. I got onto training peaks yesterday and realized my coach had written workouts for the past 2 weeks lol. Oops. I emailed him saying, sorry but won't be doing anything you say till the second week of January :) Heck, I haven't even signed up for a single event/race.

Anyway, salvation came when my brother and his girlfriend arrived Monday. My dad and I have held off from visitng Xel-Ha, Xcaret, Xplor, fly fishing, etc until their arrival, so finally we get to have some fun. The natural parks here are incredible so these next 10 days will be action packed :)

Lots of pics are on my FB and twitter.

Happy Holidays everyone!!