Dang, that sounds like a miserable day. I can honestly tell you, that there is no way I could have taken that wind for 112 miles. It's amazing that you made those miles Denise. Wind... beats you up... you can't SEE when it ends (like you can a hill!) and for me... it gets INTO my head and starts getting me down.

To stand up to 112 miles of wind like that... makes you one tough lady.

As for the DNF, I think RnR said it best yesterday:

I am a competitive racer. I want to do well. But race day is fraught with things that are completely out of your control, and the day often times does not go as planned.

You need to stay focused on that goal...BUTwhen you really get down to the core of it, it is monumentally important not too forget to look back along the way, and see how far you have come.

That is what this part of the journey should be about. Who am I as an athlete?
Denise, you can look back on your journey and you KNOW what kind of athlete you are. All of your training up until the race was amazing... and you were spot on.

Race day didn't go as planned... and your stomach didn't agree with what was going on. I'm sure deciding to leave the course was the hardest decision ever. But you made a wise one. And... you had nothing to prove. You know you could do it... if you weren't puking every few feet... right?

I knew something wasn't right on your run after your first loop and you running a 15.5 minute mile. That's not the Denise we know from training. Obviously things were going wrong.

You are an Ironman Denise. You were iron-strong to compete as long as you did yesterday! You finished last year and you will finish again another year. And we will be right there cheering you on!