Wahine at IM Canada - Race Feed

[Wahine]

So now you all know. I'm actually pretty proud. I never thought I would ever place at an Ironman event and to get first place, too much.

Grog - I totally heard you and I had no idea who it was. I had already seen KelownaGirl and Pika so I knew it wasn't them. Too cool. I knew it was someone from TE. I was pondering it for several miles on the run. Always a great help to have something else to think about. Thanks for the cheering.

So here's my version of the race, you all know the basics so I'll leave the stats out.

Swim - I positioned myself well, about 3/4 to the front, a little behind the real big wigs and with some space around me. At about 500 m out I got into a crowd of very aggressive swimmers and got my azz kicked. I was elbowed in the face, lost my nose plug, kicked in the gut several times, pulled under at least twice and had to roll out on 2 different guys during the race to find space to swim. It was the roughest swim I've ever done and I've done a lot of mass starts of over 1000 athletes. My left shoulder was killing me and I limped in for the last bit.

Bike - I headed out feeling OK. Glad to be out of the water. The first 40 miles went well but the food I was taking in was just sitting in my stomach and not moving. So I had to pull up and let things digest. As we hit the first of the big climbs I wasn't fast but I was solid and I attacked the descents and the shorter hills after Richter Pass. But about 60 to 80 miles into the race the tank was empty because of the problems I had earlier so I started to flag. At that point we hit the nasty headwind. I was thankful for all the wind I had to train in. In other years, this would have beaten me mentally but not this year, I just kept plugging away knowing that my competetors were in the same boat. But it cost me a lot physically. On the last big climb I was getting my second wind on the bike but I knew I was dehydrated (no desire to pee at all and this is now over 5.5 hrs into the race) and I played catch up the rest of the day.

T2 - I nearly fell down getting off my bike. I was unsteady enough that a volunteer had to spot me back to the change tent. At this point I seriously questioned if I should continue but it's always been my philosophy to at least run the first 3 miles and reassess. So off I went. And I did finally pee at T2

Run - I had hoped to hold close to a 9 min pace. No such luck. So my goal was shot but I knew that I still had a good chance at gold in the Athena cat if I could break 12:20. My legs we killing me but I just tried to hold the form my coach had taught me. That's all I thought about for 4.5 hours, well that and getting as much fluid in me as possible. At about mile 10 I ran into a friend, we ran together for about 6 miles then he had to back off. Meanwhile I was getting stronger, at least relative to the crowd. So I went ahead. At about mile 22 I passed an old friend that I hadn't seen for a very long time, I said hi as I went by and told her we'd talk later, I was on the hunt for a PR. She followed me in. At the last 500 m of the run she came up behind me and smacked me on the azz and said "Let's go" so we sprinted in. Well... as best as an Ironman sprint can go. That's who I was hugging at the finish line for those of you that watched the live feed.

I was as close to collapsing at a finish line as I've ever been. It was cold and windy. I got home as soon as I could. I still couldn't eat very much at noon today but I think I'm back in fighting form now.

We went to the awards ceremony tonight and sat in the VIP area. Very cool. I was emotional the whole night. There is truly nothing like Ironman Canada.

Thanks to all. I really appreciate your support.

Cassie