Good for you, Tri Girl. I'm glad you had great swim and bike legs. I'm glad you stopped when your body said you HAD to stop, and that you're good with it. And knowing what your body likes best---halfs---is a great thing to know. I greatly respect how you dealt with this!


Quote Originally Posted by Tri Girl View Post
Ummm... the day didn't turn out like I'd hoped. I PR'd my swim from my last IM by 20 minutes and PR'd my bike time from last time by 30 minutes. I was on pace to PR my whole time by at least an hour.

Then I DNF'd at mile 133.

Something happened on the 2nd bike loop about mile 80. My stomach started cramping terribly and I got sick twice (my nutrition was solid all summer- I don't know what went wrong). I couldn't take in any fluids or food for the rest of the bike, and I slowed down significantly that last 32 miles. I went from a 16.6 mph avg (which for me is great) to a 15 mph avg at the end of the bike leg. I had a major meltdown at one aid station (crying uncontrollably). Just finishing the last 10 miles was tough- I just kept telling myself to go just one more mile. Then I'd do it and talk myself into one more mile. Sucks because I was on pace to do a sub 7 hour bike. As it was, bike time was 7:26 (7:42 total time).
I sat in T2 for 30 minutes drinking coke and trying to calm my stomach down. A few friends working the race talked me through it and encouraged me to just get on the run and start moving. I did and could only walk. I ran about a minute every 10 minutes, but that was even difficult. I was so nauseous and couldn't hold anything down (and I had about 3 major sobbing events). Finally at mile 17.? I made the decision to stop. And once I handed my chip to a volunteer I was totally at peace with it. I went as far as my body let me, and it wasn't worth harming myself for a silly race. I've done one IM, this was just icing on the cake. I'm OK with it. I'm not even disappointed because I know I went as far as I could safely go. I was crawling along at about 2+ mph at the end and I knew it would take me at least 3 more hours to finish the last 7 miles. I knew I didn't have it in me. Got 2 IV's in the med tent, some anti-nausea medicine and came home. My hubs finished his IM in 13:13. It was a tough day for everyone out there. Stomach issues all around and more walking than I've ever seen at an IM.

It is what it is.
Thanks for your support.

I think I'll stick with halfs. I just don't think this body is meant for IM distance. But at least I completed 1.75 IM events.