If You Never Tri, You'll Never Know!

Ironman 70.3 New Orleans Part 4: SUN RUN FUN to FINISH

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Who the hell turned on the heat!? Was it this hot on the bike!? Thunderstorms, ha! Seriously, a 6.2 mile stretch with zero shade!?

This was my weather report. We were supposed to have bad weather Sunday. Which I'm so glad we didn't, but the sun beating down was also very unexpected. With no consideration to sunscreen I hit the scorching hot run course. Right out the gate we hit a hill. NOLA 70.3 managed to find the ONLY 6.2 mile stretch of hills in New Orleans. They weren't just hills though, over passes. Over passes seem to suck more than hills. They are very up and last 2-4 lanes of road that they are over passing. So it means they are very up for quite a while. The good part, they always go down on the other side. The worst part, we have to do them all twice. I was still feeling positive though because we TRAINED on some hills knowing we'd have a few over passes. BOOM! Pick your race and train for it.

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The run course was an out and back. Mostly flat but not really. 
It was HOT. Brutal hot. I doused myself in ice water and stuck cold sponges where I could. Ignoring my pace, I ran comfortable and with SMILES. I wanted to enjoy every second of this run. I felt great. Well, as great as can feel after 1.2 mile swim and 56 mile bike. My back was tightening up where it always does but it wasn't going to stop me. I was hoping to catch up to Brandon and run along with him. First mile down, second, and third. I was hitting the water stops, refilling, refueling, and maintaining a happy pace. Maybe 5-5.5 miles I finally caught site of Brandon headed back in. We high fives and he said he was feeling great. With a probably 2 mile spread, no way I was catching him. But the desire to kept me at a great pace so I just kept pretending like I was going to catch him.

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Saw Molly's parents out there supporting the team, Alex, Mary, and a few other friends. Lots and lots of familiar faces on the course - TTB's, coast friends, Zoot teammates, Smash girls, and if I didn't know you, I met you! Ha! Miss Social Butterfly!

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I had a great time on the run course and finished with an official time of 2:23.
Final NOLA 70.3 time: 5:50:01 ~ my fastest 70.3 time to date! Woohoo!!

With 6 of us racing, there's still more! Finish line fun + a night out in NOLA to celebrate...
Stay tuned for Part 5!