2 minutes or 120 seconds or See You Next Year!

Well, I am not an ironman -- yet.

I will post a longer race report soon, but for now, suffice it to say that I am listed as a DNF for Ironman Wisconsin 2010.

I DID make the swim cut off (2.4 miles in 1 hour 44 minutes. Not very fast, but got it done).

I DID make the bike cut off (in by 5:12 pm which should have been 5:00 pm, (which really should have been less than 5 hours if a) my watch hadn't quit working and b) I had pedaled faster ;-) )

I DID make it to mile 19 of the slog-fest -- I mean marathon. Yep, got there at 10:32 pm. The only problem was that the cut off for mile 19 was 10:30 pm. I missed it by two minutes. Or 120 seconds... or....

My run fell apart for oh-so many reasons:

• Couldn't get my head around eating any thing. Nothing had any appeal except ice.
• Couldn't get my legs to move faster than a walk for about the first 6 miles. A slow walk at that.
• I finally did start running and picked up the pace a bit, but just could not keep the momentum going.
• My brain took me to a very, very dark place and there was no getting out of it. No matter how hard others tried to get me out, I was stubbornly stuck.

And so it went.

But there were many, many bright spots for the day (again, will post more of those later).

And I'll be back in Madison NEXT YEAR to do this again.

I've already signed up, already got my hotel room, already rented my race wheels.

Now I just hope Hubby, my coach and my friends can put up with me.

WHOOOOOSH! We're here....

I can not believe that Ironman Wisconsin is tomorrow.

TOMORROW!

The year has really flown by along with all the fun, fear and fretting.

Natalie and I volunteered last year on September 13th and signed up for the 2010 race which seemed so, so, so far away.

Base training started in December. Real training started in March.

Hiring one (lousy) coach; moving on to a much, much, much better coach.

Leaving behind things like Julie Murphy's candy jar, a once beloved container of chocolate comfort that I could count on finding in my co-worker's office. (I have not dipped my fingers in to that jar since December....).

I let go of other things too like sleeping in late on the weekends and more golf with my husband and golf friends.

Oh, and about 25 pounds.

But I gained so, so much.

I've gained confidence in the water and on the bike. I've run better than I have in a long time (until that pesky hamstring injury that happened about three weeks ago); I tried a bunch of new events this year (a couple open water swim events; a duathlon; a couple sponsored bike rides). I made "friends" with some of the tri-power houses in the Twin Cities. (Not that they would remember my name if they met me in an elevator... but I remember and have been inspired by them....).

I know what a cassette is and a crank is. I can tell you how to change a flat (even if I can't get the dang tire rim back over the wheel). I've ridden aero; I've moved on to road bike clips (although I'll be using my mountain clips for IM WI.... new shoes are still not quite broken in).

I've had a blast.

We've been in Madison since Thursday and it has been nothing but organized chaos. Things are not going quite as I "planned". I'm fighting a little virus; Hubby has a huge horrible cold.

But, the weather tomorrow is supposed to be perfect. Natalie and I are ready to go. Hubby is here; lots of other friends are here to help volunteer and to cheer us on.

No matter what happens out there tomorrow, it should be a wonderful, wonderful day.

My plan is to cross that finish line before midnight. To become an Ironman.

If I don't... I can always sign up for IM WI 2011

But I hope the day doesn't just go in a whoosh.....