I’m back from a fabulous weekend at Ironman 70.3 Augusta and officially a Half Ironman! Or is it Half Ironwoman? Well, whatever you want to call it, I did it! And I beat my hopeful goal time and finished in 6:18:48 so I’m happy with my race. It was hard, there were moments that it seemed crazy, and times I thought “I’m never doing this again!” – but those moments were overshadowed by an incredible experience.
And of course after the race I overanalyzed everything and thought of how I could have done better. But I had a hopeful goal of 6:30 and a safe goal of 7:00 so I can safely say I crushed my goals despite my crazy life with my crazy schedule that prevented me from hitting all the workouts on my training plan.
I’m working up the official race recap but wanted to share a few moments and photos from the race weekend leading up to the big event. The weekend was all about the people that I met, and the trip I took with my dad.
THE EPIC ROAD TRIP ADVENTURE
It was a father-daughter road trip and I wouldn’t have traded it for the world. My dad is my biggest supporter, and to have him with me was so fantastic! First, we had a great time together. Second, he knows me so well that I didn’t have to be any other way than just myself – complete with crazy pre-race crazies and all! Third, it was like having my own personal paparazzi because he took photos of me all weekend. That word even has “papa” in it – coincidence? I think not.
We joked that we had 4 cell phones, 1 GPS unit, 1 tablet, and 2 laptops in the car. We were not going to get lost driving from Maryland to Georgia!
THE PACKET PICKUP
We finally arrived in Augusta at about 6:50pm on Friday night. Packet pickup closed at 7pm. We made a beeline there and the doors were locked. A really nice security person let me in and said they were still open – and indeed they were!
It was fantastic to get my packet and browse the merchandise quickly without a line or crowd.
THE PRE-RACE BIKE RIDE
There were two unofficial river swims that I heard about, but what I really wanted was a bike ride to be sure that everything was in working order and my bike had survived the trip in the back of my car A-OK. Thankfully, a friend had organized a 30-minute “unofficial” ride of the beginning of the bike course on Saturday morning.
THE EXPO
After the bike ride, I racked my bike and checked out the transition area.
I attended the pre-race briefing and bought some souvenirs.
I was really glad I had picked up my packet the night before, since the next day there were lines:
THE FINISH LINE
It was so cool to run around the finish line and take a faux photo. Seeing it set up gave me goosebumps!
THE SWIM BIKE MOM GROUP
I’m in a fantastic Facebook group that is run by Swim Bike Mom, and so many group members were doing this race in Augusta. And Swim Bike Mom herself was going to be there with a tent and lots of positive encouragement – a huge reason I picked this race! We had a big group photo and then went out to dinner.
Hey, Swim Bike Mom is having a drink with my dad – how cool is that?
The highlight of this weekend was not the race, but the people I met all weekend. From the Swim Bike Mom group to the Augusta 70.3 Facebook group to DC area triathletes there for the race, to SOAS Racing teammates, it was the experience of a lifetime.
More tomorrow – it’s back to the “real world” and I’m off to work. Have a great day!
Did you do anything fun this weekend?
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