Boise Half Iron(wo)man

(so this is chris. as the dutiful husband proud of his amazing wife, i feel i need to clarify some things because paige is too modest at times. first of all, she signed up for this 2 months before the race. 2 months people. and the last week was all taper, so really only 7 weeks. sure she had been running a little on the treadmill and riding on the trainer, but 2 months is not very long. second of all, before she signed up, she had run a half-marathon only once, 12 months before (and got 1:48). she managed to squeeze one more in at the ogden half-marathon (1:47) a month before the race. then in the race she ran it in 1:49, and this is after swimming 1.2 miles in near-whitecap conditions and biking 56 hilly miles in some pretty nasty rain and wind. also, since the majority of the racers had tri-bikes/aerobars and tri-helmets, the fact that paige had a bike time near the top in her age category on a road bike without aero bars is incredible as well. anyway, after all this, paige got 7th in her age group out of 47. not bad for your first half-ironman and only 2 months to prepare.)


Well, here we go with another race. This one is the biggest triathlons I have done yet and after all of my suffering, I believe, it deserves some posting. Chris and I travelled to lovely Boise, Idaho, for the Boise Half Ironman. I had been training for the half for a while and was glad to finally get the event over with. I was filled with that nervous anticipation where you're not sure if you're excited or if you just need to puke. We went out a couple of days early to check in and survey the course - which gave me just that much more time to stew about the upcoming race.

But finally, the day came...





I was in the purple group, as denoted by my purple swim cap. It included all of the women ages 18 to 34.



The water temperature, they claimed, was 64 degrees, but felt more like I was swimming in glacier run off. Chris was just taking random pictures, but we actually found me in the picture. I'm in the right lower corner with my head and left arm out of the water. I wanted to make sure that I didn't get kicked in the face right when the swim started.



After swallowing a portion of the reservoir while making it through the swim and taking my time in the transition area I took off on the bike. There was a little bit of a tail wind to start out with, which turned into a side wind, which turned into a torrrential downpour. I didn't know Boise had a monsoon season. The last part of the bike was tough as it was a strong headwind with lots of rain. Notice I don't even have aerobars on my bike - a tri bike is next on my list of wants.



Coming into the second transition area I couldn't believe I actually had to run a half marathon. I made sure to change my socks and then tried to get my legs to go from biking mode to running mode. My legs felt like I was trying to run with my feet on backwards. Chris gave me some good advice for the race that came in especially handy on the run. He told me to treat everyone in front of me like carrots (like when you hang a carrot in front of a horse to get it to walk) and to just catch the person in front of me. This gave me the motivation to make it through the two laps of the run and feel better than I expected.



The last mile was painful, though. I was about ready to regurgitate all of the packets of GU I had swallowed, especially if I had to force another one down, and there were no carrots close enough to catch. I think my body started to give up before I was through. I came to the finish thrilled to be done and to have completed my first half ironman. They wrapped all the finishers in those silver space blankets you have in your emergency kits (they really do keep you warm) give you a bottle of water, a finishers medal and a half ironman hat, take your picture and then send you on your way to a recovery area filled with pizza, bagels, gatorade (barf if I had to drink another ounce) and water. A little disoriented it took me a while to realize I was cold, wet and tired and I couldn't wait to take a hot shower back at the hotel room.



What is an event without recognizing the immense support behind my accomplishments. Chris is the BEST race manager and husband. When it comes to telling me I've had enough peanut M&M's, he's the guy. In all of my anxieties he was there rubbing my legs and back telling me how great I was going to do and he made sure he was right there when I needed him. I think he got just as worn out standing in the rain and making sure he was at the transitions cheering me on. The picture is a little fuzzy and my lips are purple, but I could't leave it out.