CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!! I was at IMC spectating and volunteering (bodymarking). It was a tough day and my hats off to all who raced. It was my first time at IMC and it has to be one of the best venues I have ever seen. The start of the swim was one of the most awesome starts to a race that I have ever witnessed. I had sworn off IM's but after last Sunday it has me thinking again........... Great race report, you have a lot to be proud of!!!!!

Hooray - I've been waiting for Part 4. Oh my, that run sounds miserable! Love the race report, love the photos. And most of all, congratulations again to you (and your supurb cheering crowd).

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http://smallfoodbiz.com
</blatent self-marketing>

Your signature line sounds like you lived it at IMC! I guarantee if you do it again, it DOES GET EASIER! Great job and I hope to see you again in the Spring!

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DFL > DNF > DNS

Congrats on making it through a tough day - it is a huge accomplishment!

Hey Michelle, thanks for sharing that race report with us. Congratulations on sticking it out when the going got tough. I hope you'll come back for another IMC as I'm certain your next experience will be much more positive (particularly on the run). I love some of your signs but my favourite was the one that said, "Michelle, you're doing it all wrong!".

I hope recovery is going well and that your pride of accomplishment is still super strong.

Congratulations!

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"There's good all around you, you just have to be able to see it".

Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Very proud of you!

I think making you guys ride the Punchbowl race route helped. ha

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

clm

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Great race report! Way to perservere even though you felt like crap. I had gone back to the finish after showering to see the last finishers and I remember you! The woman who you spoke of that was doubled over rounded the corner to the out and back, but did not make the cut off. It was heartbreaking to see her. She must have been in agony for a long time....
So did you sign up for next year? I didn't!

wow, great race, and great report! congrats! :)

cheers!

-mistress k

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ill advised racing inc.

Thanks everyone for your encouraging words. I'm really proud of finishing this race, particularly because no matter how tough it got I didn't even consider quitting. I had no idea I was that strong (or stupid, depending on your point of view... ) I'll definitely take a crack at Ironman again, it's just not going to be for a few years. I think I'll concentrate on halfs and get a bit faster so I have a couple more hours buffering my from that midnight deadline.

M

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The beatings will continue until morale improves

Great Race report! I loved reading it!!! I could totally feel it - you brought back memories for me being out there at the back in the dark feeling crummy.
Thank you for posting. GREAT JOB on finishing!

I really cracked up at the part where someone was telling you good job while you were barfing.

Michelle, I wonder, when you helped me in the IMC change tent in 08, if you would guess that in 09 you'd have...

More or less the same swim split as me in 08,
The same, debilitating barf-o-rama on the run, and
The exact same finishing time!

Thanks for the well written report! I was reliving it all too vividly...

Lisa, I had absolutely no idea. (For which I'm a little bit grateful!) ;-D For the rest of the Womens, Lisa gave me some really excellent advice after her IMC experience last year that helped me so, so much - basically, make sure as you mentally prepare for your first IM and are starting to visualize finishing times, etc. that you visualize finishing in under 17 hours as a big accomplishment in and of itself. That way when all of the wheels come off, you are still able to stay motivated and keep your head in the game. Especially here on ST, it's easy to feel like "just finishing" isn't enough and that a couch potato with no training whatsoever could do a 16:47 Ironman, but at least for me - that wasn't the reality.

M

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The beatings will continue until morale improves

Well stated. I have always believed that anytime you start an Ironman, at the back of your mind should always be the understanding that you may not have the day you want or hoped and that you may have to settle for 16:59 - which in no way invalidates the accomplishment. Sometimes we learn a lot about ourselves by pulling through those situations.

AP

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS