We arrived in Louisville Thursday afternoon. I loved staying in the Galt, with all the pretty bikes and finely tuned athletes around. Where else but an IM does it seem normal to stuff 2-3 bicycles in an elevator?
Thanks to bluemonkeytri and others for the restaurant suggestions. We enjoyed great meals at Melillos, Artemisia, and Lynn’s Paradise Cafe. Everyone in Louisville was super-friendly and welcoming.
This was my first Ironman, and I was terrified. The swim went well for me, and the current was not nearly as strong as expected. I was happy with a 1:21, and ready to tackle the bike
The bike course was beautiful and fun. The roads here in Texas are very rough. To me, almost all of the road surfaces on the bike were as smooth as silk. I am a small woman and thus got passed a lot on the downhills, but passed many people going uphill. There was lots of leap-frogging going on. I held back for 3/4 of the bike course, wanting to save energy for the run, but threw it in the big ring and blasted for home those last 30-something miles along 42 with that great tailwind. Ended up with a 6:24:53.
The run was much tougher than expected. I am prone to migraines, and had one start as soon as I stepped off the bike. I tried to HTFU, but just couldn’t string those miles together. I walked a lot of the marathon course. The tears started to flow when I saw my family at the turnaround, but I left them behind and just headed out again. My dreams of a sub-13 hour IM were finished, but I was going to finish no matter what. My marathon time was 5:52, and final finishing time was 13:57:36.
Overall it was a great experience. All of the volunteers were so wonderful! My 3 family members there were positively rabid in their cheering, and lots of friends were keeping tabs on me all day via the internet.
Congratulations to all ST finishers!