Raleigh 70.3, Part III: The Run

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Raleigh 70.3, Part III: The Run

When I first signed up for this half Ironman, I knew my swim would be slow and my ride would be average, so the plan was to make-up some time on the run. The Universe had other plans though, and handed me the stress fracture in my hip. It was literally only days before the race when my chiropractor agreed that I could try a walk/run of the course, but only if I swore a blood oath that if it hurt, I would stop. And, in a cruel twist of fate, advised that my best strategy would be to run the uphills and walk the down. That goes against everything I hold dear in life, but okay. I figured I would run a mile/walk a mile throughout the race for as long as I could.

My strategy worked perfectly… for the first quarter mile.

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Shhh... (I May Be A Cyclist)

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It’s no secret that I hate spin class. (Written proof here.) I have forced myself to grind through a handful of the “Up! Down! Tighten the tension! Power up the hill!”  pontifications of overly cheery spin instructors who do not seem to understand that at any given point in a spin class I am on the verge of either giving up or throwing up or both.

Which is why I fought getting a road bike. The only reason I did get a road bike is because completing a half-ironman (oh okay, you know me, a full ironman) is on the bucket list. The fact that I neither swim nor bike, however, makes this something of a stretch goal.

So when my dear friends Don and Kathi (both Ironmen competitors) offered to loan me an old road bike of Don’s, I reluctantly agreed. Don spent an hour fitting me to the bike and then they sent me on my way.

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