So after you all know about my experience at the Viking Man in Burley, ID and my DNF, this was none other than a Rocky style comeback!

I had been watching the weather reports all week worrying sick about it, since the weather was the reason I dnf'd at Burley. I have Raynauds, and cannot handle really cold weather. Just my luck that it was forcasted to be 40 degrees in the morning with a high of 60 (but not until 4 or 5, by the time race is over). No wind though... the one saving grace factor! Anyways, this time being that the race was in my home town, Denver, I had all my cold weather stuff available to me, and boy was I glad! Let me also mention that I had awful cold-flu like symptoms the entire week leading up to the race, and did NOTHING for a week, so yeah, that was a good taper. Are you guys starting to see the amount of anxiety I had going into this race??

Woke up and felt ok. Took Sudafed 12 hour, a Claritin, and a starbucks of course. I figured I needed all the drugs I could get to help me through this thing. Ate 2 mini bagels: one with PB, one with smart balance.

Get to the race site. I told my BF if he didn't come with me I would break up with him (not really, well, kind of) since I was worried about my Raynauds and the cold conditions. Got my stuff set up pretty easily. Surprisingly, no stomach problems! I think my determination for this race, made everything better. Got my wet suit on, off we were. The swim felt actually pretty easy and I finished in 35:24, 5 minutes faster than I was planning on. Yeah! I got out of the water and felt great, my hands were- could not believe this, not cold, but my feet were completely numb. I took my time getting off my wetsuit and putting on LOTS of clothes: Skins on my legs, long sleeve shirt, biking jacket, winter riding gloves, toe covers. Transition time: 9 minutes-ha! I didn't even care as long as I was warm.

Started the bike. Felt fine. I could not believe I was seeing people wearing only tri suits, tank tops, etc. OMG it was cold. The bike was pretty uneventful. My feet NEVER warmed up though. Stayed numb the entire 56 miles, 3:34:41 it took me to do the bike. I wanted to do it in 3:30 so I was pretty much right on target again.

Changed into my running shoes and took off most of the clothes, by this time it was maybe 55 degrees? I wasn't sure. Started running and felt pretty good. Aurora Rez is pretty hilly to run at, Ugh, and running is my worst, but I was pretty confident being that I ran 11 miles with little problems at the 8 hour tri 2 weeks before, so I thought I had nothing to worry about.. boy was I wrong! About 4 miles into the run, I developed intense knee pain. I had to stop and walk a little, until mile 6 I just walked, ran, and by the half way point, I was in so.much.pain. I wanted to drop out. I almost started crying about every 5 minutes or so and just had to keep talking to myself (silently, not out loud so I didn't look like a crazy person!) meditating, and just encouraging myself to keep going. Miles 8-10 I pretty much walked. I picked it up a little bit miles 10-13 but not much. The pain was so severe, and I didn't want to risk needing surgery to get a faster time, so I just kept trucking along. When I got to mile 13, my BF was there and ran in with me and enouraged me. When I crossed the finish line, he was yelling and jumping up and down "you're done! You did it!" I didn't know what to do, so I started crying a little bit! I'm not sure why. I know I was overcome with emotion of finishing it after DNF'ing at Burley, doubting my abilities at finishing a 1/2 IM, being sick that week and the weather, plus my knee pain. I wanted to do the run in 2 or 2:30, yeah how about 2:59! Yep, pretty much a 3 hour 1/2 marathon! Oh well... I don't care. All I wanted was to finish it and I did! Now I can feel good about closing out the season on a high note. Total time: 7:25:31.... I know, realllllly slow, but I'm okay with it! :)

I want to say thanks to this web site and everyone on here for their help and encouraging words after not finishing Burley, and all the other (multiple) issues I post about frequently! This site is a great souce of knowledge and support to the tri community.