My first half ironman and one of the best experiences of my life. Tremblant & St. Jovite volunteers and spectators really know how to make you feel special. This is definitely something I would like to do again.
Race morning, I woke up at 3:45, hit the shower and got my breakfast in. Since we were staying on the hill we just took the cabriolet down to the transition area and as we walked off we were greeted by markers and were marked up before you knew what was happening. In transition I went to check my tubes and inflate but when I noticed the number of volunteers with pumps I got them to do it. Then with a nod to coach Adrian's bike clinics I let out a bit of air to make sure they weren't too inflated.
After everything was sorted I headed down to the beach which is where some nerves kicked in because it looked like the water was blocked off and I wasn't going to get a warm up in...luckily, this was not the case, I just had to walk a bit further down. Once I got in the water I realized how pristine the lake was and how exciting it was going to be to see my hand in front of me when swimming.
Swim went really well, for me. I am not a fast swimmer by any means but I chugged along and finished in just under 41minutes. Never getting overly out of breath and feeling full of energy. My only issue was the boulder field at the swim exit where I banged my toe quite badly.
I ran very gingerly up to transition with thoughts going through my mind, can I do this? Is this just a stubbed toe? Will the pain go away? Lucky me, this got captured on camera.
I was pretty slow getting through transition removing my wetsuit carefully and trying to make sure I had everything. One MAJOR thing I forgot (even after I created the thread about sunscreen) was sunscreen. Believe me, I was a bit "lobsteresque".
The toe pain wasn't too bad when I biked, except for the one time I curled my toes. My bike went well, I followed the plan Adrian and I came up with and took it very easy on the uphills and hammered it on the downhills. I had one moment on the return on duplessis where my hamstring threatened to cramp so I hopped off and stretched it out. I was almost at the top of the hill but knew I couldn't clip in on such a steep hill, so I walked the next few steps. Many people came by cheering and saying "Robin, only one more hill". I appreciated it, but there was no way I could clip in til the top so I kept walking. Once I hit the top it was all good from there. I finished in 3:10 and change.
I got into T-2 and my dad was actually right along the fence and close enough that I told him, I am feeling good but I think I may have broken my toe. The toughest part at this point was putting on the running shoe. I felt the pain but it seemed manageable and if I slightly altered the way I landed, the run wasn't too bad. Of course, changing the way I ran didn't really help the pace so my run was disappointing with a 2:23 finish.
When I finished I got to the line and in OTC style had pre-planned my finish line pose, pulling the "Bolt" pose...really hope it got caught on camera.
After getting the guts to take off my shoe my toe was evidently black and blue not looking good at all but what can you do. I was lucky and got to see Ian (my hubby) finish and of course after we celebrated he looked at my toe and insisted I hit up the med tent to get it checked out. I felt silly doing this as most people were in there on IVs and all that was bugging me was my toe, but I followed his orders and got it checked out.
The doc that looked at it said you can't say 100% if it is broken without an x-ray but based on her assessment with the appearance and the pain when touched/moved she was 99% sure it is broken and to ice and tape.
My final race time was 6:23 and change and with everything considered I am really happy with that. A PB :)
Robin
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