IM FL 2008 Race Report

Athletes

IMF presented some great racing for TriK2 Athletes. Todd Hall and Lisa Jamison both completed their very first IRONMAN!!!! They both had Great races and finished strong. Lisa dedicated this race to her brother -in -law who has melanoma and was a Janis charity fundraiser - She raised over $19,000 and tied for 5th place.

Norm cooked the pre-race dinner for everyone so we got to meet Todd’s family including his parents and 5 year old daughter Mackenzie who was trick-or-treating!!

Jose Baez once again ate up the swim with a time of 1:07. He went on to have an awesome bike split and finished strong. I'm not sure how many Ironmans this is for Jose but I am guessing its close to double digits.

My friends and training partners Nickey Ezell and Traveller Hill both PR'd. It was Trav's first IM also and he had an amazing finish time of 9:50 and a blistering run time of 3:17. Nickey PR'd with a swim time of 1:06 and a finish time of 11:28. Both are coached by Pro Richie Cuningham, and I have them to thank for many of Richie's race tips and LOTS and LOTS of training and racing support.

It was a COLD swim and a colder T1 and first hour or so on the bike. We started out into headwinds and everyone was cold since race day temps were 49 degrees. If you wonder what we were all doing in T1 for so long we were trying to stop shivering long enough to get some warmer gear on and head out on the bike course.

Everyone fared well except for some sore legs, sore feet and blisters!

The IM Louisville race team was there for support after the race and in the women’s change tent AND to sign up for IMF 2009!! I'll bet they will have some good stories to tell from the women’s change tent!!!. Mary, Kirsten, Toni, and Robin - you guys are awesome - it was nice to see some friendly faces in the change tent! Kevin and Todd were there too to sign up for 2009 and provided the post race pizza and beer.

Special thanks to ALL of you for your support. I ended up with 3rd place hardware and found out after the race that the top 3 in my age division all shattered the age group course record that had lasted since 1999.

A Very Special thanks to Val and the Outspokin team for ALL your support - keeping all the bikes in tip - top racing condition and everything else you do to support TriK2! 2XU and Zensa compression gear rocks!

The reality of Ironman once again brings home the learning experience that it is. Watching people cross the finish line, getting through the tough moments, overcoming the fears and anxieties - finishing am IM is an incredible experience. Congratulations to all the 2008 IM finishers. You are all AWESOME!! You are now an IRONMAN!!!! Watch the website for photos.