Hunting for Adventure

LLTH 50k Race Report Backstory So maybe this idea wasn’t the best of ideas. My coach and friend, Erin and I had decided a few months back to sign up for LLTH 50k (as a first ever ultra marathon) as a “fun day out” and “victory lap” after our planned winter A race marathon at A1A in Fort Lauderdale just two weeks prior (13 days to be exact). We were also able to persuade another running friend, Wendy, to join in the adventure and run the 50k with us. Now you may wonder what sort of crazy breed of people classify 50k races in their list of things to do in “fun day out”… yep sometimes I wonder that too, but I continue to find enjoyment in pushing my own limit and having new experiences. As luck would have it, I’ve found a pretty good set of friends in the Lexington community who like that too. Given how recently I had raced a hard marathon and never having run a trail race much less an ultra marathon, my goals were never to race this event and strictly as follows— 1) experien

Ironman Louisville 2018, A Day To Remember Looking back, I think I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Let’s quickly recap my experience in triathlon prior to toeing the starting line at 2018 Ironman Louisville— I had decided on a whim to sign up for a half ironman in Ohio on New Year’s Day of 2018 when I was out of shape and unmotivated in my last year of Internal medicine residency. In prep for this race, I had done two olympic distance triathlons both in summer of 2018, then I did complete Ironman Ohio 70.3 in late July. That was the extent of my experience… three races. In the year of 2018 I had successfully learned how to swim, whipped my butt into fairly decent shape (dropped about 20lbs), bought a triathlon bike and a whole lot of new gear and found myself a coach. A lot of challenges had been accomplished and I felt like I could do anything. But was I still terrified of this challenge?? You bet, and looking back I still think I had no idea what I was getting myself

Ironman Cozumel, first DNF I’ll start this by saying that this was a hard race report to write. I debated writing it, but feel it will be valuable for others to learn and to document my own mistakes so I don’t repeat them… Everything about 2019 racing had been excellent, so I had no reason but to expect anything less in this race. I had PR’ed every single distance I had raced and thought that doing it for the Ironman distance would be no different. How I was sorely mistaken…. Pre-Race My husband and I flew into Cozumel the Thursday before the Sunday race, travel was fairly smooth and without issue. When we left Kentucky it had been  damp and cold, and upon arriving to Cozumel I immediately noticed the markedly different hot, humid air. We rented a car and drove to the hotel situated right on the beautiful pristine ocean. The island was small and quaint, and the hotel was lovely providing everything we needed and more.   The next two days are a bit of a blur, and wer