Ironman Arizona Race Report Part III

And the thank yous go to...

It's such a cliche I guess when I say there's so many people to thank. There's no way I could have got ready for an ironman by myself. So here are those I am indebted to over these past several months:

My coach

Kirsty has been amazing. I accomplished all my race goals because of her coaching. She totally got what I needed to do. She has been where I was (in fact, her first ironman and my first were exactly the same time to the minute, although a few years apart), and since then excelled in triathlon. Her training programs were perfect for me. Yeah, there were a few times I was pretty skeptical, but I put my trust in her and it all paid off. There's no way I can really repay her! She understood me, understood what I needed to do, and understood how I needed to do it. I don't think I would have done as well with anyone else at the helm.

My "Director Sportif"

Jason was pretty much in charge of all gear, as well as coming along on a lot of training rides. He was support in pretty much every way imaginable. When I wasn't sure about the training, he always encouraged me. He helped plan my race schedule and Year of Alison. He never hesitated with picking me up when I fancied a point-to-point run (my fave for long runs). With 18 ironmans in his past he is an expert, plus a total gear junkie. There was also a lot of moral support thrown in, including scraping me off the floor after a few nervous breakdowns (oh yeah, Kirsty did that too when I cracked in Colorado in August). Not to mention handling all the dishes and house tasks once I was in taper mode. Plus, he lent me his bike, which was the perfect race machine!

Training Partners

Tim, Catherine, and Corinne were occasional training partners, and it was great to have company at times. Tim and Corinne were always a go for a hard swim, and I think the TSN Turning Point of my swim training was the 40X100 on my birthday. Tim repeated it with me in the fall and I kicked butt! All three came along on some bike rides and the time goes a lot faster when someone's out there with you. Catherine even sucked it up near the end on a tough interval ride. Their encouragement made my long hours of training fun. No fun fun of course!

"Consultants"

Norm and Sean were always keen to answer my questions. Even when my questions were pretty stupid. They are both experts in training and gear stuff, and always had advice when I needed it.

Super Fans

I had the best fans on the course at Arizona. I even heard that their loud and crazy cheering may have freaked out some others in the crowd. But Jason, Kirsty, Candace and Heidi were incredible cheerleaders, even sporting custom t-shirts and signs. Sweet! My run was so much more fun because of their crazy antics when I was going by! My parents even stopped through Phoenix on their way to Palm Springs for the winter, and my Dad was cheering me on out on the course as well.

So thanks everyone! I couldn't have done it without my peeps!