Running Chick

I spent the entire day yesterday sitting on the couch, glued to ironman.com watching the pro coverage and tracking a friend of mine compete in the 2009 Ford Ironman World Championship. 

First, swim 2.4 miles in wavy, choppy water.  Then hop on your bike and pedal your ass off for 112 miles on a hilly and windy course.  After that, go run a marathon in 105 degree heat.

Would I want to do that?  Hell no.  Could I do that?  HELL NO.

I prefer to cheer people on from the climate controlled comfort of my couch.  Which is exactly what I did for, oh, about 9 HOURS yesterday.  Hey, it was cold, snowy and windy so it’s not like I could do anything else.

This marks my friend Tina’s fourth Ironman race, her second in Kona.  She was going to compete last year, but a stress fracture in her foot caused her to pull out a month before the race.  This year’s race was a special accomplishment for her because two years ago she shattered her ankle in a parachute jump (for an Army training exercise) and she never thought she’d run again.  But thanks to numerous pins in her ankle, rehab and a lot of patience, she’s slowly been able to work her way back into top condition and has been winning every triathlon in sight down South and even a few up in my neck of the woods. 

Thanks to Josh and his mad computer skillz, he was able to save the live video of Tina crossing the finish. 

She did the swim in 1:13:02, the bike in 5:57:19 (despite losing 12 minutes to a flat and faulty CO2 cartridge), and the run in 3:32:42 for an over all time of 10:51:20 and taking 10th in her division.

This is my friend and she is amazing.