THE LEGACY OF SAMI WINTER

Before we get started, I want to let you know that this was a part of my car talk series in 2023. [If you want to listen, CLICK HERE.]Sami and I were headed to IRONMAN Chattanooga 70.3 in 2023 and I decided to get her story on record. There is a lot of car noise and bantering and, because there was a BUCEES, we cut our interview short.  But, you get to hear her unique story of qualifying for Kona. One of these days, I’ll get her in the studio for more triathlon tall tales. But for now…….Please meet Dr. Sami Winter. Like many of the women I’ve talked with, Sami and I go waaaaaay back. She was one of my first coaches when I started triathlon with the YDUBTRICLUB in 2010.  She has been a coach mentor, training buddy and  road trip warrior with me ever since. Plus, she coached me to Kona in 2023. 

Not only is Sami everyone’s favorite veterinarian in town, but she is also everyone’s favorite coach and athlete. She has done it all.   She has done 122 triathlons including 32 fulls and 44 halfs. She even auditioned for the Dallas Cowboys when she turned 40.

She has mastered the Art of Coaching and racing and as you’ll find out, she’s mastered the art of snacking.

It is my pleasure to introduce: SAMI WINTER:

Did you grow up sporty? Were you athletic growing up?

Yes. I played softball. That was probably my sport, actually. Did a little bit of basketball, but I was a point guard because I'm a little bit vertically challenged. In high school, I played more softball. I showed up to a recreational softball league probably when I was eight or nine years old. And the coach said,  I have the perfect position for you as catcher. And I played that position all through igh school.  I played club softball at Carolina, and I was their catcher. And then I did some volleyball, and I danced all the way through, too. And then I owned a dance studio for a bit, so I was sporty spice.

How did you get into triathlon?

Well, I owned a dance studio, and one of my instructors, Erin Green, had started doing triathlons. We were at a picnic at one of the shelters in Long Leaf Park and she told me she had signed up to do the Duke Liver Half. I didn't even know what that meant or what that was, so I had to say, what's that? Tell me what that is. I thought that it was kind of cool, but I had really no interest. I was doing a little bit of running, but I'd had knee surgery. So, when she told me, I thought – well, maybe.  

Eventually, I thought: I could do that. So I didn't know how to swim, and I didn't even own a bike. And I said, all right, where do I sign up? And said, well, I better buy a bike. And this was July, and the race was in September, so I bought an old trek road bike, and this was the same year that I also turned, 40. So I bought a bike in July, rode a century on my birthday when I turned 40 in August, and then did Duke liver half in September. I didn't even know what a wetsuit was. I think we were the only two people that without a wetsuit on. And it was wetsuit legal. we didn't know anything.

And I, breast-stroked the entire way, and my whole goal was to not be last out of the swim, and I was second to last. So I beat my goal. There was one person  behind me, made the cut off did the race, loved it.

And then Erin said, well, we're getting ready to do IRONMAN France next year. Of course I said: I’m in. And then I decided I'd better learn how to swim! I did not want to sign up for Ironman France until I knew I could make the 2 hour, 20 minute cutoff for the swim.  So I was teaching a master dance class in Paducah, Kentucky, for a studio called Center Stage.  I choreographed all the routines for the kids, and then I said, I need about three hours. Practice all your routines. I'll be back.

I went to the local YMCA and had to ask somebody how many laps I had to swim to make 2.4 miles! Because I didn't even know that! They told me how many laps to swim and I set my timer. I did breaststroke and sidestroke and a couple little freestyles in there. I came out of the pool probably about 2 hours and five minutes, maybe 2 hours and ten minutes, but it was faster than 2:20. And I said, so I can make the cut off. I am doing IRONMAN France. I knew I could only get faster and learn how to really swim in Nice.  

All right, so for your first race, your goal was just to not be the last one out of the swim, and you were hooked.

Yes, I  loved it. Oh, yeah. I did the half in the fall and then we were signed up for IRONMAN FRANCE in June and then IRONMAN FLORIDA the next November. I didn’t race anything else. I went straight from a half to a full. I was signed up for two IRONMAN races without having done any other races.

You know, those were the days when you had to sit on the internet and hit refresh, refresh, refresh, refresh to get into any race – especially an IRONMAN. So November, when Iron Man Florida opens, we're all at our computers hitting refresh to try and get in, and Erin and I both got in!

Once I did the half I figured I'd better take some time to learn how to swim, so I got a swim coach. Jay Carmine was my first swim coach.  He was local and I spent five months basically learning how to swim and ride and run. I did do a marathon in there. My very first marathon, because I'd never done that either, was the Nashville Rock and Roll. So that was in April. So, I trained for the marathon.  I did that and then went and did IRONMAN France.

So your first IRONMAN was FRANCE in Nice! Wow! What was that like? It was so fun. There's something to be said for being naive, right? I didn't know any better. I didn't know what to expect. We studied the course and we actually hired a coach. And we'd hired a coach that had ridden that course before, so they were familiar with it. But you're talking a course with what, 7000, 8000ft of climbing and technical downhills. And we live and train in Wilmington, North Carolina!

There was no discussion on, oh, my gosh, look at this course you're going to do. We just said, we're going to do it. We didn't think we couldn't do it. And we just trained and we did it.

I remember walking through Nice and we ran into a group from Spain. And I remember this to this day, and I still use this sometimes. I actually used it last night when I was talking to an athlete who's coming to do their first 70.3. And they looked at us and said, you've already done your iron man because you did all the training.

This is the reward. And that has stuck with me to this day, because when you frame it that way and you realize how many changes you've already gone through, you realize what you've already accomplished, you realize what you've put into it. And race day should be about enjoying the hard work that you have put in.

This is a funny aside: When we met that group from Spain, it was because we were on the way to a bike shop. I will say that we were so naïve that at the time we didn't really know anything about shipping bikes and carrying bikes with you, so we shipped our bikes DHL, and they got stuck in customs.

One of the people that we were going with had to fly over early and go to customs and get our bikes out of customs. Then once we got there we had to get our bikes put together. We took it to a bike shop because once again, we didn't know much. 

Anyway, we lined up for the swim. This was also the day the mass starts. So when they said, go, everybody went at the same time. And I remember getting out there and you just start swimming. And my two friends who were there with me actually passed me about 200 yards in and I remember going, how am I ahead of you? What the heck?

The Wilmington Tri Community in the early 2000s. Renee Griffin, Jen Young, Sylvain Lefevre, Ben Bowie, Michelle Gurrera, Brian Coughlan, ME!, Sami Winter, Charlie George, Alicia Uhl, Martin St., Nicole Fergusen.

My whole goal was to make it off that bike. Once again, I didn't know any better. I didn't know how hard that course was supposed to be or the fact that you couldn't do it. You just did it. And then on the run, I made a friend, and it was a four loop run down to the airport and back - four times - and then you finish. 

And you can never take away that feeling of your first iron man. And that's when people that I'm coaching get so into being focused on doing the IRONMAN. I say, you need to stop for a hot minute, and we need to enjoy what you're doing. And when you cross that finish line, nobody cares what time it is. 

Nobody cares the time that it took you, but you need to enjoy that moment, because that moment, you can never get back. You can never get that moment back. If it's your only one, fantastic. If you're going to do more, fantastic, but it's not going to be like the first, and you're going to have different goals.

And probably, and I'd say probably, put a little more pressure on yourself to do something faster, do something better the next time. Enjoy the journey of the first one. We had some beers that night and then we went and hiked Cinco Terra the next day in Italy. And anyway, it was pretty cool. It was pretty awesome. It was awesome. 

So speaking of more IRONMANS, how many FULL IRONMAN races have you done? I've done 24 iron distance events. It would have been 25, which maybe I would have been done at 25, but we had a little mishap at IRONMA Canada last year (2022). So it's not to be 25. So it's 24 iron distance. That’s MDOT and XTremes. I’ve done five Xtremes.

All right, so, how many triathlons have you done overall? 116. Are you trying to get to 140? Well, I really wanted to get to 100. That was really kind of the goal. And I wanted to be the century club, and the year I got to the century club, they got rid of that program for USA Triathlon! They did send me a shirt, and I did send proof of all hundred.

I don't know if I have a number now. Getting to 100 was a big goal for me. I think I might have done it in 2018 or 2019.  

I'd like to do it until my body just says, you can't do it anymore. And sometimes it's a little duct-taped together and sometimes it's not. So, we'll see. I don't know if I have a goal that's not getting to 125.  I think this goal is going to be a loosely held goal just to continue.

Sami and I hosted a swim clinic with Olympian Sheila Taormina! Go check out her Swim Speed Secrets.

You’ve answered this question for me before, but what is your why? Why do you keep wanting to do more? Why do you love it so much?  What in the world is wrong with you?

I know that I keep doing it! Ha Ha! So, my why  has probably morphed over the course of the years. My why getting into it was more of a:  why not? I can do this. I can try this. Let's do it. So why not go do it? Another new challenge.

And then I went through some personal issues, and it really became a lifeblood. This community really helped me get through some personal issues, and so then it became a why for all these people. These are my people. I want to sing the song of my people. And now, honestly, I've been very blessed. And I say that sincerely and not just throwing that word around. To have had some great adventures, to have had some great success in this sport and what I've accomplished. And now I just enjoy the training. I love being out there with everybody. I look forward to that, to all the texts that go around, and it's just being out there with my friends.

Right now, my why is: Because I can. Because there have been times throughout this journey where I haven't been able to, and that's made me really mad. And you don't know when that day is going to be that you can't so you may as well take every opportunity why you can, because sometimes these opportunities are only presented once to you. So, I firmly believe when I look at this year, every race is for a different reason.

 I've got one opportunity to do this, and so I feel like it's kind of morphed over time. It's been different things at different parts of my life, but it provides such a challenge, and it gives you the opportunities for so many adventures and to meet so many people. And you will never out talk me at this rate. That's best goal, by the way, just in case you don't want to know. But that will never happen. So that'll never happen. Moving on.

All right, so speak a little bit to the adventure side of triathlon, because you have been places, and done races in Iceland, and you've done SwedeMan, and you did Norseman. And so tell me a little bit about the adventure side of it for you. Well, to me, in life, travel is everything. Learning about different cultures is everything. Seeing the world and what's out there, that's just the value of mine.

I love being home, too. I love my house and hanging out with my dogs. But, having adventures is just an amazing way to live. So, triathlon has given me that. Traveling globally and the things that I've seen and the countries that I've been able to go see and the things I've experienced, has just opened up a bigger world. Honestly, that sounds so cliche, but it's so true. And if you can go and just get experience, something like the locals do in whatever country you're going to, and just seeing the world so different than Wilmington, North Carolina.

One of the highlights of my life: a marathon with Sami on a glacier for Iceland XTreme Ironman. Sami doesn’t stop for photos.

When you visit Someplace, whether nearby or far away, it's a completely different adventure to swim in the Mediterranean or bike in the Alps or in the Iceland on a glacier. That's a whole new way of seeing the world.

If I see a race, my first thought is not necessarily, wow, that's going to be hard. Or, am I going to finish it in a certain time? It's wow, what can I see when I go do it? That’s kind of my first thought. It’s more of: let’s go do this. Can I accomplish that? Let’s go make it happen.

All right, so what is your favorite aspect of the race? Swim, bike, or run? EAT! You forgot eating. It's swim, bike, run, eat, change clothes. That’s my thing. That's what it is. Eating. I love my bike food. I look forward to eating my bike food. Strawberry lemonade SKratch is the bomb, salted caramel Honey Stingers. Oh, my gosh, they're my favorite! Gummy bears. I, mean, eating. It's eating. You forgot eating.

 I did…..I forgot the eating part.

If you're going to make me pick a swim, bike, or run, I think it changes based on the venue. And I say that honestly, I don't know if I can always say I really look forward to the bike. I love it, right? But there have been some bikes where I’ve said: Mmmm,  I don't love that. But, man, we're getting ready to go. The run is going to be beautiful. So I think it really depends. That's why I say eating, because eating is a constant love out there.

Well, then. we're going to break this apart. What was your favorite swim ever? In an IRONMAN?

 Ooh, ooh. My favorite swim in an IRONMAN? I am going to tell you my most epic swim. That was IRONMAN Lake Tahoe in 2013. It was 28 degrees outside and when the pros entered the water – you saw the fog and the steam from them swimming rise over the lake. When 3000 athletes got in, you couldn’t even see!  You could not see the person in front of you swimming.

The water was the warmest part of the day.  As you got in, your feet are on the sand – but it’s crunching because it's ice. You get in the water, you can't even see the swimmer in front of you. I have an amazing picture of us waiting in the water. It’s a picture of my back as I’m entering and you can see the steam and the mountain in the back drop. You can see Lake Tahoe. That was epic, epic, epic, epic.

After that one, all of the Xtreme tris were beautiful. Of course, I couldn't see much in the fjord in Norway because it was dark. AlaskaMan was cold.  Sweden, you're under a waterfall. Those are all epic swims. But I think if I had to pick the most beautiful, epic kind of combination, it has to be Tahoe. . Which is bizarre because I've done Cozumel and Kona – which were also beautiful. I think there was just something about that Tahoe swim. It was beautiful. Epic, epic.

All right, what was your favorite IRONMAN  bike?

Wow - that's a tough question. Because you love the bike? Because I love the bike. There are good things about all of them! I think I would have to say, once again, that it’s Tahoe.  Man, it was a beautiful bike. If I can get past the person riding in their wetsuit that I passed because it was so cold. Oh, my God, they were brilliant. They just kept their wetsuit on.  It was 28 degrees. It's comfortable. You might as well wear it. And they were still in it, by the way, on the second loop when I saw them!

And then I think a close second to me – despite being as hard as it was and as under trained as I was - Norseman has to be another one. That would have to be a second, right?

I can be more likely to go through and tell you the ones that I didn't enjoy, and that would probably answer that question backwards. Can I answer that question?

YES!   If we go through the ones you’ve done – what is your least favorite?

Sami and I have hosted at least a dozen triathlon training camps or swim clinics. #coachcollaborators

So, the Florida bike is interesting because I've done that race five times. I enjoy that bike course because it's flat, it's fast, it's kind of like where I train. But I'm not sure if it's super epic to say, oh, my gosh, I want to go ride that all the time. So that takes out five of them right there!

The St. George 2010 bike course, I just didn't enjoy that at the time. You do go through Snow Canyon which is pretty – but the other parts negate that race for me.

France in 2008 – that was my first one. I would probably enjoy that now if I went back and did it again to do that one again.

The Cozumel bike course – I didn’t love it and I don’t think it’s epic. I didn't love Louisville. Chatty is pretty good. I enjoy the Chatty course. It rides nice, and I hear there's new pavement for us this weekend, which is going to be exciting. But, that's actually a nice course and have enjoyed that course. Kona was hot and had lots of lava fields. Wisconsin was all know, and I kind of put them all together and look at them, they all stand out in different ways.

But, from what I remember Tahoe was beautiful. Tahoe was hard, but the climbs and the descents and just riding around that lake, I don't think it was ever a bad view. And that's why I have to say that one, there was never a bad view. You didn't ride through an industrial part of town. They didn't weave you through this, that or the other. It was just beautiful biking.

What was your least favorite swim in an iron man?

Wisconsin. It was a two looper. I think now it might be interesting, but you didn't get out. So I always wondered how they actually clocked you, right. Because at that time, in 2011, they had no way of doing it. I always imagined somebody doing one loop and sitting out of the buoy somewhere and coming in. It was really congested. It was just two loops in this big lake in the middle of Madison, Wisconsin. I didn’t have a bad swim – but I didn’t have a great swim there either. I just kind of had a normal IRONMAN swim. It does not stick out in any way to me, except for a way to get a bike.

What was your favorite run and your least favorite run?

I don’t think you can count the extremes in this one because obviously there's a lot of hiking in those --  but those are definitely the most beautiful. I mean, without a doubt, you got Sweden, AlaskaMan, Iceland Extreme and Norseman. And they top all!  They just top them all.

But that's a lot of hiking and not running. So my favorite run – this is going to be an interesting one. But I remember this race had great support. It was a beautiful run. And it was just one of those runs that it was kind of an overall solid run day. It was Coeur d’Alene. That run right along the lake. You run through town, you get to see town. It's a nice little town to run through.

A lot of people. Then they dump you out around the lake. It's pretty. The aid stations were fantastic. It kept you engaged, entertained, had enough undulation without being where you're climbing mountains. And I guess I actually finished in the light there so you could see the whole run, the whole time. Because some of them I've done in the dark.

Let's talk a little bit about your Kona journey, because you had a quest to get to Kona through the Legacy program. Tell us what happened at your 12th race.

The swim was canceled, so I did not have to swim. All I had to do was bike and run! There were 10-12-13-14 people there from Wilmington. Including three or four first-timers.  Once they canceled the swim we actually made the Ironman video. SEE IT HERE. We woke up that morning and I’ve never seen it like that. The wind was crazy. Probably 35-40 miles an hour and gusting higher. It was cold, too. It was 30-35 degrees.  I had a really good friend of mine volunteering  out on the water and he was showing us what was happening. He was sending us pictures of the wind and the waves. And they ended up canceling the swim and switched to the time trial bike start.  

When the swim was canceled, of course, my first timers were really upset, which totally took my mind off everything I was doing. But, in the back of my mind, I still knew all I had to do was finish because they were still going to count it [as a Legacy race] if the swim was canceled.

I remember thinking, wow, all I have to do is bike and run. This is fantastic. I mean, at that point, I was in really, really good shape. I think 2014 was the year that I was probably in the best shape for triathlons.

My knee had been bothering me going into that race because I did three ironman that year to get to get my 12. I had had knee surgery back in 2005. And sometimes it kind of, sometimes it just gets a little mad at me. And it was a little bit mad at me going into that race. But otherwise, I was great.

My thought was: let's just bike hard and see what happens. So we all kind of went out with the thought of who's gonna bike the hardest. At the time I relished that smack talking. So we went out and I just had a fantastic bike. I remember I PR’d my bike and thinking, how can this be?

Mainly because the wind was intense. Out on the loop, you would get sideswiped. It was so scary. I mean, people were just getting blown all over the road. And then for about probably 20 miles, you had a head wind that was….hard. I remember thinking:  just stay in the game. And it was just one pedal stroke at a time. Let's go. And then finally you were rewarded with some fantastic tailwind.

About that time, an athlete of mine caught up with me and woo it got fun. We were out of the wind at that point and we were so happy and we rode that course back to town. I mean we rode that course. We were not drafting. We were legal, but we were together. We would take turns just kind of getting a little bit ahead and then we would catch up because somebody was eating a snack or whatever they were doing.

And we rolled into T2 and I remember thinking, man, I just gotta hang on here. I just gotta keep running. At that point in triathlon, the still put ages on your calves.  

So you kind of knew it. I didn't see anybody else my age around me. And I thought: well, let's just keep running. And the weather was cool enough, you know, it wasn't hot that year. You could run it.  

I do remember seeing a lady's calf who had passed me, and thought, okay there's another lady in my age group…..but,  then I never saw another lady with my age group. I was like you're either at the front or you're either at the way back. And I didn't think I was at the way back.

When I finished, I headed to the finisher tent and they printed out this piece of paper for you and it said: FOURTH PLACE. And I was like, what?! I remember I got done with that race and kind of looked down at my knee and it had just taken a beating. I said thank you to it as I hobbled back.

I waited a little bit. And at that point, I remember I kept checking and checking my results. And I never moved from four. They give awards to the top five.

I knew I’d get my Kona Legacy, but I’m like, man, I’m gonna go to the awards. I just got fourth. This is awesome and I qualified for Kona because I just finished 12. I was so happy.

So, when we got to the awards the next day. I expected that 1, 2, 3 spots would get a spot at Kona. I was sure they were going to take it.  They always print out a sheet that shows how many slots they’re giving in each age group. The print-out for my age-group read: 4. So, I ran back to my table and said: Oh my God, Charlie! Come look and tell me if this is real. Come look! Come look! And I think I started crying then.

I took a picture of it and said: I think I got a spot! I just qualified for Kona. Oh, my God. And I was. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it. I didn’t even have to worry about a roll down.  It's unheard of to get four spots to Kona in a women's 45 to 49. Unheard of to give that many.

What’s even better is that I was able to go to Kona early. Had I made Legacy, I would have had to wait until 2016. Instead, because I qualified, it turns out I actually went in 2015. I did the 70.3 World Championship and Kona in 2015. I did the double!

This is great. And I'm going to Kona. I made a podium, and I'm going to Kona probably in two or three years, because at that point, there was a waiting on the legacy. All right. And then to. To get that. And then I started having had some health problems going into Kona, but, you know, you can't defer Kona.

You got to do it. So, yeah, then I went and did it. Um, but getting there and getting that. I mean, that's one of those moments. That is crazy. That's one of those moments.

I was there. I got to see it happen. It was so exciting.

Yeah, that's right. I remember y'all screaming. Yeah. Like, oh, my God.

I mean, we’re up like, this life. Stand at the pool. And then I feel like somehow I got down there and was able to get your picture on the podium. I don't know if that's true, if I had that picture or not. And then they did the roll down, and it was just like, oh, my God.

That's what I was like. I couldn't believe it. I just couldn't believe it.

And we were st. We were sitting up high, and. Yeah, it was crazy.

Just good to show you, you know? I mean, great things happen when you least.

Iceland XTREME Triathlon

I don’t remember what year or why we took this photo. She is the best.

OFF THE PODIUM

I came in FOURTH!!! The results are in for 2024 and I missed the North Carolina Tri Series podium by only 656 points! I am disappointed - I was hoping to bump up a step from last year and get into second place. But, the great thing is that I was FOURTH! The women in my age group consistently crush it and I am happy to be in the top ten - much less the top five. I have been chasing Elizabeth Skiba, Suzanne Tulsey and Amy Cocanour FOREVER!!!!! I am happy to be within 20 minutes of their finishing times.

In order to qualify for NCTS series awards and year-end "swag", participants must compete in a minimum of four NCTS races. Each race awards points and only the top 4 scores will be counted. Races are weighted according to distance with the a half-iron distance races receiving more weight than Internationals which receive more weight than Sprints.

This year, I competed in SIX series races. I missed the podium at Pinehurst (which meant 0 points) and somehow my second place finish at Wrightsville Beach Sprint got 0 points (or was not one of the top four races) even though the field was bigger and the swim was longer than most sprints.

I will say that podium spots are always always always icing on the cake. It all depends on who shows up. I could have the race of my life, but if an ex-pro in my age group shows up to the same race, I will probably be at least one step below. But, it sure is sweet to be on the podium.

Back in September, I raced back to back weekends. Both times - funny things happened on the way to the podium. The first race was the WB Sprint. When I finished, I checked the overall results online and realized I was second! WooHoo! I hung out for the awards ceremony and as it approached, I checked out the results again. I noticed that I’d been bumped to third. Oh well, it happens. I happily accepted third place and the awesome medal. The second-place finisher wasn’t there, but I got a great podium selfie with Elizabeth Skiba who had a very strong race.

Later that day, I checked my splits online and compared it to the others in my age-group. I noticed that the woman who finished second (the one who didn’t show up for awards) had a 16-minute 5K. Um……..what?! The winner of the entire race finished his 5K in just under 18 minutes. I am all about girl-power, but, I doubt a woman in the 50-54 age group can beat that. I debated for hours on whether or not to contact the race director….and finally did. She double-checked her timing and reached out to the 2nd place athlete and learned that her lost chip was turned in by another participant and somehow recorded the 16-minute run finish. I was bumped back up to second place. Unfortunately, my score for that race was not in the top four of the series and was nullified in the final standings.

A week later, I raced the Pier 2 Pier swim at Wrightsville Beach. This race is not in the NC Tri Series so I wasn’t going for podiums or prizes or points. In fact, I mentioned in a previous post that it was a tough race. Honestly, I was happy to finish at all! However, I did place at this race in the spring so there was hope. I really wanted a podium spot for this race - the prize was a pair of GOGGLES!!! It’s never a easy to gain a podium spot when the age-groups are grouped by nine years. My chances in a four-year age group is much better! Plus, this year, I am smack-dab in the middle of the 50-59 year-old age group. That age group is full of super-fast swimmers (they all finished 10 minutes ahead of me!). Needless to say, my name was not called. And, when I checked the results later - I found out that one of the podium winners in my age group was actually listed as 60!!!! [And, what’s up with Anonymous. C’mon!] WTH?

There is always this year. There are always new podiums to reach. There are always new personal bests to chase. I have quite a few time goals in mind for 2025 for a few A-Races. I can’t wait to see what awaits.

Third Place, but really Second Place

Selfie from the Podium

Pier 2 Pier Results. One of the top three is NOT 50-59.

IRONMAN ARIZONA - PART 2

The bike-to-swim transition might have been the best/worst part of the whole day. My feet were numb. But, they also hurt to run. They felt heavy. There were five more concrete steps to climb, hard packed clay/sand, grass and mats heading toward the change tent. Before I grabbed my bag, I stopped to have the wetsuit peeler volunteers strip my wetsuit. They helped peel my sleeves off (one sleeve hit the volunteer in the face), I sat down on the ground and they yanked the suit off from my ankles. It took two seconds. Brilliant. I grabbed my T1 bag and headed into the changing tent. The tent was so warm - the temps and the volunteers! I put on two long sleeve shirts - but decided to skip the arm warmers. I dried off my grass-and-dirt encrusted feet and pulled on my socks while one of the volunteers opened my hot hands packages. I stuffed those into my socks. I stuffed nutrition into my kit and headed out to grab my bike and go.

T1: Swim-to-Bike 10’25”

For the first hour on the bike I was very cold. My hands - miraculously - weren’t. Everything else was. I felt like I had goosebumps on my arms and legs for the first loop. But, the sun came out and warmed the concrete and desert around me. I eventually warmed up enough to take off my top layer. Because the bike is three loops and so it’s easy to break up the work into segments. The town turns out technical section, out on the beeline, back on the beeline, and the technical turn section again.

Town Turns Out: Getting out of town and to the beeline was fairly straight-forward, despite all the turns and a bit of bumpy road. I had goosebumps from top to toe, but fortunately, my hands weren’t frozen. I could eat, grab bottles, shift and brake without a problem. My feet stayed cold until mile 62. My biggest worry here is that I lost Barbie! I had zip-tied her to the back bottle cage and as I made a turn, I encountered a couple of rough patches in the intersection. I heard a rattle and thought Barbie had jumped ship. I reached back and couldn’t feel her back there. At least RocketFire Jesus was still with me!

Beeline Out: This segment was uphill but had a tailwind. It was warm and I got to see all the bikes of the leaders headed back into town. My biggest issue was that my right glute and hip flexor were tight. I stood several times to try and work it out - but I couldn’t quite figure out the issue. The other issue: I tried to find my lip balm in my bra pocket and came up empty.

Beeline Back: This segment is a net downhill, but had a headwind. They had called for calm winds in Tempe, but, near Salt River and out in the hills, the wind picked up with every loop. My biggest issue on this segment was a RATTLE in the front of my bike. The roads were rough - so much so that in several sections they marked the pavement with signs, paint and tape. There was cold-patch all over the place. I tried what I could to quiet the RAT-A-TAT-TAT - holding the bottle cage, checking the front cap, checking the stem cap, digging into my bento box for whatever could be loose in there. Nothing stopped it the t-t-t-tt-t-t-t—-t-tttt-t-tt-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t. Talk about anxiety. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had missed a screw somewhere when putting my bike together.

Town Turns In: I liked making the turns back into town. I felt pretty good despite the cold and was a little ahead of schedule when I made the first U-TURN at the hot corner. I had been SO WORRIED about the train tracks at this turn-around. I lost sleep about it the night before. I was so relieved that they were covered with carpet! Brilliant! On my way out, I searched in my bra pocket for the lip balm. Still no luck.

Town Turns Out + Beeline Out: I felt great in this 18-mile section. The rattle had stopped, my glute and hip seemed to be better and I actually needed to pee. I think I stopped at the aid station near mile 45. I peeled off my top layer TOUR DE BLUEBERRY shirt and stepped into the porta-potty. I remembered to turn so that I emptied my pockets away from the pot. Because I was wearing a one-piece tri suit, if I had peeled my suit down over the pot, my nutrition and RocketFire Jesus would have taken a dive in the blue lagoon. As I pulled out the ziploc bag of nutrition - out jumped Rocket Fire Jesus. He landed between the door and the floor. I scooped him up and put him in the boob pocket with the lip balm. It’s very close to my heart where the real Jesus resides.

When I exited the porto, the woman holding my bike helped me play bartender (mix a new bottle of SKRATCH) and said: What’s this? She pointed to Barbie! She was still there!

That’s my Barbie pez, I explained. I take a different PEZ dispenser on each Ironman. This is number 17!

WHAT?!!!! She exclaimed! Then to another volunteer: Roger!! This woman has done 17 of these! You look like Barbie, she called after me as I rode off into the desert breeze.

Beeline Back: Ahhhh…..down hill. Grrrrrrrr……..wind. And that dang rattle again. I felt okay, but I had a little reflux and I started to worry about my nutrition and hydration. I decided to stop to get my personal needs bag - in hopes that I’d find an extra lip balm in there. . Instead I found: CHIPS! I forgot that I’d put Lay’s Baked Potato chips in the bag (along with a chocolate stroop waffle, a spare tube and spare air canisters. Oh my goodness! I was so happy! I stuffed the bag of chips and the stroop waffle in my tri kit top and headed out.

Town Turns In: My favorite part of this section was passing a group of girls near an intersection. They were volunteers directing riders to slow down for the upcoming turn. They yelled: OH MY GOSH I LOVE YOUR HOT PINK!

Thank you! I yelled back. I’m in my Barbie era. They squealed and yelled GOOOOOOO!!!! When I came back by they all yelled GO BARBIE!!!

Town Turns Out/Beeline Out: I am about ready to be off the bike. The turns out of town were not significant, but I told myself to use the momentum of the wind to gain a little speed before the turn-around. I was feeling pretty good and trying to step up my mental game and this dude passed me. He was really moving so I wasn’t surprised at the pass. I was surprised when he stood up about 100 yards ahead of me. He sat back down. I slowed so I wouldn’t catch him in the draft zone. And then he stood up again and I noticed water dripping from his bike.

You’re PEEING? I yelled at him. You pulled in front of me and THEN peed?

Sorry! he shouted. He sped up again and took off up the hill.

Beeline Back: I made the turn-around and decided to stop one more time. I filled my torpedo with ice and cold water and filled my last bottle of Skratch with ice. It made all the difference in the world. I was able to finish that bottle and eat the chocolate stroop waffle. Plus, I was able to take in a little salt and chase it with that icy cold water. I hit the 100 mile mark and cheered as I always do. Out loud and with gusto!

Town Turns In: Now I was REALLY ready to be off the bike. I braced myself for the last turn into town on the bumpiest road and the headiest head wind. Right before the turn another dude passes me, stands up and PEES!!! What is the deal guys?

I made it into town and crossed the carpeted train tracks one more time before bumping up onto the side walk and soft-pedaling into the park for transition 2. I was happy to hear Neal’s voice and even happier to get off the bike.

BIKE TIME: 7:08:58