Lonestar. Check.

I just didn't feel like writing a race report about Lonestar, but I promised Jim I would. So here goes....

I had this little itty bitty training workout to do on Sunday. And by training workout, I mean race. And by itty bitty, I mean just a little half Ironman. No biggie, right? I mean, I did spend six months last year training for race of similar magnitude named Longhorn. Meh, whatever.

I probably sound pretty sarcastic, which is usually the correct assumption, but this really was my attitude. And I think it provided me one of the best races I've ever had.

I had been out of town since Thursday for work and hadn't give the race much more thought than what I needed to pack. (That thought took all of 20 minutes, so it wasn't much.) Even race morning, I went and set up transition but went back to my hotel room to do the puzzles from my leftover USA Todays. Walked down to transition only a few minutes before the start, hung out with the team, got in the water for my wave, and... "hey, wait a minute! this water is salty! oh yeah, it's the gulf - duh! we are swimming in the ocean! wait, i'm about to swim 1.2 miles in the ocean!? maybe i should have given this more thought. oh well, go with it."

Swim was rather uneventful. If you could have recorded it, I would sound like this: "Breath, Burp. Breath, Burp." For nearly 40 minutes. Awesome! Out of the swim, into wetsuit stripping. Saw the biggest guy there, pointed "you!" and was instantly stripped. (Thanks for the tip, Ali!)

I then headed over to get my bike, which I had not rode since I put race wheels on it and was essentially taking a gamble that they would take. Eh, whatever, not much I could do at this pint! Hopped on and opted for a steady, somewhat easy ride. Took it very easy for the first 10 miles, then got in my zone and didn't think much until Natalie passed me and yelled "let's take on Ben!" "Uh, no thanks, Nat! But thanks for playing!" :) I just did my own thing, concentrated on nutrition, and surveyed all the hurricane damage. I ended up with a solid, steady ride; honestly, I was surprised that 55 miles had ticked by so quickly.
Dismounted my bike, walked it over to my spot, and then sat down. Pondered if I would go run or not. Put on my gear and went and had a little conversation with Logan about whether or not I really felt like going on. I was happy thus far, no need to continue. He basically shoved me out of transition and politely told me "Go run, Erin. Go." Thanks, Logan. :)

The run was where I surprised myself. Recently I've returned to the run/walk method and have been running pretty slowly (for me, compared to last year.) I figured I'd walk most of the run... but for some reason, I didn't. I actually felt okay. I was shuffling along quite nicely, in fact. No pain, good nutrition, lots of fun cheering for the team... all in all, I really just ticked off the miles without too much thought. I will admit that I did have a little motivation, as I knew Elizabeth was behind me and I made a goal for her not to catch me. If she had, I'd been thrilled for her (much like I was thrilled when Laura blew by me) - but she certainly served as a good motivator not to walk. (Thanks, E!) I would walk a little through some aid stations, and when I saw friends on the course, but that was it. And I felt fine. What a shock.

Every race I've done with a goal in mind, I give up once I know I've reached that goal. I don't keep pushing, I just want the pain to end. This race was different. Once I figured out I could break 6 hours, and I had just under 30 minutes to run 2 miles, I normally would have just walked it in. But this time, I didn't. It was slow, it was ugly, but it was a mental victory for me to keep running. I crossed that finish line knowing that I put in a solid effort, and I have no regrets about the race whatsoever.
Final time, 5:52. Overall race happiness on a scale of 1 to 10: 10. I got to check off every goal I had coming in to it. Most importantly, I had fun. I also am coming to grasp that I just knocked out a half as if it was just another day of training. (It was. Dang.)

Here is where my sappy side kicks in. Up to this point in training, I have had ZERO confidence in myself. I've had a few good workouts here and there, but let's face it - I let myself goooooooooooo after Longhorn and it's been an uphill battle since. I'm nowhere as strong, lean, fit, confident, etc.... as I was in October. However, I had more fun (and performed better) at Lonestar. If that's not evidence of the mental side of training, I don't know what is. (Good race nutrition helps too!)

Who knows what Ironman will hold. I can only hope to have half as good of a race as I did on Sunday. I feel so renewed about training. We are 8 hard weeks + 3 taper weeks away from the big day, and I'm ready to put in the work!