Hello,

 I raced my 5th Ironman on Sunday, where I crossed the finish line in 5th place. How appropriate, right? In honor of number five, I would like to capitalize on five highlights of the day.

 1. Setting a new personal best Ironman finishing time: 9 hours and 34 minutes. For those of you that didn't know, my prior Ironman times were 10 hours & 7 minutes, 10 hours & 6 minutes, and 10 hours & 5 minutes. You could call me a sand-bagger for heading to the flat desert in search of a new personal best... however the truth of the matter is that those 9 hours and 34 minutes might have been the hardest I have ever worked in an Ironman.  I swam in water that was so brown and murky I couldn't see my hands. I biked into 20mph head winds that were relentless for 5 hours. And when I crossed the finish line at 4pm it was 97 degrees out.

 2. Finishing the race. At the awards ceremony we learned that there was a 17.8% drop out rate from the race. This is the 3rd highest drop out rate from any North American Ironman. After a DNF in Kona last summer, I came to realize that you can't take any Ironman finish for granted. I crossed the finish line mentally exhausted. At several points during the bike there were moments where I felt like I was riding nowhere (or even backwards for that matter). At one point on the run I had to repeat "left, right, left, right" to keep my feet moving in the forward direction. The thought even crossed my mind that I was thankful I didn't pay $500 for what I was putting myself through. I commend anyone who competed  and completed the race on Sunday under some truly adverse conditions.

 3. It ain't over til it's over. 9 hours and 15 minutes into my race I was at mile 23 of the run. I had been in 5th place since mile 80 of the bike. Not moving up in the field, but not moving backwards in the field either. Those final 20 minutes I ran my fastest 3 miles of the day. I went from 5th place, to 6th, to running with 4th, to 5th. As this all unfolded, I kept thinking "this Ironman is not ending in a sprint finish, this Ironman is not ending in a sprint finish." My Ironman ended in a sprint finish, where I finished the race 2 minutes outside of a top 3 position. If you see me walking funny around town this week, I credit all my soreness to those last 3 miles. Which brings me to my next point. 

4. Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda. Someone had a stopwatch going on me when I went into the porta potty to pee in T2 and I was in the orange box for 55 seconds. What can I say, I had a full bladder! I also stopped to put on sunscreen... no need to get skin cancer, right? Everyone keeps telling me how great I did. To be honest, the race left me with much more to be desired. My head is flooded with the shoulda, coulda, woulda-s as the race replays through my head. I would say being plagued with these thoughts is nearly as rattling as a DNF. I set a standard for myself and didn't live up to my expectations. Yes, so many great things were accomplished for me on race day. A year ago, I would have been over the moon to have placed 5th at an Ironman. However, I feel I have a race in me that I never really uncorked on race day.

 5. Kona. So, in the quest for perfectionism, I swiped my trusty Visa for $520 and will be toeing the line in Kona in 6 months.

 I am forever thankful for all of you that have helped me get to where I am. It is only April and I have already accomplished such great things. I am anticipating a succesful 2008 triatlon season and I couldn't do it without your help. Thanks to my family and husband Chris, thanks to Lance Watson & Lifesport Coaching, Chris McCrary, Base Performance Nutrition, Big Sky Brewing, Clif Bar, Cycleops Power, Giro, Full Speed Ahead, Missoula Bicycle Works, Oakley, Saucony, Scott bikes, Trigger Point Technology, and Xterra Wetsuits  

 Best,

Linsey Corbin