Watch Ironman 70.3 World Championships on NBC March 31st!

I certainly didn't win, and not even sure I'll be caught on video, but look for the Blue and Orange colors of San Diego Triathlon Club and maybe you'll see me in pain!!

Tune into NBC this Saturday, March 31, to experience the courage and determination of more than 1,350 athletes as they cross the inaugural Ford Ironman World Championship 70.3 finish line in Clearwater, Fla. Follow along the 70.3 Mile journey as world-class athletes, such as Craig Alexander and Samantha McGlone, battle competitive fields for the World Championship titles.
Narrated by Phil Liggett, the show will air simultaneously across the United States and Canada, airing at 2 p.m. Eastern (1 p.m. Central, 12 p.m. Mountain, 11 a.m. Pacific). Hawaii residents should check their local listings for more details.

DROPPING TROU' AT JEFF CUP

It all started innocent enough! A road trip for a road race. What was supposed to be a Mid-Atlantic Velo Bella Team first race of the season turned out to be a solo affair for me! With one teammate jumping ship, and another in the middle of a last-minute move, I headed down to Charlottesville, VA on my own.

Once there, I met with a gal named Denise, whom fellow Bella Melanie and I had met a few weeks earlier at the Quicksilver training race. Denise, her friend Dave and I met up for a fantastic dinner in historic downtown C'ville. The weather was fabulous--a wonderfully warm early spring evening, reminiscent of a mid-summer San Diego night! Dave and I loaded up on carbs, while Denise went for the fiber and protein. After a quick trip to the grocery store (no thanks to the poor directions of the very rude convience store clerk), we were back in the hotel and off to bed early.

Being all too familiar with the early mornings of Triathlon race day, it was a wonderful treat to sleep in until almost 8:30, as my race wasn't to start until 12:30! I cleaned my bike, packed my things, and headed down for my usual pre-race meal of oatmeal, coffee, banana, and toast. It was cool outside, but not a cloud in the sky. A beautiful day for a ride!

I arrived at the race base camp with plenty of time to spare, registered for the Women's Cat 4 race, and met back up with Denise, who'd gotten up early to watch Dave race at 9am. We sat around and by 11 were starting to get ansy. We met another gal named Julia, who was also unattached to a team, and the three of us headed out for a 25 minute warm-up ride. By this time, the weatherman should have been hiding in shame--it was not going to be a high of 68 like he predicted. It was well over 75 degrees and it wasn't even noon! Poor Julia had a long-sleeved Under Armor jersey on and was melting. After much convincing, Julia changed into an extra jersey I had, and between me, Denise and Julia, we were quite the VB Pink site! High noon, and 100 women were lined up on the shadeless asphalt, waiting for direction. 12:30, well past race start time, and we still had no idea. by 12:45, the nutrition I'd taken was wasted, we were all starting to run out of liquids, and the porta-potties were calling. But we didn't want to miss the 3 mile "roll out" to the start, so noone dared leave their ride. Finally at 1:15, the race director made her appearance, and we headed for the start.

Once we arrived, we had 7 more minutes to wait between waves. I looked around and the girls were dropping like flies! No, not like you think--noone fainted, but there were no porta potties, and well, when you gotta go, you gotta go! Everywhere around me girls were just squatting and taking care of business! There were cops, mothers, fathers, kids, everyone around, but wow, I had never seen anything like it! It was hillarious! About this time I decided that I too could no longer ignore nature's call, and so I dropped trou' with the best of them! Ahh, relief! I was now ready to race!

Or so I thought. Man, these biker chicks are FAST! We averaged 25 mph for the first 10 mile loop. Right before the race I was told "no matter what, no matter how much it hurts, stay with the pack!" And I tried. I hung on for 1.5 loops, about 15 miles, but my heartrate was over 180 the entire time, I just couldn't hang with these monster women! So, I fell off the front pack, but we had left the rest of the field so far back, I suddenly found myself in familiar "time trial" territory, and finished the remainder of the course alone. That is, until the last 200m of the race. I knew they were there, I could feel them creeping up on me, but I simply had nothing left. There was no way I could fend off a pack of 5 working together when I'd done 15 miles of solo rolling hills, headwinds, and one monster hill. With less than 20 feet to the finish, 3 of the 5 passed me and I squeaked in at #18.

Top 20 was my goal, I will now have a USA Cycling rank, but wow, road races are HARD!

Complete race results Here Photos Here

I WILL NEVER RUN A MARATHON!!

Reality Check: March is still WINTER out here in the Mid-Atlantic.

Guess I haven't acclimated to east-coast living all that well after all, I said to myself as I hit the road Friday afternoon in a nasty little rain/sleet/snow storm enroute Virginia Beach. Silly me, I had actually packed the wetsuit and goggles, visions of an early spring dip in the ocean which I have so missed these long months away from San Diego! As it took me over 7 hours to go around 170 miles, I realized that swimming was not an option. I arrived late Friday night, unscathed (thankfully, as my brother-in-law had a completely DIFFERENT experience!), and pulled into the cozy cottage at Fort Story on the Virginia Beach coast. I spent an evening reconnecting with a long-time Navy buddy, and then settled in for the night.

Saturday brought more gale-force winds, sleet, snow flurries, and just the general thought that I was CRAZY for signing up for this race! Apparently the Shamrock is notorious for its howling winds and ferocious temperatures! But this Cali girl was not to be deterred! I have running tights, dammit! I met up with my fellow buds from DC Tri club, Wayne, Brent, Hermes and Tara, and we headed to the famous "Hot Tuna" for dinner. It was fantastic, and since it was St. Patty's Day, we had our share of beer and wine as well! Poor Dave our waiter, he had no idea what hit him! I think we left a nice tip though!

Sunday morning arrived WAY TOO EARLY! Tara, poor Tara, was awoken by the not so subtle "quietness" of Brent, the smell of coffee, and the general mayhem of pre-race routine! We headed off the base at the very dark hour of 0545 (that's 5:45am for you non-Navy types). The temperature was a BALMY 32 degrees, with a windchill of about, oh, ZERO!!!! So we sat in the car until well after 6:30. Race time was 7am sharp! And I had to pee!!!! Boys, let's go! Brent forgot his timing chip, Wayne forgot his--what did you forget again Wayne? I forgot! Anyway, with exactly 10 minutes to gun time, I HAD TO PEE! We waited what seemed an eternity, but we finally got to the head of the port-a-potty line, and all of a sudden we hear the gun go off! Shoot (literally!!!) I'm supposed to be in the first wave! LET'S GO BOYS!!!!!

OK, forget the boys, it's time to run! Darn it's cold! The sun's not even up, WHAT THE HECK AM I DOING!!!??? Mile 1--9:20, you've GOT to be kidding! I better step it up--get outta my way people!!! Mile 2, Mile 3, Mile 4, Mile 5! Holy Cow!! How did I just do 5 miles and not even remember! Oh yeah, my hands, starting to feel them again. Keep going, you're gonna catch that 1:45 pace runner I know it! Mile 6--oh there's the cottage! Tara, where are you? Oh, I'm sooo cold!!! Mile 7, Mile 8--what's that I hear? Y-M-C-A Oh yeah, I can get into this! Hey hot cop guy--where's the Indian, the construction worker and the Sailor? Don't have a sailor? I'll be your sailor! Mile 9, oh my goodness, I feel so good! This is insane. How can I possibly be having fun running a Half Marathon!?!?!

Mile 10. Crap, I've got exactly 25 minutes to run 3.1 miles and beat my goal time. Now, normally, running a 5K in 25 minutes would be a piece of cake! But not after already running 10 miles previously! And did I mention it's about 30 degrees outside? Oh, and the wind. Yeah, that wind has finally woken up! Morning Sunshine! Concentrate, you've got to "focus, focus, focus". Keep running. What did that street sign say? 86th street? Wasn't the finish line at 31st St? Don't even do the math. Just run. Run. Run. Who's that fat chick in front of you? How'd she get there? Those darn boys making me start late!?!?! Road kill; get her, get her, get her!!!!

Oh, WHERE is that mile marker???? Mile 11. OH. MY. GOD. That was the longest mile--EVER! Keep running. Why is the road so straight? Who are all these people?! Why are they running faster than me?! Run. Run. Run. Left. Right. Left. Right. OK, it's hot now, I'm sweating, start shedding--oops, there goes my headband. Keep running. Did I miss the mile marker? Oh no, don't look at your watch. Just RUN!!! Mile 12, darn, didn't miss the marker. 1.1 to go! Go Nikki Go!

Wow, those must be the full Marathon folks--sucks to be them, the wind is crazy now! Wait a minute--what the. . . .no way, is that girl REALLY running in a string bikini?!?!?! You don't even see that in San Diego! Hunny, you know your nipples are going to get frost bite, right? You're a needy gal aren't you?! Whatever. I'm sooo glad I've got running tights, a sports bra, two long-sleeved shirts and plenty of fat to keep me warm! But you go on looking pretty!

Wow, 37th Street, turning towards the boardwalk! 6 more blocks! You can do it!!! Run. Run. Run. Oh, lungs are hurting. Man that air is cold! The boardwalk!!! King Neptune! I see you at the finish line! I hear COW BELLS! WE NEED MORE COW BELLS! Oh crap, long straight stretech--finish line farther than I thought! Keep running. Kick it in. Beat those people in front of you! Run. Run. Run. Go. Go. The clock--what's the clock say?

I finished at 1:44:36, exactly 24 seconds faster than my goal time! YEAH!!!! The half was perfect. Now, where's the beer, it's 9am!!!!

I maintain: I WILL NEVER RUN A MARATHON!!!!

Race Pictures

Post Race Pictures