Yep, she did it again!

Sorry for the delay, folks. Between spotty (at best) cell signal (this many people in town seems to have choked our cell towers to death, regardless of carrier), dead phone batteries, and then just plain exhaustion across the board, I didn't ever get a final blog post up last night.

So, how did she do? Awesome, of course! Even with some pretty severe gastro issues likely brought on by drinking hot ironman power drink (nasty, sugary stuff even when properly chilled) and some high temps, KI managed to finish in just over 13 hours. It wasn't her best time, but she put it all out there and finished super strong, "chicking" a guy in the chute to the finish line in honor of Coach Krista's presence (who? www. KristaSchultz.com).

Throughout the race, the on-site IronKip fan base was exceptional. We weren't the biggest crowd this year, but I'm pretty sure we had the most omnipresent impact we ever have. Our home base and shirts drew enough attention that the official voice of ironman, the guy who calls the finishers "Kimberly LaClair of Watertown, NY You. Are. An. Ironman!" stopped by the tent in the morning to ask us "Who is IronKip?". We also had more comments about the awesomeness of our team shirts this year, with one spectator telling Tammi Jones that he'd seen them all, and ours were the best. (Banger of a job again, Scotty!)

Perhaps the biggest addition to the IronKip fandom this year was the DJ equipment. We started with it playing on IronKip Corner but, during the bike, moved it to the horse show grounds. For those of you unfamiliar with Lake Placid, this area is part of both the bike and run courses. It's a long stretch of road where runners are on a long out and back that they have to complete twice suing their marathon. We found that the music really made a difference to the runners. Granted, over 5 hours of dancing like fools to keep them entertained and loved didn't seem to hurt either (except our hands from clapping and maybe our legs from being such dancing fools). KI even hears comments out on River Road about wishing the people with the music could be out there too.

Back to IronKip....her stats weren't completely populated on the ironman site last I checked, but what we do know is that she had a banger of a swim, a wicked fast first bike loop, a pretty good second bike loop despite the gastro struggles, and then she pushed through the run with grace and perseverance, even though she felt like doody for most of it. She did get to hear her Strawberry Swing at least once on the run, and like always, music made a huge difference for K and she pressed on, finishing strong in front of an adoring crowd.

We'll get her blogging this morning and see if we can't get a true blow-by-blow of her day. For now, suffice it to say that for an unbelievable 4th time. IronKip is again an Ironman!

Best,
Melissa