well...the boise 70.3 ironman has come and gone...and i do believe we are worse for the wear. 

no seriously, i'm still in pain, which is odd because during my training i was never sore. i'm going to blame it on the five pounds of water i sweat out over my 13.1 miles...but let's start from the beginning. 

it was a gorgeous day in boise. our start time was at 11:10 am with the swim. see this girl below? that's gina - our swimmer. 

gina started our race with a goal time of 40 minutes for the 1.2 mile swim...which is awesome. but my gal did it in 35 minutes...killed it. 
then she handed off to my farmer who enjoyed a leisurely 56 mile bike ride. 

people...56 miles is a long - freaking - way. he definitely had the hardest leg of the race, which is precisely why i voted to NOT do the biking portion. 

later my farmer divulged, "karli, i'm so glad you didn't do the bike. you would have hated life and been so angry."

and you know what. i would have. i was angry enough during the run. i can only imagine how mad i would have been had i had to spend over three hours riding a bike. definitely not my forte.

regardless, as we waited for my farmer to reach the bike // run transition, my gal and i snapped some pics.
as the bikers rounded the corner for their grand finish...i waited suuuuper nervously to start my 13.1 mile run in the 86º heat. you guys...it was so so hot. to give you an idea of how hot it was, well, i'll spare you that information, but i was ridiculously dehydrated by race finish and it's taken the better part of two days to recover.



my farmer made it to the transition and greeted me with his timing chip that i wrapped around my ankle, as i left him with a kiss and yelling, "good job, babe!" i was off...

things felt really good...until they didn't. during the race, it got to the point that by mile eight (with five miles to go) i was stopping at every aid station available, pouring water over my head, splashing it on my chest, and drinking the rest. there was even a guy spraying runners down with a hose.

all of a sudden the 8:30 p/mile pace i had kept for the first eight miles was squashed. i was so defeated and disappointed in myself, but i had to slow down or i wasn't going to make it.

i ended my 13.1 miles at 2 hours 1 minute...two minutes beyond my goal time. whomp whomp.

the finish was pretty spectacular. they quite literally roll out a red carpet for you. hundreds and hundreds of people are cheering, and you see signs with funny pictures that say...

never trust a fart after mile six. or...

i ran once, it was awful. or...

HEY STRANGER! GOOD JOB!

all the cheering and all the signage definitely helped. it was nice to finish with a smile on my face
by the end it was all about sporting our finisher medals, sitting in the shade, dreaming of a shower, and discussing where we could find the closest, coldest beer.

it was an awesomely fun day with my favorite people. the whole thing hurt and i'm still recovering, but it was worth it and i'll be back...hopefully next year!