Boise 70.3. The end of an era for me. I didn't know it was the end until I arrived at the venue the day before the race. Boise 70.3 was my first official Iroman-Brand race. And this year would be the last year they would hold this event.

I had to make it memorable for me. So far, Boise had not treated me well. The first year I did it, I had my best race. However, it rained so much the river was flooded and we ran through pools of water. It rained on the entire run. This is my Boise 703 track record. I did it the rainiest year on record, the coldest year on record (This was the year Matty Reed won by wearing his wet suit on the bike. I had the same idea but thought I'd look like a dork and didn't want to chance being laughed at.) the windiest year on record, and the hottest year on record. I didn't attend the only two times I heard they actually had fantastic conditions.

Bring it, Boise 70.3, I thought. What else could there be? And I wanted to qualify for World's 70.3 for the past few years. I had come in 7th twice and prayed for a roll-down spot. Which never made it that deep. This year World's is in Austria and I don't travel, so pressure was off! I just wanted to race it one last time under decent conditions.

The race started at 10:00 a.m. The first time I did it, it started at 2:00 and finished at night. I loved that. Then it was at noon. Now, to beat the heat and wind, we were starting at 10:00. I like the later starts, like XTerra does. It seems more chill to me and I have time to calm down and assess what I'm doing.

Everything went well that morning except the buses were late. Very late. I was not a nice person to the volunteer and I apologize. Soon, I was ready to race, all my ducks were in a row and we were heading to the water. Another weird thing. There were no pros and my Age Group was first.

My Iolite was not working so I whipped it off my goggles and handed it to my husband. Praying I could swim straight for once, I entered the water. I thought I swam pretty well and only went too far left for some of the swim. However, when I exited the water, my time was about 2 minutes slower than usual. Confused, I focused on getting out of my wet suit like I had been imaging it in my head. It wasn't great, but much, much better.

The entire bike out, was crazy weird. I've done this event more than any other event. This year they CHANGED THE BIKE COURSE!! There were a few more hills and a few more U-turns. Triathletes like to be pointed in one direction, and then turn around and go back. Sometimes we like do one big loop so we just keep going straight ahead with a few right or left turns. U-turns are WEIRD!!!!

And the wind was going in the wrong direction. There is always a head wind out and a head wind back. Because it switches directions in the middle of the day or something. I'm not sure what is really happening, but this is how it has always seemed.

As I rode out with a tail wind, I kept thinking that I needed to hurry so I could get back before the head wind came. I had ridden my bike more than about 30 miles since St. George 70.3 and I hadn't run more than 6 miles at once. I kept telling myself to take it easy and just see what would happen, although I was feeling pretty good.

I think