I’ve never felt so prepared for a race as I did for Ironman Switzerland. When Armando’s parents requested my ETA’s for race day, I told them the following: 1:10 for the swim, 6-6:30 for the bike and 4:30 for the run, a total of 12hrs, 30 min. Armando’s mom thought that was too ambitious for the 4000-ft hilly bike course, and didn’t think I could make such a big jump from my last IM (the wrong thing to say to me…) so I adjusted my times to their liking. Regardless, they wished me good luck 
and as you know, we spent the days before the race eating pizza and enjoying the sights of Zurich.
RACE DAY:
The alarm woke us up at 4:00am because I was afraid that the closed streets near the Landiwiese and the traffic would hold us up. I was wrong. Our Mercedes taxi arrived by 4:30am, we were at the transition area by 5:00am and I was out of transition by 5:30am. But before the race even began, I was cold. The temp may have touched 60-degrees, even though the weather man reported a mid 70-degree, partly cloudy day. I figured it would get warmer when the sun came up. But alas, I still shivered, so I shimmied into my wetsuit to conserve my body heat 
(That look is…”You’d better NOT take a picture of me getting into my wetsuit!!!”).
SWIM:
The 231 women were separated from the 1478 men…at least initially. The pro’s started at 6:55am, then the women swam up to the starting line. However, some men took advantage of our open space, and swam to our area before the start. The gun went off and 1979 athletes started swimming. I tried to find someone to draft behind, because that would save me at least 25% of the work. But some men used only upper body to swim, giving no kick, and some men kicked like they were shooting the goal-winner in fussball 
Either way, I couldn’t get warm. In fact, I was so cold that on the turn back to the land, someone kicked my left hand, knocking off the race ring Armando had bought for me a few years ago (precisely why I don’t wear my wedding ring). It was too late to catch it, so I kissed it goodbye, and now it lay to rest on the bottom of Lake Zurich. My family caught me as I ran over the island and plunged in for the second loop, which was much of the same. It took longer than I expected, probably because I was a frozen Florida girl. Time: 1:17:58.
T1: When I was pulled out of the water, I was a bit disoriented going into transition…I didn’t know which way to go and here you can see why: 
And as I pulled off my wetsuit arms, the SBR bracelet Ilene gave me broke (I grabbed it and fixed it later…). Once I found my bike, I struggled to get my wetsuit off and pleaded, “Where are the wetsuit strippers when you need them???” But because I already had on my bike shorts and my neighbors were gone, I was able to make a speedy transition. (Side note: The local news channel in Luzern showed a report from IMS, and yours truly was pictured in her Edelweiss bike jersey in T1!!!) Transition time: 4:47.
BIKE:
“Now the fun begins,” I told myself with a smile. The first 30K was flat along Lake Zurich. I averaged 20mph and loved it. When I curved around the lake (and the only time my eyes filled with tears) I sat in awe of the enormous snow-covered alps in front of me. “THIS is why we do destination races,” I told the man next to me (who probably didn’t understand what I said). I wish my eyes were a video camera, so that I could share the beauty with you all. But it is forever burned into my memory…
The weather was cloudy and threatened rain, and because I was in a sleeveless jersey, I was cold with no warmer option. It drizzled on and off and that didn’t help matters. At Feldbach we had a 3% uphill climb that lasted a couple of miles. Once we got to the top there were rolling hills, much like San Ann. I enjoyed the scenery through Gruningen and Hombrechtikon and waved at the race revelers. After a nice downhill to Uetikon a.S. I hit the much-anticipated “Beast.” The Beast was a 7% uphill with switchbacks that kept me wondering which would be the last! But it wasn’t nearly as difficult as I had built it up to be in my head. The reward was a nice downhill that lead to another 3-mile, 3% hike up to Forch.
Then the real fun began…the downhill. Coming from flat Florida I knew I would need to be a bit cautious going down at 7%, especially if there were any switchbacks. But I had so much fun going 40mph, it was difficult (figuratively and literally) to put on the brakes! More adept hill climbers flew by me, but that didn’t stop me from hooping and hollering for several miles. Any bystander who saw me must have laughed at my huge grin 
That downhill dumped us onto the flat which led back to the race site. I didn’t see Armando and his parents…because I’d completed the first lap in a mere 3 hours, much earlier than they anticipated. I tooled on to “Heartbreak Hill” where the loud crowd pushed us up the short and steep 4% climb. I whirled down the hill back to start loop #2.
From the start of the second loop, the “picnic basket” on the front of my aero bottle was coming unstuck. I had to stop three times to get the velcro to stick so that it didn’t rub against the front tire (but it still wore a hole through the bottom of the basket!). After I solved that issue, a nice guy from Zurich told me that my tool bag (that sits under my saddle) was also coming off. Because of that my lucky ladybug was dangling too close to the brakes, nearly causing a serious problem. I tucked her into my bottle cage and re-hung my bag. Those two stops probably added up to 10-minutes alone, which didn’t make me necessarily happy. (That, and the guy primping in the port-o-potty…).
The second loop went much the same. I felt strong as I rode through the corn fields and vineyards and sole sunflower field. I waved to the carnival bands and horseback riders. At one point there was a tight group of riders that wouldn’t break up, but eventually the always-present race officials helped clear the path. I called The Beast a different “B” word the second time around but I survived it by singing to myself and recording the scenery below us. The drizzle came and went and I enjoyed that downhill just as much the second time down.
The key to the bike course was Noel’s advice: “Save some (fun) for the run” and my favorite quote-of-the-day that I said to myself when people passed me: “I’ll see you on the run, (s)uckers!“ (This is a family blog…so I won’t say the real words…). It worked not only because it helped me keep my plan in perspective, but because it made me laugh.
There weren’t nearly as many people cheering at Heartbreak Hill, which made that climb more difficult, but I began to focus on the run. And my family sighed with relief when they caught me coming into transition 
Bike time: 6:21:00 (and at least 10-minutes of that was fiddling with my gear).
T2: I changed quickly into my cute running skirt and runners, and slid out of transition in 3:23.
RUN:
The run was a 4-loop course that would lead to crowd support throughout. The first loop went extremely well. Although I wasn’t necessarily beaten up from the ride, I was happy to be on foot. I felt great and told Armando and his parents that right after transition. I wouldn’t stop to chat with them much on the run, but I always looked forward to seeing them. After the out-and-back to the take Care Station, I received my first loop run band. The fast guys were hauling butt and finishing up their third of fourth lap, but I could handle that.
On the second loop, I met up with Armando on the far side of the lake and when he asked how I felt, I replied, “My legs are getting heavy.” He gave me that look and questioned, “Is this the worst you’ve EVER felt?” My answer was, “No” and point taken: Suck it up, sister. He always knows what to say. I hadn’t eaten more than a couple of banana bites on the run and the smell of the Vietnamese food on the course didn’t give me an appetite. But I took a gel (even though I dislike them) at The Crazy Station and it perked me up.
I anticipated the third loop giving me mental issues, but that wasn’t the case. I felt better and gave the thumbs up or “hang loose” sign to people commenting on my “schon rockli” (cute skirt)…and that made them cheer louder I also recalled my phrase-of-the-day when I passed walkers who’d crashed and burned, and that fueled my fire. I saw my family for the last time at The Hot Station as they were making their way to the finish line.
By the fourth loop my quads were burning from The Beast, and I told myself (much like I did at the Vermont 100K) that it wasn’t going to hurt more than it already did…so keep moving. I tried to convert kilometers to miles, and figured when I was on the bridge heading back to the finish line that I had 1 mile to go…and 15 minutes to reach my goal time. But I was feeling weak and shaky…my blood sugar was too low again. I choked down the last of three gels and walked…until I saw the balloon arch and cheering crowds.
Then I began running, and I smiled and waved to the crowd as I twisted my way through the finisher’s chute. I pumped my arm when the announcer called my name. I gave Paul and Lydia high five’s, then saw Armando. I kissed him and said, “Can you believe it?!?“ His simple but proud reply: “No!“ Apparently, neither did I… 
Run time: 4:38:29.
FINISH TIME: 12:25:38…five minutes faster than my goal time, and a personal best by 1.5 hours. Hot Dog!!!
I enjoyed the entire race…ups, downs and in-betweens, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Again (and again) Vielen Dank to Ilene for biking with me till the cows came home, as well as to Steve, Nick, Ken, Matt and the other “Radlers” for guiding me through hilly workouts. Vielen Dank to Andy for running long through the trails with me and sharing with me his wisdom and wit. Vielen Dank to my parents for their advice to not die while I swam, to not crash on my bike and to not fall over anything on the run. Vielen Dank to the rest of you, my family and friends, who event after event give me your love and affection and push me to go farther and faster. And finally, Vielen Dank to Armando, Paul & Lydia, my Viel Gluck charms, for sticking out the Ironman with me…without their smiling faces at IMG, IMA and IMS, I wouldn’t have had such a lovely ride. XOXO
I enjoyed Friday night 
. And since the CO2 didn’t work well, I now know that my tire pump does 
. Instead of letting the kid ride back alone and get stranded if he had another flat, we all escorted him back to the parking lot. And luckily there was not another flat. 
