After a five month hiatus.. I raced one.

Sky to Kainoa: Your mom kicks my mom's ass. Here, have her lei.

Pre-race: all ready to roll, fancy transition bag and all:

Kisses good-bye from the little girl before hopping on my bike to ride to transition. Skirt, sneakers, shopping bag, aero helmet.. check.

We are SO not dorky in our twin splishes..
The boys keep busy during the race.

The joy of post-race brunch. Or Henry eats an entire pig:

Short version: I kind of sucked on the swim, I really sucked on the bike, and I ran pretty well, all things considered.

A more detailed report: My splish twin shot off the front at the start and Marion tried to get on her feet. Jana, Marion and I were the chase pack, and I'm hoping since there are no trans times my 8:54 included the run to the park. I was third out of T1 and could see Marion for most of the first lap. But she was shrinking. And my legs were achy and heavy.. maybe from Friday's long ride, or maybe just because going from zero to IM in six weeks hasn't been easy on the legs. Either way, I rode 32 min, nearly a minute slower than last year, and going up and over diamond head over and over wasn't all that fun for me. My powertap is still broken - in Kona it said I averaged 614 watts for 112 miles. Watch out, Lieto! Today it said I averaged 312 watts, after being recalibrated. Not bloody likely. I was told I was two minutes down on Bree, and 30s down on Marion into T2. Onto the run.. I had the turnover, but still felt like there was no power to my stride. I was hoping to run Marion down, but no dice. The one good thing to take away from this race is the 18:50 5k off the bike, 6:05 pace. Last year was 20 seconds faster.. but that was after a full year of running. The run is coming back, at least.

As I headed for the chute I saw the clock.. 59:50, 59:51.. oh crap! I just made it in 59:59, 3rd place.

Lessons learned:
You lose swim speed fast when you just quit swimming completely. I'm not saying it wasn't worth it..
Sprints hurt like hell when you're out of shape.
IT bands do heal! I didn't feel it at all out there.
Wyatt can fake a broken foot really well (3 hours of ER later..)
My road rash still makes people gag.
Sunday brunch was more fun when I ate sugar.
Henry throws a mean spiral.. he, Patrick and Jim Wee had a good game going post-awards.