Post-Race Ironman Texas

First stop after the race was to sit down and drink two bottles of chocolate milk - yum!  We then had to go claim our bikes and gear bags and walk back to the hotel.  Brutal!  After showering, taking care of several horrendously chaffed spots, and assessing the sunburn, we grabbed a quick night's sleep before taking a cab at 6am to go buy the finisher jackets to match the swag we earned the previous day.

Aside from breaking down Jonathan's bike and packing, absolutely nothing was accomplished all day and we even stayed within the hotel for dinner, as the rest and lack of sun was much needed.

It was tough for our trip to end, but it was so good to have our sweet Hurley boy greet us when we walked in the door at home.  The following morning as Jonathan was leaving for work, we also got a wonderful surprise at our front door from some awesome friends:

 *****

It's now 5 days post-race, I've picked up my bike from TriBike Transport, and I'm ready to choose my next Ironman.  I am so glad to have accomplished my goal of finishing, but I want more.  I want to run more of the marathon and get faster on the bike.  I talked about being "1 and done" from Ironman, but I'm now eating my words.  It's like the little kid in the commercial says - "We want more, we want more; like you really like it, you want more".

What will I do differently next time?  Instead of Gu chomps and combos, I'd go for pretzel sticks, Bonk Breakers, and a banana here and there.  I'll keep up the Infinit in my bottles and the water in the aero bottle, and maybe take a few more salt tabs, depending on the temperature.

If you're a numbers person, these stats from the race are pretty interesting: http://www.runtri.com/2013/05/ironman-texas-2013-results-analysis.html

I'm so thankful that Jonathan and I were able to do this race together.  We are very lucky to have both been able to finish and not end up in the med tent on what I read was a day with a 106 degree heat index.  Even with that, I'd absolutely do it again :)