Aflac Iron Girl Atlanta 2009!

ok ok ok.. so I know we're a CYCLING team, and not a TRI team.. but..
I FINISHED THE IRON GIRL!!!!!

And it makes me super duper happy, and I got my times this morning,
and I wanted to share...
Bib No. 988
Kazz NEAL

Swim : 15:16
Tran1: 3:37
Bike : 1:26:17
Tran2: 2:29
Run : 40:54:00

Time :2:28:33

The swim was tough, but I got through it by just telling myself to get
to the next buoy. It was scary though. Lots of legs and arms all
flying about in your direction, and some girls randomly dropping out,
one girl just laid on her back in the water screaming for help till a
lifeguard came to get her. It was crazy. and then I started singing
80's music in my head. 'whip it" makes a great swimming song for some
reason..

The bike... was AWESOME. I was easily going 40 down one particular
hill, and all I could think of in my head was all the folks from
Blairsville cross last year screaming at me "get off your brakes! no
brakes! no brakes!!!!" so I didn't brake... and then I realized half
the other girls were.. and were weaving left to right so i just
started shouting as I went down "comin down! on the left!! GOING
40!!!!!!! ON THE LEEEEEEEFT!!!" they moved. I zipped right by.. it was
awesome... and then, at one smallish downhill, GARGANTOR the bumble
bee decided my bobster goggles looked like a good windshield to smack
into, and as I recoiled from the strike, I realized he'd left me his
wing and a leg as a present. totally gross.. but hilarious. You know..
those things can REALLY smack you! I had no idea that the fluff did no
good to soften the impact at all.

The run.. well.. you see my time on the run. I am HORRIBLE at
running.. like. OMGWTFBBQ. I walked a fair portion of it.. and I was
seriously considering dropping out on it. Everything hurt. I just
didn't want to do it anymore. I wanted to stop.. and a couple of other
girls that I was near started talking to me.. so we all kept pace with
each other. When we got towards the finish area, it felt like my lungs
would explode, I felt like I was gonna hork, and in general, my body
was screaming at me relentlessly to knock this ridiculousness off or
there would be hell to pay. My running mates shuffle jogged ahead of
me a bit, and I didn't want to let them down, or let down my coach, or
my godmother, who had to drop out 3 days before the race because of
injuries.. so I tried to shuffle jog.. and it just wasn't working..
then my running mates, about 10 feet from the finish, STOPPED, TURNED
AROUND, AND CAME BACK to link arms with me and help me cross the
finish. It was awesome. I don't remember alot about immediately after
the race. I saw my friend Tim and kinda collapsed into him, and then
my boyfriend and the rest of my family came up, so I did the half
collapse-half-hug all over them. hah.

all in all though, I'd say it was an awesome race, I had a great time,
and I actually finished something HUGE that I feel like I can be
really proud of.

More than that, it was SO inspiring to see other women of ALL ages, and ALL shapes and sizes, conquering this challenge the best they could. The way we all cheered for each other, and pushed each other to finish and kept encouraging one another to not give up was like something out of a movie. Even the women who came in at 4 hours are definitely worthy of being called "Iron Girls", they never gave up, never gave in, and crossed that finish with heads high.

ok.. thats it.