Sunday my "cousin" (Will's cousin Jeff's wife) completed Ironman Arizona in 16:04. Tina is just amazing. She used to be a marathoner - that is until she developed compartment syndrome, which basically means that anything below her knees is incredibly tight and running is very painful. But being the very tough and determined person that she is, she's just kept on going. To enable her to keep running, she's had to survive frequent and painful therapy to release the compressed tissues. Most people with this syndrome just stop running - the treatment is just too painful.
I raced IM Boise 70.3 with Jeff and Tina in June. She had a strong finish but knew that she had a lot of work ahead of her for IMAZ. Her plan was the survive the swim, be strong on the bike, and walk/run the run. I stalked her all day and was fairly concerned for her on the bike -the weather was horrible and I don't think her pace was as fast as she was hoping. Fortunately, she made all the cutoffs and finished in 16:04. Jeff took video of her finish line run and it brought tears to my eyes, just knowing everything that went into that moment.
Seeing Tina complete IMAZ definitely gives me a boost of confidence that I can complete IMTX. :)
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