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"There is no happiness except in the realization that we have accomplished something..." - Henry Ford   
2009 Race Schedule Minimize

 Mar. 21 - SunTrust National Half                Marathon

 May 17 - Memphis In May
 June 14 - Eagleman 70.3
 July 25 - Uberman
 Aug. 2 - Danskin Philadelphia 
           Triathlon

 Aug. 9 - The Great Race

 Sept. 1 - Skinnyman Triathlon

 Sept. 27 - Augusta 70.3
2009 Race Results Minimize

SunTrust National Half Marathon

1:24:40 13th female
Doylestown Duathlon 1:40:26  2nd female
Memphis in May 2:12:56 12th pro
Eagleman 70.3 4:41:45 12th pro
Philadelphia Tri 2:11:49 7th pro

 

 

 
Coached by Minimize

Lindsay Hyman 
Personal Trained by Minimize

Paul McGovern
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Heather models in the Third Annual Women Empowering Women event.  An evening of fashion and compassion in support of Project H.O.M.E.  To learn more about Project H.O.M.E. visit www.projecthome.org.  To check out pictures from the show go to the picture gallery.
Philadelphia Triathlon Minimize
I always have such mixed emotions leading up to the Philadelphia Tri. One minute I am so excited to race on my home course and the next minute I am wondering why I decided to do this race. Racing at home gives me the benefit of knowing the course, having tons of supporters on the course cheering, and not having to travel. It also brings added pressure from lots of people with high expectations for me and tons of other obligations and distractions. Plus last year, this was my first pro race and it did not go well. Needless to say, I was happy when Friday came and all the pre-race festivities finally got started. Friday night was the VIP party at St. Joe’s boathouse and was a lot of fun. The room overlooked the swim course. The food was awesome (Philadelphia is known for its’ restaurants after all!) and I got a chance to chat with some other pro’s and people involved with the Philadelphia Insurance Triathlon organization. Saturday I slept in a bit, had a good breakfast, and headed out for a short bike and run. My husband was nice enough to accompany me and we had a blast just cruising around and goofing off. Then it was off to the expo so I could help Dan, the local Zoot rep.  I had fun talking about all the cool Zoot products and catching up with all my friends. I headed home after the pro meeting and my husband made me an awesome pasta dinner (another advantage of racing at home!). My parents arrived shortly after dinner and then it was off to bed. Even though I live close to the race site I still had to get up at 4:15AM. Race morning at Philly takes a bit longer than other races because there is a long walk from the parking lot to the transition area and then you have to take a bus to the swim start.  The bus ride over to the start seemed to take forever, even though it was only 10minutes, but I think it was mostly because I was so nervous. I went for a quick dip in the river which was nice and warm (74degrees) and then waited not-so-patiently for the race to start. I remembered how scared I had been last year at this time at my first pro race and feeling so out of place. At least this year I just had a little extra pre-race nervousness. They finally called our wave and we all jumped in the water and lined ourselves up with the start buoy. After treading water for several seconds I turned to make sure I was close to the start buoy only to find it had disappeared. I looked behind me and sure enough we had already drifted about 15meters or so downriver. Yippee! This was going to be a fast swim!  The horn blared and we all took off. It was a messy start. I hadn’t had a swim start with the pro men since last year and I forgot how crazy it gets. Fortunately things settled down pretty quickly and I got into a good rhythm and found a great pair of legs to draft off. After swimming for a bit I noticed one side of my goggles started leaking. No problem I thought, I can see out of the other one but that side started leaking too.  I tried to just empty my goggles quickly and start swimming again but the strap had loosened in the back and my goggles weren’t staying sealed.  I was forced to stop and tread water while I fixed them. Unfortunately I lost my great draft buddy and some precious seconds. The rest of the swim was uneventful. I headed into T1 and was happy to see a few bikes still racked but no women were in sight. I didn’t mind because I know the bike course really well and love it so I was excited to head out onto the bike. I felt really strong and was really enjoying myself. There were lots of people I knew around the course and it was fun to have so many people out on the course cheering for me. About halfway through the first loop I saw another pro off in the distance. This was encouraging because it usually takes me much longer to catch these fast women pro on the bike if I manage to at all! I caught her by the end of the first loop and after that could not tell where anyone was since during the second loop we merged with all the age groupers heading out on their first loop. Because the bike course is closed to traffic and there are so many corners the age groupers always tend to spread out all over the road. I tried to assertively negotiate my way through the mob without losing too much time. Three-quarters of the way through the second loop I realized as I came up behind another women that I had caught another pro woman!  I tried to put as much distance as possible between me and her on the last part of the bike because I knew from Eagleman that this girl could run. I entered T2 just as I saw Jenny (another pro) heading out onto the run. It felt good to be in the thick of things. I knew Jenny was a pretty speedy runner but I tried my best to keep contact with her hoping that Lindsay (the women I had passed on the bike) didn’t catch me. I managed to stay within sight of Jenny through the first 3miles but then I started to lose ground. Around mile 4.5 I really started to hurt. A quick glance back showed Lindsay still behind me and too close for comfort.  I ran as hard as I could and managed to hold her off. I was really happy to see the finish line! I ended up personal besting this course by 3minutes (partly due to the awesome current-assisted swim) but I also rode one minute faster than I ever have on this course.  My run still needs some work but I’ll get there. I had a lot of fun at this race, more fun than I have had racing in a while. Thanks to everyone who came out to cheer. Like I said in the beginning, I love racing at home ;)  
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