RIF Physical Therapist Meghan Taff recently participated in her first Ironman event in 3 years! Here is what she had to say about her time in Santa Rosa:
The overall reason for my success was a great nights sleep leading up to the race. As an insomniac I never get those, so this was a pleasant, welcome surprise.
The swim was a great temp with clear waters. The only negative was sighting into the sun, which made the 2 lap course challenging at times. It was not my best swim, but I was able to turn that into an efficient T1.
The bike was a question mark. I knew my fitness was there after living in the penninsula for 2 years and training with Team Sheeper Triathlon, but the bike has always been my weakest leg as I came to that sport last. I knew I could PR, but doing it by almost an hour was a surprise. The wind picked up at the end and the roads were a little bumpy, but that made the transition to the run all the sweeter.
Santa Rosa is very spectator friendly, so being able to see my husband, friends, and coaches made it easy to push the first 2 laps. I faded quite a bit on the last lap, but still had my fastest Ironman marathon split.
I had been thinking 12 hours in my head, but tried not to focus on numbers this year. I really just wanted to have fun and enjoy the day since I hadn’t done a full Ironman for 3 years.
The stars aligned and I finished in 12:09. I couldn’t have been happier with the day that I had given the ups and downs that we all experience in life as well as training.
Here’s to IMSR 2019!!
