June 18, 2008

The latest from Linsey Corbin

My racing stampede continued this past weekend in the midwest at the Kansas 70.3. On a day that I will remember as a "perfect Kona training day", I came in third behind two of the finest women in our sport, Jo Lawn and Sam McGlone.



I arrived in Kansas with perfect timing, I just missed the tornado that had blown through the night before. Perfect! I was met at my homestay by my new favorite Kiwis: Jo Lawn and her husband Armando. Chris and I quickly became friends with them and I am already looking forward to more fun times together. A big shout out to the best homestay on the circuit: Kent and Liz Dobbins (and the rest of their family). They treated us all like royalty and we shared some good laughs together!



Race day started similar to Kona with a non-wetsuit swim; however, the aquarium landscape was replaced by a midwestern murk. The coolest part was watching some Navy Seals parachute their way down to Clinton Lake as the national anthem played. The gun was fired, feet were kicking, arms were flying, and I ended up having a non-impressive swim. I exited the transition knowing I had my work cut out for me with the leaders nearly four minutes up on me. Time to get riding on my stealthy Scott Plasma!  The bike course in Kansas was just like Kona: hot, humid, hilly, and windy. It was a great course with three out-and-backs that gave me lots of opportunity to see what my competition was up to. I worked hard to ride myself into the top five but all morning I was wishing I had my half-Ironman legs with me and not my heavy yellow brick road legs. I did manage to enjoy all the super midwestern fans that were out on the course. I entered T-2 with two girls in sight and I was looking forward to slipping on my dancing shoes: Saucony Fastwitches!  I ran my first 10k pretty well and moved myself into third place. The run course was great and had the feel of Wildflower as it weaved its way past campgrounds and RV's. Let me tell you, the BBQ sure smelled good at mile 10!  I finished my day cowboy hat in tow with a feeling of "mission accomplished."



So, there you have it. 5th place at Ironman Arizona, 4th place at Boise 70.3, 3rd place at Kansas 70.3, 2nd place at Pucon 70.3... this can only mean that a first place is just around the corner!

Thanks to all of you for keeping me moving in the right direction!
Linsey Corbin