CW: Can you give us a recap of your most memorable race?
JM: It was my second Ironman race [in 2014]. I had qualified for The World Championship in Kona. I went out there without any hard expectations on myself. I had goals, but I wanted to have fun. I told everyone I wanted to be top 5 in the amateur overall. I had a secret little goal to myself that I wanted to win overall, but I didn’t even tell anyone, not even my husband. It was an amazing day. I was able to do it with my sister. I swam on her feet for the entire swim. I kept touching her feet and she told me after the race that if it was anyone but me she would’ve have screamed and yelled at the person, because I touched them way too many times. I passed her on the bike. That 2014 Kona was crazy. It was really windy. I had been told that Kona was windy, so I thought it was just a normal thing. It’s a normal day in Kona, it’s suppose to be this windy. I think that helped me mentally. It wasn’t defeating me because this was normal. I went out on the run and I remember coming out of transition. There was this really young boy. He told me, you’re number five amateur woman. I didn’t know to trust this little boy or not, but if that was the case, let’s see what I can do on this course. I remember seeing my husband right before I went into the Energy Lab. He told me, you’re number two, number one if just right in front of you. You got her, no problem. That feeling that came over me, I wasn’t feeling great, but I wasn’t hurting. So I passed two women in the Energy Lab. One was a pro and one was amateur. I passed them and was like, Well, I’m in first, now I just have to hold on. I crossed that finish line and it was surreal. Then somehow on the way to drug testing we ran into my husband and that was the real moment. I just gave him a hug and looked into his eyes. Oh my gosh I just did that. It’s those moments that you live for.
CW: What keeps you motivated?
JM: Since having my daughter, I think that gives me an extra reason to do this. I want to show her you can have these dreams and goals in your life. You can go out and make them happen no matter how crazy they seem. She’s fun to see at the finish line.
CW: How do you overcome the mental challenges in a race?
JM: I think that you continue to grow into yourself and figure out how to deal with those as you train and race. A lot of people say the highs are really high and lows are really low in an Ironman race. Just keeping that in your mind. Yeah, I might feel really horrible right now, but let’s take some nutrition in, let’s give myself 10 or 20 minutes and then re-evaluate and not base my whole race on this. Something that Coach David has said a lot is chunk it down. Chunk down the elephant. Don’t try to eat the whole thing all at once. There’s no way you can mentally think about 140 miles and I’m going to do this all. Let’s get through the swim. Let’s get to each station and go from there. The same with the run. One mile after the other.
