So most of us have heard that TIMEX’s Jackie Arendt placed 4th in W25-29 at the Ford Ironman World Championships on Saturday in a time of 10:17:58.  The race was won by  27-year-old Australian Renee Nichols in a time of 10:01:48.

But, there’s another story here.   When Jackie called yesterday to fill me in on her race, I was shocked to learn that she flatted only 6-miles into the bike.  Then, while repairing her flat, she broke the valve stem on her spare tube, and waited…waited…waited 12-AGONIZING-MINUTES for neutral support!  Meanwhile her competition raced away.  Imagine your thoughts sitting helpless, twittling your thumbs on the side of the road for enough time for Kenenisa Bekele to set a world-record in the 5,000 meters.  When neutral support finally arrived, she bargained for a spare wheel rather than to wait even longer for them to swap out the tube.  Smart choice.  However, that meant that rather than riding her light and aero Bontrager Aeolus wheel for the next 100 miles, she rocked it old school on what she politely described as a “POS that I wouldn’t even put on my commuter bike.”

So, do the math:

Equation (1)   10:17:58 – 00:12:00 – (time savings of race wheel per mile x 100 miles) = Jackie kicking some serious A$$

What has impressed me most about this incident, is Jackie’s perspective on it.  She remained cool-as-a-cucumber, didn’t get worked up, change her race strategy, or try to “make-up” time, which of course would be the prelude to an inevitable bonk.  She simply accepted it and kept racing.  Her lasting impression from the day: “The whole day was just so much fun!  The flat tire, no big deal.  That’s racing. I’m happy.”

Bottom line?  Keep your eyes on this girl.  She’s a legit sub-10hr threat at IM HI, and a 9:59 would have placed her top-20 ahead of names like Heather Gollnick, Leanda Cave, and Kate Major.  Hmmm….

PS–Jackie, we’d all love a race report.

PPS–Happy birthday!