I guess it's time to cut my bracelet off. It's only been a week, but that smile continues on...
Monday, November 12, 2007
Good Times!
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
The Recap
It's a long race report, and I feel like it's still missing details that stand out in my mind (like the guy in the aero helmet, disc wheel, looking like he was really something... Only I was passing him at mile 95... Dude, if I'M passing you, you're not a stud! While I was overtaking him, I thought his water bottle was leaking... I was wrong.)
I really feel blessed that we had such good weather. It was 77 degrees. Calm waters. And only a very slight headwind on the second half of the bike course. How did I get so lucky? I know that I had friends that said they were praying for us. That's cool.
We took an entourage of friends of family with us--and I so appreciate them! We had other friends that couldn't go, but called the friends that were there and were able to get live updates. I never thought doing an Ironman would make me feel so loved!
I also had no idea that finishing the Ironman would give me the great sense of accomplishment that it has. I've heard people say that the training is the hardest part of doing an Ironman. It's funny, because you build so much through your training, you don't always see it when you're in it. I started with 2.5 hour bike rides. Then I went up to 5 hours. I knew it was going up to 7 hours. I didn't get down on it, because I always knew it was gonna get harder, so I tried to appreciate the easier stuff while I had it. Even my hardest workouts didn't seem that hard because I knew race day would be even harder. It wasn't always convenient, and I frequently had to move things around, skip time with friends, but I did every key workout. It paid out. I had no problems on the swim. I was getting tired on the bike, but I knew I could do it. The run? My legs had learned autopilot when they hurt... And it came in handy. I had my nutrition down... Do the training. Believe in your training. It WILL get you there.
I'm so thankful that I had did a couple half Ironman's in my training. I made mistakes in those races that I did NOT make in the big one. :)
I'm so happy I had a husband that understood and supported me. Our house and yard went downhill big time during all this. Weekends were devoted to training, and then we were too tired to do stuff around the house. It was so nice that we both understood that. Doing an Ironman made my marriage stronger.
Don't make big plans the days prior to your race. I thought I was all packed and ready when I flew out of Denver, but there was still so much to do at the race site beforehand.
Get to the merchandise tent a half hour before it is slated to open the morning after the race. We did and it paid off. They opened early and we had first pick of the newly put out finisher merchandise. When we left the store, there was a 45 minute wait to get in the store, and by then it was already picked over.
Stay positive during the race. Push every negative thought as far away as possible. Easier said than done, I know. But it makes ALL the difference in the world.
It was amazing. If you've ever thought about doing an Ironman, do it. With training, it IS possible. I'm living proof.
I really feel blessed that we had such good weather. It was 77 degrees. Calm waters. And only a very slight headwind on the second half of the bike course. How did I get so lucky? I know that I had friends that said they were praying for us. That's cool.
We took an entourage of friends of family with us--and I so appreciate them! We had other friends that couldn't go, but called the friends that were there and were able to get live updates. I never thought doing an Ironman would make me feel so loved!
I also had no idea that finishing the Ironman would give me the great sense of accomplishment that it has. I've heard people say that the training is the hardest part of doing an Ironman. It's funny, because you build so much through your training, you don't always see it when you're in it. I started with 2.5 hour bike rides. Then I went up to 5 hours. I knew it was going up to 7 hours. I didn't get down on it, because I always knew it was gonna get harder, so I tried to appreciate the easier stuff while I had it. Even my hardest workouts didn't seem that hard because I knew race day would be even harder. It wasn't always convenient, and I frequently had to move things around, skip time with friends, but I did every key workout. It paid out. I had no problems on the swim. I was getting tired on the bike, but I knew I could do it. The run? My legs had learned autopilot when they hurt... And it came in handy. I had my nutrition down... Do the training. Believe in your training. It WILL get you there.
I'm so thankful that I had did a couple half Ironman's in my training. I made mistakes in those races that I did NOT make in the big one. :)
I'm so happy I had a husband that understood and supported me. Our house and yard went downhill big time during all this. Weekends were devoted to training, and then we were too tired to do stuff around the house. It was so nice that we both understood that. Doing an Ironman made my marriage stronger.
Don't make big plans the days prior to your race. I thought I was all packed and ready when I flew out of Denver, but there was still so much to do at the race site beforehand.
Get to the merchandise tent a half hour before it is slated to open the morning after the race. We did and it paid off. They opened early and we had first pick of the newly put out finisher merchandise. When we left the store, there was a 45 minute wait to get in the store, and by then it was already picked over.
Stay positive during the race. Push every negative thought as far away as possible. Easier said than done, I know. But it makes ALL the difference in the world.
It was amazing. If you've ever thought about doing an Ironman, do it. With training, it IS possible. I'm living proof.
Pre-Race and the Swim
IM Able had warned me not to make plans the day before the race because the day would fly by. My coach urged me not to make plans the two days before the race. Both gave great advice. I don’t know where the time went, but it seemed like I spent a great deal of wasted time down at Ironman Village the two days prior. Every visit (registration, bike and bag drop off, athlete dinner and meeting, random visits to the expo) was a minimum three hour visit, and I think we were there twice each day. We spent an hour just standing in line waiting to register to pick up our bags. It was worth it once we got in the tent to get all our swag. Every visit to Ironman village also fueled the butterflies in my stomach. The people walking around were amazingly fit. The inner demons continued to war that I did not belong there.
We rented a house just outside of town. We thought it was three miles from town. It was actually six, which might have been a little farther than I would have liked, but I wouldn't trade it. My husband said he thinks he would have preferred to stay at the race venue. I completely disagree. Everytime we went there, it keyed up my nerves too much. I was able to settle down a bit everytime we went back to the house. It was also loud with so much going on at the host hotel. I guess everybody is different.
I was up late packing all the transition bags two nights prior to the race because those get turned in the day before the race. I did okay on the sleep that night, but not as good as I had hoped. I was amazed the night prior to the race to find my husband in bed at 8 p.m. He always keeps me up far later than I want the night prior to a race. Even if he wasn’t saying much, this was a telltale sign that he was definitely nervous. Surprisingly, I slept good that night.
4:15 a.m. Rise and shine. I dressed quickly and headed up for breakfast. I always play with my food this early, I'm just not hungry yet, so I knew to give myself some time to force it down. Malt-O-Meal, half a bagel with peanut butter, half a banana, and some Green Machine juice. I’d practiced with this breakfast many times, and it hadn’t failed me yet.
We get to the race site. Tons of nervous energy everywhere. I was not alone. I restocked some of my transition bags because I came across some new issues that morning. I just kept reminding myself that when I ran my packing list by my coach, he reminded me to also pack a sense of flexibility, because something was sure to go wrong. I stayed positive.
I stood in line to have my bike tires pumped up one last time. Stood in line for the bathroom. It was now time to head to the beach. All of the athletes were being herded and we couldn’t see where they were herding us to. I just followed the slow moving mass of athletes. Finally I entered the small fenced channel that lead to the area for the athletes.
My husband and I kissed. I looked over at my friend Amy, and whether she realizes it or not, she looked like she wanted to cry. I have a very strong memory of Eminem’s song “Lose Yourself” blaring over the loud speaker. I think that was the beginning of a great day mentally for me.
You better lose yourself in the music,
I was up late packing all the transition bags two nights prior to the race because those get turned in the day before the race. I did okay on the sleep that night, but not as good as I had hoped. I was amazed the night prior to the race to find my husband in bed at 8 p.m. He always keeps me up far later than I want the night prior to a race. Even if he wasn’t saying much, this was a telltale sign that he was definitely nervous. Surprisingly, I slept good that night.
4:15 a.m. Rise and shine. I dressed quickly and headed up for breakfast. I always play with my food this early, I'm just not hungry yet, so I knew to give myself some time to force it down. Malt-O-Meal, half a bagel with peanut butter, half a banana, and some Green Machine juice. I’d practiced with this breakfast many times, and it hadn’t failed me yet.
We get to the race site. Tons of nervous energy everywhere. I was not alone. I restocked some of my transition bags because I came across some new issues that morning. I just kept reminding myself that when I ran my packing list by my coach, he reminded me to also pack a sense of flexibility, because something was sure to go wrong. I stayed positive.
I stood in line to have my bike tires pumped up one last time. Stood in line for the bathroom. It was now time to head to the beach. All of the athletes were being herded and we couldn’t see where they were herding us to. I just followed the slow moving mass of athletes. Finally I entered the small fenced channel that lead to the area for the athletes.
My husband and I kissed. I looked over at my friend Amy, and whether she realizes it or not, she looked like she wanted to cry. I have a very strong memory of Eminem’s song “Lose Yourself” blaring over the loud speaker. I think that was the beginning of a great day mentally for me.
You better lose yourself in the music,
the moment You own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo
I looked up the lyrics just to make sure I was quoting them correctly because naturally I was singing them the way that worked best for me in my head, and I just noticed the last verse of the song…
You can do anything you set your mind to, man
That's cool. I found myself humming it again on my bike later in the day when I needed a boost.
The canon blew. I started on the far left closest to the buoys, about 2/3 the way back. I realized that I didn’t get in the water to warm up prior to the start, so I was worried that the water would be cold, but there was so much emotion at that moment, the water temp didn’t phase me. It was the same as every other triathlon I did this year. People were elbowing and kicking. Deal with it. When I made it to the first turn buoy, the helicopter was directly overhead and people were yelling “Don’t even think about cutting the inside of that buoy.” I came up to doggie paddle for a second, and there were a minimum of 30 heads bobbing that were also doggie paddling. Then it became a tread water session because there was no room to use my arms. We all moved as one head bobbing mass around the buoy. I remember somebody yelling, “Don’t worry, the first turn is the worst.” He was right. The second one was bad, but it was on par with other triathlons I’ve done. The difference with this triathlon was that usually I lose the pack about half way through the loop. This was an Ironman with 2200 people. I continued to get kicked and punched the entire 1.2 miles, all the way into land.
I looked at my watch. I did 41 minutes. I did 44 and 45 at my HIM’s this summer. Nice job me! I ran back in the water, and I couldn’t believe that I was on my second loop. The first loop flew by. I think all the jockeying for position took my mind off everything else. The second loop dragged a little more, and I was still running into people off and on. I just tried to enjoy it. I was
doing an Ironman! The water was perfect. I only saw two jellyfish. There were no big waves throwing me around or making me seasick like I feared. I had felt my skin tingle a couple times. Could that have been a jellyfish sting? It didn’t hurt enough. It could just be the residual from a good kick or punch. Who knows? I never felt overly tired on the swim. My training had set me up well. I got out of the water with a giant smile on my face. When I did my HIM last summer, I couldn’t imagine doing a second 1.2 mile loop. I just did two loops in 1:29. I slapped hands with fans on the course and had so much energy I ran all the way to the changing tent. I was actually surprised that I was one of a very few that was running. Most everybody was walking.
Transition 1:
Wow. There were a lot of women in there. Where to go? I finally found a spot right in the middle of the room, and everything was wet and sandy, so pulling out the stuff in my bag was tricky. I was trying to hurry. “Lori!” It was my friend Amy. She was in there, already dressed and leaving. She had beaten me in the swim! I was sad because her swim times weren’t as strong as mine this past summer, but I quickly pushed it out of my head. Be happy for her. We both did awesome! This race was for me anyways. I just had to finish. It wasn’t about beating anyone. It was about beating the clock. Go Amy!
I looked up the lyrics just to make sure I was quoting them correctly because naturally I was singing them the way that worked best for me in my head, and I just noticed the last verse of the song…
You can do anything you set your mind to, man
That's cool. I found myself humming it again on my bike later in the day when I needed a boost.
The canon blew. I started on the far left closest to the buoys, about 2/3 the way back. I realized that I didn’t get in the water to warm up prior to the start, so I was worried that the water would be cold, but there was so much emotion at that moment, the water temp didn’t phase me. It was the same as every other triathlon I did this year. People were elbowing and kicking. Deal with it. When I made it to the first turn buoy, the helicopter was directly overhead and people were yelling “Don’t even think about cutting the inside of that buoy.” I came up to doggie paddle for a second, and there were a minimum of 30 heads bobbing that were also doggie paddling. Then it became a tread water session because there was no room to use my arms. We all moved as one head bobbing mass around the buoy. I remember somebody yelling, “Don’t worry, the first turn is the worst.” He was right. The second one was bad, but it was on par with other triathlons I’ve done. The difference with this triathlon was that usually I lose the pack about half way through the loop. This was an Ironman with 2200 people. I continued to get kicked and punched the entire 1.2 miles, all the way into land.I looked at my watch. I did 41 minutes. I did 44 and 45 at my HIM’s this summer. Nice job me! I ran back in the water, and I couldn’t believe that I was on my second loop. The first loop flew by. I think all the jockeying for position took my mind off everything else. The second loop dragged a little more, and I was still running into people off and on. I just tried to enjoy it. I was
doing an Ironman! The water was perfect. I only saw two jellyfish. There were no big waves throwing me around or making me seasick like I feared. I had felt my skin tingle a couple times. Could that have been a jellyfish sting? It didn’t hurt enough. It could just be the residual from a good kick or punch. Who knows? I never felt overly tired on the swim. My training had set me up well. I got out of the water with a giant smile on my face. When I did my HIM last summer, I couldn’t imagine doing a second 1.2 mile loop. I just did two loops in 1:29. I slapped hands with fans on the course and had so much energy I ran all the way to the changing tent. I was actually surprised that I was one of a very few that was running. Most everybody was walking.Transition 1:
Wow. There were a lot of women in there. Where to go? I finally found a spot right in the middle of the room, and everything was wet and sandy, so pulling out the stuff in my bag was tricky. I was trying to hurry. “Lori!” It was my friend Amy. She was in there, already dressed and leaving. She had beaten me in the swim! I was sad because her swim times weren’t as strong as mine this past summer, but I quickly pushed it out of my head. Be happy for her. We both did awesome! This race was for me anyways. I just had to finish. It wasn’t about beating anyone. It was about beating the clock. Go Amy!
The Bike
I was told that my tongue would swell from the salt water and not to let it freak me out. As it turned out, my tongue didn't feel swollen, but it did feel like it was covered in hair for the first hour and a half. It was just a weird feeling.
I really wanted to maintain at least 15 mph, so I kept it right there. Everybody and their grandmother was passing me. Deal with it. I stopped to go to the bathroom at the 1:30 mark. I had to wait in line for three people. I didn’t like that, but I tried to appreciate the butt time off the seat. I saw lots of people with flat tires. One poor guy had a tv camera about two inches from his nose while he changed his tire. I felt bad for him. Who the heck wants a camera in your face at a time like that?
The special needs stop was kind of fun. It was like a drive up service. They had boxes with sets of 50 numbers per box set up along the road for about a quarter of a mile. My box was near the end. I rode up to it and a volunteer handed me my bag. There were two other girls next to me. One was eating a PB & J. Ooh! That sounds good! She offered me a bite (aren’t triathletes the best?!) I declined because I had my own. It was good, too! (I ran into her again later, she asked “Are you the PB & J girl?” I had fun talking to lots of people on the bike.)
I remembered that my coach had told me to start out at the pace I thought I would be riding at the 90 mile mark. I had originally forgotten that, but luckily I didn’t go out hard anyways. I remembered this, because suddenly I started to pass people. From halfway on, I passed people, and some passed me. My coach was absolutely right when he said people would go out too hard and blow up later on.
My butt started to hurt around hour 3. I just told myself, “Don’t be surprised! You even blogged about how you know your butt always hurts between hours 3 & 4 and then it gets a little better.” I did start to get really tired though. This course is flat, which is nice, but there is no recourse. You never get to coast. You just have to pedal, pedal, pedal. Argh. I wanted to savor every moment on the bike, but I was definitely getting tired. I swear the mileage between miles 90 and 100 were wrong. It sure did seem like 20 miles instead of 10. When we turned to head into to town, I got a spring in my step again. I only had a handful of miles left, and I had just crossed the 7 hour mark. I was going to come in around 7.5 hours. I got teary at that moment (that was the only moment the entire race). I thought for sure I would do 8 or 8.5 hours. I bettered what I thought I could do. I was going to have 8 hours for the run. I WAS GOING TO DO THIS!!!!! Barring any stomach issues, I was going to finish! I was so happy.
It hurt to walk when I got off the bike. Our parents had signed up to bodymark, and they were STILL in the transition area. No wonder they weren’t out on the bike course cheering us on (but we had other friends that were. They were awesome! Thanks Matt, Dani, and Julie!) I couldn’t believe our parents were still there in the transition area. My father in-law handed me my bag. I could tell he was really proud of me. My mom cheered. I could hardly walk I was so stiff. I went in, changed my clothes (with the help of an awesome volunteer), and suddenly my legs felt fresh again.
I started running.
I really wanted to maintain at least 15 mph, so I kept it right there. Everybody and their grandmother was passing me. Deal with it. I stopped to go to the bathroom at the 1:30 mark. I had to wait in line for three people. I didn’t like that, but I tried to appreciate the butt time off the seat. I saw lots of people with flat tires. One poor guy had a tv camera about two inches from his nose while he changed his tire. I felt bad for him. Who the heck wants a camera in your face at a time like that?
The special needs stop was kind of fun. It was like a drive up service. They had boxes with sets of 50 numbers per box set up along the road for about a quarter of a mile. My box was near the end. I rode up to it and a volunteer handed me my bag. There were two other girls next to me. One was eating a PB & J. Ooh! That sounds good! She offered me a bite (aren’t triathletes the best?!) I declined because I had my own. It was good, too! (I ran into her again later, she asked “Are you the PB & J girl?” I had fun talking to lots of people on the bike.)
I remembered that my coach had told me to start out at the pace I thought I would be riding at the 90 mile mark. I had originally forgotten that, but luckily I didn’t go out hard anyways. I remembered this, because suddenly I started to pass people. From halfway on, I passed people, and some passed me. My coach was absolutely right when he said people would go out too hard and blow up later on.
My butt started to hurt around hour 3. I just told myself, “Don’t be surprised! You even blogged about how you know your butt always hurts between hours 3 & 4 and then it gets a little better.” I did start to get really tired though. This course is flat, which is nice, but there is no recourse. You never get to coast. You just have to pedal, pedal, pedal. Argh. I wanted to savor every moment on the bike, but I was definitely getting tired. I swear the mileage between miles 90 and 100 were wrong. It sure did seem like 20 miles instead of 10. When we turned to head into to town, I got a spring in my step again. I only had a handful of miles left, and I had just crossed the 7 hour mark. I was going to come in around 7.5 hours. I got teary at that moment (that was the only moment the entire race). I thought for sure I would do 8 or 8.5 hours. I bettered what I thought I could do. I was going to have 8 hours for the run. I WAS GOING TO DO THIS!!!!! Barring any stomach issues, I was going to finish! I was so happy.
It hurt to walk when I got off the bike. Our parents had signed up to bodymark, and they were STILL in the transition area. No wonder they weren’t out on the bike course cheering us on (but we had other friends that were. They were awesome! Thanks Matt, Dani, and Julie!) I couldn’t believe our parents were still there in the transition area. My father in-law handed me my bag. I could tell he was really proud of me. My mom cheered. I could hardly walk I was so stiff. I went in, changed my clothes (with the help of an awesome volunteer), and suddenly my legs felt fresh again.
I started running.
The Run
My coach wanted me to walk the first five minutes, but he also told me that if I couldn’t resist running in front of the crowds, to walk as soon as I turned the corner. (It paid to have a coach that knew this course and had experience with it.) My legs felt surprisingly good.
I'll never forget passing several people in the first couple miles of that run. Granted, they were surely on their second lap, and I was only on my first... But I NEVER pass people on the run. Never! I remember commenting to myself, "I LOVE Ironman!" I finally found a race where people run at MY pace. Best thing ever!!!!
My coach had me practicing a 9 minute run/1 minute walk the last month and a half. I did practice that. I did! But all along, I knew in my head that I wanted to do a 5 minute run/ 1 minute walk when it came to the real thing. (I never told him that until after the race though!) Anyway you cut it, I always seemed to do 12 minute miles. Straight, 9/1, or 5/1. Might as well stick with the 5/1!!!! When I bonked hard at the Harvest Moon half Ironman, I managed to get my feet to do the 5/1 pace and it put me back at a 12 minute mile, and perfectly paced to walk the aid stations. Here I was, doing an Ironman, a full Ironman, and it was once again working perfectly. I was consistently pulling into an aid station every other walk break, and doing 12 minute miles. It was great.
I wasn’t the least bit hungry, but once again I remembered the nice bonk I had at Harvest Moon. At that race, I didn’t feel like anything would stay down, but I forced a power gel into me, and it really helped. Thusly, at mile 3, while I didn’t want anything this time either, I again forced a power gel down. I never ever had stomach problems the entire race. I feel really blessed. I had quit eating any solid foods with 1 ½ hours to go on the bike. I had learned at the 5430 tri that Coca-Cola worked well. It was an Ironman, so I HAD to try the chicken broth (it was okay, not great.) I steadied out the entire race by alternating those three basic things and never had problems.
I look back at this entire race and compare it to the college exam you studied so hard for, and fear that your gonna fail, but then you get in there, and you know all the questions. I did not face anything in this triathlon that I didn’t face in my training and shorter races.
I was happy because I made it to St. Andrews State Park before it was dark. I really wanted to see what I would be running through the rest of the night. It was getting dusk. I made a point to use the porta potty one last time before it got too dark to see anything. (Those things were nasty! There was no way I was going in there once it was dark out!)
I saw my friends Matt, Dani, and Julie! They cheered and told me that I went from being 40 minutes behind Amy to now being 15 minutes behind Amy. I had seen her at the turn around. She looked tired.
I saw my husband. We kissed. He always talks about having feelings of attachment. I had so many feelings of attachment at that moment. I love him with all my heart, and from the smile on his face, I feel like he definitely reciprocated. I was so happy.
Before I knew it, I was nearing the 13.1 turnaround. Now I had heard stories of how this can be a big blow to the ego and completely disheartening. You’re heading out on the second loop while others are finishing. For whatever reason, it didn’t bother me. Who cares? I’m going to finish too! There were so many people there cheering. It definitely made the mile in and the mile out go by fast. I stopped and looked in my special needs bag, but there was nothing in there that I wanted. I just threw it aside and kept going.
I just pulled out my half marathon in 2:45. I did 3:09 and 3:04 at my HIM’s this summer. I couldn’t believe it. I just did twice as much swimming and biking this time! Wha? My goal had always been to run the first half and walk the rest if I needed, but my legs were on auto pilot. My legs were no stranger to the aches they were currently feeling. They had felt this way many times in my training. I figured I’d just keep going until I couldn’t go anymore. I was bound to hit “the wall” at some point.
I was now about mile 16? I saw Amy up ahead. Her boyfriend was walking with her. I wasn’t really making any ground on her, nor did I want to. Once I passed her, would I lose some of my steam? Unconsciously, I think she was a rabbit that I was chasing. What would I do once I passed her? DARN! Ben just turned around and saw me. As soon as he saw me, he took off. I walked with her. She was fussing about something with her mile splits and I wasn’t really sure what she was talking about. After some small talk, I finally just snapped at her. “If you’re going to be negative, I can’t hang with you! You need to cut it out! We’re on an Ironman course and we’re going to do this!!! Who cares what time your mile splits are! We just have to finish in 17 hours and even if we walk the rest of this, we're going to do that! 17 hours! That’s ALL that matters!!!! We’re going to be Ironmen today!!!” She didn’t complain again.
I felt bad because she did have a nice walk pace going. I couldn’t walk that fast, my legs hurt. I asked her to slow down. I was anxious to start running again. I finally told her that I had been doing a 5/1 plan, and it was working really well for me. She said she’d try it. We did 2-3 miles of that, but Amy started struggling. Soon we were doing 2-3 minutes, and then walking. And then more walking. She encouraged me to go on without her. I was so torn. If I stayed with her, I would be a really great friend that she would give credit to forever. Of course, if I stayed with her, I might also hold a grudge against her forever, too. What to do?
(She also admitted that she hadn’t eaten anything at all on the run course. I forced her to eat some gel and later some chicken broth.)
At about mile 20, I told her that it hurt more for me to walk than it did to run. (Which it did. My legs hurt no matter what I was doing, but in my heart I wanted to believe that my legs hurt worse when I was walking.) I decided to go on without her. I had told Amy that I was sure she'd catch me when I hit “the wall.” She encouraged me and told me that if I hadn’t hit it yet, I wasn’t going to hit it.
(Amy walked until the last mile. She managed to sprint the last mile and finished at 15:20. I'm so glad I didn't stay with her. There's no way I could have busted out a sprint at the end. Congrats Amy!)
For some reason, I had in my mind that I could probably run the next six miles without taking any walk breaks. I just wanted to finish. That was kind of stupid. I was hurting. I had to remind myself that 5/1 worked really good, I shouldn’t feel guilty for continuing my walk breaks. I was only feeling guilty because I left Amy behind.
I came up on the spot where my friends had been previously. I was sad. I assumed they went to the finish line to see Greg. That’s okay. I’m happy that they were there to cheer for him. Then lo and behold, they jumped out and screamed and yelled for me! They told me Greg had finished in 13 hours 4 minutes. I was SO happy for him!!!!
I knew the neighborhoods I was about to go in would be lonely. I continued to talk and cheer on every athlete I saw.
I knew that with a mile and a half to go, there were lots of people along the course. They would pull me in. When I got there, I was kind of sad, because most of the people had left. It was lonely afterall, but I could hear Mike Reilly in the distance. I thought he said something about one minute until the 16th hour. I had been so excited because I thought I might pull out a 15:30 overall time. That didn’t matter. I was still going to be an Ironman. I gave what I could, which wasn’t much. I remembered my friend Kirk (IMWI 06) telling me that the last half mile doesn’t hurt. When I came in to the home stretch there were 1/3 of the people that had been there when I came through at the turnaround earlier in the evening. But I didn’t care. Some of the athletes leaving with their bikes cheered me in. I was smiling SO big!!!!
The finisher chute DID have a ton of people. Lots of people had their hands out to high five. I high fived everyone I saw. I never heard Mike Reilly call my name, but saw my family. I DID IT!!!! I JUST DID THE IRONMAN!!! AND OH MY GOODNESS! THE CLOCK SAYS 15:09!!!!! Mike Reilly hadn’t said the 16th hour earlier, he had said the 15th hour! OH MY GOSH!!!! I DID IT!!! I not only did it, I did it in 15:09!!!! I seriously thought that if I could do it, I was going to do it in 16:59. I couldn’t believe it!!!!!!
The catcher guy wouldn’t let go of me when I told him I was fine, but laughed because I almost started jumping up and down each time they’d hand me something new: the t-shirt, then the medal, then the hat. They were laughing so much at me. I was so happy.
The rest is kind of a blur. My legs really started to cramp up and hurt badly. I got a massage. Oooh, that was nice. It helped. But my legs continued to cramp through the night. Because our parents had volunteered in the transition area, they had already grabbed our bags and taken care of our bikes for us. (That was nice!)
I’m now home, and I’m still walking on clouds. I’m sad it’s over. I’m amazed I did it. The marathon!!! What on earth happened on the marathon out there!!!
I think the weather was PERFECT and that helped. Most importantly, I had my eye on the prize, and I never let the mental game get the best of me. I stayed on top of it the entire race. If I ever do one again, I may not have the same drive to finish that I did this time. That scares me… Because I want to experience that amount of happiness, success, and fulfillment over and over again. It was the most amazing experience ever. Will it have the same magic if I ever do it again?????
So many emotions to deal with now—but the private smile I harbor doesn’t fade. I did it. I am an Ironman!
I'll never forget passing several people in the first couple miles of that run. Granted, they were surely on their second lap, and I was only on my first... But I NEVER pass people on the run. Never! I remember commenting to myself, "I LOVE Ironman!" I finally found a race where people run at MY pace. Best thing ever!!!!
My coach had me practicing a 9 minute run/1 minute walk the last month and a half. I did practice that. I did! But all along, I knew in my head that I wanted to do a 5 minute run/ 1 minute walk when it came to the real thing. (I never told him that until after the race though!) Anyway you cut it, I always seemed to do 12 minute miles. Straight, 9/1, or 5/1. Might as well stick with the 5/1!!!! When I bonked hard at the Harvest Moon half Ironman, I managed to get my feet to do the 5/1 pace and it put me back at a 12 minute mile, and perfectly paced to walk the aid stations. Here I was, doing an Ironman, a full Ironman, and it was once again working perfectly. I was consistently pulling into an aid station every other walk break, and doing 12 minute miles. It was great.
I wasn’t the least bit hungry, but once again I remembered the nice bonk I had at Harvest Moon. At that race, I didn’t feel like anything would stay down, but I forced a power gel into me, and it really helped. Thusly, at mile 3, while I didn’t want anything this time either, I again forced a power gel down. I never ever had stomach problems the entire race. I feel really blessed. I had quit eating any solid foods with 1 ½ hours to go on the bike. I had learned at the 5430 tri that Coca-Cola worked well. It was an Ironman, so I HAD to try the chicken broth (it was okay, not great.) I steadied out the entire race by alternating those three basic things and never had problems.
I look back at this entire race and compare it to the college exam you studied so hard for, and fear that your gonna fail, but then you get in there, and you know all the questions. I did not face anything in this triathlon that I didn’t face in my training and shorter races.
I was happy because I made it to St. Andrews State Park before it was dark. I really wanted to see what I would be running through the rest of the night. It was getting dusk. I made a point to use the porta potty one last time before it got too dark to see anything. (Those things were nasty! There was no way I was going in there once it was dark out!)
I saw my friends Matt, Dani, and Julie! They cheered and told me that I went from being 40 minutes behind Amy to now being 15 minutes behind Amy. I had seen her at the turn around. She looked tired.
I saw my husband. We kissed. He always talks about having feelings of attachment. I had so many feelings of attachment at that moment. I love him with all my heart, and from the smile on his face, I feel like he definitely reciprocated. I was so happy.
Before I knew it, I was nearing the 13.1 turnaround. Now I had heard stories of how this can be a big blow to the ego and completely disheartening. You’re heading out on the second loop while others are finishing. For whatever reason, it didn’t bother me. Who cares? I’m going to finish too! There were so many people there cheering. It definitely made the mile in and the mile out go by fast. I stopped and looked in my special needs bag, but there was nothing in there that I wanted. I just threw it aside and kept going.
I just pulled out my half marathon in 2:45. I did 3:09 and 3:04 at my HIM’s this summer. I couldn’t believe it. I just did twice as much swimming and biking this time! Wha? My goal had always been to run the first half and walk the rest if I needed, but my legs were on auto pilot. My legs were no stranger to the aches they were currently feeling. They had felt this way many times in my training. I figured I’d just keep going until I couldn’t go anymore. I was bound to hit “the wall” at some point.
I was now about mile 16? I saw Amy up ahead. Her boyfriend was walking with her. I wasn’t really making any ground on her, nor did I want to. Once I passed her, would I lose some of my steam? Unconsciously, I think she was a rabbit that I was chasing. What would I do once I passed her? DARN! Ben just turned around and saw me. As soon as he saw me, he took off. I walked with her. She was fussing about something with her mile splits and I wasn’t really sure what she was talking about. After some small talk, I finally just snapped at her. “If you’re going to be negative, I can’t hang with you! You need to cut it out! We’re on an Ironman course and we’re going to do this!!! Who cares what time your mile splits are! We just have to finish in 17 hours and even if we walk the rest of this, we're going to do that! 17 hours! That’s ALL that matters!!!! We’re going to be Ironmen today!!!” She didn’t complain again.
I felt bad because she did have a nice walk pace going. I couldn’t walk that fast, my legs hurt. I asked her to slow down. I was anxious to start running again. I finally told her that I had been doing a 5/1 plan, and it was working really well for me. She said she’d try it. We did 2-3 miles of that, but Amy started struggling. Soon we were doing 2-3 minutes, and then walking. And then more walking. She encouraged me to go on without her. I was so torn. If I stayed with her, I would be a really great friend that she would give credit to forever. Of course, if I stayed with her, I might also hold a grudge against her forever, too. What to do?
(She also admitted that she hadn’t eaten anything at all on the run course. I forced her to eat some gel and later some chicken broth.)
At about mile 20, I told her that it hurt more for me to walk than it did to run. (Which it did. My legs hurt no matter what I was doing, but in my heart I wanted to believe that my legs hurt worse when I was walking.) I decided to go on without her. I had told Amy that I was sure she'd catch me when I hit “the wall.” She encouraged me and told me that if I hadn’t hit it yet, I wasn’t going to hit it.
(Amy walked until the last mile. She managed to sprint the last mile and finished at 15:20. I'm so glad I didn't stay with her. There's no way I could have busted out a sprint at the end. Congrats Amy!)
For some reason, I had in my mind that I could probably run the next six miles without taking any walk breaks. I just wanted to finish. That was kind of stupid. I was hurting. I had to remind myself that 5/1 worked really good, I shouldn’t feel guilty for continuing my walk breaks. I was only feeling guilty because I left Amy behind.
I came up on the spot where my friends had been previously. I was sad. I assumed they went to the finish line to see Greg. That’s okay. I’m happy that they were there to cheer for him. Then lo and behold, they jumped out and screamed and yelled for me! They told me Greg had finished in 13 hours 4 minutes. I was SO happy for him!!!!
I knew the neighborhoods I was about to go in would be lonely. I continued to talk and cheer on every athlete I saw.
I knew that with a mile and a half to go, there were lots of people along the course. They would pull me in. When I got there, I was kind of sad, because most of the people had left. It was lonely afterall, but I could hear Mike Reilly in the distance. I thought he said something about one minute until the 16th hour. I had been so excited because I thought I might pull out a 15:30 overall time. That didn’t matter. I was still going to be an Ironman. I gave what I could, which wasn’t much. I remembered my friend Kirk (IMWI 06) telling me that the last half mile doesn’t hurt. When I came in to the home stretch there were 1/3 of the people that had been there when I came through at the turnaround earlier in the evening. But I didn’t care. Some of the athletes leaving with their bikes cheered me in. I was smiling SO big!!!!
The finisher chute DID have a ton of people. Lots of people had their hands out to high five. I high fived everyone I saw. I never heard Mike Reilly call my name, but saw my family. I DID IT!!!! I JUST DID THE IRONMAN!!! AND OH MY GOODNESS! THE CLOCK SAYS 15:09!!!!! Mike Reilly hadn’t said the 16th hour earlier, he had said the 15th hour! OH MY GOSH!!!! I DID IT!!! I not only did it, I did it in 15:09!!!! I seriously thought that if I could do it, I was going to do it in 16:59. I couldn’t believe it!!!!!!
The catcher guy wouldn’t let go of me when I told him I was fine, but laughed because I almost started jumping up and down each time they’d hand me something new: the t-shirt, then the medal, then the hat. They were laughing so much at me. I was so happy.
The rest is kind of a blur. My legs really started to cramp up and hurt badly. I got a massage. Oooh, that was nice. It helped. But my legs continued to cramp through the night. Because our parents had volunteered in the transition area, they had already grabbed our bags and taken care of our bikes for us. (That was nice!)
I’m now home, and I’m still walking on clouds. I’m sad it’s over. I’m amazed I did it. The marathon!!! What on earth happened on the marathon out there!!!
I think the weather was PERFECT and that helped. Most importantly, I had my eye on the prize, and I never let the mental game get the best of me. I stayed on top of it the entire race. If I ever do one again, I may not have the same drive to finish that I did this time. That scares me… Because I want to experience that amount of happiness, success, and fulfillment over and over again. It was the most amazing experience ever. Will it have the same magic if I ever do it again?????
So many emotions to deal with now—but the private smile I harbor doesn’t fade. I did it. I am an Ironman!
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
The emotions continue
Okay, full race report tomorrow night... I promise!!!!
I'm still trying to gather my thoughts. We have luggage and gear everywhere, so I need to focus on cleaning up all the stuff that got thrown around the house last night. And... I'm still really tired and ready to go to sleep.
But quickly for today... Being a school teacher and doing something like this is a great combination. I had lots of support the last week at work. (Nobody at my husband's work really cared, but he said it was okay because he had friends and family that made it a big deal for him.) My team all clapped and cheered when I walked in this morning. Someone decorated my classroom door and made me cry right there. I remember having 3 or 4 miles left on the run course, and just smiling like my cheeks were gonna break, and some guy told yelled at me, "Congratulations! The only thing you have left to do is cross that finish line and cry like a little girl." I laughed and told him I wasn't sure how he knew me so well. Funny thing is that I didn't cry when I crossed the finish line, I was so excited it never crossed my mind. I think I'm making up for it today. I cried when I saw my classroom door. I relished every hand shake I received today.
Tonight, I watched the one hour IM coverage we taped last year of the IMFL 06 race. Every time we watched it last year (and that was many times) we just sat in awe wondering if we could do it. Tonight I watched it analyzing what part of the course they were filming at and what it was like when I was there. I did cry when they showed the average joe age groupers coming in. I remember watching them before and idolizing them... Now I'm one of them... And it's the best feeling in the world.
I'm still in shock and disbelief. I did it. (Pinch myself.) Today I came across a couple of old sticky notes on some school folders that were buried. The sticky notes had old swim and bike workouts obviously meant for me to promptly leave school and accomplish that particular day. Today I had no workouts to rush off to. An overwhelming feeling of sadness came over me. It's over. I came home, made dinner, watched the 06' IMFL, and realized that normally I'd be heading to the pool soon. More tears...
My wedding day was the very best day of my life. If I had to define the emotion of that day, it would definitely be "HAPPY". Ironman has to be the second best day. While I cherish my wedding day, doing an Ironman has something totally different that will forever be marked in my life. I've always struggled with low self-esteem, and I don't want to come off like now I have an ego, but I really surprised myself out there. I still don't know how I pulled off that marathon, but I did it!!!! I guess deep down, I know that I set a goal that was completely out of the realm of possibility. I could have accepted it if I didn't make it. It was an outrageous goal. I still think I set the standards out of my league when I signed up last year... But I worked for it... And I did it. For once, I believe I'm somebody special.
I don't know how many times the last three days I've just sat quietly with a smile on my face. I hope I can retain these moments forever and ever, especially when I start to get down on myself. (The mega-overpriced finisher's photo and finisher jacket are worth every penny when you put it in those terms.)
Today, the emotions continue to be an open floodgate.
I promise a full race report tomorrow night, along with observations for those that aspire to do an Ironman someday. I'm also trying to talk my husband into writing a race report that I can post in addition to mine. Having this experience was amazing. Sharing this experience with him was even more amazing.
Monday, November 5, 2007
I AM AN IRONMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!
15:09!
I'm finally home and pinching myself to make sure that I didn't just dream the past week.Do I ever want to do an Ironman again????? No. But not for the reasons you might think. I had such an amazing experience, I just know that the second time around couldn't come anywhere close to having the magic that this one did, and that scares me... because I think Wisconsin would be pretty darn cool. We had so many family and friends supporting us both in person and afar. (I just don't think I could get that kind of support again!) The weather couldn't have been more perfect! 77 degrees and sunny, only a slight breeze the second half of the bike. I did the marathon. How on earth did my feet do that? I'm still in disbelief! It was such an amazing day.
I don't want to go into all the specifics right now. I've been exhausted physically and emotionally ever since I crossed that finish line. Once I got out of the water I just knew I was going to finish. All day long I told everyone I saw, "Today is the day I'm going to be an Ironman!" Some cheered me, some ignored me. I think my cheeks hurt from smiling nearly as much as my legs hurt, okay, maybe not that much. But I never had a moment in the race where I doubted whether I would make it. I was trained for everything I faced. It was the most amazing day and experience. Full race report forthcoming.
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