Friday:We drove down to the river to check it out in the late morning. People were getting some practice in. They said the water felt like 74 degrees and you couldn't really feel the current. I was already feeling that anxious feeling you get when you are in line for a roller coaster, or something, and we still had another day. From there we went to Windsor for race packet pickup. Nathan went right in. He already had his wristband. I waited in line, got my race number-365, and picked up a pretty cool shirt. That night, we ate with Nathan and Jill at The Olive Garden. I had spaghetti and meatballs. Then back to the room, and to bed by 9:00.
PreRace:
I got up at 4:00. Had a great nights sleep. After I started my breakfast of 2 clif bars, peanut butter and jelly in a wheat tortilla, and 24oz powerade, I checked my email. I had several more donations for the American Cancer Society . It was a fantastic start to the day when I learned that I had reached my goal thanks to many generous people. We headed out to the river, listened to some rockin music, and found a great parking spot. I got my number written all over me, got my transition area ready, and had a few minutes to nervously wait to get in the water.
The Swim: 1:15:57
The water felt great. I found a nice open place after the start and quickly got into a rhythm. I had to stop once and adjust my goggles. The good thing was that the river was shallow so I just stood up and made sure everything was secure. The return part of the loop was so easy swimming with the current. I even got my mind off of the swimming and thought about other things. As we passed the spectators on the first loop, I got close to the shore so I could see my family, or they could see me. They saw me. Towards the end of the second lap, I started thinking about the bike and wished the swim was longer. The swim was a nice, relaxing, refreshing start to a long day.
T1: 9:12
Had a good transition. Put sunscreen on. I'd learn later that I missed my back a bit. I took my time, and tried to prepare my ego for getting passed a bunch on the bike. Drank some gatorade and had a powerbar gel. 112 mile bike ride, here I come!!!
Bike: 7:14:56
I started off on the bike and started stressing out about a clicking sound. To me, it sounded like I had a baseball card in my spokes. There was a click with every wheel revolution. I thought I had a burr or something in my tire so I stopped, checked both tires, and found nothing. I rode some more, and checked again- nothing. I considered taking the tire off and checking the insides. I finally figured that the tires are inflated fine, don't mess with it. I'm not sure what it was, but about 20 miles into the course the sound stopped. At that same point, we had to get off the bikes and walk around an ambulance at the scene of a bike accident. Two guys crashed into each other. I was reminded to be careful and finish.
The bike course was great. In many ways it was identical to the route I'd been taking for my long rides. I was eating and drinking every 15 minutes, and felt good. I had heard about these challenging hills, but I felt great going up them. The whole first loop felt like it was mostly downhills. As I came in to town, I saw my family holding signs. One said, "Don't poop your pants." That was good advice, because I hadn't stopped to go to the bathroom. That doesn't mean I didn't "go to the bathroom" though. I'd had about 96oz of fluids by then.
The second loop of the bike course seemed like it was all uphill. A wind had come up in the mid morning and that big hill seemed huge this time. I didn't think I would make it up. It came at mile 97 and the only way I made it up was by using my mantra of the day- "Today is not that day!" My niece Candice shared a quote that said " There will come a day when you can not do this. Today is not that day!" I planned to use that throughout the day to help me get through rough spots. I only went to it once and it was on that hill. Kind of like the little engine that could, I went up that hill one pedal stroke at a time, thinking, "Today is not that day, today is not that day." The rest of the course was downhill and fast. I started thinking about the run. The thought of a whole marathon entered my mind and it scared me. I reminded myself that the plan was one mile at a time, aid station to aid station. I was glad to get off the bike, but felt so good that I'd ridden that far, made the cut off, and nothing went wrong. This was the longest distance I'd ever ridden.
T2: 9:26
There was a dude in t2 who had his bike next to mine. He kept going off somewhere then coming back. "Where's 367?, Where's 367?" I'd show him, then he's come back again all mad, throwing stuff, "I can't believe this *%##!". I ran into him on the run at about mile 3. As we finished that mile, I said, "Well, that's three less miles than we had at the start." He said "Well aren't you just a ray of sunshine. I wish you wouldn't have said that." My thoughts were, "I need to get away from this loser" and I did. I saw him again, I was finishing my last lap, and he was starting his last lap. Anyway, the transition went smoothly. Off to run a marathon.
Run 1: 1:38:31
I took it easy. Tried to keep my HR down. There were some hills, but after you've run the hills out by Hart Park in 100 degree weather, they weren't that big of deal. I was sticking with my Gatorade mixed with Powerbar Gel formula and getting sick of it. During mile 4, I just kept laughing to myself about the same joke, over and over again. "Why don't they play poker in Africa? Too many cheetahs." For a whole mile, I'd tell myself the joke, laugh, and then tell myself the joke again. I'm thinking this is so funny, I'm losing my mind. I tried it out on some spectators, they thought it was funny too, so maybe I wasn't losing my mind. Some time after the turn around, I saw my brother Nathan, he was booking. This was the first time I'd seen him since the swim started. We exchanged high fives and encouraging words, and then on to finish lap 1.
Run 2: 1:45:06
The best part of the second lap was Nathan caught up with me and we ran together. This might have been the best part of the race for me, besides the finish. Nathan was running 4 minutes then walking a minute. I had been walking the aid stations. I started running the 4:1 with Nate. We talked about the swim and the bike. We passed that guy who couldn't find his bike and I told Nathan about him. That same guy had yelled at Nathan on the bike. We passed those spectators and I asked them why they don't play poker in Africa. They promptly responded- "too many cheetahs." Then I made a crucial decision. I decided, given my many experiences with this, that I needed to stop at the porta potty. It was tough because Nathan was just a couple miles from finishing, and I would have liked to have run in with him, and cheered him in. We parted ways though, and it was a good thing we did. I felt rejuvinated after my stop, and continued running. At the end of lap 2, I whipped out the Urmanium shirt for the last lap.
Run 3: 1:36:54
You may have noticed that my third lap was my fastest lap. (lap 2 might have been faster, I was in the porta potty a long time. There was no lock on the door and people kept opening it. When I finally decided I didn't care if people opened the door, I could relax and do my doody.) I continued the 4:1 thing and it seemed to be working. I was passing people everywhere. I felt great. I finally allowed myself to think about the finish. I was going to do this. I still couldn't believe it. I ran the last two miles, I couldn't walk anymore.
Finish: 13:50:26
The second to last mile I just thought about how surprisingly good I felt. I thought about the reason I wanted to do this in the first place. I thought about my friend Joel, and my childhood friend Karen. I was so grateful to all the people who helped me start the day knowing that I'd reached my ACS goal. I thought about so many family and friends who encouraged me. I had already spent hours thinking about Elaine and each of my sons when I was on the bike, but I thought about them again. Then the last mile, I just ran. It felt unbelievable. When I turned the corner to the finish I picked out Tanner and Garrett and gave them high fives. Then Talmage came running up behind me to finish with me, and Elaine was waiting at the end. They had a medal for me, a water bottle, and a finisher's shirt. I had a conservative goal to finish around 14:30. I never dreamed I would finish under 14 hours. I don't know what went wrong, but it felt great to crush my goal and to be an Ironman.
Thanks:
I don't know what all of this means. I feel like there are many life lessons to be learned from this, but I don't know what they are. I only know that I could not have done this if I didn't have a supportive wife. We make a great team. I missed my kids, even though I tried to get most of my workouts done in the early morning, and I didn't miss many of their activities, a lot of my mental activity was dedicated to Ironman. One of the reasons I finished so strong was because of the support I felt from family and friends who knew that this was important to me. I felt that support throughout the day. Thank you.
