What a day! 9 teammates, 1 pro debut, a handful of friends, our families and racing with my wife. So much positive energy to draw from; for Ironman, anything you can draw from, do! I woke up an hour before my alarm. Lame. Tried so hard to fall back asleep, no luck. 4 am. Giddy up. Ironman is here, the culmination of 28 weeks of training. As with any race, a champion's breakfast is a must. Ours was hilarious. We had enough good sense to go to Trader Joe's the day before to get bagels, peanut butter and jelly; but not enough good sense to remember the toaster that Kristina's parents brought to town or any utensils. We had to cut the bagels with scissors that I had in the tool kit and spread the PB and J with a coffee stirrer. Laughed until we cried.
We set out to drop our special needs bags and get body marked. The next few hours slipped away quickly. Making our way down the helix to the swim start, the pros set off at 6:50. Ten minutes later for us. Kristina and I said our goodbyes, then got in the water to find our spots. A few minutes before the canon went off we bumped into each other a few hundred meters out.
Swim
The canon went off...it was on...140.6 miles to go. 2,397 triathletes. There is really nothing like it...scary, uncontrollable, nerve-wracking...Relax. For the first few minutes K and I were swimming together. She breathes to the left and me to the right. It was comforting to see her ever few breaths. Then "whack", an elbow to the goggles and off they came. Thankfully, I always put my goggles on under my cap so I didn't lose them (good trick). Instinctively, I turned back to have a look-see. Mistake. Never do that. Hundreds of swimmers. I freaked, then got pummeled, but only for a few seconds. After a few seconds or minutes, who knows, I got my goggles back on, settled in and got to the task at hand. Soon enough, 2.4 miles down, 1:22, same as last year in Coeur d'Alene.
Coming out of T1, no sunscreen? What? It’s 85 degrees and there isn’t a cloud in the sky…hell. I saw K in transition as I was headed out, she was headed in. A great swim for her…hard work paid off!
Bike
We've all heard a lot about this course leading up to the day. In retrospect, it’s all true...whatever it is. Things like, "you won't win the race on the bike, but you could lose it", "you don't do any one thing for more than 4 minutes", "if you overcook the first lap, you'll pay".
A lollipop, 16 miles out, 2 - 40 mile loops, 16 miles back. 5 miles out of T1, I dropped my first bottle, 10 miles later it happened again...2 bottles of Infinit gone, new plan for nutrition until special needs...all bottles would now go in my jersey pocket, a power bar an hour and a bottle of Gatorade it was. The roads were total crap but what a fun course...not only challenging but technical and quite possibly one of the most beautiful. Old Sauk Pass and Verona with streets lined with spectators screaming…pretty sweet. The first stretch of the last 16 miles into Madison sucked, a few more hills and it was time to run. 112 miles, 6:37, 6 minutes better than last year on what is a harder course for sure. 26.2 to go.
T2 was a total cluster but also a lesson - miscommunication with a volunteer who was trying to “help me”. Long story short, my shades ended up in my bike transition bag, which ended up in a pile of bags. I got them, 4 minutes later. I am learning to let it go…here I let it go.
Run
My run last year in CDA was a disaster. Since, I have worked pretty hard to hold it together in those late miles. With IM, you can never tell what’s going to happen. One minute you feel great, the next you feel like total crap. It comes down to managing those highs and lows and just keep moving forward. My only goals for the run were to stay out of the porta-potties and run. More or less I was successful.
I felt Kristina on my heels and knew that I’d see her, soon. My secret little game of cat and mouse was soon going to be over. The cool part was that we ran together for quite a while…one of those memories that I will cherish. I felt really lucky. Basking in my good fortune, I got passed. Then the chase was on, which gave me a focal point.
The last few kilometers were surreal…close enough to the finish to feel it. As the Capitol got closer and the sound of Mike Reilly’s voice carried thru the air, the legs start to turn over a little easier, a little quicker. A left turn on MLK Drive…a few hundred meters of delight, where it feels like you are the only one that the lined streets of fans are cheering to victory. It’s that larger than life feeling that will keep me coming back. As I looked up I saw my wife cross the finish line…A minute later I was there. Our mother’s, who were Janus VIPs for the day placed our finisher’s medals around our necks. 140.6 miles done!
This year’s run and my overall result was 1:04 faster than last year. I can’t thank my wife enough for her support and hard work to make me a better triathlete, my friends for the long hours on the legs, my coach for always believing in me and knowing I have more to give than I thought I could.
Until Coeur d’Alene…
IM Wisconsin
Swim:1:22:55; T1: 9:08; Bike: 6:37:39; T2: 11:13; Run: 4:48:28; Total 13:09:21. Rank 1,059 of 2,397.
We set out to drop our special needs bags and get body marked. The next few hours slipped away quickly. Making our way down the helix to the swim start, the pros set off at 6:50. Ten minutes later for us. Kristina and I said our goodbyes, then got in the water to find our spots. A few minutes before the canon went off we bumped into each other a few hundred meters out.
Swim
The canon went off...it was on...140.6 miles to go. 2,397 triathletes. There is really nothing like it...scary, uncontrollable, nerve-wracking...Relax. For the first few minutes K and I were swimming together. She breathes to the left and me to the right. It was comforting to see her ever few breaths. Then "whack", an elbow to the goggles and off they came. Thankfully, I always put my goggles on under my cap so I didn't lose them (good trick). Instinctively, I turned back to have a look-see. Mistake. Never do that. Hundreds of swimmers. I freaked, then got pummeled, but only for a few seconds. After a few seconds or minutes, who knows, I got my goggles back on, settled in and got to the task at hand. Soon enough, 2.4 miles down, 1:22, same as last year in Coeur d'Alene.
Coming out of T1, no sunscreen? What? It’s 85 degrees and there isn’t a cloud in the sky…hell. I saw K in transition as I was headed out, she was headed in. A great swim for her…hard work paid off!
Bike
We've all heard a lot about this course leading up to the day. In retrospect, it’s all true...whatever it is. Things like, "you won't win the race on the bike, but you could lose it", "you don't do any one thing for more than 4 minutes", "if you overcook the first lap, you'll pay".
A lollipop, 16 miles out, 2 - 40 mile loops, 16 miles back. 5 miles out of T1, I dropped my first bottle, 10 miles later it happened again...2 bottles of Infinit gone, new plan for nutrition until special needs...all bottles would now go in my jersey pocket, a power bar an hour and a bottle of Gatorade it was. The roads were total crap but what a fun course...not only challenging but technical and quite possibly one of the most beautiful. Old Sauk Pass and Verona with streets lined with spectators screaming…pretty sweet. The first stretch of the last 16 miles into Madison sucked, a few more hills and it was time to run. 112 miles, 6:37, 6 minutes better than last year on what is a harder course for sure. 26.2 to go.T2 was a total cluster but also a lesson - miscommunication with a volunteer who was trying to “help me”. Long story short, my shades ended up in my bike transition bag, which ended up in a pile of bags. I got them, 4 minutes later. I am learning to let it go…here I let it go.
Run
My run last year in CDA was a disaster. Since, I have worked pretty hard to hold it together in those late miles. With IM, you can never tell what’s going to happen. One minute you feel great, the next you feel like total crap. It comes down to managing those highs and lows and just keep moving forward. My only goals for the run were to stay out of the porta-potties and run. More or less I was successful.
I felt Kristina on my heels and knew that I’d see her, soon. My secret little game of cat and mouse was soon going to be over. The cool part was that we ran together for quite a while…one of those memories that I will cherish. I felt really lucky. Basking in my good fortune, I got passed. Then the chase was on, which gave me a focal point.The last few kilometers were surreal…close enough to the finish to feel it. As the Capitol got closer and the sound of Mike Reilly’s voice carried thru the air, the legs start to turn over a little easier, a little quicker. A left turn on MLK Drive…a few hundred meters of delight, where it feels like you are the only one that the lined streets of fans are cheering to victory. It’s that larger than life feeling that will keep me coming back. As I looked up I saw my wife cross the finish line…A minute later I was there. Our mother’s, who were Janus VIPs for the day placed our finisher’s medals around our necks. 140.6 miles done!
This year’s run and my overall result was 1:04 faster than last year. I can’t thank my wife enough for her support and hard work to make me a better triathlete, my friends for the long hours on the legs, my coach for always believing in me and knowing I have more to give than I thought I could.
Until Coeur d’Alene…
IM Wisconsin
Swim:1:22:55; T1: 9:08; Bike: 6:37:39; T2: 11:13; Run: 4:48:28; Total 13:09:21. Rank 1,059 of 2,397.
4 comments:
I am so proud of you and of course I'm now crying!!! You are my hero. Love you!
Nice job! It was great reading your report, knowing I was there, too. congrats, you and Kristina ROCK!
I love your report! Awesome job out there! And congrats on a PR!!!
I'm glad I was a spectator to your IM! Thanks for sharing it all. It was a blast.
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