I can't find my original race report so I will write what I remember which will be the extremes of the good and bad. First, I am lucky to know 5 local men who regularly qualify for Ironman Hawaii (one of those guys is now my husband). When I registered for IM CDA I decided not to ask them for advice with a training plan because I knew I couldn't keep up with them. Who knows if I would have done better had I become a protege, but I did what I thought was best for me (they are kind of crazy about these things and I'm crazy enough as it is).
Even though I wrote my own training plan, Bill helped me through many of my workouts. He would go on long bike rides with me and carry extra water bottles, food and clothes. Typically I would ride with the Hawaii 5 on Saturdays, and by ride with, I mean we would leave at the same time but they would ride ahead at their pace and would turnaround at major turns and ride back to me. It was very nice of them and I found myself motivated to keep a strong pace so they wouldn't have to double back too far to get me, but basically I spent a lot of long miles by myself on the road. I did receive quite a ribbing from the guys about Bill being my sherpa but it made us happy and I will fondly remember how Bill helped me through those months of training.
The bike training was the hardest for me and I think it contributed the most to the bulging disc I have now. My neck and back would get really tired from holding my head up while biking and by the time race day came I had numbness in my right hand that I tried to ignore. One of the most powerful things I remember about training was waking up each day and feeling so fatigued and overwhelmed by whatever difficult workout I had to accomplish that day. I hated that feeling and I will recall that before I sign up for my next Ironman.
One last story before I get to race day: Bill and I traveled to Maui in December 2003 to visit his parents and I talked Bill into making a side trip to Kona so I could do my first 100 mile ride on the Ironman Hawaii course. I figured that would be a difficult course and that if I could get through that then all future rides would be easy. So instead of snorkeling or hanging out with family, we used Bill's frequent flier miles to fly over to Kona where we rented triathlon bikes and hit the Queen K. I felt good during the first 10 miles, then a wall of wind hit and I found I couldn't reach down for my water bottle while riding because the wind would cause me to swerve. Eventually I stopped so I could eat and drink and Bill said, "Do you want to call it a day? It's really windy out here." It actually hadn't occured to me that I could quit so I said, "No! Let's do this thing," and off we went. Bill rode ahead while I held onto the bike with a death grip to keep myself on the road. This went on for longer than it should and finally, about 12 miles out from Hawi (the 1/2 way point), I found myself riding in the rumble strip to keep myself from losing traction when a wind gust pushed me into the road where a car was coming. That was it. I quit. It was too much. I found a big rock to shelter myself and pulled over to wait for Bill to come back from Hawi. I was disappointed but I found out early that if you are going to attempt these endurance events then you aren't always going to meet your goals. (Let's sing: You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need!)
Now in case you thought Bill was a *perfect* boyfriend who did everything for me... he decided to sign up for Pacific Crest 1/2 Ironman the day before my race. I didn't protest that decision but it ended up that I really did need his help before the Ironman. So he went off to Bend, OR and I put my triathlon bike on top of my car and drove myself through the Columbia Gorge (very windy) to my parent's house in Spokane, WA which is about 30 miles from CDA. I drove out to CDA the next day to ride my bike on the course and found a creaking noise coming from the front end of my bike. It was kind of loud so I mentioned it to a friend who advised me to get it looked at ASAP. There was a long line for bike maintenance at the expo so I decided to take it to a bike shop in Spokane. I didn't make it back to Spokane until after the pre race dinner and the next thing I know it's the day before the race and bike check in is at noon and my bike is still creaking. Yikes!
Long story short: I made it to a bike shop 2 hours before bike check-in and found out my fork was cracked, and they could not replace it but I could ride the bike but if I hit a pot hole then the fork could completely break and I would go down. So now you see the dumb part of my Ironman story. I think driving through the Gorge with my bike on top of the car did my fork in along with the person who put my bike together originally installed a star nut that caused problems with the expensive carbon fiber fork (thanks dude!) Bill made it to Spokane sometime after 9:30 pm the day before my race, he had a bad race at Pacific Crest and had to drive 6+ hours to get to Spokane. I was freaking out about the next day (frantically packing and repacking my special needs bags) so I can't say my mind was on his trials. I think I was like, "Oh you're here? Go to bed and be quiet!" I was keeping it real people. Quiet! Shhh!
(check out this pic, I am totally beating that guy) Race day: I slept relatively well and was up at 3:30 am to drive to Coeur d'Alene for the race. I don't remember much except standing on the beach, looking out at the lake and the far away buoys and trying not to pee myself. I was breathing shallow, my heart was racing, and before I knew it BAM! The race had started. I am not a strong swimmer so I decided to take it really easy and just get through the swim without wasting too much energy. My goal time was 1 hour 20 minutes for the 2.4 mile swim. Swimming with 2,000 other people sucks, I was jabbed, kicked, hit, and swam over. It was overwhelming for the first mile and then things settled down and I found myself approaching the end and thinking: ah! Now I have to do this thing! My swim time: 1:21:02 (rank 1181)
Not much to say about the bike portion, I tried to maintain a steady pace and ignore what other racers were doing. I recall thinking that I was in the back of the pack and that was a little hard for my ego but I got through the first loop and saw my mom, aunt, best friend Liisa (from high school) and Bill looking for me. "Here I am!" I said and that was it. I didn't get to see them again for another few hours. I think I did fine on the bike portion but it really did seem to take a long time to get it done. The closer I got to town the more scared I got to run the marathon. It just didn't seem feasable that I would run 26.2 miles after biking 112 miles. My bike time: 6:20:51 (rank 959)
As soon as I got out on the run I found that I had what runnners call GI distress which is basically a nice way to say that you are having a hard time controlling your bowels. Luckily, there are porta poddies at every aid station at almost every mile of the run course. So I walked/jogged/stopped/started from one aid station to the next where I stopped at every bathroom. It really didn't seem possible that I could go that much, but I did. It was terrible! Finally after about 10 miles of this I decided I was just going to sit in a bathroom until there was nothing left. So I sat in there for a good long while and emerged a new woman. I started to run slowly, still stopping at aid stations but less often for the bathroom. I saw my mom, Bill and crew cheering for me and they looked really hot and tired so I decided I better get this damn race done so they could all relax. I found a nice older gentleman running a steady pace ahead of me. We hit the 20 mile mark and I struck up a conversation with him and we stayed together until almost the end.
He said I was doing very well for my first Ironman and he kept me from walking. The closer we got to town, the higher on adreneline I got(maybe it was all the Coke I had been drinking at aid stations) and I started to let myself think that I just might finish this race. My pace quickened and my friend said, "You run ahead now and I'll see you at the finish." I felt like I couldn't control my legs anymore, they were running ahead without my brain which was experiencing a powerful euphoria that I have never felt before. I think I was saying "Yes! Yes! I did this! I did this thing!" I started crying while I was running but I couldn't breath so I tried to stop crying and just live in the moment of the amazing rush. The crowds were getting thicker and people were cheering for me by name (its on your race #). My mom was near the finish chute with a pink feather boa and I wrapped it around my neck and threw my arms in the air while I made my way, finally, to the finish line. run time: 4:52:43 (rank 745)
I think I told Bill that it was the most amazing feeling I ever had, that I was high as a kite and my adrenaline was pumping. He said, "Honey you better sit down because you are going to crash off of that in a few minutes." I didn't believe him but sure enough, an overwhelming feeling of fatigue hit me and my legs started burning and seizing up and I sat down only to find I couldn't get back up without Bill helping me. Full circle. Honestly, I have never been so tired in my entire life. I was done. Total time: 12:49:07 (rank 807 overall)
The thing that I took away from this experience is a feeling of confidence that I can get through some really tough times and that I can rely on other people and that I can rely on myself to be reasonable but inspired to go beyond what I think is possible. It has also given me a good perspective on life so that when tough times come my way I think, "Ha! I completed an Ironman, I'm pretty sure I can get through this." It also brought me closer to the people I love, here is a photo of me at the finish with my mom, she's crying (because it took me so long). Just kidding mom! Love you!
In case you are wondering, yes, it was worth every minute of training and every minute of the 12 hours and 49 minutes I raced. And yes, I will do it again, but there are a few other amazing things I need to do before I come back to this.
The pool where my swim class is held is closed because they didn't pass a suprise inspection. Who knows what chemicals or slop I've been swimming in, maybe I'll grow an extra set of legs. Fortunately there are 3 pools on campus so we're moving our class to the main pool for the rest of the week which is bad because there is an extra large hot tub there that I would prefer to sit in rather than swim.
