After a long drive on Thursday, there was so much to do once we got to Tempe. All the traditional athlete, gear bag, and bike check-in stuff, in addition to spending time with my family. With me, there were 9 of us, so trying to figure out where to go for dinner that wouldn't be packed was tough. Instead of going out, pre-race dinner was pizza in the hotel lobby! That works for me because almost all of my pre-race dinners have become pizza. After dinner, I got my special needs bags together and laid down to sleep. I was surprised that I was actually able to sleep! I did wake up a couple of times, but I think I got some really good sleep overall.
Raceday!! At breakfast, I broke the cardinal rule...I tried something new. I had a bowl of Fruit Loops. After listening to Jordan Rapp talk on Thursday night about how much he has for breakfast before a race, I thought I better beef up my breakfast. I still had my normal gatorade and Clif bar later, but I figured the cereal would help but not cause any tummy troubles (I was right!).
We got to transition and did all the normal things without anything crazy happening. Everything went so smoothly! We got to kiss our families and hug our friends before the race. It was awesome knowing that they'd be there all day cheering us on! Kris, Orissa, and I made our way over to the mass of green and pink swim caps and realized we hadn't seen Herb. We were all so disappointed but knew there was little chance that we'd find him among all those wetsuits. All 3 of us were giddy and nervous and excited...we were about to jump in the water to start our very first Ironman!
After jumping in and swimming to the right, we lined up in the middle, toward the front. Dawn said first 3-5 rows, but I think we were just slightly behind that. We were treading water just waiting out our 10 minutes when we heard Herb! We all rushed over and mobbed him - hugs all around. Music was playing, we were chatting, and then the national anthem. Kris and I grabbed one last hug and tried not to cry in our goggles. Then the cannon suddenly went off! I was expecting a countdown, but nope. Just a loud blast and then thousands of arms swinging.
Dawn said to expect the washing machine for a few minutes but that a train forms pretty quickly. I kept thinking, it's only 5 minutes of crazy, then I'll be able to find some feet to draft off of. It never seemed to clear up! I got smacked in the back of the head a few times and sometimes had to stop because people squeezed me between them (there didn't seem to be any good sighting where I was). People were grabbing my legs and feet and pushing my legs down. I figured I could make up any lost time when I found feet or clear water so I just let those people pass...20 minutes in and I was still searching for those feet or clear water! Sometime between then and the first turn buoy (at about 30 minutes in), I found some clean water. The way back to the dock was pretty uneventful. Mostly clean water (which I prefer over drafting). As I neared the bridge and dock, I thought I could hit 1:10. Apparently, my perception was off and I had further to go than I thought or I slowed down. I hit the mat at 1:16:03. I knew I missed 1:10 and was closer to 1:15 but didn't know the exact time. Wetsuit stripped and a run/walk to T1 and it's time to change!
I took longer in T1 than it felt like. I felt like I was booking it through putting on my wings, gloves, socks and shoes, but it ended up being over 9 minutes! I looked up at one point and saw Kris, so I got excited! Maybe we could do this whole thing together and cross the line together!! I jogged out to my bike and then the mount line. Pass the mount line, swing a leg over, put in the foot...I know now that my family and friends were all right there watching me but I can't remember if I heard them at the time. I was so focused on not getting knocked over in all that crazy!
The bike course was fairly crowded, but it didn't seem too bad. I remembered what Dawn said and waited until I passed the blue building before I tried to drink anything. After a quick drink, I settled in to ride. I knew Kris was up ahead a bit so I wanted to see if I could catch her. Maybe we could do some leap-frogging. I eventually caught her but quickly realized that leap-frogging would be tough. The course was getting crowded and there were packs going by! We did do a couple of leap frogs on the first two laps but not many. I was ahead of Kris a bit on the end of the second lap and I couldn't wait to wave at her on the start of our third lap and yell "Smash it time!" or something else ridiculous...but I couldn't find her. I thought that I must have missed her on the way back out because of the trees in the median in town. When I got to the open road, I knew I had because there was no way she was that far behind me...she was just there! All the sudden, I came to a crash and moved over out of the way. As I passed, I saw a pink Rudy helmet and caught a flash of an orange jersey and white angel wings...IT WAS KRIS! I looked back to see if I could turn around but there were too many people by me. I freaked out because I didn't see enough to know if she was ok and could continue. The whole way up to the turnaround on Beeline, I was thinking about when I could see Kris if she got to continue (doing math on the bike made that lap fly by). I figured if she crashed on the way to the turnaround, she probably had 15 min to get there, plus whatever time she sat on the side of the road. So I started looking at 15, hoping that it was a quick stop and she just needed a bit of a breather. I never saw her but was hoping against all hope that I just missed her in a pack somewhere or while I was grabbing water at an aid station. PLEASE LET HER BE ABLE TO CONTINUE!
I got into T2 and didn't even think of my time on the bike or how long I spent in transition...I just wanted to change shoes, grab my hat, and get on the run to find out what I could about Kris. Because of this, I don't remember much of T2.
I ran out onto the run course and pretty much immediately saw my family. They were all excited and cheering for me! Instead of saying "Hi!" or "I love you!" or something, I yelled "Where's Kris???" figuring they might know if she was still in the race or not. They didn't know - Patrick said "Behind you somewhere." But somehow I was still worried... Shortly up the road, around the first water stop, I saw the Iron Whiners gang. I think I asked Aixa about Kris, but I didn't get anything out of her. (Afterward, she said they weren't going to tell us during the race so we didn't worry.) It was great to see family and friends right off the bat! The first hour of the run went pretty well. Then I saw Dawn on the back side of the course. I asked her about Kris but she didn't want to tell me anything either. I told her that I saw Kris on the side of the road and needed to know if she was ok. I stopped to walk a bit so Dawn could tell me. Dawn said she was ok but out of the race. I cried a bit because I knew that Kris wanted this so bad! Dawn said to stop crying and focus, I needed to do this for Kris. Kris told Dawn to tell me to take all her energy and use it to crush this thing. I said that I would do this for both of us. Dawn and I had started running a bit during this conversation, so I kept going. I had to do this, and do it well!
My goal going in was to not walk unless my leg made me. Well, outside of the walk with Dawn, I didn't walk at all the first lap. The second lap was not as great. My leg was starting to hurt pretty bad, so I decided to give it a break during water stops and walk those. I had slowed down quite a bit from the start of the first lap so I thought if I could just walk the water stops, I'd be able to speed up a bit the rest of the time. Well, that didn't work. That lap was really my only low point during the whole race. I really just wanted to be done! Even the times where I was worried about Kris weren't this hard. At this point, I had more pressure to finish and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to do it as well as I wanted - and that was brutal! Nutritionally, I was fine (taking in Gu and Perform when I should) and I never needed or wanted Coke or chicken soup. It was all just my stupid leg.
The third lap started out just as hard but I made a decision about mile 21...no more walking water stops. It felt fine to walk, but it hurt so much worse to start back up. At that point, I was going pretty slowly but I just had to keep going. About mile 23.5, I came up behind my "arch-enemy" going into a water stop. She stopped to walk through the stop. I had already made my decision not to walk anymore and this just reinforced it. Maybe I could beat her after all (she had passed my on the last lap of the bike, but I was so worried about Kris I didn't care that much)! I just had to keep running and I was almost there!! Just after mile 24, the second toe on my right foot started to hurt...I thought for sure I had a giant blister that had just popped. I was expecting to see a giant patch of blood when I finally got to take my shoes off. I couldn't (and wouldn't) stop to check it out, so I just kept on. Under the stinky bridge, over the river, pass all the tents, and I'm almost home. Just before the turn to the finish line, I saw a bright pink long sleeve shirt and a hand sticking out and there was Kris!! She came back (bandages and all) to cheer us on! She was such a welcome sight! I didn't know how much I needed that until I saw her...she really was ok.
My brother was standing there just after the turn and ran along side of me for a bit toward the chute. I actually picked up my pace a little there (not much left in the tank, certainly no next gear). I heard Patrick yelling my name and then my dad yelling my name and then Mike Reilly...The energy was so crazy! I was finally there. There was no jump in the air, no rolling on the ground. Just me crying with my arms weakly in the air. I did it! I have no idea what Mike Reilly said other than my name, but that's ok. I have no idea what music was playing when I crossed that line, but that's ok. The feeling I had when I crossed that line was what I remember. I was proud, humbled, amazed, sad, and happy all at the same time. Oh yeah, and tired. :)
Thank you to everyone who supported me throughout the year and on this long day! I couldn't have done it without you. It was a crazy journey, but it was so very worth it. Thank you and I love you!!
Swim 1:16:03
T1 9:14
Bike 6:00:58
T2 2:36
Run 4:48:33
Total 12:17:24
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