Well I did it! Each part had its own challenges that were out of the ordinary but its done. I am now feeling good about the whole thing. For a while there I didn't want to think, look or try anything related to Ironman (even the final blog).
So how did it go? Overall I am very happy with my time. My goal was a finish and a target of 16:45, I did it in 15:45 although the time is neither here nor there as I finished!
The event start on Thursday and goes all the way through to Monday. Its probably the best organized thing I have ever been to. On Thursday we headed over to get registered and tattooed for race day. The line wasn't too bad and I was in and out, including the number tattoo, in about 1 hour. I spoke to other people who went on other days and the numbering was over 2 hours! So I was wrist banded and tattooed for the next 5 days. Awesome.
On Friday I headed to the Gym and Ran a mile and headed in for a swim. It felt good showing off the numbers and 2 other people swimming were also doing the event. So a brief chat and a wish of good luck ensued. Then that night it was off to the Dinner. The Dinner was great, its an open air event with an area sectioned off for VIPs. They got wine, glasses, waiters and that sort of thing. Then a couple of speeches, the mayor of Tempe was Hilarious. The voice of Ironman was the MC and he asked people to stand up who had lost weight for the event. I made it to the last 6. Another 15 pounds and I would have made the stage! I was proud of my weight loss then. They had the oldest and youngest up, husband and wife and Father and Son. All very interesting. They also dropped a bomb that the water would be 61F and to expect cold temps all day. The Dinner got very cold too.
Saturday was a full rest day but I still had to check in my bags for transition and my bike. At an Ironman you don't setup a towel and put everything beside your bike. Its in bags and you can do a full change if you so desire. I checked into a Hotel too, the A-Loft it was very posh and the closest restaurant was an In and Out Burger. I thought of having one after the race. We got to the hotel at 7 and then I realized I had left my timing chip etc at the house. A wee bit of stress but quickly sorted.
Race Day:
Up at 5am. Well I wouldn't say I really slept all night as I was a bit excited. The transition opened at 5am but as I was already setup I thought getting there at 6 would be good. I started to walk and a fellow Triathlete picked me up and gave me a lift over. So I wandered around and sat for a bit just enjoying the surroundings. I couldn't spot the family before the race as they got there just as I had to change and start getting ready in the water. 6:30 strip down. I felt naked as I was the only one in shorts and no wet suit. Everyone kept looking too.
Swim:
A quick dive off the pier about 10 minutes before race start led to an almost immediate heart attack and the 1st of 2 times I questioned if I could do this. It was cold, very cold. Colder than a cold thing from coldville that's cold. yeah that cold. So I swam back to shore and stood neck deep till my body went numb and then headed out to the start. It took the next 5 minutes to get my head in the water as it kept pushing back out as a reaction to the cold.
Then we were off! Its a battle not a swim. People try to swim over you into you and all sorts of things. Defending your face is very important. I even T-Boned someone half a mile in as they decided to swim across the pack. It settled down for the most part at about the half way mark. I had decided early on not to fight through the pack but just to sit where I was. This worked well until the last 400 meters where everyone started running over each other and the people breast stroking didn't liked to be passed. Both sets were just being stupid. The breast stroke guys didn't want over taken so as you got beside them they would swim ahead crawl and then go back to breast stroke (wider kick, easier to get kicked in the face). The overtaking thing is a theme of the event.
Then the steps appeared and I was out thanks to a friendly volunteer as the water wasn't deep enough yet so climb out. This guy got a work out lifting people out. So my watch said 1:30 (Better than I hoped) in the water and officially 1:34 plus a 20 minute transition. That water must have left me a bit out of it! People quit after completing the swim as they were too cold to continue and they had wetsuits on.
Bike:
So after a full change it was off out on the bike. I kicked off at a rate and realized I needed to slow down a bit to get my bearings. That was just as well as my calves seized up badly for the next 10 miles. At one point I thought I had pulled something, grunted and grabbed my knee. A guy went past shouting "I feel the same". So just a case of getting through it. I settled into the same group of people. The went faster on bit I went faster on bits. I was in the group of people for about 40 miles. We didn't talk once. On the climb at the turn I got up to about 16mph which didn't bode well for the way back as this hinted at wind! Boy was I in for a shock. On the turn it was a full on headwind! Maximum down hill was 16mph. Which was faster than a lot of people. They got upset and get overtaking me and slowing down. Pride is a bad thing. So this was the theme for the bike, tail wind recovering for hell and headwind killing forward progress. At the end of the second loop I was almost done in. I thought of all the people cheering me on and knew a DNF wasn't for me by just giving up. Then the family appeared. Just what I needed awesome! I decided at this point that the only way for a DNF was to get carried off or a Marshal telling me I'm done. Once that was settled I never thought about it again.
On the last lap the wind moved slightly and gave us a break on the highway but was stronger when we headed in towards Tempe. Thank goodness for all those pain in he neck headwinds the weeks leading up to the event. I moaned about them then but they did me a big favour. So whether on the cycle ranges from cloudy, rainy, sand storm, hail and sleet! I cant say I noticed too much as I was in slog mode. 7 hours on the bike, again better than I hoped with the conditions! Again Ironman came through, they have volunteers to rack your bike so I handed it over and headed for the run change area. Full change again and out on the run course. Kathleen said people were handing their bikes over and saying things like "sell it!" as the bike portion was harsh.
Run:
I find out there is a aid station about 400 yds from the start so I finish more food and head out on the run. I stop and guzzle some cola. It turns out when you are addicted to something its a good idea to keep some handy. I'm off and running and surprisingly have no effects from the bike or swim yet; as expected my pace is faster than a 12 minute mile. So the genius that I am I decide to run 5 miles and walk one. This is working well as my times are spot on around mile 10 I notice that I'm on for a sub 15 hour pace! The other great thing is my Friend Ray left work early and was there cheering me on with the family (He took the next day off so he could cheer me on). My second walk mile is across where the family is so I run that and walk the next. Big mistake, its dark and I have to walk 2 miles as one area is too dark to run in. I start to freeze up. However I keep going with it, run walk, run walk etc. At this point I realize that I can walk this out and finish. Its great to know I can do it! So I keep going.
Mile 23 looms, a quick break at which point I start getting dizzy and nauseous. Fortunately I'm beside an aid station so I bang back a bunch of Chicken Broth and Power Aid. I have 3 miles left and 2 hours 20 left so I decide to walk it out to be on the safe side. A finish is a goal and I'm not blowing it for 30 minutes! I end up chatting to a guy for a mile who had similar problems. His wife had to walk with him for a bit too but he made it. I see Ray and know I'm nearly there he runs to the corners to cheer me on. That was great!
I ran up to the finish and had to slow down as I wanted a good picture at the finish line. As I came round the corner I wasn't expecting a stand full of people, it was brilliant and then the finish. Its done! (I didn't here the guy say "You are an Ironman" but I assume he did Chrissie Wellington congratulates me and a volunteer escorts me away for my medal, T-shirt (Doesn't fit) and hat. I get to see the family then and its done.
I even give my Medal to Isla who tells me she gets one from the Gym every 8 weeks and throws it back at me! I hope she reads this when she is older! I can honestly say at this point that there is no question that I gave it everything as I'm a bit out of it. Ray goes to get my bike, David stay with me and Kathleen goes to get something. At this point I can honestly say its 50/50 on medical as I think if David hasn't been there I would have lay down and gone to sleep as it was we ended up going to the car and David held my hand the whole way. As it turns out I was just done and cold. 5 minutes of heat in the car and I was fine. We got home and Lauren was still up too as she was so excited and proud. I found out that a lot had stayed up and Willie and Susan had stayed up through the night! Sierra was pretending to be asleep in bed and said "Good, now I can finally go to sleep".
It really wasn't till I finished and seen all the comments on facebook, email, twitter and texts that I realized how many people were supporting me through the whole thing. I'm not sure I can put into words how great it was.
Other highlights are the 10 hours or so the volunteers were out there. The Phoenix Triathlon Club had a great setup in police uniforms and a setup of a western town. The guy in the dunk tank that if you through a bottle off the bike just right he got dunked. The ASU cheerleaders! The amount of people at the start of the run area was a bit daunting, all cheering you on; Brilliant though. The kids got bells to ring and they were there at the end, very tough. The support!
I can honestly say this took the whole family to get here and I'm glad I did it and its done.
I'm not good at putting things into words so I have tried to put everything from the day in here but there was so many people supporting all over the world that I am totally overwhelmed and proud to have so many great friends.
I am officially an Ironman.
So how did it go? Overall I am very happy with my time. My goal was a finish and a target of 16:45, I did it in 15:45 although the time is neither here nor there as I finished!
The event start on Thursday and goes all the way through to Monday. Its probably the best organized thing I have ever been to. On Thursday we headed over to get registered and tattooed for race day. The line wasn't too bad and I was in and out, including the number tattoo, in about 1 hour. I spoke to other people who went on other days and the numbering was over 2 hours! So I was wrist banded and tattooed for the next 5 days. Awesome.
On Friday I headed to the Gym and Ran a mile and headed in for a swim. It felt good showing off the numbers and 2 other people swimming were also doing the event. So a brief chat and a wish of good luck ensued. Then that night it was off to the Dinner. The Dinner was great, its an open air event with an area sectioned off for VIPs. They got wine, glasses, waiters and that sort of thing. Then a couple of speeches, the mayor of Tempe was Hilarious. The voice of Ironman was the MC and he asked people to stand up who had lost weight for the event. I made it to the last 6. Another 15 pounds and I would have made the stage! I was proud of my weight loss then. They had the oldest and youngest up, husband and wife and Father and Son. All very interesting. They also dropped a bomb that the water would be 61F and to expect cold temps all day. The Dinner got very cold too.
Saturday was a full rest day but I still had to check in my bags for transition and my bike. At an Ironman you don't setup a towel and put everything beside your bike. Its in bags and you can do a full change if you so desire. I checked into a Hotel too, the A-Loft it was very posh and the closest restaurant was an In and Out Burger. I thought of having one after the race. We got to the hotel at 7 and then I realized I had left my timing chip etc at the house. A wee bit of stress but quickly sorted.
Race Day:
Up at 5am. Well I wouldn't say I really slept all night as I was a bit excited. The transition opened at 5am but as I was already setup I thought getting there at 6 would be good. I started to walk and a fellow Triathlete picked me up and gave me a lift over. So I wandered around and sat for a bit just enjoying the surroundings. I couldn't spot the family before the race as they got there just as I had to change and start getting ready in the water. 6:30 strip down. I felt naked as I was the only one in shorts and no wet suit. Everyone kept looking too.
Swim:
A quick dive off the pier about 10 minutes before race start led to an almost immediate heart attack and the 1st of 2 times I questioned if I could do this. It was cold, very cold. Colder than a cold thing from coldville that's cold. yeah that cold. So I swam back to shore and stood neck deep till my body went numb and then headed out to the start. It took the next 5 minutes to get my head in the water as it kept pushing back out as a reaction to the cold.
Then we were off! Its a battle not a swim. People try to swim over you into you and all sorts of things. Defending your face is very important. I even T-Boned someone half a mile in as they decided to swim across the pack. It settled down for the most part at about the half way mark. I had decided early on not to fight through the pack but just to sit where I was. This worked well until the last 400 meters where everyone started running over each other and the people breast stroking didn't liked to be passed. Both sets were just being stupid. The breast stroke guys didn't want over taken so as you got beside them they would swim ahead crawl and then go back to breast stroke (wider kick, easier to get kicked in the face). The overtaking thing is a theme of the event.
Then the steps appeared and I was out thanks to a friendly volunteer as the water wasn't deep enough yet so climb out. This guy got a work out lifting people out. So my watch said 1:30 (Better than I hoped) in the water and officially 1:34 plus a 20 minute transition. That water must have left me a bit out of it! People quit after completing the swim as they were too cold to continue and they had wetsuits on.
Bike:
So after a full change it was off out on the bike. I kicked off at a rate and realized I needed to slow down a bit to get my bearings. That was just as well as my calves seized up badly for the next 10 miles. At one point I thought I had pulled something, grunted and grabbed my knee. A guy went past shouting "I feel the same". So just a case of getting through it. I settled into the same group of people. The went faster on bit I went faster on bits. I was in the group of people for about 40 miles. We didn't talk once. On the climb at the turn I got up to about 16mph which didn't bode well for the way back as this hinted at wind! Boy was I in for a shock. On the turn it was a full on headwind! Maximum down hill was 16mph. Which was faster than a lot of people. They got upset and get overtaking me and slowing down. Pride is a bad thing. So this was the theme for the bike, tail wind recovering for hell and headwind killing forward progress. At the end of the second loop I was almost done in. I thought of all the people cheering me on and knew a DNF wasn't for me by just giving up. Then the family appeared. Just what I needed awesome! I decided at this point that the only way for a DNF was to get carried off or a Marshal telling me I'm done. Once that was settled I never thought about it again.
On the last lap the wind moved slightly and gave us a break on the highway but was stronger when we headed in towards Tempe. Thank goodness for all those pain in he neck headwinds the weeks leading up to the event. I moaned about them then but they did me a big favour. So whether on the cycle ranges from cloudy, rainy, sand storm, hail and sleet! I cant say I noticed too much as I was in slog mode. 7 hours on the bike, again better than I hoped with the conditions! Again Ironman came through, they have volunteers to rack your bike so I handed it over and headed for the run change area. Full change again and out on the run course. Kathleen said people were handing their bikes over and saying things like "sell it!" as the bike portion was harsh.
Run:
I find out there is a aid station about 400 yds from the start so I finish more food and head out on the run. I stop and guzzle some cola. It turns out when you are addicted to something its a good idea to keep some handy. I'm off and running and surprisingly have no effects from the bike or swim yet; as expected my pace is faster than a 12 minute mile. So the genius that I am I decide to run 5 miles and walk one. This is working well as my times are spot on around mile 10 I notice that I'm on for a sub 15 hour pace! The other great thing is my Friend Ray left work early and was there cheering me on with the family (He took the next day off so he could cheer me on). My second walk mile is across where the family is so I run that and walk the next. Big mistake, its dark and I have to walk 2 miles as one area is too dark to run in. I start to freeze up. However I keep going with it, run walk, run walk etc. At this point I realize that I can walk this out and finish. Its great to know I can do it! So I keep going.
Mile 23 looms, a quick break at which point I start getting dizzy and nauseous. Fortunately I'm beside an aid station so I bang back a bunch of Chicken Broth and Power Aid. I have 3 miles left and 2 hours 20 left so I decide to walk it out to be on the safe side. A finish is a goal and I'm not blowing it for 30 minutes! I end up chatting to a guy for a mile who had similar problems. His wife had to walk with him for a bit too but he made it. I see Ray and know I'm nearly there he runs to the corners to cheer me on. That was great!
I ran up to the finish and had to slow down as I wanted a good picture at the finish line. As I came round the corner I wasn't expecting a stand full of people, it was brilliant and then the finish. Its done! (I didn't here the guy say "You are an Ironman" but I assume he did Chrissie Wellington congratulates me and a volunteer escorts me away for my medal, T-shirt (Doesn't fit) and hat. I get to see the family then and its done.
I even give my Medal to Isla who tells me she gets one from the Gym every 8 weeks and throws it back at me! I hope she reads this when she is older! I can honestly say at this point that there is no question that I gave it everything as I'm a bit out of it. Ray goes to get my bike, David stay with me and Kathleen goes to get something. At this point I can honestly say its 50/50 on medical as I think if David hasn't been there I would have lay down and gone to sleep as it was we ended up going to the car and David held my hand the whole way. As it turns out I was just done and cold. 5 minutes of heat in the car and I was fine. We got home and Lauren was still up too as she was so excited and proud. I found out that a lot had stayed up and Willie and Susan had stayed up through the night! Sierra was pretending to be asleep in bed and said "Good, now I can finally go to sleep".
It really wasn't till I finished and seen all the comments on facebook, email, twitter and texts that I realized how many people were supporting me through the whole thing. I'm not sure I can put into words how great it was.
Other highlights are the 10 hours or so the volunteers were out there. The Phoenix Triathlon Club had a great setup in police uniforms and a setup of a western town. The guy in the dunk tank that if you through a bottle off the bike just right he got dunked. The ASU cheerleaders! The amount of people at the start of the run area was a bit daunting, all cheering you on; Brilliant though. The kids got bells to ring and they were there at the end, very tough. The support!
I can honestly say this took the whole family to get here and I'm glad I did it and its done.
I'm not good at putting things into words so I have tried to put everything from the day in here but there was so many people supporting all over the world that I am totally overwhelmed and proud to have so many great friends.
I am officially an Ironman.
