So, it's February and I have not yet completed my race report for Ironman. I'm not sure why. It may be that putting it all down on paper makes it completely all over. My journey started awhile back. I wasn't a real athlete, 48 year old, ex-smoker, and a few pounds overweight. I had hurt my back and promised that I would take a proper running course to improve my 1/2 marathon time. I signed up with Angie Andersons 1/2 marathon clinic... you know where this is going! Angie came to a bunch of us the next winter and we started training for triathlon's! I know for me, the goal was to do a few of these little things...not a real Ironman, the Tinman was challenge enough. But the Tinman turned into the Women's race in Strathmore and then a bunch more smaller races and soon Stoney and then a couple Ironman training camps. When I signed up to do the marathon in Vegas, I knew that an Ironman had to be done.
Joz was signing up for Arizona and Trish said she would sign up as well to support her. Cindy and Carla were in too. So I signed up. Let the games begin!
Race day seemed to come quick even though the training seemed to go on forever! The strain of training and working full time was definitely starting to show. We had biked and we had run and we swam and the day was here. I had my complete race team with me, missing only my daughter and the dogs! I woke up early in the morning and was amazingly calm. All the panic from the day before was dissolved. When I came to transition, I just got ready! Time moved interestingly slow until it was time to get into the water. I sat on the edge of the Tempe Lake and thought...this is insane! It's freezing in there! A kid next to me must have sensed my hesitation as he looked at me and said, "if you go, I'll go...on the count of three"! I jumped, swam to a starting spot and waited for the gun to fire. The swim seemed surreal. Nothing felt like it was moving fast and I just kept moving forward. I remembered Richelle talking about a bubble and I was thinking...no one is hitting me, I must be in a safe little bubble. This thought made me happy and when the smell of gas was in my face or my fingers started cramping, I just kept thinking of my bubble!
Out of the water at last and I moved in a half frozen state to the tent. I was really in frozen slow - mo! I finally got changed and out to the loo where I saw Trish she said hi and headed out to her bike. The race was on! For the first time everything started to feel like a race. I knew I had to catch up to Trish. A quick pee and on to my bike. I was moving not really fast but steadily knowing I had to catch up to Trish. It was great to see everyone on the way out. I finally got Trish in my view and thought that I would ride a bit behind her for the whole race. I thought that would be really funny as she would be thinking she was way ahead of me. I realised that this was an out and back and she would see me long before that so I caught up to her. I had a great bike. I'd pass Trish and she'd pass me. We did this for the whole ride. At one point she had to stop to go pee and we both knew that neither one of us would get off the bike without the other in case someone got ahead! So we both stopped, quick pee and back to it. The wind just made me laugh. We had seen dead dogs, broken glass, tumble weed, the wind was just the icing on the cake and it did not get me down. It was like God's little challenge. Ok God, I'm into it! and as a reward, the wind was on our back on the way home. Yahoo!
The weather seemed to sort itself out for the run and settled into the perfect evening. The first loop of the run was fun. We were running 10/1 and enjoying the people. A guy thought the pace was good and joined us. I enjoyed all of the water stations. The music was great and the volunteers were excellent. The snacks looked good at the tables. This was the first loop. The second loop started to show signs of wear and I took in the speedy massage and our pace slowed a bit. The third loop was the killer! I developed stomach cramps and my toes felt like someone was jabbing knives between them. I even said no to chocolate that a runner offered us at special needs. I kept telling Trish to go ahead, but she said NO. "Just keep Running". So I'd burp, stretch and try to keep running. The last loop took FOREVER! There were some amazing people out there. Everyone seemed so supportive of each other even this late in the day. Even at this point, I was actually having fun and enjoying the day (even though I was bitching pretty much the whole time now!). Finally we were at the last stretch and still moving. I could not run as much as I wanted but we kept going towards the end. Finally we saw everyone and we just had to go the last leg to the finish. Without a doubt, that was the longest stretch of the entire day! But, there it was... the finish line. Trish and I crossed together. Everyone was cheering and I just wanted to cry, or have a shower or lie down or something. (mostly I wanted and got that massage!) I also wanted to scream that "I had done it".
Thanks to Angie, Trish and of course my husband, my kids and family and all of the EE and Trilife gang. Angie was right, it has changed me. I never had the confidence before to think of myself as an athlete, but now I can say, " I am an Ironman!" and I'm pretty pleased about that!
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