(a little more on my race is here)
If you have read my blog any time over the 7 weeks leading up to Ironman Florida, you know that just a few days after Kristi McCarthy's death on September 19, this race took on an entirely new meaning. I was Racing Against Drunk Driving in her memory and honor. My initial goal was to raise $1,000, then $5,000, then $7,500, then $10,000, then...well, you get the idea. All in all, we ended up raising $15,000. I thought I was the third highest fundraiser when I arrived in Florida, which would have qualified me for an additional $6,000 donation from Janus to MADD. I was crushed on Thursday when I found out I was in fifth at best (qualifies for a $2,000 donation from Janus) because a few people had been raising money entirely offline so the information I had was not complete. That news ruined my day that day. I was completely bummed and felt like I had let a lot of people down. I woke up Friday though and decided it was time to get over it and that I still ended up raising 15 times the original amount I intended to raise. The only person disappointed in me was me. When it was all said and done, I ended up being the 7th highest fundraiser. I will still get a $750 donation to MADD from Janus, which is better than nothing.
Mom and Mrs. Clark (mom #2) rode with me to Florida Wednesday and Thursday morning. We got to the condo around 10am and were lucky enough to get right in. When Mom saw it and the glorious beach view from the balcony, she said she thought she was going to be juuuuust fine. I must admit, it is by far the best Ironman venue as far as convenience we have bee
n to. Perhaps the prettiest too, just depends on what you call pretty. Idaho was pretty too, but in a different way, and not so great for spectators spending 15 hours in temps that barely hit 60 for the day and ended in the 40s with rain. Dad and Dr. Doug arrived later Thursday night, Jon arrived Friday morning, and Mike, Katie, and Stephanie arrived Friday afternoon. We had a great dinner with 15 people at the condo Friday night.
The water had been almost as smooth as a lake on Thursday and Friday when we were there. Of course Saturday morning when I woke up, the waves and wind had returned. Awesome. That bummed me out too, but it isn't like I was the only one who was going to have a rough swim - all 2500 of us were in for the same thing.
Swim
After the obligatory pictures with Team W and kiss goodbye from Jon I found Robin and we walked into the start corral. I was having deja vu with her as she was a bit weepy (IMAZ '08 ring a bell?) and nervous. I took her hand and focused on calming her down - focusing on someone else's fears always helps me forget mine. Before I knew it, the cannon had gone off and we were running into the water. And running, and running, and running. The sandbars/shallow water made for a lovely entrance. It took forever it seemed to get swimming. The first loop sucked, as expected. It was not quite as bad as IMCDA, but still sucked. The salt water was burning my throat because apparently I drank half the ocean. I really enjoyed trying to swim in ankle deep water on the way back in, then when I stood up apparently the sand bar was almost over and I fell back off into the water again. I am sure we were an awesome sight to see...and make fun of! I got a quick drink of water and "ran" back to start the second loop - as in ran through knee-deep water for what seemed like eternity. The second loop was much harder for me. I could not figure out why at first - I almost missed the crowd and was thinking maybe the draft from the first loop made it seem easier. Since finishing, I have read several accounts of people saying the water had gotten much choppier for the second loop and that definitely makes more sense. I felt like I was making no forward progress whatsoever.
I finally made it back home though and was surprised to see 1:13 on my watch when I hit the beach.
T1
I thought the new transition configuration at IMFL would suck and I was right. We all had to run the entire length of the parking lot twice - first to get into the "change tent" which was a ballroom inside the hotel, then all the way back to where we started to get our bike, which mine was conveniently back at the other end. So I ran the parking three times before getting to my bike. At least my bike was close to the exit though.
Time - 5:43
Bike
As soon as I got on my bike I realized I forgot my number belt. In ironman races, and i
ronman races only, you are required to have a bib number on the bike (usually it is just the run). I completely forgot mine in the mayhem that they called a change tent. I was furious. Jon was right at the bike start taking awesome pictures again and he has a funny chain of pics of me yelling at him that I forgot my number. I got over it after about 20 miles. Every time I would hear a motorcycle come by (the officials ride motorcycles), I panicked and tried to "lay low" - as if that is possible, but I wished I could have just hidden from them! Turns out it wasn't an issue and that they apparently had much larger fish to fry that day - as in drafting like I've never seen before.
I had studied the wind and course map pretty well beforehand so I knew what to expect for the most part, and was pretty spot on with my expectations. I knew I would have a straight headwind from mil
e 23-50 and then after that it should only be 10 more miles total of headwind throughout the rest of the course. Otherwise it would be a cross or tail wind. Special needs came at mile 50 and it actually came surprisingly fast. My average was down to 16.1 mph at this point, but I knew I had tons of tail wind coming, and that was still higher than my 16.0 overall average at IMCDA. I grabbed my second bottle of infinit at special needs and our turn south, out of the wind, came soon after. I was on cloud 9 for the first time after that turn. I was ready to make a move (or more like just not die, but you know). I knew Team W would be at mile 70/77 where there was an out and back. What I did not know is that that 7 miles of road between seeing them would be the worst on the whole ride! It was like I-10 used to be in Louisiana. There were bumps every 3 feet - no lie. I rode as close to the edge as I could without falling off the road but that was taking a lot of mental concentration to do. After I saw Team W again at mile 77 (which, seeing them at 70 and 77 was just awesome - they were going crazy and were easy to spot), I knew I was home free. The road also got better too. I have ridden the course from mile 86 on three times previously as part of another race I have done in the area. I was dreading a 10 mile or so stretch starting at 86 because the surface was so bad. It left me in tears last time I road it because it hurt so bad. Well, we made a turn onto that road, right at mile 86, and I cried again - but this time it was tears of joy! They had repaved the entire thing, it was smooth as butta. Wow. I just had to pedal to stay upright and I let the wind just do its job. 
It was awesome. My average mph was creeping up ever so slightly, just as planned, which was awesome as well. Cathy Modaro came up on me around here too and stayed in ear shot the rest of the way home. It was nice having someone close by! I was so proud of her because she was clearly doing awesome during her first IM. She also told me I was covered in salt and to make sure I was taking care of my nutrition the way I needed to. Ironically I had just looked at myself for the first time before she rode up and decided to pop 2 salt tabs. I never had any problems so I guess I was still on top of things.
Mile 100 marked the first of our last two turns to get home, and also marked the lovely bridge over the intracoastal canal. It actually was not bad at all and my legs still did what I asked of them, so I was still happy. I knew the last 7 miles would be back into the wind, but it is along the beach and there are so many condo buildings on that stretch the wind gets swirly no matter what direction it is coming from. I could not believe my average was up to 16.9 when I made this turn, and I wanted to keep it at that for the last 7 miles. I could feel the wind, but it was not slowing me down too much.
I think miles 109-112 were the three longest miles I have ever ridden - I could not wait to get done. Not necessarily because I was in pain (I was, but not awful), but because I was excited to see everyone and to start running. I was finally back at the Boardwalk and Team W was once again in full force. I thought my bike time was 6:40, but after looking at the results it turns out it was really 6:36 with a 17mph average speed. That is 1mph and 24 minutes faster than I did CDA...I guess those hills really did slow me down there!
T2
This was not nearly as bad as T1. A volunteer took my bike immediately and my transition bag was very close to the entrance to the change tent. The volunteer in the tent helped me quickly change into my pink skirt (note - always wear the pink skirt - it received raving reviews from other racers and spectators alike!), run shoes, etc. I did have a hard time getting my calf sleeves on. I guess my legs were a bit swollen - something I was not expecting. The sunscreen girls did their job on the way out and I was ready to run.
Time - 4:01
Run
This is where the truth comes out: within 24 hours of finishing IMCDA in 13:29, an hour and 10 minute PR, I wanted to finish IMFL in
12:59. I had no idea if I could do it, but that number was in my head. I did not share it with too many people because I was not sure myself if it was possible and I don't want to jinx myself with stuff like that, but at the same time plenty of other people had mentioned that number as well. No pressure. As the race grew nearer, I had less and less confidence in my ability to break 13 hours. I crunched the numbers over and over and they looked impossible. Well, as I was finishing the bike, I thought to myself "oh crap, I swam like I needed to and biked like I needed to, now I have to go freakin' run a sub-5 hour marathon (something I have only done twice, without a swim and bike beforehand) to break 13 hours." No problem. Ugh. Yeah right. Of course I would never know if breaking 13 hours was possible if I did not try, so try I did.
I saw Team W twice in the first few hundred yards of the run and they fired me up and sent me on my way. I had 2:20 in my head for the first half of the marathon which would allow me to do a 2:40 half for the second and still break 13 hours. Sounds easy, right? Not. The first half, maybe so, but the second half of any ironman marathon is a huge wild card. There are no guarantees; nothing is free. I have already forgotten much of the race, but I do know I was having a good time on the run. I saw Houston groups all over the place cheering for us and it was awesome. I learned where everyone was on the first out so I could know where to find them on the first back and the second out and back. Shellie, William, and Randy were just around the first corner, along with Kevin and Jana. Julie Krueger, who I used to ski with, was just past "Girl Zone" on Surf Drive, and a few other Houston fans were further down, around mile 3 or 4. I was able to see all of my speedy friends and encourage them along the way and started to gauge where I thought they might finish.
I was keeping very close to a 10 minute/mile average well into the first loop. I was running 4 minutes/walking 1 minute, and repeating. This was working great and I was not slowing down very much. I finished the first half just under 10:15 pace which put me in a great place going into the second loop. The sun was long gone by the time I got back to "home base" area to begin my second loop. I saw Mike and Katie on one side of the street then saw everyone else after I turned around. I shouted to my mom that I was going for 13 and went on my way. I told Jon and who knows else that I was going for 13 as well. I think the more people I told, the more I would have to stick with it. I was so energized after seeing everyone that I forgot I had wanted to switch to 3/1's at the halfway point.
I do know the smile on my face in Florida was not nearly as big as it was during IMCDA. Everyone at CDA knew I was having a great race because of my smile. I didn't have the energy to smile as much this time around because I was working hard! Jon said later he was never entirely sure how I was feeling because it was not plastered across my face. I guess I was a little more "business" this time! I had to conserve some of that bouncing-off-the-walls energy I had in CDA to pull off a sub-13 hour finish.
The second loop was very very dark, but it was only really a problem in the park. I had my light saber on the whole time and it was fun seeing the other light sabers out there. It was kind of like our own little "secret society" (name that movie!) or something. Somewhere around mile 14 I tried to get my garmin back on track with the mile markers as it has gotten off and when I pressed lap it sang a song and said "race complete." Ughhh no, I had half a marathon left to run! Apparently my new garmin does not work exactly like the old one. So I waited until I saw another mile marker, which was not until 15, to restart my garmin. I did the math there then to figure out what pace I had to run to finish under 13 hours. I knew I was still running hard because I could not for the life of me do math. I had 11 miles left and was trying to figure out of 13 min/mile pace was going to cut it, but 13x11 was just too much math for my head! When I got to mile 16 I had a little better time because I had a nice even number to play with: 10. At this point I knew I needed to maintain a 13:20 pace to finish under 13. I knew I was pretty safe because I was still running around 11-11:30 minute miles. At each mile I did the math again, and each time the pace I needed to maintain got easier and easier. Some miles had easy math, some had hard math. I think the hard ones were probably better for me because it kept my mind off running longer. Jon makes fun of me for doing math on the run, but I know I'm not the only one who does it...triathlon is full of CPAs and engineers...what else are we going to do to stay entertained?
Around mile 21 or so I decided to move to running 2 minutes/walking 1 at a time because I only needed to maintain a 14 minute mile pace or so to finish and I knew I could do that with the 2/1's no problem. I was getting more and more excited the closer I got to the finish, and also getting more and more emotional. It had been a crazy 7 weeks and it was all going to culminate under the bright lights of the finish line, with Team W looking on, and Kristi looking on from above. I knew I was going to make them all proud. When I got to about mile 25.5 I picked up the pace and ran faster and faster and faster. I saw Shellie and their group first, and the smile began to grow. I saw Jon next, going absolutely insane. After that, things were a complete blur. No matter how many times you do it, and you say "next time I will try to soak it all in better," you
never do. I knew more of Team W was in the bleachers and I heard them but I never saw them. I picked it up more and more and felt unbelievable after covering 140.6 miles. I was fighting back the tears as I headed to the finish line. When I crossed, I pointed and looked up to Kristi said thank you.
I managed to run the marathon in 4:48 for an overall finish time of 12:47. Wow. I had 12:50 in my head for most of the last few miles, but anything under 12:59 was just icing on the cake. My last split (6 or so miles) was obviously my slowest, with a 12:15 min/mile pace. The funny thing is before CDA my entire marathon pace in an ironman had never been better than 13+ min/mile.
Jon had apparently bummed a volunteer wristband off someone on a bus during t
he day (smart thinking!) to be able to get back to the finisher area after I finished. The new finish area was not very user-friendly. He got back there very quickly though and I was surprised and relieved to see him. He hopped in for a finisher picture with me and then picked me up and hugged me for what seemed like eternity while I just bawled. Once I got that all out pizza and the rest of Team W were top priority. I got my pizza and headed to the gate to see everyone else. It was very unorganized and hard to get to anyone but we were finally all reunited.
Apparently some of Team W had been testing the Spinnaker out throughout the day, so the rest of us headed that way after I finished. I was not super hungry but I knew everyone else was and it was nice to be able to rehash some of the day with everyone. After we ate Jon and I headed back to the finish area to watch a few more people finish and then we headed back to the condo to hang out with everyone else. I took a bath in the tub in my parent's room - it was a whirpoool. Ahhhh. One of the best baths I have ever taken!
There are so many people to thank I do not know where to start and am afraid I will leave someone out. I will try though...
- thanks to Mom and Dad for being my #1 supporters, no matter what
- thanks to Jon for standing by me through not 1 but 2 ironman races this year. I know it wasn't easy for him and I appreciate it probably more than he will ever know.
- thanks to Mike and Katie for allowing me to share Kristi's story and for helping with RADD
- thanks to all of training partners in Houston, especially the BAM members I met and got to know during their training - they welcomed me with open arms and we shared some great experiences
- thanks to Mrs. Clark, mom #2 for joining us on this trip and always being the first (and sometimes the only) one to send me good luck and congratulations cards in the mail.
- thanks to Dad's best friend, Dr. Doug for coming along for this 3rd Team W experience and for wearing pink for an entire day even though he complains the whole time!!
- thanks to Philip for helping to pimp my ride, and for loaning me his race wheels for the weekend. I think I definitely got the most "nice bike" compliments of anyone else out there.
If you have read my blog any time over the 7 weeks leading up to Ironman Florida, you know that just a few days after Kristi McCarthy's death on September 19, this race took on an entirely new meaning. I was Racing Against Drunk Driving in her memory and honor. My initial goal was to raise $1,000, then $5,000, then $7,500, then $10,000, then...well, you get the idea. All in all, we ended up raising $15,000. I thought I was the third highest fundraiser when I arrived in Florida, which would have qualified me for an additional $6,000 donation from Janus to MADD. I was crushed on Thursday when I found out I was in fifth at best (qualifies for a $2,000 donation from Janus) because a few people had been raising money entirely offline so the information I had was not complete. That news ruined my day that day. I was completely bummed and felt like I had let a lot of people down. I woke up Friday though and decided it was time to get over it and that I still ended up raising 15 times the original amount I intended to raise. The only person disappointed in me was me. When it was all said and done, I ended up being the 7th highest fundraiser. I will still get a $750 donation to MADD from Janus, which is better than nothing.
Mom and Mrs. Clark (mom #2) rode with me to Florida Wednesday and Thursday morning. We got to the condo around 10am and were lucky enough to get right in. When Mom saw it and the glorious beach view from the balcony, she said she thought she was going to be juuuuust fine. I must admit, it is by far the best Ironman venue as far as convenience we have bee
n to. Perhaps the prettiest too, just depends on what you call pretty. Idaho was pretty too, but in a different way, and not so great for spectators spending 15 hours in temps that barely hit 60 for the day and ended in the 40s with rain. Dad and Dr. Doug arrived later Thursday night, Jon arrived Friday morning, and Mike, Katie, and Stephanie arrived Friday afternoon. We had a great dinner with 15 people at the condo Friday night.The water had been almost as smooth as a lake on Thursday and Friday when we were there. Of course Saturday morning when I woke up, the waves and wind had returned. Awesome. That bummed me out too, but it isn't like I was the only one who was going to have a rough swim - all 2500 of us were in for the same thing.
Swim
After the obligatory pictures with Team W and kiss goodbye from Jon I found Robin and we walked into the start corral. I was having deja vu with her as she was a bit weepy (IMAZ '08 ring a bell?) and nervous. I took her hand and focused on calming her down - focusing on someone else's fears always helps me forget mine. Before I knew it, the cannon had gone off and we were running into the water. And running, and running, and running. The sandbars/shallow water made for a lovely entrance. It took forever it seemed to get swimming. The first loop sucked, as expected. It was not quite as bad as IMCDA, but still sucked. The salt water was burning my throat because apparently I drank half the ocean. I really enjoyed trying to swim in ankle deep water on the way back in, then when I stood up apparently the sand bar was almost over and I fell back off into the water again. I am sure we were an awesome sight to see...and make fun of! I got a quick drink of water and "ran" back to start the second loop - as in ran through knee-deep water for what seemed like eternity. The second loop was much harder for me. I could not figure out why at first - I almost missed the crowd and was thinking maybe the draft from the first loop made it seem easier. Since finishing, I have read several accounts of people saying the water had gotten much choppier for the second loop and that definitely makes more sense. I felt like I was making no forward progress whatsoever.
I finally made it back home though and was surprised to see 1:13 on my watch when I hit the beach.
T1
I thought the new transition configuration at IMFL would suck and I was right. We all had to run the entire length of the parking lot twice - first to get into the "change tent" which was a ballroom inside the hotel, then all the way back to where we started to get our bike, which mine was conveniently back at the other end. So I ran the parking three times before getting to my bike. At least my bike was close to the exit though.
Time - 5:43
Bike
As soon as I got on my bike I realized I forgot my number belt. In ironman races, and i
ronman races only, you are required to have a bib number on the bike (usually it is just the run). I completely forgot mine in the mayhem that they called a change tent. I was furious. Jon was right at the bike start taking awesome pictures again and he has a funny chain of pics of me yelling at him that I forgot my number. I got over it after about 20 miles. Every time I would hear a motorcycle come by (the officials ride motorcycles), I panicked and tried to "lay low" - as if that is possible, but I wished I could have just hidden from them! Turns out it wasn't an issue and that they apparently had much larger fish to fry that day - as in drafting like I've never seen before.I had studied the wind and course map pretty well beforehand so I knew what to expect for the most part, and was pretty spot on with my expectations. I knew I would have a straight headwind from mil
e 23-50 and then after that it should only be 10 more miles total of headwind throughout the rest of the course. Otherwise it would be a cross or tail wind. Special needs came at mile 50 and it actually came surprisingly fast. My average was down to 16.1 mph at this point, but I knew I had tons of tail wind coming, and that was still higher than my 16.0 overall average at IMCDA. I grabbed my second bottle of infinit at special needs and our turn south, out of the wind, came soon after. I was on cloud 9 for the first time after that turn. I was ready to make a move (or more like just not die, but you know). I knew Team W would be at mile 70/77 where there was an out and back. What I did not know is that that 7 miles of road between seeing them would be the worst on the whole ride! It was like I-10 used to be in Louisiana. There were bumps every 3 feet - no lie. I rode as close to the edge as I could without falling off the road but that was taking a lot of mental concentration to do. After I saw Team W again at mile 77 (which, seeing them at 70 and 77 was just awesome - they were going crazy and were easy to spot), I knew I was home free. The road also got better too. I have ridden the course from mile 86 on three times previously as part of another race I have done in the area. I was dreading a 10 mile or so stretch starting at 86 because the surface was so bad. It left me in tears last time I road it because it hurt so bad. Well, we made a turn onto that road, right at mile 86, and I cried again - but this time it was tears of joy! They had repaved the entire thing, it was smooth as butta. Wow. I just had to pedal to stay upright and I let the wind just do its job. 
It was awesome. My average mph was creeping up ever so slightly, just as planned, which was awesome as well. Cathy Modaro came up on me around here too and stayed in ear shot the rest of the way home. It was nice having someone close by! I was so proud of her because she was clearly doing awesome during her first IM. She also told me I was covered in salt and to make sure I was taking care of my nutrition the way I needed to. Ironically I had just looked at myself for the first time before she rode up and decided to pop 2 salt tabs. I never had any problems so I guess I was still on top of things.Mile 100 marked the first of our last two turns to get home, and also marked the lovely bridge over the intracoastal canal. It actually was not bad at all and my legs still did what I asked of them, so I was still happy. I knew the last 7 miles would be back into the wind, but it is along the beach and there are so many condo buildings on that stretch the wind gets swirly no matter what direction it is coming from. I could not believe my average was up to 16.9 when I made this turn, and I wanted to keep it at that for the last 7 miles. I could feel the wind, but it was not slowing me down too much.
I think miles 109-112 were the three longest miles I have ever ridden - I could not wait to get done. Not necessarily because I was in pain (I was, but not awful), but because I was excited to see everyone and to start running. I was finally back at the Boardwalk and Team W was once again in full force. I thought my bike time was 6:40, but after looking at the results it turns out it was really 6:36 with a 17mph average speed. That is 1mph and 24 minutes faster than I did CDA...I guess those hills really did slow me down there!
T2
This was not nearly as bad as T1. A volunteer took my bike immediately and my transition bag was very close to the entrance to the change tent. The volunteer in the tent helped me quickly change into my pink skirt (note - always wear the pink skirt - it received raving reviews from other racers and spectators alike!), run shoes, etc. I did have a hard time getting my calf sleeves on. I guess my legs were a bit swollen - something I was not expecting. The sunscreen girls did their job on the way out and I was ready to run.
Time - 4:01
Run
This is where the truth comes out: within 24 hours of finishing IMCDA in 13:29, an hour and 10 minute PR, I wanted to finish IMFL in
12:59. I had no idea if I could do it, but that number was in my head. I did not share it with too many people because I was not sure myself if it was possible and I don't want to jinx myself with stuff like that, but at the same time plenty of other people had mentioned that number as well. No pressure. As the race grew nearer, I had less and less confidence in my ability to break 13 hours. I crunched the numbers over and over and they looked impossible. Well, as I was finishing the bike, I thought to myself "oh crap, I swam like I needed to and biked like I needed to, now I have to go freakin' run a sub-5 hour marathon (something I have only done twice, without a swim and bike beforehand) to break 13 hours." No problem. Ugh. Yeah right. Of course I would never know if breaking 13 hours was possible if I did not try, so try I did.I saw Team W twice in the first few hundred yards of the run and they fired me up and sent me on my way. I had 2:20 in my head for the first half of the marathon which would allow me to do a 2:40 half for the second and still break 13 hours. Sounds easy, right? Not. The first half, maybe so, but the second half of any ironman marathon is a huge wild card. There are no guarantees; nothing is free. I have already forgotten much of the race, but I do know I was having a good time on the run. I saw Houston groups all over the place cheering for us and it was awesome. I learned where everyone was on the first out so I could know where to find them on the first back and the second out and back. Shellie, William, and Randy were just around the first corner, along with Kevin and Jana. Julie Krueger, who I used to ski with, was just past "Girl Zone" on Surf Drive, and a few other Houston fans were further down, around mile 3 or 4. I was able to see all of my speedy friends and encourage them along the way and started to gauge where I thought they might finish.
I was keeping very close to a 10 minute/mile average well into the first loop. I was running 4 minutes/walking 1 minute, and repeating. This was working great and I was not slowing down very much. I finished the first half just under 10:15 pace which put me in a great place going into the second loop. The sun was long gone by the time I got back to "home base" area to begin my second loop. I saw Mike and Katie on one side of the street then saw everyone else after I turned around. I shouted to my mom that I was going for 13 and went on my way. I told Jon and who knows else that I was going for 13 as well. I think the more people I told, the more I would have to stick with it. I was so energized after seeing everyone that I forgot I had wanted to switch to 3/1's at the halfway point.
I do know the smile on my face in Florida was not nearly as big as it was during IMCDA. Everyone at CDA knew I was having a great race because of my smile. I didn't have the energy to smile as much this time around because I was working hard! Jon said later he was never entirely sure how I was feeling because it was not plastered across my face. I guess I was a little more "business" this time! I had to conserve some of that bouncing-off-the-walls energy I had in CDA to pull off a sub-13 hour finish.
The second loop was very very dark, but it was only really a problem in the park. I had my light saber on the whole time and it was fun seeing the other light sabers out there. It was kind of like our own little "secret society" (name that movie!) or something. Somewhere around mile 14 I tried to get my garmin back on track with the mile markers as it has gotten off and when I pressed lap it sang a song and said "race complete." Ughhh no, I had half a marathon left to run! Apparently my new garmin does not work exactly like the old one. So I waited until I saw another mile marker, which was not until 15, to restart my garmin. I did the math there then to figure out what pace I had to run to finish under 13 hours. I knew I was still running hard because I could not for the life of me do math. I had 11 miles left and was trying to figure out of 13 min/mile pace was going to cut it, but 13x11 was just too much math for my head! When I got to mile 16 I had a little better time because I had a nice even number to play with: 10. At this point I knew I needed to maintain a 13:20 pace to finish under 13. I knew I was pretty safe because I was still running around 11-11:30 minute miles. At each mile I did the math again, and each time the pace I needed to maintain got easier and easier. Some miles had easy math, some had hard math. I think the hard ones were probably better for me because it kept my mind off running longer. Jon makes fun of me for doing math on the run, but I know I'm not the only one who does it...triathlon is full of CPAs and engineers...what else are we going to do to stay entertained?
Around mile 21 or so I decided to move to running 2 minutes/walking 1 at a time because I only needed to maintain a 14 minute mile pace or so to finish and I knew I could do that with the 2/1's no problem. I was getting more and more excited the closer I got to the finish, and also getting more and more emotional. It had been a crazy 7 weeks and it was all going to culminate under the bright lights of the finish line, with Team W looking on, and Kristi looking on from above. I knew I was going to make them all proud. When I got to about mile 25.5 I picked up the pace and ran faster and faster and faster. I saw Shellie and their group first, and the smile began to grow. I saw Jon next, going absolutely insane. After that, things were a complete blur. No matter how many times you do it, and you say "next time I will try to soak it all in better," you
never do. I knew more of Team W was in the bleachers and I heard them but I never saw them. I picked it up more and more and felt unbelievable after covering 140.6 miles. I was fighting back the tears as I headed to the finish line. When I crossed, I pointed and looked up to Kristi said thank you.I managed to run the marathon in 4:48 for an overall finish time of 12:47. Wow. I had 12:50 in my head for most of the last few miles, but anything under 12:59 was just icing on the cake. My last split (6 or so miles) was obviously my slowest, with a 12:15 min/mile pace. The funny thing is before CDA my entire marathon pace in an ironman had never been better than 13+ min/mile.
Jon had apparently bummed a volunteer wristband off someone on a bus during t
he day (smart thinking!) to be able to get back to the finisher area after I finished. The new finish area was not very user-friendly. He got back there very quickly though and I was surprised and relieved to see him. He hopped in for a finisher picture with me and then picked me up and hugged me for what seemed like eternity while I just bawled. Once I got that all out pizza and the rest of Team W were top priority. I got my pizza and headed to the gate to see everyone else. It was very unorganized and hard to get to anyone but we were finally all reunited.Apparently some of Team W had been testing the Spinnaker out throughout the day, so the rest of us headed that way after I finished. I was not super hungry but I knew everyone else was and it was nice to be able to rehash some of the day with everyone. After we ate Jon and I headed back to the finish area to watch a few more people finish and then we headed back to the condo to hang out with everyone else. I took a bath in the tub in my parent's room - it was a whirpoool. Ahhhh. One of the best baths I have ever taken!
There are so many people to thank I do not know where to start and am afraid I will leave someone out. I will try though...
- thanks to Mom and Dad for being my #1 supporters, no matter what
- thanks to Jon for standing by me through not 1 but 2 ironman races this year. I know it wasn't easy for him and I appreciate it probably more than he will ever know.
- thanks to Mike and Katie for allowing me to share Kristi's story and for helping with RADD
- thanks to all of training partners in Houston, especially the BAM members I met and got to know during their training - they welcomed me with open arms and we shared some great experiences
- thanks to Mrs. Clark, mom #2 for joining us on this trip and always being the first (and sometimes the only) one to send me good luck and congratulations cards in the mail.
- thanks to Dad's best friend, Dr. Doug for coming along for this 3rd Team W experience and for wearing pink for an entire day even though he complains the whole time!!
- thanks to Philip for helping to pimp my ride, and for loaning me his race wheels for the weekend. I think I definitely got the most "nice bike" compliments of anyone else out there.
Comments
Congrats again on your race and hope you enjoy a nice off season! I think you've earned it with 2 IMs and almost a 2 hour PR set combined.
Now if I could break 13 hours. That would be amazing. I might just need to wear a pink skirt to do that!
Congratulations on the HUGE PR.