Ironman Arizona Race Report

RACE MORNING
I woke up at 4:45am to have breakfast (oatmeal with milk and raisins, banana, gatorade) and left the house at 5:15.  The car ride was pretty calm for me.  I was quiet and not really thinking of much of anything.  Priscilla and Sally in the back seat were hyper as can be.  Mike dropped us off as close as we could get then parked the car.  I dropped off special needs bags and pumped tires on my bike.  Sally came and found me as I was getting body marked and we hugged.  We found the rest of the IMAZ group, then the cheer squad and stood around waiting for the wetsuit dance.  Taking group photos I felt calm and quiet.  I never once though I was about to do an ironman.  The morning felt like the start of any other race.  Maybe that was my secret.  Not ever thinking about doing all 140.6 miles.  More cheerleaders showed up in tears, more pictures and we start moving through the cattle corral.

SWIM
Sally and I approached the swim entrance and I was about to sit down and slide in when she counted to three and said jump, so I did.  There I go, not thinking again.  The water didn't feel nearly as cold as on Saturday.  We slowly moved toward the start line about 200 yards ahead.  I kept in mind that there were still a lot of people getting in the water and if we moved too far forward, we would get stuck in the washing machine.  As we looked up to one of the bridges, the cheer squad with their green wigs and wooden dowels with green pom poms on the end were easy to spot.  We yelled up at them.  As they were frantically waving, I saw Coach Alexis pop over the top.  Then Coach Ryan looked over at us.  Finally Coach Ed's face was staring down at us too.  Sally and I were in disbelief.  We had no idea they were coming and that was the best race present ever.  We were both laughing and crying.  It was a surreal moment.  We did our best to hug in the water with Johanna.  I start thinking:  Man, I’ve got to stop crying.  Salt tears in my goggles will hurt later.  Turn around so they can’t see you.  Wow, this is fantastic.  How many emotions are going through me right now?  Happy? Nervous? Cold? Scared? Excited? Yes, yes, yes.

The cannon fired, and we were off.  This may have been one of the most calm swims I've ever had.  I got bumped a few times, but nothing like the washing machine people have described.  About midway down, I looked over and Sally is swimming right next to me.  We stopped, stared at each other for a second, high fived, then kept on swimming.  It was a single loop swim to the next bridge.  I severely underestimated how far past the bridge I had to go before the turnaround.  I debated on looking at my watch or hitting the lap button but decided that I couldn't do much about it then, so no need to stress.  Finally the bridge, wow.  Ok, just keep swimming.

As soon as I made the turn, I started to get cold.  Enough that I wished I was wearing something warmer.  Geez, thanks Es for making me think about my bare arms.  I tried to focus on my stroke and keep my calves from cramping.  Keep focusing on your swim.  Don’t think about the bike right now.  Stroke.  Remember what Steve told you.  Don’t cross the centerline.  Keep your elbows up.  Keep your head tilted down to breathe.  I kept going all the way back to the dock, and felt fine.  I crawled out of the water and was going to skip the wetsuit strippers, but suddenly they were in front of me, taking off my clothes.  I sat down and they pulled off the wetsuit.  They stood there for a second waiting for me to stand up, but I made them pull me back up since I was kind of tired.

T1
I grabbed my transition bag and headed for the change tent.  It was a nightmare inside.  This is disgusting.  One lady was standing in the doorway literally brushing her hair.  Fruit loop.  Heaters were running, but with all the wet bodies, it was more like a steam room.  I looped around once and found a seat.  I looked up and saw Sally come in to change.  We screamed something at each other, though now, I'm not sure what it was. A volunteer helped me get changed and put on my arm warmers.  I put a bunch of stuff back in my bag and just now am realizing that I just left it there.  It's what I was supposed to do, but wow, I really spaced out there.  Running through all the bike racks, a volunteer grabbed my bike and I was off.

BIKE
Three loops of 37ish miles with lots of wind.  The first 8 or so miles were ok and focusing on my heart rate.  I knew if I blew it then, I would be toast for the rest of the day.  Zone two, zone two, zone two.  Remember the 120 where you blew it going too hard. You have to stay clam and in zone two right now.   As I made it up Beeline toward the turnaround, the incline really began.  It’s a little more than a false flat and picks up even more at the Arizona canal and then again at the turn.  It didn't occur to me that it would be so hard heading up the last few miles and the steepest part of the loop.  I made it up without worrying about my time figuring I'd make up for it on the super fast downhill.  At some point in there Sally passed me and I was really surprised.  I was happy for her having such a good race, but really shocked since I had ridden so strongly through all of our practice rides.  I'm not sure how I managed to do it, but I don’t remember thinking negatively.  I guess all of my mental meltdowns during the practice rides paid off.  I didn't make a conscience decision to think positive, I just forced anything non-productive out of my head.  Tracey, just keep going.  Ok, there’s the turn, oooh, a giant M&M statue.  Oooh, there must be M&Ms here.  What?!  No M&Ms.  Seriously, you’ve got to be kidding me.  Why put up a giant M&M statue and not give them out?  False advertising! 

The way down was fantastic to go fast.  I saw the coaches cheering about 8 miles out and then the rest of the cheer squad further into town.  I made the turn and went back up.  Loop two was decidedly easier on the way out.  I thought for sure my legs had just warmed up and finally I was going as I planned.  Whooo hooo, way to go!  Keep those legs spinning and see what you can do.  This little hill will be yours!  Take it!  I turned at the top of the hill and realized that I was fast because of the tailwind.  The wind had picked up and getting back down was like being on an incline.  Ahh, crap.  Ok, I guess I had to pay for the speed on the way up.  I somehow maintained my positivity.  Loop two in the bag and now just one more to go.  

I headed back up with the tailwind again being thankful for the extra speed.  On the way back down, I passed the coaches again and Alexis told me I had it, no worries about the cutoff, I would make it with plenty of time.  Uh, what do you mean I have plenty of time?  Of course I do.  I planned on finishing at 4:30.  Why would you be telling me I have plenty of time?  Maybe because I’m close to the cutoff?  Oh NO!  Now, here I am thinking I've just flown through this course with plenty of time to have a 15 minute transition leaving me with 7 hours for the marathon since I was walking the whole thing.  For the first time, I look at the clock time and see that I am way behind schedule.  I've made timing charts for the run with my planned times, worst case scenario times, and worse than worst case scenario, absolutely must-do times.  I knew that if I started the run at 5:45 I would have to keep a 14:18 pace to finish before midnight.  I've never kept that quick a pace, even during a 5k.  Well crap.  Guess I better pedal pretty hard right now.   I busted as hard as I could for the last 8 or so miles to give myself whatever cushion I could on the run.  I’ll be walking soon, so there’s plenty of time to recover from this zone 4.  Just push harder!  A 30 minute zone 4 effort later and I’m back to transition.

T2
I dismount, pass off my bike, and grab my bag.  Robin is waiting outside the change tent and I realize I am hyperventilating.  I. Can. Not. Breathe.  There’s Sally behind me.  What is she doing?  I scream something reminiscent of Rocky shouting Adrienne to Sally.  The volunteer helps me change, I load up my pockets with nutrition for the next couple of hours and head off.  Partway through transition I realize I still had on my sunglasses and turned back and threw them at a volunteer asking if she would put them in my bag.  She graciously said yes, and out I went still having trouble breathing.

RUN
Whew, still can't breathe.  I feel like I can only take really shallow breaths. Es Letsche passes me and asked if I was going to hike Kili again with all the crap I had in my jersey.  I told her I would be out there for seven hours and that's a long time needing a lot of food.  She also told me the loop took forever.  Actually, I’m pretty sure she said “fucking forever”.  I saw the signs on the run course that the cheer squad put up and it kept my mind off my breathing.  Sally passes me within the first two miles and I still have no idea how she was behind me.  I saw the sign with all of the pictures of our dogs, didn’t even recognize my own, but did recognize Sally's.  I shouted ahead to her something about Boudreaux her dog.  I crossed the first bridge and see a sign that says something like if you haven't crapped your pants, you're already a winner.  Well, good job me.  No crap=winning.  I grabbed some water from the aid station and kept making my pace.  I turned the alerts off my Garmin and jut hit the lap on my watch at every mile.  I didn't want to see the clock time since I was going as fast as I could and no clock would make me faster.  

As I came toward the cheer squad at the end of the first loop, Mike comes running up to me.  I still don't have my breathing under control and am convinced that I need an inhaler.  I tell him as much and he asks me where mine is.  It's at the house.  (I got an inhaler two winters ago when my lungs hurt while running in the cold.  I used it only occasionally and never in the year of IM training.) I told him to ask around, ask Priscilla, ask Johanna, someone, anyone, get me something so I can breathe.  Mike sprints off with the fear that I will collapse at any moment.

Starting loop two and I finally see the sign with our Triathletes Hiking Kilimanjaro logo on it.  I chuckle again at the winning sign.  I have no desire to eat anything, so I just take water at the aid stations and some coke occasionally.  It's dark now on the loop so I pull out my headlamp to see where I'm going.  I see the coaches at one of the super dark stretches on the back of the loop.  Ed yells at me to turn off the headlamp or I will ruin my photo.  I yell back that I'm doing a fucking marathon right now.  He hugs me and I struggle away knowing that I'm on a tight time crunch.  After the next aid station, my stomach is not happy.  I want to vomit, but there’s really nothing in my stomach.  I stop on the side of the road in a dark patch and try to make myself throw up hoping I would feel better.  No luck.  I just stick with sipping water and coke and sucking on ice.  My fastest half marathon time was around 3:30 while running.  My fastest half marathon while walking was 3:37ish.  I finally look at the clock time when I get to mile 13, and do the math.  I have to do a half marathon faster than I ever have before.  Eh, all right, then, let’s go, let’s hope for a miracle, you never know what’s going to happen.  Something gets into me and I feel like I’m flying.  Nothing really hurts and my legs are moving.  As I pass the 14 mile marker, I think I’m in uncharted territory.  I’ve never run more than 14 miles.  Let’s see what happens now.  I get to the straightaway by the cheer squad and Mike comes running out of the dark with an inhaler.  By now I’m totally fine and have convinced myself it was just nerves.  (Turns out he tracked down a phone number for Johanna, runs to the car, drives to her hotel, gets the inhaler, drives back to the course, parks the car, sprints out onto the course to find me.  What a guy!)  He walks with me for a bit and I tell him I’ll be ok on my own.  I apologize as much as I can and keep going.

As the third loop begins my stomach is now starting to gurgle.  TMI warning:  I’ve been burping and farting my way through the whole marathon.  I stopped for the bathroom twice and just peed.  I fully expected there to be more, but nope.  I see the winning sign again and think I better hit the bathroom again or I may not even be winning when I cross the line.  But if you stop now, you’re wasting time and you just don’t have much to spare.  Gah! What do I do?  Sure enough, glad I did.  I feel a little better.  I’m still sucking on ice and sipping coke.  (I remember hearing a podcast about a fitness test on some bikers who were given a real-sugar sports drink.  They could slosh it in their mouths but they had to spit it out.  Another group was given a fake-sugar drink to slosh.  The real-sugar bikers were able to perform longer because their tongues sent their bodies a message that more energy was on the way before it even hit their stomachs.  The fake-sugar riders didn’t perform as well because their bodies weren’t fooled by simply the sweet taste.)  As my stomach is rebelling more, I simply slosh coke around in my mouth and spit it out convinced that my body will keep moving since it now thinks fuel is on the way.

In the late teens and early 20s of the race I start to think of that runner’s high that people get.  As I ticked off the miles, I kept thinking, hmmm, there’s supposed to be a runners high somewhere in here.  Where is it?  People were also saying you’re almost there.  Usually that’s a terrible thing to hear when you have more than six miles to go which translates to an hour and half more running.  Yep, I AM almost there.  Only six more miles.  I’ve already gone 134 miles today.  Six more is nothing.  Oh, hey, something feels funny on your toe.  Nothing you can do about it now.  Just keep moving.

I see Ed, Ryan and Alexis on the same dark stretch again.  They are pretty loud about me going faster.  Alexis comes up to pace me.  I put my finger up in his face and very forcefully tell him that he can run with me but he has to be quiet.  He agrees and bounds ahead.  Ryan asks me if I want to be an Ironman today.  I say yes.  Alexis looks at me again and very meekly asks if I want to be an Ironman.  I say yes again and he tells me we have to move.  Slowly we pick off another mile.  Alexis again looks as me and very quietly asks me if I want him to pace me.  I snap back “yes, 15 minute miles, now shut it!”  I realize that I have to give Alexis something to do or he will burst.  I swear if he could put his feet in my shoes and move them for me he would have.  I start asking for stuff as we approach an aid station.  He runs ahead shouting to the volunteers COKE, WE NEED COKE.  WATER?  WHO HAS ICE?!  This amuses me more than you know.

Ed and Ryan pop up again and start yelling at me.  They convince me to run down this little hill.  Alexis goes nuts when I pass someone, but in the back of my mind I’m thinking that she isn’t going to finish.  I try to encourage her and tell her to come with me.  But she doesn’t keep up.  (Turns out she crossed at 17:02.  Heartbreaking.)  Alexis keeps trying to get me to run, but my walk pace is nearly the same my run pace so I keep asking Alexis if it’s any faster.  It’s not.

We come to the last bridge crossing about 3 miles from the finish.  I haven’t looked at the time at all.  I see Mike come out of the darkness to walk with me.  Then a few minutes later, Nicolas comes out of the dark.  As we turn onto the last path to the finish, Ed is suddenly with me.  I’m not really talking to anyone, I just keep looking forward.  They all convince me that I have to run.  I still don’t know the time.  Ed starts complaining that he hasn’t run this far in forever and that his feet hurt in his hiking boots.  Really?!  You’re going to complain to me right now?  Seriously?  Shut the F up!  And my toes hurt!  He’s snapping pictures behind me.  Mike and Nicolas are ahead of me.  Alexis is at my side, still pushing me in my run shuffle.  I start handing off all the crap in my pockets and my race belt since it keeps bouncing up and down.

At some point Ryan shows up again (he had taken off ahead to see Sally to the finish line).  So now, I’m slogging along as fast as I can go with this entourage of people “encouraging” me to go faster.  Just keep moving.  I can’t do this race again.  I HAVE to finish today.  I can’t leave Sally to do this all alone.  Everyone is yelling at me.  I’m truly spent.  Wow my legs and lungs are burning.   I start thinking about the finish line area.  I remember the finish at IM Florida where people came in perpendicular to the chute, had to run past it, do a U turn, and then finish.  Where does that last path go?  How far is the chute?  If I don’t finish, it has to be by more than a few seconds.   I’d seen our finish line, but the route to get to it was still uncertain.  I wanted to finish, but I didn’t know how long it would take to get to the line.  Finally I’m at the turn off and heading to the path to the finish.  Thank you I don’t have to loop again.  I’m running out of gas.  I realize where I am in the parking lot.  There’s a course official telling me to hurry.  Ed is looking at his phone.  Alexis is jumping like a crack addict on fire.   Ryan tells me to look ahead, the stoplight is the chute.  I can see the lights but how far away is it?  I can’t run anymore.  Ah, walking, that feels sooo good.   All at once Ed, Ryan, Alexis, Mike and Nicolas scream at me to RUN!  YOU HAVE TO RUN FAST RIGHT NOW.  I think I may have given everyone a heart attack.  Fine, FINE!  If I run, I think I’ll shut them up.  I’m running again.  I make the final left turn into the finish chute and I see the clock, 16:59:16. How far do I have to go?  Remember to savor the moment.  Listen for your name.  Listen for the song.  WOW!  That noise is really loud.  My ears hurt.  How much further?  Keep moving.  Robin will be at the end.  Where is she?  Oh, there’s Rich about to fall out of the stands.  I’m sure the rest of the cheer squad is with him.  Oh my God this hurts.  There’s Robin!  Why is her hair so bright?  I think this is the finish line.  Put your arms up.  What’s your finish line pose?  Oh Robin, I’m so glad to see you.  Yes, that’s a medal around my neck.  CRAP, I can’t breathe.  I need to bend over and catch my breath.  Shit, I AM AN IRONMAN!

Sally comes out of nowhere and hugs me.  I walk through the crowd to see my friends and family all coming toward me.  I head to the fenceline and everyone is crying.  Everyone.  All of the IMAZers were there.  Cheer squad is surrounding me.  Mike tells me I made him an Ironbaby.  Ryan and Ed are telling me they were having a heart attack.  I keep looking for my Mom, find her and hug her.  I take the finish line picture.  I realize that I didn’t even see Mike Reilly in the chute and I missed hearing my name.  I go back to the line, find Mike and grab him in a hug.  I told him I’ve waited a long time to hear him tell me I was an Ironman.  He looked at me in the eyes and said, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN.  I turn to head back and Alexis is next to me again!  Jeez.  What does he want from me now?   He hands me my shirt and hat and says Congratulations.  Thank you Alexis.  For everything.  I look at my too-small shirt, offhandedly say something about it, and off he goes to get me a new one.  He is one persistent little bugger.

POST RACE

I look down at my left shoe fully expecting to see some kind of bloody mess but there’s nothing.  After I get home I take off my shoes and see there’s a blister UNDER the toenail.  I name it Alexis.  My other foot has blood blisters under two toes.  I name them Ed and Ryan.  The Coaches, like my blisters, popped up out of nowhere, were sometimes obnoxious though mostly tolerable, but most importantly reminded me every step of the way they were there until the very end.  Alexis has since fallen off and Ed and Ryan are still purple but hanging on.  I’ve looked forward to a pedicure for a year, but still can’t get one.  Either I have two black nails or one not painted.  It’s ok though.  Everyday I look down and am reminded of what I accomplished.  And every day, for the next 3 to 6 months while Alexis grows back in, I won’t forget his support and encouragement that got me across that finish line.