DIVISION PLACE 62/71 SWIM DIV PLACE 62 SWIM OVR PLACE 1843
SWIM TIME 1:26:44 SWIM 100M PACE 2:17
T1 13:16
BIKE DIV PLACE 69
BIKE OVR PLACE 2119 (I only beat 14 people )
BIKE TIME 8:29:01
BIKE PACE 13.2
T2 8:05
RUN DIV PLACE 50
RUN OVR PLACE 1608
RUN TIME 5:36:22
RUN PACE 12:51
Throw-your-bike-at-me Joanna, Carol Camel and I headed out Thursday night to my parents for an overnight stop on the way to Lake Placid. Upon arrival, we pigged out on Korean food, washed up, got up 6 hours later, and made our way to Placid. As soon as we arrived, we headed straight for registration. Got all my transition/special need bags and then headed back to the our rental on River Road.
At 2, we met up for a Team Z swim. On the way there it absolutely down pours. I see Manu and Joanna take cover in someones car. I think , 'we'll, if they're gonna hop in this random car, so will i'. I hop it, and its EB & Ryan! Haha. THey also were taking cover in the car!
At 2, we met up for a Team Z swim. On the way there it absolutely down pours. I see Manu and Joanna take cover in someones car. I think , 'we'll, if they're gonna hop in this random car, so will i'. I hop it, and its EB & Ryan! Haha. THey also were taking cover in the car!
We took a quick picture, and everyone thought it would be funny to take a photo of me wearing everyone’s goggles.
We swam together down the bouy line in Mirror Lake, which is awesome, you don’t have to sight for the entire swim! We were going at a good pace, then 20 minutes in, Joanna, picks up her head. “Whats up Joanna?” She replies “Uh, I just don’t feel like swimming anymore.” That’s cool, because I didn’t feel like either. She and I bob up and down treading water right where we were.
Chainmaster Helen soon comes upon us and joins in our tea party, soon after followed by EB. We treat water and laugh and chat for a good 30 minutes? while everyone else swims down and bouy lines and back. We wait for anyone on our team so we can pounce on them. I had the grand idea to pounce on Ryan by hiding behind the bouy, which of course he could totally see us underwater, but for some reason, we didn’t even think about that. Anways, Roy comes by, EB tries to drown him, but instead, he sinks her to the bottom of the lake..
Friday, 7.30, mandatory atheletes meeting..
Ok, fast forward. Saturday, my plan is to do a 20 minute bike and 20 minute run. I do my bike and set out for a run. 5 minutes in, I just don’t feel like running anymore, so I turn around and walk back home. Oh well…
Saturday early evening, team comes over for big BBQ. Coach Ed cooked up meat skewers, corn, it was awesome. We had alittle drama at the bbq, but we don’t have to go there. Anways, I was really upset about it, and cried myself to sleep..
Momma Joanna or rather Throw-your-bike-at-me-Joanna made sure everyone in the MTV house was quiet so that I could sleep. I actually thought everyone else went to town and partied, because I didn’t even hear a peep downstairs..
Race morning. Alarm goes off at 4.15. No biggie, I’m used to waking up this early from swim practice. Wash up and pile into Throw-your-bike-at-me-Joanna’s car, with the other girls.. I drop off my bags to special needs, pump up my bike tires, drop off my water bottles and power bars and make sure my bike computer is working.
Head over to Team Z tent. I see Holly Head First and Jerry Curls waking up. These crazies left DC at like 6, drove up all night and slept outside under the tent. Hardcore.
The morning went by so fast.. Even at this point, it still didn’t hit me that Id be moving and moving for the next 17 hours…
We watch the pro women go off. The girls tell me its time for me to put my wetsuit on. Put my cap on, say bye to the girls.. Actualy, it was a pretty sad moment. All these smiley faces from the girls that I trained with all season.. I was hoping to find Annie and walk into the water with her, but couldn’t find her. They send me off, and I walk into the area that are for athletes only. For an instant, I felt really really alone.
My plan was to swim left of the buoys until I get to the turn around, and then swim on the proper side of the swim course. I got this tip from my friend Dang, who I watched last yr. There is a bunch of us hanging off the peer. Apparently my idea of starting at the pier, to swim on the left side of the buoys, was known by many. There were at least 40 people doing the same as me.
I didn’t even hear the gun go off. I kept looking at my watch and shivering, trying to make small talk with the guys around me.. Suddenly, people start swimming. OMG, I guess the race is starting. Ok, 1 lap at a time..
I didn’t get kicked too bad when the gun went off. My plan was to swim along the buoy line so I wouldn’t have to sight, but I was too far left. I didn’t feel like sighting, so I just swam without looking.. After 5 minutes, I picked my head up and I saw some kayakers trying to push the swimmers over to the right, where the buoys were. The swim course is rectangular, and the swim is counter clock wise.. I was soooo far left of the buoys, I was closer to the left buoy line than the right. The kayakers were pushing us right, probably because they were afraid we’d crash into the pro’s swimming on the way back!
I was warned by Dang that the only time he got kicked was the buoy turn, so I was alittle anxious about this. I started to swim closer to the buoy line, so I could be on the proper side. I started getting kicked. Once right in the goggle. Ouch.
I looked at my watch. 17 minutes and I was almost at the last buoy. I quickly calculated, 20 minutes to go up, which would make an 80 minute swim. Which would give me 9 hours on the bike. I had this weird sensation, “hey alisa, you’re gonna make the bike cut-off”.
Nothing too exciting about the rest of the swim. Between laps, you actually get out of the water. I placed a Gatorade at the swim entrance, so that I could take a swig between laps. I was happy my bottle was there, as I get pretty thirsty while swimming.
I was getting into a groove on the 2nd lap and started to enjoy myself. The best feeling is when you are nearing the shore, you actually see the rocks and plants on the ground, and you know your almost done! I get out of the water, and I see Joanna and the girls cheering for me right at the swim exit! Funny thing, is that Joanna said she wasn’t there, she was at the other side of the swim shute. Oh well. I was seeing things..
Looong run to transition. I knew I forgot to pack a towel in my T1 bag, no biggie. But as I put body glide on, I realized, damn, its not sticking to my wet body. Thanks goodness they had a box of Kleenex on the table. I took my time, I didn’t want to be anxious and forget something. My transition was ridiculously long though, 13+ minutes..
Come out of the changing tent. Yey! There is a volunteer with my bike.. I ended up being of the last 300 or so people out of the water, so there were plenty of volunteers to fetch my bike. And off I go, to the leg of the race that I was most worried about. I saw a few Z’s on my way out of the Olympic oval.. The area to get on your bike is really really narrow. I couldn’t imagine having to hop on my bike with a crowd of people. And there is a hugie bump right after you get on your bike, alittle dangerous. I play with my bike computer to set it to viewing distance. Oh crapers. My computer isn’t picking up anything. I’d have NO idea what my average/current speed was, or my distance.. Oh well..
Im riding along and realize, oh man, my neck is totally aching me. I think I swam with my head alittle to high in the water, and it was totally aching me. I took a tylonel hoping it would go away. I’m not really sure what caused it, perhaps I wasn’t as relaxed in the water.. Anwyas.. im biking biking biking.. And a motorcycle/race support vehicle comes up next to me. Uhoh, did I do something wrong. And I see this chick in sunglass and helmet snapping pictures at me. Its EB!!! OMG! I yell out something like ‘hey crazy girl, how did you get a ride?’ We have alittle chat and then another motorcycle comes up to me. Its Chainmaster Helen! She gives me her usually hang signal sign thing, we chat for a bit and they speed off. I saw them probably 4 more times on the course, it was awesome! I felt like a superstar!
My stomach started to get alittle bloated. I had no idea what to do. I was sticking to my nutrition plan. My first (vain) thought was, o man, my stomach is gogin to look huge in my pictures. I layed off the power bars and continued to drink, and that seemed to do the trick.
On every climb, I got passed by so many bikers. But on the 3 or 5? Mile downhill into Keen, I was zooming past a bunch of folks.. A lot of people were sitting up because they were nervous going too fast. Well, thank goodness for the Skyline practice, I tucked in and zoomed down the hills. I saw Annie on the in-and-out, that was cool. I get to the back side of the bike course, the 10 miles of hills. Holy did it go by slowly. I knew that the second lap feel much much harder than the first, so I was trying to take it easy. The hills felt humungous. I didn’t remember the hills being this big when we did the preview ride a few weeks ago. The climbs right after the out and back I think are the toughest. Not that steep, but just long. I ask the other bikers, ‘was that the bears or the cherrys?’ no one knew what I was talking about. I thought it was the end of the hills (I have bad road memory) only to see a sign on the road that said ‘big cherry’ oh, that’s cool, they mark em. The cherry’s aren’t that bad at all… And then come the bears.. I hear a drum in the distance. Over momma bear, over baby bear and I see this huge crowd on the top of poppa bear! It was soo fun seeing all those people, ( I think its Tri-Life) I hardly felt the uphill. Get to the top, and there’s a turn the eventually takes you into town. One more small sorta steepish hill and then I’m cruising down into down. I was SOO excited about getting to Special Needs. I packed Chicken Teriyaki (cooked the night before, then frozen, and put into this cute little cooler I bought just to put in my special needs) and I was soo excited to eat it. (and yes, I did practice this!).. I noticed that on the long training rides, I felt worn out, until I ate a hamburger or chicken sandwich, so I decided that a piece of chicken halfway through the bike would be a good idea. I throw my precious chicken teriyaki into my hugie bento box (thanks Jill!) and a few more power bars and Im off. First lap was about 4 hours and I kept thinking.. awesome, I have just under 5 hours for the next lap.
I ride to the far side of the Olympic oval, over the timing mat, and I hit a big bump and I hear something fall on the ground. Didn’t think much of it at the moment..
Get onto the course, oh man, the wind picked up. There was like zero in the morning, it seemed it was going maybe 5 or 10 miles an hour.. I reach into my bento box for my special chicken.. its not there.. omg. I didn’t close my bento box. My chicken fell out.. I was crushed. Id dropped a lot of stuff on the course that day. One arm warmer, glide, water bottle fell out of the cage.. But I was in denial that my chicken fell out.. I pat down all 3 of my pockets on my jersey ( my mom sewed 2 more pockets in the team z jersey). No chicken. I got over it pretty fast though.
My neck was really hurting at this point. I settled into my aerobars and biked without looking up. I figured, there were no bikers even in sight, and the roads were closed on the right side of the lane, so I’ll just bike without looking..
The out and back felt forever.. I was worried about the last 10 miles of hills, but it hurt about the same as the first loop, which was good, bc I thought it would hurt a lot more..
I pass through Team Z alley, they were screaming so loud, horns blowing like crazy, I felt like a superstar. I yelled back “I’m making the bike cut off!”
Get to transition and I see all the girls there. Our team had volunteered to get the bikes from the racers and rerack them. Later, Carol Camel told me, all 10? or so of the team Z girls that were volunteering stopped working for 20 minutes or so, because they didn’t want to miss me coming in! Camel said “well, knowing my luck, I’l be all the way on the other side of the oval/transition, and you would come in at that moment” Oh man, my friends are awesome.. It was so funny, they were all lined up at the entrance of transition, all screaming at the same time, I had no idea what they were saying. I started screaming, and then I REALLY couldn’t hear what they were saying. Pam grabbed my bike and we had a few seconds of tug-of-war. Hhaa. I didn’t realize that I was supposed to let go and give her my bike, I was so happy to make the bike cut off, I just clutched at my bike and screamed my head off with no sense of what I was supposed to be doing. I wish I had a picture of that. It was sooo funny. I ran to get my T2 bag and change in the tent.
Get my running stuff on and run out onto the course. Sucked down a GU. Oh man, didn’t go down too well. My stomach felt a bit off. This is what I get for making fun of Kim Larson.
Saturday early evening, team comes over for big BBQ. Coach Ed cooked up meat skewers, corn, it was awesome. We had alittle drama at the bbq, but we don’t have to go there. Anways, I was really upset about it, and cried myself to sleep..
Momma Joanna or rather Throw-your-bike-at-me-Joanna made sure everyone in the MTV house was quiet so that I could sleep. I actually thought everyone else went to town and partied, because I didn’t even hear a peep downstairs..
Race morning. Alarm goes off at 4.15. No biggie, I’m used to waking up this early from swim practice. Wash up and pile into Throw-your-bike-at-me-Joanna’s car, with the other girls.. I drop off my bags to special needs, pump up my bike tires, drop off my water bottles and power bars and make sure my bike computer is working.
Head over to Team Z tent. I see Holly Head First and Jerry Curls waking up. These crazies left DC at like 6, drove up all night and slept outside under the tent. Hardcore.
The morning went by so fast.. Even at this point, it still didn’t hit me that Id be moving and moving for the next 17 hours…
We watch the pro women go off. The girls tell me its time for me to put my wetsuit on. Put my cap on, say bye to the girls.. Actualy, it was a pretty sad moment. All these smiley faces from the girls that I trained with all season.. I was hoping to find Annie and walk into the water with her, but couldn’t find her. They send me off, and I walk into the area that are for athletes only. For an instant, I felt really really alone.
My plan was to swim left of the buoys until I get to the turn around, and then swim on the proper side of the swim course. I got this tip from my friend Dang, who I watched last yr. There is a bunch of us hanging off the peer. Apparently my idea of starting at the pier, to swim on the left side of the buoys, was known by many. There were at least 40 people doing the same as me.
I didn’t even hear the gun go off. I kept looking at my watch and shivering, trying to make small talk with the guys around me.. Suddenly, people start swimming. OMG, I guess the race is starting. Ok, 1 lap at a time..
I didn’t get kicked too bad when the gun went off. My plan was to swim along the buoy line so I wouldn’t have to sight, but I was too far left. I didn’t feel like sighting, so I just swam without looking.. After 5 minutes, I picked my head up and I saw some kayakers trying to push the swimmers over to the right, where the buoys were. The swim course is rectangular, and the swim is counter clock wise.. I was soooo far left of the buoys, I was closer to the left buoy line than the right. The kayakers were pushing us right, probably because they were afraid we’d crash into the pro’s swimming on the way back!
I was warned by Dang that the only time he got kicked was the buoy turn, so I was alittle anxious about this. I started to swim closer to the buoy line, so I could be on the proper side. I started getting kicked. Once right in the goggle. Ouch.
I looked at my watch. 17 minutes and I was almost at the last buoy. I quickly calculated, 20 minutes to go up, which would make an 80 minute swim. Which would give me 9 hours on the bike. I had this weird sensation, “hey alisa, you’re gonna make the bike cut-off”.
Nothing too exciting about the rest of the swim. Between laps, you actually get out of the water. I placed a Gatorade at the swim entrance, so that I could take a swig between laps. I was happy my bottle was there, as I get pretty thirsty while swimming.
I was getting into a groove on the 2nd lap and started to enjoy myself. The best feeling is when you are nearing the shore, you actually see the rocks and plants on the ground, and you know your almost done! I get out of the water, and I see Joanna and the girls cheering for me right at the swim exit! Funny thing, is that Joanna said she wasn’t there, she was at the other side of the swim shute. Oh well. I was seeing things..
Looong run to transition. I knew I forgot to pack a towel in my T1 bag, no biggie. But as I put body glide on, I realized, damn, its not sticking to my wet body. Thanks goodness they had a box of Kleenex on the table. I took my time, I didn’t want to be anxious and forget something. My transition was ridiculously long though, 13+ minutes..
Come out of the changing tent. Yey! There is a volunteer with my bike.. I ended up being of the last 300 or so people out of the water, so there were plenty of volunteers to fetch my bike. And off I go, to the leg of the race that I was most worried about. I saw a few Z’s on my way out of the Olympic oval.. The area to get on your bike is really really narrow. I couldn’t imagine having to hop on my bike with a crowd of people. And there is a hugie bump right after you get on your bike, alittle dangerous. I play with my bike computer to set it to viewing distance. Oh crapers. My computer isn’t picking up anything. I’d have NO idea what my average/current speed was, or my distance.. Oh well..
Im riding along and realize, oh man, my neck is totally aching me. I think I swam with my head alittle to high in the water, and it was totally aching me. I took a tylonel hoping it would go away. I’m not really sure what caused it, perhaps I wasn’t as relaxed in the water.. Anwyas.. im biking biking biking.. And a motorcycle/race support vehicle comes up next to me. Uhoh, did I do something wrong. And I see this chick in sunglass and helmet snapping pictures at me. Its EB!!! OMG! I yell out something like ‘hey crazy girl, how did you get a ride?’ We have alittle chat and then another motorcycle comes up to me. Its Chainmaster Helen! She gives me her usually hang signal sign thing, we chat for a bit and they speed off. I saw them probably 4 more times on the course, it was awesome! I felt like a superstar!
My stomach started to get alittle bloated. I had no idea what to do. I was sticking to my nutrition plan. My first (vain) thought was, o man, my stomach is gogin to look huge in my pictures. I layed off the power bars and continued to drink, and that seemed to do the trick.
On every climb, I got passed by so many bikers. But on the 3 or 5? Mile downhill into Keen, I was zooming past a bunch of folks.. A lot of people were sitting up because they were nervous going too fast. Well, thank goodness for the Skyline practice, I tucked in and zoomed down the hills. I saw Annie on the in-and-out, that was cool. I get to the back side of the bike course, the 10 miles of hills. Holy did it go by slowly. I knew that the second lap feel much much harder than the first, so I was trying to take it easy. The hills felt humungous. I didn’t remember the hills being this big when we did the preview ride a few weeks ago. The climbs right after the out and back I think are the toughest. Not that steep, but just long. I ask the other bikers, ‘was that the bears or the cherrys?’ no one knew what I was talking about. I thought it was the end of the hills (I have bad road memory) only to see a sign on the road that said ‘big cherry’ oh, that’s cool, they mark em. The cherry’s aren’t that bad at all… And then come the bears.. I hear a drum in the distance. Over momma bear, over baby bear and I see this huge crowd on the top of poppa bear! It was soo fun seeing all those people, ( I think its Tri-Life) I hardly felt the uphill. Get to the top, and there’s a turn the eventually takes you into town. One more small sorta steepish hill and then I’m cruising down into down. I was SOO excited about getting to Special Needs. I packed Chicken Teriyaki (cooked the night before, then frozen, and put into this cute little cooler I bought just to put in my special needs) and I was soo excited to eat it. (and yes, I did practice this!).. I noticed that on the long training rides, I felt worn out, until I ate a hamburger or chicken sandwich, so I decided that a piece of chicken halfway through the bike would be a good idea. I throw my precious chicken teriyaki into my hugie bento box (thanks Jill!) and a few more power bars and Im off. First lap was about 4 hours and I kept thinking.. awesome, I have just under 5 hours for the next lap.
I ride to the far side of the Olympic oval, over the timing mat, and I hit a big bump and I hear something fall on the ground. Didn’t think much of it at the moment..
Get onto the course, oh man, the wind picked up. There was like zero in the morning, it seemed it was going maybe 5 or 10 miles an hour.. I reach into my bento box for my special chicken.. its not there.. omg. I didn’t close my bento box. My chicken fell out.. I was crushed. Id dropped a lot of stuff on the course that day. One arm warmer, glide, water bottle fell out of the cage.. But I was in denial that my chicken fell out.. I pat down all 3 of my pockets on my jersey ( my mom sewed 2 more pockets in the team z jersey). No chicken. I got over it pretty fast though.
My neck was really hurting at this point. I settled into my aerobars and biked without looking up. I figured, there were no bikers even in sight, and the roads were closed on the right side of the lane, so I’ll just bike without looking..
The out and back felt forever.. I was worried about the last 10 miles of hills, but it hurt about the same as the first loop, which was good, bc I thought it would hurt a lot more..
I pass through Team Z alley, they were screaming so loud, horns blowing like crazy, I felt like a superstar. I yelled back “I’m making the bike cut off!”
Get to transition and I see all the girls there. Our team had volunteered to get the bikes from the racers and rerack them. Later, Carol Camel told me, all 10? or so of the team Z girls that were volunteering stopped working for 20 minutes or so, because they didn’t want to miss me coming in! Camel said “well, knowing my luck, I’l be all the way on the other side of the oval/transition, and you would come in at that moment” Oh man, my friends are awesome.. It was so funny, they were all lined up at the entrance of transition, all screaming at the same time, I had no idea what they were saying. I started screaming, and then I REALLY couldn’t hear what they were saying. Pam grabbed my bike and we had a few seconds of tug-of-war. Hhaa. I didn’t realize that I was supposed to let go and give her my bike, I was so happy to make the bike cut off, I just clutched at my bike and screamed my head off with no sense of what I was supposed to be doing. I wish I had a picture of that. It was sooo funny. I ran to get my T2 bag and change in the tent.
Get my running stuff on and run out onto the course. Sucked down a GU. Oh man, didn’t go down too well. My stomach felt a bit off. This is what I get for making fun of Kim Larson.
Decided to eat stuff on the course, pretzels, chicken broth. I was nervous about this, but ended up being a good move. Man, nutrition at this point in the race is soo tricky. You just don’t train for a whole day of biking and swimming and eating 8 power bars, 10 bottles of Gatorade, who knows what your stomach will be like?!
There are 2 ridiculous hills right near town. I start jogging lightly and I hit the downhill. Most of the people were jogging it slowly, basically putting the brakes on, to avoid tumbling down the hill. I thought back to the Team Z run clinic, of leaning forward, letting the gravity pull you. I remember Ed saying something like , “you’re legs will keep going, you wont fall flat on your face. Think about it, we spend most of our time upright, you’re legs wont give out on you.” So I lean forward and let the hill take me. I ran down the hill so freaking fast. The spectators were shouting, “great pace.” I wanted to shout back, “ I’m not in control of my legs right now!” I prayed that I wouldn’t fall flat on my face, it’s a pretty steep down hill. ..
I pass the horse show grounds, and I knew that I was about to pass our rental, with DJ and Carolyn, Dang and Lisa probably working the aid station. I see them, quick hugs and run along. I couldn’t believe it, but my legs felt great! During the Lake Anna ½ iron, I never got my legs back, and I was worried that id have spaghetti legs for the entire marathon of the ironman. I felt great! I told myself that I would run the first loop (except for the hills) and walk the 2nd. Out and back and back into town.. I see Chris Sexy Legs Wren. I see a couple of girls screaming on the side of the rode, and someone does this cheerleading kick in the air. Omg, its Jenny gun-in-the-bento-box Banks doing cheerleading moves on the side of the road, with Kim I hate Gu larson. It was awesome to see them! proceed into town..
I see the Team Z tent. Holy cow, they were going crazy!! Team Z green on both sides of the run course, I slap everyones hands, im screaming, they’re screaming. It was great! Roy runs with me to special needs, snapping pictures.
Special needs.. Ah.. I put Campbells chicken and rice soup on my special needs bag. It was one of those cans with a soda top pull off thing. I grabbed that and my spoon and I was off again. I walked while I ate my soup, omg, it was soo good. I didn’t want to eat too much to give myself a cramp. The next aid station just happned to be about ¼ away, so I walked through the station eating my soup. The volunteers laughed at me, saying ‘hey, were comes campbells chuncky noodles.’ Well, actually , it was rice. Anywas.. still felt good, and continued to run..
On the way back out of town, I see a small sign that says “No walk zone” and these guys on the side of the road. I walk up that way, and they yell ‘no walk’ and I yell back ‘No fair, it’s a hill!’ I continue to walk and they start screaming even louder. Omg. I better run or they’ll come after me..
Went through town again, past the horse show grounds, and I see this person jumping up and down with a halo. Is it.. is it.. an AngelZ??? Haha, chainmaster HH and EB!! I was soo happy to see them. We chatted and I told them I felt great.. we went out to the turn around, EB told me she left me an ‘inspiration note” that displayed on a megatron thing when you ran through a mat that scanned the chip we had on. It said “1999, there are cute boys ahead, run faster” or something like that. Apparently, a bunch of pepele from Team Z left me inspirational notes, but I think they only allowed 1 per racer, so the others got overwritten. I had about 6 miles left. I wasn’t so much as tired, but just wanted to stop moving. I made a stop through the porto potty. I sat down, and had a weird sensation that I was still moving. I thought about how Jess Adelman, the year before, fell out of the porto potty with her shorts down. And had a chuckle. Off again, running with EB & HH. They encouraged me to run when I could. Thank goodness, bc I would have been on the run course for another hour, mentally, I just didn’t feel like running, even though my legs felt relatively good. We chatted, we laughed. We come upon a girl that just started walking. EB says, “hey, u wanna run w us?” and I think that’s just what she needed. She picked it up and chatted with us. Apparently, shes Chainmasters’ twin. They have the same name, and are both getting married next month.
I had a good time for the remainder of the run. We laughed, walked the hills, ran/shuffled into town. I was soo grateful to have EB & HH running with me. While the other runners were suffering for their last miles, we were gossiping and laughing, just like our training runs and bikes. It was great..
I see the sign again “No walk zone” this time its unmanned. Whew. And I see another sign 5 feet after, “Proceed to walk zone” hahha..
Back through Team Z alley. Tons of screaming. I felt like I was famous or something. My new friend, Helen, was shocked at all the people screaming for me. Haha..
EB & HH drop me off, to do the out and back, before the finish, on my own. EB said, its somewhat of a personal time. And its true. Its like.. the corner just before you realize its ALL done. Just before you become an ironman. Helen and I walk to the end of the out and back, and she says ‘its kind of my dream to run the last mile’ ok I say, lets do it. and we do. Back to transition, around the oval, and I hear people at the finish line screaming..
I let her run in first, and then its my turn! I throw my arms in the air and scream as loud as I can! A volunteer leads me through the chute. I see a video camera there, and who’s behind it, Coach Ed! I give him a hugie hugie hug. Roy is there taking shots too, give him a hugie hug. How the heck did they get back there!? I was just thinking of pizza, and what do you know, there is pizza for the finishers. I sit down with the girls, pamzee, camel, EB, HH, manu, and the rumseys for some pizza. Get a quick massage, which was more like a rubbing.. stiff legs.. Joanna gets me back to the car, back to our rental house.. and I sleep soundly…
I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, and I hear dang and lisa shuffling around in their room. Rachel, there 10 month old, was screaming all night and they decide to leave (its 5am) so to not wake up the house. I sleep in their bed (its king!)..
I awake the next morning to EB’s smiling face and carol? Joannas? Worried face. They were looking all over for me that morning, bc I wasn’t in my bed.. as promised, EB was over at 7am, to come with me to buy some finishers gear.. We went down and arrived just as it opened. I spent $450 worth of finishers gear, yap, the same price as signing up for next yr, but this was much better spent.
We get back and then Joanna, pamzee, camel and I head back home.. what a weekend..
It ended up that while joanna was volunteering, one of the racers just threw his bike at her, it cut up her leg, and she had to go to medical tent to get stitches! She was limping for the rest of the weekend. we both were walking around like gimps on Monday.
So now its Thursday, 4 days later. Its been a busy week, and it hasn’t quite sunk in. I’m an ironman! All that training in the past yr, paid off. Trust in the training, that’s what Coach Ed said. And he was totally right..
Will I ever do another Ironman? I doubt it. I had a perfect perfect day. My friends that I trained with, were all out there. They ran with me, encouraged me, laughed with me. The weather was fantastic, and I felt great for the whole race.
When I looked back at the results. There were only 14 finishers than biked slower than me. Haha. oh well. Im not much of a climber. But, I’m still an IRONMAN!
There are 2 ridiculous hills right near town. I start jogging lightly and I hit the downhill. Most of the people were jogging it slowly, basically putting the brakes on, to avoid tumbling down the hill. I thought back to the Team Z run clinic, of leaning forward, letting the gravity pull you. I remember Ed saying something like , “you’re legs will keep going, you wont fall flat on your face. Think about it, we spend most of our time upright, you’re legs wont give out on you.” So I lean forward and let the hill take me. I ran down the hill so freaking fast. The spectators were shouting, “great pace.” I wanted to shout back, “ I’m not in control of my legs right now!” I prayed that I wouldn’t fall flat on my face, it’s a pretty steep down hill. ..
I pass the horse show grounds, and I knew that I was about to pass our rental, with DJ and Carolyn, Dang and Lisa probably working the aid station. I see them, quick hugs and run along. I couldn’t believe it, but my legs felt great! During the Lake Anna ½ iron, I never got my legs back, and I was worried that id have spaghetti legs for the entire marathon of the ironman. I felt great! I told myself that I would run the first loop (except for the hills) and walk the 2nd. Out and back and back into town.. I see Chris Sexy Legs Wren. I see a couple of girls screaming on the side of the rode, and someone does this cheerleading kick in the air. Omg, its Jenny gun-in-the-bento-box Banks doing cheerleading moves on the side of the road, with Kim I hate Gu larson. It was awesome to see them! proceed into town..
I see the Team Z tent. Holy cow, they were going crazy!! Team Z green on both sides of the run course, I slap everyones hands, im screaming, they’re screaming. It was great! Roy runs with me to special needs, snapping pictures.
Special needs.. Ah.. I put Campbells chicken and rice soup on my special needs bag. It was one of those cans with a soda top pull off thing. I grabbed that and my spoon and I was off again. I walked while I ate my soup, omg, it was soo good. I didn’t want to eat too much to give myself a cramp. The next aid station just happned to be about ¼ away, so I walked through the station eating my soup. The volunteers laughed at me, saying ‘hey, were comes campbells chuncky noodles.’ Well, actually , it was rice. Anywas.. still felt good, and continued to run..
On the way back out of town, I see a small sign that says “No walk zone” and these guys on the side of the road. I walk up that way, and they yell ‘no walk’ and I yell back ‘No fair, it’s a hill!’ I continue to walk and they start screaming even louder. Omg. I better run or they’ll come after me..
Went through town again, past the horse show grounds, and I see this person jumping up and down with a halo. Is it.. is it.. an AngelZ??? Haha, chainmaster HH and EB!! I was soo happy to see them. We chatted and I told them I felt great.. we went out to the turn around, EB told me she left me an ‘inspiration note” that displayed on a megatron thing when you ran through a mat that scanned the chip we had on. It said “1999, there are cute boys ahead, run faster” or something like that. Apparently, a bunch of pepele from Team Z left me inspirational notes, but I think they only allowed 1 per racer, so the others got overwritten. I had about 6 miles left. I wasn’t so much as tired, but just wanted to stop moving. I made a stop through the porto potty. I sat down, and had a weird sensation that I was still moving. I thought about how Jess Adelman, the year before, fell out of the porto potty with her shorts down. And had a chuckle. Off again, running with EB & HH. They encouraged me to run when I could. Thank goodness, bc I would have been on the run course for another hour, mentally, I just didn’t feel like running, even though my legs felt relatively good. We chatted, we laughed. We come upon a girl that just started walking. EB says, “hey, u wanna run w us?” and I think that’s just what she needed. She picked it up and chatted with us. Apparently, shes Chainmasters’ twin. They have the same name, and are both getting married next month.
I had a good time for the remainder of the run. We laughed, walked the hills, ran/shuffled into town. I was soo grateful to have EB & HH running with me. While the other runners were suffering for their last miles, we were gossiping and laughing, just like our training runs and bikes. It was great..
I see the sign again “No walk zone” this time its unmanned. Whew. And I see another sign 5 feet after, “Proceed to walk zone” hahha..
Back through Team Z alley. Tons of screaming. I felt like I was famous or something. My new friend, Helen, was shocked at all the people screaming for me. Haha..
EB & HH drop me off, to do the out and back, before the finish, on my own. EB said, its somewhat of a personal time. And its true. Its like.. the corner just before you realize its ALL done. Just before you become an ironman. Helen and I walk to the end of the out and back, and she says ‘its kind of my dream to run the last mile’ ok I say, lets do it. and we do. Back to transition, around the oval, and I hear people at the finish line screaming..
I let her run in first, and then its my turn! I throw my arms in the air and scream as loud as I can! A volunteer leads me through the chute. I see a video camera there, and who’s behind it, Coach Ed! I give him a hugie hugie hug. Roy is there taking shots too, give him a hugie hug. How the heck did they get back there!? I was just thinking of pizza, and what do you know, there is pizza for the finishers. I sit down with the girls, pamzee, camel, EB, HH, manu, and the rumseys for some pizza. Get a quick massage, which was more like a rubbing.. stiff legs.. Joanna gets me back to the car, back to our rental house.. and I sleep soundly…
I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, and I hear dang and lisa shuffling around in their room. Rachel, there 10 month old, was screaming all night and they decide to leave (its 5am) so to not wake up the house. I sleep in their bed (its king!)..
I awake the next morning to EB’s smiling face and carol? Joannas? Worried face. They were looking all over for me that morning, bc I wasn’t in my bed.. as promised, EB was over at 7am, to come with me to buy some finishers gear.. We went down and arrived just as it opened. I spent $450 worth of finishers gear, yap, the same price as signing up for next yr, but this was much better spent.
We get back and then Joanna, pamzee, camel and I head back home.. what a weekend..
It ended up that while joanna was volunteering, one of the racers just threw his bike at her, it cut up her leg, and she had to go to medical tent to get stitches! She was limping for the rest of the weekend. we both were walking around like gimps on Monday.
So now its Thursday, 4 days later. Its been a busy week, and it hasn’t quite sunk in. I’m an ironman! All that training in the past yr, paid off. Trust in the training, that’s what Coach Ed said. And he was totally right..
Will I ever do another Ironman? I doubt it. I had a perfect perfect day. My friends that I trained with, were all out there. They ran with me, encouraged me, laughed with me. The weather was fantastic, and I felt great for the whole race.
When I looked back at the results. There were only 14 finishers than biked slower than me. Haha. oh well. Im not much of a climber. But, I’m still an IRONMAN!
