Ironman Coeur d'Alene

Ironman Coeur d'Alene
June 22, 2008
Swim 2.4 miles, Bike 112 miles, Run 26.2 miles
SWIM-1:50:03 BIKE-7:09:57 RUN-5:49:10 OVERALL-15:05:19 RANK-1692/1942 DIV.POS.112/151 –Lucky Bib#1978

Pre-race-
I was pretty excited to be in CDA and the excitement around me was very overwhelmingly but very cool. I am a very nervous swimmer so the cold temps were pretty bothersome. I arrived on Wednesday night and was in the water on Thursday at 55 F temps. It was pretty cold and my arms were freezing at about 50 minutes in but I needed to get my body used to these temps just in case this is what race day was going to provide.

Day of Race-

Swim-
I awoke at 3:15 with room service knocking on the door. The calls at 3am were pretty much ignored. I ate and got all my stuff that I needed for race day in my bag. I was planning on waiting for my husband and Dave and all walk over together but then I started to panic. I headed out the door at 5 and decided I was going to use the time alone to go over my race plan. My plans were to head to the bike area and ensure my bike was ready and then go over to put remaining items in transitions bags. As I entered the bike area I felt really sick to my stomach. I was totally nervous and sick. By the time I got to my bike I was calling Cindy Bigglestone to see if my bike was ok since my wheel cover was rubbing the day before. She gave the A.O.K and I was off to get my stuff in the transition bags. I found Kevin, Dave and Su and we all proceeded to get our wetsuits on. I waited for Dave and Kevin since our family was in the area and then headed on the beach to find Su.

The gun went off and I waited for folks to go in. I jumped in around the middle and proceeded to get beaten up the entire way to the buoy. At one point I thought I was going to drown. People were swimming on me and I couldn’t find any paths to get around the athletes ahead of me since we were so congested. The turn-around point was the worst for me and this tiny pathway to get us thru was never going to end. Once I was through this I stayed to the far right and swam by myself. Round two was much easier since being a slower swimmer has advantages. I started to cramp right before the turn-around which freaked me out. I tried to remain calm and work through it until both legs seemed better. I was extremely nervous because the turn-around point might cause them again since a lot of swimmers were stopping and sighting here. I hated this spot because I drank lots of water in this particular part of the course. Once thru I headed home to the swim finish. …..I am alive.

Those wetsuit strippers are awesome…they had me out of my suit in 2 seconds. Off to the changing tent. I was totally nervous and very anxious and out of nowhere came Char Popp. She was able to calm me down and get me ready for my bike. She was absolutely AMAZING.

Bike-
As I was heading out I saw my co-worker Beth waiving a sign for me. How awesome is that just what I needed to get through the first loop. I saw my coach Jill Fry on the corner with Beth and they cheered me on some more. OMG…I am going to cry. The first loop was great and I did it in about 3 hours and 30 minutes. Starting my second loop I saw my family and it was what I needed to get through the second loop. I stopped at special needs and had one chip. Gross……I didn’t want anything in there so I headed out with nothing. I decided to stick to my liquid nutrition. As I was heading past one of the schools they were playing the song “Bicycle Race” from Queen. How fitting so when I got bored this is what played in my head for the next 30 miles. At mile 90 my shoulders killed and so no more aero for me as I just wanted to get back. My second loop was 3 hours and 39 minutes not too shabby. Off to the changing station and guess who…CHAR. I love her. She helped me get ready for the run and off I go.

Run-
I ran for the first 13.1 one miles and was doing great with only walking while going through the aid stations. I saw my husband Kevin during the one mile turn-a-round. This was the first time I saw him all day. It took until around mile 9 for us to run for about a quarter of a mile and then he was off. He looked good and he was almost done. This was pretty cool. Once I started my second loop I walked to let my stomach settle because the coke had upset it. Once I started walking it was so hard to get going again. So for the next 7 miles it was a walk/kinda run pace.

I began to believe it would be ok to walk because I had lots of time to do so. I decided that it wasn’t ok and I would run again at mile 21 because my family was waiting for me and I wanted to get back. I began to run at mile 21 but at mile 22 started to walk. Some guy behind me grabbed my shoulder and said no honey…we need to keep running. I began to run with him and then he stopped at the next aid station. I continued to run through it since I wasn’t thirsty. I never saw him again but it was ok, because I never stopped running after this point. I practiced many mantra’s like I can do this and so on but the only one going through my head was “I want to see my family and my family at the finish line.” I ran past the house playing the Rocky Song and well this is what I needed to get me through to the end. I saw the Popps and they gave me lots of kudos and I was off to the finish shoot. I couldn’t see anyone since the lights were so bright but I ran towards the right side bleaches and hi-fived all the spectators there. I gave the biggest smile coming over the finish line. I later learned my family was on the left hand side of the bleachers…go figure. I was greeted by my family and told them I would be back shortly…I needed food and a massage. I put my name on the waiting list ate pizza and then said goodbye to my family since it was past everyone’s bedtime.

I went in and grabbed my bike and transition bags and ran into my friend Su. I was extremely happy to see her. Her car and my hotel were next to each other so we walked for a few minutes. I don’t know if she knows this but she was a huge inspiration for me the year before. I came here the year prior to sign up and my friend Scott was cheering her on. So of course our whole group was cheering her on. She didn’t know how to swim 2 years prior to her Ironman but if she could do it than maybe I could too. I met with her soon after last year’s IM and she became my swim buddy the weeks prior to this race. We both swam in water ranging from 57 F to 62F in preparation for the cold race swim. I can swim in the pool just fine but Open Water has always been another beast for me. She always waited for me at each buoy and made sure I was ok. I went from breast-stroke/free-style to free-style come race day and this was definitely because of her.

I have to give kudos to my coach Jill Fry who always supported me and gave me the encouragement to keep going even during the tough times. For that I will always be grateful. She has a team of amazing athletes and a husband who were always so supportive of me. I also have to thank two people who sponsor our team Gentry and Alexie were always very supportive of me and are just amazing people to know. Then there is Greene and McAlpin who were with me when I signed up. Thank you for putting up with my daily questions and always always saying I would do great!

I also owe big thanks to all my friends and family and especially my mom who watched my girls pretty much every weekend while Kevin and I went on long bike rides to prep for this race. I have to also thank my mom-in-law Rita who flew out on one occasion to watch our girls while I went to do my first Olympic distance about a month before the race with my husband Kevin. I owe a big thanks to my kids and my husband who are by far my biggest supporters. I love you Kevin, Koralee and Kylie.
Thanks to everyone including the volunteers on race day who cheered for me until I reached the end.