So my road to Ironman CDA 2009 was pretty crazy and not typical of the training of what you would normally do for an Ironman race. I showed up in Couer d'Alene last Friday out of Ironman racing shape, overweight by my standards, and very nervous about the race that was in front of me. I had originally just planned to do this as a training race for Kona in October, and if I was able to just get through this Ironman distance swim and bike I would be happy.
So I Woke up Sunday (race day) morning at 4:30AM....Had to get some breakfast in my tummy, but it was so hard to scarf down food that early in the morning. Was able to choke down a muffin, a couple banana's, and a yogurt drink. Got to the R2/Burnham house on Lake Shore Blvd that was 2 blocks from the race. Got set up and body marked in transition and then went back to the R2/Burnham house to use the bathroom and put on my wetsuit in a warm cozy house. R2, Cindy, Chris, Larry, and I then made our way down to race start just after taking a few pictures together.
We got down to the race start and tried to stay calm and focused about what we were getting ourselves into. I knew race start was getting close, but the cannon going off really caught me by suprise.
The swim was chaotic, typical of any Ironman start with 2000 people. Very windy and choppy water conditions. Kicked in the face once or twice, puked in the water, seemed to ingest a lot of boat gasoline. Was happy to move on from the swim....
Bike was windy, and kept my heart rate down at about 75% Max HR for probably about 90% of the 112 Miles. Used the down hills to my advantage, sped downhill really fast to help me get up the next hill. Could have completely gone faster, but tried save my energy for the run. Saw my cheering CDA crew cheering section of Monte, Julie, Varrick, Braden, Jennie, Tony and Kids, Danielle, Clay and Kids at Couer d'Alene High School. Amazingly they stayed around and cheered people on for over 6 hours. I also saw the R2/Burnham/Mike D. cheering section all over the bike and run course, you have no idea how awesome it is to have folks waiting for you "just around the bend". It makes you feel like a rockstar!!
Overall I passed over 327 people on the bike. Not bad, but last time I did IMCDA I passed exactly 800 people on the bike. On to the run....
I started the run feeling better than normal. Probably due to the fact that I had a few Advil and I took it easy on the bike. I made a quick side trip to my car parked at the Burnham/R2 Tri House to call my Dad to wish him a Happy Father's Day during the race. I also gave my girlfriend Jillian a quick call to tell her I actually decided to go on with the entire race. Remember I originally just planned to do the swim and bike. She didnt make this trip with me to CDA, because she was recovering from surgery at home but she was tracking me on the internet. Everyone was wondering what in the "tarnation" I was doing, and I think it confused them a little bit. But I just had to connect with my loved ones. Anyway, onward for the next 26 miles to the rest of the run. That's when it started to rain and pour and freeze! I stayed warm with layers of clothing, but when you are wet it gets almost bone chilling.
I was running pretty well up until mile 18 of the run and then had to start walking...I saw my "CDA crew" (friends from college) all over the run course on the out and back near the CDA Marina. Also got passed up by one of my fraternity brothers, Jeremey Wallace, who in his first Ironman finished in under 11hrs!! (Way to go J-Dub!!!) Anyhow, the last 8 miles were pretty slow as I turned it in to more of a walk/run...I ate cookies and drank gatorade/cola and warm chicken broth to keep me warm and feed the calories I was burning off. At this time I was wanting to break 14 hrs and night time was settling in. Just before I turned on to Sherman avenue I saw my old frat bro and Seattle roomate Chad Murray who was volunteering for the race. He gave me a hug and congratulated me on just about finishing. I wish I had more time to catch up with him, but at this point I was literally 3 minutes from finishing the race.
I sprinted down Sherman avenue to the finish line to only finish in 14:00:09, literally 9 seconds from getting it under 14hrs. I should have been happy for completing the race, but instead I was pissed about those 9 seconds. I was pretty emotional at that point, tears running down my face, and race volunteers were asking if I was OK. After about 5 minutes of feeling sorry for myself, I wised up a bit and realized that I still had accomplished a pretty spectacular feet in just finishing the race. So after that sobering up, looking on the bright side of things I immediately felt better about all that had transpired in the 140.6 miles in 14hour previous.
The next day and week since the race have been miserable. Sore joints and muscles, feeling a cold/flu coming on....man as Toby Keith say in one of his songs "I ain't as good as I once was". I am feeling old! Hope I recover quickly!
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