a tale of two stories

I’ve been debating how to blog about Sunday’s experience completing my first ironman. Over the course of 12 hours, a lot of different things happened to me. Some were scary, some were funny, and some were just interesting. I’ve decided on writing two stories for each significant portion. This will force me to be much briefer than I otherwise would.

Pre-race:
1. During the race expo, a friend of mine was having her bike worked on by an absolutely brilliant mechanic. Since I know relatively little about bikes, I mentioned that I ought to have him check mine out too. He agreed and told us to go have lunch and he’d have everything ready by the time we got back. Upon our return, he informed me that my impending doom had been averted. A nut had come off of my rear brake and could have left me without that very useful device. He also made “several minor adjustments”. What he did not say is that he added rocket fuel to my pedals. More to come on this later. Stay tuned.
2. As my last post stated, I was getting a case of nerves going. Well, a couple days after I wrote that, I calmed down and everything went back to normal. I was sleeping fine, eating well, and in general just relaxed about the whole race. Then came the drive from the expo to the hotel. It was one of those images that will be burned into my memory for a long time. I was making a left had turn on to Blair Street, the light had just turned green, my foot hadn’t hit the gas pedal yet, the song on the radio had just ended, and my stomach just went apeshit. For the rest of the night I would try to deny the fact that I was scared but that didn’t happen. I slept for maybe 4 hours that night and when I woke up, I thought I was going to puke. Zack dropped me off at the start and I headed down to the water. While we were waiting to get in, the sun rose over the lake and reminded me of watching the sunset at the lake. Suddenly, all was right in the world. It was gametime.

Swim:
1. When 2400 people all start swimming the same direction at the same time, chaos is the rule of the moment. I was kicked, gouged, horse collared, dunked, and splashed. Nothing compares to what I did to a fellow triathlete. We had just rounded the second corner and I my right hand was spearing the water. Just before my fingertips penetrated the surface, I made contact with a different surface. Teeth. And the inside of a cheek. My sentiments of disgust were only surpassed by how badly I felt for owner of the mouth that I had just gouged with the full force of my swim stroke.
2. I never understood why people wear speedos under their wetsuits. The wetsuit is going to compress everything down and cover it with smoothskin anyways. I don’t own any speedos and I don’t ever intend to so I wore my Hawaiian board shorts underneath. I got more than one “did you see that guy?” on the way into the changing area. I was amused.

Bike:
1. After the first transition (T1), I waved to Michael and Suzanne, ungracefully jumped on my bike and rode off. I arrived in Verona, where the bike loop starts a mere 40 minutes later. Oh crap. WAY too fast. That was supposed to take an hour. I tried to focus on conserving energy but whatever Darren, the magician mechanic, did to my bike, it just wanted to go. Even when it was brand new, that bike has never ridden so smoothly. I ended up finishing the bike section 45 minutes faster than I had planned. Wow.
2. I heard some version of the phrase “how are you liking the ironman without aerobars? Are you nuts?” at least 5 times from various bikers. I took that as a compliment. And the last two that said it, I passed.

Run:
1. The run portion of the race was incredible. Lots of fan support and lots of aid stations (I stopped at every single one). At approximately mile 6, I met up with Ilya Signayevsky (if anyone out there knows him, put him in touch with me or leave a comment). For 20 miles, we chatted and kept our minds off of the grind of knocking down each mile. I’d like to say I dragged him through the rough parts as much as he dragged me, but I don’t think that’s the case. And when Michael and Hebs joined in the run, it was like we were just out on the lake front path enjoying the day. Beautiful scenery, cool breeze, water crashing in, legs about to fall off…
2. My fan club was amazing. Mom, Dad, Michael, Suzanne, Hebs, Zack, Todd, Shane, Jen, Lauren, the three hot Illini girls that got louder every time I passed them and demanded high fives, the people on the Tour de France tunnel going up those murderous hills. When I’m breaking down and my head starts to drop, I feed off of their energy. A run with a crowd is immediately two miles shorter than when you’re by yourself. Between my crew and my illini triathlon jersey, I had 100 friends up there.

Finish:
Only one story. Early in the run, I had asked a favor of my support crew. I wanted them to make sure Mom was 20 feet from the finish line so I could cross with her. They did an exceptional job of putting her right where she needed to be, which, in that large of a crowd of spectators, was not an easy thing to accomplish, I’m sure. Thanks guys.

Pictures: Zack’s and the Jeschke’s