Busy As a Bee

I took a week off after Ironman last week.  The first couple of days were pure bliss!  I was still in my glorious Ironman haze, laying on the couch and catching up on TV shows.  But after a few days I was going a little insane.  I did miss the training, but I didn’t realize until this week that I really just missed being busy.  I had a focus, a goal and I love working hard toward meeting my goals.  So now it’s time to refocus and set new goals.  Here are some I had in mind:  Improve cycling strength/climbing hills and cook good healthy homemade dishes more often.  I think this is a good start!

Ironman Texas 2014 Race Report

I’m never really that nervous going into races, but that was not the case with IMTX.  I had a really bad saddle sore and I hadn’t ridden my bike in over a week and I was worried.  A couple of weeks before I had ridden 100 miles and was in a lot of pain, there was no way I could have ran after than ride.  So I was definitely worried about the bike.  I started feeling really nervous and nauseous on Monday.

Thursday
By Thursday my nerves had calmed a bit because I had been so busy with work and packing.  John and I headed down to The Woodlands that morning and we went straight to packet pick-up, where I was greeted by Becky.  It was nice to see a familiar face!  After I picked up my packet and shopped in the store we saw Kasey.  Again I was happy to see a familiar face.  We decided to stay for the next athlete briefing and then we went to eat at Grimaldi’s.   The pizza was excellent!  I enjoyed wearing around my IMTX backpack and really tried to enjoy the whole experience.  Then we went to check into the hotel and freshen up before the Welcome Dinner.  The Welcome Dinner was awesome, I was super pumped!  I had already packed my gear in separate bags, so when we got back to the hotel I transferred everything to the IM gear bags.   Having everything already packed and separated was so helpful.  Then before going to bed I packed the practice gear I would need for the next day and set everything aside.

Friday

We woke up around 7:00 a.m., ate breakfast and headed to the swim practice.  I had a pretty good feeling that the swim would be wetsuit legal but I decided to do the practice swim without a wetsuit just in case it wasn’t.  We trekked a mile to the swim start where again I saw Kasey and we got into the water together.  The water was COLD!  We treaded water for a while and I was finally able to swim. It was windy and the lake was choppy especially heading out.   The swim practice was very unorganized, people were swimming every direction.  I didn’t want to risk getting kicked in the face and the wind was making the swim harder so I decided to swim around the first buoy and back to shore.  I felt good and was not that nervous about the swim.  We headed back to the car to get my bike and bags for gear bag check-in.  When I got my bike out of the trunk John noticed that my tires were in bad shape.  We walked the bike to transition where I got someone to look at them and I was promptly told to go back to the expo and get new tires.  So away we went.  Once we got to the bike tech tent I decided to get new tires and a race day tune-up.  We were told that it would take about 1.5 hours so we decided to go to a coffee shop and relax.  There were no other issues with the bike, thank goodness and I went back to transition.  We headed back to the hotel and waited on my family to arrive.  Then my mother, father, John and I went to meet the NET group at Jason’s Deli at 5:30pm.  At this point I was starting to get a little nervous, but mainly I was excited! 

Race Day

I woke up at 4:00 a.m., showered and made a peanut butter bagel.  I even carried my own toaster.  I had been feeling nauseated in the mornings due to sinus drainage and I tried my best to eat the bagel, but I only ended up eating about half of it.  We left the hotel at 5:00 a.m. and headed to transition.  I put my water bottles on my bike, aired up my tires, and put my tracker in my bike gear bag.  John walked back to the car to put up my air pump and then we headed up to the swim.  I got to the swim, got in the bathroom line, and got body marked.  John and I had set a meeting place by one of the Budget trucks and when I got there Andrea had found him.  I was excited to see her and we chatted while I got into my wetsuit. 

Swim

YES, it was wetsuit legal!  I wasn’t really that nervous I just wanted to make sure I didn’t get a tooth knocked out.  I looked for other NET racers but didn’t see any so I decided to go ahead and get in the water.  I saw an open spot on a dock and paddled to it.  I waited there until the cannon went off.  Then off I went, I didn’t hesitate a moment.  I was able to get into a good rhythm right away, and then I got knocked upside my head by a guy with a snorkel.  I got a little tickled and thought to myself, what a wus!  I was surrounded by guys most of the time and I seemed to be holding my own and even catching some.  I got to the first turn quickly and second turn quickly.  But it took forever to get to the turn into the canal.  I sighted well the entire swim but I got a little annoyed at all the guys that were zigzagging all over the course.  Once I got to the canal I didn’t sight as much because I could judge where I was when a breathed.  When I got to the canal I started catching some guys and getting kicked in the stomach.  Everyone was swimming so vigorously in the canal; I thought we may be getting close to the cut off time.  But I decided to keep my slow, steady pace.  For some reason my lower back and hip were hurting and I could tell that despite the Body Glide the Velcro on my wetsuit was chaffing my neck.  Becky had told me to take the swim steady and easy because she wanted me to be fresh coming out of the water.  As I was swimming, I kept thinking, “How can someone be fresh after swimming 2.4 miles with 2800 people in a lake?”   I finally made it to the steps and ran to get my wetsuit stripped, I actually felt really fresh.  After I got my wetsuit off I remember to push my Garmin and I noticed that my swim time was around 1:42!  Holy smokes, that was a great swim for me and I felt really good.  On the way to transition I saw my NET team and they were cheering like crazy, I was very pleased with my swim performance.  Altogether, this is probably my best open water swim performance ever.  I sighted good, never panicked, and never stopped.

T1:

I picked up my gear back, went into the tent and a volunteer immediately took over for me.  I was blown away, she got out everything I needed and even put my bike jersey on me.  Then, she put all my swim gear up for me; I loved the first class service.  I was sitting beside another woman who asked what our swim time was, I told her around 1:42 and she acted so disappointed.  I was shocked and I left her sitting there worrying about the swim while I ran to get my bike. 

Bike:

I could tell that I was really congested and I blew out some really good snot rockets the first 25 miles.  I also felt nauseated.  People were passing me like crazy; I’m not used to that because I’m a slow swimmer.  I thought, “Wow, my swim must have been pretty good!”  At about mile 25 I started to feel better and started to get a little emotional when I thought about seeing my family on the run course.  At this point I knew that I was going to be an Ironman.  I felt really good until about mile 50 then I started to feel nauseated again.  I made sure that I drank and/or took in nutrition every 10 minutes.  I had lost 2 bottles and I was running low, I knew that our special needs bags were available at mile 60 but I didn’t need it, I just needed more Perform and water.  At mile 70 I stopped and got 4 bottles, at this point I didn’t want to eat anything but I was still forcing myself to drink Perform and water.  The course, wind, and road conditions were starting to take their toll on me and I was ready to get off the bike.  My shoulders and back were hurting and I was so nauseated.  My nose was still running, by now it was just a continuous annoying drip.  I met a really nice guy, Tim, who had completed the race last year and he said he had met a girl from our team.  We kept leap frogging and chatting with him helped to take my mind off how miserable I felt.  Sometime between miles 70 and 80 I noticed that my rear brakes were making a terrible screeching noise.  But I did not want to have a mechanical problem after I had come that far.  Everything seemed fine as long as I didn’t use the rear brakes so I pushed on.  (Come to find out I had forgotten to close one of the bottles of Perform and it had splashed out and got my brakes really sticky.)  At mile 90 I stopped again for about 5 minutes to just get off the bike and stretch a little.  I did not want to get back on!  I stopped again at mile 105 to try to throw-up, but nothing happened.  I wasn’t at an aid station but a volunteer was near, he walked up and asked if I needed to call someone.  I told him no and gave him a dirty look.  He promptly left me and walked back to his station.  I had read Micah Bobo’s race report from last year and I was looking forward to peeing on the bike.  Don’t ask me why, but not stopping to pee and just letting it rip seemed hardcore!  At this point I hadn’t even had the urge to pee although I had been drinking something every 10 minutes.  I was a little concerned, but I wasn’t quitting.  The bike ride finally came to an end. 

T2:

Holy crap, I felt like sh** and I still had to complete a marathon!  My volunteer again was so nice.  I kept asking her for Cola but all they had was water.  She got my at least 4 cups of water.  I used some of it to wet a towel and wipe the crusty sweat off.  She had flown down from somewhere up north just to volunteer because she wanted to do the race next year.  Talking to her helped me take my mind off my own misery.

Run:

After I got everything set I walked out of transition and tried to run.  It wasn’t happening; it took me 16-17 minutes to get to mile 1 and the first aid station.  I walked through the aid station and tried to take in Cola and water but I was nauseated and it took a while to get it down.   Also, my left ear was feeling weird; it was like it was full of water. I decided to stop at a porta potty to try to make something, anything happen so that I would feel better.  Well, nothing happened, bathroom wise it was turning out to be a very uneventful day.  There were people that were on their 2^nd lap already, I was so jealous!  After I went about 3 miles I was able to run a little, but I still felt bad.  The first person I saw was Julie. She asked me how I was doing and I promptly told her how bad I felt.  She told me to drink the chicken broth!  The thought of drinking chicken broth during a hot marathon had never crossed my mind, but it was the best stuff I had ever had.  I took it every time it was available and I started to feel better.  When I got to my family I was so happy!  My nephew, Tucker, took off running and I finally chased him down.  He was pumped.  I asked what time I had to be at mile 17 but nobody was sure.  About a mile later Jessica chased me down and told me I had until 9:50 p.m . to get to mile 17, I couldn’t believe that she had chased me down!  I had on my Timex watch and I quickly figured out that I could make it at my current pace.  Mercifully I felt a whole lot better the 2^nd lap but my calves started to cramp.  So I ran until they cramped then walked fast.  During the 2^nd lap I was able to run with Tucker and he got to high-five everyone as he ran by.  I talked to my NET team and Becky told me that I could make it if I kept up this pace.  I reassured her that I WAS GOING TO MAKE IT!   John also told me that Grandma and Norma (her aunt) were praying for me.  By the time I started my 3^rd lap I noticed that I could walk faster than I could run.  Also, a guy who graduated from MIT ran by me and tried to get me run, I declined and he asked what was wrong.  I told him about the cramps and he told me that I needed magnesium.  At this point, my brain could only process one thing, finishing.  Well, before I knew it he had pulled out a whole bottle of something and was filling my hand full of magnesium pills.  He told me to put them under my tongue.  I ended up having to spit some of them out, but I can’t believe that I just took them from someone and popped them in my mouth, no questions asked!  I would have done anything to feel better, I was desperate.  It was really dark on the backside of the course and I decided walking was better than tripping.  I finally caught up to someone with a flashlight.  At mile 21 John walked up to me, I was so confused at first.  What was he doing way out there?  He kept asking me if I wanted this.  I reassured him that I did and I was going to finish.  When we got back down to the canal, I saw my Mom and  I started pointing out all the cool signs and crazy fans who were cheering.  We decided that John would stay with me until mile 25 then he would head up to the finish.  I actually caught a lot of people on my last lap.  When I got to the turn to go to the finish line there was a crazy group of people cheering, I wanted to stop and shout, “I’m going to be an Ironman!”  At this point they told me it was only 400 meters to the finish line.  I thought, that’s only 1 lap around the track!  I don’t know how, but I took off sprinting!  I didn’t want to finish right behind someone; I passed 2-3 people.  I was shocked to see Mike Reilly before the finish line, but he gave me a high five as I sprinted by.  I usually don’t show any emotion when I run and I look funny when I run.  This was an important moment in my life and I decided that I needed to do something.  So, I had been practicing what I would do as I finished.  I held my hands above my head and I was grinning like an opossum eating grapes.  I crossed the finish line 16 hours, 27 minutes, and 36 seconds after I had started.  A volunteer rushed up to me, gave me a medal, my shirt, my hat, and a towel.  I was numb but I was an Ironman! 

Post Race

I was so excited to see my family and friends but I was concerned because I hadn’t peed all day.  We decided that I should go to the medical tent.  They were so nice and my doctor was from Panola County.  They gave me something for the nausea, some Tylenol, 2 cups of chicken broth, a bottle of Perform, and a bottle of water.   While I waiting for the urge to pee, they wheeled in the last person to cross the finish line, every one immediately started to clap.  It almost brought me to tears.   I chatted with other racers and the nurses but I was starting to get cold and I finally decided that I was going to pee.  When I came back I told them that I had scored and they let me go.  They gave me Perform and Tylenol to take with me.  A lady that lived on the canal gave us a ride back to our car and we headed back to the hotel.  Nothing can describe how I felt once we got back to the hotel.  I didn’t even want to change and take a shower; I was covered in Ironman sweat!  Finally, John convinced me that he would wash me down.  Afterwards, I put on my compression socks and went to sleep with my hand on my medal, which was right by my pillow.

Sunday

I was pleased that I had woken up to pee twice, I have never been this obsessed over bodily functions!   We got up around 8:00 a.m. and went down to eat breakfast, of course, I wore my finisher shirt.  Everyone was so nice and asked me about my race.  I told one guy my finishing time and he told me that was a cool time to finish.  We went back up to the room to pack up.  I was sore and tired but it was bearable.  At this point, I was starting to get emotional and tear up!  I was an Ironman!  I finally called my family and met them downstairs.  Haha, they were on their way to buy the kids new bicycles!  We headed back down to the Expo to get Finish gear.  We found Becky, Kyle, and William right away.  Then we met Clayton.  Clayton and I were not so sure about ever doing this race again.  After John bought be a whole bag of stuff we headed back to eat at Grimaldi’s .  I still didn’t feel like eating but I managed to get 1 slice of pizza down.  The ride home wasn’t too bad but we went to bed at 8:00 that night.  I weighed and I knew that I had already gained some weight back; I estimate that I lost about 8 lbs.

Monday

We got up early to get ready for work.  I was drinking coffee out of my new Ironman Texas mug and thinking, man I want to do that again.  About that time John walked in, took one look at me, and said, “You want to do it again don’t you?”  Man, he knows me like the back of his hand.  I went back to work and everyone was pumped up about the race.  I couldn’t remember hearing Mike Reilly tell me that I was an Ironman so I watched the finish line coverage at least 5 times that day.  I also watched the swim start and I couldn’t believe that I was in that crowd.  I was still in shock, I am an Ironman!

Final Thoughts

Overall, this was a great race experience.  From Thursday until Sunday, I was treated like a rockstar.   The crowd, the signs, and the support were excellent.  Ironman is an amazing experience.  This is the most difficult thing I have ever done in my life.  Although, physically I know that I could have went faster if I hadn’t felt so bad, I wouldn’t have had it any other way.  I know what I’m made of now and I’m an Ironman!