The last couple of weeks pre-ironman were hard. Especially from a focus perspective. It was SO close to the race; but yet so far away. Know what I mean? You are on the final straightaway; but utterly scared of injury or illness. You had made it this far; and the worst thing would be to fall sick; or hurt yourself during taper. So I made sure I was extremely cautious.
About 2 days before we left for Panama City Beach (PCB); I went through my transition bag list and actually packed them. And I am going to tell you; they were organized! You see, I had a system. I had bags within the bags. A big gallon bag with all the things I knew I was going to put on for sure; a bag with my nutrition, and the things I could need or would leave in transition I just left lose in the bag. And it worked wonders. Didn't necessarily have speedy transitions; but I am sure I had faster transitions than a lot of people.
We started our trek own south on Wednesday at the crack of stupid. We left before 6 am; because I wanted to make sure I could hit registration on Wednesday instead of Thursday. We drove; and made it there right on time. I remembered things from last year and I had Todd park the car close to where I thought transition/finish/check in/store would be. Turns out this year they had moved most of the stuff another 1/4 mile down the road. So we walked; and walked.
Once there I registered without a problem; while Megan and Todd hit the Janus inspiration station to make signs. Megan went to town! She is a little creative bee. Coach had warned me about not looking at the scale when they weighted me in because it would likely be that I put on a couple of lbs.; and sure enough I did ( i blamed it on the 10 hours of driving, having my shoes on and water retention). It didn't bother me as much as I had anticipated. After that one of the wonderful volunteers explained to me all there was to know about the stuff contained in my athlete bag; where to put my numbers, what to do with my chip; etc. I left the registration tent, found the family and headed to the IM store; where I proceeded to buy a bike jersey and a couple of visors. You might say; I should have waited, but I wanted to make sure I got the things I wanted; and waiting until after the race was a bit of a gamble.
The rest of the day went without a hitch. We checked in to the hotel, and went to enjoy the beach.
Thursday rolled around and I met my friend Melinda for the gatorade swim. I wanted to make sure I swam in the ocean to remind my body of the feeling. The swim was LONG. Even though the sea seemed calm there was definitely a current; that made swimming toward shore pretty hard. Right then I knew, Saturday's swim would be slower than I would like. And I made peace with it. The rest of the day was spent at the beach, at the pool, in the hot tub. Just hanging around with the family.
Friday came pretty soon, and it brought along my in-laws. I was SO grateful for them coming! On race day Todd would need all the help he could get to take care of Megan and spectating my race. My day was pretty boring, I sat and laid down a lot. Then it was time for gear check in. I had my bags all packed and ready to go, so I just rolled into transition and dropped everything off. Then it was time for more sitting and laying down. I became a pro at it. Friday night I got almost no sleep. The bed did not feel comfortable; and my head would not quiet down. Eventually 4 am came along and I was ready to get up.
I got up, had breakfast, got dressed; braided my hair and at about 5 am we headed out. On our way to the start line we got a phone call... The alarm system company; letting us know there was a burglary alarm in our house back home. Trust me when I tell you, that even though it was not a pleasant piece of news to receive (turned out to be a false alarm); it kept my mind off the race for a while and as a consequence I did not get as worried as I normally do. Bonus!
Once the special needs bags were dropped off and the bike set up; all there was left to do was hydrate and wait. So I did. With about 30 minutes to the start, I donned my wetsuit and headed to the beach. And then I saw the crowds. Holy shit! I kissed Todd goodbye and went over the timing mat to take my place at the beach.
As I was standing there, looking around,, getting more nervous by the minute; I saw Megan and my in-laws, they had made it to the swim start! And I just LOVED being able to kiss my little girl before the start of the race. That made a WORLD of difference on my mindset. Next thing I know; they are singing the national anthem; Mike Reilly is telling us we will be Ironmen by the end of the day; and then the cannon goes off.
THE SWIM
I had positioned myself on the outside of the field, far from the buoys and towards the back of the pack. Being that swimming is not my strong point, and that I tend to panic in the water; I decided that little to no human contact would be essential to my swim. After about 1-2 minutes of slowly making my way into the water; I started swimming. There were people all around me; and I honestly felt calm and collected. Yes; I saw arms flailing and got more than one mouthful of water, but I felt like the group was "pulling" me. I did not feel like I was working hard. The water was not calm as it had been the days leading up to the race. There was quite a bit of chop, and I did my best to navigate my way in it. The first turn buoy was interesting to say the least. I don't think people get the easy physics concept that 2 bodies can't occupy the same space at the same time; so I saw a lot of "fighting".. Which reminds me of seeing people wearing snorkels... Hmmmm, strange. Anyhow; i tried to stay out of the "fuss" as much as possible. I got hit a few times; scratched some others; but managed to generally keep moving forward. Little by little I got closer and closer to shore and I was able to hear Mike Reilly's voice cheering people in. And I smiled, underwater. Heck! I was doing IRONMAN. I ran up the beach, crossed the timing mat after my first loop and headed back out to the water, for another dose of salt water. I tried to spot my family, but had no luck. Off I went. The second lap was harder, slower and choppier. There weren't as many people to draft off of, and you could really feel the water pulling; yet the first turn buoy was chaotic again. This time I actually got sandwiched between 2 guys; who pulled me under water. Now, on a regular day, ,that would have scared the living daylights out of me; but not this time. I was PISSED. I got my head out of the water; hit the guys and shouted a very loud "FUCK YOU!". Then I continued to swim. Slowly but surely I made my way to shore. I hit the sand and started peeling my wetsuit off. I had survived the swim; and I knew I could finish the race.
T1
I tired to be as fast as I could here; but a couple of inefficiencies by the organizers; coupled with a very crowded t1 tent, and some not very quick volunteers made for an interesting experience. My transition bag system worked pretty well, except that the volunteer could bot understand what I was saying. I changed, headed out and waited for about 2 minutes to get sunscreen applied. I knew I was not racing for placement; so I had not problems waiting to get my skin properly protected.
THE BIKE
After I got on my bike I immediately started drinking. I still had salt water taste in my mouth and that made me thirsty. About 1/2 mile from the start of the bike, the course went past our condo; so I got to see and wave to my family. I would not see them for another 6 hours. After that I started executing my plan. I took it easy the first hour; but we had a tailwind; which helped me go quite fast. I was just taking it all in. Pedaling; drinking; eating my nutrition; being passed by people; passing people. I was having a blast. Then we turned on to the headwind; which would stay would us for the better part of the bike; and I saw my speed drop. I was still staying in my zones; maybe a bit under where I should have been. I just wanted to make sure I did not blow myself up. My nutrition plan was mostly working. Most of my calories came from EFS liquid shots; with about 75 calories and hour coming from Carbo pro. The 75 calories of carbo pro started giving me stomach issues; so I stopped taking it. I never felt low on energy; but I did feel my stomach get hungry. After we had passed the roughest part of the course (the out and back section was a false flat; with a headwind and horrible pavement, at about mile 70) I decided to try bananas to make up for the calories I was behind on. They totally hit the spot! They made me feel "refreshed" and I took a couple of them over the next 20-30 miles. I kept pedaling; stretching my back and my neck every so often; and just moving forwards.
I did have a couple of snafu's along the course. I stopped to use the porta john handed my bike to a volunteers; and she promptly dropped it, breaking my bike computer (so I rode more than half of the course without cadence and speed data). About 10 minutes after that as we are going on one of the few uphills in the course; I made the rookie mistake of switching gears too fast and I dropped chain. As I got off my bike I told myself "Breathe" ( I took a deep breath) "now fix it"; so I did. It took me a mere 30 seconds and I was back on my bike.
The last 5 miles were the longest ever. You hit front beach road and you know you are close to transition; but it still takes forever to get there. Not to mention the beautiful tailwind we had at the beginning of the bike was now a headwind; and a pretty bad one at that. Eventually I took the last turn towards transition. Took my feet off my shoes; waved to my family and rolled in.
T2
This transition was faster than the first one, but still not as efficient as it could have been. I had another whole outfit change, and also took time to apply sunscreen; as well as hit the porta potty on the way out.
THE RUN
As I had rolled in to T2 I took a couple of tums; as I always have stomach issues when I transition to the run. I don't think they had much of an effect. Upon exiting transition we took a left turn and ran to a turn around point for about 200 meters. At the turn around is where my family was waiting for me to see me. As I get closer and closer, Megan sees me and she took a straight line to run to me in the middle of the course. Luckily no one was coming so we didn't block anyones way. I got the best hug and kiss; and the biggest "awwwwww" from the crowd. It was awesome! After a few I love you's I headed out to run. At this point I was still feeling pretty good; trying to hold back my pace, making sure I did not go out too hard. By the time I reached mile 1 I was already walking. My stomach was completely clogged, I had a rock sitting on it; and I felt nauseated and disgusted by anything I tried to eat or drink made me want to gag. I hated having to slow down to a walk; but Liz and I had gone through this scenario many times before. So I knew what to do: Walk like I had someplace to go; and not give anything up. And I did, I walked, and tried jogging, then running... until my stomach could not take it anymore; so then I would walk again; and repeat the cycle. I hit a couple of low points here; where I was so mad with myself and my stomach. Never once I thought of giving up though; but I did think I would have to walk the entire marathon. I was looking sort of pitiful; and then a spectator told me something that renewed my hopes; she said: you have all the time in the world to let your race come back to you. And that was exactly what i needed. It took me almost 3 hours to finish the first 1/2 of the run course; but by the time I hit the turn around point in front of the finish line; my stomach had calmed down enough so I was able to run a bit more. And I did. And I started passing people, and I started drinking, and eating. And my run came back to me. And I felt AWESOME. I was doing Ironman, and I had the race in the bag. I was not going fast; but I was running and I was smiling again. And that my friends was key. The miles slowly went by. And I never hit the "wall". Yes, my legs hurt and I could feel the overall fatigue; but at no point i thought I could not continue. My mission on that day was to stop at nothing but the finish line. And that was exactly what I did. Upon seeing the sign for mile marker 25; I set a little challenge for myself: to make the last mile my fastest. There would be no stopping, there would be no walking the aid station. Just a steady effort to the finish. I pushed, and I passed people and I heard comments: " Great form" "You look awesome" "Strong finish". And I believed them all. I took them all in, and made sure to feel proud about it. I ran my way through the residential neighborhood, and took thee last couple of turns. The closer I got, the louder I heard the cheering and Mike Reilly's voice.. The last left turn; the home stretch. The lights, the people, the noise. Completely surreal.
The chute gets really narrow right before the turn around; and I was "stuck" behind a girl. I could have attempted to pass her, but I did not want to trip and fall; or make her trip and fall. So I slowed down and let her go. This race was not about placing. This race was about getting there and enjoying the experience. We took the last turn into the finisher's chute and I just cannot believe my eyes. Here I am about to become an Ironman. Little 'ol me; an IRONMAN.
I cannot contain my smile any longer; I just want to raise my hands and celebrate the accomplishment. As I am approaching the line I heard Mire Reilly say "Danni K. you are an Ironman"; arms up, smile big. The line, the volunteers. And then, I was done.
My entire year of work had came to fruition and I had the race of a lifetime. Could not have asked for a better day.
Conclusions coming soon....
