IRONMAN

Well it finally came…and went. All the buildup gone in what felt like 60 seconds. What a whirlwind! What an experience! What an amazing feeling! What a great day! A huge thanks to my amazing wife and kids for sticking with me through the ups and downs! Couldn’t have done this without the three of you! I love you all more than I can express in words! Thanks to Mom and Dad, Kevin and Lisa, Kourtney, Shaun, Ashton, Keaton, and Carson for making the trip down to St. George and rushing around town all day to try to catch a 15 second glimpse of me as I rushed past. Thanks to Rod, Aubrey, and Alex for watching Charley and for the nice gift when I got home…it was so nice. Thanks to all the rest of my friends and family for the thoughts and well wishes…it meant a lot to me! Thanks to my new training buddies Rory and Andy for pushing me and keeping me motivated through the end. Thanks to all the volunteers…simply amazing what they do for all the racers. They really make the race. Congratulations to all the fellow racers for toeing the line in this crazy race…you all inspire me!


THURSDAY

We decided to camp at Sand Hollow reservoir so the kiddos could play at the lake and the family could watch the swim start, then get cleaned up while all the swimmers were getting out on the bike. Plus Michelle was volunteering to apply sunscreen in T1, so it would make it easier for her as well. (Unfortunately, they wouldn’t accommodate her request to be stationed INSIDE the men’s change tent , but she made the most of her experience anyway. HAHA! ) Thanks for volunteering Love it was awesome to have your support!

In retrospect I’m so glad we made this decision. The kids had a great time and I was able to catch an extra hour of sleep race morning. I also had the advantage of no wait time in the potty line, which I was so happy about.

The only issue I had staying at the lake was by my own stupidity. When I arrived in St. George on Thursday I decided to go straight into town and pick up my packet, get body marked, etc. I wanted to get it done to have peace of mind knowing I had everything in line. Check-in went great. Got my packet, special needs and gear bags, body marked, a few souvenirs, and I was on my way. Late that night I decided to show everybody my numbers…umm where did I put the numbers? Hmm…not in my bag, not in the truck, holy sh&* they’re gone. I’ve lost my race #’s!!?? What am I going to do? How do you lose your race numbers only hours after getting them? This is not getting off to a good start. Oh well, off to bed…nothing I can do about it this late in the day.

FRIDAY

After a horrible night sleep (perfect, the night you’re supposed to get a good night’s rest), I woke up in panic mode. Doing an IRONMAN is stressful enough, then having to pack 4 different bags (bike gear, bike special needs, run gear, and run special needs) without missing a detail it’s almost too much. To add the anxiety of losing your number…c’mon! Completely unnecessary and a waste of energy! I had already planned an early swim and then needed some breakfast. Michelle and her mom decided they needed a break too and headed out on a bike ride…the tension was building. I know I was not pleasant to be around, but inside I was freaking out. I had so much to get ready in a limited amount of time and no number to use to mark my stuff. My phone rang at 10:45…it was someone from IRONMAN. Here’s the quote…”We have your packet. We’re leaving; you need to get down here right now!” Me…”Umm, I’m at the lake.” Them…”We’ll see you at 11:15.” Me…oh crap! For those of you who know, Sand Hollow is a good 30 min drive from St. George. I had the two kids and Michelle was on a bike ride. Thankfully, the kiddos where having fun with their cousins, so I snuck away to the Dixie Center to get the packet. I made it at 11:17 and with packet in hand my blood pressure dropped from 200/120 to normal levels again. Ugh…I hope the rest of the race goes smoother than this!

Michelle made me a M-Dot pancake the morning before the race

I managed to get back to the lake, get all my bags packed, bike to T1, bike gear back to T1, and run bag to T1. A big thanks to Rory for taking my special needs bags for me to drop off race morning since I would already be at the lake! I owe him lunch for sure! Now it was time to enjoy the IronKids race with the family and enjoy my prerace meal tradition of Café Rio. The IronKids race was fun, the kids decided they wanted to do the 200 meter run instead of the mile. It was hot out, so I couldn’t blame them. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a good photo of them because it was so chaotic, but they did great. Michelle volunteered for this race as well, so it was a family affair. Big shout out to Keaton for coming in 5th in the mile race…nice work. And Ashton too for “pacing” Abbi in the 200 meter run! Cool cousins for sure!! Grabbed Café Rio and it was back to the lake for 4-5 hours of sleep.


SATURDAY – RACE DAY

I didn’t sleep great, but that was expected. Surprisingly I woke up with a peaceful feeling about everything. The work had been done, the cabinets were stocked, and it was time to just have fun! I never once felt any nervousness, not as we got into the wetsuits, not as we got into the water, not as we heard the national anthem…nothing. I was ready, and I was calm. I think it helped that I was at the lake already and didn’t have to rush around at all. It just made everything easier that morning. I spotted my mom and dad, sister and brother-in-law and nephews while we were waiting to get into the water. I also spotted Rory and some other friends which was nice. I stood in someone else’s pee, but it didn’t matter. Life was good and the pee was warm.

SWIM

I had a prerace goal of swimming 1:10. I’m not the best swimmer, but I thought that was a reasonable goal. I started on the left side of the line about 5 people from the front. I knew it would be choppy and rough, but that really doesn’t bother me. Two years ago I would have been bawling like a baby, but my swim has come a long way and continues to get better. I geared up for the washing machine, and it wasn’t too bad. As the gun went off I really wanted to find some feet to follow, but it was just to wild. I decided to hug the buoy line and just ride it out. After about 20 minutes I felt a little tickle on my toes. Haha, someone’s tickling my feet…how cute. Whoever it was stuck to me like glue! For the next 50 minutes this person tickled my feet non-stop. I literally started laughing at one point because I couldn’t believe someone would hang that close to the person in front of them for that long. I sped up, slowed down, but I couldn’t shake em. In all honesty, I don’t know if it was really the same person, or if I was delusional but someone or something was playing with my feet the whole swim. I guess it took my mind off of the swim because before I knew it I was done. Came out of the water and looked at my watch…what the…my watch was trashed. Great…no HR monitor on the bike ride. Guess I’m going to have to just ride and run by feel. (I really think this proved to be an advantage, as I’m terrible at checking my watch every two minutes to “see how I’m doing”. With no watch I could just go ahead and race.) I did see the final time as I exited the boat ramp…1:12. Not too bad…I’ll take it.

T1

Not knowing how T1 was going to work I set my goal at 8 minutes. I felt strongly that I wouldn’t need that much time, but I wanted to make sure I wasn’t too aggressive considering all the unknowns. It was pretty uneventful really, got my stuff on, said “Hi” to Michelle, and off I went. My total time was around 4 min 30 seconds.

BIKE

My goal on the bike was to ride solid, but not push too hard. I felt by doing that I would ride around 6 hours. Since I didn’t have a watch, and I don’t have a cyclometer on my tri bike so I had no gauge of time at all. I had to ride by feel alone. I rode steady through Hurricane and into St. George. At about mile 20 I spotted Rory and we decided to try to hang close to each other for extra motivation. He’d pass me and ride ahead for a while, and then I’d pass him and ride ahead for a while. We’d shout words of encouragement to each other as we went by. It was great. As I started the second loop I still felt really good! My nutrition was perfect, I was hydrated and in a good state of mind…so I pressed on. As I hit mile 80, something happened…I was getting passed by everybody. I felt okay, but I could tell my power was starting to decrease and my neck was starting to ache. I knew that I needed to do something fast or I’d go downhill really quickly (that’s my style). I quickly pounded a Powerbar, downed some endurolytes and a Tylenol (so glad I packed that in my bento box) and pressed on. By the time I got to the wall I had regained my power, the Tylenol had kicked in and now I was passing everybody. I felt amazing again! I flew up the wall, flew up Veyo and cruised through the false flats to the downhill. Only 12 miles left to go…sweeeet!!! I was so happy because it was getting hot out there, and a bit on the windy side. As I started cruising down from Veyo I felt a nice cool mist in my face. I thought how nice it was until I realized the dude in front of my was peeing himself. YIKES!!! That cool mist was his pee hitting me in the face and arms…disgusting. I always tell everyone how nasty the sport of Triathlon is, and I’ve done my fair share of farmer blows and other nasty things, but this was too much. Should have left him a present myself, but thought better of it as I passed him, while the pee was still flying down his legs! I blew by that dude and was gone. Came down to Snow Canyon Parkway, and through the little one way section on the course. As I turned out of the neighborhood I saw Michelle and her cheering gave me a nice boost up the hill and onto Bluff. I cruised into T2 feeling pretty good about myself and with a ton of energy. I saw the time on the clock as I came into T2 (7:01) and in my mind thought I had hit my goal of 6 hours exactly. Only later did I get my actual time of 5:37. I was really pleased with that and could only hope for a good run.

T2

Everybody’s got to make a few rookie mistakes in their first IRONMAN, right? Mine came in T2. I cruised into the change tent and asked the nice volunteer to help me wash my sunglasses as I put on my compression socks. I started putting on my first sock and what…it’s inside out. Oops…so annoying. Thankfully, the volunteer was awesome. He washed my sunglasses and then helped get my socks turned the right way. I put them on and was on my way. I had set my goal time of 8 minutes for this transition as well, and I was way under that at around 2 min 30 seconds.

RUN (the good, the bad, and the ugly!)

I knew this was going to be a challenge! Not only is the course extremely challenging, but running in 90 degrees only makes it that much more difficult. I thought if I could stay cool everything would be okay. The second I overheated it would be over! I made a concerted effort to drink sport drink and water at every aid station, as well as stuffing sponges and ice down my shirt whenever possible. This worked beautifully for the first 12 or so miles. I ran strong, and I ran hard. A little too hard as it turned out! I was pushing 7:30 miles for the first half, feeling great and passing a ton of people. As I made the turnaround I was on cloud 9…nothing could stop me. I was cheerful, friendly, and chatty. When I got to mile 11 my parents, sister and her family were there. I stopped to chat for a second and then pressed on. I saw Michelle and chatted with her for a while until she told me to “shut-up” and keep running. She told me to keep wet 10 or 15 times in a 2 minute span, and then I was on my own again for the long haul. Wanting the heed her advice I asked one of the guys at the aid station with a hose to give me a squirt. Blasto! Right in the face! So much for washing my sunglasses! I just laughed and kept going. I made the turn around point and still felt pretty good. However, by mile 15 I’d lost energy, and my stomach was on fire. I had been eating and drinking on schedule, but the combination of the fast pace and heat took its toll in a big way. I took in some cola, and hit the potty 3 times between miles 15 and 22. I ended up having to stop and walk on a couple of occasions to stop the onslaught of whatever was brewing in my stomach. The volunteers on the run course were unbelievable and made it bearable to be out there! They are so creative and all had a different theme. I don’t remember them all, but I do remember the Tortoise and the Hare which was at about mile 16. I had just reached the aid station when we got a huge gust of wind. They had a balloon tortoise which broke free and started floating away. It moved slowly at first, but with another gust of wind zoomed up and over the mountain. I looked over at another guy and said look at that…his response cracked me up. “I didn’t know they could fly!” I know it’s cheesy, but at the time I laughed pretty hard! As I made it to mile 22 I started feeling better and was able to pick up the pace again. I ran pretty well through the last few miles and by the time I hit mile 25 was back to normal. Not sure if the adrenaline had kicked in, or if I had conquered the stomach demons that were plaguing me, but I didn’t care. I was done! I had done it! I cruised into the finish, did the airplane down the finish shoot high fiving the crowd, and then stopped before the finish line and gave one last look. I was an IRONMAN! I felt great and had no soreness whatsoever. A small blood blister on my foot from the wet socks, but that’s about it. My goal was to run 3:40 and I came in with a final time of 3:47…not bad all things considered. I’ll take it. My final time was right around 10 hours 45 minutes.

Enjoying the finsh with an ice-cold beverage

My finish line catcher was named Cheryl and she was awesome. She took care of everything and even tracked down my family so I could say “Hi” before settling down to a nice post race massage. I enjoyed some pizza and fries with the family and chatted with a few fellow athletes before settling in to watch the race for a couple of hours. Got to see some friends finish and experience a bit of their joy! What a cool moment.

Post-race massage

The whole experience was amazing. The training was hard, but doable. The time commitment was hard, but doable. The race was hard, but doable! I met a lot of great people along the way and learned a ton about myself and my body. I’m a little lighter in the pocketbook, but much heavier in life experience. There can only be one first IRONMAN! Yes, I am a bit sad that it’s over with, but I don’t see this as the end. I see this as the beginning of a new chapter. Not sure what it holds or when, but I do know I’ll be back to IRONMAN. Sooner rather than later!

Even Ironkids need some relaxing!

To anyone who happens upon this, I just want to say don’t be intimidated to get out there and try! Not just running, biking, or swimming, but in anything! Amazing things can happen when we put our minds towards a goal, and who knows maybe you’ll learn something about yourself in the process. Maybe you’ll meet someone new. Life is short, let’s enjoy what time we have here and not get too wrapped up in the minutiae of it all. Who knows, maybe you’ll have fun!!!

Tri Hard!

P.S.  There will be more photo's added once we get them downloaded.  I just can't give up $130 to get the copyright from Ironman's course photographers...so home footage will be just fine.