This is the closest I will probably ever come to an actual race report. It was a wicked, exhausting, mentally draining, and glorious day. For all of us who made this journey to Lake Placid, I truly believed we all ended up exactly where we were supposed to be. It may not be where we thought wed end up, but fate is a funny thing. Yes, I finished, and in a respectable 8th place, but what a day. We started the swim in the pouring rain. I had completed just about 2 of the 2.4 mile swim when suddenly we are surrounded by kayaks telling us to get out of the water as quickly as possible. Once we saw the lightning bolt cross the sky, there was no arguing. At that point there were around 2000 swimmers scrambling out of the water, assuming the race would be cancelled or at least delayed - but no! We were told to be safe on our bikes and to take shelter if we felt threatened. Yeah. Right! I dont know what possessed me to take my bike out in that, but I headed out for 112 miles in rain, thunder and lightning. We had some very steep descents and curves - still with a downpour on slippery new pavement. the rain remained strong for about two hours, then it turned into a beautiful day - for awhile. Rain returned with a vengeance about 4 hours later. So much for being dry. The bike was where my broken wrist was a huge factor. It altered my position on the bike, which after 112 miles, did very bad things to my entire body. Add that to the tension caused by the slick roads. It took me over 7 hours to go 112 miles. By this point I was mentally drained, hurting everywhere, and I still had a marathon to run. This is where the brainwashing of long hours of training normally takes over, and after a clothes change, I start to run, refreshed and thinking, All I have to do now is run! That lasted about three miles. I wanted to quit so badly, and the run is my strongest part of the Ironman. I started to walk/run at only mile 4, and that guy on my shoulder was clearly winning. I walked/crawled/hobbled to about mile 14 of the marathon course, and I saw my husband Roy - my angel!! Hes used to seeing me pretty strong at this point of the race. Seeing this person (couldnt be HIS wife!) doubled over against him, tell him how much I hurt, thought I was going to throw up on his shoes, sobbing uncontrollably and telling him how much I really wanted to quit must have thrown him for a loop. But he let me go through my meltdown, and told me we would keep going, and he would walk with me for awhile. After about 5 minutes of walking with him, my head cleared. I told him I needed to run now, and off I went. I ran the entire rest of the marathon, and into the finishers chute with literally thousands of cheering local and visiting Ironman fans. An Ironman finish line is something you really need to experience. I could never put this much electricity and excitement into words!! So I am alive today in beautiful Lake Placid. Suffice to say that you find many levels of your inner soul in this kind of endurance race. This was not my best race by the clock, but by far my toughest ever to complete. Reaching the finish line in this race was probably my 2nd biggest accomplishment of my racing career. My biggest accomplishment is definitely making the USA team. And THAT is next month!
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 02:00:00 +0000
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