Florida Ironman Nov. 5th, 2011- 1st Ironman

Florida Ironman November 5^th, 2011-  FIRST ONE!!

I think the day that my Ironman journey started was last November in 2010, when I registered for my first Florida Ironman.  The months after, I was seriously contemplating on what the heck I had done, did I really think that I could do an Ironman??  I had just started swimming last October…so I knew I had a looooong way to go before I could swim 2.4 miles…in the Gulf of Mexico no less!

I am sure that anyone who trains for an Ironman, or for any endurance event knows how hard it is to prioritize life in order to get in any kind of training.  For me, it was fulltime job, school, family and training before and after work.  There were days…several days…where I just wanted to hit the snooze button and go back to sleep.  But that feeling of accomplishing that early morning workout, made it all worthwhile!  I found a great swim coach, who bless him was very, very patient and showed me how to correct my so-called swim technique.  I can still hear “hip snap and glide…hip snap and glide…” still not sure how the heck to do that hip snap thingJ  

There were several months of biking in freezing cold, and rainy days…but I had an AWESOME group of people I rode with that kicked my butt on the bikeJ And I wouldn’t have changed it for anything…thanks boys!! 

I have always been one that likes to train on my own, and just go out and do it no matter what.  But along this journey I have met several people that are truly remarkable people and athletes, and helped make me stronger in so many ways.  I met a fellow athlete who will be an Ironman soon…and I cannot thank him enough for training with me during all those long training weekends!  I definitely had my moments of doubt…and it is very helpful to have someone slap you back into reality!  I also met remarkable people that were so supportive to me by pushing me mentally and emotionally, and giving me the advice and encouragement that I needed…when I needed it…so thank you BP!

There is also one person that I can never ever thank enough, and that is my coach!  She is truly, truly the most remarkable coach, athlete, friend, confidant, and motivator…and I would have never been able to do any of it without her!!!  I went into the race with confidence..because she set me up to be ready for this race…I would not have been at that point without her!  Forever gratefulJ

So now onto the race…J

Week before:  Long story short…we left Sunday evening at 11:15, drove 4.5 hours, slept for 2 hours, drove for 30 minutes…truck broke down…HOLY crap!  Truck towed in North Carolina, had to find new truck rental to haul our trailer…5 hours later we left NC…also $2000 later to fix truck and rent a new oneL

WE arrived in Panama City Beach Tuesday morning…thank goodness!

The days leading up to the race…I really was focusing on staying calm, being still in the mind…and convincing myself and Brian that I was not nervous, so not nervous, really not nervous at all…about 100 times!!  Got in a few tweaking workouts and felt great!

I was fine until the pre-race dinner…where all 2500+ athletes were meeting in one building, then they showed that awesome inspirational video that showed the MASSIVE swim start.  What the ----!!!   But I was still not nervous…reallyJ  Two nights before I got in a good nights sleep because I knew the night before I would not sleep that well.  So I had 3 alarm clocks set…and woke up every 2 hours…okay it is 3:50 I can wake up nowJ

RACE MORNING!!  

Woke up and ate my usual pre race breakfast…then bundled up and met Glenn and his wife on the walk of nerves over to transition.  Got bodymarked then headed into transition to fill up my water bottles and put air in my tires (yes I may not know anything at all about my bike…but I know how to do that!)  It was still dark so thank goodness Glenn had one of those handy dandy hat lightsJ   This part of the morning the butterflies were in full force…saw a couple people from bricks which helped make me not feel like I was alone.  Put wetsuit on…then of course potty break was much needed!  The porta potty line was sooo long so I decided to go inside at the convention center.  That line was only about 10 deep…perfect.  In the lobby I ran into Meg from ATC and it was perfect timing because my nerves were shot!  Then I met Crissy and her husband for the first time…Crissy is an AMAZING triathlete and only been to Kona a few timesJ  They both walked me down to the beach…along with the rest of the 2499 people about to embark on this magnitude of a race.  I looked down the beach to where Brian told me he was going to be and sure enough…I found him!  I told Meg and Crissy thanks and good luck and walked over.

For some reason I was just so overcome with emotions that I could not stop crying…literally it was waterfalls streaming down my face.  He hugged me and told me it was going to be alright, I got this, just go out there and do it..go for it!!!  I took a deep breath…then gave one last hug and walked towards the start mat to set off my timing chip.  I figured I better get in the water to get over that initial shock…so I got in knee deep and Mike on the speaker said “everyone out of the water!” so much for thatJ

I headed back on the beach and I was trying to figure out where the middle to outside of the start is.  It is so hard to tell where you are when you are on even ground with 2500 other athletes, so I asked a couple people around me if they thought we were in the middle.  They had no idea!   Next thing the pros went off in the water….holy smokes…we are about to start in 10 minutes!!   It seemed like a whole year went by in a blink and in 10 minutes I was about to jump into the water with all these people at the same time.  I kept repeating, be calm, be still, stay focused.  Peed a couple times in my wetsuit (cmon we all do it!!)..then the countdown…BOOM off we went!

SWIM:

Okay so I am not a great swimmer, but this first 500 yards or so was just CHAOS…no other word other than CHAOS!  It was like seeing a million birds swimming in a pool at one time.  I was swimming with my head out of the water just so I could see where the heck I was going.  I got hit in the head, in the arms, legs…and everywhere I looked there were bodies.  I finally calmed down and put my head down in the water.  It was cool you just had to look for feet and try to follow there bubbles.  I was totally fine until I realized I was in the water again with all these people.  Then I literally stopped again, started to breastroke just to try to calm down a bit.  But again it was mass chaos…I was breathing heavy and looked to my right and the kayakers seemed so far over.  And on top of that, there were too many swimmers so there was no way for anyone to go to a kayak!  Good thing…because I was NOT going to quit no matter what!!!  Finally after about 50 yards or so (who knows really how far) I put my head back down and just swam.  The best part was the water was almost like pool water so that helped to calm my nerves!  Turned around the first 2 buoys then I realized holy crap I am doing this!  I came up onto the beach for lap one and I heard Mike say 42 minutes…I was soooo happy about this because my best time was 50 minutes for 1.2 miles (we had to run on the beach and cross mat so my actual time was slower but I am counting 42 minutesJ )  Then I realized geez I gotta do another lap!  But my confidence and breathing were so relaxed it was awesome!  Saw some HUGE jellyfish in the water…and the second lap a big dude punched me in my left eye and I could not breath to my left because water kept getting filled in my left goggle.  So I was only breathing out of my right side…This same dude kept swimming in a curved line and kept bumping into me!  At one point after he hit me for the umpteenth time…I literally stopped and said “really dude!!! Cmon!”  He didn’t hear me though because he was swimming;)   So I took off, and the current was harder for me coming back so it too me a little longer.  But praise the lord I am out of the water yahoo!!!  Cannot believe in 1 year I went from not knowing how to swim…to swimming 2.4 miles in open water!!

WETSUIT STRIPPERS:

Okay this was one of the coolest parts of the day!  I came up to a man and a woman they said “relax your arms..”  I thought oh god what are they going to do…with 2 yanks they had my arms out of my wetsuit!  Then this nice man, nicely pushed me down on the beach and said “hold on..”  he took one leg and the woman took the other and yank…off came my wetsuit!  My butt dragged across the beach but all I said was “wow that was awesome thanks!”  Kinda made me feel like a proJ   Then the run into transition…someone called my number and a volunteer grabbed my gear bag and handed it to me.  Cool!   Then inside the changing tent…it was crazy!  Now anyone that has ever tried to put something dry onto something wet…knows how hard it is.  I was wearing my bricks trisuit under my wetsuit and so I wanted to put on my bike tri shorts.  Well I was obviously wet from swim…so was having trouble.  This very nice lady said “I will help ya honey, now hold on..”  With one big yank, she pulled those suckers up on my so fast I think my feet came off the ground!  Holy crap again that was awesome!!!  I finished changing and put on all my bike gear…then headed out to get my bike.  This was also cool…I ran towards my bike and they yelled my number out and a volunteer grabbed my bike.  The best thing is Bill P. was there to hand me my bike…I hugged him first then he was like “don’t ya want your bike” oh yeah!!  Just happy to see a friendly faceJ  So I took off with my bike…tried to put my foot in my pedal…and my chain came off!!  HOLY SH--!!   But it was weird I was sorta calm…I had no idea what to do but try to put it back on…didn’t work.  I looked up and saw a ton of athletes running at me with their bikes… I just had a look of fear in my face and said “can anyone please help me with my chain??”  One very, very nice gentleman said sure I will help you!  I couldn’t believe it so nice.   At the same time I was in panic mode…a spectator went to grab a bike mechanic for me and he came running over and helped me put my chain back on in less than 30 seconds!!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!  That same spectator told me “okay #215 now its your time to race…go get em!”   Gave me chills really!  So finally crossed the bike mat a good 5 minutes after I should have…and I saw my biggest fans Brian, Kelsey and Butch cheering me onto the bike!!

It is amazing…here I was on this high of accomplishing my biggest fear that swim…and then I realized that I was about to be on my bike for 5+ hours…holy smokes!  But this was the part I was totally looking forward to, I just love to bike…and I was confident that I could do the best that I could on the bike.  But I was also praying to God that nothing mechanical happened to me on the bike.  I was hoping that chain thing was the only thing…please, please, please!!  Well the first 6-8 miles or so are just an adrenaline rush because everyone wants to catch up or at least that is what is always on my mind coming out of the water;)  Then we turned right onto highway 79….HOLY WIND!!!!   For the next 70 miles we were directly into the wind…not fun at all!  BUT…I had trained in the wind, I live on the eastern shore for crying out loud that is all we have is WIND!!  I kept repeating in my head what my coach told me…and just kept moving forward! 

I made sure I was spot on with my nutrition, drinking every 15 minutes..taking gels how I trained, salt tabs…and really just listening to my body!  I tried not to let the wind get to me mentally, and I just enjoyed being in the moment.  My left eye was so blurry the whole ride and I couldn’t figure out why, I thought maybe the wind but remembered I had salt water in my left eye goggle the whole swim!   There was one part of the course around mile 50-60 that was just awful….so bumpy that I took Excedrin because it was giving me a headache!  Then mile 60 came and I was like woohoo I am more than halfway done the bike!   At this point my Garmin watch died too so I had no idea what time or how fast I was going ….oh wellJ

The last stretch coming back to transition was the worst…total headwind and I looked down at one point and was going 14mph!!!   As I was winding into transition I just had a big smile on my face and tears in my eyes…I had done it, I was off the bike in a minute and thank you god for getting me there safely!!  I saw Kelsey again and she asked how I was feeling and I said “I feel good!”  

Coming out of the water I was in 1962 place…and coming off the bike I was 1053…so I believe I passed 909 people…pretty cool to me!

I got off my bike and tried to run and I looked like I was riding a horse…tried to run to the right where my run gear bag was, and I was running sideways lol!  I looked up and saw my friend Butch and he handed me my run gear bag and a hug…loved seeing him then!!  I went back into the changing tent and couldn’t believe I was about to run a marathon.  Another lady asked me if I needed help…this time I passed on the help with my compression running shorts lol!!  I apologized for stinking so bad and they said I was silly to apologize!!   Then out the door and off to run a marathon…

RUN:

I ran out of transition and looked ahead and say my friend Kelsey again…love that girl!  She is truly an amazing friend and was there in those moments I needed more than anything…I had to smile because of her!  That first 2 miles were the best miles because there are SOOOO many spectators cheering you on!  I had the biggest grin on my face…because people were cheering out my name and calling my smileyJ

I was not sure what to expect for running this marathon…so I just went with how my body felt.  And weird enough..my body was feeling good!  I had one goal and that was to not walk at all…at least not until 13 miles.  So at the rest stops I would jog through them and grab what I needed, whether it was just something to drink or a gel.   Those spectators were just amazing…really!  Then around mile 5-7 I believe, we ran through a park and it was like crickets…no spectators in thereJ  I just kept leaning forward and my body was still feeling good!  I knew I was coming up to the turnaround for lap 2 and I thought that it was so incredible…I didn’t stop to grab my special needs bag on the run because I felt good.  So I kept running….on the second loop I came back to a few groups of spectators and one was a group of guys that nicknamed me “cruzin Susan!” Pretty coolJ  Another group was calling me “that girl is still smiling” I figured there is only one 1^st Ironman so mine as well enjoy it!!  And if I could help others around me feel better with a smile, then that is what I was going to do.   Around mile 18 I was starting to feel fatigued but I was not going to walk, except maybe at the water stations and just walk through them.  I was also sick of wanting gels, or anything sweet and this one water station had chicken broth…OMG…it was AWESOME!!!  Just what I wanted…and it tasted so good!   I was about to head back into the park and I saw Meg on riding on her bike and she took a picture of me!  She asked how I was feeling and I said “I am craving pizza!!!”  She told me that was a good thing and that I looked good…so she definitely gave me some motivation.  I was about to head into the park and I saw Sam L. running with his camera!  I yelled over to Sam and he was like Susan where have you been we have been looking for ya!  I said I have been right here duhJ  LOL…he gave me another motivation boost for that long run in the park!  There was a electronic sign in the park that would read messages to the athletes…and someone had put for me “perfect run”   I knew it was a perfect run, but I was running the whole thing and to me that was all I wanted!  I saw some fellow teammates on the run, gave Tad a high five and told him to keep pushing…saw Claire and told her she looked great…ran with Paul for a mile or so because that is what teammates do…they are there for each other when you are in trouble.  Then I realized that I was almost done…and something came over me.  I don’t know where, or how it happened…but I picked up my pace…I was running 8:13 pace for my last 3 miles and didn’t stop at the water stations!  Now to me I felt like I was Chrissie Wellington running a 6:30 pace lol…but whatever it took to get me to the finish line!  Some spectators told me I was booking it…I guess that is was 8:13 looked like to themJ  I saw a girl in front of me and I couldn’t tell if the number on her calf said 38 or 30….I was hoping it was a 38 and not in my AG.  But sure enough it was a 30.  In the past I would have just let her go…but not this time…for once in my life I picked it up and just pushed, pushed harder and ran past her all the way to the end.  I could hear Mike in the distance calling out people’s names and I knew I was sooo close!  I came down the homestretch and I heard Kelsey and Brian call my name out!!!   Next thing I know I heard Mike say those magic words to me…those words I had dreamed about for a year…that I was an Ironman!!

Crossing that finish line I was sort of in disbelief because it was done…I didn’t have to run anymore, or bike or swim.  I didn’t have to push, I could stop now.  I wasn’t crying or jumping up or down (I couldn’t have anywayJ) but I knew that I left it all out there…I had nothing left…11:53 and my A goal was to finish under 12 hours.   I had done it…I had put the work in, and in that moment I could finally rest.  I looked up and saw Jim H….a teammate of mine and he hugged me and thank god he was there because my body was tired and shaking cold.  I am grateful he was there for me, to help me through those moments. I got my medal, my picture taken…and he walked me around and I saw Brian.  That was the first moment I cried…because I would not have been able to do any of it if it were not for him.  He has been so supportive, day after day, through my moodiness, my pains, my doubts…and never once doubted me for a moment.  I kept walking around to the food…and though the pizza smelled wonderful I took two bites and my belly had different thoughts.  So I grabbed more chicken broth…and met up again with Brian. My best friend Kelsey came running over to me and that was the second time I cried…she has been so supportive to me I can never thank her enough!  I think those moments after I was trying to figure out what to do next…I was tired, sore, cold…and just wanted to get somewhere warm and relax.  Bill told me there was a free massage tent inside and I headed over…they had a sheet for you to fill out to show where you needed the massage.  I think I circled the whole body!  Two very wonderful people massaged my legs…and my hamstring started to tighten so they flipped me over…and massaged it till it calmed down.  I apologized to them as well for how bad I stunk lol! 

I wanted to go and shower so Brian grabbed my bike stuff for me and I walked very slowly back to our trailer..thank goodness it was only 5 minutes away! 

Here is it a couple days later…and still it hasn’t hit me yet…I mean I bought the finishers gear, and I have the medal…but something inside of me wants more.  I definitely enjoyed a few celebratory drinks and food…but now I want something more.  It is not that I am not grateful because I am truly grateful to have been given this opportunity to do an Ironman, and grateful for all the people who have helped me get to this point…

I now have a goal in mind…and I will continue to work hard, no matter how long it takes me to get thereJ

Thank you from bottom of my heart…to my hubby, coach, family, KARMA and my true friends!