I AM AN IRONMAN!

I AM AN IRONMAN!

It feels so amazing to say those words and to know that it’s real, and oh yes were talking about me. What a long an awesome journey. I feel such an immense sense of accomplishment and pride. I am not often proud of myself, but the moment I started that swim and crossed the finish line, I was more proud of myself than I have ever been.

The low down, break down, muscle spasming tale…

The enviroment in Louisville was filled with excitement, fear, courage and dreams. You see people there from all walks of life, different ages, and of different physical abilities. Everyone was there for there own personal reason. With the exception of a few bad seeds, every competitor was really nice and when they would find out I was a first timer to the IM, they got excited and would share everything they knew with me.

Race Day: Super early wake-up, not that I felt like I slept! Had a hot bath to get the legs woken up, ate some french toast then headed down to the transition area to drop my bottles off before walking a mile to the swim start! It felt really official when I got my body marked with my race number. Then it was off to wait in line for the next 2 hours!

The cannon shot of at 6:50 for the pros, followed by the age-groupers at 7am. What a great sound to hear, everyone is cheering and getting amped up. Before I knew it I was jumping in the water and starting my swim with 3,000 other people. It’s important to keep calm during the first half of the swim, because there is so much congestion you feel like you are going to drown with people swimming on top of you. About a mile in I noticed my timing chip on my ankle did not feel secure and as I went down to tighten it, it came of and started floating away. It was like in a movie, in slow motion. I was able to get it, try to attach to my wrist, after that failed I put it in my shorts. From there on I felt great during the swim and was right on my target time.

The transition from swim to bike was easy. I just had to put my CycleLife top on and the rest of my gear. I was super hungry during the swim so I quickly ate a Clif Bar and drank some liquids.

My bike started off great, I was feeling good. Aside from my stomach feeling funky from eating and drinking to fast, I felt good. John found me all over the course and had signs to hold up that Michele and Cara made since they couldn’t be there. It was Awesome. Mile 80 was the downhill point of my race. I started experiencing dehydration and my legs took the brunt of it. It started with muscle spasms in my right quad to the point where I had to get off the bike to stretch and massage it out, 3 miles from the transition area. I rode one-legged the rest of the way in, took it easy in the transition area and tried to compose myself for the run.

The marathon was the hardest run I have ever done. My legs are still spasming and I am not able to have an open stride like I usually do. I would take as much liquids, salt tablets, bananas, and cold water sponges as I could at each Aid station. Every mile was an aid station equipped with all sorts of things, and I went through them all. I would shove 4 ice cold sponges in my top and poor a cup of ice to keep my core temp down, drink water, Gatorade and around mile 15 I started in on the cola and chicken broth. That really helped. I was feeling better so I tried increasing my pace, but the spasms started coming back. I had gone through all my salt tablets, so John rode his bike back to the hotel to get me more. I was able to get some from fellow competitors while I was waiting for Super John.With 4 miles to go you can start to see the final destination. The last mile was filled with so much excitement, happiness, joy, emotion and satisfaction. I did it, I crossed the finish line, did a ballerina twirl followed by a curtsy and became an IRONMAN.

The rest of the night I was on cloud 9. John was amazing, the best husband ever. He ended up getting about 50 miles in on the bike and tons of walking!

It is now 8pm on Monday and we have been in the car since noon. My legs and lower back are tired but I am still mobile. Since I have an Olympic Tri in 2 weeks I will get on the bike tomorrow to spin my legs out. The next 2 weeks I will take nice and easy.

A question I have been getting most often after the IM is, “will you do another and if so which one?” The answer is HELL YEAH and the race is still up in the air.

Thanks again to Adventure Woman, Friends and Family and mostly to John.

And in case you were worried that the blog would end when the IM did, great news, AW offered me another year of sponsorship, so keep tuned in because this little turbo isn’t going anywhere except to get more food and to the next race!