"Elizabeth Clarke, first-timer, Tustin California, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN."
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| What? Really? |
These are the words I've been working so hard to hear. Let me tell you how I got there!
I won't bore you with all the prep/packing/etc., but here's a quick picture of my race nutrition, which is literally all I "ate" all day once the race started (except for 2 gels during the run):
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Not exactly good for airplane carry on...
Good thing we didn't fly! |
On the drive to Arizona, I made sure to rest as much as possible.
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| Ah, that beautiful view on the 10 never gets old... |
Crossing the Arizona state line is always exciting. Arizona is one of our "home away from home" race venues.
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| Home sweet home! |
Once we passed Tempe Town Lake (where the swim is) and Arizona State University (which we swim/bike/run past), I had my first feelings of excitement. I'm going to be swimming there in my first Ironman in a few days!!!
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| Ironman...AHHHH!!!!! |
Not wasting any precious daylight, we got dressed and ready for a workout as soon as we checked in to the hotel.
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| Training for Greg, easy spin for me! |
The next day, I got all checked in at the expo.
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| Visualization... |
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| Getting my swim stuff! |
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| It's not official until you have a tri bag and a wrist band. |
I went to work pretty quickly on getting organized. Friday and Saturday seemed to last forever, and I balanced keeping busy and staying off my feet as much as possible!
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| Numbers on my bike, things in the correct gear bags... |
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| A shirt in case it gets cold on the run. |
Even though I became a little restless (can I just race already?!), that feeling of wanting to race is a good feeling. I gained inspiration and anticipation on Friday night at IronPrayer (singing & stories from FCA, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes) and the athlete welcome banquet.
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| Their shirts say IronBand. :) |
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| First time Ironman athletes standing up! There were 980... |
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Biggest losers! In training they've lost:
61, 70, 85, 78.5, 125, and 140.5 pounds. |
I've been having some problems with a nerve in my second left toe, so I iced it the night before the race. One problem: the freezer in the hotel room is a lot colder than ours, and the water bottle I use to ice my foot burned my skin:
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| Didn't hurt on race day, yay! |
Besides that, I was all ready to go!
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| So they cheer my nickname... |
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| Bike racked on Saturday morning. |
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| Transition gear bags = check! |
On Saturday, after dropping off my bike and gear bags, Greg and I went to the top of the bridge where the swim starts, so I could map out a line to swim.
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| Waaaay over to that bridge and back. |
Then we went back to the hotel and watched the Kona Ironman from October 2013.
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| Inspiration, wohoo! |
I bought race "tattoos" at the expo, so I could put my number on horizontally instead of vertically. Really, this is important. Lol. Otherwise, the 8 would have been hidden under my arm cooler!
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| Defending champion #1! Just kidding. |
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| Tough age group: 30-34. |
My awesome husband cooked me spaghetti with chicken for dinner. Nice and simple, and I tried it in training with no problems.
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| Yay for having a kitchen in our hotel room! |
I got up at 4:30 on race day, and we headed over to the start. I was so nice and relaxed that I let about 5 people use my bike pump before I realized, oh hey, maybe I should get dressed and head over to the start line!
The first mistake I made was not thinking about what time I wanted to be in the water. To get to the start, you have to jump in and swim about 100 meters. But first, there is a big long line of 2,707 athletes waiting to get in the water. Oops! I made it in 5min before race start, got to an ok position, (didn't even hear the National Anthem), and BOOM, the race started!
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| So fun swimming in a washing machine. |
The swim was ok, but not the time I wanted. It was about 3 minutes slower than Greg's time from 2010 (aww man, he still holds that record)! But I survived my worst fear: getting punched in the face. Got squeezed in at the turn around buoy and a 220lb man swam across my line and got me on my right cheekbone. In his defense, it was partially my fault for breathing on the right side with 100 swimmers coming at me from that direction. Oops!
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| I have no idea what I'm saying here. |
Yay, on to dry land! I was cold on the bike for maybe 5 minutes, but the weather was perfect, really. About 72. My goal was to average at least 17mph including stops. However, it was so crowded that I ended up having to do about 18 because I kept having to speed up to pass everyone who swam faster than me. This always happens in triathlons! And for the record, I was 2269th out of the water (out of 2707 lol) - but I passed 593 of them on the bike.
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| Coming out of T1 |
I felt really good the first loop, and rode strong out Beeline Hwy (which is a slight uphill). Never had to use my small chain ring, and didn't feel like I pushed too hard or anything. I passed by Greg before heading out on the second loop:
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| Sitting up to rest my shoulders briefly |
The second loop was pretty easy as well, and my shoulders didn't really bother me. My favorite volunteer of the day was at the Special Needs area at mile 62. She rubbed Biofreeze on my shoulders (as requested), adding in a little massage with it (bonus)! Could've stayed there longer, but I got back on the bike as quickly as possible after re-filling my bottles. Can't let that average go down too much...
In the meantime, my husband rode around on his bike wearing an Ironman shirt. Apparently people were asking him all sorts of race-related questions. Even a male pro racer asked if he had any Ibuprofen.
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| NOT a race official. =P |
On my way out for the 3rd and final loop, Greg was on the other side of the road and almost missed me as I came by.
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| See you on the run! |
At this point, I was still feeling strong, and excited that every part of the road that went by would be the last time I had to ride it. I passed people who were obviously on their 2nd loop, and I was glad I only had one more. Honestly though, I enjoyed every bit of the bike, and it didn't feel as long as I thought it would. All the racers around, everyone cheering, and all the volunteers helped make it a fun day.
Going out Beeline Hwy the last time, my legs definitely felt a little heavier, but I was able to stay in my big chain ring easily. The winds had picked up, and they were favorable on the uphill. I shook my legs out for the last 5-10 miles, testing to see if I had pushed too hard or if I was going to be ok for the run. They felt tired and a little stiff, but not too bad.
The thing that bothered me the most was surprisingly not my shoulders, but my right ankle. For like the last 50 miles. Hmm, can I run a marathon if my ankle is hurt?
Here's my Garmin bike data. On to the run!
Starting out on the run, I knew I was going to be ok. My legs didn't have any sort of "brick" feeling, my ankle was ok, and I started off at about an 8:35 pace. Haha - had to back off quickly, or I knew I'd be in trouble later! I let myself run an 8:50 for the first mile, then slowed it down.
I knew I'd see Greg around mile 6, since he was working the aid station. I had asked him to give his phone to someone to take a video of him giving me water. However, it was so busy that he didn't get a chance to do this. So when I came by, I went straight for the water:
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| First things first! |
Apparently Greg asked me to "tell the people how you're doing" and I ignored him. My bad! I didn't anticipate an interview...
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| Oh, you expected me to talk? Oops. |
Well, moving on. I had actually found a running buddy around mile 2, a 49-year-old woman named Karen. She was trying to run about the same pace as me. It was great to have some company! We talked the whole time of course, and I found out she was a running coach. I asked lots of questions lol. Turns out she's run as fast as a 3:30 marathon, but her fastest marathon in the Ironman was a 4:50. Hmm... [Btw she ended up with about a 4:27 in this race. Yay!]
Karen and I ran together until the Special Needs bags at the halfway point. I had more to do, including getting my second drink mix, so she ended up ahead of me and I was on my own from that point on.
From about mile 12 or so on, my legs began to feel VERY VERY heavy... My quads were about as much on fire as they were at mile 16 of the Boston Marathon, after running all that way downhill. I was a little worried that they might cramp, but they just maintained the feeling of fire and were ok. (Keep it together, legs! We can do this!)
I definitely slowed down as the day went on, but I was optimistic. I passed 506 people in the run! All the fast swimmers I missed on the bike lol. I kept my pace at a 10:something pace from miles 17-22.
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| About mile 19 |
Mile 23 is when I was pretty much done. And not because my legs were simply tired. My right side began to hurt, and I could not breathe the pain away. Then my left hamstring began attacking itself with what felt like tiny knives from the inside, causing me to slow to a walk/jog. Also, I had probably lost about 10 pounds since the morning.
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| Still, I knew I was almost there, and I would beat my time goal of sub-13hr easily, even if I had to walk. I saw my husband with about a mile to go, which was great, because it was pretty dark and (relatively) quiet at that point! |
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| So happy! Almost an Ironman! |
Although I had slowed down to about a 13:30 pace for a couple miles, I was able to manage about an 11min mile pace for the final 0.2 miles.
Here's my run data.
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| "Sprinting" in to the finish! |
You can see the look of disbelief on my face as I cross the finish line (listen at 12:35:47 for my name):
There were many times I fought back tears. (I mean, I was doing my first Ironman - wow!) Running down that finish line chute and hearing my name was one of them.
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| 43rd in my age group (out of 106) |
Official results!
In the end, the whole thing honestly didn't feel that hard. (Can I say that??) I mean sure, I had some aches and pains, and my legs got tired, but here's what went right this day:
- I felt very well prepared (thanks coach Greg!) for the race.
- I paced myself on the swim to save energy, rode moderately, and ran as fast as I could while still being smart about it.
- The weather. <3 The weather was perfect.
- My nutrition was perfect (thanks Infinit!) throughout the day. I only had to supplement with 2 gels and 5oz of Coke during the run.
- Although I got hit in the swim, I didn't have any collisions on the bike.
- No flat tires!
- The wind was more mild than usual.
- My legs held together on the run.
I am so thankful for how the day went. And I still felt alive afterwards! Seriously though, in an Ironman you experience waves of emotion: excitement, fear, doubt, anticipation, joy... I remember seeing a sign that said "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." This is another time I almost started to cry in the middle of the race. Not because I had doubt, but because I realized that I can do nothing in my own power. It freed me from any worries about my legs cramping, or anything else going wrong. It also freed me of any thoughts like "oh I'm so awesome because I'm going to do this in under 13 hours." When you're so physically depleted, it's like you go to another place. I can't really describe it. But if you've been there, you know what I'm talking about. It's like you see your life with a whole new perspective. I love that feeling.
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| 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 |
After the race, my awesome husband brought me a slice of pizza. I had already sat down by the time he found me, and there was no way I was getting up any time soon lol.
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| This is how an Ironman eats. |
I signed up for a 10min massage (best thing ever, although slightly painful), and it was all I could do to shuffle over to the tent after sitting and eating my pizza. Sore already, and it's only been 15 minutes since I finished!
Still, I managed to walk my bike to the car. We then went back to our hotel, where I proceeded to organize all of my things, putting as much away as I could. I knew I wouldn't be able to move the next day!! We got cleaned up, and made our way back to the finish line. This is always one of the highlights of any Ironman race, in my opinion!
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| 11pm, waiting for the last finishers... |
This guy. Ok, the last finisher of the day is always exciting. It's 11:58, and he has 2 minutes to make his way around the corner to the finish. His quads are obviously cramping. He leans on a race official. He FALLS DOWN with 100m to go. He leans on the race official and Mike Reilly, the announcer. He makes it with 40 seconds to spare.
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| Ouch! I feel your pain! Sort of... |
Then it was off to bed. I could barely sleep, because I was so sore. Waking up the next day I think I can safely say that I was the most sore I've ever been. Except maybe the first time I ever went snowboarding.
Anyway, we made our way to the finisher gear, and bought a bunch of stuff!
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Well, the shirt, hat, and "TRI" sticker were free.
Oh, and the medal. =P |
I had put on closed-toed shoes so I could wear compression socks, and kept wondering why my right toes hurt. (My left foot is bigger, and these are the toes that usually get the most beat up in races.) A few days later, I noticed some missing skin on my middle toe. Oh, that explains it!
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| The toenail is purple now. |
It also took me about this long to realize that I had chafing on my neck, the result of forgetting to put Tri Slide in this area. Rookie mistake! Thankfully, it was fresh water...
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| That's not what you think it is. ;) |
All in all, I recovered pretty well. Sure, it was difficult to move for a couple days, but that comes with the territory, right? Some people don't get sore after an Ironman. I have no idea how they do this. I guess I raced as hard as I could!
It's been 4 weeks since the race, and I've done:
- 2 swims (2650 yards)
- 5 bike rides (142 miles)
- 5 runs (22.3 miles)
This is what I used to do in less than 2 weeks. (The week of 10/21, I swam 4650 yards, biked 142 miles, and ran 32.7 miles.)
So now what? A couple things:
- Running with my husband in training. He's going to do his first (solo) marathon next December. And the following December (2015), he's going to try and qualify for Boston with a 3:40. He wants my help...
- Whenever the next season of Up & Running Again starts, I will be there to train with them! I didn't really do a great job fundraising during training, but now that I have more time, I really want to get more involved and raise more money for them. And I figure it would be awesome to get to know the runners and be there for their training as well. Stay tuned!
Thank you to everyone who supported me throughout this journey. Thank you for your positive thoughts, prayers, following me on Facebook, putting up with me when I was tired, covering for me when I couldn't say yes to all commitments... Bottom line: yes it was worth it. And yes, I will do it again.
