Race Report

This is REALLY LONG. To skip to race day read below the *** line. But it’s still long. Here are the highlights – Swim 2.4, Bike 112, Run 26.2 Finish Line - Ironman.

Pre Race –
Marty (my Ironman “husband”) and I drove to Madison on Thursday. By the time we got out of the city (after I locked myself out of my building with all my tri stuff in the hallway) it was about 1pm. After a few stops and a long drive to the nearest grocery store, which was forever away, we got checked into the hotel about 4:30 and headed to dinner. Madison is a great town, and we were within walking distance of State Street – the main drag, and the college kids were out en-masse… so fun. Friday morning we popped down to the lakefront to swim a bit with the other 1,000+ athletes getting ready. Talk about intimidating. You should see the bodies on some of these folks. Incredible. Marty and I met Juliette at the lake and we did a short, maybe 20 minute, swim. Nerves were still intact, and the city was starting to get ready for a big weekend. The buzz was palpable.

After the swim it was registration time! Ironman runs like clockwork. It’s amazing. There are SOOOO many smiling and helpful volunteers everywhere. Line after line of athletes ready to be an Ironman for the first time or the 20th. A line to check your USAT card, a line to sign a waiver, a line to get weighed in, a line to pick up your bag and then they put on the magic blue bracelet. Like a hospital bracelet, this was our ticket for the weekend.

For some reason my appetite was lacking all day Friday and Saturday. I’m sure it was nerves, but I had to force myself to down my lunch and dinner on Friday to get my necessary 650grams of carbs in. Friday after lunch we came back to the hotel to put our legs up and I crashed – hard. You know that sleep when you kind of wake up but your body feels so heavy it pulls you back under? It was an awesome sleep.

Athletes and families were trickling in on Friday. We saw Kim, Erin, and the Paul crew. Everyone was looking healthy and strong.

Saturday was a big day. Another early morning swim before packing up the transition and special needs bags. On Friday we got 5 plastic bags for the race.
Morning Clothes Bag – for the clothes you wear to the swim start
Swim to Bike Transition
Bike Special Needs Bag – This you get at 56 miles and can put whatever you want in it
Bike to Run Transition
Run Special Needs Bag – Whatever you want in this one, too!

So you fill up your bags with all the stuff you need/want. Lists and lists of the things you’ll want/need, pack them up. Unpack, double check, and recheck. Once the bags are checked we walked the bags and the bikes down to the transition area.

The transition area is marked so there is no question where your bike goes. This is like the VIP of triathlon. It’s amazing, there are volunteers everywhere helping with bikes. We found our spots and took pics, of course.

All day long I kept getting emails and Facebook messages from friends and family. I have the most amazing friends and support. You have no idea how loved you really are until people come out of the woodwork to tell you how proud of you they are. It’s unbelievable. I’m so blessed.

Saturday afternoon Mom and Dad arrived and they walked around Madison after we did some final prep for the race and I took a nap. Beth and Justin met us for an early dinner and Kasia came by for a drink, too! It was such a fun dinner. Lots of pasta and bread to go around. We ran into Kim, Erin and Erin, at the restaurant, too. What a fun day. Spirits were high and everyone had big smiles!

Finalized the special needs bags Friday night. Unpacked, double checked, and re-checked. (If I never see another cliff bar again that would be Ok with me.) Best tip for the special needs bags: eye drops and gum.

Went to bed early and Eric finally got to Madison around midnight on Saturday. He had his company golf outing on Saturday. 4 hours of sleep and then he was up with me at 4:30am!

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Dad spent Saturday night trying to talk me into getting up at 5am instead of 4. But I was up all night anyway. Up every few hours to check the phone. Finally I was up and ready for Ironman day at about 4:30am.

Mom, Dad and Eric were awesome. No one complained about getting up so early and everyone was willing to help. We all walked down to Monona Terrace together, swinging by the Capital to drop off special needs bike and run bags. The stars were out, not a cloud in the sky. More than 15 hours later I would be in the same place, finishing under the same stars. Just 140.6 miles to go.

Got body marked with the mob of athletes by the bike transition area. Mom brought this humongous poster with my face on it (Eric designed) on a 12ft long stick. We were hard to miss. But it was awesome. Dora the Explorer, the balloon Mom brought had an M-Dot shirt on, too. There is no way to explain how happy I was to see Dora the Explorer about 12 hours later. She would bring tears to my eyes.

After getting my nutrition all set on the bike we went inside to chill out a bit and get centered. Listened to my Ironman mix to get pumped for the big day ahead, handed the phone over to Eric to give updates to the Ironman support crew and put the wetsuit on. Reading the text messages that night post-race was so fun.

Walking down to the swim start Eric, Mom and Dad were wishing well and there were hugs and kisses all around. For some reason I was super-emotional. Suddenly I was all alone in a sea of rubber-bound ridiculously-fit athletes. Nerves were pounding; people were making nervous jokes and for the most part being polite. We hit the water with about 10 minutes to spare.

At IM Wisconsin you actually get in the water and tread for about 10 minutes. Everyone is in the water before the gun goes off. So the atmosphere in the water is tense. Everyone is nervous and excited. I tried to lay back and relax. The full sleeved wetsuit helped, I floated like a seal! Suddenly the announcer said – “One Minute to the Cannon” and suddenly I felt ready to go.

I hadn’t looked up from my relaxed position in a while and I finally looked around. There were SO MANY swim caps around me and the view of Monona Terrace was spectacular. If you think the water looks cool with 2,500 athletes in it, you should see the view from the water. The sun was coming up over the lake shining off all of the friends and family waiting and watching their Ironman get underway. There were thousands of spectators lining the entire distance of the terrace and all the way up the helix. It was spectacular.

Suddenly, I was doing the Ironman!

The swim start is insane. I had to climb over a few people to get to a decent spot and ended up stuck behind and in between some slower swimmers. Eventually I saw an empty spot to my left and made my way that direction. The swim is a rectangle, so the first long stretch I got my rhythm down and just cruised.

The turns were crazy. 2,500 swimmers all headed for the same buoy caused a crazy bottle neck and everyone had to slow down. So I tried to stay to the right of the other buoys (Sorry Coach Charlie, I wasn’t going to risk getting trampled to get close to the buoy). The second lap of the swim was great. I got kicked in the face once but pretty much had a clear shot to each buoy on my own. And there was the view of the spectators that literally brought a tear to my eye. It was awesome.

And then the swim was done. Out of the water and there were two ladies waiting for me… strippers! After taking off the sleeves of my suit in one move they yelled, “Lay down and point your toes!” So I did. And .4 seconds later I was standing up with my suit on my arm. Smiling a huge grin when Beth and Justin were cheering me on! It was so great to see them!!!

Smiling all the way up the helix, I felt like a million bucks! I’M DOING THE IRONMAN I thought. This is freaking crazy! The spectators were cheering and full of energy and smiles. All the way up the helix their enthusiasm literally carried me to transition.

In transition Liz, my volunteer, helped me find my bag and dumped out all my bike stuff. I was cracking jokes and having a great time. Liz was a fantastic sport. Who wants to watch someone else put on butt balm? Yuck. After thanking Liz a million times, putting all my bike gear on and making a pit stop, I ran out to get my bike. Grabbed the bike and there were Marc and Betsy! Whoo Hoo! I’m doing it! Mom, Dad, and Eric were there, too! Dora the Explorer leading the cheering charge! It was awesome.

The first part of the bike is going down the helix, which is really a parking ramp, on the other side of the terrace, pretty fun. And at the bottom, there were Beth and Justin again! A little further down, more VQ friendly faces and cow bells! It is a long day for everyone out there – and it was so great to get a little kick headed out on the bike. It would be 65 miles before I was sure I would see familiar faces again.

It was a beautiful morning for a bike ride. No wind, everyone was having fun. I was chatting it up and riding easy with A.J. a guy from Seattle I met who literally had a fruit stand in his pockets. He was carrying like 5 bananas. Turns out I probably should have saved the energy I spent chatting, but there were people everywhere!!! I was doing the Ironman and enjoying every second of it. It was awesome.

The bike course is 15 miles out to Verona, then two 40 mile loops, and 15 miles back. (Ok, math majors, it’s not exact, but you get the gist) The loops are made up of a few pretty serious hills. And luckily, I had done the course so many times I knew exactly what to expect. I was making GREAT time on the first loop. It was awesome. There were plenty of people passing me, but I was riding my own race.

Suddenly there was a beautiful dog. And I thought, wow, that’s a really great dog. It looks like Steve and… OMG, It’s STEVE AND JIM!!! HEY!!!

Then, at the top of the most gruesome hill on the course… was Dora the Explorer!!! Somehow my folks and Eric found out how to get to the top of the worst hill on the course and there they were. It was SO FANTASTIC to see them.

Right about the time I headed back into Verona to start the second loop it started to get HOT. REALLY HOT. I hit the special needs section looking forward to refilling my Infinit bottles. But there was no water. Major Hiccup. Steve, the guy that had my special needs bag, offered me HIS OWN water supply. Again, these volunteers are nothing short of angels.

Jammed ¾ of the PBJ from my bag in my mouth and some pretzels. But pretzels need water… so started the second loop feeling strong. I tried to give back some energy to the spectators and smiled as much as I could, even going up the hills. Smiling actually made everything a lot easier.

The Chicago Tri Club were set up at Cross Plains and they were a sight for sore eyes. Becky, Tammy, Juan and Jennifer were there in costume having a blast. They were going crazy and having a blast. I kinda wanted to get off a join them!

I stopped to say hi to Mom, Dad and Eric at the top of the same hill on the second loop. This time I wasn’t moving so fast. It was brutal and HOT. I asked where Mari and Todd, Diana and Jan were. I hadn’t seen them yet and I wanted to make sure I saw them and didn’t just fly by. Mom told me they would be at Verona. More reason to get there that much faster!

Finally made it to Verona and there were Mari and Todd! Big pink poster just like they said. It was SOOOO great to see their smiling faces! We took a picture and I was off to finish this darned bike ride.

But it just never seemed to end. Mile 86 I was hot and tired. Ready to get off the bike and I still had a long way to go. So I just kept plugging away. The second loop people were a little less friendly. Not in a mean way, just not as jolly. We were all hurting a bit. Arthur, another VQer and myself were doing a little hopscotch game. Finally the 100 mile mark. But Madison seemed SO far away.

Suddenly there it was! Like a mirage in the desert, or a beckon on the open sea – Monona Terrace and the helix were just a few miles away. Now all I had to do was run a marathon. I was just a few hours from being an IRONMAN!

The volunteers again are just amazing. Someone grabbed my bike and helped me dismount without falling and then my bike was gone and I was into the transition area. Bike bag found and the sweetest volunteer, Lorraine, helped me into my run gear. Juliette was in the transition with me – she was having a GREAT race! Heather from VQ was there, too.

So we got fitted up for the run and noticed I had some serious heat rash on my right thigh. No good. But just a few hours to go and I’d be done.

Headed out of the building to the run and there were Mari, Todd, Diana, and Jan! I was SOOOO happy to see them! We blew kisses and said hello while I was getting slathered with sunscreen by the volunteers. Kinda fun getting lubed up by someone else.

Then I was off to the marathon.
Beth and Justin were there on their bikes and rode while I ran until the race course took over the whole road. They’re amazing!

Dealt with some nasty side splints for the first few miles of the run. But I WAS RUNNING! And pretty much - shin at least – pain free. (This would not last) Down State Street the VQ crew missed me, but suddenly there were Ashley and Jackie! Totally unexpected and thrilling, I felt so great when I saw them I wanted to give them big kisses!

I ran (by running I really mean a shuffle) most of the first section except for water stops and the hills. By the way, no one mentioned there were MAJOR hills on this run course. I was going to think about this in 4 segments, but that didn’t last long. I’m not really sure when it happened. About 8 miles in I thought to myself, “Why didn’t I remember how much this hurt? I didn’t like running the marathon last year. I don’t actually like running. What am I doing?”

Near the turnaround I saw out of the ibis, Dora the explorer! Mom, Dad, Eric, Diana, Jan, Mari and Todd were all there! Happy and cheerful they were in great spirits! I’ve never seen people so happy to see someone. It was amazing. Diana had Becca on the phone and I actually started to cry a little. It was like angles came down to lift me up. Then it was onto State Street where the VQ crew was. Mia, Dave, Dan, Robbie, Deanna, where all there screaming and going crazy. It was awesome.

Somewhere on the back of the course were Marc and Betsy again. Marc signed up for IM MOO next year, and helping out at a water station. He gave me some cola and I kept eating pretzels. Still on the first loop, I was feeling Ok. A little nausea, and occasionally I was pretty light headed, but the pain hadn’t quite set in yet.

At the turn around for the run is the run special needs bag. I rifled through all the stuff I had put in it and didn’t want any of it. I had put some Swedish fish in there. Why not? I pulled them out and told myself I would eat them if I felt like I needed a kick.

On the out and back around the capital were Kasia, Dan and their puppy, Shelby. It was magical to see them there, twice! So happy! Seeing them was amazing.

I finally decided that I was going to walk the second half with my new friends Scott and John. They had been walking and had caught up to me, then I had run past them, then they caught me again. I thought, “If these guys are walking faster than I can jog/walk, why don’t I just walk with them?”

The pain in my legs and feet, mixed with nausea and the feeling that someone had hit me in the stomach and sides with a baseball bat, was reason enough to walk. My feet were killing me, shins were screaming and with every right leg strike the searing pain of my heat rash made me want to cry. So I hooked up with Scott and John and we walked into the dwindling sunlight together.

Erin Finnegan came out of the blue at some point and could tell I was in pain. “Stay strong. You’re going to do this. You’re going to be an Ironman.” Every single word helped my spirit.

Scott and John talked most of the way, I was in a dark place and literally unable to be cheeky and tell funny stories like I normally would. We were counting down the miles from 13 to go. We picked up some runners and some walkers. They would come and go.

Then they brought out the glow sticks – which is a little depressing. Not that I had any delusions of grandeur that I might finish in daylight. There were the stars I had seen that morning. So beautiful and serene over the lake we were running around. Any other night I would have been so happy to see them but I was not interested in pretty views. I was focused on putting one foot in front of the other.

There is a crazy-long out and back on the run course. I’m not even sure where it is to tell you the truth. But along this long, dark trail were the Razors. My swimming friends who can run a 3:00 Marathon and are the fittest guys I know… were sitting in lawn chairs in the tiniest running shorts you’ve ever seen – Wasted.

When they saw me they went CRAZY!!!! It was awesome.

Finally, there were Mom, Dad, Eric, Mari, Todd, Diana and Jan again. This time I was feeling pretty bad, but I didn’t want to lose Scott and John. They were keeping me upright and moving forward. I knew I would have given up long ago if it wasn’t for them. I kept going. I told my crew I would see them at the finish line.

We were counting down the miles. At 4 to go we knew we had an hour left and it was glorious. I wanted to run so badly. 4 miles? I can run 4 miles! But if I ran and ended up alone I would have walked even slower and I just wanted to finish. Scott and I were keeping each other honest.

And then, almost suddenly, I was on State Street passing the VQ crew. Mia came out to meet me. “You are going to finish this. You are awesome.” I was on the verge of tears, but she was there. She had waited all night for me, it was past 10pm. My family and friends had waited for me to do this. I was going to make it to the finish line. It was so close. Robbie Ventura was there too. “Just give us a trot, you’re so close. Run to the finish.”

“I will, at the corner.” I was going to be an Ironman.

As Scott and I approached the finish line there is the meanest little grade uphill that God has ever created. It is a quarter mile from the finish line and feels like a 90 degree climb. Over the top of this hill and suddenly there was LIGHTS and MUSIC!

Scott told me to go first (I had told him there was a .01% chance Eric might propose at the finish) he wanted to see the show just in case.

As we came around the corner I started to trot. It was barely a jog. The pain in my legs, hips and feet brought tears to my eyes. Every step was like a thousand fiery pins driving straight into my feet. My whole body ached. I had been in motion for more than 15 and a half hours.

As I came up to the finish line I was thinking about all the sacrifice I had made to get here. The 4 and 5am mornings. The dinners with friends missed or skipped out of early. The birthday parties and weddings missed for 100 mile bike rides, the money spent on all the gear, food, massages, coaches, hotels… Whole weekends spent without Eric to train. The mood swings, crazy lows and highs. My first age group win, debilitating shin splints, overcoming a back injury. Hours and hours in the pool, on the bike and on the lakefront path. Training with Liu, spending my lunch hours in the gym… all for this moment.

And all the sacrifice my family and friends had endured. Missing time with them, being crazy, talking about this race for an entire year. Eric dealing with my insanity – tri stuff all over the house and taking the bikes on vacation, planning our lives around my training schedule. Pep talks from Mom when it was just too much. More than that, I thought about our dedication to each other. Not just Eric, or my folks, but the people that mean the most to you. That I would be there, like my friends and family where there for me that long, long day. I will give back for all I have been given.

It takes a village. You cannot achieve greatness or accomplish goals like this alone. Ironman is most definitely a selfish pursuit. The support I received from my family and friends brings tears to my eyes now.

Crossing the finish line of the Ironman, I was elated, thrilled, exhausted, in pain. It was the highest of all highs. The adrenaline was pumping and I felt invincible.

And then my village showed up. And I cried.

Nothing short of a miracle, I am an Ironman.