IronCam

Yesterday, I became an Ironman in 11:39 at the Chesapeakeman.

Instead of the usual race report followed by some thank you's, I'd like to give a quick shout out up front. As Margaret says, "It takes a village to raise an Ironman," and I really would not have been able to do this alone. First off, thanks to my parents, Posie and Blake for making it out to my race yesterday. Having you guys there made all the difference. To my friends at SBR and all my various training buddies: I really would never have pulled this off without you. When I needed advice, you had plenty of it; when I needed support, you had even more. (And, of course, David, when I needed to get yelled at so I wouldn't wimp out, you had tonnes of that to give!) And finally, my friends and coworkers, thank you for being there for me and for also reminding me (constantly) that there's more to life than training. In the words of Clarke, "This Ironman shit seriously needs to go. It's killing fun."

So now, on with the race report. I showed up to the race site on Thursday and on Friday did the usual registration, bike check-in, drove the course, etc. In general, I just laid low, did a short spin, and pushed the water/Amino Vital/salt pills. Quiet dinner with the family on Friday night and off to bed by 10pm. As expected, I had a little trouble sleeping. I was especially worried about the weather which forecast anything from high humidity/80s if the sun came out, to thunder storms and torrential rain. In the 6 hours of sleep, I also dreamt like nobody's business. The best dream had to be the one where I started the Ironman and then blacked out and woke up to be told that I had finished it... If only that's how it all worked.

On Saturday, I woke up around 5am, had a little breakfast and headed over to T2 to drop off my special needs and run bags. I headed back to the hotel for a little GI relief and then over to T1/swim start. I had about 20 minutes to get ready for the swim which was nice. Just enough to be comfortable but not so much that I would start to panic.

The gun or horn or whatever it was--I really don't remember--went off and we were off. The swim was a 2-loop swim in the Choptank River. Originally we were supposed to do a single straight swim with the current but conditions were spec-ed to be rough, so they revised the swim the day before. The 2 loops were nice because they allowed for a time split... but I didn't get any help from the current and was definitely tossed around a bunch by the chop. At this point, I'm not sure about my splits, but I put swim + T1 at about 1:30. Not as fast as I had hoped, but it was a nice, relaxed pace and seemed decent given the roughness of the water.

As I headed out on the bike, the rain started. Or at least, it seemed to start. Apparently, it had been raining like mad all during the swim but, of course, I didn't really realize this. The bike was a flat, but windy one. It borrows from the Eagleman 70.3 and is essentially a 2-loop course. During the first 10 miles I saw upward of 10 flats so that had me a little concerned, but I ended up being lucky and went flat-free for the whole ride. In general, the bike was good. It was quite windy at times but it always seemed to be a tail- or head-wind so I didn't regret having a disc/808. The course was beautiful but rainy. With no hills, the only really noteworthy part was a 1-mile section of flooded out road. It was so deep that my shoes actually dipped beneath the water tugging me left and right with every pedal stroke. Discs make funny noises, in general; in 5 inches of water, they are ridiculous!

I wrapped up the bike in about 5:45--not bad! The final 10km sucked, though. Two hours of torrential rain had taken their toll on my mind. I really wanted to be off the bike, I was losing my focus and was just really dragging. The prospect of running a marathon afterward was so daunting. This was definitely the lowest point in my race.

I moved quickly through T2... Figured I was better heading in the right direction rather than sitting. The first 3 miles of the run were brutal. I felt sluggish and exhausted. The course was quiet and I just ran from aid station to aid station. As more people got off the bike, the crowds picked up; it was a 3x8-mile out-and-back course and this really helped me get into a groove as I started to recognize faces. By mile 5, I caught up with a nice guy--Garth--from Virginia and we stuck together for about 12 miles. He was a 22-year Army career man and we had a nice long chat which really killed time. Around mile 18, he was starting to slow so I took off. I spotted him at each turn around and we cheered each other on.

The final 4 miles were tough on the mind but knowing that I was headed home made a big difference. Also, at the final turn around, there was a Hawaiian-themed aid station. The guys there must have been drinking because they were more excited and sloppy every time I saw them. I got 'laid' with a lei on my final pass... glad to know I have game after 136 miles. In the last mile, I passed someone with "14" written on their leg. Must be their race number instead of their age, right?

"So you're not actually 14, right?"
"Ya, I am," he says. As he smiles, I see his braces.
"Wow, crazy! You're doing an Ironman!"
"I did my first last year..."
"Must be some kind of world record!"
"It is."

I laughed out loud and headed to the finish line. At least I beat the 14-year old, right?!

As I headed into the finish, Posie, Blake and my parents cheered me on. I could tell in my head that Blake wanted to say something like "Hurry the fuck up... Why are you so fat and slow?!" But, he held back. Thanks man.

Anyway, I finished in 11:39. Very, very happy with that time! And I beat David's prediction of 12:40-12:46. Also, ran my first (on-the-books) marathon in about 4:10.

Well, that's it folks. Thanks for reading and thanks for everything you've done throughout this year. It's been the most phenomenal journey of my life. Honestly. At this point, I haven't really digested the whole thing so I don't have many words of wisdom... I guess all I can say is that training for this has given me a focus and clarity that I never thought was possible. Am ready for a break and ready to get a little fratty for a while... But I'll be back at in not so long.

- IronCam.

PS: The finer details...
Swim:
David's Orca wetsuit--thanks!

Bike:
Cervelo 2008 P2C, 808 front, 900 rear

Run:
Brooks Adrenaline GTS

Nutrition/Doping:
1 bagel
4 x 700mL water
6 x 700mL Gatorade Endurance
8 x 700mL Cam's Special Cocktail (1/3 can RedBull + Amino Vital)
20 x Gu (Vanilla, Espresso, TriBerry)
20 strands of Twizzlers
6 salt pills
8 x 500mg acetaminophen