Ironman Wisconsin - TriathlonFull Ironman

Never saw Jeff again in the lake, but was well trampled, grabbed, kicked, pulled, hit and pulled under by quite many of the over 2500 swimmers. I think they going to need to either cut the number of entrants, change the venue, or go to wave starts. It was unreal. On a good note, I negative split the race! On a bad note, it means I checked my watch at the mid point. Bad girl, I know.

Started farther outside or inside - kicked back harder!!

Volunteers were amazing! Once you made it up the pickin' helix they took over. Loved the wetsuit strippers.

Move faster, but I'm not sure how. Did make a pitstop, and struggled a bit with the wet shorts, but I can't imagine that cost me much.

Wow, what a course. Relentless hills. Just enough flats that there wasn't too much momentum for the next one. Less than 2 miles in, in the no-pass zone, some guy tried to pass the guy behind me, and went down. Scary way to start the day. I can't get over how much fun I was having. Passing more than I got passed. The fan support was amazing....with names on our bibs, they were shouting out like we were rockstars. Much easier to hammer up a hill when they are chanting your name from both sides! Hit a rut at about mile 50, lost some of my food and meds - not fun. Learned at mile 57 that I am not coordinated enough to eat a PB&J sandwich AND climb a hill at the same time. Gave up the sandwich - guy behind me yelled that he would have eaten it! At mile 60 I lost my chain for the first of four (yes, 4!) times. LBS will be hearing from me! Fixed it, but I need to work on speeding that skill up! The last time it happened, tech support finally stopped. I was done, and he offered to 'check my work' and wipe the grease off my face. Lovely. He's lucky I didn't hurt him! I obviously lost some speed in the second half - more than allows for the chain, but I still felt strong. Probably could have pushed it harder. Wind picked up at about mile 60. Not fair, never got the tail wind! Finishing up the helix was tough, but training on our driveway helped! Warm and sunny on the course, and I did get a sunburn despite the wonderful volunteers who slathered me. By the end I was putting my chapstick/sunscreen on my nose, too! Picked up water at every aid station, I need to be more coordinated so that I can get food, too. Can't say enough about the volunteers and spectators - the energy was amazing. Even the cops were cheering at the interesections! I think I grinned for the entire ride, hills and all. Well, maybe not during the chain fixes.

I'd push a bit harder, I think. Zip my bento box so I didn't lose food and meds. Double and triple check nutrition at home before the flight - we didn't pack enough, and didn't realize that in time to get more.

Another shout-out to the volunteers. Helped me off the bike, took off my Garmin...steered me to the bagroom, darn near carried me into the woman's change room. got me out of my bike shorts, into my run shorts...snapped on my run belt, and stopped me before I left with my gloves still on. "uh, miss, it's 90 out there, want to leave your gloves here?!?" Sunscreeners, 3 of them, got my legs, arms and face, and I was off.....like a snail.

Nothing.

Well, the wheels fell off the bus. I went into the race with right leg issues - IT band, hamstring, piriformis - that I was hoping I'd be able to just push through and deal with afterward. I did to a certain extent, but really not to the point I was hoping for. Walked way more than I'd hoped to - but did a fair amount of running, too. figured my 3:59 mary would set me up for a 4:30 or so. Not so much!

Walked through every aid station,and then a bit. Ice in the hat, sponges all over, grapes, chips, water, chicken broth. They even had ice cream sandwiches out near the end!

Loved the trail part of the run, along the lake, the first time. It was really tough in the dark. Lights would have helped. I missed the cut-off for the glowsticks - yea!! but a headlight may have been nice! A nice surprise was the fact that I never tripped or fell - a vast improvement over my last few training runs. No IM skinned knees!

Loved the inspiration board - although Jeff's whole message didn't make it, they bleeped out one of his words. Surprise! Saw Jeff on the course 3 times - that was great. Kissed him twice - probably cost us both a minute, but it was a great boost! Guy behind me asked if I knew him, or if he could be next. I laughed about that for a while.

Followed Art/Bob's advice, and kept smiling.

It was HOT and MUGGY. Used sponges and ice at every aid station. Started on chicken soup at about station 20. Met some fun people, had some good chats. I'm wondering if I actually talked to some BTers - with 70+ there, odds are good. I did hear 'velcromom' - once on the bike, once on the run, so....maybe! Most was solo, and I just soaked it all up. My garmin beeped low battery at me 2 hours into it, but held up for the whole run. Nice! I was hoping to finish strong, but that didn't happen - not for lack of trying. bummer. Did make the last turn at a trot, and ran in. Heard them announce my age, name, first time status and 'You are an Ironman'! Song when I finished was 'I would walk 500 miles' which was very appropriate!! Three people had me at the finish line - I was shaking quite a bit. Got the pic, got the food, got my gear, called Jeff. He was looking for me in the medical tent. He of little faith....

Waited a long time for the massage - but it was great. Called the hotel shuttle, we didn't even want to try to walk back!! Washed off the lake, the blood, the sweat, tears (ok, a bit of an exaggeration, but it sounds good)and collapsed. What a day. 9 months to Couer D'Alene.

Heal my leg before I ran. Somehow pick up 12 minutes to finish with a 13 first. That really did bum me out.

8 hours home....in the back of the plane where the seats don't recline.


I’m a 45 year old woman with Rheumatoid Arthritis. I am a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, a cousin and a friend. Now, I’m also an Ironman. Wow.

I had so much fun doing this amazing event with Jeff – can’t imagine doing it any other way. Coach Kevorkian came through, in a big way. Thanks, Honey!!