Ironman Arizona - TriathlonFull Ironman

Every tri I have ever done, I just want to get the swimming over with because I suck at it. I spent a lot of time in my masters swim class, and still suck pretty badly.

With that being said, the swim was pretty uneventful. I could not find a moment of open water at all even with my slow swimming. I got kicked in the face, punched in the back, feet were pulled and it was nuts. I was expecting this so I made sure that I didn't lose any composure. I kept my cool and just swam. The back of my hammies got a little tight and my arms were getting tired. Once I saw the second bridge on the way back, I was just happy to be finished with the swim.

Swim more more and more.

When I arrived to the steps, it took me a few seconds to get adjusted to the ground. Wetsuit strippers were awesome. Once they got the wetsuits off, I took off into T1 for my gear bag. Once I got the bag, I sat outside to get ready, since the changing tent was super crowded. Put on my jersey, shoes, helmets and glasses and it was off to the bike.

Bring a towel to dry my feet off.

The strategy on the bike was to maintain my hr anywhere between 150-155, down 100 calories every 20 minutes. I took a gel down right away. I felt great for the first 10 miles. I was avg, 23-24 mph effortlessly. I checked my hr and I was at about 151. Sweet....I was enjoying the scenery, talking to people and just hanging out on the bike.

Then when I approached mile 14-15, I needed a bottle of water. So I was approaching the aid station, I screamed "WATER PLEASE!" I saw a girl hold out a bottle of water and she just stood there. I decided I was going to take the bottle of water from here. I was going 22-23mph . I proceeded to grab the bottle from her. She held the bottle so tight, that as I grab the bottle from her, she pulled me down and I went completely out of control; I tried my best to gain balance, and then CRASH!!!!!!
I flew off my bike, tumbling 4-5 times on the asphalt, and the next thing I remember was I just laid there looking at the sky. I heard people screaming "MEDIC, WE NEED A MEDIC." It was scary, I thought I was done. In fact, the first thought that entered into my mind when I laid there was that I either broke every bone in my body, or that I was dead. I was in complete shock. I then proceeded to get up and walk over to the medic. I saw my bike and I thought my day was over. I was hoping that my bike was ok, funny thing was I could careless about the possibilities of broken bones, rashes and etc. One of the ladies at the aid station was a nurse and she patched me up. She was a sweet heart. Luckily, there was a bike mechanic there, and they fixed my bike. The right side of my base bar completely broke off, and so they taped it off. Thankfully, that was the ONLY damage done to the bike other than some scratches here and there. I suffered some road rash, slammed my left ankle into the ground, and my fingers were torn up. The medic asked if I hit my head on the ground and I said no. I then said, OK, 'LET'S GO. They asked to make sure if I wanted to continue, and I said, "Yes mam, I'm good. Let's finish this thing." I was at the aid station for probably 15 minutes before I headed out again.

I still had 98 miles to go, with a broken base bar, which meant that I would have to spend the majority of my time in aero, and be careful about braking, since any pressure to the bar could snap it off again. Though frustrating, I spent the next few miles praying and remembering what I resolved to do at the beginning of the race; to enjoy the race no matter what happened, and to smile and laugh. I talked to Dirk (my coach), and he told me that Ironman is all about how you handle mishaps, because you literally never know what's going to happen. I never anticipated that I was going to fall, but it happened. He said to just keep going, so that's exactly what I did, I kept going.

My hr sank down to about 145-150. I road the rest of the course conservatively as I was pretty scared to fall again. Mile 15-56, I just pedaled smoothly trying to remain focused. Mile 56-112, I just kept thinking about all the people who supported my endeavor to complete an Ironman. I then thought about my sisters and Dana who were waiting for me to come back into town. That joy and smile came back to me as I road into T2. Now, let's see how jacked up I am. Hopefully I could run.

Not crash, go very slowly towards the aid stations and spend more time talking to people.

First off, I fricken love the volunteers. As I gave my bike to one of the bike runners, I didn't realize one my shoes came off of my pedals. They grabbed it for me and put it in my T1 bag. I ran to my t2 bag, and then I realized I left my garmin on the bike "AH CRAP." As I came into the tent, I asked one of the volunteers if I could go back into the bike transition to get my garmin and he said he would get it. I put my compression socks on, visor and sun glasses on. After the spill, my bib ripped off of my race belt so I asked for safety pins. One of the dudes pinned my bib to my belt without me asking. Volunteers rock man. I popped an Ibuprofen, took the longest piss of my life, volunteers put some sunblock on me while I waited for the guy to bring me my garmin. I gave the guy a hug and I was off to my run

Not forget my garmin on my bike.

The plan for the run was to maintain 150-155 hr for the first 5 miles and then go to about 155-160 for the rest of the run. Take a gel every 20 minutes. And finally, the goal was to not walk at all. I felt great on the first loop. Legs felt like it could go even faster but I knew that if did, I would completely blow up. After 13 miles, I decided to pick it up. My hr went up to about 158 and I was running low 10s, I knew at this point that my body was very tired. I drank water at every aid station.

At mile 15, I saw my family and told them that I was in serious pain. They encouraged me and it was off to the final 3rd loop of the run. At this point, my stomach was sloshing around.

When I started the 3rd loop, I knew I was going very slow. I tried to run faster but my legs were completely done. At mile 20, I had a small spurt of optimism and started to run faster. The fastest I ran at this point was a 10min/mile. This lasted for about 4 minutes and it was back to a shuffle. I did the calculation in my head; if I run 12min miles for the next 6 miles, I would finish under 12 hours with some change. So I just putting one foot in front of the other til about mile 25. On the last hill, there were volunteers every where still cheering us on. It was fantastic. I saw people throwing up, passed out, a lot of walking and athletes encouraging other athletes. When I approached mile 26, I saw the crowds and my face starting lighting up. It was going to happen, I was going to finish my very first Ironman. I kept thinking about the people who have made tons of sacrifices so that I could pursue this endeavor. I kept thinking about the botched weekends of workouts. And it was all going to come to fruition in the next few minutes.

As I turned the corner for the last .2 miles, I started giving everyone in sight high fives. When I approached the finishing chute, I just started screaming, yelling, cheering and everything imaginable to celebrate a great experience. I saw my sisters and my fiance before I crossed the finished line, so I made sure to give them hugs. As I approached the finish line, I saw a lady crossing the finish line with her 2 kids. It was awesome. I lifted my hands and screamed as I crossed the finish line. I screamed so loud that I couldn't hear Mike Reily announce my name.

I felt like I took on too many calories. Dirk told me that I should make sure to take on 100 calories every 20 minutes. I may need to change that. This is my 2nd marathon ever, first one being almost 4 years ago. I will need put a lot more miles in my legs.

Tried to walk around. Waited around for a massage but the line was too long. I was not hungry at all so I couldn't even eat the pizza.


I need more experience at this distance.


Given the circumstances of a bike crash, which could have gone much worse, it was a fantastic race. I made a commitment that I would enjoy the race no matter what and that's exactly what I did. Dirk told me that racing an IM is all about how you handle midhaps and hiccups. I never thought that I was going to crash my bike but I made a mental note to prepare for anything that may happen. It was a great race and at the end of the day, I was still trying to figure out if this distance is my thing. I completely admire those people who can find that balance between family and racing this distance, but it's a struggle for me. I'm going to do another one, but not anytime soon. Hands down, volunteers rock man.