Ironman Arizona - TriathlonFull Ironman

This was a mosh pit. A never ending mosh pit of elbows, feet, hands, bodies, all trying to get to the same place. I don't know that I ever really had clear water to swim and it seemed like there was just constant contact. I got kicked in the left goggle at one point so that it created this massive vacuum effect and I couldn't close my left eyelid anymore, but I figured as long as my goggles were still on my face and weren't leaking, I was just going to leave everything.

I didn't start to really get cold until about 3/4ths of the way through the swim, and then my hands started to tingle and I couldn't really feel my feet. Thank little baby swaddling Jebus for the volunteers that were helping to pull people out of the water at the end of the swim!

The end of the swim was interesting for me as I also got really emotional for some reason. I think it was the realization that I was actually DOING an Ironman, and this was the culmination of a dream that I'd had for a long time. :)

I have NO idea. Try to move further out to the sides to try and get some open water? Swim more to get faster and then I can just beat everyone and not have to worry about it? Meh, I didn't really care, I was done!

I know, I know... what the HELL was I doing in there??? Well, I was helping other people. The lady to my left had a volunteer helping her with everything, and the lady to my right and I were trying to fend for ourselves so I helped her put on her sports bra and then tried to fight my way into mine, put on my bike shorts, get on the compression socks, arm warmers totally sucked to try and get on, and my super, mega awesome Canadian bike jersey!

Nothing really, someone else needed help, so I helped them and I'd do it again. I'm not going to win and I'm not even in it to place in my AG - so why not take an extra minute to assist someone who needs it.

Yayyyy! I'm on my bike! I love my bike! Don't I? The first loop was absolutely AWESOME! I had such a great time out there! It felt like I was FLYING, and had a big smile on my face - trying to take in water, Infinit and Gu... I caught up to Kido and said hello as I went by him then towards the end of the 1st loop I saw Tony going the other way (YAY!) but by then my back started to act up. I knew it would, but I was feeling so great before that so I decided to ignore the pain until the start of the 2nd loop when I figured I would pull into the first aid station to stretch.

As of the start of the second loop... The pain would just not.go.away. An absolute angel at the aid station came up to me and told me that she was a massage therapist by trade and would I like her help... YES! She did what she could for a few minutes, I grabbed some more water, some chomps and went on my way.

The second loop was BRUTAL. The wind had shifted so we had a tail wind on the way up to the turn around which meant that there would be a headwind for the way back into town. Drat! I got to the turn around and not only is my back in agony, but I've stopped being able to take in Infinit. I could still take in water, but my stomach absolutely rebelled and there was no way I was taking in another mouthful of that awful stuff. Okay, I need to have something with calories and such, so I'll try that Perform stuff... EWWWWWW! Um... no. That stuff is terrible! So, I tried to make do with water, chomps and some of a Cliffbuilder bar, but I knew that this was just the beginning of the end. And it was.

Loop three comes along and I'm so grateful for all of the spectators that line the streets in town... and my parents were there!!! Yayyy! I got to see a glimpse of them as I rolled (slowly) by - and they were cheering like mad, wearing the special t-shirts that Tony had made for them with my bib number, a Canadian maple leaf, and all in red. It was so great to see them as I could momentarily forget about the agonizing pain I was in. Again, I decided to stop at the first aid station out of town and try to get some relief in the way of stretching. Not a whole lot of relief, but at least I got to smear some more Icy/Hot on my back and stand up for a few... then... back to the bike! Things are starting to cramp. My stomach, quads, hamstrings, calves... everything. I tried to take in more water, I had some more perform, tried to just tell my muscles NO! You are NOT going to do this to me! And this actually worked until about 3/4ths of a mile from the turn-around at Shea Avenue. And then everything seized up. I had to pull off to the side of the road and stand there straddling my bike because I couldn't actually lift one leg to get it over my bike so I could stretch. All I could do was try to stand up until my legs might work again. It took about 10 minutes for me to feel like I could even clip into a pedal again... and I figured that enough was enough - I needed to get going. If I could just get to the turn around, I could stop with people and stretch. Which I did. I got there and got off my bike to just stand there for a bit. It was horrible, but eventually I had to get back onto my bike and finish this damn thing, so back onto the bike I got.

I saw Tony one last time on the bike and he had made up a LOT of ground on me - and it was a fantastic lift to see his face and hear him cheer me on. My hubby ROCKS! It seemed like ages before I saw the 100 mile mark and by that time I couldn't be in aero anymore, so it was just a matter of gutting it out until I could get off the bike.

Slowly, ever so slowly... I started to see more and more people on the side of the roads which meant... I was getting back to town! YAYYY! Big smile back on my face, loving the crowd, people saying "GO CANADA!" and then... there it was. The dismount line. My girl bits have never been so happy! I think they were singing their own song of happiness as was my back! I handed my bike over to the lovely volunteer and told him to take good care of my bike as he had gotten me this far, and he (she? I don't even know what gender person I was talking to I was so delirious) took George off to go hang with the other bikes. I was laughing I was so giddy! I was going to do this! I could take 9 hours on the marathon and still finish. For the second time of the day I got really, really emotional as I knew I was going to be an Ironman.

Not be so undertrained for a race, get my nutrition figured out BEFORE race day, and see if there's a doctor anywhere in the world that will do a back transplant.

I got into the tent and immediately laid on the floor asking if someone could please stretch me... another angel of a volunteer came right over and started to help me out. The actual changing of my bike shorts to run shorts and into my running shoes didn't take any time at all - what took the most time was the 5 or more minutes of help that I needed to try and make my back work again.

Nada other than that back transplant thing that I mentioned earlier.

Yeah.... I knew the 'run' was going to be bad, and it was. Running and I have a mutual hate, and it seriously kicked my AZZ! It didn't help that my stomach was extremely nauseated and I could barely take in any calories. Water, chicken broth, Gu, chips, pretzels, grapes... nada. Maybe a mouthful here and there, but that was IT. My body hates me.

I was still ahead of Tony by about 14 minutes when I got out onto the course and so I was going to try and do a 4min run/1min walk until he caught me. Out of T2 I saw my parents and so stopped to chat with them for a bit which helped my mood immensely. I got a few more feet and there were Chad, Eric and Gina - more people to help my mood! Well, that whole run/walk thing didn't last very long and Tony caught me sometime between miles 2 and 4. I'm not really sure when, but I've never been so happy to see him in my life! The first lap was a fair amount of walking, but then we started a 1min run/1min walk which worked really well for a while! Yay!

Loop 2 we saw my parents again (more YAY!) and kept up with the 1:1 even though my legs were a big ball of hurty cramping. I'm pretty happy with loop 2 and if we had been able to keep that up, I would have been even more happy, but alas... it was not to be.

At the end of loop 2 my quads were hurting with every step, and then my left inner thigh started to cramp up. Uh oh. Not good. I told Tony right from the get go on the last loop that there was no way I was going to be able to run at all and this was going to have to be walked in. Like the champ he is, he said no problem, I'm not going anywhere. Damn he's awesome! I don't remember a whole lot about that last loop other than it was dark, I was in a LOT of pain, my legs were cramping up every chance they got, and I was starting to feel quite light headed and loopy. I DO remember that every so often we'd walk along holding hands and people would "awwww" at us until we told them that we had just met 3 miles ago and were heading off to Vegas to get married! I had one lady look at me and say "you might want to take some time to think about that..." Lol!

I got through the last 6 miles because of Tony. All I wanted to do was stop (just for a minute, I swear!) to sit and rest... and he wouldn't let me which is good because if I had sat down, I would have been done. I can't thank him enough for getting me to that glorious finish line. And it is nothing short of glorious. It was absolutely amazing! We jogged down that finishers chute high fiving people, holding hands and with big, silly grins on our faces. We crossed the line that way and hugged and kissed each other just after crossing. It truly was magical! Then I saw my parents, Chad and Eric and there was more smiles, pictures, and hugs. The pain was almost gone, and I was on top of the world.

Thank you Tony!

Not be so undertrained and maybe running wouldn't hate me so much?

Yeah... I ended up in the med tent for about an hour and a half because I was so nauseous. Tony sent me off with the med tent people while he got pizza, a massage and our gear. By the time he got back to me, I didn't want to be in the tent anymore and got a couple of people to help me up so I could hobble over to the waiting car.

The next 2 days were spent walking like a combination of the Tin Man and a penguin. Anything which meant having to step either up or down more than about an inch was to be avoided at all costs, and sitting down/standing up were agony. The worst thing ever was having to go to the bathroom after the race. I put my hands on the toilet to brace myself and then just let my legs go and hoped that I had good aim for sitting down. Getting back up wasn't as comical, but it hurt just as much!


The fact that I was completely undertrained for this event, and that I didn't have my nutrition down.

Then again, I don't really care anymore because I accomplished my only 3 goals for the day:

1) don't die
2) cross the finish line eventually
3) cross the finish line in under 17 hours with a smile on my face and Tony by my side. :)


Despite my poor preparation - I truly loved this experience. I loved being a part of the race, the pre-race activities, and especially having Tony with me.

I'll definitely do another IM distance (and already thinking of which one) but I will make SURE that I follow the training plan to the letter.

Congrats to everyone!!!