Ironman Coeur d'Alene - TriathlonFull Ironman

I stayed to the right and hung back and watched the crazy start. I found a perfect area as I waded in and started swimming. I felt great the whole first loop and before I knew it I was at the turn bouy just a short swim to the next turn bouy and back towards the beach. I keeped my mind on my breathing and long gliding strokes, and then the person in front of me put their feet down and stood up. Funny thing was I am WAY taller, 6'3",than the person in front of me when I stood up I was in very shallow water. I almost started laughing. Out of the water and over the timing mat I went, I heard ED call my name and I put my arm in the air and back in the water I went. The second loop was a bit tougher, I started calling the bouyies my bitches. For those that don't know as soon as I started swimming it was the longest swim I have done. I have never swam over 1.2 miles. I still felt good until I went around the last turn bouy and my right shoulder didn't want to play anymore. I had an old rugby injury that acted up during training so I didn't swim much the last month before the race. Well the last 900 meters or so I swam mostly with my left arm, there came a point I couldn't lift my right out of the water. I kept at it and the there was the bottom and up I stood. I knew at that point if I didn't have bike problems and my nutrition was good I was going to finish.

Not a darn thing!!!!!! I thought I would finish in 2hr and I beat that.

Great T1 volunteers are too cool.

Everybody I talked to and everything I read said pace youself on the bike. This is when I am at my best so I had to hold back. I was pretty strong in the hills and felt great. I really held back to save myself for the run. I got done with the first loop and still felt great everything was going perfect. My second loop I was faster than my first. I was passing people on the hill which cracked me up because I weight 234 and their race wheels cost more than my whole bike. That being said Performace Bike's house brand Scattante TRI Five Sixty is a GREAT bike. I paid less than $1000.00 for it and it performed perfect. I got back into town and to the bike dismount and felt great still. I was getting a bit tired but felt much better than I had expected. It was great seeing Stacie and Teri as I was coming in.

Nothing. Well, maybe train in the hills more the three rides. I planned on keeping a 15mph average so I wasn't off my much even with the tougher course.

Again I cannot say enough how great the volunteers are. At this poing I was getting a bit cold. I think is started to rain just a bit on my way back to town. I got some hot chicken broth took a leak and away we go. I got to see Stacie on the way out and when she asked me about the bike I said it was a booger.

Nothing

I came out of T2 and my best friend since I was four years old Stephen Bilby was starting his second loop. He didn't look too good and I was worried about him and myself since I trained about half the amount he did. I later found out he was having major stomach problems but he fought it and finshed 12:36! I stopped and got my picture taken by Ed with Stephen and then started to run. I would run then walk the aid stations. I stuck to the plan to take water and chicken broth at every aid station and switch from gatoraid to coke every other aid station. This worked perfect. I just worked on keeping my pace and take in the day. I was suprised to see people I would have never thought would walk doing so. I really could not believe I was doing an Ironman and feeling as well as I was. I got done with the first loop and in plenty of time before the cut off for the fist half of the run. I was starting my second loop and saw Ed and Rick (I trained with Rick in Houston). A few mins. later I see Stephen and he had is finisher's medal and was walking with his wife. I told him I was proud of him and back out of town I went. At mile 13.2 I had run farther than I ever had. At mile 15 I started having bad thought creep in. I got mentally back into it by remembering what I read about low points in the race but keep moving forward and they will go away. That is just what happened. For the most part my pace stayed the same from mile 1 to mile 21 or so. Katy a girl that said she had been behind me most of the day told me this is her sixth Ironman and that we could walk the rest of the way and still finish before cut off. I told her that sound great and I started walking. I walked for a long time and kept checking my watch and was getting nervous about making it. I forced myself to start running again the last 2 miles or so. At this point I could only run about fifty yards at a time so I would run fifty walk fifty. The amazing thing is I started catching people from behind, this was great for my confidence and made me belive my pacing on the bike paid off. I felt like I would never get done, then I asked a volunteer how far to the finish and he said turn right at the corner, left at the next corner and down hill to the finish. All of a sudden my legs started working, I could run. People started coming out of the bars and giving me high fives and telling me I am going to be an Ironman and how strong I looked. I took off the glow stick because I didn't want to look like a dork in the picture. I saw an older lady drinking beer and threw it to her like I was a rockstar. I saw Stacie, Stephen, and Teri and gave them all hugs and the told me go finish. I ran down the finisher's shoot from one side to the other giving high fives to everyone I could reach. Then I heard those unbelievable words....Jim Thierheimer from Katy, Texas YOU ARE AN IRONMAN.

Nothing I finished!

A volunteer grabbed me and asked if I was going to fall down I told her no, she asked if I could walk I said yes I feel great. She said she was going to hug me I said I will hug you too and thank you for volunteering. She moved me along to get my medal, finsher's hat and t-shirt then over to get my picture taken. While Stacie and I were getting our picture taken the pain and cold hit me when I stopped moving. Wow! It felt like I played rugby for a week straight.


Nothing I finish so everything went perfect.


Everything was great. I knew that Ironman was a big deal, but didn't know how big of a deal it really was until you are in the middle of it. I want to thank my family so much for their support. Stacie wanted to kill me because I left her with the kids so much. Without her support I couldn't have done it. Thank you Taylor, Alyssa, and Justin for the great signs you made and had mom bring with her. I also want to thank Stephen Bilby my oldest and best friend for asking me to do this with him. I want to thank my parents for watching the kids so Stacie could come and freeze her butt off waiting to catch me for a second on my many loops thru town. A big thank you to Jackie and Mark for letting us stay at their home and use their car our whole trip. We had a great time with them and their boys. I want to thank Joe, Bonnie, Rick, and all the guys that rode with me while I trained. I want to give a huge thank you to Ed for letting me borrow his wetsuit to start my day. I also want to thank Steve Roland for running with me at Memorial Park. This by far is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life and is was so worth it. Thank you to everyone for the well wishes the truly helped me.