Perry swam with me the first half, then Peggy took over and swam with me the second half. Drafting off them made this seem simple. I had my music as well. I was happily surprised at how easy this turned out to be. I stopped every 40 laps or so to take a few bites of Cliff bar, and or go to the bathroom. How awesome is it that I have 2 friends who would swim an entire ironman distance each to help me. I not only have GREAT friends, I have some friends who are in awesome shape!

Nothing.

Got out of pool, went to locker room to change cloths. I wasn't in a hurry, but I diddn't dilly dally either. Put a large amount of lube on my boy parts....did NOT want to chafe to badly, but it was going to happen t some degree no matter what. walked out to my bike, which I left in the lobby, and put on my shoes and helmet. Scott Meacham was waiting for me on his bike to cruise out to Lunken with me. We said our goodbyes to Mary, and off we went.

Nothing.

Went straight out to US42, then into Covington, across the 5th Street Bridge to Newport, then Purple People Bridge to Cincinnati, and straight out to Lunken. Started doing laps at Lunken with Scott. Soon Peggy showed up and then Kevin. Channel 12 showed up around 11ish so I stopped and did a report with Joe Webb. After that, I had people doing loops with me all day and night. Friends would come to pace me and let me draft off them. Sometimes I had one person, sometimes I had several, but I was never alone. Some wanted to slow down and talk a bit, and some wanted to pace me and were on a mission. I had a awesome fun time doing this. The day got a bit hot in the afternoon hours, and I knew I was getting a bit burnt. Karen brought some sunscreen, so I put some of that on at one point, but I'd find out later how much sun I really got. Karen also went to Newport and brought me a pizza!!!! I think I ate at least half of it all by myself, one piece and one loop at a time. People kept coming and dropping off all day. Karen' s parents, Mike and Pat brought me the best cheeseburger I've ever had. They also showed up with signs that lit up and cowbells! WOW!!!! When it got dark, Larry Brown was pacing me through the dark! Larry must wield THE FORCE, because we were cruising into the 20s at many times, and he couldn't see but a few feet ahead, but I just hung on to his back wheel and we rocketed through the inky blackness! WOW, that was a trip! We were kicked out of the Otto Armledder park after dark, so we went back to the 5 mile loop around Luken. We did several OUT AND BACKS to stay off the main road in front of the airport, but eventually, that got old, so we went back out to the main road. That turned out fine, because traffic had died off. I didn't feel bad at all on the bike. Drafting, even at higher speeds, turned out to be a low effort, but I wondered what the overall effect would be on me once I strapped my running shoes on. Time would tell. We told many stories out there on the loop to keep my mind from turning to mush. This made the time fly by. We stopped at every loop to resupply. Mary always had me a fresh drink and kept me on task with drinking and eating. If my bottle came back with too much in it, she would remind me to drink more. I finally got off the bike around 10:35 pm, and already had my pace runners, Emily and Steve, waiting for me! Em brought me coffee too!!!!!! I was happy to get off the bike, and ready to run. I wasn't as tired as I imagined I might be, so that was surprisingly nice. Nothing hurt, and I was just a tad stiff, but that was expected. Over all, I had a great group of friends who kept me on task and gave me what I needed when I needed it. Time to run.

Took my time here because I wanted to get it right. The grass on the small hill down to the car was slick so Mary helped me down. We opened up a couple of car doors and I changed in between them. I was chaffed and had some saddle sores, but not to bad, so I dried off, lubed back up, and dressed. Drank a bit off coffee that Em brought, climbed the hill, and headed out!

Emily, Steve , Andrew and I took off into the darkness. The run legs were not as bad as I thought. We were actually doing sub 10 minute miles. My plan was simple....run at the speed I felt comfortable at...NO PUSHING. I knew as the miles ticked off, I would slow down, and that was just fine. The weather was pretty good, but a little more humid than usual for this time of year. My breathing was faster than normal and I was sweating more than usual. Jon would later say that I was sweating the same, but he humidity was not allowing it to evaporate from me....nope....I was sweating more....sorry Jon. ;) We talked a lot. That was my requirement...talk. Tell stories...jokes....anything...just talk. All of my running partners had no problem with this. Sometimes they told me to let them know if they were talking to much, but that wasn't possible. On we went around the perfect 5 mile loop around the airport. Sometimes we'd pick up and drop off runners at the "transition" area where Mary was at, and sometimes we'd meet them as they ran up behind us or circled opposite to come find us. Every lap, I'd stop to eat, get a new water bottle and pick up or drop off runners. There's no way to count off all of the runners who came out to run with me, especially when my Pain By Numbers running club showed up at 8am. Let's just say it was less than 100 but more than 20. My mind was getting a bit foggy there in the end. We told so many stories and talked about so many things. People would ask if I was "hurting" and I'd tell them my feet and knees hurt, but that it was expected. Really, overall, I didn't hurt THAT much, and I wasn't THAT tired. I was stiff, tired and sore, but no more than my mind had already prepared itself for. After a few ULTRAs now, I think my body and brain knew what it was in store for. Loop after loop. Looking at the stars, the airport, and finally the sunrise. I was so happy to see that sun come up, but now my brain was really sluggish. I kept forgetting what day it was, mostly because of loosing a day of sleep. I was very, VERY conscious of making sure I ate and drank plenty. Until it got down to those last 2 laps, it seemed like this was taking forever. When people were walking as fast as I was "jogging", I knew the pace was getting crazy slow, but that was all I had left to give. What probably surprised me more than anything is my ability to stay awake and not feel sleepy. I'm usually the type of person who can't stay up past 10pm, but as long as I keep moving, it seems to do the trick. Don't sit, and don't lay down. There really isn't much in the way of details to give. Run, listen to stories, talk, but just keep plowing ahead, knowing that each step forward brings me closer to the finish. When I had one lap to go, I calculated that I'd have just over 2 miles to go when I came around again, so I'd have to do a little "out and back". Ugh. My PAIN BY NUMBERS group had showed up for the last couple of laps, AND SO DID HALEY! Several showed up at 7ish, but the main group was there at 8. It was so nice to see so many fresh faces. My pace was agonizingly slow for this group of runners, but some held back and stayed with me. I let them know it was OK to get their workouts in and to take off. I didn't want my event mess with anyone's actual training. Some of my friends parents showed up with signs and cow bells, which made this loads of fun! I finished my last full lap and started for my little out and back. We made it out a mile and I could tell my body knew it was almost over. It was anticipating the end and was starting to shut down. My brain and body was turning off the lights one switch at a time. As we started back, the larger part of the group ran ahead to form a tunnel for me to run through, but a couple of people hung back with me until about 100 yards to go. I ran to the finish, slapping hands on both sides of me, then ran past them about 20 feet until my Garmin confirmed I went the exact distance. I didn't want to short this even 1 foot. Done. Done. and DONE. We took pictures and I finally sat down. The group went down to have coffee and bagels at Bills car. Mary came to get me to walk me down to have a seat as she brought the car around. I had a bagel and coffee, then got into the car. Home. Home to take a shower and sleep for the next 16 hours.

Nothing. All went exactly to plan. Hard to believe.

Not much.


Gravity.


I know this doesn't officially count for anything that I can claim. Mary has commented that this was much better than an actual organized race, because I had so much local support here, which is true. I would have never had someone to draft for me the entire swim and bike portion of the race. I had huge amounts of run support from friends as well. I did the same miles as anyone else would have for a organized DOUBLE, but I think I had much more fun doing it my way. I don't know if I'll ever do this distance again. My reason for doing it in the first place was to use it to get to Badwater one day, so at least now I know the distance is "doable".