I have been sitting here for what seems like hours trying to figure out how I am going to put all my experiences, emotions, highs, lows, and everything in between into a somewhat condenced version to give you a full scope of how incredible this past weekend has been for me. So here is my official race report for my first 140.6 mile Ironman triathlon in Louisville Kentucky on August 30, 2009...

     My preperations to leave for Louiseville were somewhat bitter-sweet because I knew I was going to become an Ironman in the coming weekend, but also was somewhat sad because my family would not be there with me. Our daughter Ava was starting school the day after Ironman and my wife, Christie and I agreed that it was more important for Ava to have her mommy there for her 1st day of school rather than her being at a race for daddy! So, after some thought, I told my wife, why don't we just not send Ava on Monday, and send her Wednesday for her 1st day instead.... After all, it is just pre-school and 1 day won't matter. A light went off in her head and she made the decision to go with me to Louiseville with our youngest boy Austin at the final hour,  and I was on cloud 9!!! So we pack up the car and set out at 2am on Thursday morning to conquer this 875 mile drive. Everything went well on the drive except the time it took, and we finally made it to Louisville late afternoon on Thursday. Our friends Anthony and his wife Lori met us at the hotel, we got some groceries and called it a night!

     Friday morning I wake after a solid night's sleep, Anthony and I head down to the river to get some practice swimming in on the Ohio River during the official Gatorade Practice Swim. The water was 80+ degrees and it felt amazing!!! The swim went well, we got in about a mile, then we headed out of the water and I went back to the hotel to pick up the family. After I picked up the family, we head down to the host hotel so I could pick up my packet. On the way I get a call from my buddy Ryan, who says "Hey bro, did you know you are a "Featured Athlete" in Louisville on www.ironman.com ???" I say no, and I head to the website and found this in the Louisville Ironman Preview...(Scroll 3/4 of the way down the screen)
 

Ford Ironman Louisville Preview

Record sized field set to compete in third annual event

Published Thursday, August 27, 2009

Sunday's Ford Ironman Louisville event could feature the largest field in Ironman history with almost 3,000 athletes registered from 20 countries for the third annual event here in Kentucky. In addition to the huge age group field, a competitive pro field is also set to take part, headed by defending champions Max Longree and Mariska Kramer-Postma, but both will face competitive fields including a number of Ironman champions.

 

Australian Luke McKenzie, a two-time Ironman champion already in 2009 (Malaysia and Japan), arrives here in Louisville as the man most likely to take the crown away from Longree, but South Africa's Raynard Tissink with five Ironman titles on his resume, also arrives as another favorite. Added to the competitive list of male pros is two-time Ford Ironman Wisconsin Dave Harju.

 

Kramer-Postma will face multiple-Ironman champions Nina Kraft, Fernanda Keller and Lisbeth Kristensen as she tries to defend her title. Kraft was a runner-up here in Louisville two years ago, while Kristensen finished third here last year, just eight months after the birth of her daughter, Astrid. Keller is trying to continue a 21-year streak of qualifying for the Ford Ironman World Championship in Kona.

The 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and 26.2-mile run course will utilize a variety of Louisville’s scenic areas, including Waterfront Park, Oldham and Henry Counties and the city of LaGrange. Athletes will end their journey with a finish line celebration at Fourth Street Live!. 

Approximately 150 Louisville residents are scheduled to participate in this event that serves as an official qualifier for the Ford Ironman World Championship, taking place on Saturday, Oct. 10, in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.

Some of the interesting age group stories we'll be following include:

• Zach Hadfield, 28, Muldraugh, Ky. – Zach is an active military member and has been deployed twice to Iraq.

• Andy Holder, 41, Collegeville, Penn. – Andy, who lives with Type I diabetes, is the national spokesperson for Good Neighbor Pharmacy. He created the Iron Andy Foundation, which aims to help children, young adults and their families dealing with diabetes and other chronic illness by providing inspiration, resources and assistance to help them achieve their life goals.

• Dan Benintendi, 34, Fort Worth, Texas – Dan has lost almost 200 pounds since the beginning of 2008 and is participating in his first Ironman.

• Debi Hatton, 43, Louisville, Ky. – Debi is a mother of five children. This will be her second time participating in Ford Ironman Louisville.

• Charles Plaskon, 65, Punta Gorda, Fla. – Charles is a legally blind athlete who races for the C Different Foundation. This will be Charles’ fourth Ironman, as he previously competed at Ford Ironman Coeur d’Alene, Ford Ironman Florida and the renowned Ford Ironman World Championship.

  We'll have live coverage of this year's race including video, text updates, live athlete tracking and photos from Action Sports International. Our coverage is set to start on Friday afternoon.
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       After registering and getting acclamated with our surroundings, we head back to the room to relax for a bit and then head back to downtown for the welcome dinner. When we arrive at the Convention Center, where the $30 run-of-the-mill mediocre pasta dinner was served, there were thousands of people there already. Dinner is served, Anthony, his wife and my family sit down at a table of nice folks from Cincinatti, OH and we enjoyed each others company. After dinner it is announced that Mike Reilly "The Voice Of Ironman" was going to be the MC and everyone was going nuts! So he presents a few guest speakers, shows a couple of VERY inspiring and motivational videos, and then begins calling people to the stage. Some interesting folks were the youngest competitor who turned 18 the day before the race and got his mom and dad to race with him!!! Another was a 72 year old man who has completed 35 Ironmans!!! At this point MIke Reilly starts talking about the changes one makes in their life in preparing for Ironman and talked about health. He then proceeds to ask everyone in the audience who has lost 30 pounds training for this race to stand. A lot of people, including myself stand up. He then says if you have lost 40 pounds, stay standing, quite a few sit down. Then 50 pounds, most people were then sitting. Then he asks 60 pounds to stay standing and there were just 3 of us in this sea of people still standing. He asks the three of us to come all the way up to the stage. Next to me on the stage was a man who lost a whopping 65 pounds and the crowd went wild...
   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Next to him was this gal who was asked by Mike... "If I would have said 70 pounds would you still be standing?" "Yup, she said... "80?", "Yup, "90?", "Yup"... "100???!!!) "Yup" HOW MUCH HAVE YOU LOST??? She stated she had lost an amazing 120+ pounds, which is incredible!!! The crowd went nuts...
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Then he comes to me and asks "130??" Yup... 140??? YUP... 150?????? YUP.....175????????????????? YUP... HOLY CRAP>>> How Much Have You Lost??? 200 pounds my friend... The crowd went absolutely bonkers and the amazing reception I recieved was so emotional and incredible it took all my strength not to start crying like a baby! So after everything calms down, MIke says, you know what we give the Biggest Loser? I say no, he says an INCREDIBLE Body Scan scale by Tanita (Which I have to say IS THE BOMB), and a year supply of Erin Baker's Cookies and Granola which I am soooo stoked about, I love that stuff!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  So after I exit stage left, I am immediately approached by sooo many people congratulating me on my journey and just really made me feel like a king. One of the amazing people who came to greet me was this incredible Ironman Champion Amanda Stevens...
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This was an incredible way to start the weekend and after the event I get another call from my brother saying that there was some mention of me again on www.ironman.com and this is what was posted there....
  The biggest loser ...
  Anyone who has done what Dan Benintendi (pictured here left with Mike Reilly) has done over the last few years could hardly be described as a "loser," but he did win himself a Tanita Body Composition Monitor and a year's supply of Erin Baker's cookies last night.
  
  Benintendi has lost 201 pounds during his journey to becoming an Ironman. It was when he reached 400 pounds that Benintendi's wife told him she was sick of living life as a single mom with a husband who was always too tired to help out.
  
  "I decided to make the choice of health over food," he said.
  
  Health has led him to competing in his first Ironman tomorrow. Good luck, Dan!
  http://ironman.com/coverage/updates.php?type=U&race=louisville&year=2009&page=0&order=ASC
  

     OK, so we head back to the room and get some rest... We decide to sleep in Saturday morning and go for a brief 10 minute run and a 25 minute ride to make sure everything was in order. Everything was well, race prep went great, I finished packing up transition bags and special needs bags, loaded up the bike and headed down to transition to check my gear in. It was so awesome! You are treated much differently at an Ironman versus a 70.3 for sure. You have a volunteer that carries your gear, shows where your bike is to be racked, and checks in your bags for you... White glove treatment for sure. I place everything in order for the morning and head out of transition. We then met up with a couple other friends, Duane and his wife at the Spaghetti Factory, enjoy a nice lunch and then head out to drive the bike course. OH BOY... This course is no joke... Hill after hill after hill, this was going to be a challenge but I was up for it!!! No matter how hard, I was going to finish, period! Get back to the room and toss and turn all night in anticipation, of course, and begin the rituals at 2am.

     Leading up to the race, I had been battling a cold, and I was really hoping it would just go away for the race, but unfortunately, it didn't... This would come in to play later in the race. So, I begin the morning trying to get in 1000 calories for breakfast, begin hydrating, and my hydration level was over 60% so I was good to go. I get all my last minute items together, snap a few shots of my son and I and head out. I have to say I look rather "Dapper" with my nasal Breathe Right strips on my nose...
 


























     The morning was gorgeous... A brisk 60 degrees with a little wind and clear skies and relatively low humidity... Does it get any better than this? We arrive at the race site Sunday morning and tend to our morning rituals there. Then it is a .75 mile walk from transition to the swim start, which was no biggie.... That is until I got to the swim start. Louisville is different than any other Ironman in that it is a time trial start, meaning people enter the water one by one in a line, similar to what is typical of a Sprint Triathlon and by the time I got to the start I had to walk another 1+ mile to get to the end point in the line where I could take a place in the "First come, first serve" set up that Louisville has. Dang, over 2.5 miles walked and the race has not even started yet! Anyways, it was no biggie, I took the time to reflect a bit on my journey, on the task at hand, and to just take in all the surroundings, which were amazing. I finally hear the cannon go off for the pros... 15 minutes later, the age grouper cannon blows and the race is under way. The line begins moving quick and I am anxious to get in the water. After a 35 minute wait to get started, I start running down the boat ramp to the water entry point, jump in feet first and start the 1200 Meter (Approx) swim UPSTREAM to get through the channel. My stroke was feeling solid and everything was groovy! We hit the turn buoy and begin to swim downstream to complete the swim. My cadence was solid and consistant the whole way and I felt like a million bucks after the 2.4 mile swim. I hit transition, get my bags, head to the tent, put my cycling socks and BIB on and head out to the bike. Once I get to my bike, I realize I put my sunglasses in my running gear bag, oh well, I will just ride without shades, there are worse things that can happen. So, I strap up my helmet, Camelbak, and double check everything and then head out onto the course... TOTAL SWIM TIME 1:18:09















     I mount my bike and start pedaling away, trying to spin in a smaller gear with a higher cadence, waiting about 15 minutes to start taking in nutrition. Things were going well, I was feeling awesome and was gearing up for the hills that were awaiting me beginning at about mile 14 and would continue throughout the remainder of the ride. This course was TOUGH!!! I was going at a good pace, keeping my heart rate low and not pushing it as I knew my cold was still present and could feel it zapping me a little on the longer climbs, so I decided not to push or tempt fate. At about mile 65 I felt my back starting to get a little tight and was feeling a little light-headed and was probably somewhat dehydrated and had a bit of an electrolyte embalance. So I stop at the aid station, drink 3 bottles of water, a gatorade, a Cliff Brownie Bar, and a couple Bananas. I then did some lower back stretches that felt amazing and I was good to go... I figured I took about 8-10 minutes on this rest and was the best 10 minutes I spent all day!!! I felt great getting back on the bike and for the last 50 miles or so averaged above a 19 MPH pace, which I was very pleased with. Other than the constant ups and downs of this course, everything went VERY well and was ready to get on to the run. I hit transition, take my time getting my running gear in order, do more stretching and head out for the last leg of this challenge. It was stated that the total approximate elevation climb on this course was well over 5000 feet. TOTAL 112 MILE BIKE TIME 6:19:13

     I get out of the transition area and ran down the stretch that leads to the marathon course and the whole place was filled with spectators and well-wishers which was awesome! We headed out and begin running down a bridge that crosses the very river we swam in and then turned backaround and headed through the downtown and residential parts of Louisville. The run had a few rollers in it, but nothing crazy. I had decided in transition that my game plan was going to be to walk each aid station and run to each station. This worked great for the 1st 9 miles or so, and I was feeling good, UNTIL my cold decided to show it's ugly head and slap me in the face! Suddenly out of nowhere, I began to feel like I had a bag of rocks on my chest because of all this congestion, and felt light-headed and not well! I stopped at the 10 mile aid station and drank about a gallon of water, a little gatorade, 2 lava salt tabs (Thanks Eugene) eat a power bar, 2 bananas, went pee, and felt better! So I was reduced to a walk/ shuffle for the rest of the marathon, and that's ok. I got to run / walk with some amazing people, shared some incredible stories of life struggles and joys, and felt such a true "Ironman Spirit" throughout the entire day, there is no way to describe it. As the day and night tarried on, I kept moving forward, knowing that I was going to be close to my 14 hour goal. at mile 22, I was able to run for 2.5 miles straight and that was encouraging. I got through the motivational mile, got some encouragement, and headed towards the finish line. It was starting to get cold, but everytime I tried to run, my chest was burning from this cruddy congestion and my throat began to get really sore. Anyways, I get close to the end, and remember the goal I had for this race, to finish strong. I ran the entire last mile and as I turned the corner to run down 4th street, it felt like I was running to the white lights at the "Pearly Gates". Music was blarring, the streets were packed, people were screaming, and when I hit the home stretch I hear Mike Reilly yell out, "Here comes Dan Benintendi... This guy has lost 200 pounds to get here and Dan Benintendi from Fort Worth, TX... YOU ARE AN IRONMAN" As I hear these words, I raise my hand in triumph over my battle from Obesity, I swerve down the final stretch high fiving all the incredible spectators, see my wife and my boy Austin, and it finally hits me that I did it.... TOTAL 26.2 MILE MARATHON TIME 6:16:45

     It is hard for me to put into words the elation, sense of accomplishment, pride, and grattitude I feel as a result of becoming an Ironman. It has been a looooong road. A road filled with dedication to training, dedication to changing everything about my life, dedication from my family who has supported me soooo much in this journey, and a road dedicated to pushing myself to do what so many people who thought and still think that this achievement is way out of grasp for an Obese person. In closing I want my wonderful wife to know how much I love her and could not have asked for a better woman. She has stood by me since we were 16 years old and I am so lucky to have her as my sweetheart. The time that training has had me sacrifice away from my children is not something I am prepared to continue doing to this extent, but I want my family to know that THEY ARE my #1 priority, and I dedicate this monumental milestone to them. There is no medal that could replace the hugs, kisses, and words "I love you Daddy" uttered by my angel children, and I hope to hear a lot more of those as I will be spending a little more time with them now. I love all of you who have supported me through everything I have undertaken, I cannot possibly name you all one by one, there isn't enough words or time, but I want you all to know that your words of encouragement, support, love, and hope have allowed me to push myself beyond what I thought was possible for me and I truly am a blessed man to have each of you as part of my life. May God bless us all in our journey to discover who we are, why we are here, where we are going, and what we can do each and every day to make the pathway a little brighter and filled more with True Happiness. The tears I shed in this final picture, were not shed when I crossed the finished line, they were shed when I finally found my wife and son and were able to hold and hug them. THAT is what this life is all about. Again thank you all for your love and support and thank you for reading this very long account of one of the most amazing experiences of my life...I DID IT!!!














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