For those who miss the 17hr cutoff (Page 2)

Yes I am. But as I stated, it was my opinion. What others would do is not what I would do. If I wanted to just finish the distance regardless of how long it took I would do it on my own and save the huge cash expenditure.

1/4 mile from the finish?   200 yards and it's 17:00:001 and you stop? 

I'd finish.  Again, I wouldn't consider myself an official ironman finisher

Since I will never be fast enough to worry about it, I don't follow the threads, but do some actually say they BQ'd at "BQ time plus :01"?  Or are you referring to the one second "grace period"?   Guess I can't see how someone that didn't factually qualify would say they did?

I haven't done one (considering it though, first marathon last month) but wouldn't accept it as completed unless I made it under 17 hours.  As one poster mentioned, if I came in over 17, but had some major issue that threatened completion at all, I would feel better, but would still consider it "unfinished business".

Also, I would want to follow all the rules; if I'm over 17 hours, per the current rules, I'm DNF.  It would suck, but only because I was that close.

There was a short article on the "4 second lady" in Lava last month (at least some email-newsletter thing had it).  She apparently didn't realize she was DNF until she got home to look up her times.  She didn't seem that upset about it, and would consider trying again. 

The article mentioned she barely made the swim and bike cutoffs as well.

I'm sure its pretty demoralizing to miss the cutoff, not only are you dealing with your own self guilt, but then you have to deal with the critics, which stinks as well.  People who have never attempted anything like an IM are going to judge you based on that failure.  To top it off, you have at least a year to try again, or just settle and be okay with being a failure.  I know it sounds drastic, but its a long time to reflect on a bad day. 

I pulled myself off the course in my first IM at about 13 hours, when I knew there was no possible way of finishing.  I still can't fathom how I couldn't do it, but it happened.

After that, it felt like anyone who posted about the cutoff times, or dnfs in IM's was a personal attack.  I even questioned my own effort, but it was a perfect storm of things going wrong, and a ton of overconfidence (I should have dns'ed).  I took my dnf pretty rough, but in the end I always felt like it failing should hurt and I shouldn't be okay with it; it helped me to finish my second.

Fact is, 90% of the people in IM's crunch the numbers and the worst case scenarios are around 15 or 16 hours; however there can be some pretty bad worse case scenarios.   Most people finish, but there are some very bad worse case scenarios.  People crash,  passout, can't hold down food or liquid; hell, we just had a pro crap himself at IMAZ.  

I can just go off what I did and what my guesses are, but finishing (as opposed to pulling yourself off the course) past the cutoff would probably be a lot of self pity a lot of support.  I don't know if that makes it any better, maybe for some it does.

Lastly, I think the difference between missing Boston and missing the IM cutoff is totally different.  I'm sure missing Boston is vastly dissapointing, but no one is going to criticize you just missing it.  The best analogy I can think of is just missing Boston is like losing the game to go the Super Bowl, just missing the cutoff is like not even making the team. 

I have never done an iron distance, but I can speculate.

If I was well trained and raced hard and missed it, I would be unhappy, but I would have no regrets.

If I hadn't trained enough or if I was taking my time and lolly-gagging in transition, stopping to talk to friends in aid stations, screwing around - taking long bathroom breaks, mugging for pictures, etc, and missed it by a few seconds, I would be really mad at myself.

I don't think I would ever be in a position that I would not make the cutoff.  But things can go wrong...a lot of things.  If I was racing and had abad swim, flatted, etc and things lined up that I was off my stretch time but felt I could still finish...even over 17-hours I would continue to finish and I would not feel bad about it.  A lot of time and energy goes in to training for an IM...I would not quit simply because I was not going to make the cut-off if I knew I was properly trained to finish. 

Now, had I not trained properly and knew this going in but was giving it a shot anyway and things went south...I would most likely would DNF.

Lots of folks have chimed in but only a couple have not finished an IM and I don't think anyone has barely missed cut off has posted.

I've finished 4 IMs, 3 in the 16-17 hour range including IMFL last month with 6 minutes and 5 seconds to spare. I was 3rd from last finisher and talked with the other finishers some who made it and some who didn't out on the course last 7 miles.

Many folks some who have done IM and some that haven't think if you miss the cut off, you didn't train cause really anyone should be able to finish line by midnight. As you age, folks slow down. I moved up to the 50-54 AG this year and in women there are about half as many toeing the line at IM than in the 45-49 AG.

I train, I do my best, I execute to the best I can with the fitness I have and what I can do each moment.

Last two IMs I have had an knee issue that has slowed me down and this year I stopped running in May. I knew I may not make cut off this year but instead of not starting or choosing to DNF I decided to see if I could finish. I had approval by my physician to try and walk the Mary.

For me the draw to get to the finish line by cut off is indescribable. My mind just pushes my body to get to the finish line...once that mental toughness is let go when I cross, my mind allows my body to let go and I stumble around a bit.

The very BOP at IMFL had various folks in it, mostly women over 45, some men of various ages, some where injured, some were new to fitness, some the time limits given their body and training was pushing making the cut off. Some of us aren't genetically gifted but preserve still.

That last quarter of the run was a like a math class. We have x miles to go and y hours z minutes to make it.

Some peices of the conversation from State Park to finish line at IMFL with various athletes....

What pace do we need to keep?
Wow that mile marker isn't right. Is it?
Anyone have a garmin? I do, mine says we are .3 off of mile 21.
Lady in white shirt ahead of us has one, yell hey what does your Garmin say for distance?
Do you think we can make it?
Yes we will make it
I'm not sure, I can't think and I feel sick if I run
Can I walk with you?
Do you think we will make it? What pace do we need to keep up?
18 m/m? Or do we need to do 17:30s?
I think we have 10 minute cushion if we keep same pace...wonder if I can do that?
Do you think we will make it?
I sure hope so?
Ask spectator, volunteer to confirm what time it is many times
Now do the math 1:43 minutes to do xx miles, what pace do we need to hold? Are we doing it?

At mile 24 panic begins to set it.
Anyone have a Garmin?
What distance do you have?
Are the mile markers right?

Crap last year run was long...if I miss the finish by 1 minute I'll be so pissed
Run more..instead of walking 1/2 mile running 30", run more,
Pain is there but I block it out
Knee doesn't hurt as much as I thought
Thankfully my 2nd toe on my right foot no longer hurts feeling is gone
Wow my heel of my right foot continues to ache and I have big blister

To have come so far and not make it would be devastating, push push pus
Panic sets in, how much farther, are mile markers right, do the math..I think we have 5 minute cushion
Is that right...crap what if my math is off and we came this close?

The walking friend I made along the way is coming around and she is confident where I carried her along for so long, now she has the mental strength and belief we will finish

I hear the crowd and the announcer

The sound draws me I have to make it, my pride and core of my being won't back down

1 mile left, friends are there to support me and encourage me
I'm starting to list to the side and can no longer stand upright

One encourages me to dig deep as someone passes me, give it all you can now
My reply I don't give a they passed me I just want to finish
That little effort cooks me and my energy and ability to move forward is leaving me...so close keep going
Mental thought only I better finish and would it be cool to be last..not sure no time to play with time

Turn at Alvins Island
Try to stand up right and get dizzy so assume my late IM finisher posture all hunched over to the side looking down as I can't lift my head

Push Kathy, keep moving forward, soak up the finish line
No ability to fake the final 100 yards running in with big smile
Just hold it together

Finish line feels so far away

Move forward,
Relief that I will make it won't I?

I stumble last 20 feet (see video here)

Cross the line unable to smile or lift my arms for the finish shot, but deep down I know I did it despite the odds
I'm done
I finished

Fall into catchers arms
Put into wheelchair

Holy crap that was close,

Last 1/4 Mary partner waited for me to finish and thanked me..finishing after 2 DNFs was good for her
Made them stop and take a finisher photo before taking me to medical...I have my priorities in order

I thought I finished with less than 3 minutes to spare

Many mixed emotions
Thankful that I had the will to push through
Sad that I didn't have a better day
That this may be my last IM unless I can resolve knee issues

Still a month and a half later I'm confused about how I feel. I do know if I was out on the course 6 minutes and 6 seconds and came in at 17:01, I'd be disappointed on many levels but know I gave the best I could on that given day with the limitations that I had.

The human spirit and the drive to complete the task pushes many of us to over come obstacles and make the cut off. Julie Moss's crawl to the finish line has brought many to this sport who witnessed that years ago.

If it was easy would so many want to do it?

I like the challenge and view of deep within myself that I only see when I have to push to the edge of what is possible for me.

Some folks think they'd never be in that position of worrying about the midnight cut off. Hard to know for sure that it can't happen to you.

For me it was a tough choice to try or not given I wasn't 100% but one that came down to this simple concept. I like training and participating in Ironman. It was better to try and perhaps fail than sit home.

Want to read more about my last IM race, my race report is here.

I haven't done an iron distance. But I am thinking about it. As such I can't imagine what it feels like to finish at all much less miss the cutoff.

Like a lot of people I had done the mental math and thought wow 17 hours seems like plenty of time.

Then I volunteered at Miami 70.3 this year. It was rainy and windy probably not what most first-timers were training for. The bike and swim were probably a lot slower and tougher for participants than they were expecting. I walked away from that experience having realized that race day is harder than I might have previously thought.

In my opinion it's one thing to see strangers suffering on tv but it was quite another to see people who I know from training - people who I might add kick my butt every week on our Sunday group rides - suffering and struggling to make the cutoff.

I think I would be devastated by missing it by 4 seconds. I was so stunned watching that video. It's just sooooooo close. In part because it does take so long to train for this distance to try again.

Who the heck would criticize someone for attempting an IM and not completing it???? I don't even know anyone (in real life) who has done an IM and if for some reason I don't complete my IM next year in 17 hours (or complete it at all), I don't want to hear ANYONE calling me a failure. And I don't think they will. Most people I know think I'm crazy ambitious to even attempt an IM. If someone "who has never attempted anything like an IM" is going to judge me, I will laugh in their freakin' face.

NOBODY who attempts an IM "is a failure". They are a person who failed that one particular attempt. Huge difference.

Kathy:

Your video made me cry. That's all I can say!!!

I agree with you, though others don't.   Many out there call LeBron James a failure because he can't win a championship, disregarding the fact he's one of the best basketball players on Earth.   Regardless, it goes on your resume as a failed Ironman attempt.

People react to every situation a tad bit different. To some a dnf will be devastating, to others, its no big deal.  I don't think either reaction is better or worse; just different.

I had 3 people who were critical of my dnf, however for every 1 negative comment there were 50 positive; but for me the negatives stick out.  Most of us men have those bro friends that are just like that.  I also got it from my old boss.  Haters are gonna hate.  Most agree that in all three cases there was a slight tinge of jealously involved.  

Kathy - best post I've ever read on BT.  Thank you for sharing.  I don't know if I'll ever give an IM a try or not, but if I do, your post will be one of the reasons why.  Congrats on a great race!

Stu

It's not the same because I did finish in time, but I went into my first IM thinking I could finish in around 15 hours but finished with only 7.5 minutes to spare. Nothing went horribly wrong, but the weather was quite unusual and the winds made the swim course a bit choppy so I lost 10 minutes there and they really picked up on the bike course so I lost quite a bit of time there and also I was injured so after about 5 miles couldn't really run any more but I didn't have enough time to walk the rest of it so I had to make myself run anyway for at least some of it.

The funny thing is that I went into the race super-confident that I would finish. All my friends were confident too. They took me out to dinner before I left and gave me tips and told me that with my personality they weren't worried about me finishing.

HA! Just goes to show: stuff happens!

I didn't actually start to worry about not finishing until about half way through the bike when I realized that I didn't know what the cutoff was for starting the 3rd loop and I was afraid I wouldn't make it. When they let me start out on the 3rd loop, I was so relieved. But spent a lot of that loop worrying that I wouldn't make the bike cut off. For one thing, I thought it was 5:20, not 5:30. So when I got in at 5:15, I was super-relieved.

Then out on the run realizing I couldn't run any more but I had to run is when I seriously thought I might not make it.  I remember thinking ", after all I've been through to get here, I'm not going to make it" and it was a devastating feeling. But I decided I had to make it and I started chanting to myself "I will not give up. I will not give up" over and over as I forced myself to run in time to my chants and also "I want my damn IM tattoo" until I got back into the game mentally and made up enough time that I had a prayer of finishing.

Again, I didn't know what the cutoff was to start the third loop (just that there was one) and no one else did either and I felt so relieved when I was allowed to start the third loop. At this point, I thought I had plenty of time to finish -- but as time went on and my margin for finishing got smaller and smaller, I got more and more worried.

As Kathy reported there was a lot of math going on ... I figured out I had to keep a certain average pace to make it and every time my pace went over that, I'd force myself to run until I dropped back below it.

When I crossed the finish line I was so happy! But also part of me felt like I didn't do what I set out to do. I went back and forth about that over the next couple of months. One of my goals had been to enjoy the experience as much as possible and it was hard to enjoy it when I was so stressed out over the cutoffs. There were definitely times when I didn't feel like a "real" Ironman because of how my race went and how slow I was compared to what I thought I could do.

But mostly I was happy I was able to overcome and glad I did it.

This year I did my second IM and the whole experience was much more what I thought it would be the first time. I still didn't make my time goals though. Again, stuff happened. But I was racing and not surviving and that made a big difference in how I viewed my race afterwards.

Kathy I just want to say that you're a HUGE inspiration to all of us.

Thank you..