Hermann Memorial Ironman 2011

Wow what an awesome Ironman Weekend! I’m sitting here utterly exhausted and I didn’t even run the event!

I drove to The Woodlands, TX on Friday after my swim and an attempted failed bike ride due to bad weather. (After 10 miles, the thunder, lightning and rain started in). The drive down to the Houston area was pretty uneventful for the first 100 miles, but the storm caught up with me again and it was relentless for a good 30 minutes with torrential downpours of mixed rain and hail that made me cringe with every pellet that hit my car. The sky was so dark that it looked like it was 10:30 at night. Cars slowed from 80 mph to 40 and had their flashers on. Finally the skies parted and I was back on track to meet my friend, Chris for dinner. Chris was participating in his first Ironman, so I wanted to get him carbed up and see how he was feeling about the next day. We had some great conversation during our pasta fest and Chris was feeling good about his upcoming race. You can read more of Chris’ Ironman journey here: http://www.thejourneytv.com. He is quite the interesting guy! So we said goodnight early because we knew we had to be up early (he wanted to be at transition at 5:00 a.m., while I got to “sleep in” until 5:30).

The following morning I awoke and was out the door in less than 30 minutes. I had to pack up my run gear because I had a 16 mile run on my calendar, which I planned to do as soon as the swim pack took off. With so many competitors and spectators, I had to park a mile away. I decided to turn my Garmin on at that point and count the miles to and from the car as part of my “run”.

There was a bridge overlooking the swim start transition area, so I stood up on a rail for around 20 minutes or so, waiting for the Ironman race to start. The energy was awesome! There were mothers, fathers, kids, grandparents, and all kinds of friends there to support their favorite future Ironman! Lots of them had made t-shirts in support, but I think the best ones I saw were on a wife and her two kids – “Ironman Widow” and “Ironman Orphans” lol So true…Ironman training is so time consuming!

Swim Transition early a.m.

The swim start was a mass start – meaning 2500 athletes (minus the pros who get a 10 minute head start) head out as soon as the gun goes off. This swim start was probably not the best way to start your Ironman experience – everyone had to get into the water and tread until the 7 a.m. start. As you can imagine, it takes quite a while to get 2500 athletes down a ramp and into place. Just prior to the gun start, the music switches to Ozzy Osbourne’s “Iron man” song. It made the hair stand up on the back of my neck! Freakin’ awesome!! Then before you knew it, the gun went off and it’s like 2500 birds taking off from the water – a huge wave of swimmers. I watched for a few minutes and then headed back to the car to get my run started.

Mass swim start!

The area around the Ironman had lots of paved pathways that went up and down the canal, so it was pretty and easy to find places to run. At mile 6, I somehow ended up back to where the swim start was. I looked at the clock and knew that Chris should be just about finishing up his swim, so I looked down the waterway and there he was! The timing was unbelievable, so I got my iphone out and snapped a picture of him getting out of the water. He had a great swim!

Chris is in blue!

The rest of my run was mostly along the Ironman run course (they were all either still in the water or out on their 112 mile bike ride, so I wasn’t in anyone’s way). There were quite a few other runners out there as well. I stopped at 15 miles because I had to get to the bike transition where some of my Triathlon team were volunteering for the day.

So in the bike transition, our assignment was to “catch” the bikes from the athletes as they came in from their ride and put the bikes on the racks in the correct location according to their race number. We were given a pink volunteer t-shirt and rubber gloves (some triathletes PEE on their bikes so they don’t have to take the time to stop). Not to mention the seats and handlebars are super sweaty. It’s pretty gross. *I* do not pee on my bike. I paid too much money for that thing to have it stinkified! We waited for nearly an hour before the first Pro came through – Chris Lieto, Mr. BadAss himself! Then more pros started trickling in, but we weren’t really doing much at that point. Probably an hour later, hoards of age-group athletes were finishing up the bike course. There were some points where we could hardly keep up with all the bikes! Some of them wanted to leave their helmet and/or shoes with them (which were also very stinky and sweaty –again, thank god for gloves!). So while I was running bikes back and forth (transition was HUGE with 2500 bikes), I kept my Garmin on, just to see how far we actually traveled. I added another 5 miles just in transition!

Volunteer shirt

It was actually quite the experience in there – I had several athletes say “Take it, I don’t ever want to see that bike again” or “you can have it” lol I wish they were serious – there were some NICE bikes! I definitely have bike envy. We saw some odd stuff too – one bike came in with what I swore was POOP on the top tube. I had to go over and look to see what the heck it was. This rider had cut his Powerbar (chocolate) into squares and literally STUCK it to the tube. Of course, the hot sun had melted it and so it looked like, well, poop! I’m glad to know it wasn’t, but also to know that this athlete probably didn’t pee on his bike lol

"Bike catchers" ready for action!

So by the end of our “shift” things were really calming down and I was really tired and sore from my morning 15 miles and then the extra 5 in transition. It was really hot and humid out so we were all soaking wet from sweat (ours, not from the bikes). It was really cool to see my tri-buddies come in and be able to chat with them a bit about how they were feeling and to give them a quick pep talk as they headed out to the run.

I learned a very valuable lesson over the course of the day - it's not the quality of bike that you ride, but the way you ride it. Yes, a nice bike helps, but I can't count how many riders with really nice, expensive bikes I saw come in that barely made the time cut off, and some with really old, heavy bikes that came in with very respectable times.

So around 5:00 I was starving, so I dismissed myself in search of food and water and then to go find my Coach where she was watching the run course.

The run course was a 8.73 mile, 3-loop course. By now, the athletes are really feeling the effects of a 2.4 mile swim and 112 mile bike ride in the Texas sun and heat. Many are walking or doing a slow “shuffle”. Some are almost painful to watch, but some are looking like they just walked out the door. After I finished off my grub, I headed out to find the Ironman store for some souvenirs. This Ironman, I got out the door for much less money than I spend on planning at Coeur d’Alene when I finish my 140.6!

So as darkness falls, I stood by the run course with my friend and fellow CdA athlete, Brian, and his girlfriend, Emily. We stood there cheering for our friends, but also for anyone that looked like they could use a little cheering lol We took a break and got some frozen yogurt and then headed back out. By now, my Garmin read 23 miles on the day. (I turned it off at this point, but was still running around for 4 hours, so who knows what my mile total was for the day. I bet I did a marathon!).

My friend Jim, finished a little before 9 p.m. I believe and yes, he was hurting! His massage with the best massage therapist in Texas, Robin Ray, is tomorrow. Well deserved Jim, well deserved!

We had seen Chris go by once on the run, so kept waiting to see him again. By 9:30, we still hadn’t seen him and I was beginning to get worried. I found his parents in the crowd and they were worried as well. I paced the run course quite a few times, looking for him in the athlete recovery area, the massage area, the medical tent, and couldn’t find him anywhere. We checked the online tracking – still nothing. Finally, around 10:30, we get ahold of him. He had severe cramps and swelling in his wrists and ankles, so he called it a day at mile 13. Still a loooooooooong way to go in one day, so Chris, BE PROUD! His parents and I helped him get his stuff out of transition and to the car, as he hobbled along (using his bike to lean on).

It was a brutally hot and humid day - one that even saw the #1 pro - Chris Lieto drop out during the run.

I got back to the hotel around 11:30, and still had not taken a shower – I felt completely disgusting. I think I spent about 20 minutes in there scrubbing myself down twice. After a few minutes of SNL, I turned the TV off and crashed in I swear 30 seconds.

My grand plans of “sleeping in” were not allowed – damn body clock. I was wide awake at 8 a.m. Unbelievable.

So today I drove back to Dallas and am so sore and exhausted that I feel like I did the Ironman – makes me wonder how bad I’ll feel when I really do mine lol

All in all, it was a fantastic experience to watch unfold and very inspiring. Just what I needed for the last 5 week push to get me to race day, especially after these past few weeks when I’ve had a serious “I don’t wanna” attitude. Ironman training, as I’ve said before, is grueling and so taxing on not only the athlete, but their friends and family. I am working out 18 hours a week now, and yes, I’m tired of it lol But I also can’t wait to hear “KRIS PARKS! YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!!!” and get that medal hung around my neck. And get my T-shirt. And get my Hat. And get my Tattoo. And, and, and…SLEEP IN!