Race Day, here at last!

The alarm went off at 3:30am and I had just fallen asleep an hour or so before.   I had random stuff going through my head all night long, but it wasn't the usual anxiety of this or that thing going wrong on the swim/bike/run.   Here I was preparing to go into what was by far the biggest athletic challenge of my life, and I was more calm and relaxed than I've ever been going into an Ironman, Alcatraz Swim or any other race.  I could not wait to get this thing underway.


Warren dropped me off in the car near the transition area(he's been awesome with support this whole week and this whole journey...more about that later!) about 5:15am.  I had to walk through the area where the finish line is, and as I looked up at it I got a little misty thinking that the next time I came thru there it was be as a finisher.  Got my number stamped on my arm by the awesome volunteers who were kind enough to take the picture that is a dead giveaway identifying you as a Kona first-timer....


Dropped off my special needs bags and headed over to the transition area where we'd left our bikes the day before.  Pumped my tires.  Taped my written nutrition plan(an hour by hour breakdown) to the handlebars. Placed a bottle of EFS energy drink on the bike.  Taped the Power Gels onto the bike frame.  Attached my EFS flask to the holder.  And thought I was done.  What is missing from this picture?  Mistake #1: forgot to fill my Speedfil container with water. (oops) I had put a neoprene sleeve on the bottle to keep the fluid cold, so I didn't notice that it was empty.   


Found Warren again, took a few photos & climbed into my new BlueSeventy WTC-legal skinsuit and of course, had another photo taken. The professionals went off at 6:30, and the amateurs were scheduled to go at 7am.  I didn't see the pro's start, but heard their start announced. 
Time to get into the water!  I'm feeling relaxed and good - a start contrast to how I usually feel before an Ironman race.  I'm usually playing all kinds of mind games at this point and going to my happy place in my head, and convincing myself that I am way past the panic attacks I used to have swimming open water.  The other difference, I am usually wearing my own personal life perserver, a wetsuit.  The Ironman Hawaii race does not allow wetsuits, so this is a first for me.  However, the practice swims in this ocean since being here have felt not only comfortable, but wonderful.  I'm counting on that same love in the water today, and feeling just fine.


About 1,850 athletes from all over the world enter the water.  They are here because they earned the right to compete here, except for a lucky few who got in through the Ironman lottery.  I have seen some real studs walking around and training here this week.  It's a very humbling experience just to be here.  Yet, I also earned the privilege of being here, and I can't wait to get going.


Some athletes are warming up, some are standing around in the water, others are in the water but hanging on to the seawall.  I think this is a pretty good idea, hanging on to the seawall in water over your head - near the start line but not in the thick of the crazies who will be crawling all over each other's backs when the gun goes off.  We are warned that there are sea urchins in the water attached to the seawall, so we shouldn't put our legs or feet on the wall.  Useful information!  My coach George suggested that I might want to hang out on the beach til the others got going to avoid the congestion and contact of the more agressive swimmers.  However, the start line was pretty far away from the beach and I didn't want to have to swim all that way AFTER the gun went off.


The national anthem is sung.  There are literally thousands of spectators lining the area around Dig Me beach where the race starts, cheering loudly.  Helicopters hover overhead, Mike Reilly's voice in the air - I am so excited and can't believe I'm here getting ready to do this thing!  Then at 7:00, the cannon goes off and my race is underway.  


The 2.4 mile swim course is a long rectangle which we followed in a clockwise direction,  with two turns then straight back to finish where you started.


I started swimming.  In just a couple of minutes, I saw a scuba diver underneath me.  He waved and gave me a thumbs-up.   The water was churning around a lot, and I was thinking it was because of all the swimmers kicking up turbulance.  But as we got further out, there were swells and this really annoying current coming in.  I was swimming calmly and steadily, thinking this is gonna be fine!  I can see the bottom of the ocean most of the swim.  Not too many fishes - we must have scared them away with all that splashing. 

There were over 200 volunteers out in the water on paddleboard and surfboards.  I've never felt so safe and so supported in a triathlon swim.  I could always see someone and sighting was easy because you just stayed between the surfboards.


I focused on one buoy at a time, swam to and then went to the next one.  I tried to draft off people whereever I could. (right, George?!)  A couple of times I tried to take a breath of air but instead caught a swell and ended up with a mouthful of salt water.  Once it made me cough and I had to stop in the water to regroup for a minute or so.  I was going to look at my watch to check my progress but decided I would just swim the best I could and not look at it.  I was getting a little frustrated with the current because I wasn't making as much progress as I wanted to, as fast as I wanted to.  


Then I reached the boat where we took a right turn, then we swam a little ways and took another right turn at another boat to start the stretch back home.  I decide to look at my watch, and it says 1:03...an hour and 3 minutes!  Yikes, really?  That current was stronger than I thought and I was apparently going much slower than I thought I was!  OMG, swim faster Pam! 


I keep on swimming buoy to buoy.  One surfer who is to my left (the direction to which I breathe) is going along with me making it very easy for me to sight...I'm just following him!  That almost feels like illegal assistance, but I'll take it.  Then he shouts at me "you're doing great...you have 25 minutes to finish!"  what?!  it's 1:55 already?  I did not look at my watch, but since the swim cutoff is 2:20 it must be!  Holy crap, not making the swim cutoff is not something that even crossed my mind for this race!  I started swimming faster then going thru my mind were a million thoughts like "oh no, all this time, all this support, all this buildup and it ends with a swim DQ???!!!...NO!"  I really picked up my apparently-leisurely pace and swam as fast as I could the rest of the way.  When I got to the swim finish line, the time on the clock was 1:57.  That volunteer must have thought that the swim deadline was 2 hours.  I was 30 minutes slower than I had hoped to be, but I was not even close to not making the cut-off. Here I am coming out, and I was feeling incredibly relieved having this task done, ready to move on to the next one.

Had a shower with the hoses hanging just outside the swim exit.  Wanted to get as much salt water off me as possible, as it's a long day to wear the ocean water.  Then off to transition changing tent where the volunteer was all disorganized and I could have helped myself better than she helped me, but she tried anyway.  I asked her to dump my transition bag out completely, but she didn't.  So my compression sox and Zoot arm coolers got left in the bag, and I didn't realize til a few miles down the road that I had not put them on. Augh!!  Ran to to my bike, clipped on my helmet,  and dashed outta there - off to ride 112 miles.

The crowd was cheering wildly on the way out and life was good!  About a mile out on a rough road, my bottle on the bike with the EFS liquid in it got launched off when I hit a bump.  Now I not only had no water, I had no drink at all, and the first aid station wasn't for 6 more miles.  And I was already thirsty.


We were on our way on the Queen Ka'ahumanu highway, the "Queen K" as it's called. There was a breeze but it felt good as it was already starting to heat up.  Got to the first aid station and got some fluids and felt better.  Nutrition plan a little behind but not too bad and I felt I could catch up no problem.


We took a left turn off the Queen K somewhere around 35 miles into the ride and had some nice rolling hills....the winds kept switching around so they were behind us then in front of us and a few times to the side, but manageable so far.  Then everything changed when we were on our way to the town of Hawi.  OMG.  I have never been so afraid on my bike in my life.  We have windy days in Boulder where the crosswinds are mean and I struggle to keep my bike upright - but these winds coming off the ocean were even worse.  I did a lot of talking to God. I also kept remembering what Karen Smyers had told me in a conversation a couple of days before the race here - imagine the wind as a sail and go with it, and lean more heavily on the side of your handlebars from the direction the wind is coming - that will give you more stability and control.  I also remember George saying that if you keep spinning your pedals you have more control, and the FASTER you are going you have more control(which is the opposite of how I'd approached windy conditions before that).  All of this was good advice.  Several times I was afraid I was going to be blown into the path of oncoming riders as my bike was physically moved across the road and I was fighting to bring it back.  The wind changed direction constantly, so you never knew what was coming next and had to be constantly on your guard.  I watched the riders ahead of me, to see which way their bikes were leaning, as a sign of what was coming my way, and I watched the trees ahead of me to see how far they were bent sideways.  To say it was scary was putting it mildly. 


I finally reached Hawi, the turnaround point on the bike. It was windy there too.  The course then took us back the same way we came so I knew I had more of the same ahead of me.  It was a little more manageable on the way back, but still very challenging and you really had to pay attention.  When I got back on the Queen K I was coming through an aid station when a little mini-cyclone(we called them Dust Devils in TX) came thru out of nowhere and knocked over a table full of cups of water and a medal cart - then the cart started coming coming toward me, skidding on the ground like a mad twisted piece of medal!  I was able to just miss it, but was really glad I didn't get caught in the actual wind of the cyclone.  It would have been a disastrous take-down on my bike for sure.


There were a few short stretches of tailwind on the way back where I could at last get a great rhythm and let my AirFoil fly. Then, just as quickly as the tailwind appeared, a headwind appeared and it was hard riding again.  Crazy stuff!!


Even though the bike ride was hard, I still found myself smiling through much of it, taking it all in and remembering how thrilled I was to be there.  That wind, the brutally hot conditions - they are supposed to be there....this is the Ironman World Championship and it's supposed to be hard. :-)


The last 5 miles of the bike I felt like I had a ton of energy.  This bike ride was almost done and it was time to do the fun part...running.  Wait, a marathon - aw you bet - let's do it!


The first 10 miles of the marathon were great.  The crowd was great, my legs felt good, I saw Warren and lots of other spectators and racers I knew and my nutrition was adequate for good energy. I headed up the Pilani hill, planning to walk it because George said it was a good idea to do that.  I walked a little bit of it then picked it up to a run, just cuz it felt better to run than walk.  Then a left turn on the Queen K highway again to start that long stretch to the Natural Energy lab. The sun was still in the sky and beginning to set as I ticked off a couple more miles, still feeling fine.  


But I was starting to have some random numbness in my right leg, related to a nerve impingement due to a piriformis issue.  I'd take a step and find a numb leg, which is counter productive to a good running rhythm. Another small problem that had started on the bike was getting worse...some really uncomfortable chafing in my trishorts.  Mistake #2:  forgetting to use the butt butter (for you non-cylist people, it's lubricant to keep you from getting chafed in sensitive areas where you really DON'T want to get chafed by your bike shorts).  Nuff said on that.  Ouch and getting ouchier.


I'm starting to fatigue a little now, I started partaking of the cola they offered at the aid stations, which were located 1 mile apart on the course.  A little caffeine would be a good thing right about now and a lot would be better. Mentally I was just taking one mile at a time, then "working on" the next mile as an immediate objective, outside the big goal of finishing the race. Once the sun went down, it got really dark out on the highway, which was closed to traffic, and had no streetlights.  The only lights were the occasional passing race support vehicle, and the lights of the aid stations.  


I reached the Natural Energy Lab around mile 16.5, a left turn into a valley off the Queen K, which is renowned for being brutally hot in the middle part of the day. However, I was there in the dark - and it still seemed hotter down in that section. 
It was even darker there and the road not in great shape, with some uneven patches.  I felt like I was running in the dark very tentatively, hoping I wouldn't step into a hole and turn my ankle.  The Ford Motivational Mile was in this section - this is a place where they have music playing, volunteers celebrating and a giant marque that lists your name, numbr and a motivational message like "Go Pam, you are a rock star!"  I came out of the Energy Lab and was told that "there is only 10K left to the finish line." A lie - probably closer to 7 miles from there.


I had started to slow, but was still moving forward and had not had to resort to walking.  It's very dark and I see figures with glowsticks coming toward me - that's the only way you could keep from running smack into your competitors coming the other direction on the road.  A car passes and I can make out a figure on a bicycle who almost hits me.  He says sorry, I say it's OK, and he goes on the other direction.  Then he returns.  It's Warren!  I didn't recognize his voice and he didn't recognize me in the dark when we almost collided.  He had borrowed Bob Cranny's bike to come out and visit/motivate me on the lava fields for the last few miles of the run.  There is a video of this section on facebook that he shot from the bike.  Having him out there the last few miles was awesome and helped me keep a steady pace and good attitude.


By this time I was still taking just one mile at a time, trying to keep the fuel and fluids coming. Before I knew it, I started to hear noise from the finish line, Mike Reilly's voice announcing athletes crossing the finish line and knew of the party that awaited me just a few miles down the road.  Amazing how one finds the energy and the life in the legs to pick it up when you know the end is so near.  My last 2 and a half miles were at a great pace and happy indeed.


At last I reached the last stretch that leads to the glorious finish line.  It really does defy description how it feels to run along Ali'i drive with thousands of people cheering for you, just as they cheered for the world champions a few hours earlier.  The energy is electric.  I crossed the finish line in 13:55:10, and though my time was over an hour slower than I had hoped for, it will be a moment I'll remember for the rest of my life. Mike Reilly called my name and proclaimed me an Ironman once again.  They put a lei around my neck and two volunteers walked with me toward the massage tent.  Warren appeared and congratulated me with a big hug and kiss, and that was wonderful.  I could never have completed this journey without his unwavering love and support.  I collected my finisher's medal...it's beautiful and commemorates this year's theme "Way of the Warrior."

I felt really good afterward, and in hindsight I scolded myself a little for feeling just a little TOO good and not going hard enough.  :-)  I had a post-race massage, chatted with Jodee and Barry Siff(way to go, Barry!)  Warren and I had a photo taken together, and I had one by myself.   We watched some people finish, collected my bike and bags, dropped my bike off at TriBike Transport to be shipped back to CO.  And by then it was somewhere after 10:30 and he was starving as he'd not really eaten much all day and had been running around so much.  Thanks to him I have literally hundreds of photos of the day to remember it by!

We went looking for food and were surprised that the restaurants around Ali'i stopped serving food after 10, and just became bars!  We found one place that served appetizers and a few food items, so we decided to order some.  My food was unappetizing - I had hoped for a burger and fries, but had to settle for something else that just didn't go down well.  My legs were starting to stiffen up and I was dying for a shower and to get out of those chafing shorts.  I headed back to the condo leaving Warren to finish his dinner.  We had hoped to go back to the finish line at midnight as I'd always heard that they sing and officially close off the Ironman day - it is my biggest regret of the day that I did not do that.  By the time I walked back to the condo, got showered, tended my wounds  and dressed again, there just wasn't time to get down there.  Next time, for SURE.


And it looks like I probably came in 6th in the Janus Charity Challenge, just behind a guy who raised $30,000.  The first place finisher raised $125,000!  Very impressive and tough to beat.  Thank you again for all of you who supported me with donations!!


Here I am with the lei they give you at the finish line - beautiful huh? I need to shout out a word of appreciation for the volunteers in this race.  If you've done other Ironman races, you know the love they give you out there, but I gotta tell you that in THIS race, that love and support is way over the top!  It's amazing.


I will have more retrospective thoughts to share in the coming blogs, but in a nutshell, I loved the day start to finish.  My expectations were high, and the experience even exceeded them.  Meeting so many other athletes, hearing their stories, sharing this experience with my Baker's teammates and other athletes I knew down here, and feeling the love and support of my friends and family both here and from all over the world.  I love the power of the internet, especially Facebook that enabled me to stay in touch so much through the journey.


Aloha and love to you all, and Mahalo to the Big Island for serving up a wonderful day for me on Saturday!