Isn't it pretty? Here's the promised story of how I got it.
...just briefly. If it doesn't seem brief it just means I'm a lousy story teller. Everything is relative and compared to the "doing" the "telling" is indeed brief.
I slept only fitfully the night before but since this didn’t surprise me I wasn’t worried about it. I was up well before my planned 4 am. I had my breakfast (2 baglefuls, a banana with peanut butter, a meal replacement drink and a coffee) and more importantly managed to “squeeze” in, or rather out , the critical pre race bathroom visit. I even went for a brief walk.
Claudette and I then shouldered all my gear and headed out on the 1.5 km walk to the race start. Despite all the complaining I did of the complexity of the preparations the previous few days,the value in this quickly became apparent. I really was not worrying about anything since I knew my bike was all setup in transition and ready to go and everything else was packed in one bag or another. At one point during the walk there Claudette stopped suddenly and said, “where’s your wetsuit?”, but I knew exactly where…packed in one of my bags. It was quite cool to arrive there at 5 am and find all those amazing volunteers already wide awake and ready for us. They quickly showed me where to drop my special needs bags, marked my race number on my body and steered me to the transition area.
Once in transition I checked my tires , handed my pump over the fence to Roo, and then headed directly to the porta-potti for one last visit (dark in there!). This proved to be smart planning (I had advice) as within 15 minutes the lines were already significant. So now it's 5:15 am and I have nothing to do, as everything was ready other than changing into my wetsuit. I did implement one last minute idea that I got from seeing someone else do it. If you can imagine, along with the 2600 bikes in the transition area there were also 2600 swim to bike bags, and 2600 bike to run bags…piled in rows, and all identical with the exception of your race number . I took a long piece or red tape and personalized mine.
So now with nothing more to do I just kind of hung around until about 6:15 when I decided to put my wetsuit on. I was much more relaxed than I thought I would be…at least until half way through getting into my neoprene. I suddenly had some kind of crazy bask spasm that made me gasp. I have never had that before and I’m sure it was just a fluke thing from being cold and not having done any stretching. While it settled down fairly quickly it never went away, and I still feel it today.
But what to do? I could get stressed over it or not. It was my choice. I realized that stress wasn’t going to help my day and such I managed to push it to the back of my mind. The clock kept ticking, the pros went off at 6:45, I found the old super-nun Sister Madonna and got a last minute blessing, and then after 'Oh Canada', off we went. Two thousand, six hundred people all in Lake Okanagan at the same freaking time! A crazy, amazing spectacle but something special to be part of. While having everyone start at the same time is a bit hectic the nice part about it is that you know exactly where you stand at all times, compared to a staggered start. In this case you know that if you pass someone at any point, you are truly passing them, and/or vice versa.
I did have a few scary moments during the swim. At first I was really struggling to find any clear elbow room. Over time, I have developed pretty good skills at sighting ahead and swimming in a straight line but many others (even better swimmers) have not, and I found that frustrating. To have someone cross right in front of you at a 45 degree angle, only to meet them again coming the other way when they over corrected was to say the least, annoying. Regardless I held my composure and kept plugging away. This despite several collisions, including one which messed up my watch…shit! I had a nice little shock as well when I turned the first corner. This was near the far shore, and since the water was quite clear you could see the bottom which was probably 15 feet down. Suddenly, there was a body, laying on the floor of the lake!!! It took a second to realize it was a diver, lying on his back giving me the “thumbs up”! After the initial shock I thought ‘how cool is that?’ Anyway the rest of the swim was pretty uneventful. The last leg of about 1800 metres was a little easier from the “crush of humanity” perspective. The buoys were not quite in a straight line and as such, if I sighted way ahead back to where I knew the finish was I could avoid some of the bodies. Despite not having the evidence from my watch I was pretty sure that my swim was a bit slower than I had done in the pool it bothered me not in the least. As my buddy Paul told me, you have to consider the swim as your morning shower and nothing more. Sure enough I got out of the water at 1:23 but no problem. All along I had hoped to be out on my bike by 1:30 and this was now quite do-able.
So, out of the lake, onto my butt into the transition area where more of the incredible citizens of Penticton whipped my wetsuit off of me in one smooth swoosh! I found my bag and headed to the change tent, only to find it stuffed to the literal seams. I didn’t really need the tent since I wasn’t going naked at any point, but I did wish for one of the chairs. Alas. I found an empty spot by the fence, made all my gear changes, stuffed wetsuit, goggles etc into my bag, and threw it on the pile with the other 2000 that were already there….amazing!
Ok, where’s my bike? No problem I found it, and after a quick wave to Roo away I went. I was feeling good and also somewhat surprisingly, quite relaxed. My back thing was there still, but not debilitating in any significant way. I knew that with the exception of one little climb that the first 65 kms was slightly down hill and I also knew we had a tailwind. The temptation under these circumstances was to just start hammering it, but I resisted. I remembered my mentors advice. This stretch was only the warm-up. I had one little fun moment somewhere during this time where I actually got bumped by someone I was passing. No damage done but it scared us both.
So here came the first hill. Richter pass is about an 11 km climb, but it wasn’t really as bad as I thought. This is when I started passing a few people. Once over the top there was a further series of shorter, but steeper hills, and where I had the most fun of the day. On one of the downhill’s I reached 75 kms/hr, and let me tell you that feels fast on your bicycle. Because the wind was slightly behind me it was easy to control the bike. To make the rest of the bike story short, there was one more major climb from about the 130 km point to 150 kms. That one was a little tougher because I was tiring a bit by them and it just seemed to linger on. Regardless I continued to pass those people who were better swimmers than me. Over the top of that and then the steepest and longest downhill came next. Unfortunately we were now going into the wind and so a little more caution was called for. I never actually used my brakes, but I did sit up a bit and put at least one hand down on my bars near the brake lever. So back into town, twenty minutes ahead of schedule, and feeling pretty good.
In the transition again and I had no problems there. I found my bag ok, got a chair in the change tent this time, and proceeded to do my quick change thing. I had not yet decided whether to change my socks but at the last moment decided that the 10 seconds it would take was not worth any deliberation and on when the clean, dry ones. Of course this was when I picked up my secret weapons…a picture of each of my grandchildren, one in each running shoe. Nobody knew about this except Roo and Colby, who kept the secret perfectly. The pics were in my running shoes specifically because that was the point at which I knew I would need some outside help. In fact up til that then it was just another long workout.
Heading out on the run I really had no idea what to expect. I remember in my half IM being pleasantly surprised at this point, but this wasn’t no half! I started out at a decent pace but fairly soon I knew I was never going to maintain it, and for a minute or two started to panic! Was it all going to fall apart so quickly? Was I doomed to walk most of the marathon, and drag my ass in at 14 or 15 hours? Or would I completely fall apart and not make it at all? All this crap zoomed through my mind and then I suddenly remembered the words of Paula Newby Fraser who told me to “find my place”. If wherever I was, was not working, then do something different! And so I walked! At 20 minutes into the marathon I was already walking! But…by 22 minutes I was running again and at the 5 km mark was very surprised to find myself ahead of the plan. It was tough always doing the math because the course was marked at every mile, and every 5k mark. At 10k, and at 15k I was still in great shape, despite having taken several more small walking breaks. And my spirits were pretty good as well. I have found over the years that if I joke and talk to other runners and spectators it really helps me relax. I think it was at about 15k that there was a group of older ladies sitting having some tea by the roadside, kind of watching the race but not really. As I passed them I got their attention, and in my best “can you keep a secret” tone said, “don’t tell anyone but I just peed my pants!” Well I’ll tell you. I think I just made their entire day. By their response that was the funniest thing they had heard in years. And for me, since I’ve always been the class clown it was very gratifying - - and I didn’t even have to make it up! I really peed down my leg while running...a very good sign by the way.
Anyway with my revised strategy seeming to be working I managed to get over the hills between 17 and 21k, and on to the turn around. That’s when I hit my next rough spot. I needed to go over the same hills one more time and I still had 21.1 kms to go. Again I got rattled for a few moments before I could take charge. I frantically started doing the math again and realized that I still had my entire 20 minutes from the bike in the bank. In essence the second half of the marathon could take 20 minutes longer than the first and still make it. With that I proceeded to walk at least half the time back up the hills, and magically at the top, I got my wind back “again”! I must tell you as well that my walking was no ordinary stroll. It was my very best airport walk, and not much slower than some others were running. And basically that’s the way I made it all the way back. I gained confidence with every passing mile and although it seemed like I walked a lot more on the way back, it only took me a minute and a half longer.
Over the finish line…can’t believe I did this…more volunteers taking care of you…finally released to go and find Roo…and I am an ironman. A dream I first had in 1994 and finally accomplished in 2009.
I stated many times over the past year that this would be my one and only shot at this thing, but…maybe...what if...I could...perhaps...hmmm. Im happy with my day in Penticton but not satisfied!
"The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it's too low and we reach it"---Michelangelo
I wish to dedicate day 3a to Madilynn Annemarie Kyle-MacLean. When I meet her I'm gonna ask her if she wants to do an Ironman with me!!
"A new baby is like the beginning of all things-wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities."---Eda J. Le Shan
love
peter
2 comments:
I think she'll say yes!
Thank you Peter.
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