I AM IRONMAN

I had a somewhat restless night Friday night. I was tired, but yet very nervous/excited for the race the next morning. I got up at five to get ready for the race. I had my stuff all packed, so it was more just getting dressed, throwing my hair back, eating a protein bar and heading out the door. Todd dropped me off at the race site then went back to get my mom and kids. It was 5:45 when I got to the race site.It was dark, chilly, and pouring down rain. I hopped on the shuttle and watched with sympathy as fellow racers were riding their bikes up to the Transition area. I was so grateful that we were able to drop my bike off the night before.
I got to the transition area and got body marked - the race volunteers have permenant markers and they are writing your number on your arm. Because of the rain, everyone's numbers were being washed away, writing the numbers was difficult in of itself.
I found my bike, down at number 770, very far down. I thought that there was no hope of my shoes and everything staying dry since the ground was one big massive puddle. Luckily I had carried my wetsuit in a large plastic bag, so I put that underneath my bag containing my biking and running gear and shoes. I decided not to lay everything out because it would cause my stuff to only be more wet, but at this point I was wondering if anything would be staying dry.
The rain was very frustrating, but the thing that worried me the most about the rain is that I feared the state the lake would be in. I was already tremendously nervous for the swim and the thought of high, strong waves just made me ill. Luckily I just had enough time to get my wetsuit on and head out so I wasn't able to think about it too much.
We had to walk the beach the entire 1.2 miles from the transition area to the starting point, so we were able to see what we were going to be swimming in. I was relieved to see that the rain hadn't caused too much of a storm. I noticed the bouyes and took notice of the number of them and their color. I noticed that the last bouye was red, before that were 12 green, then 12 red, then a number of orange. I was starting to become more relaxed and taking in the beauty until I noticed a big wave just out by the bouyes. I soon realized that the wave was actually a mass of people swimming. The race had started. The first wave of people to start were the professionals, and I was intimidated.
I got to the starting point just 10 minutes before my wave was going to start. I kept looking around for Todd, Mom, and the boys but couldn't locate them. I felt very alone, felt very out of place. Most everyone had done some sort of triathalon up to the point, yet here I was attempting a half-ironman for my first ever triathalon. Looking around me, everyone looked like they knew what they were doing, everyone but me.
My wave was called to the start. As we were corralled to the line I kept searching around me for Todd, understanding how difficult it would be to have 4 young kids out in the rain, yet praying to see a glimpse of him before I took off. Time kept ticking, so I pulled my goggles on and got ready for the start.
The buzzard blew and I followed my wave into the water. I ran into the water, pretending that I knew what to do, but this was my first time racing with a swim, I am such a nerd. Instantly I was amazed with how many people there were swimming in a small area. There were about 150 in my age group, 150 women swimming in the same spot. I was getting hit and kicked from every angle as I found that I was hitting and kicking people around me. When I was practicing for the open water swim in Lake Erie, I always was excited to be able to swim with people (it gets kind of spooky by yourself), but this was ridiculous.
As I put my face in the water and swam, I started to freak out. A friend of mine had recently done a half-ironman and stated how she started to panic, but then she had to calm herself down and tell herself that she was trained for this - and she has done numerous amounts of triathalons. Because of her experience, I had tried to prepare myself for this, but I could not believe how terrible it was. I was hypervenilating. I could not think, I could not breathe. I couldn't put my face in the water, I was going to drown, there was no way I was going to make it 1.2 miles!!!! I had bitten off way more than I could chew...should I just quit and swim to shore?
Up ahead I saw a volunteer's canoe. I decided to swim to it to at least catch my breath. I swam to it and asked the girl if I could just get a breath. The young girl agreed and proceeded to tell me how awesome I was doing...even though I was only 50 yards from the start and I was panting like I had just swam 30 times that. In the race you can grab on to a boat or canoe, but just cannot make any forward movements with it, or else you get disqualified. I stayed there, holding on for twenty seconds and then went on.
I still hadn't caught my breath, but I kept trying. I put my face in the water to swim, but immediately had to pull my face back up. A few weeks ago I had gotten some new goggles. After wearing them a couple of times, I deemed them very uncomfortable, so at the last minute, I decided to wear my old goggles. Bad choice, they were leaking all over. The water wouldn't just gather at the glass of the goggles, it slid right into my eyes. I couldn't keep my face in the water if I had wanted to. This caused me to panic even more. I grabbed onto the next canoe in sight.
After holding on for a few moments, taking some deep, slow breaths, I told myself I could do this. I had over 2 hours to finish the swim if needed, and I could always take a small break by holding onto a canoe if I wanted. I started doing the front crawl with my face out of the water. When I grew tired of this, I did the back stroke - or my own version of the back stroke since I have no idea of how to do the actual back stroke. I started telling myself that I could miss this next canoe, but I would allow myself a break at the following canoe. I counted the bouyes, counting down how many of that particular color I had left. I remember swimming on my back, looking at the clouds that had discontinued letting down rain and being impressed with the beauty of it all. I prayed, I prayed really hard - mostly for survival and strength. I drifted far off from the course, but went back to the forward crawl to get back to where I needed to be.
I was amazed to see how fast the bouyes went by, yet how far apart they seemed to be. I about cried when I reached the first of the green bouyes, telling myself that ther were only 11 more green ones. I was breathing better and had found a rythem. My left arm was working much harder than my right, but I didn't care at that point, I just wanted to finish.
As I rounded the final bouye, I was so delighted. I had made it! I had survived! And I hadn't stopped at any more canoes besides the first two! I was so relieved, the race was now do-able for me. The swim was the only thing I was unsure of, and now it was done.
While running out of the water I heard my name, I looked over to see my family yelling and waving to me. My boys were so excited and amazed to see me, Todd and my mom were overjoyed to see me. I later found out that I had done the swim 15 minutes faster than I had anticipated and they thought that I was doing awesome.
I ran to my bike, stripped off my wetsuit, threw on my running shorts, untied my bikini bottoms and pulled them out of my shorts, pulled on my biking shorts and my top, put my shoes, helmet and gloves on, grabbed my bike and started running to the bike start. Just as I was about to cross the bike start line, I realized that I had forgotten to put on my racing belt with my number on it, so I had to run all the way back to my bag for it. This added on a couple of minutes at least! If I had known that the race officials weren't so strict, I would have just waited and put it on before the run.

Here's my transition area.
Everything and everyone that I had researched told me to start the bike slowly, so I did. The first five miles I focused on keeping my heartrate down, but I was feeling awesome. After the five miles, I started getting into gear. I was pushing it and it was great. I was getting passed by a lot of men, especially since I was in the last wave of women to start, before any of the men were to start, but no women were passing me, in fact I was passing them. I started realizing that I was doing 5 miles every 17 minutes, that's almost 20 miles an hour!
The course had rolling hills, with only a few tough ones, of course these didn't have anything on the hills we rode while in Utah. I found that I had little to no problem climbing up them. At one uphill climb I was passing a women and she said something about how these hills were killers while I couldn't believe how easy my body was handling it all.
One thing about the Ironman that many people do not know or realize is that you cannot have any ipods or music devices. Sometimes during a long run, the music is the only thing keeping you sane, yet you are supposed to race 70 miles with no tunes at all. Around mile 25 I decided that I would use this time to contemplate about my children. There were mile markers every 5 miles, I decided that I would think about only one of my children until the next mile marker. I was able to focus on each child, striving to realize what their individual needs were, feel love for them, appreciate them. I was grateful that I didn't have music so that I wasn't distracted from my thoughts about my children.
I did a good job of keeping myself hydrated and refueling while on the bike, even taking salt tablets every hour. The bike was awesome. The course was beautiful, going around on country roads. The fresh air from the rain earlier was refreshing, and the wind on your face from your own speed is exhilrating. I couldn't help but keep thinking about how much I love to bike, probably my favorite of all.
I found myself passing more and more people, especially women, as the race went on. On our number bibs, there were our names printed out. As I would pass someone, I would say something encouraging, like "Good job Jill", or "Keep it up Beth". The smiles back were awesome and there was an understanding.
I love to race, it gives you motivation to push yourself even farther than you were or thought possible. A race is not really a competition with other people, it's a competition with yourself. You are testing yourself, testing your body, testing your mind, just how far, how much can you push it. The people around you are with you. They are in that same moment, they understand how much work you have done leading up to the race, they understand the pain that you are feeling, the exhaustion you are fighting, they understand how much you want to just stop, yet are continuing, and continuing well. There is a love, understanding and a respect among fellow racers.
The last 10 miles I was ready for the bike to be over. My tush was feeling sore and I was wanting to start the run. I was relieved to see the route leading to the transition area. As I rode through the spectators I saw and heard my family cheering for me. I even heard my mom say, "Wow, she's going so fast" - ya, couldn't help but smile at that one. I got into the transition area, changed my shoes and slipped off my biking shorts and was off onto the run.
Carrol had told me to run slow and easy for the first three miles, just let people pass you as your body gets out of the biking transition to the running transition. At first I felt like I was running awkwardly with something between my legs. But then I was suprised to see that less than a mile into the run, I didn't feel like I had really biked. Even though I felt good, I kept myself slow and steady, I didn't want to burn out too quickly. But even going slow and steady, I was doing 8.5 minute/mile pace!
The race course is a lollipop course, meaning you go up the stick, then you go around, then go down the stick. The loop around was to be done twice, around the Whirlpool campus. At mile three I took a power gel and started to push it. It had started to get a little warm, but not as bad as it could have been had it not rained. A portion of the trail was sort of like an asphalted trail run, which I loved. I love trail runs, they are amazing.
At the half-way point, 6.55 miles, I had been running for only 55 minutes. I was so thrilled. This was way faster than I had anticipated. I had thought that the entire Ironman would take me about 7 hours, 1 hour for the swim, 3.5 for the bike, and 2.5 for the run. So far I had only done 5 hours, with just 6.5 miles left!
I started to count down the miles, and when it got tough, sometimes this was the only motivation I had to keep going. It was warm, I was tired, I had already run this route once, but considereing everything I had done that day, I felt great. My legs were doing well, my stomach was feeling great.
At mile 8, it started getting tough. I only had 5 miles left, but it seemed like forever. After another mile the back of my legs, underneath my buttocks were throbbing. I just wanted to stop, but the surest and quickest way to get done was to just keep running. I was sad that I hadn't seen my family at all during the run, but I also knew that it's no easy task to take those boys places. The last mile I was so extatic to be nearing the end, yet was frustrated that it seemed so long.
When I finally reached the last stretch, the place where the spectators are all lined up behind the plastic fencing, cheering you on to the finish line, I started to sprint. I looked over and smiled as I saw my mom and boys yelling and cheering for me, with the three older boys having the front halves of their bodies poking out of the bottom of the fence, tummies on the ground looking for me. I crossed the finish line and was thrilled and relieved. I got my medal and shirt then started looking for my family.
I was so happy to be finished, I was so happy with my time, almost an hour faster than anticipated!!! I was happy with how much energy I still had, how I didn't feel too sore. After my first marathon I could barely hobble across the street, yet now I was walking around without any trouble.
I found my mom and boys, and the looks on their faces were priceless. They were so excited, so proud. But they were even more excited to see the plums and bananas I had grabbed for them. Then we went over to the food booth, got some food and ate. Todd had missed my finish because he had gone to see if they had missed me, he was sad about it, but he had been there for the rest. He had Grant, so when they caught up with us at the food, Grant wanted to sit on my lap, which he did and he ate my food. While everyone finished eating, I went and grabbed all my gear and bike from the transition area.

During my race my mom and Todd had played with the boys on the beach and the water. It really was beautiful there.

Because I had ended so much earlier than anticipated, we had time to go back to my friend's house so I could shower before taking my mom to the airport. I was very grateful for this for after dropping my mom off at the airport, we had to drive 4.5 hours home so that we could be to church the next morning. Unfortunately I was tired but was not able to stretch out or fall asleep the entire car ride...and neither did the boys. We got home at 10:30 with a car load of tired people.
The next day I was suprised with how not sore I was. I was feeling a little tired, but that is expected, especially since we have 9 AM church and Todd has to be there for early morning meetings, which means I get to get all the kids ready by myself. After church I came home and took only an hour nap, so I was feeling pretty good. Monday I took it easy on my exercise, but I did run with William. We ran over a mile! Yes, my little 3 year-old ran with me that far. We did take an occasional break to stretch, which he is so cute at doing, but we did the run just under 20 minutes - not bad in my oppinon. At my soccer game on Tuesday I pushed myself and did not feel winded at all. Overall I was very pleased with how my body felt afterwards.
During the race I thought about how I could never do a full Ironman, a half was extreme enough. I wasn't sure I would ever do a half again. But after a few days pass, I start thinking about how amazing that experience was. Even though it was difficult and trying, I really did enjoy it, and the endorphins and feelings of finishing it are awesome. I'm not comitting to anything just yet, but I wouldn't be suprised if I did see a full in my future.

I had charged my camera battery before leaving to Michigan, but even though I remembered to bring my camera, I forgot to get the battery out of the charger, so we weren't able to take any pictures, besides those taken with the phone. Here are the official pictures of me, if you want to check them out.

Here are my stats:
Swim 44:48
Bike 3:04:02
Run 2:03:56

Finishing Time 6:06:24

LEG DISTANCE PACE RANK DIV.POS. TOTAL SWIM 1.2 mi. (44:48) 2:21/100m 1694 93 TOTAL BIKE 56 mi. (3:04:02) 18.26 mph TOTAL RUN 13.1 mi. (2:03:56) 9:27/mile 1273 58 TRANSITION TIME T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE 9:12 T2: BIKE-TO-RUN 4:26