Ironman Raleigh 64.3

I'm sure some of you heard that there was this little race in Raleigh yesterday. It was Ironman Raleigh 70.3 - also known as a Half Ironman. When we found out that Raleigh was going to have a sanctioned Ironman event, there was no option but to sign up! I even managed to convince my awesome girlfriends Holly & Cary to do the race as well (it wasn't hard to do so, all I had to do was say....hey here's this event I want to do....and they were in! That's just how we roll!!). Tim & I both signed up, Holly & Cary signed up and made travel arrangements (traveling from Vermont and Colorado) and my best guyfriend Mike signed up too. Well, on race day, only the girls made it to the start line. Tim was plagued with injuries training for his half marathon earlier in the year and lack of swim training so he wasn't prepared for the open water swim.

Friday night, Tim & I went downtown with the boys to pick up our race stuff and scope out the scene. Cary arrived on Thursday, picked up her race packet & stuff on Friday and tried to rest from travel. Holly was scheduled to arrive early Saturday morning so we wanted to make sure we knew what to do. This race was logistically challenging because you started at Jordan Lake, biked to downtown Raleigh and then ran from / finished downtown. Not only did we have to pick up our race stuff, we had to get our bikes out to Jordan Lake on Saturday before a specified time - no bikes allowed to be brought in on race morning. That meant a busy day once Holly arrived. Ok, back to Friday night. Tim & I went downtown and got our race bands, packets, numbers and swag. Eli & Cole had fun checking out everything. Eli is excited for his 1st triathlon - hopefully coming up soon!!

Saturday morning, Holly arrived safely and we started our busy day of race prep. Cary arrived at our house in time for us to finishing packing, load up and head to get Holly's race bag. Then it was a trip out to Jordan Lake to drop off our bikes. It made for quite a busy afternoon - on the eve of a long race! We had a nice dinner (grilled chicken, wild rice and grilled veggies) and tried to get to bed early. We had to be downtown to catch a bus VERY early Sunday morning so we tried to turn in early.

Sunday, 3:45am, the alarm went off. Yes, 3:45am!! We left about 4:20am to pick Cary up at her hotel so we could all ride / be together. We got downtown, laid out our run gear and then loaded up on a shuttle bus to the lake. The shuttle service was awesome. I've heard about races where they don't have enough shuttles and it takes forever but this was great. The early buses were for athletes only and thankfully, due to Tim's race band, he was able to ride with us. It was like his VIP pass for the event!! A costly VIP pass but it came in handy. We got to the lake before 6am and were then off to body marking and getting our bikes ready (pumping up tires, putting food / bottles with our bikes). There were a TON of people. Amazing that SO many people choose to do that super early on a Sunday morning. =) After body marking, all there was to do was wait in line for the porta potty and then turn around and wait again. Pre-race potty time is crucial!!

My start time was a half hour after Holly & Cary and almost 1 hr 20 minutes after the pros started. Crazy!! I was even in line for the potty when the 1st pro men came out, amazing at 25 minutes for the 1.2 mile swim! I watched 19 waves of folks take off before it was finally time for my swim. I was looking forward to the swim (totally different than my 1st open water swim!) and hoped to do it in about 50 minutes. In training I had repeatedly been less than that so I was hopeful I could do it. What I didn't count on was the wind and waves / swales. The course was triangular and on the 1st leg, it took me a while before I could get any kind of rhythm. There were just so many people tight together. By the time I got to the turn buoy for the 2nd leg, I felt great. I was able to relax enough to get into my normal breathing rhythm of breathing every 3rd stroke. I had to change it up some when big waves would come but I felt great. I even passed folks from the two waves ahead of me (each wave was separated by 4 minutes). It was a rough swim but my swimming was good and I didn't panic at all. My sighting was excellent, probably too much so as I swam very close to the inside line and wonder if I would have had a smoother swim further out. I was quite happy when I made my second turn to swim the 3rd leg to the shore. Made it to the dock and it was out to the wetsuit strippers. When a race has "strippers" you just unzip and pull your top down, sit on the ground and they strip the rest of your wetsuit off of you. Quite handy! I did notice that the pros were not allowed the luxury of wetsuit strippers, but then again, they're pros!

Friday night race check in - Mommy's fan club

Super early downtown Raleigh - T2, bike to run transition area - it was probably pre-5am here

Waiting at T1 (swim to bike transition) prior to the race start.

Only part of T1 - LOTS of folks!

Swim course

Pre-race: Cary, me, Holly - love my Girls!!

Pre-race, #2216

Yellow caps almost ready to go!

In the water, waiting for our horn

Finished!! I had hoped for 50 minutes but ended up with 58:57 and with the conditions out there, I wasn't bummed about that!

Headed to the wetsuit strippers

Got into T1 and put my jersey, helmet, glasses, shoes, gloves on. It took a little longer than it should because they made us keep all of our stuff in our race bag and then put our swim stuff in the bag. They later took the bags to the finish so athletes could retrieve them. The first thing I did when I got out of the transition area and onto my bike was chow down on some Clif Bloks. Oh my I was so hungry!! I chomped down six of them and them felt like lightning. The first 20 miles of the ride was awesome. I felt like I was flying. They did an amazing job of blocking off entire roads or at least lanes to give us space. It was great!! I had looked at the course profile and thought that the beginning would be tough and the back half easier. I was optimistic that I could beat the heat and wind to finish with a respectable bike time. My goal was 3:45. But boy, was it hot. And boy, was it windy. Then, there were some hills. Oh my! The aid stations were awesome. Even though I was in the last grouping of folks, they had plenty of cold water and cold sports drinks. And they were so enthusiastic. I even saw some folks I knew on the side of the road cheering, such inspiration! There were a few sections of road where I was so alone, I wondered if I was still on the race course. When you start in the back of the pack, it can really spread out over 56 miles. So I was slowly (apparently) rolling along and then at mile 40, massive hill. Mile 50, more hills. Up to T2, more hills! The extra pounds I'm carrying around and less training were definitely showing. My bike time ended up a disappointing 4:16:35 - a half hour longer than I had wished and an hour longer than my first Half Ironman. But I was super happy to see T2 and see Tim as I climbed that final hill. (Post race, going through my camera, I found pictures Tim had taken of folks cramping / hurting as they got off their bikes. Happily I was not one of those folks, I was just slow!)

Headed out of T2 - start of the bike leg

Official race photo

Final climb to T2 (photo courtesy of Tim)

I was very very happy to get off my bike. I recently got a new bike seat to address some saddle issues. Well, it addressed the major ones but had a few others. I was just happy to be done with the bike leg. So at this point, I was 5 hours 21 minutes into the race - with a final cut off time of 8 hours 30 minutes. When I got my running shoes and shirt on, I saw Tim & Cary as I was going to leave the transition (yes, Cary is a rock star finishing in about 5 hours, 20 minutes - she's amazing!!). I was not very happy and not very thrilled about 13.1 miles of running. But off I went, thankfully with Cary's water bottle. I wanted to walk the 1st mile and then see what happened after that. I just needed to mentally adjust to running and it being a million degrees. The run was mostly on paved roads and had very little shade. But again, the rest areas were awesome - cold drinks, ice, well stocked! So probably about mile 2, I had a guest along for my run. A nice Raleigh police office......in his car.......following me with his blue lights on. I knew that meant I was the last person on the course. (Turns out I wasn't the last person but I was pretty close!!) So I saw a guy ahead of me and was bound and determined to pass him and let him have my police escort. I did and he asked about my new fan club and was not thrilled that I left the officer with him. Then I saw a lady, I decided it was better to put more distance between me and the escort car. Whew! When I got to the 3 mile point, I saw Holly - which meant she was at 10 miles. She was going strong and even with all the heat, looked great! I kept going up Hillsborough Street on my way to Meredith College but before I got there, they gave me another police car. What?! Why?! Not sure but one was back with me. When I turned into Meredith College, there was a guy on a microphone cheering folks on and he said I had an hour to get to the turn around - which was 2 miles. Dude, totally got that! So I kept going. Police escort followed me through Meredith until I turned on the greenway and he couldn't drive there. Along the greenway, I saw lots of folks suffering with cramps and heat. I tried to run what I could and walked when I couldn't. When I got close to the Art Museum, there was an open grass area and when I got there, I couldn't believe my eyes. Eli & Cole were there with signs, with Amy & my Mom, cheering for me. It was wonderful to see them. I had to go by them twice so we convinced them to wait until my 2nd lap to go with me. Amy walked / ran with me on the 1st one. We chatted, I told her how terrible the day was going (I was happy, don't get me wrong. I was kinda having fun but I was slow.....not have a very good athletic performance.). The swim was hard, the bike was hard and the run was hard. It was all hard! The last Half I did, I was in MUCH better shape and it didn't "feel" hard. I guess that's what age and lack of training time do to you! We got around the 2nd time and the boys came with me. They were so sweet and so excited. I was glad to see them and glad they got to see Mommy racing. They also got to see Mommy get pulled from the race. =( Before we got to the aid station the 2nd time, a "gator" came up with with timing lady and I heard her say "I'll tell her". I asked if I was finished and she said yes. Turns out microphone guy was wrong, I think I had an hour to get back to where HE was, not the half way point / turn around. She said I had two options: 1) go back downtown on a gator or 2) continue unassisted and be an unofficial finisher. With the day I was having, it was just not worth it to spend another 1-1/2 hours in the heat, make everyone wait for me and then be unofficial. Plus, I had done this before....what did I have to prove? I ended up choosing Option 1 and I must say, it was MUCH more fun than running 6 more miles! When I made my choice, she took my timing chip off and that was it for me. I was bummed that it happened in front of the boys but I was later able to explain to Eli that sometimes things just don't go the way you want and that I had missed a time cut off. Thankfully Amy was there with me so she texted Tim to let him know I was coming back. The gator ride was great. I waved to folks and cheered racers on. I was handling it pretty well until I saw Tim past the finish line. Then I cried. I felt like I had disappointed him. He had spent ALL day in the heat and I didn't even finish. He assured me he was proud of me for what I DID do but it took a while for me to accept that. Thankfully we had found an awesome parking spot that morning and Tim, Holly & Cary had already loaded all of our stuff so all I had to do was walk to the truck. Great Hubby and Great Friends!! I was a little bummed that I didn't finish but in talking about the race, Holly & Cary were amazing reminding me what I DID do and that I DID finish 64.3 miles of the race, where Tim & Mike didn't start and a LOT of folks won't even dare to dream about doing a triathlon, much less a Half Ironman. THAT is what great friends do. Help you celebrate the achievement and not make you feel bad for doing less. They both did amazing in their races and I'm so proud of them. I cannot express how much it meant to me for them to be supportive, emphasize the positive, not let me be down about what I didn't do and be proud of me for what I did. Funny, in thinking about it all, neither of them even showed me their medals. Or even wore them when I was around. I'm not sure if that was intentional or not but it was like they didn't want to make me feel like my performance was less than theirs. Such amazing girls!

My times:

Swim - 58:57

T1 - 5:46

Bike - 4:16:35 (UGH!)

T2 - 5:57

Run - at 6.5 miles, 1:52:59. Race time 7:20:14. That was my last time check. I went a little further than that. Was past the 7 mile mark when I got pulled.

After the race, we went to Char-Grill to grab burgers and fries. We had all earned them and they were quite yummy! My Mom had been taking care of the boys all day so we hurried home to relieve her and let her get on the road for home. Thanks Mom for being there! We had originally thought we'd have a mini-celebration Sunday night and hang out but boy, with the heat and physical exertion, we were all ready to just chill.

Monday morning, Cary came over to hang with me & Holly a bit before their flights home. It was nice to just hang out a bit and talk. We've had a lot of fun together in the 13 years we've been friends and there will be plenty more! Even though they both live elsewhere now, friendships transcend distance and I'm so glad to have these girls in my life!