The whole feeling of Ironman this year was different than last year. Of course, I was no longer an ironman virgin so the level of excitement was initially lacking, but this did change. I got to Penticton still stressed about work. I left my 2^nd grade classroom without carpet, furniture, etc. due to flooding in the main building a few weeks prior. I could only hope that the substitute would be able to find everything ok, which she did.

I arrived in Penticton Thursday evening. Friday morning I went to packet pick-up and felt like I was getting a fever. All of taper I had felt flat, tired and missing that pop. Short work-outs had felt long and I was easily worn out. Was taper really working? Was I just stressed from work and was this making me sick? I willed myself to not get sick. My training had gone so well all season. I PR’d by 20 min. at Wildflower and by 25 min. at ½ Vineman. I was ready for this race.

By Saturday I started to feel better. The excitement was starting to build. The TNT luncheon was very inspirational and everyone talked a lot about how wonderful it was to be part of a team, one that not only trains together but that also raises money (over $675,000 this season) for cancer research and patient care.

Race morning:

As usual I got up early (4:30 am). This year I actually slept – yeah! I took the first shuttle over to the transition area. I like to be early, which proved to be helpful. As usual I forgot to drop off my special needs bags in the boxes before entering the transition area. I did this last year too, so I had to walk all of the way back and drop them off once I realized my mistake. Wow! The lines for body marking had gotten long since when I’d arrived. I double checked by transition bags – ooops! Yesterday I had ridden my bike over to the transition area, racked it and took off my helmet and shoes. I had placed my helmet and shoes in my run transition bag. No problem – I’ll change those things to the proper bag. Good thing I’m always early. I hung out with friends after racking my bike and then hit the port-o-let line. That sure was a long, slow line. Then, time to put on the body glide and wetsuit. As I made my way down to the water I saw Dave and said hello. He gave me a big hug and then saw the camera. He said something about the fact that we were Ironmen and no one could ever take that away. Then he gave me another hug and picked me up. Dave was just trying to make the video. Guess what? We’re in the IMC 25^th anniversary video. Pretty cool! I hooked up with another SVTC friend, George. We warmed up and started the swim together. This year I didn’t hear music – maybe I was oblivious. But the cannon sounded and off we went.

Swim: 1:14:44

My plan was to start way to the left so as not to get caught up in the washing machine of swimmers. The problem is that I don’t sight very much. I went through patches of open space and patches of the washing machine, getting knocked around. I realized that I was swimming right next to the buoys. Ok, so this is the quickest route, but not my plan. I wanted to stay to the outside so I’d have more room. After the turn I found my way to the outside. As I was heading back I realized that I was all by myself in the water. This is great – LOTS of room. Hmmm….I’ve been by myself for quite some time now…hmmm. I decide to sight and I see a canoe to my left (the ones that corral swimmers who are off course) and nothing to my right. Where are the buoys? I sight again. Oh there they are!! Way over there!!! So I make a turn and get back on track with the other swimmers. While I enjoyed swimming by myself, it wasn’t exactly the quickest route back to transition. It is almost impossible to get off course at this race, but leave it to me to do just that. End result, a bit of a slow swim time, but not really important in the grand scheme of things.

T1: 4:46

Well, let’s just say that this wetsuit doesn’t fit anymore. My two wetsuit strippers really had to work to get that darned thing off. They even asked me if I could get it over my bum. It’s time for a new wetsuit (Note: This thing has never fit well and the next day I noticed that the wetsuit glue I had used before leaving for Canada had gone all of the way through the suit. And no, I hadn’t gained weight this year; I weighed in the same as last year and yes, they weigh you. I did end up buying a new wetsuit after the race.)

Anyway, the very nice volunteer helped me out, dumping out my transition bag and then putting my swim things in the bag. She was so cute. She asked, “Do you have sunglasses?” Of course, she was holding them. Well, off I went.

Bike: 6:29:04

The bike started off very entertaining. I was leapfrogging with this long-haired hippy guy who had a horn on his bike. Every time we passed supporters (which we did a lot since we were still in town), he honked and the crowds cheered more. This was a great lift. We chatted a little, but eventually I passed him and never saw him again. Bummer! He was fun. Just as I did last year I dropped my chain going up McClean Creek. Weird. This year another strange but good thing happened. I wasn’t getting passed by so many people and I actually passed a few people. Whew-hew!! All of that cycling was finally starting to pay off. Of course I saw lots of my friends pass me on the bike and it was nice to see them. Sometimes they would ride with me for minute or two. Then, something very unusual happened to me – I saw Louie. He was hanging out with me. For those reading this report and don’t know who Louie Bonpua is, well he was a past recipient of the Iron Spirit award at IMC in 2002, I think. He also carried the Olympic torch and died a few days later of Leukemia. Here’s a link: http://www.myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=l_bonpua Anyway, Louie was just hanging out with me. Cool!

Everything was going pretty well, but that inevitably changes. I use Thermolytes for the run, but decided to take them on the bike just in case I needed them (after all my dehydration started on the bike last year). Did I pack more Thermolytes in my bike special needs bag, run transition bag or run special needs bag? Of course not. Had I thought about it? Yes. Why didn’t I? Who knows, but I won’t make that mistake again. So I’m pedaling along and decide to switch one of my gel packs from one pocket to the other. When I did that, out fell my tube of Thermolytes. Ugh! Oh well, I’m enjoying my day and I’ll worry about that when I get to the run, where things could potentially fall completely apart. So somewhere around mile 50 or so I’m telling this to another friend I see out on the course. Then Victor (from the North Bay TNT team) comes up from behind me and says that heard me and asks if I need any Thermolytes. I say “Sure!” So Victor looks to see if any race officials are around and since there aren’t any he gives me a handful of Thermolytes (Yes, this is illegal and could disqualify us). Yeah! The only problem is that I don’t have a tube to carry them in and when I really need them (on the run) and I’m dowsing myself with water, they’re likely to disintegrate. Oh well, I’ll worry about later. Thanks Victor! As the ride goes on, I see Victor again and he says that he has another tube of Thermolytes at the bike special needs and that I can meet him there and he’ll give me a tube. Right on!!! Sure enough, Victor is waiting for me in the port-o-let line (a place I was desperately waiting to visit, which means I was actually well hydrated) and gives me his tube and more Thermolytes. Victor, you saved my whole day!!!! Did Louie send you? Awhile after leaving special needs, Louie went to go check on someone else. He checked in with me briefly later in the race, but he knew I was good to go.

There were some strong winds on the bike course (the pros even talked about that), but not nearly as bad as some of our training rides.

Yellow Lake was still hard this year, but it’s not nearly as bad when you’re not dehydrated. I pushed on up and over, seeing all of the TNT purple and green folks cheering me on. We exchanged high fives as I rode on by.

T2: 4:49

This was uneventful and again, great volunteers to help!!!!

Run: 4:34:22

I actually felt ok going into the run and started passing some fellow TNTers that had passed me on the bike. The first 8 miles felt great! I passed quite a few people. When was this going to change? Oh, not to worry, around mile 9 or 10 I didn’t feel quite so perky. This is where I fell totally apart last year. Of course, last year it was over 90 degrees and I was dehydrated. This year it was quite cool and I was hydrated. But my heart rate started to elevate and I had to slow my pace quite a bit. So from around miles 10 – 23 I slowed down a lot. Slowly, various people I passed started to pass me back. I leapfrogged with a few women throughout the marathon. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really run with any of them for too long, because they would either go too fast or too slow at the wrong times. I also gave up on eating somewhere before the ½ marathon point since my elevated heart rate didn’t go well with digesting food. I continued to drink water and take my Thermolytes (Thanks again Victor!). By mile 21, I decided it was time for the flat Pepsi. Boy, that stuff is good, gives you a nice little pick-me-up. So I drank Pepsi at miles 21, 22, 23 and 24. Yum. Then it was time to pick up the pace. After all, I was almost done. Plus, I had this goal in my mind to pass Nicholas. I was gaining on him most of the race. He kept looking back and as I’d get closer he’d pick up the pace. The first time I had gotten close to reaching him was probably around mile 15. He saw me and picked it up. Well, he didn’t see me coming at mile 25. I passed him and said hello. He didn’t hear me, but then he saw me and zoomed past me, leaving me in the dust. Nicholas, you can thank me for making you run a faster marathon. So Nick finished about a minute ahead of me. My stretch goal for this race was to break 13 hrs. I figured I could do this if I had a perfect day. Well with about 7 miles left, I realized I was on pace to break 12 ½ hrs. I saw Coach Mike and he said I looked great. I guess the coaches say that to everyone, even though I felt kind of crappy, but not horrible, and I’m sure the coaches see a lot of people who really feel miserable. Anyway, he told me to enjoy it. So, I checked my watch now and then (although I didn’t start it at the beginning of the race, so I was basing my time off of the time of day and the fact that my watch must be close to the race clock start of 7:00 am) to make sure I stayed on pace to break 12 ½ hrs. Sure enough, I did. Although it’s not as dramatic to finish in the daylight (it doesn’t get dark until close to 9:00 pm), I wasn’t complaining. I’m thrilled with my race!! Now I wonder if I’ll be able to break 12 hrs. Hmmmm……

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