A year ago I remember frantically sitting by my computer ready to hit register for the first Ironman in Texas. I had to do it. My home state. My humid as hell home state.
Drove up with Maggie as we raised the roof to Dynamite, Usher, and Pitbull. We got lost then met Kathleen for lunch. SCARF! Hungry bunnies.
Check in line was loooooong but I did not mind it too much. Got to talk to people in line and look for cute boys. Finally got our bike, run, morning, and two special needs bags, cap, chip and whatever else was in that bag. Blah blah, we got dinner too and did our bags and went to bed.
Friday - Dad came by and helped Maggie and me with our bags while we rode our bikes to check em in. That was so helpful! I was so excited my Dad was going to see this event and meet my amazing Austin family. FOMO team picture was next then naptime!
I went by to Carrie's hotel to get my fake fomo tats, talked to some cute North Carolina boys then like angels Mel, Katy and Jane Bui appeared! Holy crap I cried I was so happy to see them.
Went to get sushi then the next batch of sherpas appeared...Becca, Denise and Shannon! Whaaaaa!! I was so happy!
That night before. Ugh. Are we really doing an Ironman tomorrow?! Sleep, how is Peenut? Sleep, Is my GPS charging? Sleep, I hope Talie is doing ok with the girls, Sleep, I have to get up to pee. That was essentially my night's sleep.
We got up around 4 am got ready, tried to get down some calories and Becca, Denise and Shannon ( the most fun sherpas in the world) drove us to transitition to set up our bike nutrition then took us to the swim start a mile away. SUCKERS that are walking! HA! We were walking from the car to the start of the swim and OMG! we ran right into Barbara and Dad! Could not have been better timing. I got the tightest hug from my Dad and man did I need that. Everything was right in the world at that point. I had my friends and got to see Dad and Barbara. Let's do this.
Mass swim start: MEN EVERYWHERE! Where are all the single ladeeez? Oh there were about 25% women in this whole race....and they kicked ass! I got in the middle because Katy Dooley said you want to be in the vortex. So I got my butt to the vortex and Gun shot! Off we go! Kick, punch, scratch ( cut your damn toenails and fingernails d bags!). Finally got a nice open spot to swim and made it though! Except one more kick in the throat for old times sake. The guy actually said sorry! The last turn was through a canal that felt like FOREVER! I kept looking with my alligator eyes ( thank you Becca McCann for helping me with that during training) and never saw the finish. Just keep swimming foward. Eventually you will get there. Yay done! I seen I think Vicky and I saw Catherine and Al the Monkey for sure. Oh, I swam in my bathing suit. No wetsuit and no speedsuit. I was happy with my time. 1:32.
A volunteer was immediately available to me. She was great! We got off my bathing suit and got on my tri shorts, bra and favorite FOMO tri top with the cool wings Kathleen had lent me all training and for the race. Got my helmet, shoes and gloves on and out I go! I had to pee so bad. As I mounted my bike I saw Katy, Mel, Jane, Shannon and I know Becca and Denise were there but I don't think I looked that direction...and they were on the side I was mounting my bike on! Grrrr. Missed em! I think Katy was crying because she couldn't believe I swam so well. :) Seriously 1:32 for me is GRRRRReat!
The Bike: I was really happy to be done with the swim even though I felt pretty darn good. This was an awesome ride. It was hard, I was tired and I am not fast but the course was actually pretty awesome. Just a few chip n seal areas but most of the roads were like butta. The hills were perfect. Rollers. Cloud cover the whole ride! Holy crap were we lucky. It was 90 degrees and 100% humidity but if that sun had come out I am not sure what would have happened. I got really bloated in the second hour. I took a tums because I thought my tummy was feeling wierd and that may have upset it more. So I just took water for about an hour with little nutrition so my tummy would go down. It did after about an hour. Very uncomfortable. I felt some wind but again, we were so lucky! It was not near as bad as the rides we had in training. There was also a 50% chance of rain. Not a drop! So So lucky! I just thought rest stop to rest stop. Could not think 112 miles. 10 miles was doable. When I hit 80 I figured that is a great indication that I will be finishing the Ironman. I felt pretty good but was ready to be done. That last 12 miles took forever!! I think because I saw this HEB and I thought it was the one close to the transition area. It wasn't. So mentally I was like where the heck are we? Just keep moving forward. I love being a part of FOMO because believe it or not, saying forward motion, just keep moving forward kept me thinking I am getting closer and closer. Dismount!! Volunteer took my bike and shockingly this time I didn't want to throw it at her like I did at CdA. I was like here ya go kind lady and thank you. I don't hate my bike right now. I don't want to ride anytime soon but I don't hate it. That aluminum road bike has been very good to me and I love it. I do want a tri bike one day though. I digress. I did my bike in 7:23 I think.
The run/walk to the tent was far to walk/run in bike shoes. I didn't really want help this time because I had ....well, I didn't stop on the bike to pee so ....ya know. I prefered to just change myself this time. I had plastic bags for all my dirty bike clothes and aaaaaah nice clean running shorts. After I got everything on, including belt, socks, shoes, FOMO ice holder hat and running shorts I was out the door. I did pee in the porto potty this time. It took a while until I saw my people. I couldn't wait! Dina, Tammy, Karen, Nancy, Vicky, Catherine, Al the monkey, Kelly Knight , Kim Evans, Courtney, Lindsor, Stephanie, Eric C, Tim tim, Chel, Bekah, Mel, Becca, Shannon, Denise, Katy, Jane Bui, Cindy, Michelle L. , Charles, Phil, Amit, Mike P., Roman, Kelly G.,...Gosh, did I forget someone.? I love how they made themselves spread out enough to cover the lonely parts of the run. I did a run/walk...mostly walk. Kinda sad about that because running is my favorite part but my tummy wasn't having it. So I did the marathon in under 6 hours. I was having a great last loop because I hooked up with a really nice guy named Armando. We were gonna finish this beast together. He showed me a picture of his sweet 3 year old daughter who was waiting for him at the finish. He gave me a piece of gum and really great conversation.
The finish chute: The finish was completely different for me from CdA. It was crowded with people. I took time to look at everyone and take it all in. There was a spotlight. It was so exciting. I heard my name this time saying I am an Ironman and had my family : Dad, Mom, Babara and Seester waiting for me! It was something I was so excited about and visualizing that moment all through training. Charles Morton I think literally caught after I crossed. Big ole hug and got me my small shirt! ( last time I got an oversized finisher shirt for CdA). This one fits! Got my hat and medal and headed over to my family to share the big smile I had on my face. Then we walked over to my FOMO family and watched the amazing Maggie come in! I am so happy we got to do a race together!!
It was awesome rooming with fun gals Maggie, Lindsey Ginko, and Mallory. We had some great laughs! Training and racing with Kathleen, Oscar, Vegas, Rhonda, Pam, Shawn, Carrie, Michael, Chris, Kevin, Cynthia, Peaches, and Mary( and Mel even though she was not racing, she trained like she was!) I had one really bad ride and bad run ( the run was bad because my ride was bad). All of our rides were really hard. The wind was brutal every single time. But we did it. And we all finished. One more is not out of the question. Thank you for the memory!!!
