IMFL recap

[katandkevin]

So it has been 2.5 weeks since race day and I finally have time to sit down and write a recap. Grab a snack, it gets long.

I got to Panama City, FL on the Tuesday before race day. The plan was to do some swims in the ocean and get comfortable in the wetsuit, a quick ride and a quick run before we had to check our gear on Friday. We had great weather leading up to the race day, highs in the 70s, lows in the low 60s, perfect. I did 3 ocean swims and the conditions were ideal, almost no waves, smooth, clear water, again perfect. The only hint at rough weather was on Wednesday and it was windy. The forecast for Saturday, race day, was cooler than the rest of the week, but the one thing that kept changing was the winds. I was really excited to race all week, which is not normal for me. Usually I am super nervous.

Saturday morning I was up early, cleaned out the digestive system and enjoyed the quiet in our condo. I was able to eat a PB bagel, banana and sip on part of a bottle of tailwind. I was ready for what lay ahead. I got on my bathing suit and put on sweat pants and running shoes, but couldn't put on my sweatshirt yet because the nerves have set in and I was sweating like a mad man. That quickly changed when I stepped outside, it was freezing! I put my sweatshirt on and quickly made my way downstairs to meet my friend, Shane, and walk over to get body marked and air up our tires. From our walk we couldn't see the ocean, but the winds we felt while walking let us know it was going to be a rough swim. It was cold, the temp was in the low 40s, but with the windchill it was below freezing, way colder than what we planned for. I didn't bring any of my cold weather gear with me and I didn't think to put knee high socks in my gear bag or a long sleeve shirt of any kind. I had a hard time getting my tires aired up. My hands were so cold, I couldn't flip the latch on my pump to get it to stay on the tube. I finally got it to work. Found some friends, used the porta potty and headed towards the beach. We had a friend staying in the hotel that was right at the swim start. We found his room and went in to warm up and get our wetsuits on. I put my flip flops on and my sweatshirt back on with the bottom half of my wetsuit and we went out to find our team banner at swim start. I had to stop and put running shoes back on because the sand was so cold it was freezing my feet. The sun was starting to rise and we could see the course set up and 2 police boats pretty far out that were just bouncing away. The ocean was like nothing we had seen that week. There were big waves and the water was coming in on an angle, not straight onto the beach. The announcer was telling us how we were going to have to swim with the rip tides. The longer I stood there, the more freaked out I got. I am a strong swimmer, but I couldn't imagine swimming in that water. By the time DH got there, I was a mess. I was crying and saying I didn't want to do it. He finally calmed me down and the announcer came on and told us they were canceling the swim due to strong rip tides. It wasn't safe for anyone to be in the water. I stopped crying and one of my teammates started crying, he was so disappointed and felt he wouldn't be an ironman after the day was over. Our team said a quick prayer and then we headed off to get our t1 bags to get dressed for the bike. (In transition, we found out that some of the kayakers tried to get out on the course and were found over a mile off course. They couldn't paddle against the rip currents at all.)

In t1, I was able to get dressed with my best friend and one of my other teammates. We joked, calmed down and got ready for the next part. They really hadn't given us any information. They just said to get your bike clothes on and head to your bikes and wait for more information. We didn't know if we would still have 17 hours to finish or if they were cutting the time shorter. We headed out to transition and stood around for what seemed like forever. They finally told us pro men would start at 8:00, pro women at 8:10, and then age groupers at 8:20 in a time trial start by race number. I was 1231, so I didn't think it would be too bad, I was wrong. I didn't get out on the bike course until close to 9:00, which was way later than I would have been if we could have swam. By the time I started, I was frozen. I had on a sleeveless bike jersey and bike shorts. The only addition I had made was to cut the toes off of a pair of knee high socks to use as arm warmers. I knew there would be wind on the first leg of the bike because we were riding parallel to the ocean, it was like no wind I have ever ridden in. We made the turn to head north and the wind continued. I found out later that it was 20mph sustained winds with gusts up to 40mph. The wind didn't end until we turned south for a small portion of the ride. I had a hard time riding in my aerobars because of the wind and when I could, the wind was pushing my head back and making my neck and between my shoulder blades hurt. The ride was pretty uneventful except for the wind, until we got to the out and back at the 56 mile turn. The road is horrible, there are cracks every 4 feet and riding on it makes you feel like your bike is going to fall apart. I knew about this part of the course, but was not prepared for how much it would suck. The turn around was on a narrow part of the 2 lane road. I took the turn wide to try to make it and went into the grass and over corrected to try to get back on the road and fell. I scraped my whole left leg and my left knee pretty badly. I took a long break at the turn to collect myself. I thought about quitting, but wasn't ready to give up on my dream quite yet. I knew that the special needs was just ahead so I got back on my bike and headed up there. By this point I had blood coming down my leg from my knee. I had band aids, but nothing to wipe up blood with. I picked up someone's arm warmers that they tossed and used them to wipe up my leg. Someone gave me a wet wipe and I cleaned myself up as best I could and put bandaids on and continued on. The rest of the bike was rough from the wind and the hills. Someone told me it was a flat course, the lied! I ride flat courses all the time at home and this was not flat! The rest of the bike was uneventful thank goodness and I made it back into town with no other problems.

T2 was rough. My legs felt like rubber and I wasn't sure how I was going to do a marathon from here. I was frozen and my lungs hurt from breathing the cold air on the bike. I got changed, but again didn't have the right clothes for the weather. I had a long sleeve shirt but it was in my special needs bag. I kept my arm warmers on and eventually used them as gloves because my hands were frozen. One of the volunteers in t2 insisted she put Vaseline on my knee and she globbed it on, which made it more noticeable and everyone pointed out how bad my knee looked, thanks, I had no idea. DH met me outside of transition and walked the first mile with me. I needed to see his face and have him tell me I was doing great. It gave me a push I needed. My plan was to walk for 8 minutes and run for 2, that plan went down the toilet quickly. I had a really hard time running because my lungs were so cold from the bike. It physically hurt to run. The sun set as I was on the back part of the first loop. I made the halfway turn and didn't think I would make it before midnight. I kept moving and DH found me about 2 miles from the halfway point. I told him I wasn't going to make the time cutoff and he said I would, but I had to pick it up a little bit. They had pushed back the finish time until 12:30. He was the one to tell me that, we never heard it from any race officials. He said the announcer said they pushed it back and gave 8 hours from 10:00 (the time the last person got out on the bike) for the bike and then the 6.5 hours on the run so we had until 12:30. He walked with me through special needs where I grabbed my long sleeve shirt. He helped me set the pace for the second loop and told me if I kept it up I would make the cutoff. I waived him off around 2 miles into the second loop and he went to get my stuff out of transition and I kept on walking. I ate everything that sounded good, pretzels, chips, chicken broth, so yummy. DH ended up riding my bike backwards on the course to find me and walk with me so I would keep my pace. He really pushed me and encouraged me the whole way. I honestly don't know if I would have finished if it weren't for him. He walked with me the whole way and split off before the finishers chute. I crossed the finish line with 15 minutes to spare. I was an ironman!!!

I thought I would be more emotional at the finish, but I was so cold and just ready to stop moving. It was more relief when I finished than anything else. An older lady "caught" me as I finished and walked me through the tents. We got to the part where they take your chip off and everyone stood there looking at me. I told them I couldn't take it off because there was no was I was going to stand back up after bending down to get it, then some guy offered to help. It was pretty funny. I got my medal and finishers shirt and hat and found DH again. Our condo was .5 miles from the finish line, so it was a quick walk home. After a long shower, I laid in bed wheezing. My lungs hurt so bad and that carried over into a nasty cough.

I have never felt that I didn't complete the race or that I wasn't an ironman. Race day was harder than I ever expected and the winds and temperature made it harder than I ever thought possible. I have some teammates that are signed up for other IM races. I was always told the training is what makes you and ironman, making it to the start line is an accomplishment and the race is a long victory lap. That is truly how I feel. I finished the race that I was given and I am pretty sure the wind made up for the lack of swim. I am an ironman.

If you made it this far, you deserve a cookie!!

[G22]

Congrats! I would have been terrified to swim with rip currents too! How crazy. You absolutely are an Ironman, no matter what and you rock for that!

[Susie]

Nov 19, 2014 12:50:12 GMT -5 katandkevin said:

I was always told the training is what makes you and ironman, making it to the start line is an accomplishment and the race is a long victory lap. That is truly how I feel. I finished the race that I was given and I am pretty sure the wind made up for the lack of swim. I am an ironman.

Heck yes you are.  ITA.  I am so impressed at how you hung in there under those conditions, congrats!  

Do you think you'll do another one one day, to have a different race day experience?

[cinco]

That must have been such a roller coaster. You are so, so tough. An Ironman, indeed! Congrats on a job well done!

[wawa]

Wow. That sounds so incredibly hard. Congrats on being an Ironman!!

[bostonmichelle]

Wow! Congratulations on being an Ironman!

[mrs.jacinthe]

That swim sounds terrifying - and I *love* open water swimming. So glad they cancelled it.

Congrats - you ROCKED it despite the weather crap on race day!

[katandkevin]

Nov 19, 2014 13:29:42 GMT -5 Susie said:

Nov 19, 2014 12:50:12 GMT -5 katandkevin said:

I was always told the training is what makes you and ironman, making it to the start line is an accomplishment and the race is a long victory lap. That is truly how I feel. I finished the race that I was given and I am pretty sure the wind made up for the lack of swim. I am an ironman.

Heck yes you are.  ITA.  I am so impressed at how you hung in there under those conditions, congrats!  

Do you think you'll do another one one day, to have a different race day experience?

Possibly, but not for a long time. I would probably do IM texas because it is local to me. I didn't love traveling for the race and not having everything I needed on hand, like cold weather gear.

[CallingAllAngels]

Nov 19, 2014 12:50:12 GMT -5 katandkevin said:

I have never felt that I didn't complete the race or that I wasn't an ironman. Race day was harder than I ever expected and the winds and temperature made it harder than I ever thought possible. I have some teammates that are signed up for other IM races. I was always told the training is what makes you and ironman, making it to the start line is an accomplishment and the race is a long victory lap. That is truly how I feel. I finished the race that I was given and I am pretty sure the wind made up for the lack of swim. I am an ironman.

I love this.  You are definitely an ironman!  Not only the wind, but the mental obstacles were huge that day, and you still completed your race.

Great recap!  Thank you for sharing. 

[shauni27]

Reading about the conditions of this race sound TERRIBLE and make me stressed. I am SO proud of you for completing this race (and I am also SO glad you didn't have to swim in such dangerous conditions!)--you are an IRONMAN! Congratulations!!

[osulori]

you are AMAZING! Congratulations

[trigal]

Welcome to the Ironman family!!! Well done!

[ktzmoh]

Wow! Thanks so much for sharing. What a test of endurance and determination. Congratulations Ironman!

[mrshandy]

Congrats!!! You are a true Ironman!

[kams]

My upper back & shoulder blades tightened up just reading about being in aero in those kinds of winds. Brutal, girl!

I'm so thankful that you felt relieved when the swim was cancelled. I was really worried that morning about how you were feeling, and I'm so glad you had such a positive outlook on it. You are undoubtably Ironman.

How awesome that you had so much support from your H on the course. I was so afraid that my pokey ass would get in trouble so I wouldn't let h run with me. Then I felt terrible when he told me lots of people were running with their athletes, and wished we could have shared some of that course together.

I give 2 enthusiastic thumbs up to IMTX next

I hope you are still beaming with pride!!

[sadlebred]

Wind like that is hard and terrifying to ride in. You are most definitely and IRONMAN!!!

[taratru]

What a rock star you are. Amazing!

[clseale]

I love this recap & your positive attitude. I was so sad for you that morning. Everyone was speculating on what the weather was really like, but I could feel it first hand. (A few hours east of you, but the entire panhandle, across to the east coast, had the same weather.) It was terrible! We were on the coast & the gusts blew us over, just standing there. I can't believe everything you did in that weather. Well done & congrats! You have so much to be proud of!!

[libbygrl109]

You are amazing! Pushing through such horrendous weather makes you a super Ironman!

[gt7301b]

Congrats for toughing in out under such crappy conditions! You are truly and Ironman.

[kellifsu]

Congratulations Ironman!

[runblondie26]

I'm in awe of anyone who completes an Ironman. You're awesome! Congrats!