Remembering the Ironman, Part 3 of 1,000,000 . . . .

It's all about the bike . . .

First let me tell you that my memories of Ironman are already starting to fade. It's so sad that I cannot sit and relish all the moments of this adventure for just a little bit longer. But, alas, that thing called "life" seems to keep pulling me out of my Ironman-induced euphoria. I am actually a bit depressed -- I'm missing being on the journey toward my Ironman goal, missing my teammates and simply wondering how the time went by so damn fast. Bummer.

Anyway, back to the bike: I'll admit that the bike is where I live. I am the most comfortable there and I enjoy it more than any other discipline. I could cycle a century every weekend and be a happy, happy gal. So, I had one goal on the bike: don't enjoy myself too much so that I wouldn't have anything left for the run. I followed Blake's instructions to ride easy for the first hour to hour and a half so that I'd have the energy to really come through in the end. But, God, it was so hard to have people passing me right out of the chute while I put my faith into believing that they would lose steam as the ride progressed and I would be able to catch up or pass them in the end -- at least, I hoped that's what would happen!

I had one other goal for the bike. Learn to pee on the bike. I know that seems silly (or gross) but it's very common and a skill that actually takes practice! When I left transition I had to pee and I really didn't want to stop at the port-o-lets but despite my best effort, I just couldn't do it. I mean, how the hell do you pedal and pee at the same time??? So, at mile 20 I was forced to stop at the port-o-let -- that had a line of at least 10 people in front of me. Now, prior to the Ironman, the race organizers made sure that we understood that we could not pull to the side of the road and pee in the woods or bushes. If we did, and got caught, we would be arrested on the spot and DQ'd from the race. Well, I certainly wasn't going to have my IM dream go down the tubes just because I needed to pee so I thought I should play by the rules. I waited in line for almost 15 full minutes before I got my turn in the bathroom. I had time to eat, refill my bottles, talk to the volunteers, get a massage, take a nap . . . it seemed to take FOREVER!! I mean, if they're going to have a rule like that, they need to make sure to have more than 1-2 port-o-lets per water stop to accomodate over 2,000 athletes!! Anyway, throughout the race I had to stop 3 times!! Luckily the last two stops at mile 50 and 80ish had shorter lines. Either way, I figure it cost me about 25 minutes in bike time.

Throughout the entire bike I felt really good. I used the time to take in my food and hydrate and really just enjoyed the scenery. The field is pretty crowded out there so you have a lot of time to leapfrog with other bikers and talk a little. The one bad thing that happens with a field this crowded is that a lot of people totally break the drafting rule. I can't tell you how many people I saw purposely drafting off the bikers in front of them!! It was really kind of disappointing. But I figured, if that's the way they want to complete their Ironman, then fine. But, I'm coming through knowing that no one got me there but myself. And, then, I met Randy.

Randy was this red-headed overweight rider who was riding right on my ass. Hmmm. Perhaps he doesn't realize he's drafting. That's okay. I'll just drop him. I picked up my pace, passed a few people and figured I left Randy behind me. Until I looked back again. Randy was still right behind me. Okay, jerk, now I know you're drafting off me -- and it was purposeful. So now my goal was to drop cheater Randy. At one point we were going down a little hill and Randy's weight put him in front of me (which is when learned his name since Ironman puts your name on your bib -- until then, he was just red headed cheater guy). When we got to another little hill, I passed Randy again and he immediately jumped on my tail. I tried unsuccessfully to drop him one more time and then I was forced to use the best skill ever taught to any cyclist: the snot rocket. I quickly looked back, put myself in position and snotted right at my new pal Randy. Randy dropped back and I didn't see him again. :)


















When you pull into transition from the bike, they lead your through Ironman village. The chute toward transition is lined with spectators. When you go through, you feel the energy of the crowd. You see their faces, you hear people calling your name and you have no choice but to smile and take in the amazing experience. As I came through, it was like a roar. My family was jumping up and down, yelling and screaming my name. I could see the love and excitement in their eyes and I was blown away by how proud they were of me. Little me. Just an ordinary girl going after an extraordinary dream. Dear God, I love them.

When I entered transition, a volunteer ran up to me to take my bike and rack it for me. Nice! I took off my bike shoes and ran through transition to the tent that I hoped contained my Bike to Run bag. As I stepped into the changing tent, Kate O came running up to me with my bags. (By the way, I forgot to mention that Kate wrote "YES YOU CAN" in bright red marker on my left forearm before the race. I can't tell you how many times I looked at that message on my arm. Thank you, Kate -- you were amazing!) Anyway, Kate performed this magic act of getting me undressed and re-dressed into my running gear in a matter of seconds. I'm not even kidding. I put my arms in the air, there was a flurry of clothes and voila! I was in running clothes. It was awesome. Kate was able to give me an update on who she had seen and we had a quick minute to take a picture. After that, I was ready to go to face my biggest fear and what I anticipated to be my largest obstacle. The run . . .