RUN: 4:53:49. Slowest iron marathon yet, but 2nd out
of 11 in my AG and 7th out of 42 in my gender. Flat out-n-back
course along the lake. 4 loops. TH was right there as I came out of TA and she
ran with me a few mins towards the club tent. It felt so great to see a
familiar face and actually talk to someone. I’d been alone in my head for the
past 8hrs! Then at the club tent I had a huge crowd cheering for me! OMG the
energy I picked up there. They were like a caffeinated gel J
It was hot, and my first order of business was getting
cooled off and hydrated. Adding my arm coolers to the pack list was a late
addition on Friday (arm warmers seemed more useful when packing in STL with 60F
temps) and the late change of moving my T1 and T2 bags to the bike allowed me
to grab the arm coolers for the run. This was a saving move. Here’s the run, 1
lap at a time.
Lap 1: 1:09:33, goal was to get hydrated and cool off. I was
happy to find that as I came out of TA my legs felt great—no wobbly, bricky
feeling and no foot pain from the bike. Once I’d passed the Energy Station at
the club tent (Work it Smoochie!!) I settled in and took stock of my needs: slow
the hell down and get water. I was still carrying my garmin in my left hand,
and it took about a mile before I realized why. I needed to put arm coolers on
and that’s impossible to do with the garmin on. I came to this realization by
the 2nd aid station—the one with the guy wearing the toga. I pulled
on the sleeves, he dumped ice down both arms, I put the garmin on, grabbed some
ice, and took off. This became my pattern for the next 2 loops. Stop at the aid
station, don’t walk it, and get ice and iced water. I wondered if having the
ice in the coolers would burn my arms? It was sometimes painfully cold, but no
burns. The arm coolers also worked great with the ice sponge buckets, instead
of stuffing sponges I’d use the sponges to wet the coolers with ice water.
Ahhhh that felt so good.
Stop, ice, drink. Stop, ice, drink. When I was running I
think my pace was good, the stopping didn’t seem to affect my running pace. I
also spent the first lap mapping the course, landmarking the aid stations, and
planning my nutrition. It wasn’t until mile 4 that I had my first gel—mint chocolate.
I wished it was caffeinated, but it helped anyway. I perked up and kept going.
I re-entered the Energy Station to find a long line of club mates cheering me
one—OMG that was FUN!!!! Hit the turn-around, and back out for lap 2.
Lap 2: 1:17:09, goal still to get hydrated and cool off,
same as the first lap. This lap went pretty much like the first one. Stopping
at aid stations, icing, and drinking. This time around I better appreciated the
chalk signs my friends put out for me, funny notes about nutrition and hydration
and words of encouragement. J
Around mile 8 I took my 2nd gel, a hammer tropical—yuck. I felt like
I was drinking amazing amounts of water and I expected my stomach to get
distended, or at least I expected to need to pee. Neither happened. At the
turn-around near mile 10 I stopped for the porta-potty but not much came of it.
This was worrisome, because I also wasn’t sweating like other runners around me
were. I was dry! Was this the wind again? Not if others are sweating! Still I
felt like I was drinking way more than I should to have a happy tummy, the same
fear I had from the bike. I’d stop at an aid station, drink water, stack that
cup with another water cup, grab an ice cup, and leave. Sometimes between aid
stations I’d have 3-4 cups stacked! And I was drinking most of it, yet my
thirst was unquenchable. I was craving something…something…but couldn’t figure
out what. Cold. Wet. Just craving. I let my mind wander on this to find a
solution, but I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to eat. I had an orange
hammer gel (yuck) at mile 12. I kept moving and came around to the Energy
Station again. Less peeps there, but still a wonderful feeling.
Lap 3: 1:17:09.I stopped by special needs to get my bee hat,
it was too hot for the dress so I skipped it. I also grabbed two of my gels and
a sport beans package. Thankfully I shouldn’t need any more hammer gels. By
this time I was cooled off so hydration was my main focus. All along I’d been
reining in my speed, knowing that the current feel-good feeling could dissipate
in minutes later on in the run. This lap was marked by a diaphragm cramp on the
right side. It forced me to slow down a little more, which in the end was a
good thing. But for all the pains I expected to feel, absent from it all was my
ankle! Nothing!! Like it never happened.
At the first aid station someone yelled my name, I looked
back and saw KP from CSP! The first time by I thought, no that can’t be her…why
is she here…I’m just confused… Also at this station the guys controlling
traffic across the path got to know me and my name, they provided lots of
smiles as I came through. J
I’ve had this diaphragm cramp before and knew it was too
much effort. So even though I wasn’t going all that fast, I dialed it back so
more until it faded. By this time, the volunteers at the stations knew me and
what I wanted as I came through. At the toga station I tried some of their salt
packs and found that to be a wonderful feeling on the tongue. My face was
gritty with salt and my body soaked it right up. I’d already tried a few
endurolytes up to that point, but blehck those are awful. Toga guy dumped ice
my sleeves, I turned down the offered fruits, and kept going.
I chugged along, by now getting pretty bored with this
course. But I had my rhythm down and I was happily able to push myself to run
to the next aid station instead of walking between them. This was a problem in
CDA—my mind just dropped out of the game and I walked a lot between stations.
Not so this time. I set goals between aid stations and hit them, bam bam bam. It
certainly helped that in this lap I had my 4th gel, I could feel
those working for me. I also noted somewhere in lap 2 or 3 that my right knee
was hurting—a tendon or connective tissue pain. I thought it might be from the
ankle or from carrying the water cups. Something was throwing me off balance.
On the way back, I found it was indeed KP from CSP! I
stopped to talk with her a bit before moving on. Seeing familiar faces is
pricesless in these long events. As I passed Louis’s I went by my friends!!
Energy Station #2! By now, my cramp had gone away, I was still drinking a lot,
but still not peeing or visibly accumulating water anywhere. Near the
turn-around I saw a sign saying something about the autumnal equinox. Through
the Energy Station, turn around (saw some TNT peeps there!! J) and back out for the
final lap.
Lap 4: 1:11:39. By now it was getting dark. I’d enjoyed the
setting sun over the lake in lap 3 but now the sun was completely gone soon
into lap 4. Also by now the energy on the course was even lower than before.
People in this race weren’t at all chatty! In previous laps I’d say words of
encouragement only to get a grunt or nothing in reply. In this lap, I didn’t
care. I said good job to everyone I came by regardless of whether or not they
looked interested in hearing it. I needed to hear it, so I think in the end I
was mostly talking to myself.
All through the run, I took things one mile at a time. All
the mile markers were in place and sometimes it was hard to see mile 11 or mile
23 go by when I’m in lap 1 or lap 2. But now all those signs were either in the
past or current. I celebrated each sign as I went by, smiling to see mile 3
while in the 2nd lap, happy to see mile 16 go by as that meant only
10 more, then finally mile 20. My plan was to have my final gel at mile 21—I’d
saved a 2x caffeinated gel for just this moment. At first I worried this gel
was a bad idea—my heart raced and I thought maybe that caffeine would upset the
tummy—but it settled in soon enough. By now I’m grinning ear to ear as the mile
markers go by. Near mile 22 the aid station is out of ice and cups, so I get a
bottle. In the end, this was the greatest thing. I didn’t have to carry a cup
and worry about splashing it. My pace had picked up and this time I let it go.
I had concerns about running in the dark—what if I turned my ankle on something?
But the moon was out-- a nice half-moon – and I could see just enough to run
with some confidence. Mile 23 was in the back end of the course in the park
where the turn-around was. By this point my face was tired of smiling.
I was passing runners quickly at this point. Many were
walking and sometimes I felt like the only person still running. I wasn’t, it
just seemed that way. I got a lot of jokes about my wings and how they made me
faster. This kept me rolling. Mile 24 came up in the dark, it was so dark I
worried about missing an upcoming turn in the course! Last time through the
toga station-that guy was still there after all these hours—and them mile 25!!
I saw a young runner ahead of me kiss the sign J
He was walking, but on his last lap.
Last time past the guys controlling traffic, last time past
Louis’s (my friends were still there, OMG it was so great to see them!!), then
finally the homestretch. By now I’m comfortable running and letting my body
pick the pace. No more reining in at this point. Mile 26 sign came and went.
I passed the RV area, someone asked me how much more I had
to go and I said “.2 more!”. He thought about it for a second, then started
yelling for me! Round the corner…I could see the lights. The club tent area was
empty…passed the last aid station to dump my water bottle…and down the chute!
OMG all my friends cheered me in, it was fantastic!
And it was only then that I realized my race time: 13:23. I
hadn’t looked at my Garmin or watch at all during the run and in the end that
was the best thing. I was disappointed—I wasn’t under 13hrs like I wanted to
be. I looked at my Garmin finally to get my run time of 4:54-ish. Another disappointment,
but a very brief one. OMG I’m done! I did it! My 3rd iron distance
at the 8th Redman triathlon. I thought that was a nice coincidence of
numbers.
Post-race: Unlike before, I made it out of the Redman finish
chute without visiting medical. I felt great, still upright and able to walk.
DH and friends met me at the back of the tent, and I wanted to badly to convey
to them how wonderful it was to see them but all I could do was cough—my usual
long run hack-like-I-might-vomit cough.
The high of finishing kept me up for a few hours while I
repacked my bags to get ready for Sunday. Thanks to TH who moved Frea and got
her ready, and grabbed my TA bags for me. Even though I trusted her, for some reason
I needed to see it all for myself, my brain just wasn’t remembering things. I
kept asking about the bags, over and over, I just couldn’t get focused. But
what do you expect after a race like this?
We walked back to the tent, and I was finally able to see
everyone. I’d wondered all day how their races went and now I wanted to hear
all about it. Although I was hungry and thirsty, I wasn’t ready for either yet.
But I started to shiver and my feet, which had been hurting the last few laps,
were finally starting to complain loud enough for me to pay them attention.
Time to go home, shower, and prep for tomorrow’s sprint!
At the hotel I ate my bag of apple chips—a reward I picked a
few days ago. Nom nom. DH was wiped and ready for bed but I kept chatting away.
My pained feet kept me sitting on the floor and let out a few whines when I’d
realize something I needed was at the other end of the hotel room. J I slept great that
night, after chatterboxing to DH a few minutes. I had so many stories,
questions, more! But off to sleep and rest for Sunday’s big bee-kini race.
This report is the play-by-play of the day, I have another
post in mind for the analysis.
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