I’ve had a couple days for the events of Saturday to sink in, I’ve made it to Maui, checked into my North shore cottage and had the perfect afternoon lunch at Mama’s Fish House (my favorite restaurant in the world). The Ironman can be a cruel sport, I’m going to call it a separate sport from just triathlon due to the amount of time and commitment it takes to just toe the line in an Ironman.
I was coming into this race extremely fit, healthy and confident only to have my body betray me on race day. Now it was a betrayal not a revolt and I saw more than a few people who’s body’s revolted against them so I count myself lucky. In fact I saw some things I’ve never seen before and some things I never want to see again while out on the Queen K. In the end my spirit, mind and emotions were ready buy my body just didn’t have any energy today.
My family and I headed down the pier just before 5am and got as close as we could before my brother and I jumped out. I’m not sure how to describe the pier in the hours before the start. There is calm, palpable nervousness and downright chaos. I got body marked and headed over to set up my bike, kick the tires, attach my shoes and load my bottles. I then found a quiet spot to lie down and relax, to get calm and think about the journey to this point and what I’d go through in the next couple of hours. I was lying right next to last year’s top Age Group finisher. That’s the cool thing about Kona you’re just one of the rock stars, you’re no different than all the pro’s you read about and watch on TV, everyone comes to this race equal, with the same challenges, opportunities, hopes and dreams. I opened my eyes to find a bright light and NBC TV camera in my face (maybe you’ll see my on NBC in December). This isn’t any other Ironman race. TV cameras, photographers, helicopters, and I swear a volunteer with a bike pump everywhere (these volunteers make the race).
I found my friend Paul Todd and we got suited up a few minutes before the Pro start and started to work our way towards the stairs to the water. We swam out to the left side and began treading water. There was a hell of a lot of electricity in that water. Suddenly the cannon boomed without warning and we were off.
Now everyone will tell you the swim in an Ironman is brutal, I can say that Kona is brutal times ten. Every kick and every stroke all the way past the turn boat (1.2 miles) I was kicking someone, hitting someone or getting hit or kicked. You also couldn’t see a thing, just foamy white water (salt water does that). I was also surprised at the number of people who couldn’t swim straight to save their lives. As we hit the turn the swell started to have it’s effect and the chop. I did my best to just stay in a cadence and did manage to find some feet for the last three quarter of mile. I didn’t get a split coming out of the water but thought I was around 1:06 or 1:07.
I had a quick transition and was out on the bike. I knew within the first five miles it wouldn’t be my day. I had no energy, no power so I hoped that my body would respond as the day went on and would find some reserves. As I rolled past the airport I could start to feel the headwind, man it was going to be a long day. Normally the headwinds don’t start until about 30 miles out of Kona. As we headed towards Hawi the wind just got stronger and gustier.
As I was climbing towards Hawi I saw the leader flying back towards Kona (Torbjorn Sindballe) and a few others off the front. Then a pack of about 6 riders with an entourage of race vehicles and TV cameras as they went by I could hear Normann Stadler screaming something in German at someone in one of the cars. No sign of Chris McCormack in the group, a few miles up the road was Tech Support van and under the hatch back door was a tech working on Macca’s bike while he drank water, it would only be later I’d find out that that’s where his day ended due to a mechanical failure on his bike (it’s a cruel sport).
I made the turn at Hawi but still had no power or energy and the wind had just built. At one point there were three or four big guys in front of me up the road and we were all pedaling for our lives with our bikes raked over at about a 25 degree angle into the wind. The wind continued to rage all the way back to the airport about 8 miles from transition 2.
I had a good transition off the bike but had to make a pit stop, actually I had to pee most of the bike ride but couldn’t manage to go on the bike but at this point I was just trying to enjoy the rest of the race as much as possible. I headed out on the run feeling pretty good but had a suspicion it wouldn’t last. The first few miles were a comfortable 7:10 – 7:30 pace. I saw my family at our beach side out at about mile 4 and again at about mile 6. Once I got to the top of Pilani and turned onto the Queen K I knew it was going to be tough run and I started my walk through the aid stations and then run at about mile 10. At mile 12 I made some new friends and we walked and ran together for the next 8 miles until they had to drop off. I then felt like I had some energy for the first time all day. I started to run and ran solid for the next 2.5 miles before falling into my walk and run routine again. I tried to make the most of it, cheering on athletes who passed me, cheering on those running the other direction and thanking all the volunteers at the aid stations. Finally I was nearing Pilani Road again and I started running and said I would run in no matter how bad I hurt. I will say there is nothing like the feeling of running down Alii Drive with all those spectators. Finally I was there the finish with Mike Reilly calling my name as I crossed the line.
I had finished in 11:01:55 (actually not a terrible day given how bad I felt all day). My swim was 1:07:49, my bike was 5:41:02 and my run was 4:03:59 (amazingly not my slowest marathon ever). As I was being walked to the finish area it looked like a M.A.S.H. unit with stretchers and bodies lying everywhere. I had faired pretty well all things considered.
While the day was a minor disappointment that I didn’t feel better and have more energy to actually race I was very happy to have come to Kona and put my best foot forward on race day and taken on the challenge of Kona and finished. So will I be back, we’ll see!!
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