I took
an entire year to prepare for IRONMAN CANADA and last week I caravanned with a teammate up to WHISTLER 3 days prior to RACE DAY my
coach estimated my swim bike run to take 16 hours and her forecast was dead-on SWIM was a self-seeded start with 1600 athletes spread out wide but I knew I was tight to the
buoys when pro-athlete Andy Potts swam past me at the second turn and I was back on land
in 100 minutes with zero issues in the water T1 change tent went smoothly due to the perfect
temperatures no layering would be needed and I was
ready to roll after 15 minutes BIKE no problems sticking
to my heart rate plan and was easy to start taking in calories immediately with
a plan to only roll through AIDSTATIONS yelling
ahead for water no lid banana no peel 8 hours 15 minutes passed by fast T2
it
felt great to be vertical again and I was out on the course within
13 minutes RUN the first half of the marathon passed by quickly as
there were new things to look at and be distracted by including fun crowds and
loud music I was feeling great with my moving pace at 12:04 MILE13 is where it got tough and the fun ended knowing I had
another 3 hours with a dead watch and my tongue furious of the crap flavors I
was offering it by MILE15 my body tried to rebel against my mind but I had been
properly prepared to expect this moment so I stopped for 60 seconds and had an
out loud conversation with myself to dig deep and then I pulled my visor down
low and went into a zone and just kept running no more eye contact no more
stops no more food MILE20 the
sunlight was gone and the trail was a bit scary and I waited as long as I could
to ask someone for the time with only 10k to go and 2 hours until midnight I
was grateful to learn I would become an Ironman on this day but not before a mama BEAR and her playful cubs would detour me off the trail for a short bit but eventually I could hear the music and I really wanted to snap back into reality to enjoy the last
mile however I was too scared of collapsing or quitting so I remained
somewhat robotic until I completed the marathon in 5 hours 52 minutes with my
good friend there to medal me at the FINISH LINE I
desperately wanted to feel normal again knowing I was dehydrated as I had only
peed 2x in 6 hours so a visit to the medic tent for some liquids and a
nausea pill did wonders for me and then I walked back to the condo with
blistered feet excited to take a shower 6
DAYS LATER I am still unable to believe I
became an Ironman 16 hours 18 minutes.
t doesn’t feel real yet and now I want
to figure out how to get faster!
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