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The first part was fast and easy and I passed many racers. I was feeling great until the course took an east-west direction and then the head-winds kicked in and they just wore me down. I estimated that I was biking into head winds for 75 of the 112 miles.
Luckily I had planned ahead and had all the necessary water, gatorade, nutrition, and food I would need with me on the bike and in my race shirt. I did pick up some bananas along the way and did make 2 pit stops. Eventually I made it back to the bike transition area where I dropped off my bike with a volunteer, crossed another timing mat, and headed to the tent to get my run gear on.
After getting my gear on and drinking some water and getting some more nutrition (Hammer Gel) into me, I crossed a timing mat and headed out onto the run course. The run course is made up of 2 13.1 mile loops. For the first one everything was working fine.
My feet felt good, my legs felt good (even though my IT band was acting up and causing some pain), and overall I was feeling good. After the turnaround at the 13.1 mile mark I picked up my "special needs" bag which held some extra nutrition and a long sleeved shirt because it gets cold after the sun goes down.
It seems that after the 14 mile mark I started to break down due to being tired and worn out from the bike leg. I eventually started alternating running with walking which became jogging and walking which eventually was shuffling and walking. Luckily there were aid stations roughly every mile along the course so there was an ample supply of water, gatorade, food, and nutrition. As it got dark and cold the aid stations started to offer warm chicken broth which provided warmth and salt.
So after nearly 14 hours I was less than a mile from the finish line and I had been walking with another racer from Houston and we're talking and comparing notes on training and how our races had gone when out of nowhere this guy comes up and asks if we were on our last loop, which we were, and tells us we are only 3/4 of a mile from the finish line and he will pace us in if we wanted to run.
So we took him up on his offer and as we got closer and closer and the roar of the crowd and the music got louder and louder my pace picked up and shortly I was crossing the finish line and was greeted by Dana (Iron-widow) and my Dad and June. I was given my medal and my finisher’s shirt and hat and got some pictures and talked with everyone for a bit then headed off for my post-race massage.
After the massage, I had the best tasting Dominos pizza I had ever had. Then me and Dana (Iron-widow) headed off to get my bike and my gear and then shuffled off to the car and back to the hotel. The next morning we headed out for an all you can breakfast buffet which allowed me to have my breakfast triathlon ... eggs and hash browns then pancakes then French toast!
Then back to the race expo for my more serious post-race massage and also checked out the very over-priced finishers gear. I got my finisher's certificate and then we headed back to Apalachicola and I packed up the bike and got it ready to be shipped home.My final overall time as seen in the pictures was 14:07.17 which is a bit more than the 12 hours I had estimated.
Overall I would say it was a great experience. I am often asked will I do it again. Of course if Dana (Iron-sherpa) is in the vicinity the answer is NO!! However if I think it can be done again I might just do it. In fact I keep seeing Ironman South Africa on the calendar in April!
A big thanks of course to Dana (Iron-widow) and my Dad and June for their unwavering support and to everyone else who expressed support along the many months leading up to the race.
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Thanks again to Jon for sharing this story with The Healthy Turtle. For more information about the Ironman Triathlon, visit Ironman.com.
Wow, great work Jon. Keep it up!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Jon. You did well . Keep it up.
ReplyDelete