The beginning
It all started a year ago when I decided I was going to do another Ironman in 2009. I completed the Great Floridian Triathlon in 2005 and had a great experience, and wanted to do another one. In 2005 I’d flown my great friend Jeri out from Tucson to be my CEO of Race Support. She’s a great athlete and understands the stress of competition, so I knew she’d be great to take care of all the details, so I could focus on my race. When considering which race to do in 2009, including Jeri was an essential part. Aside from her being an amazing supporter and helper during stressful race times, it was a great excuse to hang out with a great friend! She lives in Tucson, so Ironman Arizona seemed like a great choice.
The day after the race in 2008, registration for the 2009 race opened. I was online and trying to connect to the registration site and after 45 minutes hitting refresh refresh refresh with no success, I finally connected. I was in! I quickly filled out my registration information, my stomach lurching with every advancing page. Did I really want to do this? I’m so excited! This is going to be a huge commitment? Do I really want to do this? I’m so excited! I got to the payment page and my stomach lurched again. $525? You’ve GOT TO BE kidding me! Well, Ironman puts on a great race, the support will be top notch, the schwag is good, and I will officially be AN IRONMAN! (Great Floridian is a triathlon of the same distance, but it’s not an official Ironman Brand event. I went 140.6 miles, but Mike Reilly never officially announced me as AN IRONMAN! Why is that so special? I’m not so sure….but it is, and anyone who’s ever had it announced for them understands!) So I bucked up, paid my money, and I was in!
The preparation
I had 7 marathons and an ultra on the plan for 2009, so my running training was pretty well taken care of by default. I actually did very little training for any of those races, and had a great experience at all of them. (except NYC which I didn’t end up running due to a bad serving of sesame chicken 2 nights before) Slow and steady, enjoy the views, talk to some people, grab your medal and move to the next! Due to numerous personal and work travel commitments and several bad weather weekends, my long bike ride training plans were totally derailed. Ok, to be honest, that’s an excuse. Those things made my long bike rides inconvenient….and I didn’t do ‘em! Lazy? Yeah…probably. The confidence I’d gained from a year of marathons without training gave me some false confidence. I knew in my brain that an ironman was a VERY different proposition than a marathon, and training was a must, but weekend after weekend found me not doing the planned training.
My parents were at my first big triathlon, and made plans to be in Arizona for my second, despite a few small financial sacrifices to get the tickets. My parents are great supporters, not only of me, but of all the endurance athletes in events they spectate. They’ve cheered on friends and family at numerous events, sometimes with horns, sometimes with bells, even with a banjo and they always bring smiles and energy to the runners. They’re a welcome addition to an event, especially this time. They knew the long day involved in being a supporter of 1 athlete at an ironman, so they signed up to volunteer at a bike aid station during the race. How cool! And it’s a good thing they did! Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t have done the race.
About a month before the race, it occurred to me that it was highly unlikely that I would be able to complete the event with the piss poor training I had done. Part of me thought I could, and part of me knew the painstakingly hard work most athletes put in to complete these races, and it was totally stupid of me to believe I could do it without. I was nervous, I was anxious, and every missed workout brought more stress and guilt. Suddenly one day I said to myself “Anne, you have 17 hours to complete that race. 2 hours for the swim, 9 for the bike and 6 for the run. That’s totally doable. You have to be smart, but you can do it….and if you can’t, you pull out. You have no ego put into this race. Enjoy a beautiful weekend with your great friend Jeri, your parents and a ton of other friends who happened to be at the race. Enjoy the weather, be smart and do what you can. If you have to pull out, pull out. Oh, and sign up for skydiving while you’re in AZ, so if you don’t complete 1 2009 goal, at least you complete another!” The stress went away, the excitement went up, and my workouts actually improved! Not that you can cram for an ironman, but it helped me mentally.
The week before
I had an insane travel and work schedule for the week before the race, and actually ended up closing bars twice during that pre-race week. And no, I wasn’t drinking water all night. I had a blast, and was tired, but wasn’t too worried about it. Why start doing the right thing now, right? (I know, STUPID!) I was in Dallas and Austin, then back to Baltimore for Sales meeting. I packed and prepped when I could, and made lists and piles and looked at checklists to be sure I had everything. My good friend, co-worker and fellow triathlete Craig gave me a ride to the airport because the bike box I borrowed from my other good friend, co-worker and triathlete Shana wouldn’t fit in my car. I checked my e-mail flight confirmation and it said 6:15 for my flight. Great! I would get there 2 hours before to have plenty of time to get my bike checked in. I arrived at the airport at 4:15 only to find that my flight was actually at 5:30! WHAT WHAT??? Got my bike checked in with no problem (a little concern, but no actual delay) and got to the gate in plenty of time. Fshew! Glad I decided to arrive early. I got to the gate and called Jeri in an excited frenzy! The journey had begun! I was on the way. We giggled and chatted for a sec, then I let her go get ready.
Flights were uneventful, bike and luggage arrived safe and sound and I was finally in Phoenix to start my Ironman Journey!
Tour de Tucson
I arrived in Phoenix around 11pm on Wednesday night. Jeri was kind enough to drive up from Tucson (about an hour and a half) to pick me up! We screamed and jumped and hugged for a few minutes on the sidewalk at the airport (hadn’t seen her since 2005 actually!) then loaded up the truck and headed south. We gabbed and gabbed like the old friends that we are, and I was again reminded what a perfect choice for CEO of Race Support that she was! We got to her house around 1:30 and crashed.
The next morning, we slept in, chilled out, watched some mindless TV on the couch while playing with her ADORABLE dog, then went out to see Tucson. I lived there about 8 years ago, and was excited to visit some old stomping grounds. We ran a few errands, then went to Panda House Stir Fry (Mongolian Barbeque. YUM!) for lunch. Then we visited our old friend Alyssa who is now a flight nurse. She showed us her helicopter and told us all about her job while we grilled her with questions. Fascinating stuff, and she clearly LOVES her job. It was cool to see the helicopter and all the gear all set up for medical evac, and hear some of her crazy stories. That was a blast.
We drove by some other old places and through the desert, then headed to Sushi Garden to meet her husband for dinner! What a blast, and just as delicious as I remembered. Erik was just as fun and funny as I remembered, and we enjoyed a very nice dinner, then went home and crashed again! 2 very late nights for me in the days before a big race. I needed some sleep. The next day, race prep would officially begin.
The Ironman Arizona Journey Begins : Friday, packet pickup
We left the next morning to head up to Phoenix. We first stopped off at the condo. This was an absolute WINDFALL! A friend of mine’s mother-in-law had a condo in Scottsdale that they had purchased when their daughter (his wife) was at Arizona State. They still had it, and it was sitting there, empty, and he offered it to us for use the weekend of the race. It was gorgeous, and well situated around tons of restaurants, grocery stores, and anything else we’d need for the weekend. Thank you SO Much Cameron! Having a kitchen to prep race food, a big couch to chat and chill on was AWESOME!
Then we headed over to Tempe to pick up packets, and get the lay of the land. The race “village” was buzzing with nervous excitement as athletes picked up their race packets, and did shopping at the official ironman store, and at the various tents spread all over the expo. I of course bought an Ironman Arizona pair of bike shorts, and a cute bathing suit (with “Ironman” on it, of course!). Jeri got some t-shirts and shorts. We had fun walking around, and checking things out. I picked up my packet, and we headed back to the condo to meet my parents, who had just arrived.
We all headed to the grocery store for supplies for the race and the weekend. Again, having a kitchen was clutch! Knowing that this race was going to be all about pacing and staying fueled, I had a very detailed food plan all laid out, including baked potato, ramen, roast beef sandwiches and PB&J…oh, and a Totinos Pizza! We loaded up on groceries and headed back to the condo.
There was a Welcome Dinner followed by the mandatory athlete meeting that night. We decided to skip the probably mediocre institutional athlete buffet dinner and enjoy a lovely sushi dinner with my parents instead. We did go to the mandatory meeting though. These meetings are always a total repeat of everything already covered on the website and on the athlete booklet they send, but in the off chance that there was some key piece of information given, we went. We ended up running into Scott and Leanne Johnson, friends of mine from NC there, and Bob and Rudy as well, from CAF. Rudy had attempted the Kona Ironman a few weeks before, and missed the cutoff for the bike by a few minutes, and he was determined to finish this Ironman and become the first double above the knee amputee to finish an ironman. Rudy is a Paralympic Gold medal swimmer, so that would be easy, but biking 112 miles and running a marathon with just the use of his gluteus muscles was quite a challenge, but a challenge that this lion hearted 21 year old was ready to take on! I was so excited to be racing with him. Wished him luck and headed home to bed.
The journey continues: Saturday, bike check
I woke up with a great plan, to lay out all of my race outfits to be sure I had everything I need for the long day ahead, and be sure everything was in the right bag so I’d have it when I needed it during the race. I made slips of paper for the food items yet to be prepared, so I’d remember where they were supposed to go, so I’d have everything I’d need to survive! It was a great system! I wanted to get everything done and checked and completed by lunchtime, so I could get off my feet and relax for the rest of the day, so we set out around 9:30 to get my bike checked, gear bags checked and everything set for race day before meeting my old running buddy Becky for lunch. We got everything taken care of, ran into Scott and Macca (it’s great to have a World Champion Ironman wishing you luck!) I spun a car and won the bonus prize (Ford had a fun promotion going on!) and we headed off to meet Becky. We had a blast at lunch. Jeri and Becky became fast friends and made plans to meet the next day for cheering duty! I was really looking forward to it! Jeri and I ran off to get some last details and ended up rolling back to the condo around 4. I cooked my food, then headed off to a great Italian dinner with my parents. Magganios is yummy and we got back to the condo around 8, relaxed for a while, and they sent me to bed early. 4am wake up the next morning……here goes!
Race Day
I was pleasantly surprised that I slept like a baby! None of the typical hourly time checking throughout the night. None of the typical worry about missing my alarm. I slept like a rock and woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 4am. As I ate my cheerios it dawned on me what I was doing. I pushed it to the back of my mind.
Got to the race site which was buzzing with nervous energy. No one can freak out like a triathlete can. Jeri and I walked together through the masses of people. 2000+ triathletes and probably double the spectators. It was crowded. I started to get nervous. I had to leave Jeri to go into transition to pump up my tires, drop my special needs bags, and get everything prepped. This is when I freaked out. I got to the bike and didn’t know what to do. I had the sudden urge to turn around and get Jeri and leave. I didn’t have to do this. I didn’t want to do this. Everyone was talking about how cold the water was. Everyone was nervously fidgeting around. I didn’t know what to do. Time for another little pep talk. “Anne…chill! Get in the water, swim all you can, and if you want to stop, you stop! Do what you can. No need to freak. You’ve done this before. Now start with your gear bags.” It worked. I got everything set and ran back to Jeri to hang out with her. I ran into Scott and Macca and got a big hug and a picture from them. That was great! I also saw Bob and Heidi and got huge hugs from them. Hugs always make things better, especially from great supportive friends! I was feeling nervous, but much better.
Then it was time to suit up and head to the swim start. NO….I’M NOT READY! Everyone had a full wetsuit. I had a sleeveless. Everyone was talking about the cold water. Some people even had squid lids on. Could it be that cold? Triathletes are NOTORIOUS for whining about stuff (sorry guys, but it’s TRUE!) so I wanted to believe that it wouldn’t be as bad as they were saying, but I still put off getting into the water until the last minute. It was a mass start, and I was pleased as punch to be at the very back of the great spashing, kicking mass of swimmers.
I hopped in at 6:56. 4 minutes until the gun. It was chilly. My hands and feet soon got a little numb, but once I was swimming, it was actually quite pleasant.
2.5 miles of swimming is a long way, but I knew there were no sharks, alligators or other scary stuff in the water, and the sun was coming up and it was very pretty. I settled in and swam and actually had a very nice, uneventful swim. Got elbowed once, and took on a mouthful of water a few times as I swam over and around people, but generally it was a very pleasant swim. I knew this was going to be the easy part.
Out of the water, and on to one of my favorite parts of ironman….the wetsuit stripping! My first ironman, I wasn’t aware of this practice so it took me by surprise, but I loved it! 2 volunteers work together as a wetsuit SWAT team. Unzip HUT HUT HUT, pull down top HUT HUT HUT seat the athlete HUT HUT HUT and WHIP IT OFF! WHEEEEE! It’s really fun, and almost worth doing 140.6 just to have it done to you! And the volunteers are always so friendly! So I ran up to 2 volunteers and said “Are you my strippers?” and they said “Yup, do you have your dollar?” Love it! Nothing like a little humor after a 1 hour and 40 minute swim! So I grab my suit and my gear bag and head into the transition tent.
The volunteers in the transition tent are equally wonderful. They’ll do anything and everything for you. They’ll do things you didn’t even quite realize you needed done! Anticipating needs is the quality of a phenomenal volunteer and they all had it! Now, after spending an hour and a half in the horizontal swimming position, it takes a little while to get your head back! I was right on schedule with my race plan, so I knew I could take all the time I needed in transition to relax, eat (remember that Totino’s pizza? Yes, I ate the whole thing!) sunscreen and lube up, dry off, get changed and head out. It’s hard to not get caught up in the HURRY HURRY of race mentality, but I kept reminding myself that I had plenty of time, and relaxed. It was fun to look around and take in the whole scene. I’m glad I did! Enriches the memories and the experience.
Finally, I was off for the bike. The course is a 37 mile 3 loop out and back course with the first half of the loop basically uphill and the second half basically downhill. Heidi told me about her ride of the loop when I saw her the day before, so I knew that the way out would seem long, so I settled in and rode. The first 5 miles was through Tempe, then the next 13 went out into the desert. I knew that my parents were at the aid station at mile 13, so I’d see them a bunch of times during the bike. I also had my eating plan set to stop at the turn around and the end of the loop to eat something.
The fun and the horror of the 3 loops is that all the athletes, pros and slows were all mixed together on whatever loop of the bike at the same time. It was fun to get passed by Leanda Cave and Sam McGlone and all the big name fasties in the triathlon world. I even saw Under Armour sponsored pro triathlete Jesse Vondracek and was sure to cheer for him when I could. Rudy was also out there, and I saw him right before the turn around on the first loop. He was on his way back, several miles in front of me.
The first loop was great! I saw my parents, ate my roast beef sandwich at the turn around, and FLEW down the hill. The wind was in my face on the way up, which wasn’t so fun, but on the way down, it was a blast. The problem was, while I thought I was flying, the pros and elites would be buzzing by me like I was standing still. I guess gravity pulls harder on them! Anyway, I made it to the turn around, and snuck up on Jeri! She hadn’t seen me coming, so I rode up, stopped and asked if she’d seen someone named Jeri Kremer! We laughed and I chilled for a minute. I was right on schedule and was feeling good. Jeri suggested I push it a little on the second loop so I could bank some time. So I headed out for loop 2.
The pros and elites were finishing up their third loop and I realized that loop 3 was going to get pretty lonely. I stopped on the way up to add a little more sunscreen to my face and shoulders. Saw my parents again, saw Rudy again in a similar spot (he was making great time!) and enjoyed the fact that the wind wasn’t in my face any more going up the hill, so I could go a little faster. I snacked on doritoes on the way up the hill, looking forward to the half way point when I could eat my ramen at the bike special needs area. I sat and joked with the volunteers for a while, then headed out .
When I got back to start the third loop, I snuck up on Jeri AGAIN! She was so pissed. “HOW DID WE MISS YOU???” She felt like she wasn’t doing her job, but I thought it was hilarious! Becky had joined her too at this point, so more hugs, more food, and I was off again. I saw Bob and Heidi and Rudy’s trainer and they said he was right in front of me and to cheer him on!! Jeri and I talked about the cut offs, as I was about an hour and a half from the first cut off. Plenty of time, but I needed to keep moving. At about mile 10 of the third loop (mile 84 I guess) I saw Rudy. He looked tired and was riding pretty slow, but he was determined. I cheered a lot, told him he could do it, and pushed on. I passed my parents again, right after their volunteering shift was over. I stopped and hugged them, and met the ring leader of their very entertaining aid station. It had a sports theme, and he was dressed as a referee. Very cute! I told them to cheer for Rudy, who was right behind me, and pushed on again. I got to the final turn around with over a half hour to spare. I was a little worried about Rudy, but sure enough, within a mile of leaving the aid station at the turn around, here comes Rudy, with plenty of time to spare! I cheered really loud, and kept cheering internally. He’s amazing!!
So I made it into transition. Fshew. That wasn’t so bad! Just a marathon to go! I chilled, changed, ate a baked potato (the whole thing) and relaxed for a minute. At one point, a volunteer ran in and told me that Rudy had made it and just entered transition. (I had on my CAF tri jersey, the same one Rudy had on, so she made a connection. I was glad she did and thrilled to hear that he made it! YEssssss!) Finally the volunteers kicked me out, and made me start the run.
The run was 3 8.7 mile loops in a figure 8 formation, so you went through the general transition area twice per loop which was cool. I had about 7 hours to finish the run. This would be plenty! I could walk it if I wanted. So I trugged out of the transition and started running. About ½ mile later, Rudy came FLYING by me. He had to be running an 8 minute mile. He was COOKIN! It was like he was on new legs….well, actually he was! He flew by and took off. This gave me a huge boost of energy but I certainly was not running an 8 minute mile!
The sun went down, and I kept moving forward. The aid stations were fantastic! As with all the other volunteers I’d encountered all day, they were friendly, energetic, loud and gave me everything I needed. My stomach wasn’t interested in much more food, so I was drinking coke and drinking broth. Warm broth at mile 130 is an amazing thing!! Coke and broth is a strange taste combo, but it worked wonders for me.
Jeri and Becky were cheering from the bridge, so I looked forward to seeing them there. Mom and dad had made it back to the transition area from their aid station, and were cheering from there, so it was great to see them as well. At one point, mom told me they’d talked to Jim and Nicki, and Gemma and Keira had told me “GOOD LUCK!” (these are my 20 month and 3 year old nieces) I got a little choked up at that point! It was fun to think about those sweet little clean faces while I was sweaty and tired and dirty.
I ran for a minute and walked for 2 for pretty much the whole marathon. It was dark and pretty uneventful, which is just how you want it. I felt good, kept moving, and the next thing I knew, I was on the last lap!
II caught up with Rudy on the second lap of the marathon, and about half way through the last lap, he ran by me again, and I didn’t see him again other than hearing some really loud cheering at the finish line about 5 minutes before I finished. He’d done it. He’d completed the race. Now it was time for me to.
I’d learned that the pros always take a minute to clean up before they win the race. They rezip their top, straighten their hat, throw away anything they had hanging out in their pockets and generally looked nice for their finishing photo. If it’s good enough for the world champion, it’s good enough for me! About ¼ mile from the finish, I straightened up, and kicked it in. Let’s get this over with.
The crowd was awesome. They were so loud and the lights were bright! Such a contrast to the miles and miles in the dark that I had just completed. I sprinted in, and saw Mike Riley. He is amazing! It was 16 hours and 16 minutes after the race had started. He’d been announcing finishers for 7 hours, and he was as energetic as ever. Waving his towel and yelling for me! FOR ME! “ANNE BONNEY, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!!!!!” Hell yeah! HELL YEAH! (I’m getting excited as I type!) I see Jeri and Becky and my parents yelling and cheering! I slap hands, I raise my arms, and I finish! I hug my friend Eric Gilsenan, a race announcer and friend of mine who I saw at 4 different races this year. I hug my friends, I hug my parents. I’m sobbing a little, laughing and just glad to be done.
Then I was tired. I wanted to leave. Forget basking in the finish line glow. Forget looking for my other friends who were there. I just wanted to sit down and be on the way to bed! Jeri and I headed to the car. They’d already loaded up my bike and all my bags, so all the business was taken care of. It was GREAT! We got to the car, already starting to get excited for our next adventure…..we were SKY DIVING the next day! YAHOO! I was so excited.
We got back to the car. I turned on my blackberry to texts and e-mails from friends wishing me luck and asking for results, and 1 e-mail that I didn’t want to see.
“Dear Anne
We regret to tell you that our plane is under maintenance, and we will be unable to take you on your scheduled dive tomorrow morning. Please give us a call to reschedule. We have openings on Friday if that will work.
We apologize for the inconvenience
Phoenix Area Skydiving”
Well that stinks! Oh well. It meant that we didn’t have to get up at any time and rush out of the condo in the morning. This turned out to be nice, and we chilled and cleaned and relaxed all morning. We finally headed back to Tucson around 1pm.
