Greetings,
Here is my report of the race. We had been squirming over the weather predictions the past two weeks. It was looking like mid-90s on Sunday. But the weather eased up Saturday and we were blessed with mid to upper-80s on race day.
This would be the biggest mass-start swim I had so far - 2650+ lined up. I had unfinished business at IM Canada as my last attempt in 1998 ended in DNF at mile 7 of the run. I wanted to get a good swim in but not so good that there was no one to "ride with" down to Rickter pass. I lined up left of center in the front. A speedy 200 meter start earned me a seat in the "A buss" down to the first turn. About 6 of us swam in line through the 2nd marker at which time I sensed my swim partners were becomming passengers... off the front I swam, attempting to connect with the A+ group. Swam it alone, never caught 'em, off the beach in 54 flat. This was my 2nd best IM swim, next to that 52:05 that ended in DNF at IMCA 98. On the road around 57:00 I relaxed, jammed down 2 PowerGels with a bottle of fluid and warmed up the legs. Little by little, good quality riders came from behind and within 10 miles I was aboard the "10 hour train" for a super easy trip to Rickter. At the climb, I was quickly dropped by all of them. I stayed calm, didn't chase, and found myself comfortably integrated with the next pack of 6-7 riders in 2 minutes. We road through the rollers and on to the out-and-back near bike special needs. At this time I was suffering, back sore, legs threatening to cramp here and there, head-wind starting to grind, heat starting to pick up. Pushing out from special needs was sooo tough... by now I was rolling on my own as most groups were passing me by. I survived Yellow pass and wondered why there seemed to be more climbs than I recalled. Thank God this was returned in the form of a new down-hill ride into town for the last 12 miles. Different than I remember but much appreciated. Rolled into T2 with a 5:32 bike split. Still no Friggin... I was looking for him by mile 80. I thought perhaps he was feeling the toughness of this course too.
Nice clean T2 under 3 minutes and off on the run. I felt much better after 1 mile on the run, settling into my 9:30miles. On the initial out-and-back run (they ran us down lake-shore drive almost to the Riverside, around a cone and back towards main) there was FRIGG! It appeared he was roughly 6 minutes back. Now I started to put a little more into that screamin run pace. Yep - clicked off a few 9min units. By mile 10 the suffering was back in play and my quads were starting to winse. I was working the aid stations for sponges, ice, and salt while carrying lots of gatoraid in my waste-belt bott.e. This Great-Spencero-beat-the-heat system was perfect. I suspect it saved me at least 1 hour of potential walking. At the run turn I just grabbed my special needs bottle and there was FRIG! He was within 2 mins at the turn. Holy schnikers, I really needed to dig deep. Frig yelled to me "keep pushing". I followed those instructions, never looked back. Every mile on the return I saw my pace moving above 10mins so the watch was backing up on the gains I made 1st half. Still no Frig though... by mile 20 I thought what the heck, do I have a chance to complete a MASSIVE UPSET? I refused to look back. I kept my aid stations to < 1 minute of walking, continuing to work the ice, sponges, salt, chicken broth, and fill gatoraid bottle. I did not pee the entire race, not since before the swim start. yet I was feeling reasonably hydrated. I think the bod was processing everything perfectly, leaving nothing to spare.
Finally the gradual decent into town was in progress, coming down Main street. I could hear Steve King's voice. All the memories came back to me. I loved that sound. So close. But wait, still so far... that same out-and-back on Lakeshore drive! That 1 mile section seemed like 5. Finally the turn around cone in front of the Golden Sands and I was on the final stretch, had the finish arch in sight, no sign of the Frigglator, looking at my watch to see I would finish around 11:15.
Yay! This was an awesome outing for me. not my best time but each one of these Ironmans features a unique set of battles and one can either dig deep or go easy. I left it all out on the course this year.
48th in my age group, out of 314. Why is this age group remaining so tough? I think the slowest qualifying time had to be < 10:10.
I did not register for next year. I'm taking 2010 off from Ironman and will try to get back in touch with some run speed. Meanwhile, my new buddy Nick Johnson, who bested me by :25 at Ft Lewis series was there, volunteered in the face, and has signed up for 2010! Maybe this will work in my favor for a defense next year? :-)
Cheers,
Ed
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