Journey to IRONMAN: Tri for the Cure 2014

I am notorious for "eating the whole elephant."  Whether its in school or some other endeavor, I struggle taking it one step at a time, enjoying the journey, not just the destination.  

Well, IRONMAN, is a different thing.  It is just flat so big that there is no other way to approach the goal than one small step, one distance, one event at a time.  It is a BIG goal, swimming 2.4 miles, cycling 112 and running a marathon is no easy feat.  Yet, its an endurance event I am determined to do.

My first step in the journey to my IRONMAN was to get my bike.....DONE.  The second was to become a triathlete and actually finish an official triathlon.  This TRI for the Cure helped me achieve that next step.  This TRI was a sprint distance, 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike and 3.1 mile run.  A great place to start.  I must say a BIG thank you to my girlfriend Carolyn for wanting to do this triathlon.  It gave me the extra nudge to take the plunge into triple event racing.  

Of course, normal people don't do a 200 mile relay race the 2 days prior to their first triathlon, but, what can I say....Im not normal.  Shoot, I want to do an IRONMAN, a race which will potentially take me close to 14 hours to complete (yes in one day).  Not entirely the definition of normal.

We arrived at the start around 6AM last Sunday, got checked in, racked our bikes and settled on the hillside to wait for our 7:30AM wave to start.  I couldn't help but have a sense of pride being a Mom of two doing a triathlon.  Both Carolyn and I had the same thought.  How awesome that our kids, and especially our girls, can see their mothers do this.  Strength is beauty, there is no doubt.

We donned our bright yellow swim caps and found our wave lined up on the ramp to the water.  Oh my nerves were hopping, but I was ready.  Man was I ready.  My nerves however were entirely justified because in all of the swim training that I had done I had NEVER done an open water swim.  I had researched tips and had spoken with many seasoned swimmers on the topic.  Nothing could have prepared me for the experience though.  Totally different ballgame.

A little "where's Waldo" for you

I started the swim in my practiced rhythm and quickly found that I couldn't sustain it.  My heart was racing, I couldn't find my breath, I couldn't touch the bottom, I couldn't see in front of me and I just got kicked in the face.  For a brief second I had a bit of a panic attack.....this is different I thought.  I stopped, did the breast stroke, breathed deep, saw the safety swimmers and realized that I was fine.  Just gonna have to change my rhythm.  It took me until the home stretch of the swim to settle into my normal swimming stroke.  Later I discovered that I swam the distance 4 minutes faster than I ever trained and came in at 18:42.  No wonder I couldn't find my stroke.  I need many more hours of open water training for sure!......Noted.

I hopped out of the water charged up.  The next two events were in the bag.  I felt awesome.....this is fun!

The bike course was super chill and easy to go fast.  I passed well over 60 racers and was only passed by 2 (you don't need to know that one of those was a 50+ woman.....wow, respect!).  My legs were so tired, but I pushed my 12 miles and pulled in at a smooth 37:22.  All that was left was the running.  I can do that in my sleep!

For all of the miles I have run on my legs, it is amazing how unsure you can feel transitioning from the bike to the run.  It took about 20 strides for me to "find my legs," and we had a gradual hill right out of the gate.  Fine with me....lets do this!

I ran an easy 27:31 in the 5k.  Not my best time by far, but a fantastic time on very tired legs.  I was just getting warmed up by the time I cruised around the corner and found the finish line.  I crossed that mat feeling like a million bucks.  Official finish time 1:30:07.

I AM NOW A TRIATHLETE!

I knew that transitioning to a triathlete would go one of two ways either "t's not for me" or "I'm hooked."  Well, I came home and registered for my next one.....in a month, and decided that next June Bob and I are going to tackle the Boulder 70.3 Half IRONMAN.  The journey is well on its way.

I will be IRONMAN!

The Wild West Relay 2014

Whew!  We did it!  It is now Monday following a very busy, exhausting and AWESOME weekend.  Call me crazy, but it was FANTASTIC and I loved every single minute.

So lets recap.....

The Relay started bright and early Friday morning.  Thankfully, Bob and I were in the 2nd van which meant that we didn't start our first leg until around 10 AM.  So, unlike our first van teammates, we got to sleep in.....until 5:20 that is.  We met our Van 2 teammates, packed our shared suburban and headed to the first exchange just a few miles outside of Fort Collins.

All of us were a bundle of nervous energy, but so excited to "get the show on the road."  Sure enough, right at 10:08, Travis came running into the exchange, gave Bob a high 5 and Bob headed out on his first leg.

Look close, Bob is out there!

The relay was so much fun because it not only was a physical test, but a mental one.  All of the logistics and time management behind it made it extra challenging.  You see, we had to finish the 200 miles in an allotted timeframe so all of us had to run within our designated paces or we could risk being DQ.  As Van 2 took over, we snaked our way up in to the foothills chasing our runner, checking on them and being sure we were at the next hand off area with our runner ready to go.

My first leg was 3.6 miles and was rated hard.  It was relatively chill with a few steep uphills. I ended up "roadkilling" 3 other runners on this first leg.  Took them all on the hills.  I felt awesome and pushed my pace gaining us a few minutes.  It was hot, but I pulled into the hand off, high fived my girl Laura and sent her on her way.

Our last runner finished around 4PM and we met back up with Van 1 who was ready to take over again.

Once we handed off to Van 1 we went way ahead to the next van exchange situated at the Woods Landing Bar right by the river.  We had a glorious spaghetti dinner, got our sleeping bags and settled in by the river to try to catch some sleep before our overnight miles.

Bob had a major climb (one of the hardest of all the legs) coming up and all of the nervous energy made it hard to sleep, but we rested at least.

Laura is the pro.  This set up bought her the "drive through the night" seat on the bus!

8PM arrived and we all started getting ourselves ready for the overnight running.

I won't lie, I was the most nervous about this leg.  Overnight, in the mountains, on the road, no street lights, in a National Park Forest.......yeah, I was nervous.  Michelle came running into my exchange around 11:30PM and I took off on my longest of the 3 runs, 7.1 miles.  I started fast because I was FREEZING, as in teeth chattering.  I went out pushing my pace, but knew that nerves, night time running and the cold would make me faster anyways.  My run was glorious.  It was flat and only slightly rolling.  Again, I "roadkilled" 4 other runners.  I saw 3 of them off in the distance and decided that I had to catch them just so that I could run in a group, but I got to them and just couldn't/wouldn't slow down.  I felt AWESOME.  I ran into the exchange flying at about 8 minute miles.  That run was AMAZING.  So beautiful with the stars and the quiet.  It was my favorite of all my legs.

Laura, Kayla and Erikka finished up their second legs around 3:30AM.  All of us completed our legs having put over 30 extra minutes on our clock.  Whoo hoo!  We were exhausted.  We pulled into the high school at the exchange and crashed.  3 of us in the car and 3 of us out in the park.  I had run so hard and about 10 minutes from the exchange I crawled into "the nest" (the backseat with nothing but pillows and comfort) and fell asleep.  2.5 hours of sleep was never more glorious, but at 6:15 it was time to get up and get ready to run our last legs.  I was stiff from running so fast at night, but so fired up.  Lets do this.

8:30AM we made the final exchange.  Bob had another wicked uphill ascent, and blew everyone away when he left his shoes in the car.  Barefoot Bob crushed his big 6 miles of hills and gave us 5 minutes on the clock.  Michelle cruised her 3 miles out and I took off on my final 6.  My final leg was hard because it was steep up and steep down.  Down is far harder on your body than up and I was going fast.  I got to the top of my hills (after "killing" one more)  and cruised fast on my descent.  I pulled into my final exchange after having gotten us another 6  minutes or so.  Whew I was done!

Thats Laura showing us her last leg....STRAIGHT DOWN.

We sent our final runners out and then headed into Steamboat.  Erikka our final runner had a hard last 5 miles and all 12 of us met her at the finish.  Together as a team we ran across the finish more than 50 minutes before our scheduled arrival time.  BAM!!

We celebrated with a delicious meal and then crawled into the car and headed home.  Bed was beckoning!  We got home, saw the girls (who did perfectly with Memaw), got them in bed and then quickly (as in 7:30PM), got ourselves into bed.  I was exhausted, a fact for which I am thankful because I was too tired to be nervous about the TRI in the morning.

The Wild West Relay was fantastic and such a fun experience.  It showed me just how strong I am and how much I can push my body.  Can't wait for next year!