I can't believe it's been over a week since Iroman. I've been riding the high so long, that it still feels like yesterday. I could write 4-5 blogs from my Ironman weekend. I can't believe it's already been 1 week since our Ironman TNT celebration dinner, and since Jenny and I checked in at the Ironman Village. Since Sunday, I've had ample time to reflect on the weekend, my race, all the love and support I was showered with, and my team. I have to say it's been a roller coaster of emotions that i could relive day after day. This could be a long blog, so sit back and relax as I take you on a fun ride.
Race morning started bright and early at 3:30 AM. I had to wake up early enough to eat before I left to sit in line with the team at the swim start. I went to sleep the night before at 7:30, and strangely enough I was exhausted by 7:30, so I fell right to sleep. I was jolted awake by Bellarmine's fireworks around 9:30. It took me a while, but I was able to drift off to sleep again. When my alarm went off at 3:30, I felt great. It didn't feel like 3:30. I sprang out of bed, went immedieately to the kitchen to eat, make my bike bottles. By 4:15 we were walking out the door to head to transition and Tumbleweed. The whole morning felt so surreal. When I made it to te swim start, Roger, MIke and Sean were all there, and they'd scored amazing spot near the front of the line. I sat down next to them and just tried to keep my mind from thinking to much. Jenny arrived and shortly after Keith and Tim. We were all together one last time before the race. I felt so comfortable and happy at that moment, and a slight twinge of sadness because I knew that soon it would all be over. I blocked that thought and started listening to music. The swim line was fun. I saw several people I knew walking by. Friends would stop and chat which defienetly calmed my nerves. Coach Dee arrived, which really helped calm my nerves. She gave us hugs, talked about the day ahead, and took pictures. Much to my surprise, it was 6:45 and the volunteers instructed us to get in a single file line to walk to the dock. I couldn't believe it. It was almost time. My stomach dropped, and I realized I was about to race for 140.6 miles, in 1 day. I suddenly felt crazy. The longest I'd worked out at this point was 8.5 hours. Did I really think 14+ was a good idea?
Then Dee told us something that quieted my mind, and took the doubts away. As we started to walk towards the start, Dee looked at us and said, "No one is more ready than you all are." I'll never forget that moment. I knew she was right. We were more than prepared, and I knew I was ready. I got a kiss from Meg, and a final hug from Dee. As we started walking down the ramp, My Old Kentucky Home was played by a trumpet player, and my heart swelled with emotion, and the first tears fell. I felt so proud to walk down that ramp with my fellow TNT team mates, proud that I had made it this far, proud of the $50,000 we had raiseed, and awareness we'd brought to blood cancers, and proud that I was about to start my dream to 140.6. We watched the pros start. I pulled on my swim cap and goggles. The para athletes took, off and then we had 3 minutes. Jenny and I started jumping up and down to get warmed up, a camera guy asked us a couple questions about the day and I looked over at Meg and the other TNT supporters. Chllls ran through me again, and then the gun went off!!! It was time to swim!! We were so close to the front, that we were in the water by 7:01. Jenny and I jumped in from the first dock. I immediately started swimming hard in order to get to a clear away to swim. The good thing about the rolling start, is that the swim start is never too chaotic. It's fairly easy, to find an area that doesn't invlove getting smacked, slapped or swam over, depending on where you choose to swim the channel. I knew that I did not want to swim close to the bouys in the channel, because everyone wants to swim there due to less current, and the shortest distance from the start to finish is as close to the buoys as you can get. I chose to swim right to the middle, and I'm so glad I did. I was able to swim without touching a single person. I slowed my heart rate and breathing down, and focused on long, strong strokes. I could hear Dee's saying, "Think Long." I tried to keep up with Jenny, but eventually I lost sight of her. The swim from the dock to the first turn buoy was roughly .6 miles upstream. It felt like it took me forever. I took a short walk/pee break at the sand bar, adjusted my goggles, got a good sight of the red buoy and took off again. The only negative of my path choice to swim up the middle, was I had to swim further across to get to the red buoy. Finally, I reached the red bouy. I didn't look at my watch for fear that it had taken me a significant amount of time to reach it. Once I made the turn, I had 1.6 miles down stream. My strategy for the downstream was to get as close to the buoy as I could. By this time, the pack had seperated out quite a bit. I ran into a couple people, but nothing horrible. I settled into my stroke. Nice and easy, trying not to kick much, and not to get out of breath. I wanted the swim to be a warm up and not a race. I couldn't tell at first if the current was strong or not. I just focused on counting the buoys and sighting off the bridge pillars and Joe's Crab Shack green roof. I noticed that it felt like I was reaching each buoy pretty fast. As I was swimming under the last bridge, I remember pulling and turning to breathe. As I did, I looked up, saw the bridge, and before I had rotated back into the water, I was no longer under the bridge. That is when I realized that I was moving pretty quickly. I reached the stairs at the end of the swim. I pulled myself up, slipped on the side and almost fell off. I stabled myself, stepped out of the water, and almost fell over, not from weakness but from the time on my watch! I looked down, and my watch said 1:19!!! What!? I told everyone I expected a 1:40 swim. I thought, no-one will be here because I told them the wrong time! I knew the current was moving, but I also knew I'd extended well on my swim, and pulled hard. I was so happy immediately. I saw Katie, Debbie and Carrie with TNT first. Then I spotted my mom with Kate & Christy! Yay mom made it. I searched for Meg, but didn't see her as I ran towards transition. Then I heard someone screaming, GO BB!!! WOOOO YOU DID IT!!!"" haha I found Meg! It was awesome and my first jolt of adrenaline.
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| View of the swimmers coming down the river |
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| My GPS file of my swim. I actually swam 2.5 miles. :) |
Swim Time 1:19!
The Bike
After exiting the swim I ran across the bridge and down the
stairs towards the transition tent. A guy on a megaphone calls out your # as
you run by so the volunteers can grab your transition bag for you. The
Volunteer spotted my bag, had it waiting for me and handed it off. I was so
slick from the run, and my bag was massive that couldn’t hold on to it. It flew
out of my hands and rolled in front of me. For a brief moment I felt like I was
playing rugby again. I kept running, bent down scooped up my bag and kept
running towards the tent. The changing
tents are massive tents with rows of chairs for athletes to sit on while they
change. The volunteers in this area are amazing, and lifesavers. I pulled off my dirty Ohio River bathing
suit, tried to towel off and put my race bra, and tri kit on. Being wet doesn’t
make any of these tasks easy. Thankfully, a volunteer helped me; she laid out
my socks, sunglasses, and helmet. At this point I was just trying to keep calm
and not think about the upcoming ride. Fully clothed and ready, I set out to
find my bike on the racks and racks of bikes. I turned down my row, heard Meg
screaming for me. I got a little mixed up on finding mine, but I heard Meg yell
there it is there it is. I carefully
pulled my bike form the rack and couldn’t help but feel the excitement, knowing
I was about to start the 112-mile journey. The nerves disappeared and I
couldn’t help but smile the whole way out.
I knew I had to keep my HR down and really pay attention
coming out of the chute. I know athletes in the past have wrecked right out of
the chute, and I didn’t want my journey
to end. I slowly veered around people,
saw Megan and Kim as I pedaled out of Witherspoon, turned the corner onto River
rd. I stayed in my small chain ring for the first 10 minutes to get my legs use
to spinning and lower my HR. I settled
into aero position and kept with my plan.
I decided way back in January after to talking to Mike Hermannson and I
few other athletes about nutrition to go with a liquid nutrition since my
stomach can be somewhat sensitive. All my calories, and sodium were in liquid
form. My plan consisted of 1 20 oz. bottle every hour, and to grab water at
every aide station to keep hydrated. I’d also have 3 chomps with every water
bottle. I’d practiced this entire plan on every bike ride. The only thing
different was my ability to grab more water than normal. In hindsight, I should have also taken some
salt tabs with each water, but oh well. On each hill, I would stay seated, and keep
my HR has low as I could, even if it meant climbing a bit slower. On each
downhill I pedaled hard on the first little bit and then tucked into aero to
gain as much speed as possible. On Your Left Cycles http://onyourleftcycles.net/ built me an awesome set of lightweight
wheels with DT Swiss 240 hubs that just roll on forever and are so smooth. This
strategy really helped throughout the day. I made it to 1694 the out and back
section that has two steep downhills, which also means two very steep long
climbs. During training rides, we rode this course multiple times, and I even
did hill repeats to get use to the course. On these downhills you are able to
fly down them, and easily top a speed of 45mph and probably faster, but my fear
of speed that high keeps me around 40mph.
On race day however, this section was the scariest. There are riders at
times 3 deep on the down hill and 3 deep on the climb out, with people swerving
in and out. My fear for the whole ride
was not getting a flat or shredding a tire, I was prepared for that. MY fear
was that I would get involved in a wreck and it would either take me out, or my
bike. If that was going to happen, 1694 was the prime setting. I usually ride down in aero, but that day I
decided to tuck down, but keep my hands on the brakes just in case. I made it
down the first down hill at a good speed and started the climb out. I made it to the turn around, seeing my
teammates on their turn around. This was great. I was able to see that they
were all doing fantastic. I saw Jenny right before the turn around and yelled out
to her. I saw friends Pete and Mallory on the turn around and took off towards the 2nd
long downhill. On my way down 1694
towards Hwy 42, all the cyclists started quickly hitting their brakes, and
yelling to everyone e to slow down. Up a head, I saw an emergency vehicle
coming up the hill, and a cyclist lying on the ground. He was not moving. I felt a pit
in my stomach. I hate to see that happen to anyone, but I had just passed Jenny, and I
just started saying to myself, please don’t be Jenny, please don’t be
Jenny. I didn’t want anyone on the team,
or anyone I knew for that matter to have to end the race that way. As I slowly went passed I realized it wasn’t anyone I knew. It was hard to look. I saw
blood on the guys face, and he wasn’t moving at all. The paramedics were
stabilizing his neck. Seeing this took the wind and momentum out of me for a
bit. On the uphill climb, I talked myself through it, and gained my composure
once I reached the top of the hill. I stalled in for the rest of the ride.
What
was great, and I’m convinced that made this ride go by so fast, was that I knew the
different locations people would be cheering at. A few miles past the
turn back onto hwy 42, Dee was cheering at 393, the TNT cheering tent with all
the TNT alumna was less than 10 miles away from where I saw Dee, then another
10 miles away were Meg, my mom, and one of my mentors Heather.20 miles or so
away from them were Mike & Sean’s family, and our friend Val. Seeing each group really broke the ride up,
and each time I saw someone I knew increased my adrenaline and made me so
happy. My favorite part of the bike course was in LaGrange. They had barriers
set up, music, and announcers as we rode through. I felt like a famous person riding
through. It was awesome, and a great part of the ride
On the first 30-mile loop, I stayed in my small chain ring
to make sure I saved my legs for the run. My fastest 112 was 6:46, and I wanted
to make that 7 hours in order to arrive at the run somewhat rested. I kept my
HR under 150 for the entire ride. Utilized my rest on the hills strategy. On
the 2nd loop I stayed in my small chain ring for most of the ride as
well. I stopped at Special Needs to refill all of my bottles with my nutrition
drink. I can’t say enough here about the volunteers. They were
AMAZING!!!!!! I hopped off my bike. 2
volunteers brought me my bag, I told them I had to mix my drinks. One volunteer
opened all of my water bottles the other held the bag opened and opened the
bottle s of water in my bag. I grabbed my nutrition and poured them into the
water bottles. I mixed all 4 bottles, grabbed a swig of coke and hopped back
on. I didn’t look at my watch to see how long I was stopped, but I felt like
I’d been stopped for at least 10 minutes.
I was hoping at least it had been 10 minutes that would help with my
plan of 7 hours on the bike. I made it to the cheering section at LaGrange, and
was ready to finish out the ride. There are several hilly areas on the course,
and on the previous 112 training ride I completed, I dropped my chain twice.
Thanks to that training ride, I remembered exactly where I had dropped the chain, and
changed gears before those spots so it wouldn’t be a problem. That was the
beauty of this ride, it went perfectly. No dropped chains, no flat tires,
wrecks or damaged tires. I made the left turn at Sligo store and knew I was only
around 35 miles from the finish. I started to feel the adrenaline take over
again and push out the fatigue. I knew
once I got around 25 miles from the end of the course, it would be mostly
down hill. When I knew I was about an hour from the finish, I looked at my
watch, and realized that I may have gone a bit too fast, well actually 30
minutes faster than I had planned. Crazy thing was I felt great. My legs
didn’t’ feel too tired, but I had ridden a lot faster than I thought. I turned
onto River road, and knew I only had 9 miles to go. It was the slowest 9 miles
of my life. When I finally saw the skyline, I felt a lot
of relief. I just wanted to be finished with the bike portion. I didn't feel tired necessarily, just ready to get off the bike. I couldn’t believe when I turned up into the
chute how perfect the ride had gone. I dismounted and crossed the bike line with a time of 6:27. Meg was waiting at
the bike in chute, she grabbed my bike. She told me I was doing “Awesome” I
gave her a quick kiss and took off towards the changing tent.
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| Getting ready to start the bike! |
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| All the bikes on the great lawn |
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| Biking on 42 |
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| Going out on the bike |
Bike Time 6:27
The Run
At this point I’m
not sure my brain was working completely, but thankfully the volunteers were
amazing again, They had my transition bag ready for me, and a volunteer took me
into the tent. It felt great to sit down for a second. I took a few minutes to
gather my thoughts, and started changing. I kept my tri top on, but changed
into new socks, and new tri shorts. Threw on my running shoes, and filled my
water bottle. Used the bathroom for the first time since the swim, which
worried me a bit. I felt like I should have needed to use the bathroom at least
once or twice on the bike, but I didn’t.
After a quick bathroom break, I took off for the run course. By this point,
I was feeling the heat pounding down. I thought my legs would feel better, but
they felt like 150lbs of noodles and pancakes. My plan was to run as long as I
could to the first aid station, walk through each aid station, put ice in my
hat and, in my sports bra, and pour ice water on my neck and face to keep my HR
down. I made it to the first water station grabbed water poured it on my neck,
and kept running. I saw my mom which was awesome, and felt pretty good. It was
hot, and I needed to get some ice in my hat so I kept going to the next aid station.. My goal was to
keep under 11 min miles as long as I could. Around mile 3 Sean my teammate
caught up to me. I’d passed him on the bike and didn’t know it. We ran together for about 3 miles. It was great to run with him for a while. He was doing awesome and ooked great! Dee had
told us all year that once we made it to the run our brains would not be
functioning, and boy was she right. At the aid station around mile 5 I saw coke
and chicken broth. In my head I knew it was probably too early for the chicken
broth, but all I could think of was salt! Instead of grabbing one or the other,
I grabbed both! My brain couldn’t work enough to decide! I still felt pretty
good at this point, but about a mile down the road, it started feeling like
someone was stabbing me in my gallbladder. The only thing that felt better was
to walk. I couldn’t breathe deep enough to run. I told Sean to go on, and tried
to walk through the pain. I saw William and Erin, on Southern Parkway. Erin said
I looked great, and I yelled, “I feel like crap.” I didn’t mean to yell, it but
it made me feel better for a brief minute. I gathered myself, and tried to push
through. I drank some water and at the turn around and felt better. The pain
had subsided. I felt like I’d dodged a bullet so I kept with my plan of running
to each aid station and walking through it. Unfortunately, at mile 8 the pain
kicked back in. At this point, I didn’t
know what to do. I didn’t know if I needed more salt i.e. Chicken broth, or if
I had too much chicken broth and needed only water. I made it to mile 10 at the
small loop at Churchill Downs. I heard Jessie yell, “Bridget what do you need?”
She was volunteering at the aid station. At this point the sharp stabbing pain
was happening on both of my sides. When I saw her, I wanted to cry. I told her
I didn’t know, that I felt awful, but maybe coke or chicken broth would help.
She ran up to me with both in her hands, and she walked with me for a few
minutes too. I calmed down a bit, tried to breathe deep and slow. Seeing Jessie and walking with her made me feel a lot better. My plan at
this point switched from staying under 11 minute miles to under 13 minutes miles.
I made it to the halfway point and saw Dee. I ran up to her like a little
puppy. I’m pretty sure I was talking a million miles per minute. “What do I
need to do? My stomach is killing me. Do I need water or salt? Dee asked if had
a HA, which I didn’t. She said to try water for a while. Ok, I said and I kept
running. I got more body glide out of my special needs bag. Took off again but realized I left all my
nutrition in my special needs bag. I had to run back to my bag to grab the
baggies out. I grabbed them and finally started for my second half of the
26.2. Around mile 15 I saw a group of friends, and my friend Christy walked with me for a few minutes. She could tell I was struggling. I told her I wasn't ever doing another Ironman. Haha, isn't that what most people think during an endurance event!? But we keep signing up. I saw Meg one last time with the awesome TNT alumni. I gave her my running bottle. I didn't want to carry it any longer. Around mile 16 I stopped being able to take anything in. I started seeing people on the
side of the road having there blood pressure’s read. I thought if I
stopped drinking anything I would feel better. I realized if I didn’t drink soon,
I’d be on the side of the road having my blood pressure read as well. By mile 18, I was just
trying to keep under a 15-minute mile pace. I started
forcing down water and chicken broth. I stopped putting ice in my hat around because the sun was setting, and my HR was around 110. My legs were super
tight. I didn’t have any specific pains, I just felt tight all over, and in pain. I saw
Keith, Loie, Kim, Jeff and Scott one last time. Then I saw Molly and she walked
with me for .5 mile. I was feeling
pretty rough at this point, but I was still moving so I was happy. Around mile 22 I realized that if I kept my
pace and could stay under a 15-minute mile pace, I would be able to finish in less
than 14 hours. That was all the motivation I needed. I tried to forget the pain
and keep moving. The last 4 miles were
brutal. I don’t really remember much,
except trying to keep telling myself I could do it, I was going to be an Ironman.
I just had to keep moving. I made it to
mile 25 and I started feel the adrenaline again. I was so close. The music at
the finish line was starting to become audible. I could see bright lights
around the buildings. I turned the corner and spotted the finish line, the
crowds of people; I had to catch my breath for a second. I was so close.
Strangers started cheering me on. I felt like I was running through sludge. I
just wanted to get there. I heard
someone yell my name. I looked over and it was John and David from my running
group. I gave them a big wave. I kept
moving. Finally I was on the Ironman carpet. The lights were blinding, people
started screaming all around me. I saw the TNT group. I ran and high fived them
I started to feel like I was running on air. All the pain I was feeling was
magically gone. The finish line was there. I could see Meg. I remember yelling to
myself. I heard my name by the
announcer. I ran across the line, I’d finally done it. Finally. I’d been
working towards being an Ironman for years. Since 2009, when I saw my first
ironman. I can’t even explain how I felt, but I know I’ll never forget that
feeling. It made it all worth it. All the training, all the time away from
friends and family. It was worth it. I ran, I jumped; I saw Meg and leapt into
her arms. It was amazing. I WAS AN IRONMAN!!!!!!
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Run time 5:47
Total time: 13:53!!!
It was amazing to have my friends and family at the end. I loved seeing them all. It really takes a village to complete Ironman I'm convinced. Each and every message and word of support I received along the 9 month journey pushed me to the finish line. What was even more amazing was that Ava, one of the 3 people I'd been racing in honor of was at the finish line waiting for me. To see her sweet smiling face was overwhelming. This little girl who endured chemo and radiation was waiting for me. She had a sign that said "Bridget is my Ironman" and she had painted a picture of me swimming, biking, and running. She called me her Ironman, when really she is mine. It still gives me chills to think about. It was amazing. All the pain I'd felt the entire day was worth it. And really, how can I even say I was in pain when you know what she has endured. After seeing her face and receiving a hug from her, I'm pretty sure I could have repeated the race again, just knowing she was there! She's amazing and now cancer free!
I'm going to write a few more blogs of thank yous and total training miles and time. But for now I wanted to get my race blog out. Also, my final fundrasing total thanks to all the generous souls that donated was $8,226.00!!!! Thank you all from the bottom of my heart, Our team total was right around $50,000!!
Thanks to Allison May of Allison May Photography for the amazing finish line pictures! http://allisonmayphotography.blogspot.com/
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