I AM AN IRONMAN!!!!!!!

Well its Sunday morning and I can finally say that I am an IRONMAN! The race was the longest thing I have ever done in my life and it was more pain and suffering than I think I have ever been through. But its over and im pretty psyched that I finished. Total time of 15:38:17. CRAP THATS A LONG TIME!

Well im going to give some brief highlights. I got to my bike to check the tires on race morning and the rear was flat again. SO I pumped it up and put 140psi in it so that it would have a bit extra. I figured that I would probably have to add air at some point on the bike course but that it would hold in general. I got everything else set up and went to go put on my wetsuit. I got to the start and seeded my self exactly where I wanted to be. all the way in the back on the inside. I wanted to swim as little as possible so I did not want to be far off to the right like a lot of people do. My thought was that if I was one of the last into the water I wouldnt impede anyone.

The Swim:
Things started really well and I felt great. The water temp was perfect and things were going pretty well. The swim for an ironman is nicknamed "the wash cycle" b/c thats what the ocean looks like when you drop 2300 people in it all swimming in the same direction. I got beat up quite a bit and had a really hard time finding open water to swim in. I made it out of the first lap in 43 minutes and was just so excited to be on track for my time goal of an hour 30. I got back in the ocean and just had a great second lap. The water was a lot clearer and I got to draft off of quite a few guys and that made my 2nd swim lap just as fast as my first but with less effort and thats pretty good to me. I got out of the water at 1:30 on the money and felt great

Out of the water onto the timing mat and then to the wetsuit strippers. WOW that was funny. Two guys told me to lay down and whooosh my wetsuit was off. At least they could have bought me a drink first!

T1 12:04

SO I come out of the water and I got my wetsuit and they hand me my t1 bag and im into the changing tent. I actually managed to find a seat! I quickly get all my gear on and my wetsuit and stuff is lying on the ground. I start stuffing it into the bag and a volunteer yells "let me do that you just get going!!!! SO out of the tent and they start calling my number for someone to get my bike. They kinda dropped the ball on this one as I was not supposed to have to go to my rack to get my bike but I basically did and when I got there I grabbed my bike and the first thing I did was check the rear tire. Which was dead flat. DOH. SO I ran to the mechanical tent and spent the next 8 min watching them change my tire out. So my t1 time sucked big time


The Bike 7:02:57

Well after the mechanical issue I was off and feeling really good. I was glued to my heart rate monitor and was sure to not go outside of my target zone. In the beginning I was being passed by a lot of people and just kept telling myself to ride this thing smart and to listen to my body.
Which I did. I was riding really solidly and was surprised at my pace which was around 17-18 mph. I just kept picking off mile markers and was having a total blast. At this point I was loving racing the ironman and was just having the most fun ever! I even came up with a little song that I kept singing to myself on the bike. It went like this

I love my softride it is really great
it smooths out the rough roads that other bikers hate!

I saw a lot of crap on the bike course that really surprised me. Bottles still in their cages. I saw one bike just on the side of the road and a ton of tubes and tires and stuff that people had not secured properly to their bikes that fell off. Well around mile 70 things started to go downhill for me. First my computer just stopped registering at all. I dont know why. I pulled over at the next stop and checked and everything was aligned properly but it just no longer was working. SO that stunk as I no longer has any clue how fast I was going. Then the first major issue of the day happened. I started to have an asthma attack on the bike. I had my inhaler with me and took a couple of puffs while riding but it just took too long be effective and I was really hurting. I was barely able to take a breath without my lungs hurting and burning and it just made the last 50 miles or so of the bike miserable. I still ended up avg like 15ish mph but had I not had breathing issues I could have maintained my original speed.

T2 7:22

I got off the bike and back into the change tent which was much less crowded this time and I just took a second to sit there and take it all in. At this point I was still not breathing all that well and my right knee was really hurting quite a bit. For those of you not in the know. I still have a rather large screw in my knee from when I broke my femur and it usually only hurts when I go long in workouts like the ironman. SO I was off the bike and not looking forward to the run at all. I got my socks and shoes on, put on my hat and headed out the door. I stopped to hit the port o potty and also to put sunscreen on. My neck and shoulders were pretty burned by this time as well despite putting sunscreen on before racing and re-applying once during the bike.

The run 6:45:33

As I was exiting the transition zone I look over to see my wonderful support crew of Iron spectators and boy did I need to see some familiar faces. SO who was there to support me? Lisa and Kaiya, Laura, Sara and Sue, And Chris and Kerry Wright. It was awesome to have so many people there watching and I really needed them. SO as im exiting I hear "Your a silly sausage" and " Its bumper to bumper on the rainbow bridge" Which I know sounds really random but it made sense to me and it made me smile which is exactly what I needed at the time. I ran probably the first mile and then I had to start walking. I was just in too much pain with my knee and I just could not breath. Plus the more I tried to use my inhaler the sicker to my stomach I got. At this point I had not eaten anything in about an hour and had, had very little liquid. I realized I was getting dehydrated and I needed calories and food. SO I started taking cola at the aid stations and cookies when they had them. Ahh cookies and coke! The combo that saved my ironman. I dont think I have ever wanted to quite something so much in my life as I wanted to quit right then. I was about mile 2, walking, in lots of pain, and the thought of another 24.2 miles just seemed like too much. It seemed impossible. But then I started to think about a conversation that lisa and I had a few weeks before. She asked if I had ever not finished a race and I said no. I have always finished a race and I have never dropped out. At that point I said to myself I am not going to let this race beat me. I am tougher and stronger than this race and I will beat this race it will not beat me. I then realized what the ironman was to me. It was not a race for time. It was not a shot at a spot for kona or an age group win. It was about me beating myself. Overcoming my physical limitations and finishing despite the fact that I probably shouldn't be able too. So then I shifted the focus inward. I told myself I couldnt run with my knee hurting AND not being able to breath but if I could overcome one of those I could run again. I knew I could not do much about my knee. I mean there is a big hunk of metal in there I cant change that. SO I started talking to my asthma. I told it that I would not let it beat me. Not this time. I told myself I was stronger than my asthma that I could do this without breathing and that if I had to I would. SO I kept walking and just told myself that every step was a step closer to the finish and that if I had to walk the whole thing I had enough time to do that. SO I kept walking and I made it to the turn around and that felt really good. It was starting to get dark and it was getting colder so I put my arm warmers back on and that helped a TON. I had talked to my bro Rich the day before and he had told me that whenever he was doing a run and felt like he couldnt go any farther that he would sing psalms in in his head and that always helped. SO I started singing the one he suggested (cant remember the #) and 119x I also sang be thou my vision to myself as thats a special one to lisa and me. About mile 8 I realized I was breathing pretty well and that my knee was no longer hurting that much. SO I started to run. I decided I wanted to finish this loop and run to the next turn around. I wanted Lisa and Kaiya to see my running and not walking. SO I actually ran the next 4 miles and kept a pretty good pace. Then the psychological warfare started. With about 1 mile till the turn around is also the finish and spectators dont know if you are on lap 1 or 2 so they all assumed lap 2. SO for like 15 min all I heard was good job your almost done. That was really hard knowing that I had another 13 miles to walk/run and that I wanted to be done so bad. I wanted to be on my second loop and I didnt want to be going back out into the cold dark night. Plus at this point I was close enough to hear mike reilly telling people they were ironmen and I wanted to be there. I wanted to cut the course and just run it in. Skip the last 13 miles. I figured hey I will cross the line get my pics and my medal. They will say im an ironman and give me my medal. It will be awhile till they figure out I skipped half the marathon. But I didnt do that. I saw lisa and she said hows it going. I replied "this sucks" I told her I was in a lot of pain and I didnt want to keep going. They all started to tell me I was almost done and not to think about how much I had left but how much I had already done. I really cant thank my family and friends enough for helping me get through this. SO I made the turn around and started my way back out into the night. I made another deal with myself. Walk a mile run a mile. Well that didnt happen I walked 1 ran a half and then ended up walking the rest. I was right back to where I was before. Burning and cramping in my lungs and my knee hurt so bad. I just kept thinking about the turn around and trying to make it there. Before I knew it I was there and I decided I wanted to try to be at 15 hours with 3 miles to go. I figured I could walk three miles in an hour and if I didnt I would still be in the low 16's. Well I was walking a lot faster than I thought I would be able too. 15 min miles so 4mph. Before I knew it I was at 15 hours with a little over 2 to go. I realized that I would finish in 15 hours if I just kept going. Those last two miles were really hard. I was so tired and just so worn out I wanted to just collapse on the side of the road and lay down. I remember thinking that I coulndnt stop for anything b/c I didnt think I would be able to start again if I stopped. SO I just kept going. As I approached the line I realized this was it. I was almost done. I had been walking with this really sweet girl and she said she was going to run the last bit in b/c she didnt want her family and friends to see her walking. She was also a first timer and we both agreed doing ironmans was really stupid and this was the last one for both of us. I let her go on ahead and kept walking content to walk across the line. But then as I got close I decided I wanted to try to run. SO I did. I got to the finish stretch and all the spectators were cheering and I no longer noticed that I couldnt breath or that my knee hurt. I just was so in the moment. I heard them say Chris 29 from franklin ohio YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!!!!

Post race:

SO I really thought as soon as I crossed the line I was going to just collapse but I didnt. I was ok. I could still walk a bit but much slower than before and I just went looking for my ultimate finish prize. A hug from Lisa and Kaiya!!!! After I found them I went for my post race massage and then to the food tent to eat some victory pizza.

SO the big question is do I think I want to do this again? HECK NO! That sucked and was too long. I think I am more suited for olympic and half iron distance but at least I can say I am an Ironman now and nobody can take that from me ever!

Again thanks to all my fam and friends who have supported me over what has been one of the longest most stressfull years of my life. You have all been super great and I love you all so much. Thanks for making this possible and for helping me fulfill a dream of mine that I have had for a long time.

Sorry no pics yet I have not gotten any but when I do I will post em.

Cheers!