I’m back from a long time away. Lets see….Oh yes Ironman Louisville is where I left off. I had planned on writing a detailed race report, but since it has been just over 2 months since the race I will just give the short version. First off there is nothing like doing an Ironman in your hometown, period, end of story, it’s awesome!
The Swim
Self seeded/time trial swim start was a pretty cool way to start out the day. I started with my sister and we wound down the dock until it was time to jump in. A quick hug and then into the lovely brown, warm, Ohio River water we jumped. The swim was nice because you could find your own space and get into a rhythm rather quickly. The swim was also pretty fast since over half of it was downstream; the other portion was in a channel that gave us some protection from the current. After 2.4 miles of swimming I got out of the water in 1 hour, 11 minutes & 50 seconds, only 29 seconds apart from my sister. That was the closest I would be to her all day since she’s a triathlon stud.
The Bike
Transitions always seem to be a blur & even more so this time since the Ohio River had completely jacked my right contact lens up. I thought it would go back to normal after a while (more on that later). As I ran my bike out to the mount line, I saw all of our family members there cheering. Once again, Ironman “cheerers” should at least get a t-shirt or something. I mean they are out there all day, running & driving from point to point so they can give us a “WAHOOO!” as we go flying by on a bike. Anyway, the bike course is hilly, which was no surprise since we only rode the thing all summer long. I was just happy to be finally riding with some other people around me. I settled in for a long ride and found my rhythm, trying not to go too hard on the early hills. My contact lens that I mentioned earlier never really cleared up so around mile 30 in LaGrange I saw my brother, told him to call my wife, who was about a half mile up the road, and have her get out a spare contact lens. Our “pit stop” worked perfectly. I pulled off to the right of the road, she was ready and waiting with the contact lens, I pulled the old one out & popped the new one in, got a kiss for good luck, & off I went, all in about 45 seconds. Other than that the bike went well. My nutrition sat well, for the most part, in my stomach & my legs felt pretty good. Coming back to the city & to transition you get about a 12 miles downhill grade which is welcomed considering you just rode about 100 miles of hills. Sure enough there was the family waiting as I came around the last turn to the transition area, cheering like crazy….awesome.
The Run
I handed my bike to one of my wife’s Team in Training teammates who had volunteered & gave him a high five. Man, was I glad I didn’t have to sit on that damn bike seat anymore. Jogged down the chute& tried to “find” my running legs. I grabbed my Run Bag and went into the hot, steamy changing tent, & did my best to change quickly. I was finally ready to leave the tent when I looked up and saw my brother-in-law. He was ready to go out to the run as well so off we went. We saw our families just as we came out of the transition area, said hi to everyone and kept on truckin. We quickly realized that it was going to be a very hot & muggy run so we took full advantage of the ice sponges. As we came back past transition there he stood in all of his glory, my brother. He was wearing an extremely oversized sombrero, a homemade t-shirt that said “Go Monica, Sean & Matt”, & to finish off the outfit he was wearing my sisters Team USA Speedo tri shorts, which of course were way too small especially since the kid is like 6’3” tall. Hilarity ensued and it gave Matt (brother-in-law) & I something to talk about for the next mile or so. After the laughs wore off we realized we were in for a long run. We had been running for about 5 miles when we decided it was time to start the run/walk routine. Both our stomachs were not happy, so that is the plan we stuck by. I found that pretzel sticks washed down with water was about the only thing I could stomach. We were almost to the turn around when my sister went flying past us & gave me the “runner butt smack”. Apparently the rule is if you know someone on the course and you pass them, you smack their butt. I didn’t get to smack any butts & had mine smacked by my sister…not cool. She was looking strong & as she pulled away from us I yelled at her “Go break 11 hours!” She came close, finishing at 11 hours & 20 minutes. As Matt & I came to the halfway point, which is about 2 blocks away from the finish, the crowd was covering the street. There was only enough room for the runners to fit through in single file. It was awesome! You still had a half marathon to run, but it was a great send off. Matt & I repeated our run walk bit and sure enough we were right back at that same block were everyone was going nuts, only this time it was a little darker. We approached the finish chute and there waiting for us was Matt’s wife & their 2 children, & my wife. Matt scooped up his son & grabbed my niece, & our wives ran in behind us. We crossed the line and finally after 14 hours, 8 minutes & 45 seconds I didn’t have to keep moving forward. All of our family was there and we saw a bunch of our friends that had volunteered and we just hung out in the finisher’s area and talked about the race for about 20 minutes. Well, Matt didn’t talk much because he was ralphing his brains out, but that’s another story.
Overall the race was great. I totally redeemed myself & and vanquished the demons of the horrible Ironman Wisconsin experience. This time it was much more enjoyable, although I’m not sure if you can actually describe 140.6 miles & use the word enjoyable in the same sentence.
