Race weekend was so exciting. I thought that I would get stressed out the closer I got to Sunday, but found that my excitement level was climbing. Friday I met Katie at the Phoenix airport and we headed to the event location in Tempe. At check-in, as Katie was checking in, I gave my name to another volunteer and his response was, "Oh, you're doing this too?" Twice this happened to me. Did I not look like an Ironman competitor or what?! Seeing all the really fit people around there still made me feel like a wanna be, but I was there to join this club on Sunday.
One of the logistical concerns that Katie and I had been discussing was how to meet up on the run. In theory, I would pass her on the bike course and we would have a time differential on the run to deal with. How much time gap could we realistically deal with to end up together or just run our own race. At the athlete dinner Friday we saw a video from previous races and saw husbands and wives coming in together and it was inspirational. Afterwards Katie asked me a simple question, what was more important to me? Simple answer, to finish with my daughter. The plan was set.
Saturday we went down for a practice swim in the lake. Talk about no visibility! You could not hardly see your hand in front of you. We then went for a short bike ride and run and we felt ready. Back at the condo we had to prep our various gear bags for drop off later and that is confusing. You don't want to make a mistake and forget something important. That evening we talked to Coach Jen, who wanted to know if we had questions and how we were feeling. Amazingly, I was feeling pretty calm and ready to go. Not anxious at all. It speaks volumes to how Coach Jen had prepared me.
Race morning I was awake at 2:45! I could not go back to sleep. We headed to the race location and got there a little later then planned. This is when the stress level was set at nuclear! We both felt like there was not enough time to get everything done. It was nice to talk to a lady in the port-o-potty line who assured us we that we had time. She had done 8 Ironman races previously. I asked her if she ever got emotional and she said yes. She would cry in her goggles, on the bike and run! The people that you meet are so great at helping calm you. We suited up and were headed to the water when we saw Anna, who took our photo. Trust me, this was the first smile of the day. Katie gave me a hug and said she would see me out on the course and it was time to get to work.
Swim - Goal Time 1:30. Race time 1:31:51
The swim is a deep water start. They have to get 2500 athletes in the water and into place in about 15 minutes. You jump in and start swimming to the start line because there are people jumping in right behind you. I swam up just past the second bridge. My intent was not to be too near the front, but in looking at the video, I was up in the front third. Bobbing there in the water I took the time to spin around an really take it all in. Being in the water at my first Ironman race with all of these people! I promised myself that I would be present and in the moment to really enjoy the full experience of the day. When the cannon went off I didn't even think, I just swam. I tried to draft when I could, but it was difficult because of the lack of visibility. For the next hour and a half, I ran over people, kicked and hit people, while they were doing the same to me!.I spent very little time in clear water where I could just settle in and do my thing. At times I came to a complete stop because I ran into someone and then had to fight to get going again because people were coming over me. Surprisingly, this was not frustrating. The turn-around came quicker than I expected and it was time to head back. I missed one marker buoy on the way back and got a bit off course, but did a good job over all. Getting out, I experienced my first cramps of the day, but a volunteer helped up the steps and was on my way to get my wetsuit stripped off and then on to transition. Transition was slow because there were just so many guys packed into the tent that it was real inefficient to change. Looking back, I am very happy with my swim.
Bike - Goal Time 6:30 Race Time 7:14:58 (ouch!)
Well, it is said that a race of this distance will not always go according to plan and my bike certainly did not. I was only a few miles into my bike when I realized that my right upper hamstring was real tight. I hoped that it would loosen up but it never did. This altered my riding in two ways. First, I was not real comfortable in the saddle all day. Second, being down on my aerobars only made the muscle tighter, so I only spent about half of the race in the aero position and only in short intervals. The aero position is a more efficient and powerful position to ride in. For me, the difference is good for over a mile an hour of speed that I gain when I am on my aerobars. So, I just had to work through this. Coach Jen had told me I needed to learn how to handle adversity so now was the time! And a friend had told me to remember three words, "your very best". This became my mantra for the ride. Loop one brought headwinds outbound and a nice tailwind coming in. Loops two and three brought a change in wind direction that was more like a strong crosswind, so no help at all. My first two loops were about the same time but I slowed on loop three. I saw Katie multiple times and could see that she was riding well and kicking my butt, as the gap was growing, not shrinking as planned. Because of the cramps out of the water I was eating bananas at every aid station to help. I became quite adept at grabbing one, peeling it with my teeth and eating on the fly! At mile 100 I started to get a quad cramp but was able change my position a little and work it out. About this time I passed a young lady riding with a prosthetic leg. That's right, I did pass a one legged woman. I shouted out to her how awesome I thought she was and her reply was that we were all awesome because we were doing Ironman! It hit me that yes, I was doing it! And then I cried a bit just thinking about the journey all year that had brought me to this point. And then I really enjoyed the final miles and took it all in.
Run- Goal Time 6:00 Race Time 5:50:41
Transition to run was a bit slow. I was cramping just putting my shoes on but finally got on the course. I knew I was way behind Katie and this was my first disappointment of the day because I felt like I had let us down and we would not finish together. I have done six other marathons but my approach to this one was so different. In my mind it was just three loops of just under nine miles, no big deal. I was calm and just went to work on clicking off the miles. My plan was to walk the first minute and then settle into a five minute run / one minute walk routine. Since I was cramping I decided to walk the first 5-6 minutes and see if my muscles would settle in. As I was walking, a lady came up and put her arm around me and gave me a pep talk until we had passed the aid station. I thought, how bad do I look? I'm just getting started! Once I started running I realized I was actually feeling pretty good and was running at about a 10 minute pace during my run intervals. I saw Anna at around mile 3 and she told me Katie was 20 minutes ahead. I knew I had my work cut out for me. Turns out, Anna lied and Katie was much further ahead but they didn't want to discourage me! I dealt with hamstring cramps on the downhills so I did my best.
As I mentioned before, you meet some really neat people in this sport. During one of my walk intervals I walked with a 21 year old young man who had done the swim in under an hour but was struggling on the run. He tried to keep up with me but couldn't after a while. I ran with a 34 year old lady who was doing her second Ironman. Her father at age 63 was doing his first. She was trying to catch him the same as I was trying to catch Katie.
Finally, at mile 8, I caught up to Katie. She had been walking the first loop so that I could catch up, what a great kid! I was so happy. So off we went into the night to finish together what we had started together. We ran well, usually keeping around a 10 minute pace during our running. We would modify when I had to stop to work out a cramp or to patch up her blister. Or when she suddenly stopped and I thought she was barfing but she had actually taken a bug down her throat! My nutrition was good except at mile 19 when I felt my energy level drop but I was able to fuel and was ok in short order. My hydration was dead on as well all day.
The last loop was so exciting, realizing that I had this in the bag. We were running well and passed a lot of people. I am sure that Katie was ready to smack me. I had a huge smile the last 2 miles. A half mile out we stopped so I could fix my hair. Katie didn't want to go through the finish line with my hair a mess! That last half mile was so incredible. People are congratulating you and cheering for what you had accomplished. The energy coming up the street and then making the corner to the finish is like nothing I have ever experienced in my life. The finish chute is fairly narrow. With the two of us side by side we could high five people. Then I raised my arms with Katie as we crossed the finish line and heard the words that I had worked so hard to earn. "Ed Cortopassi, You Are An Ironman!"
Goal Time - 15:00 Race Time 15:11:37 (close enough!)
I am 52 years old. I am an Ironman. And I can't wait to do this again!
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