I hit a port-a-potty around mile 2, that would be the last time I would need to pee for the next 7 hours. The first 3 miles were perfect. I had a smile on my face and I was feeling good. I was also thinking I was going to finish under 13 hours at that time - in transition I switched my regular watch for my Garmin, which read 2:40pm. I kept adding 5 1/2 hours to 2:40 and coming up with 8:00pm. But then I thought about my swim and bike splits that were close to what Liz did at Arizona last year and she was a bit over 14 hours. I could not make the math work until finally I realized my Garmin was still on Denver time and then it all made sense.
Around miles 4-7, I got some minor stomach cramping, the kind I was getting in some of my training bricks. During this time I got a little gassy as well, but luckily had no need for another port-a-potty. I thought the day was a bit warmer than I prefer for running (we had a clear day and highs in the lower 80's), so I took ice at every aid station the first loop too, and put it under my hat and in my sports bra. I also had a sponge down my back that I poured cold water on. I was carrying my dedicated mile list but after a couple cups of water poured on it, it was a soggy pulpy mess. But I kept it in my pocket and still thought of everyone throughout the race.
The run course meandered through downtown Madison and most of the time I had no idea where we were. It consisted of two out of back 13.1 mile jaunts. Around mile 5, we took a lap around the football stadium.
There were two areas that had a lot of spectators - the mile up the finish (or the beginning of the second lap) by the capitol and then another area on State Street. A bit of the course ran along the lake and in the shelter of trees. It seemed that there were spectators everywhere and since our race bibs had our names on it, hundreds of people shouted, "Go Wendy" all day long. I had to look at these people to check that they were not my family. I heard one racer saying, "The spectators should be wearing name tags too, so we can say, 'Thanks John.'"
I'd say my first 6 miles were pretty good, the second 6 were a bit more uphill and harder. The second 13 mile loop is where I feel like I earned the Ironman race. At the beginning of the second loop we could get our special needs bag. I took my bag of 3 more Advil to take at mile 18 (roughly 4 hours after my first dose), 2 more gels and left the extra socks and long sleeved shirt.
Right after the turn around I saw my family again:
Around mile 15 is when it started getting really hard. A lot of people still racing were now doing more walking than jogging. I noticed these walkers starting to hook up together and talk. It seemed to be a bad situation to get into, much like the woman ranting in transition 1, I tried to avoid them. I heard people talking about how the rest of their race had went, how much their legs/feet/whatever hurt, why they were doing the race in an ACL knee support, etc. It seemed like finding a walking buddy was like getting the perfect excuse to take it easy. There was one girl that talked to me a bit but she was running 4 minutes, walking 1 and I told her I had a different strategy that I needed to stick to for mental reasons. We were pretty much together for 8 miles (she would pass me running, I'd pass her when she walked), then she hooked up with the guy in the ACL support guy and they fell back and I didn't see her again. As soon as I started the run, I knew I had over 8 hours to complete the marathon and I could walk the whole thing if I wanted too and still come in under 17 hours. But did I want to? NO.
So around mile 15 my dedicated mile list contracted to one small mantra, "Keep moving, people are watching. Keep moving, people are watching." And everyone once and a while to spice things up I would think, "You are doing a fucking IRONMAN!" I kept a smile/grimace on my face and kept moving. I did walk a bit more than I planned on the second loop. I walked up some hills, and sometimes I walked a bit farther than the end of the aid station. I kept telling myself that jogging really didn't hurt that much more than walking and to KEEP MOVING. I hit mile 18 and saw the Endurance Nation guys in their pink speedos. There were right, at mile 18 you really needed to dig deep to keep going until the end. And since mile 18 was on one of the out-and-back parts, I saw them again at mile 21, when I really needed a lift.
It's a good thing my brain was foggy around mile 18. I realized that if I walked the last 8 miles, it would take me about 2 hours and 15 minutes. And I did not want to be out there that long! Good thing my brain couldn't do the math that if I jogged at my current pace, it would still take 1 hour and 35 minutes. If I had gotten that far, I might have decided that 45 minutes was a decent sacrifice.
The last 5-6 miles were all in the dark. Running in the dark was almost helpful. It was like the physical manifestation of the tunnel vision I was experiencing in my head. Just keep moving. Just keep moving. I remember hitting mile 24 and thinking I was almost there. A guy ran by and said, "Was that mile 24?" and I answered "Damn straight!" We started hitting the crowds of spectators around mile 25. I told myself I was not walking again and I should give it all I had. I picked up the pace even though it was uphill. I ran past a girl that kept passing me when she was running, but I would pass her when she walked. I told her, "You have a mile to go and you are strong when you run so RUN." And she took off and I never saw her again.
Right before last turn to the finisher's chute I passed 2 guys walking. When I passed them, they started to run again. I ran faster, thinking, "Oh no you don't. I want to hear the announcer say, "Wendy Sweet, from Boulder Colorado, you are an Ironman! and I don't want to hear your names or see you in my finisher photo, you lame guys walking 1/4 of a mile from the finish." And so I took off and I didn't hear their names and they are not in my finisher photo.
The end was not as emotional as I thought it would be. I was just so tired and so glad to be done. As soon as I crossed the finish, I got my own celebrity treatment volunteer. He gave me a space blanket and directed me to my finisher medal. He helped me in line for the finisher photo and then to the family and friends corral to find Jeremy. He asked lots of questions about the race and kept me talking. I'm sure a lot of it was to make sure I was ok and didn't need to go to the medical tent. We found Jeremy and I was handed off.
Run Recap:
Split 1: 11:29 miles
Split 2: 12:10 miles (more uphill than the first section)
Split 3: 11:58 miles (same section as split 1)
Split 4: 12:17 miles (same section as 2, pretty good for how much more walking I felt like I was doing)
Total time: 5:14:08, 11:59 average miles
My rank coming off the bike was 1780 and I finished in 1556 place, meaning I passed 224 people on the run. Roughly 2700 people registered, 2550 started the race and 2398 finished.
Total Race:
Swim: 1:26:17
T1: 12:05
Bike: 6:56:35
T2: 6:19
Run: 5:14:08
Total: 13:55:24
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