Ironman Lake Placid 2016

Leading up to race

In July of 2015, with some urging from friends I decided to enter Ironman Lake Placid.  I know what you are thinking, didn’t I say “I would never do another Ironman race” after I finished the last one.  I may have said that, but then when all my other friends were signing up without me I got caught up in the “missing out on fun” delusion.

Lucky for me, in November I changed jobs and was able to quit traveling every week, so I had time to start my training.  For the first time in my Ironman history, I was not injured, so I had big plans for this race.  With coaching from my good friend Bill “the Godfather” Peterson, I began my training journey to race day.

All my training was done with friends, some old and some new, most of us were on the same journey to Lake Placid, some were just out there having fun.  We had good training days and bad training days, and none of us were in sync.  Do you know what the good thing about not being in sync was? There was always someone ready to talk me off the ledge when I was having a bad day and I in return would do the same for them, when they had a bad day.  It’s interesting how close you become to friends when you spend hours and hours suffering together.  Everything that happens becomes a big joke and free game for hours and hours of ridicule.  Just remember, what happens during the workout becomes common knowledge and you will never live it down.  Everyone ends up with multiple nicknames, too many to list and many of the stories of how they came to be would be a blog post in itself.

The Crewe

So my training moved along, I stayed on plan with help of a “crewe” of training partners who talked me off the ledge too many times.  Overall though, this was the best Ironman training I have ever done and I was looking forward to a good race.

Just another training day

Oh, but then nothing ever goes as planned.  My daughter informed me that she was pregnant, and guess what day she was due on? Yep, that’s right, she was due on race day!  I began freaking out, devising plans for everyday of the week up through race day.  There would be a 3 day window that would make me miss the race, I hoped that she would have the baby early, but it was doubtful since this was her first baby.

Race day was approaching fast, with just 10 days until I would be standing on the starting line.  Finally a little good luck, I found out that Jade would be induced the day before I had planned to head to Lake Placid.  I quickly went into mom mode, making arrangements to leave a day later and stay with Jade and the baby an extra day and make sure she would have help while I was gone.  Everything went as planned with the birth of my first granddaughter, Emersyn Ray, she showed up pink and healthy with a full head of hair.  Both momma and baby were doing great. 

Seeing the Guys off on Tuesday morning

Jade and Emersyn

My daughter China drove me to the airport early Wednesday morning and just before I got out of the car, she showed me multiple videos from my family telling me good luck, one in particular, from my niece Shayna,  brought me to tears. Those videos made my day, I can’t thank everyone enough for sending them.

I caught a flight to Buffalo and was picked up by my friend John at the airport and finished the drive to Lake Placid with him.  When I got to Lake Placid another video came in, and you won’t believe who it was from, wait for it… Swiftwick.  The company that makes my favorite socks, sent me a video of them saying good luck, it was such a great surprise.  China had contacted them and asked them to wish me luck and they did, that just goes to show what a great company it is, I can’t believe they took time to make the video and send it.

Race Week

In Lake Placid I was staying at Devlin’s Olympic Motor Inn, it’s a great little motel, right on the run course, I would be passing it 4 times during the race.  I had many friends staying there as well. We would spend the 4 days leading up to the race, training, eating and sitting outside our rooms, which encompassed the entire wing of the motel, talking every night.  It was like an ongoing party.

The ongoing party at Devlins

There was one thing that plagued me though, since Emersyn arrived both Jade and China were not with me, China stayed home to help Jade with the baby.  So in turn, I had no family there to help with all the support tasks, and also to lean on when the nerves hit.  I was lucky though to have such great friends with me.  I have to give a big shout out to the Germer family for stepping up and taking care of all the support tasks for me. They grabbed my clothes at the start of the race, and picked up my bike and bags during the race.

My Ironman Support Family

The 4 days leading up to the race, we swam, we ran, we biked, we ate and we had ice cream every night.  Those days we spent swimming in Mirror Lake were refreshing and calming, just being in the lake, gave me piece of mind. 

Our first practice swim in Mirror Lake

Well, except for the first swim, I finished the swim, and was standing on the dock, when Mike “Wildman” Hovatter came swimming up.  As he was bobbing in the water he yelled, I need some help.  We all thought he was joking with us, then his head slid under the water and bobbed back to the top, all of a sudden we all yelled “are you joking?”, and he said, “NO!” and slipped under the water again.  Jeff jumped into the water, grabbed him and dragged him to shore.  He had gotten a cramp as soon as he stopped swimming and couldn’t kick.  The experience was scary and funny at the same time.  We were all just standing there thinking he was joking and the poor guy was drowning.

Mike giving us a tip before our swim

Don't worry Mike, we will save you

We took pictures at the famous rock one morning before the swim, we walked around the town watching all the people and all the dogs, it is a very dog friendly event.

All the Zilla's at the Rock

The Three Amigo's back again

One of the furry friends

We checked in for the race, picked up our swag, shopped at the ironman store, checked out the expo, got active release therapy at the expo, oh, and I can’t forget getting cornered by the guy selling electrical therapy units.  He was quite a salesman.  I was sitting there trying it out, and Russ was right next to me, he thought we were married and was going to give us a good deal, but then he found out we were just friends, the deal wasn’t as good then.  Then John comes over and sits down in the chair on the other side of me and he hooks him up too.  After a few minutes he decides since we are all friends he can give us a really good deal.  I felt like I was in an infomercial, if I bought right now, I could get two for the low price of only 500 dollars and he would throw in some “bonus accessories” too. I finally said that sounds great, I don’t have my credit card with me so I would have to come back, yep, you got it, I never went back.

Checking in

When it came to eating, we had lots of excitement during the week.  We ate at the Pickled Pig, the food took 90 minutes to get and then it was awful.  Three of us ordered shrimp tacos, and when they came out there were 5 shrimp split between 9 tacos.  The fries were hard as rocks and potato skins awful.  Good thing we had Sketchy with us, he told the manager we didn’t want to pay for it and guess what?... we got it for free!  The next meal of the day was also eventful, we got to the restaurant and while standing waiting for our table they gave it away, right in front of us, so we went across the street to eat. They sat us outside right on Mirror Lake, it was beautiful.  We all had our 25 dollar vouchers for our Ironman dinner so we decided to order steaks. We got our food and noticed Sketchy wasn’t eating, he said his steak was tough, everyone else’s was good.  When the waitress came, Wildman told her Sketchy’s steak was not good, she was very apologetic, but Sketchy said it was fine, he would eat it.  At the end of the meal the waitress gave Sketchy his for free.  Of course, now the joke is, Sketchy never pays for a meal, he gets them all for free.

The shrimpless  shrimp tacos

Dinner on Lake

I have to stop right here and make the statement that Carolan was on what we call Scottish time all week, that means, if we say 7:00 am, she shows up at 7:03. The funny part is, Jeff would say 7:00, Carolan would roll up at 7:00, but we would have left at 6:55.  She would call us names that I probably shouldn’t type.  You have to understand Jeff was on a mission, no fun and games.  Someone said, “Jeff can do anything”, then someone else said “except relax”. I am leaving out the names to protect the innocent.  On the flip side of this, we also had people not taking this race serious at all, in fact, they had not taken anything serious for the last 7 months, I’m not going to say any names, but you know who you are Sketchy.

There was also a little excitement on Friday while sitting outside the ice rink.  Some little kids started throwing ice balls at Sketchy and Wildman, don’t worry, they defended themselves using only words and the little boys started looking through the cracks in the sign at them. I thought I was going to have to save Sketchy and Wildman, I think those little boys could have taken them.

The snow/ice that was being thrown at Wildman and Sketchy

Friday night brought the welcome meeting and it was also Jenna Germer’s, (my number one fan), birthday.  So we did a little celebrating at dinner and gave Jenna gifts that only the Crewe would pick out.  Jenna got a good laugh out of the gifts, one of which was slang term flash cards.  They brought many laughs for the rest of the week and they even prompted a few new terms to be created.  Such as, Gufurting: Farting after eating GU.

Jenna opening her Slang Flashcards

The night was fun filled while sitting in the grass waiting for the welcome meeting to start, the rain started, Sketchy and I ran for cover, finding a picnic table to climb under, while Wildman ran into the Johnny on the spot, of course, Jeff rolled up in the blanket we were sitting on. You know what’s coming, yes Godfather walked up as the rain was ending and saw us on the ground under the table, and we will never live that down. Wildman however told us how the Johnny was the best smelling port a john he had ever been in, yes we did, we all went in it to check out the smell and it smelled just like Tricks cereal. 

Waiting for meeting to start before the rain came

Out of the rain

Once again we were waiting for the meeting to start and Russ saw Mike Reilly walk up behind us, I jumped at the chance to get a picture with him.  He was very gracious and even chatted with me about other Ironman races I have done.

Me and Mike Reilly

Saturday quickly came and it was time to fill our transition and special needs bags, and check our bikes in.  Filling my bags, I checked, double checked and triple checked the bags, then I took photos of the contents, so that when I started freaking out later I could look at the pictures to make sure everything was there.

Bike Bag

Run Bag

Before checking our bikes in, we went to the pre-race meeting which was on the oval next to the finish line.  It was pretty hot and sitting there in the sun on those metal bleachers I started to get over heated and feeling sick. Of course we were in the top row, so I had to walk through the crowd down the bleachers and then down the oval to get to some open air, while everyone stared at me. I bet they would have clapped if I had puked right there.   After standing in the shade for the rest of the meeting, I started to feel a little better, but then the mental freak-out started to hit.  I doubted I could do it, I mean, I was just sitting in the heat and I was getting sick, how the heck was I going to finish this race. 

Racking Bike

Ready to Race

Bike Transition and finish line

I was having a panic attack in my head, but trying to be calm in front of everyone, I didn’t want anyone to know how freaked out I was getting.  Everyone was invited to a brunch that afternoon at a house some of the team was renting, and all I could think was “don’t get there and start crying because you are freaked out!”  In my head I felt like a poser,  I was at the race with 19 friends who are all incredibly talented and it always seems that no matter how hard I work, I am always running in the their shadows.  I kept telling myself, that I have my own goals and not to worry about anyone but myself.  Once you start freaking out, it’s really hard to reason with yourself.  My brain is my worst enemy, I needed to quit thinking about it and just do it.  I mean where could I go to race that was more beautiful than this. 

White Face Mountain

Mirror Lake

I made it through brunch without a tear, the food was great, I have to give a big shout out to Andrea and Chrissy for putting the work in to make it a great afternoon with food and friends.

Brunch at the team house

It also helped that I was getting photos from home of Emersyn, Ella and Bruno, so I knew all was well at home. China and Jade texted me and assured me I would be fine, that they believed in me. My Crewe of friends were also great, reassuring me that I had done all the right training and this was just the cherry on the top.

Emmy and Bruno

Ella protecting Emmy

Emmy Sleeping

The Crewe hanging out

It was Saturday night and was time to put on our race numbers. This year many of us had rub on tattoos, called tri tats rather than a black Sharpe.  You had to apply them by taking off the clear plastic cover, putting them on your arm and wetting it with a wash cloth. So you couldn’t really do your own, you had to have a tattoo artist.  Well, I’m not sure what to say about my tattoo artist other than I had to fire her. Let’s just say that she will never live her mad tattoo skills down.

Fired Tattoo Artist

My Tattoo

We had so many good luck notes on social media, we could hardly keep up with them, everyone was glued to their phones reading them.  Well except me, I was glued to my phone looking at baby pictures.

Well wishes before the race

Peace Out Gram!

The Race

Sunday came with an early wake up and a walk to transition to check on our bikes.  We put air in our tires, filled our bike bags with food, dropped our special needs bags and headed back to our rooms. Of course we spent a lot of time in the bathroom for the next hour then headed to the starting line.

Walking to the Swim Start

At the lake we pulled on our wetsuits and headed into the water, the water was warmer than the air and covered with a dense fog.  We could not see the buoys from the beach.

Ready to hit the water

The Pro’s took off and we watched as they came across the beach for the second lap.  That’s when Jeff, Carolan and a few of the other fast people took off. The rest of us filtered into the crowd at our estimated swim times.  Ray, Kyle, Mike and I were all together. I don’t think you can call any of us fast swimmers. We inched our way down to the water and headed out into the fog. I thought I was swimming to the outside, but I must have been way outside, because after about 10 minutes of swimming I see a paddle from a kayak motioning me in another direction, I was way off course in the fog. I got myself back on track, but there were so many people in the water that it was like a feeding frenzy.  It looked like someone threw food in the water and a million fish were fighting for it, and it felt like we were swimming in the spin cycle of a washing machine.  I have never in my life swam in those conditions.  I can’t tell you how many times I was hit, kicked and pushed.  

The good news was I didn’t really get swam over, so I started in the correct wave for my speed.  I made it through the first lap, but near the end was being passed by the swimmers that started in front of me and were already finishing their second lap.  My time was about where I wanted it, and I had thoughts of actually being on track.  Of course the second lap didn’t go as planned, I seemed to get pushed even more and ended up swimming four minutes slower than my first lap.  My overall time though was still much faster than any other Ironman race I had done, so I came out feeling pretty good. Although, the next day I looked at my Garmin and I had swam 2.67 miles.  You would think that 2.4 would be far enough, but no, I had to swim more.

An now it starts

One fact I need to mention, Jeff Germer killed the swim and won the award for First Out Of The Water. It was an awesome swim.

The weather forecast for the day was a high of 80 with low winds.  So I was ready for a good bike day. I headed into the transition, where there were so many people in the tent that I was having problems getting help.  Finally a girl ran over and got me water and she grabbed my stuff so I could head out. Just outside the tent I stopped for sunscreen and pulled up my shirt for her to get my lower back. I’m noting this because you will find out later how important that is. I ran to the bike racks and a volunteer was waiting with my bike ready to go, I grabbed it and ran to the bike mount line and took off down the steep hill while hearing voices cheering for me.  It was my Ironman family, the Germers, their cheers put a smile on my face.

Coming out on the bike

Soon I was climbing and climbing, it still felt cool, but there was definitely a strong wind, the weather forecast was not on point. I was still feeling good and riding a good pace. I hit the down hill and was going over 40 mph.  My bike started shaking because a cross wind was grabbing at my wheel, I got a little concerned and decided to ride my brakes the rest of the way down. Next was the 14 mile out and back section, which is nice because I saw a lot of friends in that section.  Greeting everyone was great, the smiles I got from Godfather, and the rest of the crewe all helped my mental state.  There is something about suffering with friends that makes it a little easier.  I got through the first 38 miles and made the turn out of Keene to start 18 miles of climbing. I know this is gross to those of you who are not triathletes, but I pee’d on my bike and was happy about it, because it meant that I was still somewhat hydrated.  

It really warmed up after that though and I was starting to feel the effects.  I kept taking enduralytes and salt, eating and drinking, but I could feel a fatigue coming on in my legs.  I knew the feeling, I always get it when I get dehydrated, I was doing everything I could to drink and eat. I was pulling bbq Fritos out of my bike bag, because they always help when I need salt, but I dropped them, I almost cried, but I bucked and kept telling myself it was not the end of the world and to keep riding.

The lack of salt was wearing on me and no matter how hard I tried, I was not able to pee again for the rest of the ride. I made it through the Cherries and up the Bears to the cheers of Zilla families, I could pick everyone out because we had made green shirts for everyone supporting, so it gave me something to look for in the crowd.  I made the corner where Jenna and Kirsten were taking photos and headed to the oval to start my second lap.  The second lap was slower, not by a lot, but I was working hard, too hard most likely. At 90 miles my quads started cramping up and I could not stand, so I just geared down and kept spinning. By the time I hit the 18 mile climb on that second loop, I was starting to doubt my ability to finish the race. I was starting to plan my pity party.

I once again made it to the top of Papa Bear and there were still Zillas there cheering me on, I really needed it too, the families and just random people out there cheering for me gave me such a boost, I don’t know if I could do this without them.

Top of Pappa Bear

I rolled into transition and stepped off the bike, but when I did, my entire left leg cramped up, I just caught myself from falling and some volunteers ran over.  I told them to leave me alone, it was just a cramp.  I worked it out and then gave them my bike and headed to transition.

Transition was not as crowded as the previous transition and I got my own volunteer, she helped me with everything and got me out the door pretty quickly, I stopped once again to get sun screen and as I was standing there John came running out of the men’s tent. I headed out to the run, just a minute in front of him, but he quickly caught me.  I was thinking we could run together for a while, but it was getting ugly for me and I couldn’t keep up with him.

Sketchy caught me in front of Devlins

By the time we hit 6 miles, John was a mile in front of me.  I saw so many friends on the course, too many to list, but Godfather was who I was looking for, I have a connection with him on this course and I needed those sweaty hugs from him. I needed all the sweaty hugs I got along the way, but  No hugs for Carolan, Jeff and Carl, they were on a mission and I was not going to slow them down, it was a quick high five and we were gone.  Tyler was always a welcome sight, I could see him from a distance because of his size and he was killing it out there.  Carolan was smiling so much, I’m not sure she was even sweating, she was having such a good day.  I was so happy to see everyone out there, even Doug in all his scales. 

Zilla Scales

By mile 11, I was passing Devlin’s with all the Zilla families cheering me on, even Mike and Kathy Wever were there, they didn’t have a horse in the game, they just traveled up to support the club members racing.  I made it through lap one, passed Devlin’s again and was headed out for the last time. By mile 14, I knew it was going to get really ugly. I quickly started calculating in my head how fast I could walk the last 12 miles.  Once again I began with the pity party, “poor pitiful me, I trained so hard and everything went right, and I wasn’t injured, but here I was walking”.  I had to snap out of it, so I just kept looking for friends and tried to be as upbeat as I could, I talked to everyone as I passed them or they passed me, hoping that the conversation would keep me going.  I was feeling some really painful chaffing on my under carriage, I’m sure it had to be from me constantly pouring ice water down my shirt and it running down my shorts.  I needed Vaseline badly. I stopped at the medical tent at mile 17 and took a handful of Vaseline and stuck it right down my shorts.  I warned the lady that “it was not going to be pretty” and that she might want to turn around, but she said “honey, you have no idea what I have seen today”, what I did was nothing new to her.  Every water stop has Port-a-Johns and boy they made me want to run, they smelled so bad, I could hardly get past them without gagging.

On the run

I could hear some guys talking behind me, I knew one of them, Mark.  I quickly caught on to a conversation that I learned more about the day after the race.  The piece I picked up on was that the guy behind me had 6 months to live and he was going to live it to the fullest.

This is a truly great story.  An older man named Jim was racing at Lake Placid.  Well, this guy was a former US Navy pilot who had flown A-6 attack jets, a real Top Gun. He was married, but had no kids. He had finished 5 Ironman races before this one.  He also has brain cancer with only 6 months to live. He said he was going to prove the doctors wrong and beat the brain cancer.  He had Chemo on the Monday before the race and had to take 10 pills during the race.  He had a great attitude and was talking to everyone. He made a deal with my friend Mark, he would make sure Mark made it to the end of the race under the cutoff time, and in return Mark would make sure he took his meds on time.  Well they both made it to the finish. Once again, I had no reason for a pity party.

I was now at mile 18 and I was getting closer to both John and Godfather, I didn’t think there was any way I would catch them, but I was trying not to lose any ground.  It looked like a Zombie death march out there, most everyone was walking, plus some of the temporary lighting had gone out and it was pitch black on the road, so you could just barely make out the shadows of people.  Oh, and the bugs, I ate plenty of them along the way, also.

By mile 21, I was back into a more lighted area and I saw Ray coming toward me, his son was walking/running with him.  We yelled hellos and Ray said he was going to make it and I assured him he would.  There is a whole other story that goes with Ray, let me see if I can quickly tell it.

Ray signed up for the race with the rest of us and started training with the “Crewe”. During a Thanksgiving morning run, Ray had some chest pains, but of course, being as crazy as the rest of us, he wouldn’t go to the hospital.  Weeks later he had a heart test and was shipped directly to the hospital for 5 bypass heart surgery.  We thought his Ironman race was over.  He proved us wrong and by the end of February he was back to training, and training fast. He had 5 months till Ironman day and he was determined to make it.

On the second lap of the run, Ray’s son jumped in to help his dad make it to the finish line, but he didn’t have on running shoes, so Kathy Wever took her shoes off and gave them to him to wear, everyone wanted to see Ray finish this race.  It’s hard to express in words how incredible Ray’s journey was.

So here I was looking over at Ray, who was so determined and once again telling myself to buck up and quit my whining. No one but me cares if I make my goal time; this is about the journey, not the finish time.

I made it to mile 24, which is right next to our hotel and Kirsten came running up next to me and walked with me on the hill, she caught me up on who had finished and who was still out on the course. She was so excited, Amy, her mom, had already finished with her fastest time ever.

At mile 25, Kyle came running past me, he had been chasing me since the bike and I had a feeling he would pass me.  He was the dark horse of the race, no one was sure how he would do, but we knew from training that he could kill the run and that is exactly what he was doing.

Mile 25.5, I was almost there, Jenna came out on the road and stayed with me until the oval, she was excited and smiling and I was so glad she was there.  I missed my family being there and knew they were having a watch party at home, but I needed some love.  That is exactly what I got from Jenna, I will be forever grateful to here for that.

Watch Party

More watch party

I hit the oval and did the best imitation of running that I could, I was high fiving all the hands hanging over the sides of the railings, I came across the line with my head held high. A volunteer caught me, covered me with a space blanket, gave me water, my finisher shirt and hat and asked me how I was.  I must have looked awful because he was really intent on getting me sat down, he even bypassed the photo booth and headed me over to the food. John and Jeff were waiting for me at the food, then Russ walked up, again I must have looked bad because Russ started taking off his jacket to give to me, but just as he did my bag with my jacket arrived and I put on a thick hoodie. My catcher brought me French fries and pizza and kept asking if I was ok.  I was really fine, just tired, I just wonder how bad I looked.

As I was eating my fries and chatting with everyone, I heard Mark cross the line, followed by Mike. Mark came over sat down, started to talk to us, then said, “I need medical help” and passed out with his eyes open.  It was really scary, I thought he was dead, I kept talking to him, trying to get him to say something.  Medical came over, put him in a wheel chair and took him to the medical tent. We moved out of the way so they could move Mark and while I was up, I got my photo and got another with Wildman. 

We made it!

Then went back to the table and saw all Marks stuff, I said we should go to medical and stay with him, and find his dad.  Now this is either funny or sad, but the guys said, “oh, we can just take his stuff to medical and leave it, they can figure out the rest from his bib number. We need to go get massages.”  So Russ took Marks stuff and dropped it off and Wildman, John and I went to get massages. I wanted to yell, “this is wrong!”, but I was too tired to.

We all had our massages, but when I was finished I was so cold that I laid down on a table and they covered me up, they  kept trying to take me to medical, but I wouldn’t go, I just needed to warm up.

While I lay there, I heard the lights shut off and the announcement of 12 am. I kept hoping Ray made it in.

I finally got off the table and walked back to my room wrapped in three space blankets, all the while thinking, “I never want to do this again, my Ironman career ends here”. 

I sent a quick text to my kids telling them I made it and that I would talk to them the next day. I had a hot shower and screamed while taking it because when the water hit my chaffed areas, it hurt so bad I could hardly stand up. My head hit the pillow and I was dead to the world until my alarm went off 4 hours later.  I had to get my butt down to the Ironman store so I could purchase a finishers jacket before they were all gone.

I looked at all the Facebook posts, and watched a video of my kids watching me finish while my 4 day old granddaughter had her foot kicked up on the laptop, watching too. I call it the social media “aftershock”, it brought tears to my eyes reading all the posts from friends and family.

I went to breakfast to find out that Ray had finished, they turned out the lights as he was nearing the oval, but he ran around and through the finish line.  The medical guy that caught him, saw his scar because his jersey was unzipped and asked him about it. Ray told him he had a 5 bypass heart surgery 6 months ago and the guy said, “you deserve this!” and got him his finisher medal.  Ray was sure he would not be an official finisher, but that morning we opened the paper and he was listed as the FINAL finisher. Ray’s story is the Cinderella story of IMLP 2016.

Ray at the finish line

I saw Mark at breakfast also and found out that he was just fine, that was funny, because I was sure he had died, but at least now I didn’t feel so bad about leaving him in medical all alone. 

We discussed our races, the weather conditions, and all of our injuries, and the award for the worst injury goes to Sketchy for his sun burned tramp stamp, I’m pretty sure it’s a 2^nd degree burn.

The latest in  Ironman tramp stamps

A few final notes, my mouth was so sore I could hardly eat for a couple days, it was weird, but Wildman had the same issue.  I looked it up and found that it is very common in endurance races for that to happen, there are many different theories on why it happens though.  I have to Thank everyone who cheered me on, especially my Super fan, Jenna, and all my virtual fans at home.  Thanks to my family for supporting me through the training and the race. Thanks to Emersyn Ray, for making her entrance before the race. Thanks to the Crewe and the Zilla’s for all the long training days and talking me off the ledge on so many of them. Last, but not least, thanks to Dr A+, aka Arthur Langston, for getting me through the hamstring issue that plagued me the last 6 weeks of training.

So I am now an Ironman to the 4^th power, I never saw that coming…

Will I do another Ironman???

Photo credit:  Kirsten and Jenna



Ironman Lake Placid 2014

Wow! I don’t even know where to start with this story, so many things happened, I don’t want to leave anything out.  So let me start from the beginning.

One year ago I signed up to compete in Ironman Lake Placid.  I know, I said I would never do another IM after the last one, but my friend Russ talked me into doing it with him for our 50^th Birthdays.  Then our good friend (well, maybe our worst enemy) Bill talked us into Lake Placid, not telling us that it was the hardest IM course in the U.S. 

So I signed up and all went well for about a month, then my knee went south and I had to have surgery on it.  When I finally got off the crutches, I had less than 5 months to go from doing nothing, to being in shape for an IM race.  I whined constantly, saying how there was no way I would be ready, but Bill assured me I would.  He even gave me an injury recovery training plan, which I used. 

Things got better and my swims were going well, my bike endurance was good, but the speed wasn’t quite there, my runs were surprisingly good, I was having no problems keeping up with the group on most of the long runs, there were a couple that were awful, but that is to be expected.

With the help of many good friends and teammates, my training went really well, even though I had to ice my knee 2 or 3 times a day to keep it from blowing up.  So many people joined me for long workouts that it made the training fun and easy.

So now the real story starts, race week in motion.  I decided to drive to Lake Placid, it should have been a 17 hour drive, but for some reason it took me much longer.  My daughters, China and Jade had planned to go with me, but Jade got a new job just before race week and could not make the trip.  So China brought her friend Sydney instead.  We drove to Erie, PA, spent the night at a Holiday Inn, then drove to Lake Placid the next morning, arriving on Wednesday.  It was a very long trip, but very beautiful. Oh and we got to see all the road construction across 5 states.

Drive into Lake Placid

When we arrived we met Bill and Vicky and they introduced us to all the other guys Bill races with every year, Eric, Steve and Dave, and their families.  It was almost like a big party, we were all staying in the same Hotel, well actually a Motor Inn.  We were just a block from race transition and Mirror lake.

Bill gave me the run down on the schedule for the week, we would start each morning with swims at Mirror Lake and follow it up by meeting our families for breakfast.

Early Morning Swim at Mirror Lake

We would spend some time driving the bike course, so we would be prepared for what was coming.  And I have to say, it was a very beautiful course, and on the surface it didn’t look that bad, but in reality, it was a very tough course.

Russ and Bill on the Bike Course

Bill and Robin on the Bike Course

We also planned to bike the course a couple days and running some of the run course. So the Lake Placid 3 had a plan and we spent our days jumping through the hoops that would get us across the finish line.

Mirror Lake and the Lake Placid Three

As the week went on I found that I had many virtual cheerleaders, my nieces made me good luck cards.

Good Luck cards

How to Card from China

China and Sydney made me signs to hold up on race day.

Good Luck signs

Adam, one of China and Sydney’s teammates at McKendree University, made me a sign and the entire team took a photo to wish me good luck, it almost made me cry when I saw it on Facebook.  Adam really wanted to come to the race with China and Sydney, but he had to work so he couldn’t come.  So he came up with a plan to cheer me on from home.  

MCK Cheerleaders wishing me luck

MCK Good Luck Sign

On Thursday we got registered and picked up all our cool IM gear, that only real Ironmen have, and we checked out Ironman village, picking up all kinds of cool free stuff.



Free visors from Timex for Posting cool Timex pictures

We then went out for a bike ride and while on our bike ride, we were pulled over by a reporter who interviewed Bill and Russ, then got some pictures of us riding off into the sunset.  You have to watch the video, it’s really good and you see me in the red Cyclery Kit a couple times.

Video of Interview with Bill and Russ

On Friday we checked in our bikes and race day transition bags and of course that’s when I really started getting nervous.

The girls had lots to do also, they went stand up paddle boarding on Mirror Lake.

They went to the Olympic Bobsled course with Lee, Russ’s son and they all sledded down the course.  Lee beat the girls though, if I were him, I would never let them live that down.

China and Sydney

Lee

Lee, Sydney and China

Friday night was the pre-race meal night and we all went to the pasta buffet, it was fantastic, we got made to order pasta, I ate so much I was sick. Good thing we had a day to rest before race day, my stomach needed it.

After dinner the girls went to the movie, while the rest of us went to the pre-race welcome meeting.  So we are sitting at the meeting and they are going through all the normal stuff and talking about previous races and racers who have done it many times.  The big screen flickers on and low and behold there is the Godfather, Bill Peterson being interviewed on the big screen. I was sitting next to him and just looked over, with this look of “how could you not have told me about this”. He just smiles, it was a great interview too. This was Bill’s 31^st Ironman race and his 15^th time at Lake Placid, he definitely deserved all the press coverage he was getting.  I had no idea that I had been training for the IM with royalty, now I just walk about telling everyone that I’m friends with Bill Peterson.  Hey, I have to get the glory somehow.

Mike Riley announcing interview with Bill Peterson

Finally race morning rolls around and at 4:45 am, Bill, Russ and I are in the transition area, getting body marked and checking our bikes. I even got interviewed while I was being body marked, but I think I said something really stupid, so I didn’t even look for the news video of it.

Robin being body marked

After a last check of everything, we went back to the Motor Inn and used the bathroom like 12 times, then walked with our families to the start of the race, by this time the skies were looking grey and there was a threat of rain.

Leaving for the starting line

We said our goodbyes, and headed to the swim start. The pro’s went off first and then 10 minutes later the age group racers started jumping in with the rolling wave start.  I stood in the group that was estimating their swim time at 1:30 because that was what I had been swimming the distance in, during training.  Russ and Steve were there with me, so we spent some time being nervous together.

Swim Start

The swim is a two loop swim, we come out of the water for about a 20 yard run across the beach then jump back in.  During the first loop the skies opened up and rain poured down, but I just kept swimming.  The second loop the rain let up a little, but then came down hard again.  I was about ¾ the way through the second loop when a kayak stopped me, I looked up and was told to swim quickly to the side of the lake. When I looked over, there were hundreds of people swimming to three floating docks at the side of the lake. When I got the dock, I couldn’t get out, so two guys grabbed me and pulled me up, thank you, whoever you are. As thunder boomed and lightning bolts flew, we were told to run down the road to transition area and get on our bikes. What really sucks is that I was swimming a really fast second loop, thinking that I might break my goal for the swim.  It was a long way to run in bare feet on pavement, but there I was with hundreds of others doing it.  I finally made it to transition and saw my gang yelling for me.

Swim Transition

Transition was packed, there were so many people in the tent and we were standing in water and mud, I just grabbed my bag and got changed, then ran out to my bike, while the thunder, lightning and pouring rain continued.  Out on my bike I kept pumping my brakes trying to slow down on the steep downhill out to the road.  Once again my awesome girls were there in the pouring rain, cheering me on.  I felt sorry for them, I knew they had to be so cold just standing there waiting for me.  So now I was out on the bike in shorts, sleeveless shirt, at least I had my arm warmers on, the last minute thought to throw them in my bag was a really good idea.  I was really cold, but at that time I had no idea just how cold I was going to be. 

As I rode up the mountain, the wind was howling and the rain was coming down so hard that I couldn’t see very far in front of me.  I was getting colder by the minute and was even happy to be climbing because at least it kept me a little warmer.  I made it to the 10 mile mark where the decent started. As I descended the mountain, I was so cold that my body was shaking, I was trying to brake, but my bike wasn’t slowing down enough due to the rain.  I just knew I was going to crash and all kinds of scenarios were running through my head, about where I should be when I crash, how to crash without killing myself, I was thinking of every bad thing that could happen and how to deal with it best. 

I made it to the bottom of the mountain without crashing, but I was mentally and physically shot.  This is when I felt like I was going to start crying, I didn’t even think about quitting, but crying, well the tears were right there on the verge of overflowing out of my eyes. Of course, then the whole thought of crying because I was cold, wet, scared and frustrated made me angry with myself, so then I was mentally screaming in my head, “you better not start crying and be one of those whiney babies, you paid to do this, buck up”.

I kept riding and by the time I hit the last 20 mile climb, it had stopped raining, although it was still super windy and the wind was in my face for the entire 20 miles.  I finally made it to the top of the last hill, “Papa Bear” and there was my cheering crew, I saw Russ’s family first, then Bill’s family, then mine and last was Steve’s family.  I rode about 300 meters to the cheering “Go Robin/Go Mom”.  This was just what I needed, I started to feel better and knew the second lap was going to go better.

Top of Papa Bear

I started the second lap with the 10 miles of climbing and then another 10 miles of descending, this time on dry pavement and not freezing, although the wind was still an issue.   At mile 92, as I was making the turn to climb the last 20 miles, the sky opened up again, this time with rain, sleet and I think some hail, it could have been really big sleet though.  As it hit me it stung really bad, so I just kept my head down so it didn’t hit me in the face. Now I’m climbing, looking at the ground and thinking once again, “why in the heck did I sign up for this”.  It only lasted about 15 minutes then quit, I continued to climb and got to a point where I could hardly turn the pedals, I couldn’t understand how it could be so hard, then a guy on the side of the road yelled, “get in your little ring”.  I looked down, I had been climbing in my big ring, “I did a mental head slap”, when the rain started as I  turned the corner to start the climb, I was so caught up in my mental anguish I forgot to drop to my small ring, I had been riding in my big ring for miles.  I know… I’m an idiot!  I could have kissed that guy who pointed it out to me, but there was no way I was riding back down the hill to do it.

The hill I rode up in the big ring

Side Note: While I was out on the bike China and Sydney had come across a dog that was the same breed as my Ella, we had been missing Ella so much since we were gone that China took a photo of the dog to show me, it was a really cute dog too.

Puppy that reminded us of our Ella

As I rode up Papa Bear for the final time, I knew that none of the cheer crew would be there because they would be back waiting for me at transition, so it made the hill a little harder. I saw a State Trooper on the hill and I asked “can you arrest me”, he said I was too close to being finished to get arrested now.  It was worth a try though.

I made it to transition and an awesome volunteer helped me, she pulled off my clothes, pulled on my calve sleeves for me, got me Vaseline and water and sent me on my way.  There are no better volunteers than those at an Ironman race, I can’t say enough or thank them enough for what they do.

Out of the tent and on to the run, just a block up the street I stopped to hug China and say hi to everyone cheering for me.  Then China shows me the Ironman beach towel that I wanted, but was too cheap to buy and she says “if you finish, this is yours”.  I knew there was no way I would not finish the race, I wanted that towel.

I took off running and china ran with me for a mile, she then turned around and said I will see you at mile 11.  I felt good and was running the pace I wanted, my knee didn’t hurt at all, I was beginning to smile and I knew I was just 25 miles from being an Ironman for the third time. 

At mile 6 things started to go wrong, not what you would expect, like my body breaking down, I was still feeling good, but for some reason my bladder started feeling like it was going to explode.  I stopped at a bathroom, but I couldn’t pee, just a couple drops came out.  So on I ran, just 4 miles later I stopped again, still I couldn’t pee. I was getting frustrated because the stops were killing my run time.  So I just kept running thinking, well I could just pee down my leg, who would know.  I came up the big hill around the corner to find all my friends and family and all these great messages on the road, which took my mind off having to pee.

China ran with me again for a short time as I headed to the turnaround to finish the first loop. 

China running up the hill with me

I started the second loop and was once again cheered on as I ran by the Motor Inn.  Between miles 13 and 24, I stopped 3 more times to pee, no luck.  At mile 19 my knee started to hurt, but not too bad, at mile 23 it really hurt so now I was doing the run limp thing and wondering if I was going to pee my pants.   

I passed the Motor Inn one last time and was joined by China and Sydney until we got  to the corner, where I headed for the last 1.5 mile loop and they went to the finish line.  I ran the loop and into the finish oval, high fiving all these people I didn’t even know, thousands of them reaching out to high five me.

Running in the Finish Oval

I hear China and Sydney screaming and stop to hug them. 

Just about to cross the finish line, giving my China Doll a hug

I jog slowly to the finish line so that the girl in front of me can go through and get a good finish picture without  me photo bombing it. Then as I start to run through the finish line two guys, come around on each side of me and ruin my finish picture.  Really, they couldn’t have waited 3 seconds and let me get a good picture.  I couldn’t believe they did it and it messed up my live feed so people watching me finish at home only saw a glimpse of my head.  Those guys need to learn IM finish line etiquette. 

Headed to the Finish Line

So while this entire race was in process, China, Sydney and Madison kept posting updates on all of our group, they did a fantastic job at keeping everyone at home updated. In fact when I got home a friend from work sent me a picture that he got from his daughter, she saw it online and sent it to him.  This was very cool, and it just goes to show how much support I had throughout the entire race.  I want to thank everyone for their support.

Social Media allowed my race to be followed everywhere

THE BIG QUESTION: Will I do it again…. Well maybe I will need to come back on 2016 just to see how I would fare in hopefully better conditions.

All My Swag

A big thanks to my teammates, Bill and Russ and their families for all the support, to McKendree University Cheerleaders for the virtual support, to my family at home for supporting me and believing in me, to Dr Bicalho for putting up with the worst patient ever, to the Cyclery for rushing to fix my bike every time I ran into the store freaking out that something was wrong, and most of all to my own cheer team China and Sydney, I couldn’t have done it without you.

Oh and for as long as I have had kids, all our vacations have revolved around races, so they call them racecations. On the way back to Illinois, China says “this was the best racecation ever”.  That is a Major compliment!

Click here to see all the photos from Lake Placid