What a year 2010 has been. It was a year full of first and amazing experiences - athletic or not. I ran my first Road race (ING Atlanta 13.1,) Trail race (Red Top Rumble,) and Ironman (Wisconsin.) Often times it felt like I had bit off more than I could chew but thank God I have a big mouth. While it wasn't always fun during the preparation to these events, the sum of it all was a good time, not to mention the great relationships that were built too.
2010 also saw the last of the Warren men. After a brief but harsh battle with Cancer my last uncle was ushered away leaving my generation to fend for ourselves. Thankfully the women of my family have always been good guides, investing lots of ass whoopings and verbal lessons so I would be prepared. They are where my true strength comes from.
Spent the night on top of a mountain in a tent with 2 to 3 feet of snow. At the time of typing this I still don't have feeling in the tips of three of my fingers. This was an incredible experience spent with one of my best friends in the world. While it was suppose to 5 days, i'm pretty sure we would have died around day 3, the two days were enough to make it one of the most memorable experiences in my life. Not to mention the hardest. That mountain will see me again in 2011.
Last but not least, 2010 brought lots of new people in my life. Some for shorter periods some for forever. All are special in their own way. There is one very special person who barely made her way into my life for 2010 who thinks the world of me and tells me she plans to be around for a while .... and I actually hope she's right. Us agreeing on that part alone is a pretty big deal. Only time will tell if she's right. So, while 2010's final hours slowly pass, 2011 looks pretty bright on the horizon.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
I'm alive
Well of course Ironman is over, and it turns out the journey through life continues. It's been sort of a struggle deciding what direction I should go with this blog. These days my time is spent going to work, the gym, and laying in bed. Some where in there I manage to eat and maybe socialize. Nothing special, most times it's either Ramen or Rice and all the time grill fish (George Foreman makes it too easy) and socializing usually means Gchat or a random gym conversation. So I definitely can't write about food. Relationship - doesn't exist so I can't write about that (if it did exist and I wrote about it i'd probably get my ass kicked- hypothetically). So I'm not left with much. Really, the only thing I come in contact daily that puts me in a great place is my conversation with my mama and hearing songs and the lyrics speaking to me. So I could write about that and sound like a big baby, rehash some old wombs, or just sound like a bizarre crazy person. Honestly i'm not strong enough to write my feelings on the interwebs on a regular basis, if I actually had feelings, so I think for now this is just gonna have to be a blog about the random shit that pops into my head. Could be one line. Could be a novel - time will tell. So like time we move forward.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Laugh for the day
So today I was rushing to the gym to make a pilates class. I get to the locker room and start changing. I stand up to drop my boxers to put on compression shorts. While i'm pulling my leg out of my boxers I begin to fall over so I try to put that leg back on the ground and right through the bottom of my boxers my foot went. Thats right I ripped the bottom clean out of my boxers. That's probably the most awkward series of events i've experienced in a while. Talk about a transition. After class, I get back to my locker and pull the bottom-less boxers out of my locker and can only stand, look, and laugh. Rather than sport the plaid skirt I created I decided to pass on a shower and sport my compressions for the rest of the day. Commando is just a bad idea.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
I believed, so I went for it
Pre race:
Wednesday I woke up finished packing and headed to the airport to pick up the rental car. After stopping to pick up salt sticks, Justin and I were off to Wisconsin. Driving through Tennessee and part of Kentucky isn’t bad, but Indiana is the worst. There is absolutely nothing in Indiana but the gigantic electricity producing windmills (not very entertaining at the 9th hr of a road trip.) Finally around 11:30 pm we arrived in Chicago and crashed at a friends place. Thursday woke up around 7 and got back on the road to finish the last leg on the ride. The ride between Chicago and Wisconsin was just as boring as Indiana. Then finally out of nowhere the little oasis of civilization that is Madison appeared and we were finally there.
We arrived too early to check-in but the hotel let us lock our bikes in a conference room so we could go out and explore Madison. Madison is a college town where most of the people walk around frowning, until you talk to them, and then they turn into the nicest people imaginable. With not much to see besides the university, I grabbed some lunch and headed back to the hotel to finish check-in.
Once checked in I headed to Monona Terrace to check in for the race. At the race packet pickup I nearly lost it. The nice volunteer asked the simple question “you ready?” and I had to fight back tears. My stomach was in knots. That simple question changed things from a thought of a race that had been looming in the distance for what seemed like forever to being a real thing. I was really shaken. Wondering around lost, thinking I had gotten myself into something over my head, I bumped into Jody who was very encouraging and tried her best to get me to think positive, but I had already lost the battle that day. Afterward Justin and I headed back to the hotel and later out to dinner and called it a night early.
Friday morning I woke up to the best continental breakfast spread I have ever had. Sausage Biscuits, eggs, fruit, bacon, 4 types of juice, and fresh fruit was standard. After the nice breakfast, I rode back to Monona Terrace with Justin to register since he had left his ID at the hotel on Thursday. After our trip to the Terrace we decided we would skip the group swim after talking with a local and instead ride the run course on our bikes. The local guy told us how disgusting the lake is/was and how it affected him the prior week. If someone from Madison had that to say about their own lake I was compelled to listen. During the bike ride we decided that we would jump in the lake for a few minutes the next day just to see the water temperature. The bike ride was uneventful, though the run course seemed interesting with a lot of turns and changes in scenery. I knew that would help me being such a weak runner, visual stimuli are always a plus. After the ride I had the smallest noodle bowl ever for lunch and headed back to the hotel to pack transition bags and rest up before the athlete’s meeting later that night. The athlete’s dinner/meeting was not what I expected. The food was absolutely horrible. I’m not even exaggerating. The energy in the place was cool but the people who missed it didn’t miss anything. Afterwards a few people went to a local pub to have a drink and just reflect and enjoy each others company. Later my friends from home arrived so I headed back and went out with them for a few minutes before retiring for the night.
Saturday was really uneventful. Woke up to same amazing breakfast then laid around watching football and playing on facebook until about 1, then I finally got up and took my transition bags and bike to be turned in. Then it was back to the hotel to rest up for the group dinner later than night. During the day my only focus was to keep drinking water and reminding myself that I could do this. My fear was starting to be replaced with the pure feeling of being crazy. Crazy doesn’t walk around scared, crazy finds humor in the fear, I was all laughs. During the day I got a couple good luck calls and voice mails that kept me entertained. My attitude was the complete opposite of Friday at check-in. Maybe it was the two days spent verbally telling myself “I can do this” or just fate but things were looking up. Some of the others went out for runs but I decided I would take the day completely off. Instead of running I went out to a local grocery store to look for cheese wheels. One of my friends who came to support me made a bet that he would finish a cheese wheel in the 17 hrs I had to complete the Ironman. Sadly finding a cheese wheel in Madison proved to be too great of a task, so my challenger and I settled on a 5 lb brick of cheese. Had dinner with the group, where the food was much nicer than the Ironman dinner, and got to enjoy the company of my fellow racers from Atlanta Tri Club (thanks for putting this together Annie.) It was nice and low key and perfect for the night before. Really did calm what nerves were left knowing I wasn’t alone. From dinner I took that energy back to the hotel and shut down for the night. Tomorrow was the big day.
Race Day
Pre race:
Sunday morning I woke up around 3:45 and headed down the hall to breakfast. The hotel started breakfast at 4 on race morning for the racers. For breakfast I had two sausage biscuits, and a muffin with honey and a banana. Went back to the room and packed my carbo-pro and special needs bags for the day and I was ready to head to Monona Terrace. Matt’s brother was kind enough to drop Matt, Justin and I off at 5 which gave me one less thing to worry about Body marking at the Terrace was not very organized but fighting through the crowd gave me something else to focus on which was good. Justin and I made it through body marking and headed to drop off special needs bags. Only we didn’t know where special needs drop off was. After asking around I found out drop off was a few blocks away, which ended up being a good thing because it was right in front of a Starbucks with no line for the restroom. During this time Justin and I got separated but we ended up finding each other in the transition room where I put on my wetsuits and set out for the water. Time was flying, I remember asking what time it was and someone saying 6:20 so I knew I had to pick it up. On the way to the water Justin and I got separated and I was on my own ready to start my journey. Nervous yet confident, I finally made it into the water with about 10 minutes to spare. Saw Ron and Amy before entering the water exchanged good lucks then we too separated right when we entered the water. I spent the first couple of minutes getting acclimated to the frigid water, focusing on not hyperventilating while the ice water took my breath away. I made my way to the back because I honestly didn’t know what to expect and this was the part of the race I was most afraid of. Calm and listening to the commentator, there was a pause in him talking and unexpectedly, “boom” the race was on.
Swim:
The swim start was like nothing I had ever experienced. While I started way back there were people still trying to swim over me and pulling my feet. In my mind I was sure we looked like spawning Salmon. It felt like survival of the fittest. Sometime before the first turn I swam up on Amy, I could tell from her stroke, and stayed for a few strokes until I realized I could go a little faster and still be completely comfortable so I pressed on. Swimming along I found myself stuck behind the world’s largest/fastest breast stroker. This guy’s legs were like weapons. Every time I thought I had passed him he would reappear just kicking folks. Reached the first turn, which made the connector at rush hour look like a running faucet, and was slowly pulled around by the heard of people going through the same thing. All the turns would be like this, in retrospect it was sort of nice to break up the long straight-aways. At the end of the first lap I got extremely cold. I was shivering and swimming just wanting to get out of the water. I did the trick that every child knows and it helped for a while but eventually I got back cold and stomach issues came with it. On the second lap my stomach was bubbling uncontrollably and I didn’t want the wet suit stripper to have any surprises so that was my complete focus on the second lap. Luckily the second lap seemed to go by really fast.
T1
I got out of the water got my wetsuit stripped right behind Julie and began the walk up the helix. At first I tried to run but I was just too cold. Walking up the helix I tried my best not to make eye contact with people because I didn’t want to become emotional, but I could hear everyone saying “look at him he’s shaking, he’s so cold” they were absolutely right. I was freezing. Once inside the convention center I knew there was a restroom in the building that I could use to avoid the porta potties so I went there and took care of the bubbling from the swim and while washing my hands I saw my eyes were blood shot red. I was little nervous but I knew it was going to be a long day and there was no reason to rush. Since I was so cold I decided I would wear the leg warmers I purchased on Wednesday in Madison and my arm warmers hoping I would warm up. A helper came and helped me put on socks and my jersey and suggested I take a few minutes to warm up It wouldn’t benefit me to rush out and have to drop out. He told me “it’s a long day, be smart about things.” That was good advice that I took with me for the rest of the day. I was off on the bike.
Bike:
The Start of the bike was pretty uneventful and I was just calmly taking it all in, not going too hard, just maintaining a comfortable pace. I was still cold but in retrospect I think I was working against myself with the leg warmers and maybe even the arm warmers. I was sweating under the warmers and the little wind that would make it through the warmers would only make me think I was much colder. I was drinking and taking 2 salt pills an hour really just moving along comfortably making great timing. Then the cramping hit at about mile 30. I was in such good shape psychologically that I told myself “good thing it’s the quads and not the hamstrings, because you can push through this.” I was absolutely right too. I finally reached the 3 big hills of the course and had no problem with the first, it was long but nothing I hadn’t seen before. Then at the second hill I turned the corner and my eyes locked on an Indian that looked eerily familiar. It was Tracia. Once I figured it out my eyes zoomed out to see Jeanine as a Pirate and Jody as Superwoman. Trying hard not to laugh at the girls, Beau dressed as Elvis popped out from the other side of the street. This street was filled with spectators but none were as decked out as the ATC four. Beau ran all the way up the hill with me giving me motivation. I felt like a star it was an awesome experience. I can’t say enough how much it meant to me to have their support. They were the best part of the bike course. Then the third, and worst in my opinion, hill came I had to get off my bike at the top to stretch. Got off the bike and a spectator from Chicago held my bike and gave me a pep talk to help me keep my head in the race while I was stretching. Then back to riding it was. Saw my friends Josh, Andrew, Adam, Jonathan and Chad in some town where the streets were lined with barricades and crowds and wondered how Chad was doing on the cheese challenge but I didn’t stop. My mind was locked on making it to special needs to take off the warmers. Pulled in to special needs and a volunteer took my bike while I took off the leg warmers and placed them in my bag and tied the arm warmers around the seat post of my bike to use later on the run if necessary. Ate half of my peanut butter and honey sandwich and made my way to the port-a-potty to re-lube for the second lap. I sat my water bottle outside of the potty while I went in for obvious reasons, and when I came out it was gone. That hurt a little but gave me idea of the next water stop to focus on for the next leg. Annie pulled up all smiles, I was happy to see her. Together we set out on the second loop.
On the second loop Annie and I passed each other a couple of times before my quads began to twitch so I backed off. I had to stop at the next water stop to stretch some more, but never thought I wouldn’t make it. While riding I knew I was going to make the cutoff and with Annie in front of me I was excited that she would make it because I knew she had been worried about it. Riding a long a lady as she passes me (no I’m at all embarrassed) tells me “you’re hot.” Completely in a stupor I reach to feel my forehead before realizing she wasn’t talking about the temperature. As awkward as probably possible all I could come up with was “thank you.” After debating for the next few miles if I was insane and imagining things, or what other words I could have confused with hers, I decided everything was real. It was something else to go in the smile bank. The lady and I would keep passing each other until we got back to the hilly section where my legs locked up again and I would have to get off the bike on the first hill. I stopped and stretched some more then got back on the bike. I made it up the second hill okay, saw Jeanine and a few other cheering spectators, before my legs completely locked up on the third hill. Got off my bike and my legs were spazzed completely straight. One of the spectators, Chris from Chicago dressed in a too small cheerleading outfit came to help me out. This dude reminded me of a little league coach, well besides the cheerleading outfit. He completely took over. He told me take my time let my legs calm down and that I was gonna make the cut off so the only thing I needed to worry about was letting my legs calm down. While I was there waiting he ran back down the hill and got a coke and couple of bottles of water. He made me wash the salt off my face, because he said it would make me feel better, and repeatedly tried to get me to have some Coke until I finally relented. The Coke was pretty good but I could only handle a few sips. Then he ran back and got a banana told me to eat as much of that as I could. This dude is going to be an awesome Dad some day. Finally he told me to enjoy the next 20 miles and that he would see me at the finish line. I left there feeling confident and completely amazed that some random stranger made me feel like his day hinged on my success. Back on the bike and I saw my friends for the second time. It’s cool they stuck around to see me for all of about 10 seconds definitely helped. After seeing them, for the first time since being on the bike I had to pee. Pulled in to the last water stop handled my business and I was on my way back to Monona Terrace. Excited at first, then a huge hill popped out of no where and I had to pee again. There weren’t anymore rest stops before transition and in the athlete’s meeting they were pretty adamant about not peeing outside of the provided portables, so when I crested the hill I decided to pee off the side of my bike. Wasn’t the neatest but I had dry socks and I hadn’t disobeyed any rules. On the worst road of the course, I was becoming mentally tired and was pretty close to losing it. The bumps in the road were spaced perfectly about 3 seconds apart. I wanted nothing more in the world than to be off the bike. I came up on a guy from Air Force and passed him. This gave me small comfort knowing someone else was hurting worst than I was. After what seemed like forever, I was finally crossing the parking lot we had to cross to get out and entered the no passing zone, I knew it was almost over. Going up the helix at Monona my smile returned and I was excited to be done with the bike. Took my arm warmers off my seat post and my shoes off and in to transition I went.
T2:
Once I got to transition a volunteer came and dumped my things out began taking off my socks and putting the new ones on and my shoes then my legs locked up again. He went and got what I think was a Chiropractor and they guy began ART on my leg. Hurt like hell, but I knew it would help during the run. Didn’t seem like long but once I learned my transition time it must have been a while he was there helping me. Even after he finished I was still cramping and he said just give yourself a few minutes to let your legs calm down but you’ll feel better once you start moving. So I sat there until I was able to bend over and tie my shoes without cramping. Once I tied my shoes I still had to changed shorts so I got that done and the volunteer repacked my things and told me I had seven hours to get it done. He too wished me luck and told me he would see me at the finish line.
Run:
I walked out the door and head to start the run and I hear “William Archie”, I turn to see Amy. She yells “I am so happy to see you” as she gets her sunscreen applied, and I walk back to see what the hell she’s doing so far back. She tells me how horrible of a day she has had and we start the run. I ran all of about 100 yards with her before she was gone. I don’t know if I have ever smiled so much during those first few miles. I was so happy to be off the bike, words can not explain. After I came down off the high of not riding anymore around mile 3 I began to focus on rest stop to rest stop. Run as much as I could and to smile at every one I could. While I was moving pretty slow, I was having fun. The crowd and the volunteers were amazing. People would call out your name like they had known you all your life, and at this point in the day my name was about the only thing I could comprehend without thinking. At about mile 8 my legs cramped up again at the end of State Street, probably because the street was lined with people and I inadvertently picked up my snails pace from the adrenaline. I stretched and pressed on. At mile 10 I sat down to tie my shoes and when it was time to get up, I had a problem. Right while I’m trying to get up Justin passes on his second loop, and hears me call out to two volunteers for help up. He walks over to help me and all I could think of is the both of us stuck on the ground so I told him “get out of the way and go finish your race.” Afterward the two volunteers came and pulled me up and I was back to moving. On the way back in I did some math and realized I was going to finish the first lap in about 3:30ish and that was cutting it a bit close so I tried to pick it up for the last 3 miles in. Coming in to the turn around everyone thought I was coming in to finish, it was a tad bit of a let down having to explain to people that I had 13 more miles to go. Once I would tell them they would all go in to motivational mode telling me I had it. Turned around checked my special needs for more Gu’s to find the first thing I had forgot to do. Still I wasn’t worried the course was well stocked with food and my spirits were really high. Re-tied my shoes and started the second loop. On the second lap I began drinking chicken broth which was amazing. I had never had broth alone as a drink, and it absolutely blew my mind how incredible it was. I would run for a few minutes walk for a few. Around 18 or 20 I knew for sure I would make it and I was truly on cloud nine thanking the spectators and talking to everyone who wanted to talk to me. It’s funny every time I would say “thank y’all” the volunteers would give me a weird yet appreciative look. I’m guessing they only hear y’all in movies. At about mile 23 I came up on a walking brigade of about 10-15 people. I walked and talked with them for while before pulling away. Most yelled in shocked when they saw me run ever so slowly away “you can still run, dude that’s awesome”. About this time I started thinking of my Mom waiting on me. Sadly she couldn’t make it up to Wisconsin, but all I could think of is the bear hug she gave me after I graduated from high school. I imagine she would be that excited when she saw me cross the finish line. Then finally I could tell I was getting closer, emotions started shooting all over the place when Brendan, Katrin’s business partner appeared out of nowhere. I didn’t recognize him but he was wearing an ATC shirt. Initially I wasn’t sure if I was hallucinating when I couldn’t figure out who he was. I had met him the day before but my memory had completely failed by that point. Our conversation went like this
Brendan: Everyone is waiting for you just around the corner
Me: Really
Brendan: Yeah, Katrin, David, the whole gang, are waiting for you just around these couple of blocks
Me: (smiles) Alright
I started back running and turned the first corner thinking I would be able to see the start of the finishers shoot but I couldn’t. Immediately my emotions tanked, then I heard Claire call out, again my emotions started swirling. Luckily Claire approached me super intense telling me to “Get it William” “Go, Go, Go” without even thinking I was running again. I’m sure if she had been soft spoken I would have lost it, been all crying and shit. It’s funny I met Claire at the John Tanner sprint triathlon she was cheering at the top of lungs for me at the finish line, she didn’t know who I was only that I had an ATC jersey so she cheered, kind of cool that this race ended the same. I ran on and right when I turned the corner I could hear the music and see the start of the finishers shoot. As I made the turn I could hear Mike Reilly “Here he comes,” while he was saying this people were reaching out giving me high fives, I couldn’t make out any faces in the crowd. It was a very unique feeling. “From Atlanta, Georgia, William Archie, You. Are. An.” and the crowd screamed “IRONMAN!” I felt like I was floating. I couldn’t stop smiling nor did I want to
Post Race:
The song Dynamite was blasting and David Cater came from around the corner and he looked as happy as I felt. Cater escorted me out of the finisher’s area where Josh, Adam, Jonathan, Andrew and Chad were waiting. I was happy to see them and they looked super excited too, since my Mom wasn’t able to come they were my family. They spent 16 hours seeing me for all of maybe a minute and even relayed info to my Mama back in New Orleans. I asked Chad about the cheese, he dodge that question like the guy in the Matrix dodging bullets. Justin congratulated me, it was awesome because we set out on this journey together knowing we’d have someone who would keep us honest on the training. The endorphins were at an all time high. Jody came around the corner and gave me the biggest hug and I nearly lost it but I kept it together. She’s been so supportive through it all. Before I knew it everyone was around, I had a huge family of friends there supporting me it was an incredible feeling. We took some pictures and I swallowed a sandwich that I couldn’t taste and pondered on what I had just accomplished.
Summary:
I set out and completed something that I didn’t even know I could do when I signed up for it a year prior. I had never completed a century, run a road race (I think my farthest run was about 12 miles), or swam farther than 1200m when I committed to this race. Faith, family, and friends help me through a lot of the training days. The training had been a roller coaster, there were days where I was certain I could do it, others where finding a word other than curse word was hard to find in me describing it. On this day none of those things mattered. In my house as a child “I can’t” wasn’t allowed to be said to anything. If you didn’t know how to do it, you’d say “I don’t know how,” and was taught, but never were you allowed to say “I can’t.” I owe my parents the world for teaching me this lesson. I never once thought “I can’t” during this race. I had the choice to fight or make excuses and I fought through it all just like I’ve been taught all my life. Thank you everyone for all the support and kind words you’ve given through all the training. Who knows if I could have done it without this, but if I had to choose I’d choose with you every time.
Wednesday I woke up finished packing and headed to the airport to pick up the rental car. After stopping to pick up salt sticks, Justin and I were off to Wisconsin. Driving through Tennessee and part of Kentucky isn’t bad, but Indiana is the worst. There is absolutely nothing in Indiana but the gigantic electricity producing windmills (not very entertaining at the 9th hr of a road trip.) Finally around 11:30 pm we arrived in Chicago and crashed at a friends place. Thursday woke up around 7 and got back on the road to finish the last leg on the ride. The ride between Chicago and Wisconsin was just as boring as Indiana. Then finally out of nowhere the little oasis of civilization that is Madison appeared and we were finally there.
We arrived too early to check-in but the hotel let us lock our bikes in a conference room so we could go out and explore Madison. Madison is a college town where most of the people walk around frowning, until you talk to them, and then they turn into the nicest people imaginable. With not much to see besides the university, I grabbed some lunch and headed back to the hotel to finish check-in.
Once checked in I headed to Monona Terrace to check in for the race. At the race packet pickup I nearly lost it. The nice volunteer asked the simple question “you ready?” and I had to fight back tears. My stomach was in knots. That simple question changed things from a thought of a race that had been looming in the distance for what seemed like forever to being a real thing. I was really shaken. Wondering around lost, thinking I had gotten myself into something over my head, I bumped into Jody who was very encouraging and tried her best to get me to think positive, but I had already lost the battle that day. Afterward Justin and I headed back to the hotel and later out to dinner and called it a night early.
Friday morning I woke up to the best continental breakfast spread I have ever had. Sausage Biscuits, eggs, fruit, bacon, 4 types of juice, and fresh fruit was standard. After the nice breakfast, I rode back to Monona Terrace with Justin to register since he had left his ID at the hotel on Thursday. After our trip to the Terrace we decided we would skip the group swim after talking with a local and instead ride the run course on our bikes. The local guy told us how disgusting the lake is/was and how it affected him the prior week. If someone from Madison had that to say about their own lake I was compelled to listen. During the bike ride we decided that we would jump in the lake for a few minutes the next day just to see the water temperature. The bike ride was uneventful, though the run course seemed interesting with a lot of turns and changes in scenery. I knew that would help me being such a weak runner, visual stimuli are always a plus. After the ride I had the smallest noodle bowl ever for lunch and headed back to the hotel to pack transition bags and rest up before the athlete’s meeting later that night. The athlete’s dinner/meeting was not what I expected. The food was absolutely horrible. I’m not even exaggerating. The energy in the place was cool but the people who missed it didn’t miss anything. Afterwards a few people went to a local pub to have a drink and just reflect and enjoy each others company. Later my friends from home arrived so I headed back and went out with them for a few minutes before retiring for the night.
Saturday was really uneventful. Woke up to same amazing breakfast then laid around watching football and playing on facebook until about 1, then I finally got up and took my transition bags and bike to be turned in. Then it was back to the hotel to rest up for the group dinner later than night. During the day my only focus was to keep drinking water and reminding myself that I could do this. My fear was starting to be replaced with the pure feeling of being crazy. Crazy doesn’t walk around scared, crazy finds humor in the fear, I was all laughs. During the day I got a couple good luck calls and voice mails that kept me entertained. My attitude was the complete opposite of Friday at check-in. Maybe it was the two days spent verbally telling myself “I can do this” or just fate but things were looking up. Some of the others went out for runs but I decided I would take the day completely off. Instead of running I went out to a local grocery store to look for cheese wheels. One of my friends who came to support me made a bet that he would finish a cheese wheel in the 17 hrs I had to complete the Ironman. Sadly finding a cheese wheel in Madison proved to be too great of a task, so my challenger and I settled on a 5 lb brick of cheese. Had dinner with the group, where the food was much nicer than the Ironman dinner, and got to enjoy the company of my fellow racers from Atlanta Tri Club (thanks for putting this together Annie.) It was nice and low key and perfect for the night before. Really did calm what nerves were left knowing I wasn’t alone. From dinner I took that energy back to the hotel and shut down for the night. Tomorrow was the big day.
Race Day
Pre race:
Sunday morning I woke up around 3:45 and headed down the hall to breakfast. The hotel started breakfast at 4 on race morning for the racers. For breakfast I had two sausage biscuits, and a muffin with honey and a banana. Went back to the room and packed my carbo-pro and special needs bags for the day and I was ready to head to Monona Terrace. Matt’s brother was kind enough to drop Matt, Justin and I off at 5 which gave me one less thing to worry about Body marking at the Terrace was not very organized but fighting through the crowd gave me something else to focus on which was good. Justin and I made it through body marking and headed to drop off special needs bags. Only we didn’t know where special needs drop off was. After asking around I found out drop off was a few blocks away, which ended up being a good thing because it was right in front of a Starbucks with no line for the restroom. During this time Justin and I got separated but we ended up finding each other in the transition room where I put on my wetsuits and set out for the water. Time was flying, I remember asking what time it was and someone saying 6:20 so I knew I had to pick it up. On the way to the water Justin and I got separated and I was on my own ready to start my journey. Nervous yet confident, I finally made it into the water with about 10 minutes to spare. Saw Ron and Amy before entering the water exchanged good lucks then we too separated right when we entered the water. I spent the first couple of minutes getting acclimated to the frigid water, focusing on not hyperventilating while the ice water took my breath away. I made my way to the back because I honestly didn’t know what to expect and this was the part of the race I was most afraid of. Calm and listening to the commentator, there was a pause in him talking and unexpectedly, “boom” the race was on.
Swim:
The swim start was like nothing I had ever experienced. While I started way back there were people still trying to swim over me and pulling my feet. In my mind I was sure we looked like spawning Salmon. It felt like survival of the fittest. Sometime before the first turn I swam up on Amy, I could tell from her stroke, and stayed for a few strokes until I realized I could go a little faster and still be completely comfortable so I pressed on. Swimming along I found myself stuck behind the world’s largest/fastest breast stroker. This guy’s legs were like weapons. Every time I thought I had passed him he would reappear just kicking folks. Reached the first turn, which made the connector at rush hour look like a running faucet, and was slowly pulled around by the heard of people going through the same thing. All the turns would be like this, in retrospect it was sort of nice to break up the long straight-aways. At the end of the first lap I got extremely cold. I was shivering and swimming just wanting to get out of the water. I did the trick that every child knows and it helped for a while but eventually I got back cold and stomach issues came with it. On the second lap my stomach was bubbling uncontrollably and I didn’t want the wet suit stripper to have any surprises so that was my complete focus on the second lap. Luckily the second lap seemed to go by really fast.
T1
I got out of the water got my wetsuit stripped right behind Julie and began the walk up the helix. At first I tried to run but I was just too cold. Walking up the helix I tried my best not to make eye contact with people because I didn’t want to become emotional, but I could hear everyone saying “look at him he’s shaking, he’s so cold” they were absolutely right. I was freezing. Once inside the convention center I knew there was a restroom in the building that I could use to avoid the porta potties so I went there and took care of the bubbling from the swim and while washing my hands I saw my eyes were blood shot red. I was little nervous but I knew it was going to be a long day and there was no reason to rush. Since I was so cold I decided I would wear the leg warmers I purchased on Wednesday in Madison and my arm warmers hoping I would warm up. A helper came and helped me put on socks and my jersey and suggested I take a few minutes to warm up It wouldn’t benefit me to rush out and have to drop out. He told me “it’s a long day, be smart about things.” That was good advice that I took with me for the rest of the day. I was off on the bike.
Bike:
The Start of the bike was pretty uneventful and I was just calmly taking it all in, not going too hard, just maintaining a comfortable pace. I was still cold but in retrospect I think I was working against myself with the leg warmers and maybe even the arm warmers. I was sweating under the warmers and the little wind that would make it through the warmers would only make me think I was much colder. I was drinking and taking 2 salt pills an hour really just moving along comfortably making great timing. Then the cramping hit at about mile 30. I was in such good shape psychologically that I told myself “good thing it’s the quads and not the hamstrings, because you can push through this.” I was absolutely right too. I finally reached the 3 big hills of the course and had no problem with the first, it was long but nothing I hadn’t seen before. Then at the second hill I turned the corner and my eyes locked on an Indian that looked eerily familiar. It was Tracia. Once I figured it out my eyes zoomed out to see Jeanine as a Pirate and Jody as Superwoman. Trying hard not to laugh at the girls, Beau dressed as Elvis popped out from the other side of the street. This street was filled with spectators but none were as decked out as the ATC four. Beau ran all the way up the hill with me giving me motivation. I felt like a star it was an awesome experience. I can’t say enough how much it meant to me to have their support. They were the best part of the bike course. Then the third, and worst in my opinion, hill came I had to get off my bike at the top to stretch. Got off the bike and a spectator from Chicago held my bike and gave me a pep talk to help me keep my head in the race while I was stretching. Then back to riding it was. Saw my friends Josh, Andrew, Adam, Jonathan and Chad in some town where the streets were lined with barricades and crowds and wondered how Chad was doing on the cheese challenge but I didn’t stop. My mind was locked on making it to special needs to take off the warmers. Pulled in to special needs and a volunteer took my bike while I took off the leg warmers and placed them in my bag and tied the arm warmers around the seat post of my bike to use later on the run if necessary. Ate half of my peanut butter and honey sandwich and made my way to the port-a-potty to re-lube for the second lap. I sat my water bottle outside of the potty while I went in for obvious reasons, and when I came out it was gone. That hurt a little but gave me idea of the next water stop to focus on for the next leg. Annie pulled up all smiles, I was happy to see her. Together we set out on the second loop.
On the second loop Annie and I passed each other a couple of times before my quads began to twitch so I backed off. I had to stop at the next water stop to stretch some more, but never thought I wouldn’t make it. While riding I knew I was going to make the cutoff and with Annie in front of me I was excited that she would make it because I knew she had been worried about it. Riding a long a lady as she passes me (no I’m at all embarrassed) tells me “you’re hot.” Completely in a stupor I reach to feel my forehead before realizing she wasn’t talking about the temperature. As awkward as probably possible all I could come up with was “thank you.” After debating for the next few miles if I was insane and imagining things, or what other words I could have confused with hers, I decided everything was real. It was something else to go in the smile bank. The lady and I would keep passing each other until we got back to the hilly section where my legs locked up again and I would have to get off the bike on the first hill. I stopped and stretched some more then got back on the bike. I made it up the second hill okay, saw Jeanine and a few other cheering spectators, before my legs completely locked up on the third hill. Got off my bike and my legs were spazzed completely straight. One of the spectators, Chris from Chicago dressed in a too small cheerleading outfit came to help me out. This dude reminded me of a little league coach, well besides the cheerleading outfit. He completely took over. He told me take my time let my legs calm down and that I was gonna make the cut off so the only thing I needed to worry about was letting my legs calm down. While I was there waiting he ran back down the hill and got a coke and couple of bottles of water. He made me wash the salt off my face, because he said it would make me feel better, and repeatedly tried to get me to have some Coke until I finally relented. The Coke was pretty good but I could only handle a few sips. Then he ran back and got a banana told me to eat as much of that as I could. This dude is going to be an awesome Dad some day. Finally he told me to enjoy the next 20 miles and that he would see me at the finish line. I left there feeling confident and completely amazed that some random stranger made me feel like his day hinged on my success. Back on the bike and I saw my friends for the second time. It’s cool they stuck around to see me for all of about 10 seconds definitely helped. After seeing them, for the first time since being on the bike I had to pee. Pulled in to the last water stop handled my business and I was on my way back to Monona Terrace. Excited at first, then a huge hill popped out of no where and I had to pee again. There weren’t anymore rest stops before transition and in the athlete’s meeting they were pretty adamant about not peeing outside of the provided portables, so when I crested the hill I decided to pee off the side of my bike. Wasn’t the neatest but I had dry socks and I hadn’t disobeyed any rules. On the worst road of the course, I was becoming mentally tired and was pretty close to losing it. The bumps in the road were spaced perfectly about 3 seconds apart. I wanted nothing more in the world than to be off the bike. I came up on a guy from Air Force and passed him. This gave me small comfort knowing someone else was hurting worst than I was. After what seemed like forever, I was finally crossing the parking lot we had to cross to get out and entered the no passing zone, I knew it was almost over. Going up the helix at Monona my smile returned and I was excited to be done with the bike. Took my arm warmers off my seat post and my shoes off and in to transition I went.
T2:
Once I got to transition a volunteer came and dumped my things out began taking off my socks and putting the new ones on and my shoes then my legs locked up again. He went and got what I think was a Chiropractor and they guy began ART on my leg. Hurt like hell, but I knew it would help during the run. Didn’t seem like long but once I learned my transition time it must have been a while he was there helping me. Even after he finished I was still cramping and he said just give yourself a few minutes to let your legs calm down but you’ll feel better once you start moving. So I sat there until I was able to bend over and tie my shoes without cramping. Once I tied my shoes I still had to changed shorts so I got that done and the volunteer repacked my things and told me I had seven hours to get it done. He too wished me luck and told me he would see me at the finish line.
Run:
I walked out the door and head to start the run and I hear “William Archie”, I turn to see Amy. She yells “I am so happy to see you” as she gets her sunscreen applied, and I walk back to see what the hell she’s doing so far back. She tells me how horrible of a day she has had and we start the run. I ran all of about 100 yards with her before she was gone. I don’t know if I have ever smiled so much during those first few miles. I was so happy to be off the bike, words can not explain. After I came down off the high of not riding anymore around mile 3 I began to focus on rest stop to rest stop. Run as much as I could and to smile at every one I could. While I was moving pretty slow, I was having fun. The crowd and the volunteers were amazing. People would call out your name like they had known you all your life, and at this point in the day my name was about the only thing I could comprehend without thinking. At about mile 8 my legs cramped up again at the end of State Street, probably because the street was lined with people and I inadvertently picked up my snails pace from the adrenaline. I stretched and pressed on. At mile 10 I sat down to tie my shoes and when it was time to get up, I had a problem. Right while I’m trying to get up Justin passes on his second loop, and hears me call out to two volunteers for help up. He walks over to help me and all I could think of is the both of us stuck on the ground so I told him “get out of the way and go finish your race.” Afterward the two volunteers came and pulled me up and I was back to moving. On the way back in I did some math and realized I was going to finish the first lap in about 3:30ish and that was cutting it a bit close so I tried to pick it up for the last 3 miles in. Coming in to the turn around everyone thought I was coming in to finish, it was a tad bit of a let down having to explain to people that I had 13 more miles to go. Once I would tell them they would all go in to motivational mode telling me I had it. Turned around checked my special needs for more Gu’s to find the first thing I had forgot to do. Still I wasn’t worried the course was well stocked with food and my spirits were really high. Re-tied my shoes and started the second loop. On the second lap I began drinking chicken broth which was amazing. I had never had broth alone as a drink, and it absolutely blew my mind how incredible it was. I would run for a few minutes walk for a few. Around 18 or 20 I knew for sure I would make it and I was truly on cloud nine thanking the spectators and talking to everyone who wanted to talk to me. It’s funny every time I would say “thank y’all” the volunteers would give me a weird yet appreciative look. I’m guessing they only hear y’all in movies. At about mile 23 I came up on a walking brigade of about 10-15 people. I walked and talked with them for while before pulling away. Most yelled in shocked when they saw me run ever so slowly away “you can still run, dude that’s awesome”. About this time I started thinking of my Mom waiting on me. Sadly she couldn’t make it up to Wisconsin, but all I could think of is the bear hug she gave me after I graduated from high school. I imagine she would be that excited when she saw me cross the finish line. Then finally I could tell I was getting closer, emotions started shooting all over the place when Brendan, Katrin’s business partner appeared out of nowhere. I didn’t recognize him but he was wearing an ATC shirt. Initially I wasn’t sure if I was hallucinating when I couldn’t figure out who he was. I had met him the day before but my memory had completely failed by that point. Our conversation went like this
Brendan: Everyone is waiting for you just around the corner
Me: Really
Brendan: Yeah, Katrin, David, the whole gang, are waiting for you just around these couple of blocks
Me: (smiles) Alright
I started back running and turned the first corner thinking I would be able to see the start of the finishers shoot but I couldn’t. Immediately my emotions tanked, then I heard Claire call out, again my emotions started swirling. Luckily Claire approached me super intense telling me to “Get it William” “Go, Go, Go” without even thinking I was running again. I’m sure if she had been soft spoken I would have lost it, been all crying and shit. It’s funny I met Claire at the John Tanner sprint triathlon she was cheering at the top of lungs for me at the finish line, she didn’t know who I was only that I had an ATC jersey so she cheered, kind of cool that this race ended the same. I ran on and right when I turned the corner I could hear the music and see the start of the finishers shoot. As I made the turn I could hear Mike Reilly “Here he comes,” while he was saying this people were reaching out giving me high fives, I couldn’t make out any faces in the crowd. It was a very unique feeling. “From Atlanta, Georgia, William Archie, You. Are. An.” and the crowd screamed “IRONMAN!” I felt like I was floating. I couldn’t stop smiling nor did I want to
Post Race:
The song Dynamite was blasting and David Cater came from around the corner and he looked as happy as I felt. Cater escorted me out of the finisher’s area where Josh, Adam, Jonathan, Andrew and Chad were waiting. I was happy to see them and they looked super excited too, since my Mom wasn’t able to come they were my family. They spent 16 hours seeing me for all of maybe a minute and even relayed info to my Mama back in New Orleans. I asked Chad about the cheese, he dodge that question like the guy in the Matrix dodging bullets. Justin congratulated me, it was awesome because we set out on this journey together knowing we’d have someone who would keep us honest on the training. The endorphins were at an all time high. Jody came around the corner and gave me the biggest hug and I nearly lost it but I kept it together. She’s been so supportive through it all. Before I knew it everyone was around, I had a huge family of friends there supporting me it was an incredible feeling. We took some pictures and I swallowed a sandwich that I couldn’t taste and pondered on what I had just accomplished.
Summary:
I set out and completed something that I didn’t even know I could do when I signed up for it a year prior. I had never completed a century, run a road race (I think my farthest run was about 12 miles), or swam farther than 1200m when I committed to this race. Faith, family, and friends help me through a lot of the training days. The training had been a roller coaster, there were days where I was certain I could do it, others where finding a word other than curse word was hard to find in me describing it. On this day none of those things mattered. In my house as a child “I can’t” wasn’t allowed to be said to anything. If you didn’t know how to do it, you’d say “I don’t know how,” and was taught, but never were you allowed to say “I can’t.” I owe my parents the world for teaching me this lesson. I never once thought “I can’t” during this race. I had the choice to fight or make excuses and I fought through it all just like I’ve been taught all my life. Thank you everyone for all the support and kind words you’ve given through all the training. Who knows if I could have done it without this, but if I had to choose I’d choose with you every time.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Don't sweat the small things
So it's Friday and it's been a rollercoaster of a day. For the last week i've been waiting on today to get my new bike (yes i'm finally getting a new bike) and today arrives and the bike store let me down. After getting my hopes up only to be shot down, I finally reeled myself in. I mean, my best friend is dealing with her grandfather being in the hospital and i'm thinking about a bike - Ding! welcome back perspective. I also took the time today to read a race report from Ironman Wisconsin from 2005 when it rained all day and the temps were in the 50's. Yeah that definitely was what I needed to let me know without sacrifice and determination, I won't make it to the finish line. So now I go on my second century in as many weeks on my faithful roadie with no bitching. I should be thankful I even have a bike period.
My training this week has been okay but I did take Wednesday off from running and biking to give my legs a chance to recover after last weekend. Spent some time doing swim drills Wednesday trying to get stronger. I am definitely getting closer to reaching my goal. After Thursday's Buckhead Bellyache ride I upped the brick mileage to 4 miles, in the next couple of weeks I plan on getting that to 6 or 7. Bricks, I feel, are definitely underestimated in my current circle of friends/training mates. As we get scarily closer to September I want this now as much as I wanted it before. It's crazy how far i've come yet how much farther I have to go in such a short time. There is a slight chance I may get to Wisconsin before September to see the hellish bike course, the jury is still out on that though.
Sunday I give back to the triathlon community by voluncheering at the Iron girl triathlon. Good luck to all my friends racing. See you on the course. I hope everyone else is well.
My training this week has been okay but I did take Wednesday off from running and biking to give my legs a chance to recover after last weekend. Spent some time doing swim drills Wednesday trying to get stronger. I am definitely getting closer to reaching my goal. After Thursday's Buckhead Bellyache ride I upped the brick mileage to 4 miles, in the next couple of weeks I plan on getting that to 6 or 7. Bricks, I feel, are definitely underestimated in my current circle of friends/training mates. As we get scarily closer to September I want this now as much as I wanted it before. It's crazy how far i've come yet how much farther I have to go in such a short time. There is a slight chance I may get to Wisconsin before September to see the hellish bike course, the jury is still out on that though.
Sunday I give back to the triathlon community by voluncheering at the Iron girl triathlon. Good luck to all my friends racing. See you on the course. I hope everyone else is well.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Where in the world is
I've been missing for a while, but i'm okay. During my hiatus from the blog life has been a roller coaster ride. The roughest period being May 14th to June 4th. During that time I lost all interest in Triathlon, from the training, to the nagging injuries, to the simple conversations. I went through three weeks of absolutely miserable workouts. Luckily I train with a group of which I can call quite a few friends. Some of my friends could see me falling off and really helped get me back in the right mindset, with simple words. Sometimes being surrounded by good people makes all the difference, especially women with their nurturing skills.
Also in my time away I completed the swim and the bike leg of the Macon half ironman distance race. This race came right in the middle of me being sick of everything and I really wasn't prepared, nor did I actually want to do it, period. Everyone told me I should make it a training day so I did. Going into the race I decided I wouldn't do the run leg because it would take longer for me to recover from that scorching hot run, and cause me to miss out on valuable training time. One okay swim and miserable bike ride later, not running was the smartest decision i've made in a long time. Macon never has to worry about me coming back. That place threw the first the perfect storm of misery at me and definitely made a point
This past weekend I completed my first century ride on my third attempt. The third definitely was a charm. A hot, hilly, charm. Now it's time to go out for a run on my super tired legs in this Georgia heat. I hope everyone has been well.
Also in my time away I completed the swim and the bike leg of the Macon half ironman distance race. This race came right in the middle of me being sick of everything and I really wasn't prepared, nor did I actually want to do it, period. Everyone told me I should make it a training day so I did. Going into the race I decided I wouldn't do the run leg because it would take longer for me to recover from that scorching hot run, and cause me to miss out on valuable training time. One okay swim and miserable bike ride later, not running was the smartest decision i've made in a long time. Macon never has to worry about me coming back. That place threw the first the perfect storm of misery at me and definitely made a point
This past weekend I completed my first century ride on my third attempt. The third definitely was a charm. A hot, hilly, charm. Now it's time to go out for a run on my super tired legs in this Georgia heat. I hope everyone has been well.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Happenings
It's been a while since i've posted but the feeling for me lately is it's been a while since i've done anything not related to swimbikerun. Thursday, I hit a low point and made myself step away from the group training on Friday and Saturday. I really needed the drinks I had Friday night and to suffer through my run Saturday (at 3 in the evening it was super hot) alone. It was a nice break from the norm, though it was also nice to meet back up with the gang Saturday night to just hang out for dinner. I knew when I signed up for the Ironman it would take a lot of sacrifice, but my idea of a lot does not give this commitment justice. From talking to others, it's hitting everyone like a stomach bug at a buffet. Hopefully this is just a fad and the other 23 people make it to Wisconsin with me.
Coming up i'm going to attempt another 70.3. According to most this race will be much more difficult than Gulf Coast (which was completely flat, besides the water). Word around the block is this is one of the hilliest 70.3 bike courses around and it has absolutely no shade on the bike or the run and we've been close to 90's here lately. If cramping was a competition, i'd win, so what better time to work on nutrition. I have a good feeling after this race, whether I finish it or not, i'm going to have a reason to Hate Macon Georgia.
Looking forward to this extended weekend, if only there was kareoke on tap like last year. Happy Memorial Day!
Coming up i'm going to attempt another 70.3. According to most this race will be much more difficult than Gulf Coast (which was completely flat, besides the water). Word around the block is this is one of the hilliest 70.3 bike courses around and it has absolutely no shade on the bike or the run and we've been close to 90's here lately. If cramping was a competition, i'd win, so what better time to work on nutrition. I have a good feeling after this race, whether I finish it or not, i'm going to have a reason to Hate Macon Georgia.
Looking forward to this extended weekend, if only there was kareoke on tap like last year. Happy Memorial Day!
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