IM France

Wow, first of all, I have to say I have the best friends and support network in the world.  Thank you to everyone who took time to think about me yesterday.  It was an incredible experience and the hardest thing I have ever done by far.  Here is my race recap :-)

Arriving in Nice

After dragging my bike box several miles I finally found the friend's place I was staying at.  I assembled my bike completely by itself thanks to EBP Cycling Lab lending me some tools and managed a test ride to the expo as soon as it was put together.  I am enamored with this city and its spectacular transit lanes for cycling.  The expo was amazing and it was so exciting seeing 'friends' as I call all of the other competitors I see in passing.  I bought my official race shirt and picked up everything I would need for the race: bib, bags, athlete guide, etc.  I decided to rent a wetsuit as well despite never swimming in one because of the chilly water. 

Friday

So excited that my mom and brother made it to Nice alright to watch me.  I met up with my mom at the airport in the morning and then we rested for a bit prior to returning to the expo and getting tickets to the pasta party in Parc Phoenix. The park was fabulous and the whole setup was just wonderful.  I was really immersed in the excitement of the race and enjoyed meeting some fellow triathletes.  The food was delicious too...cheese, bread, pasta...and the best part was these grocery store like baskets of fruit that I conveniently absconded with in the masses.  The race directors described the event and introduced the pros, hope to be one of them one day :-)  We left the park and met up with Tommy, first time I had seen him in over a year and a half since he was in Afghanistan and I immediately started crying when we ran to each other for the best hug of all time. 

Saturday

Explored St Laurent du Var in the morning, tested out the wetsuit and played with rocks on the beach, and then checked my gear and bike in in the afternoon before getting food from Old Nice...all in prep for race day :-)

Sunday

Woke up at 4am, made it to the race close to 5am...I hadn't slept a wink from nerves, running through the race in my mind, and just being far too anxious.  I had been nervous about the air in my tires and procured a pump from a fellow competitor as the race didn't have extra available to my disappointment.  But all was set up and I rejoined my family in my wetsuit and sporting my WolfPack Tri suit, sort of ready for the swim.

The Swim...walked down to the 'beach' aka rocks and decided to attempt a warmup, fell down several rocks into the water and managed a quick swim.  Went back to the 1:15 section and spoke to racemates about the course just to feel comfortable with it.  I was super nervous about getting into the water over the rocks, but I managed.  From there I recall a brief thought of nice, this isn't so bad.  Right before a kick to the face and having swimmers swim over me right and left.  For the whole first loop I was constantly battling flailing body parts all the while anxiously looking to sight the markers.  I made it out of the first loop around 50 min and waiting in line to get back in the water for the second loop.  I was grateful for the wetsuit, largely in part for protecting me from vicious toenails and grappling hands.  The second loop was tough as we had to swim into the waves again, but it was much smaller and before we knew it we were running through the showers.  My only thought was cool, 1/3 of the way done and the longest consecutive swim I have ever swam!  High-fived Tommy on my way to transition and took my sweet time getting sunscreened up for the bike portion.

Bike...hard to mount with so many people around so I walked my bike out a ways.  Then I was cruising at 22-23mph on the flat stretch.  To my dismay, I had set my watch incorrectly originally so I had to reload it to the bike setting and had no idea on final times, I also forgot to reset my bike computer so the whole course I was never really aware how far I was or what my time was.  It took me finishing the run to realize my Garmin was in kilometers the whole time and not actually broken for the GPS.  As we progressed on the bike towards the hills I started getting a little anxious about gears.  That was probably good because as soon as we got the ‘short’ 12% gradient for 500m my gear switching skills became evident, aka my lack of them.  I lost control of my bike and sort of toppled off of it.  Then I tried to remount on the aforementioned hill and ended up clinging to a fence as my bike went backwards.  I gave up on that and walked the bike the rest of the way, boo Miami and flatlands.  The people in the villages were simply wonderful, and my first downhill was the best feeling ever!!  I quickly realized my ideal 5:30 time on the bike would be out of reach as I arrived at the 12 miles of climbing.  HARDEST THING I HAVE EVER DONE HANDS DOWN.  Luckily the views were spectacular as I had ample time to appreciate them crawling at around 6mph on the bike.  I made a trade-off of getting off the bike to eat food and stretch slightly during periods of this climb to try and save my screaming quads for the run.  I am so so grateful that I bought a water bottle for my aerobars, I stopped and refilled it at every aid station and kept replenishing with Nuun hydration.  Sidenote…if you are ever in this position, don’t ever, ever look far in front of you, because seeing bikes still going uphill miles in the distance into fog and nothingness really doesn’t inspire you.  Somehow I made it to the top despite 0 hill, let alone mountain training.  Reaching Gourdon was the best feeling ever, until I got the downhill at 30mph+.  Good thing I am gutsy because I rode my aerobars the whole first downhill (shh don’t tell Heather).  The worst part of the downhill was not knowing where the hairpin turns would be, but more so seeing the bike crashes and ambulances rushing by.  Gave you appreciation for how dangerous it was…I even watched a guy completely burn out his tires as he nearly crashed into the side of a cliff because he ignored the slow down signs.  I luckily never got a flat tire, but there was no shortage of those in this course.  It was a tad bit nervewracking maneuvering with cars coming opposite of you when you wanted to take corners wide.  Time after time, I would look in front of me and think, geez another uphill???  But other than that my mind was blank, for 6+ hours all I did was focus on the course, bike handling as much of it required being out of the aerobars, reminding myself that I CHOSE this course, and avoiding speed bumps at 30mph.   Never once did I think quitting was an option, though I was slightly unexcited for the run…The last 12 miles was flat and I cruised in passing tons of people at 21mph+ towards the finish.  As you near the transition zone, it was definitely tough seeing all the people already so far into the run, but I also knew there were tons of people behind me.

The run…again I took my sweet time in transition, ensuring I was ready as much as possible for the marathon.  I know I probably could have gone much faster, however I utilized the strategy of run fast, walk the aid station, run fast, walk the aid station…you get the idea.  I surprisingly felt great even with sore quads.  I am glad I wore the compression sleeves!  The aid stations were lights at the end of my tunnel; they were such simple motivators.   All I could think about was how amazing everyone was and how incredible it was each and every participant was continuously putting one foot in front of the other despite all of the hardships and exhaustion.  Whenever I walked, I cheered everyone on and found a fellow walker to distract them with questions…or perhaps annoy them and that is why they shortly started running again…it is up for debate.  Maybe they actually couldn’t understand English, but hello seems to be common to all.  I found humor in the crowd and in the fact that everytime someone cheered for me I immediately replied with ‘Merci’ no matter if they were cheering in English or not.  Maybe they all think I am French now, probably not though.  The second and third lap I had gotten sick from so much liquid and gel intake that I walked more than the first, and I also wanted to go hard on the last.  My goals changed throughout the race to running under 13 hours and completing a marathon faster than my first marathon (4:27).  Both goals accomplished J  I had thought a run with 4 loops sounded miserable, but it was the best thing ever, completely flat, tons of crowd to cheer you on, and fun little wrist bands with a bell to ring after each lap for tracking.  I found myself looking at wristbands everywhere and thinking, yippee, only 2 more to go, or only 1 more, and then I got to the last lap and I hugged my brother twice with salty/sweaty hugs as he had to leave and I just found myself all choked up.  I was almost there, so close, so close to running the carpet to the finish line that you see in all the youtube videos, so close to the grandstands, just almost there.  I couldn’t believe it, I had done the hardest thing ever, swam my farthest, biked my farthest, and ran my farthest after both disciplines.  I never considered quitting, I never thought I couldn’t do it.  I did earn a new appreciation for RAAM though on that bike!!  As I finished I almost started crying, I tried to eat but I was just in a daze.  I found my mom and excitedly told her about the cycling adventures. 

Follow-up…I couldn’t be in too much pain because I managed to bike back to the apartment just fine and walked for over an hour this morning.  Didn’t sleep last night but finally got some food in me so I feel ready to go.  I loved this race, loved the amazing views and incredible journey, and I am so grateful to be an IRONMAN J Thank you everyone!!!!  I love you all.