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  JoAnne
The Ironman!! Wow!! What an incredible experience! I have gone through multiple phases of delight, delirium, and delusion. My race went as planned:
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Primary Goals
Enjoy the day!
Calm Mind
Happy Stomach
Mentally Strong
Great Finish!
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Secondary Goals
Swim 1:30
T1 :15
Bike 7:30
T2 :15
Run 6:00
Total Time 15:30
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I achieved all of my primary goals and my finish time was 15:47! When I finished I felt so good the massage therapist at the athlete's tent said that I didn't look like I had done an Ironman! So for the first 18 hours after the race I felt like a fraud since I had little to no soreness and plenty of energy. I woke up the next day around 5:00 am and did laundry before breakfast! Somehow I had the delusion that this had been easy! Then around 4:00 p.m. it hit me and my body had a great delayed reaction where my quads cramped and I was doing the Ironman shuffle (finally I felt like I had done the Ironman - must have been the adrenaline that was keeping me going!) Here is a brief summary of my Ironman!
Pre-race
We drove to Coeur d'Alene and arrived Wednesday evening. Spent most of the week relaxing and sleeping a lot (this is key), practiced a little swimming and biking and got the lay of the land. There is so much temptation to overdo it. The event expo is huge, with product demonstrations and merchandise galore. (I did my job in supporting the Ironman corporation and contributed nicely to the Ironman revenue stream.)
Developing organizational skills and attention to detail are key to doing an Ironman! At registration they give you transition bags to load up to bring down when you check your bike in the day before. Everyone gets a designated space for their bike and the bags are lined up in rows in numerical order from 1-2100. Imagine a field of white bags
On race day I woke up around 4:00 am after about six hours sleep. I downed an Ensure, 2 pieces of toast with peanut butter/jam and a soy latte. Brought down Gatorade and water to fill my bottles on the bike, dropped off my special needs bags and then was off to put on my wetsuit and heartrate monitor. Linda and I put smiley faces on the bottoms of our feet to give the people swimming behind us a chuckle. We walked down to the beach and across the starting mats which beeped that they had registered our racing chips that were strapped around our ankles. The chips would be used to track our progress throughout the race. Butterflies were flitting about in our stomachs and we were getting excited about being in the water which was a nice 63 degrees - just right for a 2.4 mile swim.
The Swim
1700 people lined up on the beach about 10 deep. The cannon went Boom! and we were off. I have always thought that the swimmers looked like a school of fish fighting to swim upstream and sure enough it feels like it! The draft is so strong that you are literally being pulled along. I rather enjoyed it but after getting mangled a little I wanted to swim in more open water and found myself swimming so far off the course that I was half way to Montana. After two loops I was done and running up to the transition where they ripped my wet suit off of me. That was fun! I was then handed my "swim to bike" transition bag that I had packed and checked in. I had a nice wet towel in a ziploc to wipe myself down. My put on my sunglasses, bike shorts with bag balm, gloves and race belt. They stuffed my wetsuit, goggles, cap and earplugs in my bag and I was off running to get my bike.
The Bike
I got on my bike and made sure that the computer was working. The bike consists of 2 loops with quite a few opportunities to see people going the other way. I saw Linda, Traci and Gail. I thought that I might be able to catch Traci so I peddled my heart out and then said forget it as I settled into my pace. Consequently my first loop time is fast and my second is slow as the cross and head winds proved a little challenging for me. I was constantly checking in with myself to see how I felt. I was feeling pretty good although at one point I thought that running a marathon after this bike ride was a little over the top! I kept repeating Linda's mantra, "spin, spin, spin, eat, eat, eat." I ate a GU every 30 minutes, an electrolyte pill every hour and constantly sucked on Gatorade and Accelerade. For a little variety I had TLC crackers and some Payday. I also took two TUMS at the beginning of my ride because my stomach was a little crampy. I used the restroom facilities too many times to count and wondered what the heck is going on? Later I remembered that I had downed my blood pressure diuretic with my vitamins in the a.m. - I usually leave it out on a strenuous workout. Annoying mistake....so annoying that I finally peed on the bike. Yes I did it, but only after assuring myself that I had a warm wet towel and a clean pair of running shorts and socks in my transition bag. It was pretty darn easy! I know!!!...tmi!! (too much information). Before I knew it I was pulling up to the bike finish and they grabbed my bike from me and handed me my transition bag. I trotted off to the changing tent.
The Run (aka Fast Walk/Slow Jog)
I was so happy to be off the bike and to my surprise Traci was there!! Yeah!! Hugs and kisses all around, how are you feeling, yep that bike was hard - whose idea was it to put that little steep hill in at the end?? And then Gail comes in and it was greetings all around again. We end up leaving the tent together and that was the best part for me to be with my training partners!!! Gail was saying, "Go, Go!!" and I was saying "No, No!! I want to be with you guys!!" After all, I had done the good time training plan for the good time race!! For about the first 5 miles or so we were together and it was fun to chat and check in. Then I felt pretty good so I decided to jog a little and then got separated from Gail and Traci. I thought ok, I feel good and I am making my primary goals now it's time to work on my run time. I thought that I might be able to figure out my pace but the miles weren't marked out individually so I couldn't get a good read. After a while I just got in a run/walk groove and enjoyed the evening. I had GUs every 45 minutes and drank chicken broth at every aid station. I also used a lot of sponges that they were handing out to cool myself down during the heat of the day and rinse myself during the evening. I did feel pretty fresh! One funny thing that I did when I was delirious was to pour Gatorade on my head by mistake! Gail had told me to put water on my head to cool myself off. At first I had water in the my water bottle and was squirting it on head to stay cool, after a few aid stations I filled it with Gatorade and continued to squirt my head until I touched my head and wondered why it felt so sticky!! I managed to use sponges to clean my hair up. That managed to keep me entertained for a few miles. Other entertainment included looking for signs of encouragement that people had made and Joe's funny chalk drawings. As I got closer to town on my second loop, who did I see waiting for me on the corner? Joe!!! He was so proud of me, cheering and encouraging me as I rounded the corner. He told me that the clock tower was my finish. I said, "That looks far!!" and he laughed! I started to run and Joe ran with me down the street to the chute!!! That was fun.
The Finish
Yes, the finish line is everything that everyone says that it is!! Cheering crowds line the street, exciting, loud and wonderful but too SHORT!!! I wanted to stand there for a few minutes and soak it all in! As you reach the finish line you have to run through a narrow chute which is actually about six feet wide but with everyone leaning in with their arms out cheering and slapping you five it seems like a tight squeeze! The chute is lined with people in grandstands, screaming and yelling for you. The music is loud and raucous and the crowd is going crazy. Of course I wanted to look good coming down the chute, so I ran like crazy, slapping everyone's hands, smiling and laughing while Mike Riley yelled "From Sacramento, California, JoAnne Obata! YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!!! I came across the line with my hands up (like Linda coached me for a good finish line picture) at 15 hours, 47 minutes and 24 seconds!
Once I finished the volunteers draped a big heavy medal around my neck, wrapped me in a space blanket, and got directly in my face and asked how I was feeling. Once they determined I didn't need immediate medical attention I was guided over to the picture area and then taken to the athlete's tent for pizza, coke and a massage!
Post Race
Everything is kind of a blur after that. I was feeling so good! After my massage, Joe walked me down to the beach to stand in the water and cool my legs down - that felt good. I changed into some long pants and Joe helped me gather my bike and bags of stuff. We met Marne and Gene back at the car, where Marne figured out that I had never tightened my back brake (for the whole race) after putting my wheel on - ROOKIE!! We drove back to the hotel and I found out how they had tracked my progress during the race. Gene had spread sheeted my predicted times against my actual times. They had also set my phone up to receive text messages on my actual split times as they came in. These techno wiz people are something else! Later around 1 a.m. Gail and I went to the Jacuzzi and it felt so good to have the water pounding on my feet. Later we found out from a physical therapist that we should be doing ice for two days and THEN Jacuzzi....oh well! I iced continuously after Monday night and now I feel like I could even run! FYI - Those orange Gatorade bags are totally waterproof. I filled ziplocs with ice and put them in the bag and iced my quads, calves, hamstrings, butt during the 16 hour drive back to Sacramento on Tuesday - voila!! No aches!
This triathlon was the best ever!!! But the training was the best part because of my fabulous training partners Gail, Traci, Linda and Ron that made the hard work fun! For all you future Ironmen I am a testimony that you can do an Ironman and enjoy every minute (without pain or major discomfort)!!!!
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