All the pregame festivities went well. Thursday morning I went for a swim with my regular open-water swim class, followed by a short run with a few members of the Endurance House team. From there we went out for breakfast and then back to the Monona Terrace for registration. I actually wasn't planning on doing registration on Thursday as a good chunk of the people I regularly train with were doing it on Friday- but when I got there, the line was short and I ran into a few friends, so I did it. And am I glad I did- the lines on Friday were long and slow moving.
After registration I made my way through the Ironman store, bought a couple of things and headed home to rest up.
Friday started with a swim with a few of my friends, including my training partner Julie- Julie and I spent the first few minutes in the water discussing where we should start on Sunday. That conversation freaked out a few of the others- as we were discussing how badly we got beat up in previous years and where we started for those swims and how from a completely different spot our friend Tara got her nose broke. I don't think anyone really wanted to hear about that- and I'm sure Julie and I made it all sound worse than it really was. It's kinda fun scaring people who have never been through that swim before.
Another post-swim breakfast and then the rest of the gang went through their final registration and from there we did a short (10 miles- on the nose) bike ride. Once again, the rest of the day was spent with my feet up, relaxing. Well, mostly relaxing- I spent some time packing up my transition bags.
Friday night was the athletes dinner. The Endurance House team met before the dinner for a few pictures and then went in for some pasta and to share stories of the year of training.
Saturday- 3 things on the agenda...1) Check in transition bags, 2) Check in the Bicycle, and 3) Dinner with my family at my sister's house. And again, as much of the rest of the day as I could, I spent with my feet up relaxing.
Sunday morning came quick- the alarm went off at 4am. I actually slept like a baby until that time- my wife said she got a good 90 minutes of sleep. I put down a big breakfast and then my cousin Brad and my friend Mike showed up for their ride downtown.
We checked our "special needs" bags and pumped up our bike tires. I have a ritual on race-day that also includes taping GU packets to the top tube of my bike and of course using the porta-potie 20 or 25 times. No- no nerves here.
O.K.- on to the swim.
We got down to the water and slowly swam out to our starting spot. We picked a spot about half-way between the corner buoy and the ski-jump and back just a little bit. There were a few rows of people right up front and then a nice empty space and a whole bunch of people back further- we went to the front of those people who were back a little ways- so we had a nice open space in front of us.
Good decision.
To start.
When the cannon went off, we started swimming and for about the first 50-100 yards had a nice clear path. I instantly got into the rhythm that I wanted- breathing very comfortably on both sides, no problems sighting, long-smooth strokes. This is going to be a great swim!
And then the entire field of 2800 swimmers descended on that nice clear area that I had.
I know that's not true- but that's what it seemed like. It seemed like everyone wanted to swim in the same place I did. And they were all willing to swim over me, push me under, kick me or do whatever it took to get to where they wanted to go.
I panicked. Bad.
I stopped swimming and looked around for a way out. There was no way out. And the swimmers just kept coming at me. I talked to a friend the next day who said at about that point he rolled over on his back and started crying.
When I realized that I couldn't get out of there, I decided that I would just have to swim. It wasn't pretty. The long-smooth strokes were gone. The breathing easy on both sides turned into gasping for breath on the right side whenever I could manage to rotate enough to do that. The easy sighting was gone- replaced by basically swimming wherever the rest of the pack was taking me.
My plan all along was to break up the swim into two shorter swims- swim one lap and then stop and rest for a bit, get my bearings and do another lap. I'm not the strongest swimmer in the world and I figured that breaking it up into more managable chunks would make sense. I didn't realize that it would be a necessity.
I finished the first lap and stopped- as planned. I looked at my watch and I was about 39 minutes in. Not bad, considering how rough that first lap was. I can still come in under 1:20.
But I didn't.
Somehow the second lap was just as bad as the first. Usually things start to calm down by the second lap- the swimmers start to get spread out and that creates a little more room. Not this time.
I finished up the second lap and headed in- looked at the clock as I exited the water...1:29. While I was disappointed in that time, I had a huge smile on my face. I was done with the swim and ready to bike. And...I was racing Ironman. That alone kept a smile on my face for most of the rest of the day!
Today is World Goth Day, a day to celebrate the post-punk, anti-establishment, dark clothes-wearing subculture.
I'm pretty sure I was a Goth for at least for little while, for two reasons.
1) I almost hardly ever wear pastels.
2) I used to...
Hello to all from Nfusion. Another round of challenges has moved beyond us all. Congrats to those of us lucky enough to have survived to this point. Sad to see the others eliminated as they were all very creative and talented. Good Bye to our new friends...
This morning it seemed like just about everyone was in the mood for some Funky Cold Medina...except Kitty. This ridiculous song made it all the way to number 3 in 1989. Jonathan says any song that references advertising dogs from the 80's has got...
Madison's summer music festival season kicks off this weekend with Brat Fest at Willow Island, where there are more bands than you can shake a bratwurst at! Check out the Brat Fest website to plan your itinerary.
Next up is the Marquette...
John Fogerty is making the talk show rounds this week, stopping in to see David Letterman Tuesday and Wednesday, and the ladies of "The View" on Thursday.
He's promoting his new album, "Wrote a Song For Everyone" which comes out next Tuesday...
It's a miracle that both Jonathan and KItty wanted to hear Barry Manilow this morning. They were not alone. Plenty of Fanilow's called in to vote yes. One caller claimed to have seen Manilow in concert 25 times!
The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, it is another gorgeous Monday, fit for another great show at the Crystal Corner tonight.
Through locking ourselves in the barn on Irish Lane, tossing some ideas around, as well as a few choice beverages to...
Hey everybody, we were thrown for a loop by the twist this week, but were able to make one of our "oldie but a goldie" songs fit the mold.
We have a few songs that we have played consistently over the years, and we are very happy that we will be...
Today is World Goth Day, a day to celebrate the post-punk, anti-establishment, dark clothes-wearing subculture.
I'm pretty sure I was a Goth for at least for little while, for two reasons.
1) I almost hardly ever wear pastels.
2) I used to...
Hello to all from Nfusion. Another round of challenges has moved beyond us all. Congrats to those of us lucky enough to have survived to this point. Sad to see the others eliminated as they were all very creative and talented. Good Bye to our new friends...
This morning it seemed like just about everyone was in the mood for some Funky Cold Medina...except Kitty. This ridiculous song made it all the way to number 3 in 1989. Jonathan says any song that references advertising dogs from the 80's has got...
Madison's summer music festival season kicks off this weekend with Brat Fest at Willow Island, where there are more bands than you can shake a bratwurst at! Check out the Brat Fest website to plan your itinerary.
Next up is the Marquette...
John Fogerty is making the talk show rounds this week, stopping in to see David Letterman Tuesday and Wednesday, and the ladies of "The View" on Thursday.
He's promoting his new album, "Wrote a Song For Everyone" which comes out next Tuesday...
It's a miracle that both Jonathan and KItty wanted to hear Barry Manilow this morning. They were not alone. Plenty of Fanilow's called in to vote yes. One caller claimed to have seen Manilow in concert 25 times!
The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, it is another gorgeous Monday, fit for another great show at the Crystal Corner tonight.
Through locking ourselves in the barn on Irish Lane, tossing some ideas around, as well as a few choice beverages to...
Hey everybody, we were thrown for a loop by the twist this week, but were able to make one of our "oldie but a goldie" songs fit the mold.
We have a few songs that we have played consistently over the years, and we are very happy that we will be...
