Here goes…the final installment. The race reporting might be more grueling than the actual event. So, where do I begin… how about the beginning…Hawi. Hawi is the usual turnaround for the Ironman World Championships. For UM, it symbolizes a dark stroll to the start-line (this day started at 6am, so we were literally in the deep dark night). However, the start was very grassroots and comfy…not a lot of fanfare and hoopla as IM and other events have become. I enjoy this because it keeps the purity of the actual event/sport.
As UM Ohana, we gathered in a circle and embraced hands to hear the shell horn be played along with race director Jane Bockus give us her blessing on the day’s events to come. Once completed, a quick countdown to the start was completed by those around and we were off on our 52.4 mile…ahh jaunt?
The thoughts that went through my head were that of a movie a good friend, namely Bill Kent, had given me throughout our summer training… Hidalgo. This movie played a huge part in my self pacing(weird what comes to mind in times like these). In a nutshell, Hidalgo(a Mustang ridden by a Cowboy), goes over to the Sahara to race across the desert with Stallions. The Cowboy says, to his horse, it’s all for show (the blazing start)…we’ll see them later. So, I stuck to my plan, like the Cowboy, of using my Garmin and trying to hold a 9min/mi -8:30pace the whole time…stimulation control!
Well, I can’t remember all the details of the race (miles kinda all run together; no mile markers or etc.), bu
t I do remember my routine. It went a lil like this…mtn dew on the :15s and gel/water on the :45s for the first marathon and for the second it became an exhausting task of sponges/ice. Every mile for the first marathon my crew were set up… from Jay ice/sponges which in turn he would yell to Tyler, based on my murmur what nutrition was needed. This was exhausting because it was a routine repeated almost 30x’s. But, it was a necessary routine which proved beneficial to my survival out on the Queen K amongst the lava fields. I kept saying to myself, just do your job…keep moving forward and do not rest until you cross that finish line. Nothing fancy, just stay on task. Sometimes, did call for some extreme measures…some laughs and cries. Here are some random thoughts/highlights as I have recalled:-eating an entire pizza the night before (in a couple settings) was stellar for performance, in hindsight.
-coffee catches up with you early…what to do… ask your crew for a towel and they look at you dumfounded…huh, that wasn’t on your plan/ I think neither was this bladder that is about to explode. I wasn’t going to stop and def. was not going to chance my shoes getting soaked soo early (around 10mi mark). So, the towel that was hanging on the back of my crew’s truck for a length time was not from a spilled drink in their truck ;)
-Where did the knives come from…after about 13 miles(first section net downhill) my quads felt as if they were being stabbed repeatedly with knives…thank you to Gary Wang’s crew for the pain relief…I would request two more rounds via my crew during this experience…after the fact, I’ll cry like a baby…IT HURT!
-Shi#...not already! Maybe somewhere around mile 14 my 4th toe on the left “blew” a nail ;)…what to do. Pray it will numb over soon…sure enough, it did. But, when showering the next day…you can say I could have donated a full length skin and toe nail bed including nail to any needy takers ;)
-Hills…you ARE my friend. Who would have thunk it, but they felt oh soo good and there were a lot of them…I just said in my mind…keep ‘em coming…no more downhills.
-Sign language…what??? After Tyler missing some nutrition requests, Jay instituted some interesting signals for his son so he could have ready what I needed ahead of time. To paint a pic, Jay started yelling about 20 to 30 yds to Tyler my requests, but the music they were playing in truck to motivate me was too loud… therefore, the “lava language.” The best was a Bullwinkle style 1arm antler which I believe signified Gatorade? Anyway, the “lava language” worked and they were able to keep the tunes flowing on the truck as I ran through the temporary aid stations each mile.
-Mud…why am I passing coffee as #1?(at the finish)…because idiot you just ran for almost 8hrs…thanks to “The Kid Who Summited Everest” book(nice read from Man vs Wild), read this summer, for the mental reminder dehydration does occur in extreme cases…should have taken an IV, but nothing a couple/three/four bottles of water could not remedy…sorry kidneys!
-Dougie…step aside I’m finishing this one alone! The line thrown out to Doug as I was coming into the 47-8mi mark. It would have been nice to have him pace me, but I wanted to do this one alone (kind of a purist; nothing personal Doug). Thank you, though for your support of making your bike available as a backup.
-Icepack/ Elevation: two days following that was the routine as my legs ballooned to the size of tree trunks.
-Now, two weeks later…I ‘m finally somewhat right! Legs are coming back and not exhausted/living in a haze. Ok, back to the story…
…It, my routine, was working…as I made it to the half marathon checkpoint then marathon checkpoint…the only two points during the trek there were people around and announcing did I see/hear how well I was doing. This energized me and in my mind, I looked forward to a 26.2
& a half checkpoint;mi 39ish (made up point in my mind; to pull me forward). But, it never came... the Ultraman staff only did the couple points, but what did fuel my progression was gobbling up the field of fading runners(strategy was paying off...more importantly power numbers on the previous days set me up nicely).This was a big confidence builder and kept me moving forward. This gobbling up of the field continued until about the 5k mark where the K-Swiss train lead by Maik Twielsek and Chris Lieto(who leap frogged all afternoon sending out positives;Tx guys) decided to pick up some steam and came rolling by…great job Hillary(only pass of the day). W
hich was a lil frustrating because if I could continue I had one more runner in my sights to pass…I believe a Brazilian athlete, but not sure what was left in the tank to get within top ten run finish. I took the conservative route and held a just under 9min/mi finish. In hindsight, could have pushed it as I had some mojo left in the 'ol legs. But, my goal this year was to finish and I did not want to do anything to jeopardize that. As I turned off the Queen K making a right onto the last mile or so it finally dawned on me I was going to do this thing called a double marathon…I cracked a cheesy smile and made my way to the old airport pier where the finish line was and saw the clock as I neared. It read 7hrs and 50some minutes…I turned on another gear and slid under the 8hr mark with a 7:59…making a sub 9min double. I was ecstatic! 
Final Stats:
Day 1:
Swim(6.25mi)3hr:18min
Bike (90mi) 5hr:58min
Day 2
Bike (171 mi)8hr:56min
Day 3:
Run (52.4 mi)7hr:59min
Total Time: 26hrs:13min:04sec
Finish: 15th Place Overall/ 11th Male
Afterthoughts,Lessons learned & Tips to follow in next post...
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