OK it’s been almost 48 hours since the race. Thought I should get my race report posted so I can re-live what an awesome day it was!! My husband and I signed up a year ago (Nov 2012) for IMAZ after volunteering last year. We did bike handling and it was exciting. (read more getting started) It’s the best way to get a spot in this popular race.
If you are a first timer and are interested in some extra race info, in my next post I’ll give you my top 5 tips for a successful race.
OK this is a bit long so grab a coffee/tea and read on:
OK HERE WE GO! Get ‘R DONE! We were staying in a condo close to the race so we got up at 4AM had some breakfast which included museli (Bob’s RedMill Gluten Free Museli), 1/2 bagel with peanut butter and 1/2 banana. Fueled up and ready to go, we grabbed our bike food, bottles and swim stuff and headed over to Tempe Town Lake area around 4:45AM. Found great FREE parking in USAIRWAYS building super close to race venue. OK getting a bit nervous now…what we have worked for so long the past year is coming to culmination. This is it!
Short walk to transition area, we loaded our bikes with bottles and nutrition. Headed over to drop off Run Special Needs bag and hit “Porta Parties” the bathrooms ha! We found some that were a short walk away from transition, up the hill on run course…sweet…CLEAN and unused. We walked back to transition and got body marked. Transition was buzzing by now (around 6AM) we still had 30 min until transition area closed. We checked our bikes one more time and headed back out of transition. We decided to put on our wetsuits in the grass area where it was less congested. I had an Enervit and part of a CliffBar so my nutrition was topped off for the swim. We also had some “throw away” socks on to keep feet warm while we waited in line to enter the water.
SWIM (1:21:34)
I think the swim for me was the portion of the race I was most nervous about. Hearing all the talk about the “washing machine” and getting clobbered in the start kept floating around in my head during the days leading up to the race. This was the first race that I experienced a mass start…guys and girls all age-groupers start at the same time. So my hubby and I lined up with everyone to walk thru the IMAZ arch and over to the dock where we jumped in the water and swam under 2 bridges to the start. (approx 150 – 200 yds) Almost as soon as we got to the start line, the cannon went off. 7AM sharp!! I have to say the water was not as cold or gross as I was expecting. We have done Oceanside 70.3 the past 3 years and that water can be COLD(58 – 61 degrees brrrr). (It’s an early season race in Oceanside, CA in March.) So this water was just fine for me…about 63 degrees. I also had on my neoprene (thank you ZOOT) cap under my pink race cap. Kept my head nice and warm!
Once the cannon blasted the craziness started. The plan was for my husband (David ) and I to stay together for the entire race and cross finish line together. Not sure how we were going to stay together with 3000 thrashing racers in the swim. Here’s what ended up happening.
We started swimming and I looked back to spot David a few times then I wasn’t able to see him at all. (Turns out he got kicked in the head and his goggles came off and filled up with water. He had to stop to fix them. )Everyone looked the same, all the guys had neon green swim caps and all the girls pink. So I thought OK the plan to stay together was a nice thought but not gonna happen so I’m doing my race and we’ll meet at the end. The swim was fairly congested almost half way to the Rural St bridge. Got kicked in the gut a few times..ouch and swam on but all OK. I kept looking for a group going about my speed so I could get on some fast feet and draft a bit. But it was still in the middle of the thrashing pack. My position was on the outside near the ledge so I thought it would be better to get a bit closer in (left) to the buoys so I didn’t add any extra distance. I never do this but found myself on the wrong side of the buoys TWICE!! oops! Got my self on track again and soon found that I was swimming under the Rural St bridge near the turn-a-round. YAY! But don’t get too excited the turn-a-round was farther than the bridge then you make a left turn and have to go around a red T1 buoy as well. Once I got around that I settled in and was headed on the way back. As I go closer to the last buoy, I was planning my exit and next steps. Here’s a tip: best thing to do when you get to the dock steps is to turn around and put your butt on the step then stand up and the volunteers help you up the steps. I was a bit awkward. Then as soon as I got to the top of the steps a volunteer ripped off my wet suit before I could even get my caps off and arms out! Cool Thank YOU volunteers. Feeling good, I ran down the path to the changing tent.
Transition 1 (00:12:55)
Tent was warm and super packed when I got there. Quickly a volunteer, escorted me to an open seat and helped me change. I wrapped my foot with RockTape put on my cycling shoes and headed to the porta-johns for a quick pit stop. Running out to the transition, another set of volunteers quickly sunscreen-ed me! Grabbed my bike, and ran the length of transition to BIKE OUT and mount line. Woo Hoo Swim done, bike starting!!!
Bike (5:53:09)
We rode thru the start/finish chute over a pink ramp and onto the road to start the bike loop #1. (Ride consists of 3 loops) I was hungry from the swim so I started digging around in my bento box/bag for a nut filled date. (I made of 1 for each lap just to have some real food.) No way did the zipper on my bag get stuck! Crap, I thought I can’t do this with my food bag hanging open, especially on the down hill portion of the loop. Tried and tried (drama) to get it closed then decided to stop, zip it up and get going again. That was a good decision…took about 10 seconds! Rather than potentially having a crash because I needed 2 hands to get the bag zipped closed. Alright crisis averted!! ha I get going again and I hear someone yelling at me. “Hey CELO (I was wearing my Celo kit) GET UP THE ROAD” !! No way was it David (my hubby) catching me on the bike only about a 1/2 mile in!! I was so happy at that moment, I almost cried. Now we can do the race together like we planned!!! The rest of the ride was great. I was feeling good and strong. I bonked a bit on the last lap…but had that happened a few times before so I knew what to do as soon as I felt the slightest twinge of bonking. I ate some food and was good again. My foot hurt a bit too… the one I wrapped. I just kept squeezing/scrunching up my foot to get some more blood flowing to that area and it seemed to help. Came to the finish chute and off the bike. Legs a bit wobbly but OK. BIKE DONE! Off to get my RUN GEAR bag and into the transition tent again.
Transition 2 (00:06:56)
Got in the change tent and this time there was much more room than T1. Another great volunteer helped me get changed. I decided not to change into my tri top to save time. I put on my TYR tri shorts and kept my CELO jersey on. All set. Another trip to porta-john and sunscreen area.
Run (05:12:43)
Started running and first thing I see is my sister cheering me on!!! Went over for a quick hug/high 5 and she told me David was up the road about 2 minutes. We lost each other on the 3rd loop when I had my small bonk episode on the bike. So once again, I thought our dream of crossing the finish line together was gone. Anyway, I saw David on the 1st turn around on the run. (About 2.5 miles into the run.) We slapped hands as we passed each other. I then ran faster and he slowed so that I could catch up to him. We ran together from mile 3 to the finish!
We just took it one mile at a time…aid station to aid station. All the aid station volunteers were so awesome. Each aid station had a theme. One was Batman where there were guys is Speedos and masks handing out food/drinks !! hilarious! Other stations were 80’s with great music, Christmas theme, One Triclub had these huge picture heads printed out and glued to these sticks. They were about 5 feet tall so funny and great distraction (around mile 7 and 21 by the marina). One of the best aid stations was the one under the bridge (mile 10 and 23) which had live music and Dr Hoy’s pain relief gel!! This was key. If you were lucky enough to know about this you could go over to this booth at the aid station and the volunteer would rub this on your knees/calves!! Life saver I say! We were looking for this at each aid station because we didn’t know which one it would be at. My husband had read about this in one of the blogs from last year’s IMAZ race. So glad he did. After that aid station on lap one of the run, you run approx 3 more miles back to the start to go on to loop 2.
We were both feeling pretty good at that point. I had a few times on the run (mostly near the beginning …mile 4) where I didn’t feel well…stomach/digestive issues but I ran through it and was better again. That is one thing about a long race…you always have time to “right” a bad situation. It was so great running together…we kept each other going for sure. At different points, we both had issues but having someone there to talk you thru it helps. We did all or almost all of our training together the long hours of riding, running, spin classes and swims so we really wanted to do this first Ironman race together. The second loop started out fine, we stopped at the run special needs bag station and got a few things. I got my headlamp (which I didn’t end up needing and gave to my spectating sister later) and some food. You don’t necessarily get your special needs bags returned so don’t put anything of value in these bags! David got some food and some Tim’s Salt-n-Vinegar chips out of his bag. Wow ,did that taste good and give us a boost of salt! YUM. I only ate a few because I am notorious for having digestive/stomach issues! So that was early in the 2nd loop. We rounded the McClintock turn around (mile 2.5 and 15 second lap). Each mile we ticked off …”done”…don’t have to come by here again!) It started getting dark but still OK to see. After that part, you come up to the area by the lake where all the tri clubs set up their tents so lots going on and people cheering you on. Good distractions! Then before you know it you’re at the Priest St. bridge. Now on the way across bridge and over to the north side of the lake. We thought OK all we have to do is run down to the condos (the last turn around). This is about mile 21, I started getting a side ache and was sugared out! I ate one last sport bean and about threw up! Some of the aid stations had warm chicken broth! Genius!! This was such a great idea…real food, salty, and neutralizing all the sugar we had throughout the day!! After the turn around by the condos, we ran up this hill and saw this sign. ” This is the worst parade EVER”! That made me laugh when I was hurting!! At times you just say to yourself…”just keep it together …dig deep…and you can do this!” Once we got to the top of the hill, this was the 80’s aid station. FUN. Energetic dressed up people, wacky music…you get the point. Then you run by the condos…as we were passing, a guy in one of the 2nd floor condo windows was playing a funny song on a TUBA! As the run continued back toward the marina, you pass some horse riding / stable area. I thought OK that’s different. Then we headed under the freeway under pass up through Papago park to Curry Road. We decided to power walk up the hill and once at the top, your on a sweet downhill (thank you!!) to the aid station with the Dr Hoy’s pain relief gel and live music. It was fairly dark at this point probably around 6:45 pm but this aid station was lit up so bright, as you run down the hill into the aid station, well, you feel like a celebrity! or at least I did…cuz I knew we were at mile 23!! I still get a bit choked up thinking about it…as a “first timer” you just don’t know what to expect at this point in the race. Honestly, in the back of my head, I KNEW we would finish but you still have your “moments”. I say the toughest part was mile 23 – 24 you’re so close but still have 3.2 miles to go! We made it back to the last aid station on the north side of the lake and then went across the Priest St bridge for the last time. Just as we were running over the bridge, we saw the famous John Howard…if you know him you know what I mean. This guy is amazing. Won KONA in the early 80’s and many cycling races…this guy is hard core and at times in the past he’s rode with our Carlsbad cycling club CELO PACIFIC (celepacific.org). So nice to see a familiar face. Finally got to the Christmas themed aid station(mile 13 and 25,) heard they were handing out Christmas cookies but I didn’t see them…I was so focused on finishing. On the ground you see tape pointing to the left “2nd loop” or straight “finish”! We were psyched to go straight when there were many around us turning for their 2nd loop. We are in our last mile…the adrenaline and emotion starts really pumping at this point. David turns to me and says ” up there, there’s a little place called… Aspen!!” I nearly fell on the ground laughing. I knew exactly what he meant. “WE”RE THERE!!” (ha a few references to Dumb & Dumber…classic!) We rounded the corner onto Rio Salado and all the lights, crowd and music…once again I felt like a celebrity coming down that finishing chute to the line. Now, at this point, we had a realistic goal of 13 hours we had planned and thought we could hit. David looks at me again and say’s “LOOK AT THAT” the clock read 12:47!! Under 13 hours!!!! We ran the rest of the way hand-in-hand, kissed as we crossed the finish line! Hearing Mike Reilly say: Leslie Bales & David Bales, Husband & Wife, You are an Ironman couple!!!