Vineman Ironman, my second Ironman, this time in the United States. I was excited about this one and much less nervous having experienced the distance before. We had a nice drive from Texas to Windsor (just north of San Francisco) with stops at Balmorhea, El Paso, Lordsburg, Los Angeles, Big Sur, and Berkley along the way, I was looking forward to the drive out there as well. Now to say I was less nervous does not mean the nerves were not there, I just remembered I had trained for this and was ready so I really just needed to enjoy it. My goal was to finish and try and come in with a better time than last time.
We had to get up early in order to make it to the start in time as it was about an hour drive from our hotel to the start in Guernville, CA and we still needed to rack our bikes and get set up. We woke up around 4 AM and robotically went through all we needed. Groggy, we met up with R's Mom and my Mom who were both pert and excited for us. How fabulous to have support and not only that but to have them excited for us. Spectating was not going to be easy either. Spectating shift number 2 was going to bring then coffee to help keep the engines going. We made it to the starting area and started the ritual of setting up our bikes. My Mom volunteered to body mark which ever since her experience at Eagleman she has loved to do. "I never realized what you guys did in transition until I body marked. It is so interesting the different ways you guys lay things out, etc." my Mom said. It is nice for me to have her in transition as well. I missed having her body mark me this time as I didn't see her before someone else got to me first. It made me recall my first communion when I missed her giving me that as well, the same look crossed her face when she saw I had already been body marked. I was sad too.
I set my kit up. "Your bike is the one with the orchid, remember," my Mom pointed out to me. Mental note: great idea for next race, bring a marker for my bike area. I made one more bathroom stop looked for R hoping to wish him good luck before the start but couldn't find him. I headed to my start which was ten minutes after his and got into the water treading the water and trying to push my anxieties out. "10 seconds to the start, " the announce. I look at the girls around me then straight ahead. And then we are off. I sense my breathing is quick and bring it down with my arm strokes, slowly breathing out, taking long arm strokes. The water makes me feel at home and I begin to relax. One step at a time. I can do this. The swim is two laps and I complete the first one no problem. We are beginning to catch up to people in the groups that started ahead of us and are clogging up a bit. The guy next to me whoops me in the eye with his hand knocking my goggle off. I stop for a sec to put my goggle back on and check all is okay. I swim for a minute seeing how I feel. I know I'm okay but shaken up a little. This will not stop me. We round the last buoy and are on the home stretch as I see the shore where we get out the roar of the crowd keeps getting louder, it makes me smile. I pull myself out of the water feeling like the swamp thing and look around. I see wet suit strippers to my excitement and they get me out of my wet suit super fast. Now look for the orchid and my bike. I see my Mom who points me to the aisle and I start to get my gear together (banana in mouth, wipe as much rock and dirt off of feet as I can, put on biking shoes, put on jersey, try to get on arm warmers but find it difficult with wet arms) and I'm off. I see people walking up the first hill and remember the hills Dr. Toughlove and I climbed back and Austin and know I can climb it with no trouble. I dart up it and feel good. The weather is crisp and I'm glad I have my arm warmers on, I'm loving this part of it. We ride through the vineyards and rolling hills. About 20 miles into the ride my chain falls off when I'm going from small to large chain ring, but I hop off fix it and get back on with not much time lost. At this point, I'm having the time of my life and feeling good. I chat with all the riders I come across and at the rest stops am able to make the water exchange with no problem (in Galveston 2008 I missed the hand up and have been nervous about it ever since). The weather has started to heat up and I remove my arm warmers. I take time to look around and enjoy the scenery at many points during the ride. While I'm riding a Suburban full of people cheering goes by hanging out with a video camera. I realize they are filming one of the guys near me and decide to speed up and catch him. "I wanted to catch up to you to make you look bad on film." I joke with him. He smiles back. "Is that your family?" I ask. "Yes," he responds. " They are the best cheerleaders." I tell him. "Is this your first Ironman?" I ask. "Yes, " he says. "Good luck, with a crew like that I know you will do well." I move ahead of him some, and see his support crew zoom ahead of me as they film and drive ahead repeatedly. We develop our own rapport as I cheer at them "you guys rock and are the best cheerleaders ever." They cheer back at me each time they see me, "you are amazing!" It keeps me going and the time flies by on this 112 mile bike. I feel great, my legs fresh and no saddle sores that have plagued me in the past. The Scott is doing great. I pull into transition and see my family and friends cheering and I feel uplifted. I look at my watch and realize that I can easily beat my time from last year, only 7 hours have gone by at this point giving me 6 hours to complete my marathon and still come in before my previous time. to be continued ...
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