IMTX...a video review

I didn't make the video but here is the official IMTX video for 2015. Really neat to see and appreciate all the other crazies athletes that were out there too! Congrats to all!

140.6...

So it happened...I did it...140.6 miles done. And what a day it was. Here's the short version:

And here's the not-so-short version. Long post ahead people so prepare yourselves.

Let's break it down.

#1. It was supposed to rain. All day. The weather man said so. It only rained for 15 mins on the bike but otherwise was dry. THANK.YOU.LORD. (and let's keep weatherman in the back pocket of careers in case Speech Pathologist doesn't work out...I mean you only have to be semi-right about your job like 50% of the time right? I mean any job with that kind of margin of error and a decent living wage sounds like a pretty sweet gig to me)

#2. Because it was supposed to rain and didn't - it was 100% humid all.weekend.long. Ya'll - I have lived in Houston almost my entire life and this was an extraordinarily humid day. I didn't dry out all day - for reals.

So here's how the weekend/day went:

Thursday I got off work at noon and headed to the Woodlands for packet/backpack pick up with my amazing training partner and picked up some goodies at the Ironman village.

I got to mom's house where I stayed for the weekend and prepped my bags/stuff for bag/bike drop off Friday. This seems pretty self explanatory...

You never fully realize HOW.MUCH.STUFF. you have to get together and organized to do a triathlon/event like this but for reals...so.much.stuff.

Friday I took off of work to prepare, pack and do my last brick. I had a short 30 min spin, 15 min run and an open water practice swim in the lake. Everything went really well and I felt really good about getting started on Saturday.

Once out of the water we took our(stinky)selves to bike drop off and breakfast to continue the calorie/carb load!

Ummm to say this bike area was a WWE quality mud pit would be the understatement of the century. Gross. 

Afterwards, I went to the hospital with my sister (and niece!) after cleaning up/open water swim practice and spent some time with Deb who is doing much better (thank you to all who have been keeping her in your prayers!). She still has a long way to go but everyday is doing better all the time!

After that I got back to my mom's house where we stayed for the weekend (she lives in The Woodlands) and got everything ready to go for the next day.  Other than that I ate carbs and lean protein, drank water, kept my feet in compression socks and knocked out thanks to Advil PM at 8:30pm.

Then came Raceday. Saturday. Gameday. Go time.  OK enough..you get the picture. It was time.

3:30am that alarm was going off and I was ready for breakfast #1 (for your information there are two breakfast's involved in the morning of the Ironman).

I rounded up the troops super supportive mom and hubs and was out of the house by 5:10 and headed to the starting line. I got to bike transition, finished setting up my gear for the day then walked the mile'ish to the swim start (yes...you have to walk a mile before you even get started). I got in my wetsuit, gave the hubs a kiss and got ready to hit the water!

The gun went off and we got started...

SWIM

I'm in there somewhere...promise...I even wrote my name on the top of my swim cap so you could see :-)

I actually had a GREAT swim - faster than I have ever done that distance before. They did a rolling start as opposed to a mass start this year and I am SO thankful because it really allowed you to have space to swim almost immediately (i.e. I only got clocked/kicked in the face twice which is actually not bad if you know about/do these sorts of things often). I got out of the water at 1:30, had someone pull that wet suit off faster than I have ever imagined. 

For real - it felt just like that. Then I headed into transition. 

BIKE

I got on the bike and headed out for the long leg of the 112 bike ride. Ya'll I have no pics from this ride but the ride out was AWESOME. Tailwind, nice cloud cover, and averaged 19-22 mph. Amazing.

Then.I.turned.around.

Headwind, Crosswind, sun came out, hills hills hills, humidity stayed at 100% and my speed plummeted. But I made it back to T2 in a little over 7 hours and got ready to run!

Run

So I have never run a marathon but by this point I honestly was like "Welp...Ive already done 114.4 miles so let's do this!" I started the run around 4:00pm so I knew I had the time to walk the whole dang thing if I needed to and I would probably still finish by midnight. Thankfully that didn't happen. The run was a 3 loop course around The Woodlands. At first I thought I would hate having to loop it but it actually made the run SO much better since mentally you could really set small goals for yourself, you knew what to expect and the crowd support was AMAZING. Speaking of amazing... I have the best friends and family around. Hands down. I could not have gotten to this day without their support and it only continued throughout the day. They were so awesome each loop I ran and really gave me that extra bump I needed to keep going strong! 

I ran each mile except for walking through each water stop or on inclines (or on the STAIRS we had to go down?!?) until mile 21. After that I walked about 1 minute at each mile marker and walked through the water stops. My endurance felt good and my pace was fair given the heat, humidity and distance. My Garmin watch died at mile 14 so I didn't have any data to go off of for the last 12 miles and just had to run it off perceived exertion. I have been training 99% off of my heart rate zones so this was a major mind shift but I was also so far into the run at that point I just knew I just needed to keep going and listen to my body and I would finish in plenty of time. (yes - I outlasted a fully charged Garmin...I still can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing...oh well).  Mile 21-25 were the hardest by far but honestly not nearly as bad as I thought it would be and overall I actually felt pretty good the entire run. 

The Finish

As I rounded mile 25 and started up towards the finish line I was just amazed! I kept shouting all throughout mile 26 "I'm done! I'm done! I made it!" to anyone with ears. I just couldn't believe it! I was there! This crazy, painful, hard, awesome journey was finished! Complete! 

I was so overtaken by my excitement to finish I COMPLETELY neglected to look for the finish line (which had stadium lights, music, an announcer, a red carpet and a massive entrance with a digital clock...ya...missed that) and just stopped to give everyone I actually knew big hugs before realizing I was literally like 50 ft away from finishing. 

Momma...(the finish started to set in)

Sister...(this was the only moment the whole race I started to tear up)

Hubster...(ok maybe again then)

And finished...

After crossing I just got overwhelmed with all the amazing people in my life surrounding me. Here's a few (although not all) of the super precious friends in my life who I am so thankful were there that day! To begin to try to describe my gratefulness for these precious friends (pictured and unpictured...sorry I didn't have all my pictures when typing this - not meaning to leave anyone out!) isn't even possible. Thank you Lord for precious friends. I am so blessed.

And I really can't even begin to express or put together words that would even come close to properly thanking and loving my mom, sister and husband whose unwavering support and daily accountability and encouragement got me through to that finish line. I love you guys more than you will ever know or words could express. Thank you will never be enough. 

So after the finish and hanging out for a little while...I grabbed a massive plate of potato chips and a coke (which I was supposed to share with a superstar according to the can...Alex said I could keep it...someone give this man like 35 billion gold husband stars) and we headed back to Mom's house. 

I got home a little before midnight and took the most excruciatingly awesome ice bath of my life (80lbs of ice : approximately 1 foot of standing water...you do the math) and CRASHED. 

The Day After

 The local object of my athletic obsession Lululemon had a post-Ironman block party. There were BBQ breakfast tacos, free screen printing of anything you bought and they set up shop to do all the IMTX tattoos they could. So clearly...I lost all control. 

And yes I got the tattoo. I originally wasn't going to but after Dad's death I just really wanted to have something permanent that reminded me of this day. More on that to come but first...ummm tattoos really freakin' hurt. 

Ya this was before I knew what I was getting myself into....

 This seems pretty self explanatory... Thank you Emily for documenting the most attractive face I've definitely ever made. All for posterity...

I chose the Texas with the IM symbol over Houston on my heel. There's lots of reasons why this was the one I went with but at the end of the day it is special to me and will remind of this day, this accomplishment and my sweet Dad who I know was there with me that whole day on the course which leads me to...

General Reflections...

1. If you are going to do this - bite the financial bullet and hire a coach, hire a dietician and follow your plan. I felt good, stayed injury free, leaned out in a healthy way, have recovered well and was more than prepared for this race thanks to the outstanding coaching services by Brian Reina with Outrival Racing and dietary guidance by Catherine Kruppa with Advice for Eating here in Houston. I could not have asked for two better professionals to walk this journey with me. They have fielded my questions, my way too frequent phone calls, have been the first to respond and alter plans if/when I got sick, felt like I might be on the brink of injury or over-stress and provided so much behind the scenes support the last two weeks since my Dad's death to help me get to and through this race. Both of you have always given kind and generous advice, guidance and training and I couldn't have done this without you. 

THANK YOU!  

2. I never cried. All day. I really thought I would be this emotional wreck because Dad wasn't there but I wasn't. I was so excited and had such peace about this race. I really felt my Dad's presence throughout the day though which was so encouraging. I wouldn't even be actively thinking about him (especially when I was in the water or on the bike) but then there would be these moments totally out of the blue where I honestly felt like I could audibly here him say "keep goin' darlin'!" or "I'm right here" and I just kept picturing him sitting on top of a cloud up there in Heaven watching down on me and grabbing Jesus saying "look at her go! I knew she could do it" and cheering me on (especially impersonating Arsenio as he frequently did) hooting and hollering in a way I will always remember him doing when he was super excited about something. He really was with me the whole way. I felt his peace and presence. Thank you Lord for that blessing as I know you walked each step with me too. Daddio- we missed you on Saturday. I actually tried to pick up my phone to call you and tell you about the race yesterday and stopped once it started ringing. That was hard. I miss you Dad. I wish you were there in person but I know you were more than present in spirit and I am so grateful. I had planned to get this for you from Ironman village this weekend for you to wear and add to your already too full silly/spirited T-shirt collection but since I couldn't give it to you then...until we see each other again - know you have been and will always be my

3. To my sweet precious husband who has endured more this year with me than anyone really should and has shouldered every challenge and joy and sorrow and victory with grace and support that is beyond me, thank you. I am so blessed to do my life with you. Without you I would have never made it to this finish line. Thank you for supporting my dream and supporting and encouraging me to stick with it and to realize this dream on those (many) days where I wanted to quit. I cannot wait to turn around and now support you as you prepare for your big race in July (He is doing the triple bypass!) and am more thankful for you than I could ever possibly put into words. Thank you Lord for making this precious man for me to be in my life and walk this crazy, broken, busy, amazing adventure walk with me. I can't wait to see what our next adventure holds. I love you. 

4. To my amazing mother and my unwaveringly supportive sidekick and sister Emily - I could go on forever on how you bless me, how much I love you both, how grateful I am for you and how you both are also the reason behind my crossing that finish line yesterday. Thank you for loving me, supporting me, checking on me, understanding me and never doubting me through it all. I could not be more blessed by you or thank you properly if I tried. I can't wait to tackle our next adventure (or our first family marathon next year!)

5. To my extended family and friends and to our church family (especially the 3 Strands class at SLUMC) - words are not enough. You showed up when I was absent. You let me be MIA and crazy self focused for the better part of the year and didn't give up on our relationships but instead pursued relationship with me and supported me through it all. You called when I couldn't respond. You met me for lunch or dinner or ice cream at totally random times in this crazy schedule I have had even if it was just for a few minutes. The support and love you have shown our family since my Dad's death has been overwhelming in the best and most heart warming of ways to say the least and I am so so grateful for you. Love you all so much. I pray that one day I am able to adequately show you how grateful I am for you but know that I am from the bottom of my heart. 

So it's done. This crazy journey from fake boobs to Ironman is done. Wow. I really don't know what to say. I know I won't be stopping this blog although the subject matter may change somewhat but to all of you that have been following me through this journey on this blog thank you too. 

We made it. 

God is Good. 

Here's to the next adventure...

Do Not Adjust Your TV Set

Hubs, here. Taking over for the Captain of the USS Internets!

Not sure what picture she may have painted of me on here, but let's clear the air...

Me. Tech Savvy:

...But not a morning person. Rarely I see a clock start with a 4 and sometimes a 5. 6's are just mean since you're so close to 8. And those of you who wake up before your alarm are just plain weird.

So tomorrow morning waking up with our Ironwoman at 3:30 will be ugly (for me...).

But the day will only get better. The Ironman has a wave start leaving about every minute or so. I expect the beginning to be something like this when I watch the swim start...

A nap may happen at some point...

But basically I will be spending the day looking something like this...

Hopefully ending with some moment like this...

I've received messages from a handful of friends that want to come out to "watch"...

But more to cheer and support Hannah as she endures the final challenge to becoming an Ironman. So I won't be alone entertaining myself.

So I'll have some friends to help keep me out of trouble...

And there are countless others that have reached out to Hannah and haven't contacted me that will either be there, are praying for her or or the few that are there in spirit. This collective of people are the important ones to help with the final transformation from triathlete to Ironman.

Without those of you standing behind her,supporting Hannah, there is no way she'd be able to make it this far. So give yourselves a hand and cheer in celebration! We made it! Some of this champagne is for you!

Those of us who can distract her from the pain, from the depression, from the thoughts of "can't", "won't", and "impossible" and can help her see the ease, joy, and possibility of finishing her goal of making it to the line before midnight deserve just as much praise as the next person.

Don't get me wrong, I haven't done anything to train for this Ironman and this is all her doing. I've been her podium and foundation. I may or may not have supported her spending habits with some sweet triathalon gear...

But at the end of the day, she's put in the time and effort and according to her biggest cheerleader (me...and her family...and her coach too), she's ready.

I'm not trying to steal her spotlight for tomorrow. Just trying to add an amazing background to the wonderful picture's focus.

So here we go! Finally! Go fast. Get aero. Have fun! Smile at the finish line.

Good luck tomorrow babe. I love you. See ya at the finish line.