May 21st.
4:20 am - I wake up ten minutes before my alarm clock goes off and I start getting ready.
I get dressed in my race kit and put on my Tevas.
I froze two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches the night before to place in my special needs bags.
I grab my wetsuit and my breakfast (1 blueberry muffin, 1 apple muffin, 1 32 oz Gatorade.)
4:40 am - My biggest fan, close friend, and car-ride to the race site shows up.
We sit down, read through my morning devotional scripture, and pray together before leaving.
5:00 am - We pick up another close friend and pray together in the car as we head to the race.
5:15 am - We park and walk 1/2 - 3/4 of a mile to the bike transition area.
5:35 am - I pump my tires and fill water bottles with Gatorade and stuff bento box with cliff bars
5:50 am - We walk 1 mile to the swim start and get body-marked. (at this point I am supposed to check in my special needs bags but in the excitement I completely forget.)6:15 am - We walk around, chat, and wait in a porta-potty line for about 30 mins.
6:49 am - The pros are in the water, music is playing, and age groupers are called to the entrance. I realize that I am still clinging to my special needs bags (all the food I intend to pick-up during the race), and bolt off to the volunteer tent to turn them in... just in the nick of time.
6:50 am - Age-groupers are now being hurried into the water, and I suddenly realize that my group (which i hastily departed a minute earlier) were holding my morning clothes bag which had my swim cap and goggles inside. At this point, the entire crowd is moving and jockeying for position at the swim start to see their athlete in the water. I do not know if my party of friends realizes that they have my materials inside the bag they are holding or not. I try to find the same spot I had just left, but everybody is moving, and I have no idea where they might be. For all I know they assume that I have my stuff and ran to the swim start with all of the other athletes, and they have also started walking to the shore to get a better view of the race. I start to panic and I begin fearing that the race will start without me. I run to the water's edge and can't find them there either. I beg a stranger to use his cell phone, luckily Caroline is holding her phone in her hand so she can feel if it rings (at this point the Ozzy Osbourne song "Ironman" is blaring, so there is no way she can hear it). I give her my location and soon afterward I have my cap and goggles and am standing in the swim cue.... whew... crisis averted.
7:00 am - The gun goes off and the water turns white with arms and legs flopping around everywhere in the water. In the next 1hr 20mins I would end up getting kicked in the eye once, the top of the head three times, and in the jaw once (that one rang my bell pretty good).
7:30 am - I complete the turn-around and am heading back toward the swim start.
8:00 am - I complete the open water portion of the swim and enter the canal. At times it feels almost as if there is a bit of assistance from a current created by so many swimmers swimming in such a narrow canal. I looked to my right at the canal wall and I seemed to be moving faster than normal without any abnormally high output on my part.
8:21 am - I complete the swim and climb out of the canal. The swim exit was surrounded by hundreds upon hundreds of screaming fans and clanging cowbells. Truly the most aesthetic and exhilarating swim course exit I have ever had the fortune to be a part of.
8:30 am - I exit transition, smeared with the most obnoxious sunscreen ever, and begin cycling
11:30 am - I pass the halfway point of the bike and I haven't had a single miss-step. I was able to eat and drink every 20 mins. according to plan and I felt great.
11:40 am - a screw came loose on my rear bottle cage, and I eject both of the half empty bottles it was holding onto the course.
11:45 am - I stop and grab my bike special needs bag - I eat one peanut butter and jelly sandwich and reach for one of the two fresh bottles behind my seat to find that I have once again ejected both bottles. It is here that I realize that the rear bottle cages have been rendered useless. At this point I have a mouth sticky with peanut butter and I have essentially skipped the last aid station and must wait an additional 10-or-so miles until the next aid station. This is the beginning of my downward spiral of hydration, I broke from my plan and it would eventually affect my ability to run. It becomes difficult to stay out ahead of my nutrition at this point. No matter how much I drink and eat, I notice that I stop sweating, my uniform dries up and salt crystals are appearing everywhere. I continue taking two bottles from each aid station. Drinking as much from one as I can on the spot, and placing the other in my jersey pocket. I also back off the pace a bit in hopes that I could "catch up" and not out-ride my hydration... not to mention the slight headwind, and my lowered energy level on the return trip.
2:30 pm - I pull in to the bike to run transition and am blown away at the crowd that has gathered around the bike finish line. All my friends were there screaming for me. I instantly forgot any of the issues I was having on the bike, tossed my bike to a volunteer, and began running to the changing tent with my run gear bag.
2:46 pm - The leg cramping began instantaneously on the run. I grabbed as much sports drink as I could hold and walked onto the run course. I was able to sustain a maximum of about 2-3 mins of jogging at a 10 min/mile pace, before both quads, both hamstrings, and both calves, would all start locking up simultaneously, then I would walk for about 2-3 mins. Once the cramps settled down I tried to stretch my legs out. But as soon as I stretched a quad, the hamstring would flip out... and vise-versa. Stretching and stopping was not the answer, only walking would settle things down, and that's a good thing... I wanted to keep moving forward.4:30 pm - I finished the first lap of the run. I felt terrible, but the crowd was amazing and I had a renewed motivation after seeing all of my friends and family again. The cramping, however, did not get any better. I continued alternating running and walking. I would pick a landmark out in front of me and attempt running to it before walking again. That worked fairly well for the second lap as well. Each time a cramp would flair up or a twinge would set in to my knees or ankles I would pray about it and it would end up subsiding within about 10-15 seconds. I was having a blast observing how the Lord was making it possible for me to keep moving forward.
6:30 pm - I finished my second lap. The split-off for the second and third lap is about 150 yds from the finish line. Passing it up for the second time was a very disheartening thing. That was overshadowed by the sight of my friends once again chearing me on. I took particular notice of Caroline on this lap. I could see in the smile on her face that she was proud of me. That look will remain in my memory forever.
6:40 pm - I realize that I started running the last lap and haven't had to stop at all in the past ten minutes. In fact, I begin to pick up the pace, and I feel looser than I had all day on the run. Well, apparently, thinking about it was a mistake. Because, once I began to focus on my pace, my legs won the battle once again and I was reduced to a walk. I continued walking and running, but each time I run I try and pick up the pace and see if that was just a freak occurrence or if I had actually succeeded in catching up to my hydration enough to run at a normal pace. I was able to keep it up for approximately half of the last lap.
7:30 pm - At this point the chafing from a full day of sweating and running in a relatively new and unfamiliar pair of tri shorts had gotten the best of me. But, I had half a lap left, I should be able to endure anything for one more hour in order to finish.8:25 pm - I approach the 2nd & 3rd lap split for the last time and I am able to make a left turn down the finishers chute. I see the jumbo-tron with my picture on it. I see my friends, and hear them cheering my name, I run zig-zag up the chute giving all the strangers high-fives. I stand on the finish line and hear Mike Riley say that cherished phrase... "James Roberts, You, are an Ironman!" I was given a finishers medal, hat, and t-shirt and taken to the med tent where my temperature was measured at 96 deg. They placed blankets over me and gave me several helpings of chicken broth. I perked up after about 20 mins. At that point I had to pick up my bike, my run & bike gear bags, and walk another 1/2 a mile to the car. I passed out in the car and really don't remember much of the transition from the car - to the shower - and then into bed. The next day Caroline and I celebrated our 12 yr wedding anniversary with a big lunch at the Cracker Barrel. I was craving chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes. :) All in all, a very fun experience, I do not remember thinking even one time that it was too hot outside. I am fairly used to it, compared to a lot of people I guess. I do not plan on doing this race next year, or the next, but I will most likely do it again in the future. I enjoy being an Ironman.
