So I wake up about 5:30AM on Ironman Sunday. I check out of my hotel and head down to the start area to watch the swim. Later in the afternoon, I had a volunteer position that consisted of racking bikes after the people finished the bike portion of the course.
All the swim buoys were out in the lake and since it's one loop it looked quite scary. It was so far away. Crazy far. I just hope I can get my swim in shape to actual not drown. I'm pretty confident about the bike and run but that swim is just massive.
I scope out a spot to watch the start of the race. The pros start 15 minutes before everyone else in order to give the best chance to go fast and not have to worry about getting kicked or punched in the swim. They start to warm up in the water and I notice just how smooth their swim strokes are. It's a thing of beauty compared to my flailing walrus stroke.
There's mini-cannon that singles the start of the pros and they're off. They're cruising when I notice one woman pro is stopped and treading water. Ouch...now I'm really scared. If a pro is having trouble, what am I gonna do. Finally this particular woman starts doing backstroke. Oh my...I guess I better practice that in case I'm about ready to drown from sucking in water.
The rest of the field gets to the edge of the lake for their start. It's a massive amount of humanity. 2700 strong..the cannon goes off again and they're on their way to a long day. It's crazy the amount of arms going everywhere. There are people spread out everywhere.
The pros take about 50 minutes to complete the 2.4 miles while the fastest normal person in the field is about 56 minutes. I get a nice place right by the transition area to see them coming out of the water, taking off their wetsuits and getting their bike helmets on before taking off on the bike.
JonnyO gets out of the water 2nd overall. He's a male pro who posts on the Slowtwitch forums and is real helpful. He's from Penticton so this is his local race. The first person out of the water was 2 minutes in front but with the bike being so long I assume he can pick up the time no problem.
The normal people or age groupers as they are called in Ironman circles start to finish the swim. The first swimmer out of the water just happens to be a swim instructor the announcer tells us. More and more people start to finish and the transition area gets real crowded. I make a mental note not to worry about going into the "change tent" and just getting my helmet, glasses and any food right out in the grass area when I finish.
The race has official cut-off times for each event or you get taken out of the overall race completely. The swim has to be finished in 2 hrs and 20 minutes. The clock was ticking as people were slowly still approaching the finish. It looked like just a couple of folks didn't make the cut-off. This is totally sucky because they were so close but that's just how it goes. Brutal.
I meet up with Don, Jeff and Devin who are also up there to sign up for next year and from Portland. We decide to go get some breakfast. Everything is totally packed because everyone watching decides that would be good as well. We head into this little restaurant called the Capital. They are charging $9.95 Canadian for a breakfast buffet. I take a look at the buffet and say well that's not really worth it so I skip breakfast. They finish their breakfast and we slowly make our way back to the main finish area.
My scheduled volunteer job started at noon and went til 5pm. Basically, I'd be in the bike area with a bunch of other folks. The athletes would come in from their 112 mile or 180km if you're the rest of the world bike and basically throw us their bikes as they went to gear up for the marathon.
At certain times, there was easily 20 or so athletes coming in all at once. Our crew was pretty efficient so nothing got too out of hand. We did have a few injuries as people couldn't quite catch a 20mph moving bike with no driver. We got to eat some Domino's pizza, gatorade and cookies while we were doing all of this.
Besides seeing all the top pros come flying in, one of the highlights was seeing Sister Madonna Buder come into the transition area. It's just amazing at her age. They had announced earlier in the day that there were over 500 athletes who were over the age of 50. The other strange thing when you think about is the overall winner in the men's pro division who basically tore up the course did the entire bike segment without any speed/power feedback. His bike didn't have a computer on it at all or a speed pick-up that I saw. Just all by feel....amazing.
The cut-off time for the bike was 5:30pm. Our head pooba, Kurt let us walk up the bike course finish to help cheer people on to make that cut-off. We were screaming our brains out as people only had 2 minutes to go before their day would be done. 5:30 came and went. I saw only one biker come in after that and basically be denied to continue. I really couldn't watch and left the area. I'm sure there were a few more denied as well. Talk about heart breaking.
On the bike it's you against the wind and the wind was fierce Sunday. You're basically pushing your body right to a limit and you miss the cut-off by a couple of minutes. With my personality, I would probably go postal on someone or something if that happens to me.
After a bit, we went over to the finish area. This is a crazy place. They have bleachers line up along the last 100 meters of the race and they are stacked with people cheering each and every one of the finishers as they come in. The announcer is talking 24/7 and personally greeting each finisher with those all important words, ", you are an Ironman!". People finish by themselves, they sometimes bring their family down the finish chute, dogs, and even what look to be like 6 month old babies. They wave their country's flag. The whole experience is just incredible.
I was pretty tired so I didn't stay for the last finishers right up until midnight. I wanted to get a little sleep before the long drive on Monday. I wasn't able to find a hotel for Sunday night so I figured since they're would be line campers for the Monday registration I'd just do that as well. Luckily, I was able to secure a spot close to the line with my car. I slept in the Escape which wasn't that bad as I could almost stretch out fully.
My scheduled volunteer job started at noon and went til 5pm. Basically, I'd be in the bike area with a bunch of other folks. The athletes would come in from their 112 mile or 180km if you're the rest of the world bike and basically throw us their bikes as they went to gear up for the marathon.
At certain times, there was easily 20 or so athletes coming in all at once. Our crew was pretty efficient so nothing got too out of hand. We did have a few injuries as people couldn't quite catch a 20mph moving bike with no driver. We got to eat some Domino's pizza, gatorade and cookies while we were doing all of this.
Besides seeing all the top pros come flying in, one of the highlights was seeing Sister Madonna Buder come into the transition area. It's just amazing at her age. They had announced earlier in the day that there were over 500 athletes who were over the age of 50. The other strange thing when you think about is the overall winner in the men's pro division who basically tore up the course did the entire bike segment without any speed/power feedback. His bike didn't have a computer on it at all or a speed pick-up that I saw. Just all by feel....amazing.
The cut-off time for the bike was 5:30pm. Our head pooba, Kurt let us walk up the bike course finish to help cheer people on to make that cut-off. We were screaming our brains out as people only had 2 minutes to go before their day would be done. 5:30 came and went. I saw only one biker come in after that and basically be denied to continue. I really couldn't watch and left the area. I'm sure there were a few more denied as well. Talk about heart breaking.
On the bike it's you against the wind and the wind was fierce Sunday. You're basically pushing your body right to a limit and you miss the cut-off by a couple of minutes. With my personality, I would probably go postal on someone or something if that happens to me.
After a bit, we went over to the finish area. This is a crazy place. They have bleachers line up along the last 100 meters of the race and they are stacked with people cheering each and every one of the finishers as they come in. The announcer is talking 24/7 and personally greeting each finisher with those all important words, "
I was pretty tired so I didn't stay for the last finishers right up until midnight. I wanted to get a little sleep before the long drive on Monday. I wasn't able to find a hotel for Sunday night so I figured since they're would be line campers for the Monday registration I'd just do that as well. Luckily, I was able to secure a spot close to the line with my car. I slept in the Escape which wasn't that bad as I could almost stretch out fully.
that actually does touch on something I don't understand. Basketball, sure, I always had the drive to be good. Possibly because I knew I could beat people, I don't know... But running...or biking or swimming or doing all three...for the people who know they not only can't win but might not be allowed to finish: how do you muster that sort of will to do something so painful as an ironman? Would love to read your thoughts on that.
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