Ironman Race Report: Post Race

Post Race:
I made my way out of the portapotty and it was quite cold and wet.  I decided it time to find my dry clothes bag and get moving.  Well moving is relative since I could barely walk.  It took me about 5 minutes to cross the street over to the transition area.  I got my clothes and went one last time into the changing tent to sit down out of the rain and put on my dry clothes.  There were a few people in there staying out of the rain.

I realized that I never talked to Amber or Joe about the "finish procedure".  They didn't know where the finish area was or how it worked.  Wandering around the finish bleachers after race wouldn't be so bad except I could barely walk and I had all my gears bags plus bike.

It was if I was hallucinating because I just happened to see Joe outside the transition fence.  He came to look for me.  It was just chance that he was there when I was coming out of the change tent.  Awesome!!  I handed over all my gears bags over the fence and he told me to meet them behind the bleachers.

I grabbed my bike and waited in the exit line as they checked your bike number with your bracelet number.  Since the bike exit was behind the finish chute and Amber, Joe and Elena were by the finish chute area I had to walk probably a half mile just to get to them.  It wasn't so bad as I was using my bike as a make-shift walker to help shuffle along.

I met them and we proceeded to walk back to the hotel which was over a mile away.  I don't remember much of the trip but I somehow made it to the hotel and thanked god for an elevator to the 3rd floor.  I wasn't hungry and they had eaten concession type food already.  I just kindof sat and removed my shoes to reveal each toenail had a blister under it and the massive blood blister on my toe from being stepped on.

I barely was able to get into the shower because my legs were throbbing.  I would lose a footrace with a 90+ year old man who uses a walker.  I just lay on the bed and I couldn't sleep because just sitting there the legs hurt.  They definitely felt like they had completed the Ironman.  I was in way worse shape than after any of my 3 marathons.

Here's some stats from the event.  I was 95th in my age group for the swim out of 315 people.  Not bad, I was still 95th out of 315 in my age group after the bike.  Hilarious, I didn't lose any spots or gain any.  I ended up 30th in my age group and 120th overall.  I passed 65 people in my age group alone on the run.  That's crazy thinking about it.  My first half of marathon was 1:39 and the final half was 1:45.  That's not too bad when I think about it but I'm guessing my first 10k was way faster than the last 3.  The first 42 miles of the bike I averaged 19.3(headwind and only one hill) and the last 70 I averaged 20.1(the two massive climbs).  Pretty amazing on that also I was 370 something overall after bike so in all I passed over 150 people on the run.  I did run a 3:25 but it was only good for 52nd overall run time.  I was hoping for top 25 so I was bummed about that.  I ended up with the 11th fastest in my age group.

As I was flying back home and thinking about writing this report, I started to think about the funny things Ironman athletes do and experience and I immediately thought you know it makes us seem like mental patients to a normal person.  So here's my top 10 reasons why Ironman athletes are similar to mental hospital patients.

    10. Obsess about little things.
     9. Strict diets(on course nutrition) and medication(e-caps).
     8. Volunteers/nurses all wear surgical gloves.
     7. Simple pleasures make them happy(post-race cheeseburger).
     6. Basically live in their own little world and ignore everyone else.
     5. Both wear funny clothes so you can pick them out of crowd.
     4. They both talk to themselves.
     3. They never want to go to a doctor.
     2. It's normal to pee yourself.
     And the number 1 reason Ironman athletes are similar to mental patients...
        They think they're normal but everyone else knows they're CRAZY!

I did my best but maybe I should've left it at a top 5.  So I'm not the funniest Ironman in the world, but it's better than nothing.

Tomorrow, I'll go into great detail about the infamous Costco trip and all the junk food I've been consuming since the race.  Let's just say I've downed 2 bags of Doritos and 1 bag of Cheetos since the race.