IMAZ Race Report: Part 3

I was soooooo happy to be off that bike!  But I was even happier to discover that even with the exhaustion, the sore feet and the aching quads...I was ready to run!  Not just ready, but as excited as I thought I would be!  Suddenly I had a ton of energy, and I had to keep slowing myself down during the first few miles so that I didn't burn out half way through the marathon!

Heading out of transition to start the run!  I was so excited, I clapped my hands and
yelled, "Yay, I'm running!"

I felt great, and fell into a roughly 9:30 pace, which felt easy.  I had to tell myself that what feels "easy" at mile 2 feels like death at mile 20, so I consciously tried to back off.  But it was hard to slow down too much without feeling like I was plodding.  The first loop went by pretty fast.  There were tons of people on the south side of the lake, including, of course, my fantastic Ironfans!

Megan and Tyler

Ironfan BASE CAMP!

Damn Right!  That was my race strategy!

Sisters.

Group shot.  They all came to SEE ME!  I am the LUCKIEST Ironman ever!

Tiny Ironfan!

My nieces and nephew!

Including Ironfans who live far away
but were there in spirit...

Karin's nieces (like my own)

Karin got signs made from the pics of people
who couldn't be there and lined the course with
them!!!!!!

I even had a K9 Ironfan!  Riley supports me in all
that I do!

Awaiting my arrival...

Those balloons have my face and number on them!  Another
amazing touch by my #1 Ironfan, Karin!

Waving to my fans.  I was absolutely
dumbfounded by the amazing show
of support!

Once I crossed over to the north side though, it got pretty lonely.  A little more than halfway through the first loop it got dark.  But I kept up a good pace for that whole loop and I got a ton of "Good pace!" cheers.  I couldn't tell who was on their first lap and who was on their second, but I was just passing people left and right.  The race bibs have our names on them, so before it got dark I got a ton of people cheering for me by name, shouting "Good job, Kari!" and "Go Kari!"  Wow, what a boost!  I was silently thanking the Ironman organizers for implementing the stroke of genius to put our names on the bibs.  I also had people cheering me on by my number, #837, and one guy who said, "Good job, blue shoes green socks girl!"  I stopped a few times; once for the bathroom, once to apply some body glide to my toe where I felt a blister forming, and once to have some awesome volunteers rub pain relief cream into my aching shoulders.  Those stops slowed be down a bit, but I still felt pretty good, and I finished the first half of the marathon right on target, in 2:17. I was thrilled with my time and anticipating a 9 pm finish.

That's when the wheels started to fall off.  It was almost like a switch was flipped.  I had told myself that I would run the whole first half, if humanly possible, then I would allow myself to walk through aid stations or if I really needed to at some points.  At 14 miles I started to get a side cramp.  I ran through it as long as I could, then I finally had to stop and walk for a minute to breathe it out.  Unfortunately, this pattern would continue for most of the second lap.  I walked for a minute or 2 of almost every mile between miles 14-23.  I would make myself run for as long as I could bear it, then I would walk and breathe deeply and slowly, but as soon as my Garmin showed my pace had slipped to 13 minute miles, I had to start running again.  My quads were like lead by then, and it finally occurred to me to stop and stretch them at one point, which helped immensely. By mile 20 I felt like I was shuffling.  It was very familiar pain; exactly like my marathon in February, but in this case it started a little earlier, what with me having biked 112 miles immediately prior to the run.  I started to get ravenously hungry around mile 18, but with my side cramp issues, I was afraid to eat too much.  I also started to get really tired.  I was actually yawning a lot, and I just wanted to lay down and go to sleep.  So I started drinking the Cola they offered at every aid station, desperate for the sugar and caffeine.  I also ate lots of potato chips and cookies!  Best things ever!  They offer all sorts of things at the aid station (including warm, salty chicken broth, of which I partook) based on the theory that after going all day, you have no idea what your body is going to want.  It's ironic, because I so finely tuned my bike nutrition strategy, and yet my run nutrition strategy was always "Whatever my body wants!" because you just have no idea.

When I came back around to where my Ironfans were, I was greeted by the best surprise ever! They had lined up on both sides of the path, and when I approached...THEY DID THE WAVE! Have you ever been struggling through the 11th hour of an Ironman and had people do the wave just for you????  Well, you should try it some time!  Because it is awesome!!

I got the wave the first time at the end of my first loop, when I still felt pretty good.  Heading back toward my fans on the second loop, knowing they were all there and waiting to cheer me on, make a fan tunnel, and do the wave is really what kept me moving forward at a decent pace!

Entering my tunnel of Ironfans, doing THE WAVE, just for me!

Running past my awesome supporters! (P.S. Check out my rippling Ironman muscles!!)

High-fiving Karin.  I felt like I had a smile on my face the whole time!
Even when it hurt like crazy, I was just so happy to be there!

By about mile 20 it was clear I was not going to make my 9 pm goal.  But I kept moving as fast as I could, walking only when a side cramp became literally unbearable.  At the 23 mile marker, with 3.2 miles to go, I started running, and I refused to stop again.  Side cramp be damned.  I could taste the finish.  I knew exactly what I had left, and I was going to get there as quickly as I possibly could!

With 1 mile to go, my friends Kristin and Jon founf me on the course and ran with me for a bit. Then Peggy ran alongside me, telling me where my friends and family were waiting at the finish line.  I picked it up a bit in the last mile; then, about 200 yards from the turn that leads to the finish chute, I really picked it up.  I didn't sprint (as if I could!), but I put a bounce in my step and lengthened my strides, and I came around the corner like someone who just spent 14 hours and 35 minutes giving everything she had to give and now I was going to leave it all out there on the race course!  I would finish with everything I had left!  

I saw my mom and dad and my sister Denise and her husband Chris at the corner, and I threw my hands in the air and whooped as I passed them.  Then I saw a sea of green shirts on the left in the grandstand next to the finish line.  Everything was a blur of screams and lights and faces.  Karin's may have been the only face I actually saw.  I threw my hands up in the air as I ran toward the finish line...

Running toward the finish line!

And that was it.  It was over.  Only later did I realize that I didn't even hear the announcer say "Kari de Jong...You. Are. An. Ironman."  The very phrase I had said to myself on so many long runs and rides for the past year!

The finishing chute was a bit of a blur, but afterwards was not.  I was on cloud 9, riding a wave of endorphins like no other!  A volunteer gave me a bottle of water, another gave me an aluminum space blanket, yet another gave me my finisher's hat and tee-shirt; and then, finally, a volunteer gave me my medal!

I finished at 9:35 pm.  My "realistic" finish time prediction had been no later than 9:40.

After 140.6 miles I got my pizza, just like the shirts promised!

My family found me at the finish line, but they couldn't get into the athlete area where I was, so I quickly got my pizza (finally!) and a cola and some french fries for Karin and made my way out to where they were.  Everyone was talking a mile a minute, and they were worried that I should sit down.  I knew from my port-a-potty stop at mile 22 that if I sat down it was unlikely I would get back up.  I got hugs, and pictures; it was everything I thought it would be!

Me and THE GREATEST IRONFAN THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN!

I DID IT! I. AM. AN. IRONMAN!

Not just any Ironman; I am the luckiest Ironman!  I had a ridiculous number of fans who spent the better part of a day out there cheering me on, not to mention fans all over the country who were tracking my progress and cheering me on from far away!

Fans both present and absent were with me for all 140.6 miles!