Race Report – IMAZ 2015
So where do you begin?
I guess I start with saying thank you.
It’s now I give fair warning, many will want to skip right ahead to
“Race Day” section of this report. For
me it’s so much more than just some race, so because of that, I am going to
take time to share all of my thoughts.
But feel free to skip ahead!
Thank You
I have to say thank you to first of all my wife Alyssa. I love you more then you know and you have
been such a blessing to me and clearly a gift from God since then day I met
you. Your support for me along my
ironman journey truly made it possible to be here again. I’ll expand more later when I get mushy. Thank you to my parents, Doug and Sharon, who
have been there for every single thing I have ever done since I was a kid,
along with my sisters, and all my family really. You both love all of us and show your never
ending support and believe in us with your attention, your finances, and in
your prayful guidance. I’m sure at times
it feels un-noticed, but it is not. I
also know the rest of my family had me in my thoughts and prayers throughout
training and in particular on race day.
Also thank you to my in-laws, Don and Kathy, who have taken me in as if
I were their own son. I see the same passion
to support your children that I have always seen in my parents, and it’s what
made me feel so comfortable and at home with your family right away. Volunteers, a big thank you to all; I know
it’s a lot of work and a sacrifice of time so we can all have a pleasurable
race. Finally, thank you to my friends,
training partners, brothers-in-Christ: Kyle Crowell, John Mayfield, Stacy
Ayotte, Billy Packer, and Kyle Burford.
You guys have been there for this journey since it started a year ago. I have learned from each one of you on how to
push myself, what perseverance means, and how to be a better man.
The Journey
Ironman is never about just the race. In my opinion if it is, you’re not truly
embracing the spirit of the sport. For
me this race began about 2 weeks after I finished my first Ironman race in
Florida in 2013. I knew I was on an
amazing journey leading up to that race, and it came to a peak on race
day. I have never cried that much while
running at the same time…and I probably never will again. They were good tears, tears of reflecting on
how my life had changed, what I had learned about what God calls me to be as a
man, and learning I can push anything life throws at me, including that race. I knew I was truly a different man from that
point forward. When I decided to do
Ironman, I felt I would do 1 Ironman and that would be enough for me. It would be an amazing accomplishment and
then I could just have fun with sprints from time to time and stay active.
After crossing that finish line in Florida, I could reflect on
how God is constantly at work in our (believers) lives and in my ironman
journey taking me from brokenness spiritually, physically, and mentally to a
place of confidence, strength, and improved spiritually, physically, and mentally. I needed the brokenness of life and journey
of Ironman in my life to lead me to truly understand his desire for me to “….run
the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter
of faith.” As Paul tells us in Hebrews 12:1-2.
If I had not gone through struggles, I would not be able to understand
how to seek God’s character or grow in my faith, and in what I like to call
biblical manhood. I’m not sure I would
have healed the way I did without it. I
needed to learn that God is using each and every struggle in my life to perfect
me for his Kingdom. James writes,
“Consider if pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of
many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces
perseverance. Let perseverance finish
its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” Wow, I had made so many mistakes in past
relationships and in my life, but God wasn’t done with me. No, he had much more in store, and now I had
Joy in life just like I did at this finish line after hours of struggle.
The other amazing way he worked in my life was leading me to
Houston First Baptist Church. It was
there that I gained so many new strong Christian friends in my life. It wasn’t that I didn’t have any before, but
I didn’t have any who were in my similar place in life. I had community that I could invest in and
they were investing in me.
Life was good for me, and God new I was ready for my life to
really change. About 3 weeks I would see
the most beautiful woman I had seen who stopped me dead in my tracks from
across a crowd at a church event. That
moment, without me realizing it, would be one of the biggest reasons God knew I
needed to grow in my relationship with him.
I would later find out that woman’s name was Alyssa Ayotte and I would
spend a month trying to find out more about her all the while growing more
intrigued and desperately trying to get her to notice me. Believe it or not, I went on to marry that
beautiful woman less than a year later!
Go ahead and try to tell me that its coincidence that I met her only 3
weeks to the day after I finished IMFL.
Needless to say, my passions in life these days consist of God, my wife,
my family, my friends, triathlon, and then work.
I was hooked. I
realized only 3 weeks after IMFL that I would do another one. This time not to just cross the finish line,
but to see what God would teach me again, to push myself to be the best Man I
can be, and to grow alongside other good men just as I had done with my guys
training for Florida. I can’t thank be
more thankful for growing in friendship with Kevin Hinson, getting to know Hung
Nguyen, Russel Cravens and the others guys in our group. My Tridot coach and friend John Mayfield, and
childhood friend and person who roped me into the sport Kyle Crowell were
already hooked since they had just finished their second Ironman. We found ourselves talking about (much to my
personal surprise as I planned on “1 and done”) what Ironman we were doing
next. Before I knew it in late 2013 we
were already talking about Ironman 2015!
I was excited because I knew this meant more conversations with Kyle
about teaching at church, or the frustrations of UH football. More conversations about my training plans,
or about Friendswood mustang football with John. More group texts about triathlon
nonsense. Hearing them share about their
lives and what they could teach me about being a husband, and a father. Getting a chance to meet at the Reeves House
on Saturdays and see them and everyone else with our Tri4him group. I knew
I was ready to do this again.
Recruiting
I already knew I was in the sport for the long hall and I felt
that as I was heading toward IMFL. I
couldn’t help but talk about Ironman or triathlon to whomever I was talking
to. I would try my best to not sound
like someone in a pyramid scheme trying to get every person they knew to sign
up underneath them. But the truth is I
didn’t stand to make any money, and all I could do was explain how much fun it
is, and how much it would cost and suck
at times. I was just trying to get as
many to come and join us for fun Saturday rides with our Tri4Him group as I
could. What was not to like? A nice workout, but more importantly time
spent in fellowship and community with fellow believers on a fun bike ride. The bad news is I probably still drive
everyone nuts about “come out and join us some time” or “you should do Ironman
_____ with us”. But to me it’s a gold
mine of joy and growth both spiritually and physically, how can I not share
with others?!
During the year of 2013 I was getting the chance to grow in
my friendship with my longtime friend Billy Packer. We would have talk after talk about anything
and everything. I guess along the way I
convinced him to “come out and join us” and before I knew it I think he was
hooked on Saturday rides and even did some sprints. He wasn’t on board with the idea of an
Ironman, but hey it was early! Eventually
after some wearing down by Crowell, Mayfield, and myself, he was onboard with
the idea of Ironman Arizona 2015. Another
contributor in my mind was the fact that he probably figured if I could do it
(Mr. SLOW RUNNER) he probably could do it.
He can beat me at everything else (golf, running…you name it). He wasn’t going to let another opportunity to
be better than me pass him bye.
Also during this time I had a friend, Stacy Ayotte, who I
had met through church and become friends with.
He is one of those people who everyone hates, because he is stupid good
at everything he does….you know those people!
Well I think that fact that this scrawny, lanky dude from church (yea
me) that he knew had done an Ironman and he hadn’t really bothered him a bit. I talked about it all time and I think he
couldn’t take it anymore and he told me he might do Ironman with me. From then on I was constantly telling him to
“come ride with us” or “come check out this sprint.” Every time he was a no go so I figured he was
out for sure. However when it came time
to sign up, he shocked me and said, something like, “if you’re in, I’m in.”
The third character to join the party is a friend I have
known for a long time, Kyle Burford. He
and I had not seen much of each other in the past 10 years as he was constantly
in some other country doing some sort of something (I think he is not allowed
to talk about it or our government has to kill him). He was now back in the states (at least 3
days out of each month) and he had also heard my “you should come out and join
us.” He fully intended to many times,
but schedule didn’t much allow it. He
much like Stacy was interested doing this race he had heard so much about. Again, if I could do it, surely he could. (You can see the trend hear…I’m the most
un-athletic one in the group usually)
The real shocker with Burford was we never talked about it again, yet
after all of us had signed up and were “All In” he tells me while we were out
at dinner with friends, “oh by the way I just signed up too….looking forward to
it!” AWESOME there were 6 of us
now. For me this was REALLY WHAT IT WAS
ALL ABOUT, not the RACE. The race, I
knew that was just the fun and exhausting victory lap to celebrate the journey!
Training
I could go on and on here about all the ways I grew in
friendship again with these men and all the things they have taught me, but
I’ll try to keep it short. The truth is,
a lot of the normal Saturday ride folks fall into this category as well. First of all, Ronnie and Cindy Reeves, you
guys are the heart and soul of our Tri4Him group in South Houston. You open up your home each week to a bunch of
people. We trash your bathrooms and
garage, we drink your water, take your Gatorade Endurance, and the list goes
on. You are either racing, or your there
cheering folks on at almost every race.
To all the other Tri4him folks or Saturday ride folks, and Powerhouse
Racing people (All of you reading this know who you are) it’s all the moments I
had throughout training and conversations that I value so much. I
apologize for all my grumbles about how slow I am.
As training volume built it became harder to find time and
energy. However, the biggest strength I
had through all of it was my wife Alyssa.
Babe thank you so much for being so understanding when I would snooze my
alarm at 4:30 am, when I had wet and sweaty workout stuff laid out all over the
place all the time, when I would be gone all day on Saturday, or gripe about
how long I had to run on Wednesday. In particular,
for not killing me, every time I had to tell you how I just spent another X
amount of money on this or that for training or the race. Through it all you were so loving, self-sacrificing,
and encouraging to me. I truly don’t
deserve someone as wonderful as you! You
are why I love this sport so much. It
lead me to you, and I pray it continues to teach me how to be even stronger for
you. You teach me on a daily basis how
to truly love someone unselfishly, the way I feel you love me. I’m not sure you will ever know how much it
meant to have you there in Arizona after everything that Ironman Florida
meant. God is SO GOOD.
The other thing that made the 8 hour rides, and all the pain
of the long workouts so great, was getting to share in it with all 6 of you
guys. It makes me think of the comradery
and “brotherhood” that veterans talk about after going to war alongside each
other. This is by no means on that same
level, but the truth is we did this all side by side. We laughed, griped, learned, swam, biked,
ran, and endured together. Care to count
the number of group texts or phone calls about Saturday schedule, weather forecasts,
or some new awesome gadget or training tool we had? All the while many of those lead to deeper,
real, genuine, character changing conversations in some way or another. That fellas is what in my mind was the true
victory for us. That’s all something
that couldn’t be affected by cold rain, a sinus infection, a missed PR, an
accomplished PR, or whatever else could happen on race day.
Race Day
Morning
Well you have probably skipped all that other junk, and this
is what you wanted to hear about. The 6
of us all arrived in Tempe on Wednesday, so we could do some pre-race workouts,
scope out the course, and get acclimated.
That was awesome time together to reflect, and relax. Our group dinner together on Thursday was a
true blessing. Most of our Family
arrived on Friday. We spent Saturday
checking in our bikes and gear, and then spending time with our families. I even got to watch the UH game, and even
though I should have gone to bed, I stayed up to watch an epic comeback late
Saturday night against Memphis! My wife even stayed up to watch with me. I'm pretty sure she thought I was going to bite my fingers off, but she never makes fun of me for being so engaged in the games. And Dad, I'm sorry you had to miss that game at home to be there for me. I'm also sorry you missed a majority of it while we were eating and then getting back to our hotel. Your sacrifice to be there for me is understood by me more than most would...both you and mom!!
Race morning I got up around 4:15 am and got dressed, mixed
my drinks and took care of some “pressing issues.” This was a huge relief to me because my previous
experience in Ironman Florida was major bathroom problems and I had to stop no
less than 5 times on the bike and 4 on the run for not so quick bathroom
breaks. I was thankful to be….well you
know….already. Alyssa and I headed to
transition and got there right about 5:00 am when transition was supposed to
open. I had a banana and started
drinking water. I would try to get down
a Cliff bar as well in the next hour.
Once we got there, I was excited to see Billy and Kevin
Hinson (fellow Ironman from IMFL and friend who came to support us and be our
Sherpa and Ironman consultant to our families) in the parking lot right when we
pulled in. I had a simple plan get
everything done quick and then try to relax.
The problem is I’m not good at that.
I did go straight to drop off my special needs bags. As I approached volunteers came to me and
said, “I’ll take that.” I LOVE
volunteers and this race doesn’t happen without them, but I am way to OCD to
trust they would get my bags in the right place, so I politely said no thank
you and walked where no one else was and put my own bags into the appropriate
sack by number. :/ Yea I was that
guy. As I then made my way back to
transition to put my nutrition on my bike I ran into Stacy (YES that is 2 out
of 6 I got to see in the craziness). He
looked as calm and collected as always, all the while I felt like one big
stress ball. As I was working on my bike
Jim Yarzy comes by to wish me good luck.
I get so excited to see him, I literally forget what I’m doing and start
walking away with him. He looked at me
and said with a pondering look, “uh…were you done with your bike or need your
bag?” GEEZ, I let him go and I went and
finished what I was doing. Then I had
the need again to take care of another “pressing issue”…YES, but NO….the lines
were a mile long. Then yet another group
text, “hey go past special needs there are empty port-a-potties.” Folks, THAT’S
WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR!! Finally I felt I
had done everything I needed too, and we planned to meet by the bridge before
swim start. I chugged my first bottle of
Gatorade Endurance for the day, and ate my cliff bar. I was ready to go so I called Lys, found her
in the crazineness and handed her my back pack full of stuff.
The Swim
As the 5 of us (we had no clue where Burford was?!) made our
way to the starting chute I had 1:15 to 1:20 in my head. As we got to 1:30 Stacy stopped and said
by. Then as we kept walking our way
through everyone I couldn’t find 1:20 and then I looked and the 4 of us were at
the 1:10 marker I believe. I decided
that was too far for me and I said good luck, gave my boys some fist pumps and
headed back to what I assumed was about 1:15.
Then I tried to let my heart rate come down and remind myself that this
was MY race. There it was, the cannon
went off…. THIS IS IT. We started
walking forward and I tried to shake off my anxiousness. As I got close to the water, I was blessed to
see my family! There they were, Alyssa,
Mom and Dad, Kathy and Don….I was smiling ear to ear!!! And then I was off into the water. It was cold, but not bad and I didn’t have
time to think about it. I decided to
target the middle between the buoys and the side of the river. This worked well as I really didn’t have too
much crowding in the water. I was happy
to have lots of folks around me so I could draft and not have to sight too
much. I just stuck to focusing on form
and pushing. After a while I realized I
was going way to fast and my goggles started to fog up so I slowed down and
pulled my goggled off to spit and washed them out and I was back to
swimming. Honestly before I knew it I
was at the turnaround and I felt great!
Then I looked to my right and there was John Mayfield. We kind of sat for a minute and talked. “Its getting a little choppy,” John
said. I replied, “yea and it feels
colder the farther we got, but I feel great.”
We then swam side by side for quite some time. Then I honestly started slowing down a little
I was getting comfortable. I reminded
myself this was my race and I just relaxed and swam the rest of the way. Then I came out of the water to see the
family again! I was pretty sure I was
real close to my 1:15 target and I felt like I hadn’t exerted myself at
all. I felt so good, I chose to go over
and give my beautiful wife a kiss after I heard them cheering me on. I meant to switch my watch to bike and keep
it in “multisport” but out of habit I hit the stop button and then told it to
save….OOPS. Then I heard my name again,
it was Bryan Krietz and he was helping get someone else’s wetsuit off. But I chose to wait a moment for him (what
was a couple seconds to have buddy help me) as I continued to work my wetsuit
off my upper body. Then he was done and
I got down on the ground and Bryan stripped me and I was off.
As I ran through transition, they had my T1 bag ready for me
and as I came into the tent I heard my name yelled, “Ross, over here.” It was Crowell, I sat down by him and he
points out Mayfield and says “Mayfield is right there” we give each other a head
nod, as john replied, “yea Ross and I swam half the swim together.” They were both about done changing and
getting ready to head out. I heard Kyle
say, “hey there is Stacy….STACY, STACY,” but he didn’t hear him. We joked about how Billy was probably at the turnaround
by now and then Kyle and John were off.
I had put on my bike jersey as I asked Kyle, “did you put on your
undershirt?” (I was trying to decide if I would wear my long sleeve undershirt
as I assumed I needed it now, but it would become too hot later in the
ride.) Kyle informed me he put his on,
so I decided to go backwards and take off my jersey and put on my long sleeve
under armor shirt. This would cost me
some additional time, but prove to be the wisest race day decision I made. As I
got ready to put on my socks, I clearly took TOO LONG cleaning my feet and
making sure I put everything back in my bag after looking at my total
transition time of 15 minutes, but oh well.
I was off to get my bike and hit the road.
The Bike
As I jogged down the main alleyway of transition I was a
little frustrated to see lots of volunteers standing around and I had to run
down the rack and get my bike off the rack myself. Maybe I was spoiled by Ironman Florida where
they handed me my bike. Oh well, I shook
it off and took off on my bike. The bike
shoot was a little nerve racking as people were all over the place. I heard my name shouted, and it was Lys, she
had made it to bike out. Waved at her
and then I was off. I knew in my head my
goal was a sub 6 hour time. As I headed
out of the chute I thought about my game plan as my heart rate was trying to
come down. I was way jacked up on
adrenaline knowing John and Kyle were just ahead of me. I decided I would let my heart rate come
down, but I would be ok with not falling below my first 60 minute target of
140. I decided I would go with original
game plan of pushing the bike knowing my run was so slow I wasn’t risking to lose
much. If I could finish sub 6 hour, I
would give myself more time for the run.
As I passed the first aid station and port-a-potties I
couldn’t help but think of Ironman Florida and all my stops. I told myself I wasn’t going to do this. I felt good but kept thinking Stacy would
pass me at any point. I just assumed he
was behind me coming out of T1. As I
begin the climb on the back end of bike loop I told myself to push it to hold
my pace. I was going around 20 mph, and
I didn’t want to fall below 18 mph. I
still felt good, but my hands and my toes were totally numb. I was so thankful I had my long sleeve
shirt. Then there it was the steep part
of climb. I found myself looking
contently on the other side of the road looking for my boys. I knew I would see them soon. Finally I spotted someone, Billy! As I got closer I realized it was in fact
Stacy! Huh? Had he passed me in
transition? Then I saw Billy, John, and Kyle not too far behind. I knew I wouldn’t catch them, they were to
far ahead, but goal now was not lose ground on these guys. I had been able to hang with them on all our
long rides, I had the strength, I just had to PUSH. As I made the first turnaround I knew I would
see Burford. I wasn’t sure where
though. I really had no clue how far
ahead of him I would be. As soon as I
made the turnaround I was pumped to have the tail wind. I had only Pro’s pass me on the way out and a
few really fast age groupers, and I had passed a fair share of folks (more than
I expected). However, I know I am strong
with a tailwind. I found myself almost
not sitting on my seat, I was so far forward on my bike and I was tucked down
low pedaling as much as I could. I was
flying by people just happy to enjoy the downhill descent after the long
climb. In my head this is where I would
make mad ground each loop. As I reached
the end of the heart of the descent I spotted Burford. I was surprised to see him so soon and figured
he must be feeling strong. I just put my
head down and cranked toward town at this point. As I did come into town it was exciting to
begin to hear the cheering, but it hit me….I NEEDED TO PEE. I
decided right then I would NOT STOP. I
could make it back up the climb and back down to the special needs. As I was going down Rio Salado Pkwy I, see
Billy and Crowell and they are very close.
I realize I’m not far behind at all, I had made some ground. Not on Stacy though, I had passed him way
back on the bridge. He was losing us
all. As I approached the turnaround,
there it was I could hear my name and cheering for me! I had no idea where they were, but they were
to my left.
At the turnaround I see Billy and Crowell are still about
the same distance in front of me, and I feel pretty good pushing through the
climb. My only issue, was the pain in my
stomach from holding my needed bathroom break.
All I could think about was special needs! I again, barrel down as I hit the descent and
start passing people like its going out of style. I realized the second climb took more out of
me then I thought. As I made the turn, I
felt like special needs would never show up, but I tried to just keep focusing
on gaining ground before I stopped. When
I FINALLY saw it I could see heaven….Port-a-potties! I grabbed my Gatorade mix, made 3 new
bottles and relieved myself, and I was on my way. Overall I felt great as I approached town,
but I began to think about how cold I was I thought all our family and friends
stuck in the rain. NO EXCUSES for me,
push through it. Again at the turn, I
saw the fellas and we were all about the same distance apart, I wasn’t losing
ground and I was on track to finish sub 6 hours! I waved to the crew as they cheered again and
I smiled. Last loop! To be honest I don’t remember much for about
the third loop, probably because my brain started to run. My biggest struggle on my last loop was to
not day dream. I felt really strong, but
my fight was against my head. I realized
it as I began to be passed as I was about halfway to the far turn around. Then I told myself, I had to really push on
the climb so I could still make 6 hrs. I
really struggled up to the turnaround, but as I saw Crowell I could tell he
must have slowed down on his last climb as well. Then as I approached the turnaround I could
tell I had made ground on Billy. I was
surprised to see I was as close to him as I was. Finally, I was headed to transition! I pushed it and gave all I had down the descent. As I crossed the river and headed into town
it really began to rain hard. That was
probably the coldest I was all day. I
also needed to pee again. Before I knew
it however, I was making my way into the transition chute and as I got off the
bike I was pleased to find out my legs felt good enough to run and get my bag
and head into change tent. Even better,
I was 90% sure I was in under 6 hours and I had hit my goal!
As I looked for a chair in tent, again I heard my name. This time it was Billy, “Ross, back
here. Man I can’t get warm. It looks like we are going to run this
marathon together.” I told him, not to
wait on me. The tent was a mess, and my
OCD self was determined again to keep my cloths clean and dry and clean my feet
well before starting. Eventually Billy
decided to head out ahead of me. Again,
I managed to take WAY to long in T2, but I finally finished, used the restroom
and I was off.
The Run
As I came out of T2 I looked forward to seeing our spectator
crew since I knew the tent was near T2 exit.
I began to hear my name, and there was Kevin, and he told me I was doing
great and Billy was just in front of me.
I could see my dad videoing, my mom taking photos and everyone else
standing there. I remember giving Billy’s
Dad a high five, seeing Donita and Lys.
I gave Lys a kiss and then spotted Don and Kathy and I gave Kathy a kiss
on the cheek. Then I was off, this is
what I had been dreading all day. My
goal, was 5 hours, doing an 8’/1’ run/walk interval plan. I struggled my first 8 minutes, but I felt
pretty good. The rain was drizzling and
I was cold, but I realized I was in good shape after seeing everyone in T2 shivering
and everyone running with blankets and trash bags. I saw Mayfield pretty quick and realized he
was pretty far in front of me as he had already made it to the turnaround and
was almost back to our tent. As I got
closer to the turnaround I passed Billy, and he looked good, but told me I
would catch him. My thoughts were, “fat
chance.” I knew and so did everyone else
that this would be my struggle. After
the first turnaround, came the “Tough Mudder” portion of the race. It was ridiculous. The dirt path along the river was drenched
and there was nowhere to step that wasn’t wet and slippery. After first trying to be very careful and
cautious on where to step I realized I was thinking way to hard. I tried the grass, and that was a horrible
choice as my left foot sunk into a deep buddle of water. Now my shoes were muddy AND my left shoe and
sock were drenched. WHATEVER, I just
kept thinking about how long till I could walk again. I had decided each aid station I would get Gatorade
and water. I tried a chomp at the first
one, but the flavor was terrible, I had to spit it out. Cliff bars from then on it was. I was back at the Tri4Him tent and hearing
from everyone. Every time I heard all
the cheers, it was a rush! Then as I
went further and passed transition I heard Crowell’s family yell my name and
then I heard Mason from Powerhouse yell my name. Ok, I was off to the bridge. I was already tired and wanted to quit the
8/1, but I instead chose to take a couple longer walks. It worked, I felt better. I was wondering where the bridge was….then
finally I saw it. As we ran on the other side of the river, I realized finally
I knew where I was and we had run there earlier in the week. I was finally at the start of the
out-and-back on the far end and there went Crowell headed off finishing the
out-and-back and he looked good as he gave me a finger wag and I returned
one. I felt good seeing Crowell and I
picked up my pace thinking, “I am close to the turnaround, I’m not far behind
him.” Boy was I wrong, it would be
forever before I got there and I saw Billy along the way. He looked good as I expected he would. When I did reach the turnaround, is when I
realized I had not paid attention to the run route enough. I finished the out-and-back and made my right
turn away from the river and realized I had no clue where I was going. I thought I was headed back to the bridge,
but I was way wrong. This is when my
math started in my head. My watch showed
I was doing about 11:30 average pace which was better than expected, and I was
feeling better than I expected. I decided
to push to hit the 13 mile mark and be under the 2.5 hr mark and average 11:30
pace. As I finally hit the bridge and
then headed back down towards the river I got a HUGE surprise. There was Kevin Hinson! He had ran across the bridge and was there to
encourage me. He told me I was on track
so far. It was a huge surprise and I had
a boost of energy!
It felt like a long time before I would ever make it back to
the bridge and the other side of the river but it seemed to go by pretty
fast. Once getting to the bridge it was
easy to be motivated because it meant I was close to half way, so I really
started running as fast as I could towards the finish area. It was motivating to hear all the noise of
people finishing…. yes, finishing while I was finishing my first loop. Whatever…this was MY race.
Finally, I had made the turn away from the chute to begin
lap 2. Pretty quick I saw Kevin and he
was running alongside me telling me he could get my special needs bag and take
it. (honestly I didn’t process what he
was explaining since they were going to throw it away I could get it and he
would take it to the Tri4him tent…. stupid me I thought he was just asking if I
needed anything out of it, which I didn’t) I told him, no I just wanted some
pay days out of back pack in the tent. I
lost a pair of socks in my special needs bag for no reason. As I passed the Tri4Him tent I saw Lys and
everyone else cheering for me and Lys then walked along side me. She asked me if my battery on my watch was
ok. I looked and it was low, and
possible it could die, so she gave me her watch. I started using it to track my intervals and
let my watch keep going for overall time, without using the backlight.
I had hit my 13 mile target, could I maintain
it? I was sure I couldn’t, but seeing
our crew was the boost of energy I needed.
This time as I headed toward the first turnaround I see Billy again. Again he tells me I’m going to pass him, but
I laugh it off. I can already tell I’m
falling off on pace. My goal now is to
keep my run pace as close to 11’ as I can. I began walking at 8’ intervals and
aid stations regardless of how close they were.
This meant I was getting some only 3 or 4 minute intervals at time. The good news was the “tough mudder” portion
of the race was now in good shape. I
pushed back towards the tent and our crew and I first see my dad videoing, then
mom and Lyn both taking photo’s, however I surprised to not see Lys. Stephanie runs by me and says Lys is up ahead
and I see her running in the grass to my left to go ahead and tell Lys and
Lindsey I was coming. Finally, I spot
Lindsey and Lys and they yell for me to keep pushing. I was fired up, but now I knew this second
loop was going to suck. The bridge came
faster than I expected and this time I
knew how long the other side of the river would be. As I was crossing the bridge I see Jim Yarzy
running the other way and he looked good.
Man, was I jealous because I knew that meant he was almost done and I
had an almost half marathon left.
Ugh. As I turned to run along
side the other side of the river again, I quickly saw Stacy. Man he was right behind Yarzy. We gave eachother a head nod and a high
five. Geez that was 2 people almost
finished. It was a bit discouraging to
know how much further I had, but I had to remind myself this was my race and I
was going for my PR. I was starting to
hurt and was shuffling along when there was someone else….it was John. He looked good as well as we gave each other
a high five if my memory serves me right.
OK, that was 3 people way ahead of me, but I was really happy for all of
them. It was my job to just keep
running. At this point I was doing
everything I could not to walk. It was a
mind game at this point. I kept doing
math, and kept thinking about how important it was to maintain a 11:45 average
pace and a 11:15 run pace at this time.
I was definitely slowing, but I was still holding on. This time as I approached the under pass I
saw Kevin, he had again run over the river to see us. This time he walked with me for a for my
interval and then began running with me once I started again. He told me Billy was just barely in front of
me and that I needed to keep pushing and I could still get my 5 hour
marathon. As I started running again, he
ran for a bit with me and it was a life saver!
It took my mind of the pain I was starting to have in my calves and my
right knee. As he decided to stop he
told me, just keep pushing. As the
turnaround approached, I realized I had made ground on both Crowell and Billy,
and when I saw Crowell he told me to push it so I could catch Billy. The problem….I didn’t have a lot to push
harder with. Finally at the turnaround,
there was Billy. We gave each other an
arm wave and went on. I decided I would
try to catch him, but I began to find myself walking….A LOT. I would decide to push to a 10:30 pace
interval to catch Billy, but I couldn’t run 2’ straight at a 11:45 pace. I had reached what they call survival
mode. Timed intervals were over; it was
“let’s see if I can run 4 minutes this time.”
When I walked, I was trying to walk as fast as I could. My calves and my legs were killing me. It wasn’t my cardio, it was my legs. This time it felt like forever before I would
get to the underpass. This time I was
looking forward to seeing Kevin and when I did it made me feel good. He caught me at an aid station. He told me all I had to do was hold a 12’
pace and I would break 13 hrs. I told him
I wasn’t sure I could do it, and my 5 hour marathon was out of sight. He reminded me, my goal was 13 hrs. Then he told me Billy was just in front of me
and he was expecting me to catch him or he would slow down to let me catch
him. I told him I hoped he wouldn’t
because I didn’t want him to regret not getting a faster time. He said Billy said it would depend on how he
felt. I threw the food I had in my hand
away and told Kevin I would see him at the finish line! That motivation wore off REALLY quick and I
was slowing down again, but I was just focused on getting back to the
bridge. Was it me or was it always
forever for the bridge to show back up?
This time it was dark and I could see the lights, but it was like it
would never come. Once I finally made
it, it felt like I was almost home, but I had nothing left in my legs. As I was going over the bridge I heard my
name…It was Kyle! He looked to be in
good form and doing well. To be
completely honest up until this point I had always expected him to show up on
my heels and pass me since he is such a good and fast runner. I wasn’t sure it mattered how far in front of
him I was on the bike. I knew I would
finish before him, and I knew he would finish with still with a great time for
his first one. We gave each other a wave
and I was ready for the finish line. I
was on the last leg. There it was, I
could see the 25 mile mark. Then a little
later as I barely shuffled one foot in front of the other, I could see a blue
jersey in front of me and it looked like they were looking back at me. There was Billy! The poor guy was waiting on me. I tried to hustle up to him, but I didn’t
have it in me. Eventually I caught him
and we gave each other a high five. I
told him, “dude you did not have to wait on me!” We were both smiling ear to
ear, and he said, “I can’t imagine a better way to finish!” I told him, I couldn’t agree more. From there on we both slowly jogged towards
the chute. As we got into it, I told
him, “Enjoy, it give some high fives” as kids were hanging their hands into the
chute. I began listening to my own
advice and did the same.
The Finish
There it was the finish.
I got to cross with Billy and it was awesome! I was so proud of Billy, all his hard work,
the man I had got to know, and getting to share in that moment with him! The only thing better would have been
crossing with all 5 of the other guys, but this was special. Then for me it got even better. As our catchers got us, they guided us toward
photo’s. He told me congrats and I told
him thank you for volunteering and that I catch at IMTX so I really appreciated
what he was doing. But I could hear our
group cheering for us. (To my
catcher….sorry I know we are supposed to keep moving and that was your job) I
decided to go say hello and hug my family.
Getting to hug my wife, my parents and my in-laws was something special
that I didn’t want to pass up. They were
all there. My parents who have never
missed a moment my entire life where here again, cheering me as usual and
loving me the same.
My new amazing,
encouraging wife was there for me to hug and kiss. So long ago the idea of Ironman brought me
closer to the man I needed to be and the finish would be so close to the
beginning of my new life with her. And
now encouraging me and building me up all the way to this finish line.
And my in-laws who were new to all this chaos
and up supporting me all day and now late in the night waiting to give me a hug
and encourage me as their own. It was so
easy to see how God has blessed me.
Then
looking to my right and seeing Billy hug his wife, kids, and parents was beyond
a delight for me. I couldn’t help but
think about the day I might get to hug my kids at the finish line. Then Crowell showed up, he had just finished
his pictures. Man this was awesome. Not to mention I got to see Johnny Zepeda and
many of the Powerhouse folks while waiting for photos. I would go on to get food and a massage and
see my coach as well. I finally made it
out of the Athlete area to see my family and Billy’s family. There it was.
It was everything I imagined and more.
I had not got a chance to congratulate Stacy as he had left already
(thanks for waiting to watch us cross the finish line, dude), but I was
thankful to see John and Crowell and Billy and share in moments after the race,
and decided I would wait for Kyle to finish.
I was thankful my family chose to do the same.
Not too much later we knew Burford was close so we made our
way back to the chute along with Stephanie.
And then there he was, we saw him cross the line! I’ll be honest I’m not sure it ever meant
that much to Burford, but it was a delight to me to see him cross as well and
celebrate with Stephanie. I was
thankful to be there and share in that moment with him! I was proud of him whether he cared or
not. And truth be told a little in awe
of how well he could do with no training at all. Let’s face it, I wished I had the athleticism
to be able to do the same.
The Eternal Race
I did it, and I did it because of
the support and help from everyone else and because of the body, strength, and
determination God has given me. It is to
him that all Glory is due, and in him that I can delight in that day. A man who endured more pain then I will ever
know on the cross, simply so I can receive the gift of his love and salvation. If going through such temporary and fleeting
pain throughout training and this race day only to feel the joy of the finish
line and seeing my family and their joy in my “job well done” was so sweet, oh
how sweet it will be to endure anything this world can throw at me as I seek to
glorify him on this earth and Lord willing one day Christ’s face at the finish
line and hear him say “Welcome home.”
Yep, the finish line is worth it all. I can't wait till the next race.....Ironman Texas 2017 anyone?
