race day.....not race report

i already have the "morning of" and swim portion of my race report ready to go, but it is saved on my laptop, and i don't have my laptop with me. i do, however, have time to give you a taste of my race day...hopefully this update will be just enough to satisfy you and keep you interested to read the more detailed stories in ironkatymoe-land.

being that it is almost a week since race day happened. my perspective may actually be a bit skewed towards the positive, but what i do remember of the day is the FUN i had for 10 hours and then the un-fun, hellish, near-death-pain that ensued for the next 2 hours and 15 minutes. from the ten hour mark on, as Steve Prefontaine would say, "it was a pure guts race". what i mean by that is i was soooooooo "done" at that point, the only thought i had energy for was..."go". that little word is all that kept me, go-ing. :) so, one could imagine that the immediate post race feelings towards ironman in general were NOT pleasant ones, and i couldn't remember for the life of me why i ever considered participating in things like this.

luckily for me i had wonderful supporters who took care of me after the race. brett got my bike and bags (something i would not have been capable of this year). i almost passed out/threw-up a couple of times on the way to the car. i couldn't even bear the thought of Gatorade after the race, let alone food, all i could think about was closing my eyes. the hotel room brought it's own challenges. such as shower or bath? the idea of standing was AWEFUL, but i wasn't able to physically get down into the tub and i knew i wouldn't then be able to get OUT of the tub. instead, i just stood there staring at the bathroom, hoping i would just become clean by standing there. sadly, i had to use my last ounce of energy and bathe myself. on a positive note, the hot shower loosened me up a bit and i at least found enough energy to walk to the bed.

i was still really sad about not feeling GREAT for the whole race, as my first and foremost goal is to finish feeling good. i felt like i really let myself down and didn't race "smart". i analyzed, worried, and thought about it, pouting for a long time. then brett looked up my splits for the day.......i started to get interested. after hearing that ALL my times improved (except the marathon, i wouldn't let him tell me my marathon splits) i started feeling better about the day and remembering that i DID have a lot of fun for most of the day. finally, i let him tell me my over-all marathon time. 4:30-something......oh? that's not bad!? then, i let him break it down for me. obviously i ran a little TOOOO fast the first half. i would have NEVER run that fast on purpose.......i was just trying to run how i felt, and i did feel GREAT off the bike. overall, i have nothing to be sad about. it was a great day, and i had great times, i only wish i hadn't run myself into the ground by mile 16. :)

my wonderful family bought me a my own pizza after my shower since, i was too nauseated after the race to consider eating the provided post-race grub. by 11pm, food sounded ok. i fell asleep soon after two pieces were down, but woke up about every two hours (each time my body made me move, and the sharp pain of movement woke me up) and ate a couple more pieces, by 8 am there was only one piece left (gross). :) my attitude was already WAY better and i was thinking about my marathon and how, "next time if i run smart maybe i can break 12 hours". yep, i said it. the challenge is out there...........