Ironman Florida Race Report- Part 3

Published by Bethany on November 20, 2011

The Run- Now for the run, my coach and I had a very different strategy than the others. We both felt that I had been too conservative on the run and that I needed to go out hard to see what I could really do. The specific instructions were to take the first three miles easy then go out hard basically knowing I could blow up as at mile 18. This strategy was very exciting to me. I guess that’s a little weird.

Anyways, I got going and felt Good. I glanced at my Garmin and couldn’t seem to slow under 7:30s. Oh well, I just decided to go with it. I felt great for the first ten miles, then it started to get harder. I had my average pace up and was determined to keep it sub 8 as long as I could. There was definitely no singing and laughing and joking, this sucker started to HURT A LOT as soon as mile 13ish. Due to my finicky calves, my longest run since KY was only 1.5 hours, which I realize is Insane. I was trying to keep this out of my mind. Also, I had read this quote that helped me a lot. Something someone said about once you put your body through the wringer a few times, you’d be surprised at what it can do.

Photo courtesy of www.DaveMPhotography.com
Obviously, I’m not hurting Too bad at this point yet!

Water, coke, water, coke at every aid station. Just get to mile 13 under 1:45 and you will be on track. Just get to mile 18 and you can slow and save some for the end . Of course none of the slowing is really voluntary but you can tell yourself things to keep it moving whether it’s true or not. I had heard from a few people that John had been about 10 minutes ahead at the start of the run and I figured I was running about a minute per mile faster, so I thought I would catch him about mile ten. Sure enough , saw him right at mile ten… snuck up and smacked him in the rear. His reaction was so sweet and something I won’t forget. He said something along the lines of “Oh, I’m so glad you caught up.. I was worried you weren’t having a good race!” I said I felt good and congratulated him because he was doing a lot better than his personal prediction for himself. Then I kept running my pace and he his, and I slowly pulled away. After the turnaround I was thinking “just make it to the park. Just make it to the park” For some reason, I looked forward to the empty desolate state park bc I knew if I could make it through that I would be in the home stretch. The park is hell in the heat of may, but oddly comforting in cool October.

Got through the park the second time and my splits were starting to look not-so-good. Lots of high eights and even a niner. I was really really hurting and felt like my legs were on the verge of cramping up. I decided to walk through a few aid stations which I have never done before. If nothing else it was something short term to look forward to, if I convinced myself it would make me run faster afterwards. About this time, I also started to notice that the women that I came up on were in contention if you know what I mean. I could somehow tell by looking at them and by spectators yelling their position in their divisions. I started to thinking “Hey, maybe I actually have a chance!”

I had asked my mom and Todd L when I saw them at the turnaround to look online and see where I was at. They told me fifth or sixth when I saw them so I knew I had a shot at top five. Prior to the race, I had athlinks’d the girls in my division and had a vague idea of who my main competition would be. I came up on a girl with a 31 on her calf and a last name on her butt that I vaguely recognized the name as being who I anticipated as strong competition. She was walking an aid station and I passed her. Next aid station I walked and she passed me back. Her pace wasn’t that good though, and I knew I needed to cut the 10 second breaks and pass her definitively .

Mile 24 and I clicked over on my Garmin so I could see the time of day. Holy crap, I was going to do it! I had visualized a 10:36 and a 3:30 marathon as being the perfect day for my current ability. Somehow even though my legs were in horrible pain I managed to pick it up. I didn’t want to give up a second of my hard-earned time. My face must have looked particularly grotesque because the camera guy on the motorcycle started filming me and stayed on for about a minute. Hopefully nothing too embarrassing shows up on the broadcast!

Passing the ATCers again was just the boost I needed. I was so happy I was crying and yelling the last mile, then I would have trouble breathing so I would have to stop. I saw the clock ahead and ran and felt SOOO ALIVE even though my body was about to shut down. It was one of the best moments ever. I crossed in under 10:33 and my mom was there and telling me that I got third in 30-34. I did it!! Even if it ended up that there were only two spots, I did it as far as I was concerned. I was so thankful and felt so blessed that I could have such a good day doing what I really love and have Such a passion for.
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I stuck around at the finish line for a few minutes.. Ted and Stacey were there too and he had finished in an awesome 9:49. My dad had called to say that John would be crossing soon. I really wanted to see him finish, especially since I missed it at WI. We all recognized his stride as the clock was still at 10:52. I was soo happy because though I thought he could do sub 11, he was outperforming his own prediction by a lot.
I got back around to congratulate him and we both teared up and I was so touched by how happy he was for me. I was really proud of him and happy this IM experience had been good for him, he had questioned whether he even wanted to do it so many times.

After the massage, getting food, showering, we came back to watch the rest of the ATCers. I was SO proud of how well everyone did. A lot of people exceeded their times goals and the ones who didn’t showed extreme determination despite things not going well.

The next day I woke up at 7 and felt anxious about getting to the Kona slot allocation. I had done the math and pretty much figured there would only be two spots, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to just GO at nine to make sure. I could barely talk to anyone that morning I was so keyed up about it. I walked down to the tent with my parents I and the staff member told me there were three slots. I DID IT!!! I couldn’t believe it! I made her show me on the computer to be sure, and I was still pinching myself until they actually took my money!

I’m going to KONA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!