My first Ironman story still feels so unbelievably surreal.
The entire weekend was one long celebration of hard work. My goal was simple:
Finish and smile all day long. Both of those goals were met and surpassed. I’ve
been living on Cloud 9 ever since.
I was strangely calm all weekend about the biggest athletic
event in my life. On Saturday, Cheryl & I went to lunch with Scott, Gene
and his wife, Teri. At lunch Gene said, “You are unbelievably calm. You seem
calmer than I am.” In response, I said, “I decided a long time ago that God was
going to give me the day that He was going to give me and stressing about it
was not going to make a bit of difference.” And so I didn’t stress. I did not
worry. I felt completely, 100% calm. If I was going to get knocked out in the
swim, it would be. If I was going to have a flat, it would be. If I was going
to hit the wall in the marathon, it would be. If I was going to have the best
day of my life, it would be.
Being the Professional Facebooker that I am, I updated my
Facebook status Saturday night:
Feeling strangely calm
& serene. No matter what tomorrow brings I know that I have prepared,
fought, pushed & pounded my body & mind for this one day. I leave it
now in God's hands to show me the path tomorrow. Either way I know I have an
Iron heart & will celebrate with my T3 comrades as each and every one
completes their journey. Good luck my friends!
I stayed with Cheryl Saturday night so I wouldn’t have to tip
toe around my dear husband and three children in the morning. Cheryl & I
usually bond before races by talking about how stupid this is and asking why we
do this to ourselves. The alarm went off at 3:15 am. I slowly started moving my
body and thought about the strange dreams that I had the previous night. Dreams
about forgetting aero bottle. Dreams about my age group starting at 11:46 am
and wondering how I was going to get this all done by midnight. Dreams about
body marking. Don’t even ask about that one.
As we were getting ready, Cheryl said: "I'm kind of freaking out
that we're not freaking out! That's just not us." Haha so true. I was still
feeling strangely calm about the day, not worried, not stressing. I wanted to
enjoy every single moment of it.
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| Walking from transition to the swim start |
I met my family down in the lounge around 4:30 am. Everything I needed for the day was in my Morning Clothes bag…more pre-race food, goggles, cap, nutrition for bike and water
bottles. We arrived at transition a few minutes early. Once opened, I went
directly to my bike to put my aero bottle on my bike plus 2 water bottles from
CVS. I wanted to make sure I started the day off with plenty of water. I tried to
use my neighbor’s bike pump, but I couldn’t get it to close over my bike stem.
I was beginning to feel rattled. I wanted my bike set up quickly so I could
move on to the Swim Start. I grabbed my Special Needs bags and dropped them off
and then grabbed Cheryl’s Special Needs bags as well while she pumped her
tires. As I made my way back to my bike, I had about 3 people try to hijack the
tire pump, but there was no way I was stopping until my own tires were taken
care of. I was a little stressed about still being in transition. I wanted to
head over to the swim start. I saw a few T3 members in transition: Kathy, Ann,
Gene and Ed, but it was quick hellos as I was trying to get moving.
Finally, I was done with
my tires and started to walk to the swim start. I was anxious about getting my
spot in the swim line. As we are walking, I mentally pictured my bike and
realized I didn’t put my nutrition sack on my bike. Panic set in. Holy shit.
Jeff being the calm logical person that he is grabbed my snack sack and took
off running to transition. I didn’t know if I should go back to transition or
keep walking. I said a prayer that someone would let him in transition to put
it on my bike or at least put the nutrition with my bike. If I didn’t have that
nutrition, I was setting myself up for a quick failure. All plans out the
window. Luckily, my family kept me calm as I tried not to worry about whether
or not Jeff would be able to get it taken care of.
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| Waiting for the swim start. Chatting as usual |
When we got the swim
start, there were a ton of people available for body marking. No wait. Quickly
done. Yes! Time to walk down and get in line. The line was extremely long already.
I felt as if we were the last people to get in line, but I soon learned there
were many more behind us. We got in line and started chatting with two guys
behind us. One was from Colorado doing his 3rd IM in 5 months trying
to break 10 hours. Oh dear Lord. So way out of my league. The other man was of
Indian descent from ND where “there is only one hill”. Oh boy, was he in for a
surprise today.
The athletes were all in
one line closest to the river, but the family members could stand on the other
side of the sidewalk and keep you company. I asked Tiffany to call Jeff and ask
for a report on my bike nutrition. He said my nutrition was taken care of. I
felt a huge sigh of relief. When Jeff finally made it back to our position in the
line, he said a volunteer was putting it on my bike and I should be good to go.
He said he also ran into Ed who forgot his nutrition back at the hotel – across
the river! Knowing how stressed I felt about my own situation I couldn’t
imagine trying to call and wake up my spouse and get them across the river
before starting the race. I said a little prayer for him. We stayed in line for
a while and then decided we should use the porta-potties. As went got in line, we
ran into Gene who said he had left his bike special needs bags with nutrition
for 2nd half of bike back at the hotel. All of the sudden I wasn’t feeling
so alone now knowing at least 3 of us had suffered a misstep already.
The line for the
porta-potties was crazy long. We waited for 45 minutes while the swim line kept
moving forward as 7 am drew near. We were praying that our family was moving
our stuff up and that the guys in line were as nice as they seemed to be and
would move our stuff up. While I was standing in potty line, I finally saw Ed
get in line for the swim. He didn’t look happy, but I figured it was a good
sign that he had his nutrition under control.
I finally made it back to
the swim line where I ate my protein bar and then felt a little twinge of panic
when they sang the National Anthem. I heard the gun go off for the pros. I took
off my shorts, put on my cap and then heard the gun go off for the age
groupers. Adrenaline rush. The line started moving forward, but I was relaxed
again. I can’t explain why but I was not worried. I guess I knew I was prepared
and everything would be as it should be.
When I got down to the
docks, I heard the music. It was just what I needed to distract me. I started moving
to the beat and felt my heart rate starting to accelerate. I spit in goggles,
put them in place and started the jog down to the dock. Cheryl jumped in. I
waited for clearance…and I jumped in. I
had a moment of brief panic when I realized I didn’t grab my goggles but
fortunately they didn’t move. I immediately started talking to myself…relax,
relax, relax, count strokes, relax. Slow down. Your pace. Your race.
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| At the beginning of the swim |
I stayed to the right.
Only a few jostles. By the first 200 yards my goggles were pretty fogged up and
I could only see out of the corner of my right goggle. I continued with my
stroke, staying relaxed, but a little uneasy that I couldn’t see much out of my
goggles. I was afraid to clear my goggle lens and then end up with a leak so I
continued to swim with foggy goggles instead. My goal was to relax for the
first half of the swim and if I felt a strong current as I came back
downstream, dig in and have a strong back half of the swim. As we cleared
Towhead Island, I moved to the left figuring it was time to turn downstream. I
finally took a minute to clear my goggles only to discover I was inside the
buoy and I still had a way to go before starting to turn. One of the canoe lifeguards
politely said, “You are off course, ma’am.” Hahah yah. All I could do was
chuckle and swim. Only problem was that now I was on the inside line when we
finally made the turn. I had a tough time moving my arms let alone my body
forward. One man tried to break his elbow on my hard head. Not a good idea,
dude. I’m pretty hard headed. I finally turned and relaxed again. I moved to
the right again. At one point, I felt a bump on my Garmin and had a moment of
panic thinking I had lost my watch. I checked – it was still there and saw my
time 1:15. OK…not bad….still had a way to go, but thought I was on track. As we
headed into the final couple of hundred yards, I started to feel the squeeze
and all I could do was laugh. A verse from a song rang through my head: “Clowns
to the left of me. Jokers to my right. Here I am stuck in the middle with you.”
That’s exactly how I felt. Stuck in the middle.
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| Swim Exit |
I finally approached the
stairs to exit the river. I was so happy to grab the volunteer’s hand and step
out of the water. Tiffany and Dera were right at the water exit and I was so
happy to hear their words of encouragement as I walked up to transition. As I
crossed the bridge over to the Great Lawn, I heard cheers to my right and
turned to see my husband and kids waving at me. Those moments will be forever
engraved in my memory.
I grabbed my bag and got
to T1. I loved having a volunteer there to help you make the transition. She
was extremely helpful and wonderful even though I found it a little strange to
have her help me put my bra on. Oh well. It was all good. I think she was
surprised I was so chatty. She was trying to be quick and efficient and I was
like chill…I’ve got time. After a stop at the porta-potty (yes, I drink a lot
of water when I swim), I was off on the bike. Oh wait….nutrition. Yes the
volunteer was wonderful and put it on my bike. I forgot to check before I jumped
on my bike, but I noticed it immediately. She put the sack on the bike stem and
my legs were hitting it every turn. As a result, I had to stop before hitting
Whitherspoon and move the snack sack to the front bar, but I was ever so
thankful to have my nutrition with me.
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| Dolce & I....112 miles of business ahead |
I started off on the bike….JRA
(just riding along). Relaxing – getting legs moving again. After 10 minutes, I decided
I needed Endurolytes and I was ready for nutrition. I wanted something solid in
my stomach early in the day so I was planning on having a bagel and peanut
butter on my bike. I took 2 Endurolytes and Tylenol (just in case). As I was
trying to swallow all of the pills, my bagel and peanut butter fell out of my
jersey pocket…ugh. No stopping…just kept going. I decided a Stinger -Waffle would have to do
instead.
I took a gel as we took the turn on 42. They had the far
left lane closed and then we had to cross traffic about 300 yards up. The line
of cars was unbelievable. I made a comment that I felt sorry for the drivers
having to wait today and they probably hated us. Another biker laughed and said
the drivers probably feel sorry for us. Touché
Before 1694, I said a prayer for all athletes, but
especially my T3 comrades, knowing how dangerous the downhills could be on this
segment. On the uphill, the devil and grim reaper said “13 – that’s my favorite number”. Dude,
seriously, T3, but you don’t argue with the devil so I just kept pedaling! I
saw marshalls on 1694 who were warning people about drafting. Superman was out
there as well. He gave me a fist pump and tried to transfer his super powers to
me. Heck, I think it worked!!!
On 1694, I saw Mark, Glen, Cheryl on the way out…on the way
back, I saw Mike stopped at an aid station and Gene on his way up the hill.
Dang!!! I knew it wouldn’t be long
before Gene passed me…probably the last uphill on 1694. In my usual manner, I
was still chatting with the other bikers about the joys of the hills. As I was
heading up a hill, I saw a woman in the ditch laying down, eyes closed, looking
out of it…2 bikers stopped with her. That’s the best part of triathletes. They
are willing to help others. And then as expected, Gene passed me on the last
long hill. Go Gene! So excited for him.
I was so happy when I got off of 1694 and knew I didn’t have
to see that part of the road again. The next few rollers weren’t bad. I was
already mentally preparing for 393. Amazingly the hills flew by. I saw the
Pflederer family at the intersection of 393 and 53. It was so great to hear
them cheering, encouraging me along. I
continued to feel relaxed, putting minimal pressure on my feet. I flew over the
relatively flat section leading to LaGrange. I wasn’t sure exactly where I was
going to see my family in La Grange. They were just past the 4 way stop but I
didn’t see them in time to stop. I blew them a kiss and kept pedaling. Seeing
them there though made me smile even brighter. I passed the section where
Cheryl lost her chain on our first trip to Lou. I was glad to put that memory
in the past and keep riding by.
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| Blowing a kiss to my family |
I turned on to Ballard School Road, the road I dreaded
most. As we were going up the first hill
I passed another lady and said something to her about the delights of hills and
she shouted out a warning about the next hill being a blind one saying it was
where I’d likely drop a chain. I laughed. Yep, that’s exactly what I did the
first time. There was a gentleman
standing at the end of his driveway on the long sloping hill on Ballard School who
gave me a reason to smile. He said, “I know this hill doesn’t look like much
but it can kick you in the rear if you aren’t careful.” I chatted with other riders about what was coming…the
downhill and 90 degree turn into the uphill. After riding the loop twice
already, I was prepared and dropped to the small chain ring before the turn and
kept up a decent pace up the hill. The toughest part is not being able to gain
momentum before you have another small climb. Usually it’s a small part of the
road where I actually have to stand up on my pedals, but today it didn’t
happen. Unfortunately, I did have the distraction of a truck pulling a trailer on
Sligo Road and having to maneuver around it as well as the other bikers. Oh
well.
I tried to take the time to
appreciate the beautiful scenery. The landscape on the bike route is absolutely
breathtaking. Beautiful horse farms. Grand homes. Wonderful people sitting in
their front lawns cheering you on. I saw the Pflederer’s and Bob Davis at the turn
onto Pendleton Rd. Hearing Bob yell “You are looking strong.” felt great. It’s
amazing how the smallest words of encouragement can carry you a long time. The
smile on my face just kept glowing. I turned on to 42 and knew I had to be
patient. I always seem to think 393 should come up quicker than it does. On 42,
Stacey passed me. I was glad to see her since I knew she was worried about the
swim cutoff. It was so nice to see everyone having successes and facing their
fears. I turned on to 393 again…..passed the 60 mile marker way before the
cutoff. A mini-celebration for me. I wasn’t really worried about that cutoff
time, but I was just relieved to have that one behind me.
I started having this nagging
thought that I was going to be that person who had a great bike split, but had
to walk the run. But really I kept checking myself….light pressure on the feet,
hydration going well, eating consistently. All is good. I said a prayer of
thanks. I made my first stop at the aid station before turning onto 53 where an
awesome volunteer held my bike as I went to the bathroom. Haha – no peeing on
the bike for me. I turned on 53 and
stopped at special needs to get my nutrition. I had another bagel and peanut
butter in there, but the thought of solid food sounded way too heavy. I dumped my first Perpeteum into my aero
bottle and took off. Again when I got to La Grange, I didn’t see my family
until I was right on them. I was afraid to stop quickly and cause an accident
so I kept going. As I pulled out of La Grange, I teared up and said a little prayer
that they would make their way down to Pendleton Rd this time. It sure would be
nice to see them. Suddenly the song “It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to….”
started ringing through my head. I made the final turn on to Ballard School
Road and again I was chatting it up with the bikers.
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| My beautiful daughters |
I can’t believe how relaxed I
felt. My shoulders didn’t feel tense. I was feeling great. When I finally made
my way to the turn onto Pendleton Rd, I scanned the crowd and saw the most
beautiful sight…my family waiting, cheering for me. No question in my mind. I
stop and gave them all hugs and kisses. As we are talking, Abby kept saying how
my arms are all sweaty. It didn’t occur to me until I took off again that she
was feeling the water I had poured on my arm coolers and that’s why they seemed
so sweaty. Pendleton Road was the last stop I made on the bike. Dolce and I
turned toward Louisville and never stopped again. I remember passing boys on
Cervelos and thinking “Huh, guess me and my road bike are doing ok.” And who
told me I needed a tri bike? Yah, no thank you. I still have $2,000+ in my
pocket.
I remember a sense of fear as my
112 miles came to an end. A fear of hitting the wall in the marathon. I was
sure the run was going to hurt. I came into transition and remembered comments
from other Ironman athletes saying how they hated their bike and couldn’t wait
to give it to the volunteer, but after about 5 miles on the run you wished you
had it back. I wasn’t ready to get off of my bike. We had bonded together out there in Oldham
County and I was frankly afraid of the lactic acid which I was sure was going
to take over my body soon.
I got to transition, grabbed my
bag and headed into the tent. As soon as I walked in, I saw the most beautiful
sight: Cheryl. She was sitting in a chair next to Stacey with an empty in between.
I plopped my butt right down, sat back into that comfortable chair and started
chatting it up with my girls. We were swapping stories and having a good time.
Eventually I decided I needed to start getting changed. I took a moment to test
my blood sugars….218, which seemed reasonable to me since I was still eating
and drinking Perform on the bike. I had told myself that if it was over 300, I
would simply start walking and go from there. I was happy to see that I didn’t
have to alter my initial race plan. Cheryl, Stacey & I discussed how nice
it was to be at this point and know we could walk the marathon and still finish
the day as an Ironman. Big relief for all of us. I finally got dressed – without a volunteer. I
did have a volunteer bring me water to drink as well as to wash the sticky muck
off my hands. After a quick stop at the
porta-potty, we set off to run.
The best part was walking through
transition with Cheryl. We were still chucking it up, laughing, nice and
relaxed. We stopped to get hugs from our families. We even took some pictures.
Tiffany took a series of shots of Cheryl & I walking out of transition.
Cheryl tried to take a drink and wound up with Perform up her nose while I am
talking very animatedly with my arms. Tiff got some fantastic pictures at that
time. Best moments of the day!!! Hence, my T2 was 27 minutes…and Cheryl’s was
37. BUT IT WAS WORTH IT!!!!!!
As soon as we left transition, we
started a slow jog. I told Cheryl she did not have to wait for me. I wanted her
to have her day. She said “No matter what we are each going to have our own
moment at the finish line.” That Cheryl, she’s a smart cookie. Almost
immediately Cheryl said she didn’t feel well. Something wasn’t right. I wasn’t
too concerned yet. She’s had some problems with dehydration in the past and I
thought if we got her some fluids she would recover quickly enough. I know she’s
one tough chic. We stopped at the first aid station on the bridge, grabbed some
ice and Perform. As soon as we were done taking in our fluids, we started a
slow jog again. Again she said she didn’t feel well. I asked her what her heart
rate was and it was 167. Probably a little high for our pace, but not alarming
considering the amount of stress our bodies were undergoing today. As we
stopped at the 2nd aid station, we grabbed some grapes and more ice, more fluids. We started jogging again. Cheryl still didn’t
feel well and I just said that’s ok I’m going to make you slow down and run at
my pace. 12 minute miles was my plan for the first 6 miles.
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| Tiffany, Cheryl, me & Dera at T2 |
As we were getting off the
bridge, I saw Brian turning on to it. I told Cheryl “That just made my day.”
Knowing Brian had struggled with some OWS issues, he was going to be on my mind
until I know if he made it out of the water. Seeing him on the run course made
my heart a little bit lighter. At about the 3
rd mile, Cheryl said I
was going to have to continue without her. She needed to walk. I asked her what
was wrong and she said she felt like she had a weight on her chest. ALARM BELLS
WENT OFF. She just couldn’t take a deep breath. The effort made everything feel
tight, tired. I reminded Cheryl that we had said we could walk the marathon and
still get done on time. I asked her if she was going to be ok and begged her to
please listen to her body. This was definitely the only moment I did not smile.
I was scared, worried. I didn’t know if I should leave her. I wished I had a
cell phone to call my husband or sister, but I had nothing and just had to wait
until I saw them on the run course. I
said a prayer for Cheryl as I watched her start her walk.
My run plan was a 12 minute pace
for the first 6 miles. However, while in downtown, my watch had a hard time
getting a consistent reading. It was jumping from 10 minutes to 14 minutes. So
really I had no idea what pace I was going at. I just tried to keep it
consistent and GO!
I had this nagging thought that I
was going to bonk or hit the wall throughout the run. So I kept hydrating, kept
throwing ice down my bra and pants. Don’t laugh. It feels really good. I ate
light foods: gels, pretzels, lots of chicken broth. I couldn’t quite do the
coke though. It still tasted too sugary to me.
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| The best T2 ever. Worth 27 minutes! |
The run was long and boring. The
route was an out and back which you looped 2x. The best part? Getting to see T3
members 4 times. Sometimes I missed the people who weren’t wearing T3 gear. I
tried to keep track in my head who I saw in what order so I could keep looking
for them…it also helped me to have something to focus on. Mark, Aaron, Glen,
Kathy, Pat, Gene, Ed, Chris, James…repeat. On my way back, I saw Christy,
Stacey, Cheryl, Brian, Ann & Joe. I finally got to see Cassie kicking some
butt, as well as Joan. I gave a shout out and/or hug to each and every one of
them every time we passed. So much fun to see them doing well and achieving
their dreams. Miles 6-18 were supposed to be an 11:32 pace with a 30 step walk.
I kept close to that plan. I was a little slower overall on my pace. I was
still fearing the wall and if I needed more than 30 steps to finish my chicken
broth or pretzels I took it. Again, my goal was not to kick ass, but to finish
and enjoy every single moment. Nothing was going to deter me from that goal.
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| A kiss from my support crew |
I got to see my family about mile
15. They didn’t know yet what was going on with Cheryl. I asked them to remind
her that she could still make it even if she walked the entire way. I know how
negative thinking can set in and destroy your motivation. A kiss from my
husband, hug from everyone else (yuk – I was pretty gross by this point) and
yes, I was off again. Coming into the finish area, seeing the line was a lot of
fun. The crowd was going crazy and I was smiling at all of the madness. People
were cheering me on “You’ve got this. You’re almost there.” Then I had to laugh
because I realized they thought I was smiling because I was almost done. Haha
not so. 12 more miles to go!
On my 2nd loop, I
stopped to give Gene a big hug. Of course, he talks to everyone on the course
and when another spectator saw my T3 uniform, she asked, “Did you guys leave
anyone back in your small little town?” Haha. Probably not. And as I found out
later, if they were home, they were probably attached to their computer or
phone checking on everyone’s progress. I saw Chris & James one last time.
Just as I shouted “Keep it going boys” I heard James say to Chris “See you at
the finish”. They didn’t hear me at all and later asked what happened to me.
All in my master plan….
The miles were counting down. 10
to go. 8. 6 miles left. I was waiting for that wall to hit. Finally, mile 25….I
felt great. No lactic acid build up. I didn’t feel tired. I was fired up.
 |
| Still smiling!!! |
 |
| CELEBRATE!!! |
In the last half mile or so, a
gentleman told me there were two big guys in those same “13” uniforms just two
minutes ahead. I increased my speed. As
I hit the first corner, two girls sitting on the sidewalk said those boys had
just passed by. I took off. If they were really that close, it was time to kick
it in gear and see if I could catch them. Then I saw the finisher’s chute. The
lights. The crowd. My smile could not be stopped. This was the moment I was
waiting for. I started throwing my hands up in celebration. I could not believe
I was here. The Ironman Finish Line. I heard them mispronounce my name “Carla
Lieber”. Whatever!! I came across the line, arms raised celebrating 9 months of
long, hard work. A culmination of everything that I had dreamed it would be. As
I stepped beyond the finisher line and received my medal, I stopped, did a
dance shaking what the good Lord gave me, and did a split kick for good
measure. I felt no pain. I was on top of the world.
I crossed the line to see Lynn and Bob handing out hats, had my picture taken and was greeted by some T3
members outside of the finisher chute. It sure was nice to see them and to
celebrate with them.
Again, I updated my Facebook
status:
I planned my work. I worked my
plan. Now you can call me an Ironman.
Oh, baby, that felt good! I am an Ironman. Wow.
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| I AM AN IRONMAN!!! |
However, I didn’t have much time
to waste. I wanted to walk back up about a half mile to help give Cheryl the
celebration she deserved after a long hard day. We both reached our goals. We
can now say we have accomplished the impossible.
 |
| 15 hrs, 9 min, 56 seconds of smiles |
Unless you were there, you
probably won’t believe me, but I can honestly say I smiled the entire time…….15
hours, 9 minutes, 56 seconds of pure joy on my part. I cannot express how good
it feels to test your body and feel it respond, to have it step up to the
podium and end the day with the feeling that you can do anything.
