James Rae’s 2009 IMRI 70.3 Race Report

RACE REPORT – 2009 Providence IRONMAN 70.3 (from a rookies perspective) After 7 long hard months of training (and losing over 50 lbs.) I was standing on the beach staring at the huge waves coming in and heard the announcer offering the option of doing a Bike and Run duathlon. As for me, I have come too far to back down now even though this was my first ocean swim. I was luck enough to bump into Matt Salmon at the starting line and he offered some great advice and encouragement. Boom went the cannon and I was off, the first half of the swim was very choppy and my stomach was doing flip-flops so I did the breast stroke (thanks for the advice Tom DeLuca). On the way back in it was gun it until I hit the beach, so I thought. All I remember is getting hit with a huge wave coming across my body and taking a deep breathe to refocus and started to swim again. I then felt fingers tapping on my forehead and nose, so I stop, look up and hear a woman say, “you are going the wrong way, TURN AROUND!!!!!” The bloody wave turned my body completely around and I started to swim back to the turn buoy. Now you guys know why Amy, Rich and Mandy call me Donkey. The bike course was pretty good with lots of long flat sections and generous downhill’s, which made up for the series of long steady climbing we did between miles 25-46. I was behind Kara Forrest for the first 4 miles then around mile 8 I heard Mike Cousins’ voice “Way to go Big Game James”. Even though he was climbing at 18 mph and I was going 10 it was a great shot of adrenaline for me. At mile 18 the super human Paulito passed and reminded me to “keep a steady pace”. I was feeling fine until I hit the mile 45 marker and looked up the huge hill ahead. At that point my hams and quads were starting to get mushy. Everyone was cursing the race directors up that one, at the top was an aid station and a great down hill, which lasted almost to the last ½ mile of the bike course. Mike cousins and I both concurred after the race that the bike course was 57.3 miles, not 56. Now for the run, my arch nemesis!!!!! For those of you who don’t know, I had my hip reconstructed and shouldn’t be running to my mailbox never mind a half marathon. But, what the hell, you only live once. My strategy was simple, jog when I could and hump it the rest of the time. Hell, when I was in the Marines we would do 30 miles with boots, camies and 100 lbs of gear, so this would be a breeze. I was full or adrenaline coming out of T2 and sprinted the first mile until came upon College Hill. The damn thing looked like Mt. Everest, all I saw was a stream for walkers so I followed suit. I was walking as fast as the few brave souls that were attempting to run it. After the turn around it was mostly down hill with only one long hill to face, so I jogged the 3 miles back and took the momentum into the turn around. As I was headed back downhill towards “the Hill”, my wife and 3-year-old son Patrick were standing in the middle of the road looking for a hug from Daddy. He gave me the thumbs up and told me he was proud of me; at that point it was a good thing my eyes were already burning from sweat because the tears I was shedding would have definitely done it. That was just the motivation I needed to go face College hill for a second time. This time around the only people who were running were the people headed downhill. At this point in the run I thought it best forgo running and walk as fast as I could go. I started walking with a woman from Boston and started to exchange stories about the race and I told her about the swim mishap and she said “you’re 883, I was the one who told you to turn around” we had a good laugh and then I was ready to run again. When I hit the turn around I couldn’t run again until the last quarter mile approaching the chute. With the cowbells ringing and the music blasting I was getting choked up as I heard the booming voice of the announcer “Here comes James Rae from Westfield Massachusetts”. So after 6 hours and 54 long and brutal minutes I did it I really did it!!!!!!!!!! Some people told me I was nuts for attempting a 70.3 IRONMAN on only 7 months of training and zero prior triathlon experience. Maybe I am nuts, hell we all are in this sport, but today I found out that in Triathlon your heart and courage far outweighs your training and preparation. I want to thank Tom Deluca (for letting me interrupt his swims to pick his brain about the sport), Franco (for teaching me how to ride my bike properly) Mike Cousins (for helping me relax back in May when I panicked at Haviland Pond the first time I swam open water), Amy Rich and Mandy who finally talked me into training and joining the Cyclonauts, of course the many Cyclonauts who always offered advice and encouragement to a rookie and lastly, my family (Jill, Mackenzie and Patrick) who have put up with my hours of training and mood swings, yet they still offer the best race support around. So what’s next for this 220 lbs. Clydesdale? I want to jump back into the Grand Prix and start training for the FIRMMAN (Aquabike). And for those of you who are probably wondering about any future plans for the BIG RACE????? I now have IRON FEVER and I think I will start training for Florida or UK 2011.