BenFish
I stand at the shores of Lake Mirror in ankle deep water wondering if I am ready. I see hundreds and hundreds of people in the water, and I start to tense up. The entire training year flashes through my head, but I start to gain some confidence thinking about the hours of training and that I wanted this. I can do this. I keep looking up from the shore behind me hoping to see my wife Jane, my 16 year old daughter, Emily, and her two best friends, Sarah and Lauren.
They are late to the swim start. They are coming from the camp site about 5 miles away. Yes, I made my wife camp in a tent, while I slept comfortably in a pop-up tent trailer that Bobby Olsen has nicely provided for me. Unexpectedly I slept pretty well with no IM nightmares, while my bunk buddy, Paul Phuijing, didn’t snore a peep.
Back to the lake, where there are seconds to the start and I realize they will not see me off, but that’s okay, I have bigger problems that lie ahead. My plan is to swim wide right, and angle towards the first buoy. Apparently many others have the same strategy, but it is still better than swimming at the cable and get eaten alive. The rock music is blasting, but my mind is blank and suddenly the horn goes off and I dive in next to Joe G. Surprising that first leg goes smooth, I breathe deep and try to relax. I say to myself, I have swam this before and everything will be fine.
I keep thinking, relax, and this will be over in a hopeful guestimate of 1:20. The first buoy is tight with swimmers, and I try to cut the corner. As I take the next buoy again I go a little right for some swimming room. I have some space, but consistently feel people tapping my feet. Suddenly I feel someone’s fist that jammed my toe. It starts to throb, it feels like I stubbed my toe, but it doesn’t really slow me down. I reach the shore and look at my watch, as if the time really mattered, and I later couldn’t even recollect it. I jump in for lap two feeling okay, but relieved one lap is complete. This time, with some confidence, I am closer to the cable. This lap I start to catch some swimmers, and get blocked in. I have to wait to find room to pass. I hit that first buoy again and it is still tight. By now I have swallowed some water and feel like I want the swim to be over. I take the second buoy and I am on the home stretch. Swimmers are still everywhere, I cannot get in a rhythm. I am getting frustrated and tired, and look up at the shore and it is still pretty far off. Now someone is hitting my legs every consistently, I get pissed and slow and try to give them a jab with my foot. Instantly, my right calf cramps up and I scream out loud. I sit up and grab my leg and stretch it out. At this point I am a bit worried it would happen again, and swim farther right and find some room to relax and swim easily to the shore. Finally, the swim was over at 1:22. Feeling ecstatic, I get stripped and lightly jog down the path.
I see Jane and the girls, and I smile, they are here and that makes me feel good. The girls are screaming at me, as are the rest of the people, but it all melds together. It’such a great feeling running down the carpet to T-1. Swim is finally over, time for some biking.
Jim Sullivan had once told me to wear what you are biking in under your wetsuit. This would obviously save time, and getting clothes on over wet skin is difficult, In the end he was right, but I had opted to entirely change and put on a dry shirt and shorts. I felt I really didn’t care about time, and I wanted to be comfortable. How comfortable can you really be riding 112 miles? Anyway, I grabbed my T-1 bag and headed for the tent. It was mobbed, there were no chairs left to sit down and change, matter of fact there wasn’t really any room to move. I managed to get everything on in a time of 17 minutes. Later I would see that time and be astounded, what the hell was I doing in there? Definitely some room for improvement. I grab my bike and head out of T-1 for the bike leg. I see my athletic supporters, Brian Person, Bobby Olsen, Paul Phuijing and Dan Spellacy, and they seemed perplexed on where I have been. Lesson learned, next year I will go with the same clothes. Yes, I had signed up Saturday for 2011.
Okay I’m on the bike leg, and I start to hydrate for the first 30 minutes. I am relaxing and spinning trying to find my legs. What’s the hurry, I told myself it was about having fun and just finishing, 2011 would be about time. That was the plan…. drink, eat and bike for 112 miles. I told myself not to think of the distance in its entirely, but in sections. Swim one lap, swim another, bike one lap, bike another, etc. My brain couldn’t handle thinking about mastering the 140.6 miles, I had to break it up. I had rode the bike course a few times and knew what to expect. I have put many miles in on the bike and knew I could do the distance, I just had to stay within myself. I had told myself that an avg. speed of 16-16.5 mph on this hilly course would be acceptable, at least to me, and that was the plan. I tried to spin on the hills and keep aero on the flats and downhills.
As I continue my journey, I remember what Tom Deluca had told me, if you’re feeling good, eat…if you’re feeling bad, eat, and that’s what I focused on just eat and drink. As I got halfway through the first lap, I saw yellow and black in the distance. Thinking that most, if not all, Nauts were probably ahead of me, I wondered who it was. As pulled up, I saw it was Melissa, and said hi. We rode together for a minute and I commented on that awesome yellow aero helmet she was wearing, and I finally moved along. From this point I saw no one. As I approached Papa Bear I was thinking a group of Nauts would be there, but surprisingly there was no one. I turned the corner and finally saw some Nauts (Totz, Jackie, Julie) cheering me on. It felt good to see them, and zoomed past the Special Needs Bike bags and I headed towards lap 2.
Heading into lap two I felt pretty good, but it has only been 56 miles. There was still time for things to go wrong. I had always wondered about a bike mechanical wrecking my day, and tried to prepare by bringing tubes, tools, and a spare tire. As I hit the hills of the second lap, they started taking their toll and I could feel it. I tried to relax and spin as the miles ticked off. I was starting to pass some bikers on the final hills, so I was feeling inspired at this point. As I approached Papa Bear for the second time, I see Bill Romito on the bike heading in the opposite direction. He gives me a wave and I feel good. Does this guy ever stop? I realized I was almost done with the bike, but now the dreaded marathon loomed in the distance. I pulled into T-2 thinking it would feel good to get off this seat. 6:55 at 16.2 mph.. right on pace.
I am feeling good mentally, but how will the legs feel. Only 7 minutes in T-2, I grab a drink and I’m off. The freakin crowds are screaming, I feel pumped, at least for now. I finally see Jane and the girls in the 1st mile, they are screaming and I give them a kiss.
I try to run really easy the first 3 miles, but the spectators are yelling and it’s hard to hold back. I keep it to a 10 m/m. As I head out of Town, again I think one lap at a time. My plan was to walk all the rest stations, walk the hills, and average 10 m/m, but I knew I would break down and probably have to walk more. I had guestimated a 5 hour marathon based upon my typical marathon time of 4:03 to 4:15. As I reach the 6 mile turn-around I feel relieved and rejuvenated to head back to Town.
I continue to take gels and fluids. I am very warm and use the best thing since sliced bread… cold-water soaked sponges. I grabbed them at each rest stop. I squeeze them over my head, I put them in my shirt on top of my shoulders. I couldn’t get enough of them. I reach Town and see a gang of Nauts including Brian, Bobby, Paul, Dan, Martha and Bruce on one side of the road. They are screaming. The cheering helps.
I also see Jane and the girls, I ask Jane where’s the pink Naut hat I bought her. I wanted to wear it for the finish line. She explains it’s in the car. I was told by an anonymous Naut that if I wore pink for a portion of the race I would get free beer. Well that’s all it took. I’m disapointed and continue on.
I complete one lap and head out of Town. Time to time I start to see Nauts racing. It helps to see them. As I head out of Town I see Jane and the girls again. Emily has the pink visor. She felt bad and high-tailed it back to the car to get it. WOW, I say… that was fast. We switch hats, now I feel inspired. Was is the pink? I continue out of Town…one more lap! I continue towards the second turnaround.
I am getting into the later miles and I am tired. I start to walk in between aid stations as well. I continue with the sponges, my entire body is now soaked.
I make the final turn and head to the finish line. It’s 6 miles to the finish and I think I will make it now, but I begin to see casualties on the side of the road. Racers are sitting with towels over their heads. Sad, but I continue and now I am starting to feel light headed. I start to walk and begin to take the coca-cola and broth, which is as good as they said it was. I had my phone and I get a call from Jane. All I here is screaming, I tell her I’m 3 miles away and get to the finish line. Later, I would find out she was telling me she was at the finish line, and to look for her. I just hang up. Suddenly, Totz appears on bike, she is screaming at me “go Fish”. As quick as she appears she rides off. I approach the final hill in Town, I am walking it, and the guys are there. They start to walk with me, and are happy for me because they now know I am close. I reach the top the hill and break away from them. It’s the final stretch. I begin to run faster, the screaming gets louder, and the adrenaline is kicking in. I make the turn, and see a group of Nauts, its Jim, Kelly and a bunch more. They all high-five me. I head towards the final out and back and then I make the turn for the oval and it sinks in that this will happen. I enter the oval and the screaming is deafening. I cannot see Jane nor the girls or anyone else I know. I am in a fog and running about 6 inches above the ground.
I wave my hands twice as if I want more cheering. The crowd responds both times. The cheering drowns out part of Mike Rileys voice, and I her …..ish, you are an Ironman. I cross the line and feel the relief of being able to stop. I have completed my goal, and it was worth every minute. A young gentleman escorts me to a table where I get a hat, shirt and medal, and then he sits me down. He will not leave my side until I say so. The volunteers are awesome.
I sit in a chair unable to move with stomach cramps. I cannot eat. Brian calls me. I explain I need to sit tight. I have nothing and cannot move. He offers to get my bike for me, which I really don’t care about right now. I start to get very cold. I am entirely soaked from the sponges and it’s cool out now. I begin to shiver and tell him I forgot to bring a change of clothes. Bruce nicely gives me his sweat shirt. I eventually I warm up and feel better and now can walk, and meet up with Jane and the girls, and I can finally eat some pizza. Now I start to enjoy the moment and want to see others finish. We make it back to the finish line to see the last minute warriors finish. It is truly inspiring.
My time is 13:47:00..very close to my goal. Swim 1:22…bike 6:55 and the marathon was 5:03. I had secretly estimated my time as 13:30:00. The average time for a 50-54 male over 10 years at Lake Placid is 13:37:00. So I guess I am an average guy, but still an Ironman.
Special thanks to this club who inspired me to do an IM and to all my friends who made the trip. Thanks to Brian, Bobby, Paul, and Dan who trained with me and did everything for me this weekend. Thanks to my friend, Matt Delmonte, who was there for most of my long rides, and encouraging talks. Special thanks to my wife Jane, who supported me entirely and put up with all the training.
See you again in 2011,
BenFish