One Man's Ironman - Florida 2012

Ironman Start and Swim 2.4 miles
The ocean was a bit rough like it was 2-days prior during a training swim. Well, so be it. I was in the thick of it with nearly 3000 other athletes. It was like a salty washing machine of arms and legs. My feet were scratched, people were riding up on my back and I only got hit in the face one time and not too bad. This is all pretty normal for me since my age group is typically the largest during age group swims. And Men 30-44 are always the biggest groups. I have 2 seasons before I age-up. As you may recall, my goal was 1:15 +/- 10 min and I swam the 2.4 miles in 1:15. Perfect!

Swim to Bike

T1 was planned at 6min but with all the running on beach, thru transition, into building, changing, sunscreen, out of building, thru transition again and on bike I'm pretty happy with my 11 min. Plus, I drank 20 oz and ate a Cliff Bar. Getting on the bike I saw my support couple Laura and Eric which was so cool!

Bike 112 miles
I tried to chill and not go too hard. I won't bore you with the 112 mile details but my goal was 6 hours +/- 30 min. My dream goal was to average 20 mph as that is what I have averaged for the past several years in shorter races. And let me just say, this pace is nothing to sneeze at. Well, I totally hit my goal! I avg. 19.97 mph (I'll round up) and that included stopping for 1-2 min after a bee flew in my helmet and stung me at around mile 60. Oh, the 112 miles took me 5h 36m. AWESOME!

Bike to Run
T2 is traditionally faster as you don't have to deal with a wetsuit and there is less gear. I hit my 6 min goal, exactly! (How do I do that????) This included getting sunscreened, again, and drinking another 20 oz. and a cliff bar. I was starting the marathon just after 2 p.m. (the heat of the day and the hottest day of the week) and I was hoping to begin by 3 p.m. Score, I'm doing great!

Run 26.2 miles

Running my first Marathon (26.2 miles) I really wasn't too worried. My training was solid and I peed 5x on the bike. (Yes, we triathletes are graphic and shameless.... I peed in my shorts.) So, I figured I was in good shape. I started the run slowly, as planned. Based on training I figured I could go 4h 20m +/- 20min but I really just didn't want to go over 5h which is an 11:30 min/mile pace. Well, the first half went according to plan but I was starting to feel the dehydration setting in around mile 12. I got my 20 oz Gatorade at the halfway point and started drinking more. It took a while to finish it and by this time I was starting to walk/run or just run much slower. Thankfully, I have 11 years of racing experience and I know how to push forward. My head was always in the race but my quads were rocking out (lack of fluids) and my stomach was a bit sour (again, dehydration). Well, I managed the 3rd quarter pretty well and forced myself to pee (port-a-potty this time). I hadn't peed since the bike so that's not good for me. I wanted to finish strong and once I made it to the final turn-around I pushed the final 6 miles to the finish line. My plan was run hard and walk when I needed to. I simply ignored the pain and pushed until I thought I might puke. This worked well and I passed a lot of people in those final 6 miles. My marathon took 5h 8min but that's fine.

The Finish Line 140.6 miles completed

My dream goal was to finish in under 12 hours (more like 11h 47m). My realistic goal was 12:30 - 14 hrs. I crossed the finish line in 12h 17m 18s. This was a great race for me!!!!! I almost couldn't believe it.

Post-Race
Well, it's a funny situation, once you stop moving after working hard for so long. Your body does weird things. Well, mine really doesn't like dehydration and it started to set in. I went to our meeting place and started to get water in me. But I really wasn't getting in much or fast enough. I was light-headed, sour stomach and my hands were tingling. I've had this once before and I needed 2L of IV fluids. (This was after running a 10 mi race with the Thanksgiving flu half the family got from my nephew.) I told Laura and Eric I should probably go to medical and Eric was a trooper putting my sweaty, stinky arm around him for support. After about 1.5-2 hrs I drank 4 cups of chicken broth (yum) and some water and a tiny bit of banana. It wasn't enough and they decided to IV me. Yea!!!! I got 2 bags of IV fluids, felt much better and was ready to drink and eat on my own. 

Laura and Eric had already picked up my bike and gear (athletes are given 2 tickets for just such an occasion, when you can't do it yourself) and we walked the 15 min back to the condo. I was feeling so much better and was able to drink, eat and shower before going to bed. 

The Future

My current plans are to not race in 2013 but I think I'll be volunteering at many triathlons. I just can't say enough about the volunteers and especially those at an Ironman distance race. They are simply the most amazing people, EVER! 2012 has been an amazing and enlightening year for me and more is to come. I'm really excited about my next project and cutting way back on training... but I'll never stop.

Thanks again to all of you and if you if you want more details or are interested in training for a triathlon please let me know how I can help. Afterall, I am an Ironman!

Ps. First task when I get home is to get the M-Dot tattoo! Completed!

Breakfast with Bill and Ted

Here’s a little story about enjoying the simple things in life.

My graduate school career didn’t begin quite as planned. I didn’t even decide to go until two weeks before classes started and this meant finding a place to live and moving to Worcester, MA in just a few days.

When I arrived to move in with the two guys I found on the housing bulletin board I was greeted by, no one.    It seemed like the apartment was vacant and I couldn’t find either of my new roommates. Finally, after waiting several hours with my life packed into my Ford Explorer, one of the guys showed up, let me in and gave me a key. He then proceeded to tell me that just a few days ago, the second roommate pulled a knife on him, while he was sleeping! That’s right, roommate #1 woke up, in the middle of the night, to find roommate #2 standing over him with a knife!

Are you kidding me? Well, I did move in since I was told the psycho had been arrested but roommate #1 was “bugging out”. I spent two nights there and on day three I packed the few items I had unpacked and moved to my second residence. Once again, I found a place to share with a young working woman. It was a 2BR townhouse and well, I’ll be honest, the girl was HOT!

The first couple of weeks were ok and it seemed like we were both making attempts to be friends and get to know each other. No, nothing like “that” but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t cross my mind. Luckily, I knew where to draw the line and the fact that she was bringing home different guys a few nights a week made me want to run the other way.

One night she sent a guy home after having way too much to drink and proceeded to confess all her dirty laundry to me.Well, life in the townhouse was never the same and after a total of two months, I moved out without telling her. I just left the key on the kitchen table. She then proceeded to leave perverse messages on relatives' answering machines whose number she got from the phone bill I ran up.

Finally, I found a 3rd floor apartment a few miles from campus and where a classmate of mine was living in the garage - converted into a sweet 1BR house. I had my own space and a good friend nearby so life for the next year and half was pretty uneventful. (I did, however, wake up to gunfire on 3 occasions.)+

What began as a way to avoid my crazy, hot, female roommate soon turned into the tradition we called "Breakfast with Bill and Ted". It was my friend Chris who lived in the garage and the year was 1991. I’d leave the townhouse at far too early for a Saturday morning but happily pick-up a dozen Dunkin Donuts and coffee and head to Chris’s. There, we’d spend the rest of the morning eating sugar, drinking caffeine and “air guitaring” with Bill S. Preston, Esquire & Ted "Theodore" Logan while repeating “69 dude!” and “Wild Stallions Rule!”

 

I mean, how can you not like this classic with characters like Bob “Genghis” Kahn and Siggy? Do you remember that Bill’s step-mom was a senior when they were just sophomores? How about when Ted asked Bill’s step-mom to the prom? And poor little Napoleon kept getting ditched at the water park.

It just doesn’t get any better than Breakfast with Bill and Ted. It was truly excellent and exactly what I needed during some not-so-good times in Worcester, MA. This regular break from reality would happened over the next 14 months until graduation. Yup, you may even say the simplicity that is Bill & Ted got me through graduate school and oh, don’t forget to “Listen to this dude Rufus, he knows what he’s talking about.”

Here's the full-length movie if you're dying to see it now.

I Didn't Know I Was Bullying

I used to pick on my friend, let's call her “Jane”, a lot. I first met her in kindergarten and we instantly became best friends. In the early years of elementary school she used to chase me around the playground, tackle me and kiss me. In the later years kisses turned into kicks in the shins with saddle shoes but through all of it we were still best friends. When we made it to junior high our friendship was on solid ground and we regularly hung out outside of school. We’d talk about every topic under the sun and were really close.

My friend Jane is a pretty free spirit and sees the best in people and situations. She’d often make comments or draw conclusions that to me, just sounded ridiculous so like any pubescent boy, I’d make fun of her. I would mostly make sarcastic remarks which made her feel even more stupid. I really never thought anything of it because we were such good friends and this continued into high school.

In high school, with my hormones raging at this point, I developed quite a crush on Jane. Nothing really changed in our friendship; it just continued to grow stronger. I’d support her in all areas of her life from school to sports to boys all the while continuing to make fun of her any time the opportunity presented itself. And in my mind, that was pretty much ALL the time. I really liked Jane so much and every chance we had to hang out and flirt we would. Years later she told me she was crushing on me too but sadly, nothing ever materialized romantically, as we continued to be best friends and I continued to pick on her.

We went to different colleges and stayed in touch even without the Internet since it wouldn't be invented for many more years. In fact, a group of us mailed an audio cassette to each other recording our own message and passing it along. I think I even made fun of Jane then too because at this point, that was just what I did.

By now I was definitely becoming an adult but that didn't change the way I treated Jane. She was my best friend and I’d do anything for her including “beat her down verbally” and make her feel like less of a person than she was. Well, one summer during college when we were hanging out, probably at the local pool we had snuck into after hours, Jane and I were having a serious conversation. We were talking about our futures and fears and what might happen after college. Then Jane said to me, “You know, you pick on me a lot and have for a long time. Why do you do that? Do you know it really hurts me every time you do it? You make me feel stupid and like an idiot and you've just been beating me down for so long. I really wish you wouldn't do it anymore.”

Jane really struck a nerve with me deep inside. I had no idea I was being so hurtful because I thought it was all in fun and friendship. But when she told me how much I had been hurting her and she was so sincere and vulnerable when telling me I knew instantly how wrong I've been for so long. I had no idea that I was bullying my best friend. Right then I stopped picking on Jane forever. She made me realize that breaking people down with negative verbal remarks was really just about me trying to overcome my own insecurities and feelings of shortcoming.

I've always been the type of person that when I make a decision I take action immediately. Sometimes the decision takes a long time to make and other times it is instant. From that moment on I stopped trying to make Jane feel worthless and I started being positive and supportive. Our friendship has lasted more than 20 years since that moment but I’ll never forget it and I’ll do my best to make up for it for the rest of my life.

Bullying can be physical, verbal or emotional. You can bully a stranger, a friend, a relative or even a co-worker. If only a bully could actually read this and understand how much they’re hurting another person. If they could only think about any person they actually do care about and think about how they would feel if someone was hurting them.

They say that “Sticks and stones will break your bones but names will never hurt you.” but really relentless name calling and negative remarks do hurt and probably for a lot longer than it takes a bone to heal. As an adult most, but not all, of this type of behavior ceases to occur. At least in my world it does because Jane taught me a lesson decades earlier. Still, you have a choice and “if you can’t say something nice, simply don’t say anything at all.”