The Perfect Storm

There are instances when atmospheric occurrences … occur which then give way to what is called "The Perfect Storm." Take the California Wildfires. The perfect temperature, the Santa Anna Winds…. it all led to the perfect storm. Unfortunately.

In my world The Perfect Storm was something positive. It was Ironman Florida. Everything just kind of happened. Everything was in the right alignment. From weather to waves to wind. Ironman Florida was my perfect storm.

When I came for Gulf Coast I remember this course being ugly. I must have been cranky because this course was anything BUT. Trees upon trees on the bike. A beautiful park on the run and a chute that was 3 miles long of nothing but screaming people.

At 7am the gun went off and I joined 2,400 of my newest friends in a mass beach start. I have swum the Lake Placid swim 3 times, nothing could be worse than that. As I expected we were all in the water within 5 minutes. No thrashing, no beating, I even found myself swimming alone at times. The water felt great and there unfortunately not many waves.

I exited the first loop in 29 minutes, made the turn and headed back into the water for the second loop. All was fine. The only glitch was that my goggles and cap came off on the way in. I had to tread water about a minute as I located them (LUCKY) and put them back on. Giving up a minute in the swim…. no problem for me.

Once I hit the beach I took a slow jog… as Coach T warned me to keep my heart rate low during T1… through the showers, to the bags and into the tent. One of my themes for this race was simplicity. Very simple. I had no special needs bags. I was only changing the bottoms. Even nutrition would be simple.

Soon I was out on Front Beach Boulevard and to my surprise Curt and Luc were on the side of the road at our hotel screaming for me. What a lift!

Coach T set very strict wattage guidelines. I want you swearing at me… he told me…. and his biggest theme was bike for show, run for dough. This was a bike course I very easily could have ridden in 5:20. Easily. Especially with the disc howling at me in the back.

And especially with the drafting.

I knew there would be drafting. My plan was not to allow myself to get frustrated by it. I saw several other girls in my age group roll by. The first place girl has never cycled faster than me. But somehow biked a 4:59. I saw her go by in the middle of the train. Sad. If you are comfortable taking a slot to Hawaii by cheating… shame on you. In my book drafting is the same thing as doping.

And I will even admit this; I jumped on a train for 5 minutes. USAT officials were riding right by trains of 70 people and penalty tents were empty. So I jumped on with the attitude of "If I can't beat em, I'll join them".

It sucked. I have too much integrity to cheat. And shame on those of you who will. Over half the people who will be accepting slots to Hawaii are cheaters.

But as I said I wasn't allowing that to affect me. I was here to race my race, on my terms. I would race honestly and what that got me, it got me. I gave them all a CHOO CHOO went they went buy. It made the men pretty uncomfortable.

In my race... I was riding so slow I could have learned to crochet. I felt like cheese ball with my cycling ability, my bike, Power Meter and disc and here I was averaging about 20 miles per hour. However that was the plan and I was determined to stick to it. Even if the devil on my shoulder was taunting me.

Bike nutrition went fine. I took so much salt I am probably hypertensive. I take 350 mg caplets and when I could not remember the last time I took one was… I'd take another. The road was smooth. The wind didn't hit till mile 70. I love to ride into a headwind. That's where I drop people. But no, I sat at goal wattage and cursed Coach T. There was a section of road where my spare tubular, launched and I decided not to go back for it. I prayed I would not flat.

On the way back to town Curt and Luc surprised me again by being on the course. They will never understand the value of that. Never.

I rolled through T2 without an issue and turned on my Garmin. It took a half a mile to pick up and holy cow… what was this? What was this I was running on? Legs? Whose legs were these? They felt fresh! They felt good! I had to hold back from running 7:30 or 8:30. Holy Cow!

The goal was 9:15 min miles the first few miles and hell that felt a lot like walking. I soon settled in and carried salt and Aleve in my hand. I took an Aleve at the start of the run. Never tried that before but I thought no time like the present, eh?

The first loop went fine. No drama. I felt full but I had been feeling full all day long. As I approached mile 13 Nina Kraft lapped me and she headed towards the finish. I have extremely strong feelings about what Nina Kraft did. Lisa Bentley said it best… if someone steals from your cash register would you let them be in charge of it again?

But today was about forgiveness in a way. "GO NINA." I screamed at her… "PROVE IT TO YOURSELF." She turned with a surprise look and said thank you. Wonder if I hit the nail on the head.

At mile 13 my stomach felt upset. There will be no puking today… I told myself. I will have a PR today. I switched to Coke, took more salt and I felt GREAT.

For the first time in my entire life I felt absolutely in control of my running. My RUNNING? Coach T later told me that I passed 200 people on the run. I've never done that before.

I found a guy who was running my pace. In my head I was calling him Orangie. We said nothing. He took a turn leading and then I did. We'd lose each other at an aid station and I would start running again when he caught me. We hooked up with Fleet Feet guy and played cat and mouse but stayed together.

I felt strong. I felt that I could go faster. In a marathon? I understood now how all of this pace work, all of this running at Ironman pace, running every single day… it was paying off.

At mile 21 I hear Curt and Luc screaming "GO MOM!" I turn and there they were!!!! I screamed! I was so happy! I told Curt I think I had it, and he said I looked great. I ran stronger.

At mile 23 the clock read 10:30. I was going to do it. I felt good and I was in control. I wanted to speed up but I became afraid. I was afraid of blowing it. So I decided I would run mile 24 with absolute control. I would walk one more aid station and then I would run with control to the finish line.

Never in my life have I finished a run strong. So much went through my head. Jennifer Harrison was out on the course cheering her husband on (who did a freaking 9:28!!!!) and she told me to MAKE IT HAPPEN.

So I told myself I would make this happen. I asked myself how much I wanted to own a 10:XX Ironman time. How badly did I want to prove to myself that I could do it?

Get your shine on Mar…. I said to myself. Because this is your day. Everything, all of those bad performances, puking through courses, disbelief the FIFTEEN POUNDS…. to anyone in the world who has ever doubted me…. ESPECIALLY ME…. I was laying that all to rest. I also wanted to do this for Coach T. Without him this would have never happened. He is an incredible, incredible coach and I would say that whether I broke 11 or went 15. I wanted to good for him.

So I ran. I ran in control. I looked at my Garmin every 3 seconds because I was not about to blow this. Not now. Not here. I ran through the last aid station… and even took another salt tablet… I don't know why!

I saw mile 25. This would happen. Just run, all you have to do is run. I vowed I would not cry. I always cry at the finish line. Always. And I always finish with Luc, but I decided not to this time. (Hell he's in a freaking walker, that'd been a mess!).

At mile 25.5 I hear Curt and Luc screaming. I screamed too! I HAVE IT! I HAVE IT! I told Curt…. he knew.
And I didn't cry… until I saw the arch. I hope no one was watching that online because I don't even know what I did, I just remember screaming and crying. (I have been told that many watched… great… another prom moment.)

10:58.59 8th in my age group. All I could do was cry.

I looked back on my race and thought about the what if's. What if I did stop and grab that tubular? What if I took another minute getting the goggles on?

Funny how it all came down to a minute and 1 second. I am so incredibly grateful.

I have a slew of thank yous to say, which I will save for tomorrow. But please let me say a great big thank you to each and every one of you. Who have lest replies sent emails, called or even just took the time to think about Ironman Florida on a busy day. I know an Ironman is really trivial. Thank you for accepting that it's big to me. Thank you for respecting that and for those of you whom it's just as big for, thank you for your support.

I owe the hugest thanks to Coach T. He made me run. And run. And run. At IM pace. He made me do my long runs with tempo. He made me bike at IM wattage. He took me on after Ironman Lake Placid and turned all of that training into something. More to come on Coach T.

And to the boys. To Curt and Luc. I can't even begin to describe how just a glimpse of them made the day so excellent. For their support, love and everything. Curt always gives me a good luck charm before a race. Each race it is a little different. This race he gave me the gold chain he always wears. He's word it for four national titles, his silver medal, etc.

At mile 23 I clutched that necklace and thought "This is the necklace Curt won his gold with." Problem was, Curt won silver. IRONMAN BRAIN! HA HA!

I feel so very lucky tonight. I feel so very grateful tonight. And I feel so very tired but I can't sleep. We went out for Mexican with my intention of getting something huge. I couldn't eat it. Then we went out for ice cream… and it's sitting in the freezer. I settled on what my body was craving… Fritos.

As I sit here past midnight, on the balcony of the hotel, I can hear the waves crashing. I can see them and even in the dark I can see the edge of the ocean. It's a power greater than me.

Today I got to have my perfect storm. Things aligned, I stayed within myself and I raced my own race. I feel so blessed.

Now it is time for bed.



THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU



:-) Mary