Honolulu Marathon 2012

Just like I wrote the TC Marathon blog post on the way out to Hawaii, now I find myself writing the Honolulu Marathon blog post as I’m heading back to Minnesota. Actually I’m at the airport but same thing.  

Unfortunately, I did not sign up for the Honolulu Marathon when they were offering a $26.2 registration fee for Hawaii residents, however fortunately, I was able to register as a Hawaiian resident right before the race paying $100 something rather than $200 something. Regardless, this race has much more than monetary value to me. Running the 2011 Honolulu Marathon last year left me wanting to experience the Aloha again and again and again. Uncle Paul told me he needed some help with work on Oahu and I decided to book a 2 month trip to Hawaii, making sure to be back in time for Christmas and the special role I will be playing Christmas Eve (Ho ho ho!)
I left Minnesota a couple days after running Twin Cities Marathon and arrived at the Big Island during the buzz of Ironman World Championships.  Aunty Share was able to hook me up w/ a little gig working with semi-professional triathletes Andrea Bess and Thomas Vonach in which we promoted a nutritional supplement Biestmilch. It was heaps of fun talking and connecting with many of the triathletes. Ironman day came and I got the opportunity to pass out water on Queen K at Lapakahi Park, spectate (road leading to finish), work the massage tents for a couple hours in the evening, then spectate until the last finisher came through. Very special to be a part of this event and might see myself trying to qualify for the race.
After TC Marathon, I had 2 months until Honolulu Marathon and was not sure of my goal for the race.  I knew it was going to take some time to recover after racing TC, however even a month after, it felt like I was just slugging to get through my runs. I had the idea of wearing a costume like many of the other runners do for this race but decided against it (another time).  Just a few weeks out from the race, my legs felt like they were starting to come back so I compulsively decided to shoot for 3 hours just to see what would happen. I would have bet 100% against myself for being able to do this so close to TC and especially with how dead the legs were leading up to it, however thought it would be fun to experiment and see what happens.

  My Sunday long-runs leading up to Honolulu were pretty consistent distances as previous marathon training plans, however a bit unconventional in location and the type of runs they were. It probably would have been smarter for me to just do a couple intermediate runs throughout the week rather than put the higher mile Sundays in but out of routine and habit, did my typical Sunday long run lead-up schedule for a marathon with regards to distance. For the 20-miler, I met up with Paul S. whom is a 9x H.U.R.T. 100-miler runner and we ran a loop of the H.U.R.T. course at night. What a blast that was and it was fun putting time on the feet rather than shooting for a pace. The 1.5hour run 2 weeks from the race I decided to do running the first 45min up Kohala Mountain Rd right outside of Aunty’s house and 45min back down. Prob not the smartest if I was going to be shooting for a time at Honolulu but was fun to throw all these unconventional runs in just for pleasure. It was pretty cool running everywhere from the resort lagoons in Ko Olina-Oahu

to Manu Road in Waimea-Big Island.

 Sure would be fun to spend more time out here and continue exploring and running throughout all these beautiful varying locations.
A few days before the race, I flew over from Big Island to Oahu and went to the Marathon Expo. This expo is pretty funny because almost all the vendors are from Japanese companies and it feels like you are in Japan. Bumped into Yuki’s friend Tomo at the Docomo bag handout which was funny because Tomo and I had only met once through Yuki at Marukame Udon Restaurant.  After overstaying my welcome at expo, I decided to rent a scooter from one of the local places in Waikiki. The whole time I had been out here I had wanted to rent one and was always waiting to do it w/ someone else but decided just to do it myself. Putzed around town for a bit, cruised up to the Hawaii Nature Center where the H.U.R.T. race starts, then scootered the marathon course. After, I scootered back to where I was staying at Uncle P’s in  Ko-Olina taking the backroads which was an adventure. In the AM, scootered back to Waikiki to return the scooter and meet Aunty Sharon and Uncle Randy in town. They booked a hotel in Waikiki right off the finish line which was super convenient. Dinner Saturday night before the race I planned on going to Marukame to eat a couple servings of Curry Udon but when I got there the line was humungous so walked down Kuhio St. to Ihop where they were having an All-you-can-eat pasta dinner. Ate 3 large plates of spaghetti and after buying some groceries for the AM’s breakfast, headed back to the hotel and got settled for sleep in the hotel w/ Aunty, Uncle and Bella.
The race starts at 5am so I woke up around 3:15 after getting to bed around 11. Felt excited and ate up a bagel w/ almond butter, banana and drank some Gatorade.  Walked over near the Honolulu Zoo where the bus pick-up was and took the bus over to Ala Moana Blvd to the Start Line. Was overwhelmed with the 1000’s of runners and kept laughing at people’s funny running costumes. Probably walked pass 4 people eating (onigiri) rice balls. Went over to near the Start Line and ran into Andrea and Thomas and their Team Ichiban. After hanging out w/ them for a bit, warming up a little down the street and finding a nice corner to go to the bathroom, headed over to the start-line and snuck in towards the front. The elites were escorted to the front and boy did they look ready to run. Heard the national anthem as usual and a quick countdown and we were off. Like last year, there was a nice firework display which makes the start very exhilarating.  Started off hitting about 6:50’s and it was nice to be a little more familiar with the course this year. I remember hearing the Japanese guys around me GPS’s beeping at every kilometer and am still unsure if I would like feedback as often as that. Saw some other guys looking at their watches quite a bit and figured they were also shooting for under 3 hours so decided to use them as pacers rather than rely on that rather than my own GPS. The course felt much more familiar this year after staying in Waikiki last year for 1.5 months.  Passed Aunty/Uncle/Bella on the way out to Diamondhead and made it to the hill. My pace slowed significantly going up the hill and I knew the time would have to be made up later as even at around 6 mile into the race, my legs were much more tired than usual at this point. It was a fun feeling running up Diamondhead because there was a spot on the course where there were no street-lights or volunteers and we were running under tree cover so it was completely dark. Made me giddy running in the pitch black w/ so many others around. Even at this point, I knew I was going to blow-up but was just trying to hold on and see how long I could hang onto 650’s. Was running on the highway out towards Hawaii Kai and the sun was starting to rise. There were some spectular views of the mountains with the rising sun illuminating them. This year also, there was a decent headwind heading out towards Hawaii Kai so more often than not I was trying to stick behind another runner to cut back on some of the it. I was still near some of the runners from earlier on and some of them sped off. Saw the first wheelers come past us on the other side of the highway heading back to town and knew I would be seeing the lead runners soon. The lead group blew past and I marveled at how effortless and easy they made it look, while I was already struggling pretty bad at a relatively early mark. It was mainly my hamstrings that were feeling the most fatigued. Came across another guy who blew up and said he was just in surivival mode. We chatted for a bit and after hearing another story of a Marine who spent time in Japan, kept on. It was mile 15 and was doing the loop in Hawaii Kai and was feeling like a pile of junk. My legs were on the verge of cramping, every mile was getting progressively slower and more painful. I ended up catching up to Testutomo whom runs in a Micki Mouse Costume and had passed me last year at Honolulu near the end of the race, and I had passed him at Boston in the Spring.

 After catching up to him an exchanging a few words about how I remembered him, I used what little energy I had to pass him and attempted to put a lead on to try and stay ahead of him. He caught me several miles later and with his quick step-step cadence he yet again passed me this year. Look forward to seeing him at other races!

Despite the pain and uncomfortableness of trying to run a race I was not prepared to run, I often was able to remind myself to enjoy everything as much as possible because of relatively how quick it would be over. Was fun running back with seeing the thousands of others runners on the other side of the highway running out towards Hawaii Kai but was a little shameful for how bad of shape I was in. Got one shout out from someone who recognized the TCRC shirt I was wearing. Saw a bunch of silly costumes, shouted out to many of the Kokoku and Tohoku Highschool runners, and kept trying to trudge through the fatigue and cramps. Overthought bringing Salt Caps with and even my biceps were starting to cramp up.  Throughout the race I had more GUs than normal with probably consuming 7. I couldn’t feel much of a difference taking them, but am sure it would of made a difference if I wouldn’t have. Took a turn off the highway and was in the residential neighborhood which was a sign of getting close to the finish. I remember thinking I had to go to the bathroom so went into a Biffy, stood there for a bit, decided that I didn’t actually have to go and stepped out, thought I needed to go again so went back in, figured out that I actually didn’t need to go, and got out and tried to keep putzing along. My legs kept cramping and unfortunately for the final stretch I wasn’t able to speed up much and even worse, jump at the finish line. Waved over at surfer Joe the announcer whom I’d met earlier at the expo who was announcing the finishers. Went and had a couple hot malasadas, got a Shiatsu massage, had a couple more malasadas and went and watched the finishers coming in for the next couple hours. It was wild how many runners kept on coming and coming and how it never got old watching them run by. Sad to think this race is over but at least I can look back on pictures, re-read this post and if I miss it enough, can always sign up for it again.
Next race on the calendar is Zumbro 50 in April and am excited to do another one of these again!

Splits: (Note nice progression in pace after 13 miles ha)

Twin Cities Marathon 2012

Right now I am sitting on a flight from SanJose to Kona for my 6^th time to Hawaii (everything in moderation right?).  Now I get the challenge of trying to preserve the memories of another race that came and went so quickly.

Prior to race
I don’t think I’ve had more time to prepare for a race than this one. Having just graduated and not having a job after doing Upward Bound in the summer, I had a little more than 3 months to train for my first time racing the TC Marathon. My goal was to finally get under 3 hours. I was excited to be racing TC on my own for after running it the previous 3 years with Tavis and Brandon.  I was excited that the TC course takes place on which 90% of my runs the last 5 years did. A majority of the marathon training runs were ran on E/W Riveroad so I coulnd’t be much more familiar with the course. Along with this, I would bike the course about once a week just to soak in the sites and become even more familiar with it. I wanted it to be that on race day, it would be automatic to figure out how much effort I needed to exert when. It seems like when I don’t know the course well, I’ll spend surprisingly a lot of effort just deciding when to give what. We learned a concept in one of my KIN classes called teleo-anticipation, which suggests that our bodies adjust levels of exertion/muscle recruitment based on the perceived distance/time the exertion will take place. A good example of this is how it’s not uncommon to feel the same level of fatigue after a 5-mile run compared with a 10-mile run. I guess a less drawn out version would just be saying that we prepare ourselves for what we plan ahead to do. The teleo-anticiaption concept mentioned that people who are doing their first few marathons have a difficult time perceiving the entirety of the race and inevitably slow down because they were unable to dispense limited effort efficiently through the race and save some for the end.  With this thought in my head, and after multiple failed attempts to break 3 hours (Eau Caire, Boston, Honolulu) I was very aware how I would feel after 20-miles at marathon pace and just had to figure out a way to prepare to deal with it mentally and physically.  Thankfully I was able to work with Chris and get a training schedule figured out (talk about a confidence booster knowing my plan was written by 3x Olympic Trial Runner).

            What gave me even more confidence was I would often imagine myself while doing training runs on the course that I was at that respective distance during the actual marathon (long winded, I know) A long-run that really boosted my confidence was ending a 22-miler at the 20-mile mark of the TC marathon route. This semi-simulated being more tired than I actually would be on race day for miles 5-20 of the actual marathon route. Chris had me mix in some strength training on distance-taper weeks which also helped me feel better. So many different factors changed for this race that I can’t really attribute what actually helped take about 7 minutes off my previous PR.  I do know though that it was a combination of different training, completely different diet, being about 5 pounds lighter than running any race before, and being so familiar with the course. What kind of drives me crazy (could also be now from all the coffee on the plane) but not knowing what’s the best way to get a PR for next race. Wish it was easier to have blind confidence in my decisions on why I do something.

Prerace

As I was going around chalking the course the night before the race, my transmission dropped in my car and I was stuck waiting longer than expected to eat the pre-race dinner (but huge thanks to Kayla/Trisha/Matt for helping me out during it) after getting the car towed back to the apartment, I scrambled to just eat anything. From what I can remember I had an enchildada, white rice with PB, Pizza, Icecream, carrot cake and cookies and downed it down with powerade (everything in moderation right?) I had not been eating much if any sweets before this, but read that more glycogen gets stored when high glycemic index foods are consumed so unlike being careful of eating “bad” foods before a race, I found myself eating a mess of different “bad” foods. What made my weight drop down to 164 was consuming mainly a plant-based diet thanks to Scott Jurek’s Eat & Run book and another book called The China Study. I attempted a slight carb depletion/repletion diet the last week of the race for whatever reason. Think that I spend so much time/effort trying to mess with less significant variables as compared to the actual running component of training for a race.  That’s why I’m excited to get into ultras and do the “JFR” plan “just flippin’ run”. But I guess in order to get fast at ultras it takes the same principles of consistent training and periodization that having quick marathon time does (not that I have one yet). Anyways after eating my mess of a dinner, hung out and relaxed until bedtime. Got to sleep around midnight and woke up a few times during the night. Ate some white bread w/ peanut butter, white rice and drank a little bit of power-ade. Kayla and Kyle then drove Brando and I up to the Metrodome. It was chilly in the AM and we were wearing old clothes that we would be shedding before the race. Gathered in the usual overcrowded Metrodome and waited until about 10 minutes before the race. Headed over to the start line and bid farewell and good luck to Brando. Got near the 3:15 pace group and listened to the national anthem(always love this part). Was standing next to a super fit East African (must have been his first marathon which didn’t help my nerves before we started). Then the gun was off.

Race
 As always, there was so much excitement with the start. I was feeling nervous about how I would feel later on in the race, although I also felt relaxed at how well I knew the course and excited to see family and friends at mile 20, along with other friends watching. It was suprising to finally be running in the race that consumed so much of my thinking for the last three months. I’m thinking to myself “this is actually happening now!”. Within the first mile, I was greeted by passing TCRC runner Tony K. who said he was shooting for a 2:45 I believe (he had an awesome race. At mile 2-3  I was then greeted by passing Steve who often runs at Hyland on Fridays and also had an awesome race.  The temperature had a nice chill to it and all things seemed within normal limits. I was beginning to heat up passing by lake Calhoun at mile 5 so through my long-sleeve under my TCRC shirt to my dad and continued on. Gada whom I met in the Upward Bound program and also wanted to hit 3 hours passed me after we exchanged words for a bit. The splits at this point were just a few seconds shy of being on at a 3 hour marathon pace so I was happy to not have went out to fast, and also not be too far behind. Passed Lake Harriet and hopped onto Minnehaha Pkwy.  A band at one of the bridges we ran under was playing The Final Countdown and was stimulating to hear that. I was getting very excited to hit W River Road because of how familiar it was to me. I was happy I could shut off mentally and just let my legs and the course bring me closer to the finish. Took a Ralph onto Cedar Ave and saw the usual Scottish Club playing their bagpipes as the planes flew over not too high above us. After turning onto W River Road, CA Caitlyn was there cheering me on and followed me almost until the Franklin Bridge. Saw Brian Peterson on this stretch and Kurt for maybe the 4^th time already during the race cheering.  On the Franlkin ave Bridge I passed Gada and told him that he had it in him, but knew he was struggling. As I was turning onto E River Road, heard some people screaming my name but didn’t find out who it was until after the race. Popped another Gu with some water and proceeded to the 20 mile mark. Saw Uncle GG and his friend biking along the path right before reaching “the wall”. Right past the Alarc Wall the whole immediate family was there along with some friends cheering on. Kayla and Kyle ran up to either side of me with Kyle playing Gangnam Style and Kayla handing me a GU and a cold wash cloth. Talk about first-class service! After running with them for a few seconds and getting the goods, I was own my own with the last 6 miles were ahead to run. Was almost exactly on pace at the 20-mile mark and kind of sped up during the excitement of the Franklin Bridge, and passing the family and friends. Heading up the hill leading to the Lake Street Bridge was a little worrisome for me because I knew this was the tougher part of the course. Surprisingly my legs were not as tired as they typically were at this point in a marathon, however I knew things could change in a hurry with a.) the last 6 miles of a race being the toughest and b.) the last 6 miles of TC are by no means relatively flat. I tried to conserve as much energy going up the couple hills before getting onto Summit Ave. Once getting onto Summit Ave, I was starting to feel more and more confident that I could pull off a sub 3 hour marathon. I remember a quote from the intro of the movie Unbreakable

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a26xp28jm0  (3:54) where I think Tony K. says something like “you start to get goosebumps on your arms, if I can execute for just the next 15 miles, it could mine” referencing a win in the Western States, but I slightly modified it to my situation saying to myself, “if I can hold onto this pace for the next 3 miles, I will finish under 3 hours. It still felt like there was some energy in my legs but I could tell they were starting to get on the verge of cramping in my hamstrings.  I got to the TCRC spectator section and it was crazy. Both of the RVs were out and there were so many people cheering. I lifted up my shirt and gestured over to the crowd as the DJ shouted out something that made the crowd go even crazier. It was such an adrenaline rush to run through all of that excitement and it was just the pick-me-up I needed at that stage in the race. I got a little emotional right after passing them because I was starting to realize that I only had to run 2 more miles to get this done. Despite thinking I had it in the bag for a few minutes, I realized that I needed to pick it up or it would be close and might miss it by a few seconds. I began to get really nervous thinking of something such as a cramp stopping me. I was trying to pick up the pace more and more to ensure of making it on time.  After struggling through the last bit and feeling my legs dangerously close to cramping, made it to the top of the hill where we can see the capitol. Tried to speed up as much as possible until I realized that I was going to make it. After knowing I was going to get it for sure, I laid off a bit to make sure I wouldn’t hurt something in my legs. Did the usual jump at the end and was pretty excited to have finally achieved something I failed out so many times before.

Post-Race.

After finishing, drank a few chocolate milks and met my Dad and Suzy. They drove me back to the 20-mile mark where the marathon party was going on and was greeted with an excited group of family and friends. I was happy to not have had to go back to everyone not meeting my goal like has happened in the past.  It was such a nice feeling accomplishing that and then spending time with so many people that came out to support the runners. Snacked on a few donuts as we watched more runners go by. Saw Gigi run by and was surprised at how strong she looked at mile 20 for her first marathon! Congrats to her!  Also Congrats to Tim for completing his first marathon! Had a couple drinks and after saying goodbye to the family, we passed out alcoholic beverages to some of the last runners advertising them as “carbohydrates” and “flavored water” although they knew what we were passing out. After watching the DNF bus roll throw, we packed up all the party paraphernalia and walked back up to the apartment where I got to having a feeding frenzy. It was such a nice feeling to have finally got sub 3, right at the end of the time staying at Kayla’s apartment, end of the time living on campus, and end of the time before leaving MN for Hawaii. I went on a walk with Jigon on the riverroad after and it was crazy to think about how after all that preparation and buildup of excitement, that it was all over. Kind of am getting used to that feeling but also am trying to figure out how to preserve all those good feelings. I guess that’s why I blog. Am in Oahu with Uncle Paul now doing a lot of physical work so am finding it difficult to run on a usual basis but I think that was a good thing for recovery right after. Am currently signed up for Honolulu marathon and am thinking about running it with a costume and just enjoying the atmosphere, rather than get worked up about meeting a time goal. Last year I was disappointed when I didn’t get sub 3 out here and wish I would have just absorbed the fun atmosphere more.  Well I guess until next time!

Splits:

Ironman Coeur d'Alene, Idaho 2012

It has nearly been two weeks since I participated in the 2012 Ironman-Coeur D’Alene and with the past weeks to reflect on this experience, it is safe to say it has been my favorite race to date. Many things contributed to this race being so enjoyable to me and just want to give a shout out to Aunty Sharon and Uncle Randy for making it possible. I guess things started with one day, Brando and I were at Twin Cities Running Company on my birthday (Aug) and I got a call from Aunty Sharon. After the usual birthday singing, she told me that she had got me something big and told me that she had signed me up for Ironman Coeur D’Alene (CDA). I was beyond surprised and had one of those moments where you know things are going to change. I did not really comprehend the entirety of the gift I had just been given or how much training would be expected to complete the event but I just knew that I had a massive adrenaline rush for the unknown physical challenge ahead of me. I had nearly 11 months to train for the event. Currently, I was signed up for Honolulu marathon (Dec) so decided that I would start training for the Ironman after that. During my research program that summer, I remember dreading to try and write my training program for the Ironman. I knew I was capable of coming up with something online and tailoring it to myself but less than half-heartedly believing in the effectiveness of all the planning and logistics that an IM training plan would have, I finagled together a training plan in the library one day. “Unfortunately” I logged off of the computer I was using without sending the training plan to my email so it was gone. At first I was super angry because of all the time I spent putting it together but even right at the library, I realized how much I was dreading to do all of the prescribed swims/bikes. With that, I was going to train when I could fit it in and just do what I thought needed to ben done to do to get by (cross the finish line). Unfortunately, I see myself using this wing-it “strategy” in other areas of my life and am kind of disappointed in myself for it. Perhaps I’ll learn soon.
 During the school year, I found out that I was going out to the Boston marathon (April) and I avoided biking much to not make my legs feel heavy during marathon training. Jeremy lent me his road bike and I was able to get out on it a few times before but not much substantial training on it before the marathon. I was trying to swim a couple times a week but found that without the structure of a training plan, it was easy to see a couple weeks go by without getting into the pool. I knew that after Boston I was going to be cramming a lot of swimming/biking in. The following week after Boston I was signed up to volunteer at the Trail Mix 50k/25k but impulsively signed up to run the 25k with Jeremy and a few of his friends. I think I just wanted to prove to myself I could run it, and it would give me another week or so to prolong the necessary swimming/biking I would do. Finding excuse after excuse, I was not even coming close to putting in the training time that people recommend to be able to even finish an Ironman. The end of the school year was approaching and I was feeling pretty anxious about graduating and the Ironman rapidly getting closer. After the Spring semester was over, I had to take a May-term biomechanics class to finish up my KIN degree. Even though this was an accelerated 3-wk class, I found myself having a ton of time to finally start focusing on biking/swimming. I felt confident in my running ability already but in the race if I started the run with nothing left after the swim/bike, I knew it was going to be a painful experience getting to the finish. With this motivating fear, I started biking with Jeremy’s bike 4/5 times a week and would bike from home to school (35 minutes if hammering) several times a week. I would throw in swims/runs pretty much anytime I could in-between studying. I did one 6 hour bike 4 weeks out and thanks to Spencer who I met out on the trail, it was surprisingly not as taxing as I thought it would have been. Of course, my muscles were pretty fatigued after but when I woke up the following morning, it was nothing like after grinding out a 22-miler on your feet. During this time, Tav asked me to be part of a corporate fitness contest were they tracked how many minutes of exercise per week teams would get and this motivated me to do as much as possible too. 3 weeks from IM, I slugged out a 3 hour run. I was able to get in 1 open water swim with Tav’s wetsuit however his wetsuit was sleeveless and after watching a youtube video of last years IM swim, I found out the cold water temps required a full wetsuit. Luckily, I was able to get a full wetsuit from Cody a week before. Since the bike I was borrowing from Jeremy was too small for me and would have costed about $300 to ship to Idaho, I decided to just rent one in Idaho. Getting dangerously close to the race, I was so caught up in starting a new job, putting things together that I was just in reaction mode.
 Idaho
 I got into Spokane, Washington Friday and met Aunty and Uncle there were we went right to registration to pick up our race packets.

We went to the house we would be staying at and where Aunty’s training friends from Hawaii were also staying. Uncle took me down to the water and I got to try swimming in the full wetsuit for the first time. It wasn’t as uncomfortable as I expected but with the water temp below 60 degrees, I found it super hard to relax in the water. The dark, cold wavy water in combination with Uncle giving me some stroke suggestions after I got out of the water, left me feeling very uncomfortable and worried that I wouldn’t even be able to finish the swim. This wasn’t a very good feeling knowing how much was invested to get me to do the race. The car ride home, I felt a little sick to my stomach thinking about having to swim double the distance I ever had before in water conditions that barely allowed me to swim. We got back to the huge place we were staying at not too far away from the race and had a large yummy dinner.

The group we were with rented out this house for the weekend and it was intimidating seeing all their bikes and gear set up when I got there when I hadn’t even picked up the bike. Needless to say, I felt very thrown together and was again flying by the seat of my pants. The following day we went to pick up the bike I was renting. When we got there, they took the bike off a rack and cut off a $2500 price-tag on it. It was my first time riding a triathlon bike with the gear thingys being on the aero bars.

I road the bike outside the shop for about 10 minutes and felt semi-comfortable with the gears. The bike felt like a bullet and that every single bit of energy I put in made it go forward. I needed this comforting feeling after the experience in the water the day before. We brought the bike to the check-in and after Uncle patiently shuttled me back and forth from the home to the course several times, all my stuff was set to go in their respective transition spots. We went back to the house and had another huge delicious meal.

I was worried how I was going to do gastrointestinally the following day at the race because I had ate so much and moved so little in the previous 2 days. The other 4 people who would be competing the following day were in bed by 7/8 and I knew I had no shot at going to bed that early. My nerves were really kicking in and I was preparing myself to get through whatever I needed to finish the following day. I was still scared that I wouldn’t finish the swim and all of the other expenses for the race would have been wasted. Surprisingly, it didn’t take me too long to get to sleep with the old fan that was blasting on me and after habitually waking up several times during the night before a race, I woke up to the alarm.
 Race Day
 Went downstairs and had a breakfast of banana/almond butter, almond butter on some type of bread thingy, and a glass of water. Things were happening very quickly and gathered my swim stuff and we were out the door. We got to the race course and people were buzzing around all over the place. Some people had their wetsuits on already but not feeling very comfortable in mine, tried to wait until the last second to do so. I vividly remember where I was sitting and the people around me while I was waiting to put the wetsuit on. Uncle helped me put it on and after waiting for a few minutes we started to towards the beach. When I had tried swimming several days before in Lake Coeur D’Alene, water kept getting into my ears from my swim cap so Sam borrowed me some of his wax to put in my ears. With the wax in my ears and two swim caps over my head to protect for the cold water, I could barely hear anything that was going on. We were being crammed into the beach entrance area filing into where we would be started and I remember feeling as if I was about to enter a war. With my hearing obstructed it was dead silent and we were all walking to the water.

The announcer was mumbling things as we waited for 7:00am. Prior to the start, they sang the national anthem and this was pretty nostalgic for me because it brought me back to the uncomfortable feeling of playing in the varsity hockey games as a sophomore. Suddenly, the cannon was off and we started are way towards the water.
 Swim
 I’ve heard from multiple people that before doing a cold water swim it is a good idea to get in the water before the swim starts to get over the initial shock of being cold. Even though I heard several times, I still chose to not touch the water before the actual race started because of how cold it was and again how long I wanted to delay the reality of having to overcome what I had feared. As a not-so-strong swimmer, I was in the back 25% percent of the people and after the cannon went off I held back for nearly 10 seconds watching the madness in front of me.
 Despite the water being in the upper 50’s, with all the adrenal that was pumping the water did not feel too cold at all. Of course there was the initial shock of being cold, but the mental power of the fear of not being able to complete the swim was overriding any feelings the cold water was physically supposed to be having on me.
For the first few minutes, it was nearly impossible for me to swim as I had been practicing in the pool. There were too many people around me, my body felt rigid and tense from the cold and I kept having to stop my stroke and look up to spot which direction I was going. (had not practiced spotting prior to the swim) Realizing this wasn't very efficient, I just tried to relax as much as possible and follow peoples bright feet under the water. Many of the people were wearing black booties to prevent them from getting too cold in the water which sometimes made my following strategy difficult. I remember just wanted to get out to the far buoy so then I could think to myself that I am at least 25% percent done because 25% felt so much closer to 50%. The swim course was counter-clockwise and consisted of 2 loops. Turning back towards land at about 20 minutes was heartening for me because right then I realized there was no way I was not going to finish the swim unless some disaster happened. This feeling helped me relax a little bit more and just continue the swim and look forward to getting out of the water. Things were manageable at that point and the only issue was my neck was getting tender from the wetsuit rubbing on it. I only felt comfortable breathing to the right side which didn’t help the rash that was developing. It felt like a long time heading back to the land and at about 40 minutes I heard the mumbling of the announcer on the speakers again. It was very energizing hearing something other than the sound of yourself blowing bubbles and the silence of the water. In addition, the half-way point can be exciting in any race. I made it to the end of the first loop and it was required of us to hop out of the water and run across the beach and get back in for the second loop. I was in absolutely no rush to get back in the water and remember chatting to another guy as we walked back into the water.
 It felt surprisingly good to get back in the water after being able to spend 20 seconds outside of it. My muscles were not as fatigued and could relax in the water more than the later portion of coming towards shore. It felt much, much longer to get out to the turn around spot and I remember mistaking the turn around buoy for an earlier one. This was a little flattening but dealt with it. As I made it out heading back towards shore again, the water was getting extremely choppy and I was getting more and more uncomfortable in the water. I was not able to get more than a 1-2 strokes in without having to sit up and breathe for a second. I wasn’t sure how much to attribute the sloppiness of my swimming to fatigue or the conditions but after talking with others after the race, the water really did turn crazy out there. A couple times I sucking in a bunch of water and I haven’t had that feeling since I was a kid in a swimming pool. At least I was hydrating.
On the way back to the beach, I just kept listening and listening for the sound of the announcer again as it would tell me when I am nearing the finish. My chest was really sore at this point along with hamstrings and calfs beginning to cramp a bit. I was nervous in the water thinking if I was already cramping what the rest of the race was going to be like. Because of this, I tried to use my legs as little as possible, as many people suggest to do in the swim. Finally, I heard the voice of the announcer and was crawling out of the water. It was an accomplishment in it of it’s own for me to finish the swim and I think I celebrated a bit after getting out of the water.

At this point I knew there was no way I wasn’t going to finish the race, however knew a lot still had to be dealt with it to be called an Ironman at the end of the day. After all the warm water sunk out through the legs of my wetsuit as I was getting in the water, unlike others around me, I was slightly jogging to my bike. Probably because the people around me at the end of the 1.5 hour swim were not so competitive, I felt to have had more urgency to get onto the bike. I was also excited myself to be doing anything other than swimming and get on the fancy bike. After nearly a 10-minute transition spending time drying off/warming up, putting socks on legs that were cramping and making sure to turn on my GPS tracker, I was out on the bike.
Bike
 Leaving the transition area was like leaving a blurry tunnel with all the excitement of getting out of the water and the spectators hollering at us. It is such a exhilarating feeling to be in a hurry and not having to worry about anything else other than the present. I saw Aunty and Uncle and they seemed pretty excited to have saw me out of the water. The ground was wet and I ran across a grass field in my clip-in bike shoes and was still was not able to clip-in to bike for almost 5 minutes and ended up having a volunteer on the course scrape out caked dirt in them before it allowed me to be able to clip in. Once in, I felt like turning up the notch but seeing how slow the others were around me, made me have seconds thoughts and I decided to just chill for a bit.
 Despite not going too fast, I was worried about how cold I was and was very jealous of the others around me who were wearing long sleeves. A few minutes after biking, I took a bite of one of the goodies we got in our race-bag. The good thing about the bike is compared to running, it is so so so easy to get in nutrition without having much GI distress (for me at least). I’m not too sensitive even while running when it comes to getting in nutrition so on the bike, I was able to grab a bite of anything that they were passing out at the aid stations nearly every 10 miles. The miles were going by quickly and it felt effortless on such a nice bike. Just after 10 miles I wasn’t really able to sit in aero position anymore because of having a full bladder but ended up waiting to go longer than I should have. After hopping off my bike and relieving myself, I had trouble clipping in again because of the dried dirt in my clip-ins. Once finally clipped in again, I was easily able to sit in the aero position without my bladder telling me not to.
With training on Jeremy’s bike that was too small for me and not getting aero bars on them until a couple weeks out of the race, trying to sit in the aero position became difficult and realized how bad of an idea it was to wait so long to put aero bars on the training bike. The course was super beautiful and I remember thinking to myself how much I needed to enjoy this because even though just several hours earlier I was not sure if I would be able to finish the race, I realized that it would be over relatively soon. Generally, I was passing more people than was getting passed by and kept getting pleasure out of passing the cone-heads (people in aero helmets) with expensive bikes. It was fun seeing the pros come flying by as we were climbing up one of the hills while they were going downhill. Their zipp wheels and disk wheels really howled as they flew past.
 The climbs were agonizing because everyone would be in their lowest gear and it felt like we were crawling up the road. Usually on the climbs people would pass me because of how much I would hold back on them. Knowing how easy it is to burn the legs while climbing, I held back as much as possible. Plus, for me, I would way rather save energy and fly on the downhills, than spend energy to go from 7 miles and mph 10 mph on the climbs. The downhills were so exhilarating with the scenic backdrops combined with the 40 mph+ speeds. I had my GPS tracker on and thought it was giving an instantaneous speed to the people looking online so I would really hammer going downhill to see what kind of numbers I could show. Found out later that the speeds were only showed as averages. Usually, I don’t feel too uncomfortable going downhill, but several times I had the feeling that if something unexpected happen, I might not be able to bike/run again. Hah..What a stimulating feeling that is though. After going to the bathroom at several non-specified spots on the course and starting to eat the mochi aunty had brought from Hawaii, I reached turn around point at about mile 28, and started to head back to Coeur d’Alene.
The ride back seemed to have longer downhills and it was such a blast cruising. Along the course there were several no-pass-zones which didn’t necesarilly stop me from passing people. I saw Aunty and Uncle again at the turn around in CDA and headed back out. It was fun making small talk with others on the bike. I saw several people wearing Bike Works (Hawaii) shirts and talked to them about knowing Aunty/Uncle and Andrea. Kept going back and forth between another Japanese guy and jokingly asked him if he wanted to eat some of my mochi. All of the riders had their bibs hanging in the back and their first names were printed on their bib. It was fun to say some of their names and sorta pretend to know them.
 On the way back to CDA the final time, my legs were tired and didn’t feel I could hold the same cadence in the gears I was before. I knew I was losing wattage despite never training with a wattometer? My feet were cramping up in Jeremy’s little shoes and I kept having to stand up and stretch my legs also giving my crotch a rest from the seat. How some people do the bike portion without bike shorts..don’t ask me. It was pretty cool to see the 90 miles sign getting closer to town and I realized I “only” had 30 left. This might seem relatively short if I was starting fresh but already had some good time out on the road. Knowing the finish of the bike was so close, just kept pedaling and was looking forward to seeing Aunty and Uncle again before heading out the run. I remember seeing the 100 mile marker as we were flying down a hill and let a pretty loud yell then for how excited I was. The last 12 miles went by quickly as the course became more and more filled with people cheering us on. I was super pumped up at the transition and was really excited to get the biking shoes off.

Naturally, I was nervous about how the run was going to go down because I had trashed my legs on the bike.  I had never biked that distance before and certainly nothing close to the intensity that I sustained for that long. The first thing I did after handing my bike off to a volunteer (so cool!) was take the shoes off right away so I could jog over to my transition area. I saw Sam W. who was just leaving the transition area as I was getting in. Changed socks, threw on my running shoes and switched into a pair of tri spandex that Cody borrowed me. This would be my first marathon not running with the orthotic inserts I have every other race in since I started running. Why I decided to try it on this one..couldn't tell ya. Even though my legs were pretty shot and it was hurting my knees to hobble out of the transition, I was excited to be in full control at this point. I had finished the two new event distances for swimming/biking and not trying to sound conceded.. all I had to do was finish the marathon.
 RUN!
 Again, it was relieving to know that I was going to finish but just didn’t have much of an idea what running pace I could hold. Even at the beginning, I was surprised by how quickly I was passing people who seemed like they were at a stand-still. The temp was starting to increase a bit and the sun had began to get stronger. Within the first mile my calves were cramping up pretty bad and I had to trot backwards down one of the hills. I was kind of just laughing outloud to myself as this happened and new I needed to get in some nutrition so gutted a couple GU’s and several cups of Perform at the aid-station.
The run course was also a out and back that you would do two times. It took around 5 or 6 miles before my knees stopped hurting from the bike and was starting to feel my running legs come back. Kept passing more and more people and for the last 3 miles or so of the first out and back, I ran into guy who was finishing up his second loop of the course and finishing the race. As I came up on him, he asked if I was on my second or first loop. Felt pretty cool to be asked this but, told him it was my was just my first. His name was Scott and we began to run together. It was really helpful to have someone to pace with but I think the 7:30min miles wore me out a bit. We split up going our respective course routes and when he was gone I started to feel more fatigue set in. Scott ended up getting second in the amateur division of the triathlon.
 As usual, the aid-stations were starting to seem further from each other and miles more spread out. Some of the hills were pretty tough and required a near walking pace to not cramp up or burn up the little energy left in the legs. At the aid-stations, I was starting to eat pretzels/potato chips as after about 7 GUs, my stomach did not want anymore of them. It was a good feelings getting to the end of the final turn around and knowing all I had to do was run the 6 miles back into town. Was starting to heat up and feel a little sick and swollen in my neck lymph nodes. Drank soup broth and a couple of the last stops as I remembered how much it helped during the 50-miler. It seemed to help again and was just continuing to slug my way back to town. Seeing some of the people were just heading out on their first leg of the run made me grateful to almost be done. It was kind of frustrating how much I slowed down when comparing to how quick of a pace I worked into in the first half. Was going through the residential neighborhood starting to have really high feelings. I remember tearing up a little a few miles out from the finish knowing that things went 100x better than I could have ever expected them to go. Heard the voice of the announcer as I turned the corner to see the final shoot towards the finish line. As usual at the end of a race, I don’t remember much as I have tunnel vision for the finish line. Was just trying to look as normal as a runner as possible. Crossed the finish line and it would take me a great deal of writing to try and be able to explain how good it felt for the rest of the day.

Post-race
 I walked over to find Aunty and Uncle and was excited to see their reactions because I knew at least Aunty was worried about me being able to finish the race. Received congrats from a sobbing sister on the phone. I was able to walk around alright after and navigated my way to chocolate milk and Little Ceasar’s pizza that they had for us. Got a massage after and went and found Aunty and Uncle again.
We went out to eat at a resturaunt right on the final shutte of the race and it was so cool to watch others come through the last stretch of their races. After a delicious meal, Uncle dropped off Aunty and returned to the course to watch the finishers until the cutoff at Midnight. I was on such a high during this time and got close to as much pleasure of watching them finish as I did myself. We watched the last finishers come through just 20 seconds after the cutoff. They didn’t officially recognize them as finishers but still announced them as an Ironman.
 As quickly as the Coeur d’Alene Ironman came up, I was on a plane the morning after the race and was slapped back into the dorms. Experienced some of the "post race blues" after all that adrenaline, excitement and anticipation I had because of the race and how suddenly it ended. It took a while for me to re-adjust to things and have been allowing myself to slip on what I have ate/drank the last week and a 1/2 . Getting back into the swing of things now as far as diet/lifestyle after the 4th and will try to get some speed back in the legs once they fully recover. Trying to figure out how to sustain training for triathlons with all the expenses they require. For this race, the only things that belonged to me was literally just my running socks and shoes. Everything else was borrowed or given to me. Actually the socks were given to me too..hah So thanks to all those people who allowed that to happen.
Have been moving around quiet a bit following the Ironman and my legs feel pretty uncoordinated and not so responsive so am continuing to take it easy. I write these blogs to try and preserve these memories but it is tough to try and convey the feelings by writing. If it were a little bit easier, maybe I wouldn’t already be on the hunt for the next race. Currently, am planning on dialing -in on the Twin Cities Marathon and finally hope to break 3:00.