I raced my 28th marathon within Ironman Wisconsin on September 8th, 2013. I felt very close to this race because Wisconsin was the first Ironman I wanted to race back in 2008, but I could not get into it the first time, so to get a real crack at it five years later felt like fate stepping in and giving me a chance. However, I have found it challenging to warp back to that time, a year ago in Wisconsin, because this last year has been riddled with rejection, sadness, and a near wipe out of the life I thought I was living outside of my running shoes, so instead I thought I would share an email I sent my family the day before the race which describes the wonder and appreciation I felt to finally be racing in Madison.
Greetings Everyone,
I wanted to check in with all of you and give you a quick rundown of what I have been up to the past couple of days, and how this Ironman is shaping up to be pretty special. First off, just after I landed on Thursday afternoon I was lucky enough to be taken on a tour of the bike course by the 2008 female Champion, Hillary Biscay, which was wonderful because not only does she know every inch of this course, this will be her seventh time racing this year, but there is no way I could have found my way around that Wisconsin farm land on my own; the course is beautiful, but tough. Then, for a few minutes I was in the car with the 2007 overall champion, Hillary's husband Maik Twelsiek, so hopefully their amazingness rubbed off on me:)
The adventure continued as I got COMPLETELY lost on my way to my hotel, I was even pulled over by a cop for not having my lights on, but I found my way, and now I feel like I know Madison like the back of my hand. On Friday morning I set off for a mellow 40 min. run on a beautiful bike path near my hotel and as I was admiring the scenery my left foot slipped off the uneven pavement and I went down hard on my left knee and right hand, awesome! Also, I rolled my ankle, oops. I walked on it for a minute, and decided to turn around and run back to my hotel. Fortunately, I did not feel any broken bones, or see any black and blue, but my foot was more than tender, and started to swell, so I was getting a little nervous. Next, I went to get coffee with a wonderful woman named Meghan Walsh, she is the contact for the charity I race for, AHOPE. She is fantastic, and we had a great morning, but my sore foot was in the back of my mind the whole visit.
Next up was going to the Athlete meeting, and doing a little souvenir shopping back at Monona Terrace, the base camp for the race. I could move my foot around but it hurt, and I had to think for a minute about the busy rest of the year I have lined up, 1 more tri, and 2 more marathons, did I want to risk all of that to finish this race?
While I was shopping for Ironman goodies I ran into a fellow member of my Big Sexy Racing triathlon team, Jedd, a fast fellow from a neighboring Wisconsin town who is gunning for a Kona slot in the 30-34 AG. I had only seen and spoken with him on Facebook, so it was great to catch up in person, and the bonus of all bonuses was that he is a Physical Therapist, and offered to exam my foot, um.. YES! He gave me the "okay" to race because even though I did have swelling, but my mobility was good, and there was nothing broken, sweet!
I spent the rest of the evening eating my pre-race feast of healthy delectables from a local Co-op, and icing and moving my foot around. By the time I went to bed, I felt about 200% better than I did in the morning, even though my hand and knee were still bloodied like an eight year old tomboy, my foot felt ready to go:)
So, here we are on "day before the race" morning, and I have one small bike ride to do in order to warm up my legs and make sure my bike is ready to rock. Then, it is just dropping off all of my gear, a pancake feast tonight, and hopefully a few hours of sleep before I am up at 4AM and ready for another amazing day outside.
If you have a minute or two on Sunday, you can track me on www.ironman.com, there will be a link for IM Wisconsin, then go to Live Tracking, and plug in my bib# 516 to find me. Also, Hillary's # is 41, and Maik is #1... My $ is on him for the win, and for Hillary to be close to the front, too. I am going to push hard all day, but for this ninth IM of mine I am just happy to be lining up and enjoying the day.
If you made it through this whole email, thank you! Also, thank you for the amazing support and inspiration you all have given me throughout these many years of endurance events, I really appreciate it.
Love,
Iron T
I am thrilled to report that Maik did indeed take the win, and Hillary raced valiantly as always, while I placed 5th in my age group, my best place to date. I did not know it at the time, maybe somewhere deep inside I did, but Wisconsin would be my last Ironman on this leg of my life’s journey, and I could not have imagined a more fabulous finale.
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