Thanks for all the great e-mails. It truly was an amazing event and one that I will certainly never forget. First let me say that doing the training with a crazy and amazing bunch of people made the journey all the better. Having a great coach like Adam is definitely the way to go to get you through the training and give you the confidence going into the race.

Race week and all the hype of doing an Ironman was awesome. Ironman Inc. and Ford put on a show that is worthy of the prestige of the event. Madison is a magnificent city and the course definitely is challenging. Even the run course has some significant hills (after 180km bike)! The volunteers and spectators were fabulous, they hung in until the very end despite the weather.

Race day…..

I don’t think any of us slept more than an hour Saturday night. We were up at 4:00am and walking down to the race site by 4:45. We had dropped the bikes and T1, T2 bags the night before. This was weird as its tough to let go of those things until the last minute. The bags were placed in numerical sequence in different rooms in the convention centre. It was a sea of bags.

It was cool and windy race morning. The swell on the lake was about 2 to 3 ft, not good for any of us. Bern, Sid and I entered the water at about 6:40; we lost George, Henri and Mike in a sea of black rubber and white swim hats. We saw Greg and the swim entrance that was awesome: ) We swam with the largest Ironman field ever recorded 2600! It was like being in a washing machine for the entire 3.8km swim. There were arms, legs, feet, fists and elbows everywhere. The two loop course had us head into wind on the back straight of about 800m. This was really tough swimming and where perhaps I took on too much water and air for later in the day. I managed in swim in a respectable time for me of 1:30:50. The run to T1 included about 200 Meter run from the lake to a parking lot helix that we had to run up to the fourth floor. My calf that I injured a couple of weeks earlier defiantly did not like the up hill walk/run after being shortened by swimming. T1 took along time as the change rooms were packed and trying to completely change was a new experience for me.

The bike course we had driven on Saturday so had an idea of what to expect. It was cold and windy and started to rain within 15 minute of the start of the bike. I was not dressed for what lay ahead! My stomach was bloated from the swim so I could not force myself to eat until about an hour into the ride. Things settled down, but I may have eaten too much to quickly, or the cold got to me, anyhow I was only able to eat about half the calories I knew I needed. I rode in my zones, according to Adam’s program and the 180 km felt OK other than being frozen and soaked. Mark took my Bike. It was great to see a familiar face after racing for over 9 and half hours without seeing anyone I knew! My bike time was about 7:12, which I was happy with. T2 was a challenge as the hands would not work, so changing was very difficult and I was feeling a bit rough due to the stomach issues.

I knew I was in trouble on the run in T2, as I had not packed enough warm gear. Coming out of the warm change area into the wind and rain with shorts, singlet, T-shirt and gloves I was instantly frozen, along with most of the field I might add. I ran for about 5 miles, really slowly before my stomach finally protested to the point I had to walk. I tried eating at aid stations but struggled to find anything that my system would absorb. I walked, jogged and staggered around the first half.

At one point I was so cold with uncontrollable shivering (from walking) I stopped at an ambulance to see what support I could get without being disqualified. They were a friendly bunch, but the bottom line was if I took any help from them, or the warming wagons on the course I would be out of the race. So I kept going. I found decent garbage bag at about 12 miles that gave me new hope of finishing as I was so cold and ill I was having serious doubts. I switched to Chicken broth and coke, but still could not run and was becoming increasingly dizzy and disoriented. My vision went into a very narrow tunnel, totally weird, where I could only see what was in front of me in about a 2 ft width. I even had hallucinations, seeing ramps, steps and dips in the trail that were not there. I knew I was wobbling all over the place as great volunteers would walk along side me and ask if I needed help.

At about 17 miles this angel called Cindy from St Thomas, walked by and started to talk to me. She was walking the marathon as she had sprained her ankle 5 weeks earlier after a tumble on a long bike ride. It was her 11th Ironman. She had done Hawaii so was certainly an accomplished Ironman. She talked me through the next 9 miles or so. I kept eating Chicken broth and eventually was able to walk quicker and in a straight line, my vision recovered a little, but my stomach was still in turmoil. With a half-mile to go I needed a Porto-John so we said our good byes and she went on. I stripped off my plastic bags and ran, err jogged into the finish shoot. I did not see anyone, all I looked for was the finish mats. Jean and Mark and the guys were there to cheer me on and see me finish a good hour after they were done. That was really amazing, I thought for sure everyone would be sitting by a warm fire, eating stake and having a beer by then. Its amazing what goes through your mind! I did not eat that night, but made up for it the next day. I started to feel human again on Tuesday : )

It was a tough race and one that truly does take everything you’ve got and them some to finish, no matter what the finish time is we all have stories of those parts of the race where the demons would try to get us to stop. But we didn’t, and we can put a check mark against that "must do" life experience. I am an Ironman : ))

Will I do another one, absolutely. Have I learned a lot. Yes. Where will I put the tattoo – right shoulder blade. Who knows where a good place to put the tattoo, as I am not familiar with the culture??

Again thanks to my training partners, Jean & Mark for a truly amazing week and for Adam for getting us to the start line

P.S: Mark has a 140 km bike to do this weekend. Is anyone up for it: )

Cheers!