After much delay, I give you the IMAZ Post.
As many of you know, the GF and I headed to IMAZ last Thursday. I’m sure you were all very nervous for me. I’ve never watched an event that long before. There were definitely some butterflies in my stomach as I woke on Sunday morning facing 14+ hours of race watching.
Seriously though, it wasn’t that bad. Tempe, AZ is a great place to watch Ironman. It is a 3 loop out and back bike course so if you sit about 2 miles from the turnaround you can catch your athlete 6 times. Same with the run course, you can see about 6-8 passes depending on what you are looking to do. As you have probably heard by now, the GF knocked it out in 14:10 and my buddy Feebs PRed with a 12:26.
As a little background, the GF signed up for IMAZ last fall. I thought she was just a little over excited from a day of watching our friends at IMAZ 2008. As of early spring, she was still on board so I did all that any non-training partner could do, I gave her some encouragement and stayed mostly out of the way. Sure we discussed some nutrition and training strategy but for the most part I just remind her to have a plan and trust the plan.
So here is a run down on the weekend…
After much consideration, I opted to book a room at the Marriott Tempe instead of driving to and from Dr. DB’s. This was the best move I made all weekend. No parking issues, less than a mile to the race start, easy to use the hotel during race day for shedding of jackets, etc. You get the idea. If you ever go to Ironman again, try to stay within walking distance of the start. It is so much more calming walking over to the race area than trying to find a parking place in the dark while you are in a hurry to get to bag check.
On Friday and Saturday morning the GF walked down to the Gatoraid pre-Race swim in Tempe Town Lake. Thanks to Jules and Feebs for showing her around the lake. There was no way I was going to swim with her in that cold water. Most of my Friday and Saturday were spent goofing at the pre-race expo during the day and then dinner with friends. We had dinner with Dr. DB, Mrs. Dr. DB and Feebs on Friday and then our friends Julie and Chris hosted a great pre-race spread on Saturday. It is wonderful to have people in town that know the area restaurants and know their way around a kitchen. We really appreciated it.
Anyway Sunday was race day for the GF. The alarm went off at 4 something in the morning and she started packing up. She had some breakfast and we walked to the start. Just a nice peaceful stroll in the dark. Most everything on race morning is “Athlete’s Only” area so I snapped this picture and went back to the hotel and had breakfast.
I’ve been through 4 swim starts at IM. It is the most terrifying thing in my life that I willing do and know I’ll do again. Quite honestly, this is the only thing I was nervous about for the GF. She is a good swimmer and has done all the training but nothing prepares you for the physical contact that takes place when 2,500 people hear a cannon boom and start kicking and clawing. So this was my first time to see the swim start live. IMAZ is great for it too. I just stood out on a bridge above the start line and looked out over the water. Here is the best shot I could get.
After the swim went off, I walked over to the bike start and waited. It was cool to see all the pros go out. Also interesting to see people that swim fast and are going to get passed by people all day. You know who I’m talking about. Feebs came through first swimming 1:13. The GF was out in like 1:24. I saw them both out to the bike and then met Dr. DB at the swim exit. I’ve always wanted to watch people that could barely make the swim cutoff. Sure, it is morbid to want to see people have their day ended but I was curious who would come here and not be able to make it out of the water. So we watched from 2:00 to 2:25. There were people that looked like they had never swum before this morning. It was UGLY. This guy was struggling over to the platform just after the 2:00 hour mark. He was all arms and no kick. His legs were giving him no help. As he got to the platform the volunteers actually pulled him out of the water and helped him out of his wetsuit then… wait for it…yeah they dropped him into a wheelchair. He was a paraplegic / challenged athlete. WOW. Very inspiring. After seeing that, I decided not to fully judge anymore athletes until I saw them stand up. Only then would I criticize them for not being ready for the swim. A huge crowd gathered surrounding the swim exit cheering for the last of the swimmers. 3 athletes made it out with less than a minute left. The crowd was going wild. The last one only had a few seconds to spare as the announcer was shouting to get one hand on the platform. There were probably about 15 – 20 that didn’t make the cutoff. They came up the exit platform and someone removed their chip and told them their day was done. If you ever go to watch, be sure to check out the back end of the swim.
After the swim, I watched a couple hours of the bike. I’d catch a glimpse of the GF and Feebs every couple hours. Besides that, Dr. DB and I pointed out cool bikes and handed out imaginary 4 minute drafting penalties. Good times. Want to pass a couple hours at Ironman and irritate the riders? Stand on the side of the road and yell “Hey , you on the Cervelo, that’s 4 minutes. You on the Trek, that’s 4 minutes”. OK, we really didn’t yell at the riders, we just kind of said “4 minutes” to each other a bunch.
The GF made her second loop through town and looked good. Do I have any pictures? Of course not. Trust me, she was there. Repeat the same pattern as above for another 2 hours while she made her third loop. Yeah, it got a little boring.
Sooner or later, everyone was out on the run. It was sunny and warm and they were running. Later, it was starting to become sunset, I grabbed a drink with the GF’s mom and Sister, and they were all still running. Even later I had dinner with a bunch of folks and they were still running. In between, there was some cheering and “you are looking good”. But mostly, the athletes went by quickly and were back to their business. I can understand why this isn’t a spectator sport. It reallys isn’t much to watch. Here is the best shot I got on the run...
So as we were getting just past 14 hours, I went towards the 25 mile mark. She had already passed and was almost to the finishing chute. I missed the big finish but I’ve seen some pictures.
That was about it. We gathered up her stuff and headed for the hotel. We grabbed a late dinner, tried to have a few drinks and that was it. For all the good details, you’ll have to check out her blog.
For me, it didn’t make me want to run out and sign up. It made we want to volunteer though. IM volunteers are the absolute best. That is my plan for Louisville; I’m gonna be one of the best damn volunteers you’ve ever seen. Well, unless I have something better to do that weekend.
1 comment:
Awesome swim photos! You sure you only had one drink before taking that run photo?
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