I woke sunday at 3am (10PM Cleveland time) to the sound of rain on the tent. The campground was very muddy and the weather Saturday had sucked. Wind, Rain, Cold. The conditions were aweful. My friends Zac and Nichole came into camp late and got stuck in the mud. My food was in the car, so I had to wake them up. Fortunately Kurt and our new friend from Canada, Michelle had already waken them while making sure I was up. I Sat with Nichole in the car and had a peanut butter and marmalade biscuit, 2 bananas and a Lara bar. I gathered my things and set off to the race site while listening to some Grateful Dead.
As I approached the race site I went into my bag to find my timing chip. As I finished searching the contents I began to panic. I could not find my chip. I was convinced it was in my tent and I was 20 minutes away and an hr till transition closed. I turned toward camp and began a quick walk.
I had one last hope. I may have stuck it in my tri top pocket......I did. I now had to get my heart rate back down and get focused. Whew. That would have sucked.
I got marked, pumped up my tires, added powerade to my areo bottle, hit the portaloo, and pulled on my wet suit.
After a brief start delay due to the mud and parking situtaion we entered the lake for a deep water start. I was smileing a huge nervous smile. I lined up with an athlete from Windsor, Canada. We watched the English go through a series of unison "oye,oye, oye's". The horn sounded and we were off.
I was very relaxed and just swam. everything I had been taught was coming to me. I felt strong and steady. As we made the turn into the 2nd lap I was excited to know that I was not going to get run over by the lead group. I was also psyched to see blue sky peaking out from behind the clouds. At the final turn, I knew it was just 1.2k left and was amazed at the number of swimmers still behind me. As I swam to the exit I noticed my calf had tightened. I began light kicking and warned the volunteers as the helped me through the exit.
In T1 the volunteer helping me noted that I was looking very confident and asked if I had a good Swim.
1:25.24 GREAT SWIM!
OK .... Jet lag.
To be continued........................
7 comments:
Welcome home and major props to you Charlie. I wonder if your HR ever got any higher during the day than it did during the timing chip fiasco.
Oye!
I've actually slept with the chip on before a couple races... just to be sure.
Good to see part of one of the long awaited race report! So, so glad you had a great swim!
Man, you are hard core camping before Ironman!
Congrats Charlie! Welcome to the Ironman family!
How very exciting! More, more!
Camping in the mud before an IM is hardcore. I am surprised you did not lead the masses in a chant of No Rain, No Rain.
I am looking forward to hearing more about your magnificant IM adventure.
Welcome back and congratulations!
Can't wait to hear more!
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