An Ironman!

After 14 hours, 41 minutes in the heat and wind of western Hawaii, I finally crossed the finish line. The swim went well, and I felt pretty good about my time. The bike segment was going OK until I ran into the headwinds while heading north to the turn around at Hawi. They then shifted (as they often do) to become headwinds as I returned south! The umbrella my sister was using to protect her one-year old from the sun was actually inverted by a gust. Not suprisingly, my bike time was longer than I had hoped at 7 hours, 11 minutes. After that long ride, I headed out in the afternoon heat to start the marathon, which took 5 hours and 46 minutes. Half of it was run in near total darkness as there are no street lights as soon as you leave Kona. Thankfully, I had a lovely note and a picture of our sweet Forrest waiting for me in a special run needs bag at about mile 16. In that bag, I also had my father's tie. A tie I have worn or had present at most major events of my adult life. I carried that tie the last 10.2 miles and held it high as I crossed the finish line at 14 hours, 41 minutes and 1 second. In a field of top 5% finishers in qualifying Ironman races (plus 149 other lottery winners), I placed 162 out of 192 in my age division and 1501 out of 1853 overall. More importantly, I learned something about my inner resolve I did not know before, met some inspiring and encouraging people and raised over $4300 to help cure ALS. All of this has made every hour of training and every mile of distance covered worth it. Now, I think I will take a nap...