Shaun's Race Reports: 2011

This story takes place in a pretty unique place. In this place, it is normal to walk down the street in the middle of the day wearing spandex shorts, compressions socks pulled up to your knees, and a visor. It’s the type of place that is bustling at 5 AM and a ghost town at 8:30 PM. A place where the tattoo location of choice is the calf instead of the bicep and the 135 pound dude rules the roost. That’s right, a little place call Lake Placid during ironman week.

My Sunday July 24^th, 2011 started with a 4 AM alarm clock. Breakfast was a bagel with peanut butter, 3 bananas, some salt pills, and a little H20. At 5 AM we headed down to the transition area for body marking, special needs bag drop off, and last minute bike and gear checks. I had been surprisingly calm, cool and collected in the days leading up to the race, but nerves were really starting to set in. Go time was fast approaching. I was really doing this.

With 77 degree water temperatures, the swim was wetsuit optional - meaning anyone that was going for an age group podium or a Kona world championship slot could not wear a wetsuit, but everyone else had the option. I wore my wetsuit along with about 2K of the 2500+ starters knowing that I had no shot at Kona or an AG podium. I lined up about 30 meters in from the buoys and about 6 spots from the front of the pack. As we got closer to the start, a little claustrophobia started to set in. We were treading water, but there were so many people in a close proximity that you would kick each other. This was going to be fun.

The cannon shot off and we were off. Within seconds the water went from peaceful to utter chaos. The initial few minutes were extremely crowded and there was a lot of unavoidable contact. After a few minutes things settled down and I got a decent rhythm. I was trying to swim straight, but it seemed like people were constantly forcing me to veer to the left or right. I’m sure my inability to swim in a straight line was most of the problem. About halfway through the first out section, I made my way over to the buoys which have a visible line under the water. This would ensure that I stayed perfectly on course, but it also meant I would have to deal with more traffic and contact. It turned out to be a good move although there was a good bit of contact throughout much of the swim. One guy kicked me in the head and I’m pretty sure it was intentional. Another guy kicked me right in the goggle jamming it into my eye, but I’m pretty sure that one was an accident. I got a little frustrated with one guy that kept swimming into me and whacking me in the head and side with his left hand. Whack… whack… whack…. Whack…. OKAY BUDDY, ADJUST YOUR STROKE, I’M OBVIOUSLY HERE… whack, whack, whack… WHAT THE…. Whack… after way too many whack’s I shoved him over. He got the drift for a couple minutes then we started the whole process again. Oh well. That’s what you get with a mass swim of 2500+ in a small lake. At 1:05:24 (279^th overall), I emerged from the water with 2.4 miles of swimming under my belt. Warm up completed, time to do some work…

T1 was pretty uneventful. Visited the wetsuit strippers that peeled me like a banana and ran the quarter mile or so to the transition area. Grabbed my bag and headed over to the changing tent. A volunteer helped me grab all of my equipment, and I was off. As I was running out of the transition area with my bike, I kept hearing people yell “hey your chain is off”. I remember feeling bad for the athlete who’s chain was off. Then I realized they were yelling at me. What? A few seconds later I got the chain back on and we were in business. T1 was 6:34 (454^th overall).

I knew it was really important to not go out too fast on the bike, but I did anyway. I was out towards the front of the race, so I didn’t have to deal with much traffic or passing. I took it easy on the big decent – only hitting 44 MPH, which by the way was more than fast enough for me, but hammered a bit on the initial climbs and flats. At one point I was swallowed up by a draft pack, which was a little annoying in a non-draft race. I did the right thing and dropped back from the peloton and rode out of the draft zone. After a couple miles, the group slowed down. I made my way through the pack, probably took 2 miles to get through the 3-4 wide pack, but I got through and pushed it a bit to get out front of the group. Huge crowds were lining both sides of the street as I climbed the last hill – papa bear. It felt like I was cresting a climb in the tour. I finished the first loop in 2:45 – way too fast and I knew it. On the 2^nd loop I slowed down quite a bit – a bit intentionally, but mostly due to fatigue. Around 85 miles into the bike I was passed by Sean Snow, and that confirmed that I was really in trouble. I had no business being in front of him. I still had 27 miles of climbing and a marathon to run. I really slowed it down on the rest of the bike, but it was too late. Around mile 105, my legs started to cramp up. I used up the rest of my salt hoping to combat the cramps. Finished the bike in 5:54:11 (485^th overall) – so my 2^nd loop was about 24 minutes slower than the 1^st.

I was a bit of a mess in Transition two. My legs were cramping. As I would reach to put my shoes on, I would cramp up and needed to hop around until it went away. The volunteer that helped me was amazing. It takes a special person to volunteer for that job. I was a sweaty mess and he helped me to put my shoes on, get my gear, and he even put sunscreen on my shoulders. Thanks bud. I emerged from T2 in 4:56 (856^th overall).

The crowds were great as I made my way out to the run course. I was cramping like crazy, but kept running due to the crowds. Before I hit the first mile mark the crowds faded a bit and I started to walk. That was pretty much it. I knew that once I started walking, my day was done. I walked a lot over the course of the 26.2 miles and for a few different reasons. For the most part, I think it was mental more than physical. From a physical standpoint I went through periods of cramping that would go away a few minutes after taking more salt pills, I was over heating – my run watch didn’t record the temperature but my bike computer had it at 89 degrees towards the end of the bike leg, my stomach was hurting from 9 hours of only consuming liquid calories and gels. The funny thing about all the walking I did during the marathon was that I was fine with it. I was going to be an ironman and I was soaking up the experience. I had no problem with all of the people that passed me. There were periods where I would get into a pretty good groove of running to each aid station, and I was running at a pretty decent clip. I would walk about 2 minutes at each aid station before going again. I saw Sara and Finn along with a bunch of other friends during a few sections of the run and it was awesome to hear their cheers. The crowds were amazing especially as I made my way towards the finish line. As I made my way down Mirror Lake Drive I started to high 5 all of the fans along the barriers. I continued the high 5’s all the way around the Olympic skating ring. Did I mention that the crowds were amazing. I’m not sure why, but I went into the “airplane” as I made my way to the finish line. Final run time was 4:38:21 (1021^st overall ;().

Finished the race in 11:49:25. 623^rd overall place, 553^rd male, and 90^th in in the M30-34 age group.

The whole experience was amazing from start to finish. It wouldn’t have happened without amazing support from Sara and Finn along with the support of friends and family that cheered me on both onsite and from afar.

I can’t wait to do it again!