Ironman Louisville 08/24/2014

How do I begin to describe the most challenging, most beautiful, nerve wrecking, amazing, and thrilling day of my life.  No words will be enough to describe all the emotions I went through.  I will try though.

Leading up to the big race I was nervous but trying to stay as calm as possible.  Then I woke up one morning and could barely walk on my right leg.  I started freaking out.  Turned out my soleus was extremely tight and filled with scar tissue/lactic acid.  I had been rolling out with trigger point therapy but I wasn't focusing on that area enough ( I was focusing more on my calves and quads).  For a couple days I was unable to put a lot or much weight at that on my right leg.  I was so scared that I was going to be jacked up for my Ironman.  My race I've been training nearly non stop, for 7 months.  After some muscle manipulation, a massage, lots of icing, trigger point therapy and rest it finally recovered.  Now, granted I was already tapering this made me feel even more like a 500 lb cow.  I seriously felt like I could barely run a mile.  It was what my Coach warned me about and man it was true.  I didn't feel like an athlete, I was bloated, felt lazy, tired, and like a slug.

On Thursday morning, before the race, before I started my drive to Louisville I scheduled my last massage with Lora, from Tensegrity Massage, who is amazing!  I was all relaxed and my muscles were all good to go.  My plan was to drive to Huntsville, which is roughly half way to Louisville, and stay with my boyfriend, Justin.  That night his father took us to a wonderful dinner, where I was taunted by their yummy desserts, and I promise, I only took one bite!  We had agreed we'd try to be on the road by 6 am the next day to head towards Louisville.  Around 2 am Justin's phone was going off, turns out his sister was in labor!  We went back to sleep for a few more hours and then decided we'd stop to see her, which she was conveniently in Nashville which was about a half way point to Louisville.  We stopped at Waffle House along the way for breakfast. We got to the hospital and with 20 minutes of arriving, Justin's nephew was born!  It was quite an awesome experience and a neat way to first meet his sister.

Swag Bag

Shortly after, we were back on the road.  I decided to take a nap, during which Justin of course made sure to snap a picture of my passed out self.  He's lucky he's cute.  After a quick nap, I woke up and realized that I forgot to pack my charger for my Garmin 910, which I knew wasn't fully charged.  Talk about a damn near panic attack.  Thankfully I was able to get in touch with a fellow triathlete racing Ironman Louisville who was going to lend me their charger.   We finished our trek and went straight to the Galt House, where the expo/checkin/basically everything was taking place.  I was like a kid in a giant candy/toy's r us/disney.  We parked and I was looking at all the cars with all the Ironman stickers, the 70.3's, the marathon stickers, the bikes!  We finally got into the expo, I was grinning from ear to ear.  First you check in with your id to be given your ticket with your bib number on it, then you sign all the waivers, then you go to the table with your packet filled with swim cap, bib, and stickers.  Next table is where you get your swag bag!  This swag bag was awesome!  It was a really nice Ironman Louisville bag, with a bike multi tool, red bull, the athlete program, and a bunch of different brochures/pamphlets/etc.  After you grabbed your bag you then got your timing chip and strap.  Once that is complete it drops you into the Ironman store, I refused to buy anything yet because I didn't want to jinx myself.  

One thing I noticed, was all the amazing people I was surrounded by.  It was a breath of fresh air, to be all around people who are extremely active, disciplined, and respectful.  Not saying that the community I come from isn't like that, but just in general.

Justin and I then headed to the Marriott Downtown, which was only a few blocks away from the Galt House.  Warning, you will pay for parking everywhere, even at your own hotel.  The Marriott Downtown, was very nice.  Probably one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed.  It had two restaurants, a bar, and a starbucks.  We were on the 14th floor, which I came to find out was truly the 13th floor, they just don't call it the 13th floor.  I was slightly confused.  We got into the hotel room and without even asking, Justin went back to the car to finish grabbing everything to the hotel room.  I had only brought my bike in at first, which you could tell this was my first go round, because my paranoid self, carried my bike through the hotel to the room. I didn't want my tires hitting anything.  Justin made fun of me of course.  While Justin grabbed everything from the car, I was getting everything laid out for the next couple days.  We had a room with two beds, so one bed became triathlon central.  Like my transition bag/stuff threw up all over it.

Shortly after getting all settled in we headed out for the athlete dinner.  As I opened the door to our hotel room I noticed something was on the door.  Justin made me the most awesome door sign/poster!!! I was shocked and so happy.  I mistakenly thought the athlete dinner was in the Galt House, but turns out it was in the Convention Center which was right in between my hotel and the Galt House.  At that moment, I told Justin my brain was too frazzled to attempt to direct us and he was in charge.  We met up with fellow Tri Gulf Coast athlete, Kevin.  I had told Justin, look for a guy with a lot of Ironman Tattoo's on his calves and Justin replied "Like him?" and points right to Kevin.  We got in line for the Athlete Dinner which again was awesome to be surrounded by amazing people.   The food served was buffet style, with a salad, vegetarian pasta, chicken pasta, veggies, rolls, and some yummy looking deserts (whats with all the temptation!?)

It was simply dining for the first 20 minutes or so, then they started making speeches, sharing some of the very inspiring stories of the different athletes racing on Sunday.  In the beginning, during the prayer, I got teary eyed as they asked for the althletes to be blessed and watched over.  It was becoming even more real that I was actually here and about to race my first Ironman.  They had different groups of people stand up for recognition, such as those who did not finish from last year, the people who had raced Louisville before, those who were on Ironman #10 and more, and then the soon to be new Ironman.  On the stage they had the finish line arch with the countdown to our race.  It read 36 hours.  I was screaming in my head "Chill the Efff out Alyssa!"

I was mentally exhausted after the dinner so Justin and I headed back to the hotel room to get ready for bed.  I however, swore I knew where I was going to get back to the hotel room and turned out I didn't and had us going the complete opposite direction, I then told Justin he was in charge of navigation for real this time.  I still had to pack my bags for special needs/transition but I had everything listed for each  bag already so I didn't stress it the night before.  My Coach and I talked on the phone for about 15 minutes to go over my race plan.  Her reaction when she found out it wasn't a wetsuit legal swim was priceless!!!  Let's just say a few naughty words were said.  After getting off the phone with her I was spent, and ready for bed!

The next morning, I woke up and went down stairs to the restaurant to get some fresh fruit to go with my yogurt for breakfast.  When I got to the restaurant the seating hostess was kind enough to go to the buffet and fill a to go container of fruit for me!   I then walked across the lobby and got Justin some breakfast.  When I returned to the room, I woke Justin up and we had breakfast in bed.  

First thing I did after breakfast was clean my bike.  I turned on my "get pumped/motivated/ready to kick booty" playlist.  For those wondering, that consist's of the following songs:

The Fighter - Gym Class Heroes
Hall of Fame - The Script
Roar - Katy Perry
Remember the Name - Fort Minor
Girl is On Fire - Alicia Keys
Part of Me - Katy Perry
Best Day of My Life -American Authors
Dust - Eli Young Band
All the Above - Maino

As I cleaned every inch of my bike I reflected on the past seven months of my life.  I shut a lot of people out of my life, I stayed focused.  I didn't go out, I didn't drink, party, didn't travel anywhere but for races, I literally ate, slept, trained, and worked.  In those near 8 months, I had trained for 299 hours and 30 minutes.  I swam 185,625 yards.  I biked 3,040.8 miles.  I ran 517.64 miles.  Ironman training was my life.  It was all I cared about for those months.  I ate, breath, slept, Ironman.  It was all I talked about.  When I was at home eating, I would watch YouTube videos of previous Ironman races.  It was my everything.

And there I was.  Cleaning my bike, attaching my race number sticker onto my bike frame.  For my water bottle holder, I had trouble while training with it slipping so I triple zip tied it...on both sides, to ensure that it wouldn't move a centimeter during my race.  Once my bike was good to go, I pulled out my check lists and began to pack my bags.  Even with a checklist, this is such a nerve wrecking process.  You are still worried that you're going to forget something vital that you'll need race day, no matter how many times you quadruple check your check list with whats in your bag.  Now, my Coach gave me great advice with my bags.  Get an obnoxious patterned/colored duck tape to put along your bag to make it stick out.  Justin went and got me this awesome bright green duck tape that had flowers and flamingos on it!

Bike Gear Bag

For my Bike Gear needs bag the follow was in it: Lazer Helmet, Pearl Izumi bike shoes, 4 packages of Mountain Berry Clif Shot Bloks, my tube of Chamois Butter, Tri Top, Tifosi Sunglasses, chapstick, 2 tampons, and Endurolytes.  No I did not wear socks for the bike portion.  I wanted to have fresh, dry socks for my run and I always trained with no socks when wearing my bike shoes.  And unfortunately, it was that time of the month for me so I had tampons stuffed in each transition/special needs bags.  

For my Bike Special Needs I had 4 more Mountain Berry Clif Shot Bloks, two small packages of chamois butter, extra Endurolytes, 1 tampon, an extra tube/CO2 cartridges and I last added a Peanut Butter/Nutella sandwich.  My Coach said to add something that if I'm having a bad day would make me happy, so I added Nutella to my sandwich because Nutella is just amazing.  

Run Gear Bag

My Run bag contained my Newton Distance S's, RW visor, my favorite socks (Injinji Toe Socks), Race bib on my belt, 7 Chocolate Peanut Butter Gu's, Tampons, Body Glide, Chamois Butter, and more Endurolytes that I put in an empty Nuun container.  

Run Special Needs

Run Special Needs contained an extra pair of my second favorite kind of socks (Wright Sock), Sour Gummy Worms, 2 tampons, chapstick, 7 Chocolate Peanut Butter Gu's, and two containers of chamois butter.

Dropping Off my bike and bags!

Finally my bags were all packed and I was ready to take them (with the exception of bike special needs, which I dropped off race morning because of the sandwich) and my bike down to the transition area!  Now, I was super paranoid about pushing my bike through downtown because of something getting in my tire and causing a problem later on.  So, I literally carried my bike from my hotel to transition.  Very paranoid.  Once I entered transition to drop everything off, a friendly volunteer took my bags from me and carried them for me as we took my bike to its spot.  I kept looking all around at the bikes that were a lot nicer then mine, granted there were some that weren't as nice, but none the less still some very nice bikes out there.  Once I racked my bike, the volunteer was kind enough to take a picture for me.  He then escorted me to drop off my bags, informing me of where the changing tents were for women, where I'd be getting my bags, where sun screen was applied, just everything and anything you need to know about the transition area.  Got all my stuff dropped off and then went back to the hotel room.  

Bike is racked!

Back at the hotel I had to do a little spin bike workout, which I then followed by sitting in the hot tub for a bit to relax.  Then Justin and I goofed off in the pool with his GoPro camera and took some neat footage of me swimming.  The pool at the hotel was all stainless steel, which looked awesome but man it was deceiving, I ran my hand and head into it a few times.  

It started getting late (5 pm) so we went back to the room to get cleaned up.  Then headed to the store to get my plain grilled chicken and plain white rice.  We got back to the hotel, watched some tv as we ate.  Justin had amazing smelling chili from Wendy's!!! Such a tease!  Before going to bed, I had the my transition bag to take in the morning packed and ready laying on the opposite bed, with my clothes, and post race bag.  The last thing I remember saying to Justin before I passed out was, "I'm doing an Ironman tomorrow."

At 3:30 am my alarm went off.  It didn't even need to go off for more then 1.3 seconds before I was up and turning it off.  I then took my shower, got all shaved up and smooth.  First thing out of the shower I put my hair into my awesome bun that can withstand anything and everything.  My hair doesn't even take me more than ten minutes anymore with how much I've done that bun for JROTC/ROTC/Triathlons.  I was trying to stay calm.  Stay focused.  I then applied chamois butter/body glide probably all over my entire body.  Deodorant. Lotion.  Then I put my tri shorts and sports bra on.  I then had my traditional pre race waffle with Chocolate Gu on it.  Brushed my teeth.  Put my sweat shirt on.  Put my Garmin on.  Flip flops on.  Fill up my water bottles for the bike.  Grab transition bag, tire pump, and go.  So many thoughts and emotions were fluttering through my head.  Am I really about to do this? Did I train enough? What if I fail? What if I crash? What if I die? Maybe I'll have a great first race? The damn weather better not ruin this.  I feel like a fatty.  Do I have everything I need?

Waiting for swim start

Justin tried keeping me as calm as he possibly could. I sipped on Execute throughout the morning. I finally arrived to transition to attach all my water bottles to my bike.  It had poured down rain the night before so everything was wet, including the transition bags.  I filled up my tires, zip tied my aero water bottle in, twice, and realized it was as ready as it could be.  Got my bike special needs bag dropped off, checked on my soaked transition bags, and then once I felt more relieved that I was set and everything was good to go.  Justin and I then walked to the swim start.  For a line that supposedly only started at 5 am, that line was already super long.  I felt like I had to walk miles to finally make it to the current end of the line so I could get in line.  They did have port-o-pottys throughout the line for athletes.  I ate half a snickers marathon bar about 1 hour before swim start. I sat down on the athlete side of the sidewalk, non athletes had to stand/sit on the opposite side of the side walk.  We still had about 30 minutes until the pros began so we began chatting with one another and the people beside us.  The guy to my right was from Alabama, same age as me, and this was his first as well.  I then took in a Gu about 15 minutes before swim start.

Finally we heard the cannon go off for the Pro Males.  I swear I felt that canyon go off in my chest as well.  Soon after we all heard the additional cannon for the Pro Females.  Then before I knew it, the cannon for the remainder of us went off.  I was so nervous at this point.  I took off my sweat shirt, handed Justin the rest of my stuff, kissed him, and we all started our walk.  I got my goggles on first, then put my swim cap on.  That way, if I did get kicked in the face, I shouldn't lose my goggles.  Once we got closer to the dock they had music going which got me relaxed and pumped so I started dancing in the line and giving everyone hi fives.  Before I know, I was jumping into the Ohio River.

Gear Bags

The swim.  Coach told me to start out at a 5, and then once I hit the turn go to a 7.  Which I was totally fine with because this being my first Ironman I wanted to pace myself, I had a long day ahead of me.  The water didn't seem to be as terrible as everyone told me.  It certainly wasn't cold, just felt good.  I felt my hand graze a few things in the water, what they were I'm not sure but it slightly grossed me out. The distance in between the island and the turn buoy there were a few chilly spots in the water.  Refreshing but almost borderline too cold. Once I finally hit the buoy for the turn I felt like I was there for two minutes, the current was strong where it was and a few people had trouble making the turn around it.  But once I did that, I kicked it up to that 7 and started moving.  I was feeling awesome.  My body was feeling good, I was singing in my head, enjoying the micro seconds of scenery when my head wasn't in water.  At one point as I went to breath and my mouth was wide open someone was going by me right at that time and I swallowed a good gulf of water.  It was yucky.  I kept swimming and was under the first bridge when all of a sudden I felt a hand grab my back side and then slide down my leg, I didn't stop or make a deal out of it but someone for sure got a good feel of my butt and legs, good thing I shaved!  Once I passed the second bridge I didn't have much further to go of the swim so I kicked it up just a little bit.  Before I knew it, I was grabbing a volunteers hand to help me out of the water.  This was actually the first swim of all my triathlons where I wasn't completely disoriented coming out of the water.  When I looked down at my Garmin and saw 1:15 I was thrilled!  My goal for my swim was 1:20, I was cheesing!  I ran into transition, down the lane that had my bike gear bag which for some reason I didn't have a volunteer hand me but its all good because that duck tape helped me find my bag real quick. I grabbed my bag then ran into the women's changing tent.

In the women's changing tent, it was crazy.  T&A everywhere! Volunteers everywhere!  Bags everywhere!  I found a chair to set my bag on and began taking what I needed out.  I first grabbed my tube of chamois butter, pulled my tri shorts down to my knees and made my butt and upper legs white with all the chamois butter I put on.  Pulled my tri shorts back on, put the two tampons in my back pocket, put my trip top on and zipped up, stuffed my clif shot blocks and bottle of endurolytes down my shirt, sunglasses on, and helmet on.  I carried my shoes just to be safe that I didn't break the clip part of my bike shoes while running across transition.  My swim stuff and whatever I didn't use or need got thrown back into the bag where a volunteer took it.  Immediately exiting the tent, I had a volunteer apply sunscreen to my shoulders and arms.  I then hit a port-o-potty for the lady thing.  Then, I ran to my bike, still with shoes in hand, grabbed my bike and went.  Right as I was about to get back onto concrete I finally put my bike shoes on.  Got on my bike and went.

The first five miles I took super, super easy.  Got all my nutrition situated, made sure bike was good, and that I was good.  It was cloudy and somewhat cool at this point.  I went ahead and had one whole package of the Clif Shot Bloks and 2 endurolytes along with drinking Execute.  The first 20 miles weren't too hilly, then came a really fun, shaded hilly section of the bike course.  There were a few small climbs but there was a good chunk down hill, like down hill for .7 miles where I just coasted and enjoyed the wind and the ride, hitting up to 40 mph!  Then there was a sharp turn around and a few climbs backs out the main road.  The ride was smooth so far.  I was enjoying myself, talking with other athletes as I passed them or they passed me.  I got a lot of compliments on my Tri Kit! They had us go over a set of railroad tracks and as I was going over them there was an athlete on the ground who had just crashed, he was laying on his stomach and the back of his shirt was all cut up and you could see the road rash on his back.  Aid stations were very organized, the volunteers did a great job at letting everyone know what they had.  For the first aid station, and most really, I would take 2 bottles of perform, if I had time I'd take a third to top off my aero bottle and then trash it while I still had time.  

The scenery was absolutely beautiful.  Horse pastures everywhere, which to anyone who knows me - thats right up my alley, and just beautiful farms.  I found myself wondering which great race horses had been in these pastures I was riding by.  As I was hitting around mile 30, I felt my stomach get "weird" and before I knew it I was in need of a port-o-potty.  I was pissed.  This hadn't happened to me during any of my training rides, during my Half Ironman, just ever.  Now here comes my Ironman and I'm only on mile 30 of the bike and I'm about to crap myself.  And to be honest, had I had an extra pair of shorts in my next bag I might have done it, but unfortunately I didn't so I knew I'd have to stop. Once I felt that, I stopped taking the Shot Bloks and stuck to liquids. The moment I saw a set of port-o-pottys I stopped and tried to get back on track. Close to the half way point there was great crowd support, and big area that had taken family/friends/spectators from the transition area of the race to this area so they could see their athletes twice.  It was a downhill slope and I was trying to looking for Justin, then right towards the end of the area he was on my left cheering for me.  I would be seeing him in about another 30 miles.  This upcoming loop of the bike course was by far the most challenging.  It had some of the steepest climbs, sharp turns with an uphill around the corner.  It was also starting to get hot out.  I literally saw one guy attempting to climb a hill and just fell because he couldn't peddle enough.  Several people walked their bike up the hills.  I stayed on my bike the entire time.  I was still having issues though, feeling like I needed to use the bathroom yet again, so when I hit mile 40ish I stopped again.  As we came back around towards the beginning of our last loop, before the crowd area, around mile 60, I had to go again! So I hit my brakes to turn towards the pottys and as I did that my bike was going over a diver in the road and bam! The back of my bike made a weird noise and I felt myself start falling down to the right, thankfully I unconsciously unclipped my right foot and caught myself.  What the Efff just happened??? I unclipped my other foot, and realized my wheel was dangling from my bike.  I picked up my bike, took it the side of the road where a volunteer helped me out, which thank goodness because all I was thinking about was "My Bike is broken, I'm not going to be able to finish".  Thankfully it just came loose and came off and we were able to get it screwed back on.  The volunteer though tried to hand me my bike to get back on the road and  I was like "Umm, I need to use the bathroom".  Got back on and we finally came to Bike Special Needs Bag area, I called out my number to inform them that I did want my bag.  When I finally got to the line of volunteers the volunteer held my bag up so I could see where it and she was.  I stood there, the volunteer opened the bag for me as I dug in.  I took the sandwich but nothing else.  I was excited for something different and was hungry since I hadn't been eating my clif boks.

After stuffing my face with my sandwich, we passed the crowd again.  Justin was on my right this time.  Finally I was on the last section of the bike.  Less then 60 miles to go.  I was staying focused and not allowing for my bathroom issues to bother me.  When I hit mile 80 I had to go again, but this time I felt like complete crap.  As I went to open the door to the potty, I threw up.  I felt awful cause I literally threw up right in front of it.  Went in and also realized I was out of tampons at this point.  So great, not only was I on the edge of crapping myself for the rest of this course, I was now going to have blood everywhere (I warned y'all this would be detailed).   But honestly at that point, I didn't care, I just wanted to finish this bike ride.  I took a minute just standing next to my bike, pouring cold water onto my head and neck, which was burning for some reason.  The volunteer kept asking if I was ok, I knew I looked as awful as I was feeling.  But I got back on kept on keeping on.  Around mile 90 there was an older gentlemen who came near me, complimented my tri kit and saw that I had two spare bottles of Perform in my water bottle cages and asked if he could have one cause he couldn't get one at the last station.  I told him sure, I still had my aero bottle filled and there was less then 26 miles left.  So we peddled along side of each other while he grabbed it real quick.  The roads on the last stretch of the bike were rough, lots of holes/cracks/bumps.  Finally I saw the sign that said "mile 100" and I knew I was almost done.  

Dismount

I had a smooth dismount off the bike, and the volunteer took my bike and I was en route to getting my run gear bag.  Once my bike was handed off, I took my bike shoes off and carried them so I could run through transition faster.  I grabbed my gear bag and went to the women's changing tent.  This time it wasn't as crowded, so I had a volunteer stick with me.  She took everything out of my bag for me and laid it on a chair.  She asked what I did or didn't need, took my helmet and bike shoes for me and put them in my bag, and even went and got me water.  She was awesome.  All the volunteers were awesome.  Once I grabbed everything, I headed out for the sunscreen station again, when they sprayed the back of my neck I yelled, and thats when I realized that my bun in the swim cap chaffed the back of my neck. Grr!  I hit the potty, and then was good to go because that last potty stop I had nothing else in me to get out, I was relieved that I was emptied out because I was over that mess.  

Starting my marathon!

Justin was right there as I came out of transition, he then started running to catch more video of me leaving the transition area and I yelled to him "You better get there before me, I just rode 112 miles" which made myself and a few spectators laugh.  He did.  I was feeling good to be running, my legs didn't feel tired at all, so I was really excited that I'd have a decent run.  Justin met me around another point where he put the GoPro on the ground to get footage of me running past, but I picked it up and started running with it forcing him to chase me down.  He hollered at me to stay focused and I replied "I'm about to run for 5 hours by myself, I need some entertainment".  Once I hit mile 1, I decided to go ahead and take a Gu.  As soon as I swallowed all of it down, it came right back up.  What in the freakin hell??? Great, so after nearly crapping myself for 7 hours, I'm throwing up.  

I was able to sip some water, but anytime I tried to do the chicken broth/fruit/pretzels/gu, I just kept throwing it up.  This was getting frustrated.  Mostly I was worried that my endurolytes weren't staying down and would lead me to becoming severely dehydrated.  Once I realized what was going on, I officially knew I wouldn't have the Ironman race time I wanted but I was more than determined to finish whether it was going to lead me into a hospital bed or not.  I tried to do a walk/run combo.  At one point though my heart rate monitor was reading 190 while I was just jogging, I started walking immediately scared that I was about to give myself a heart attack.  I calmed myself down, talked to myself, and kept moving.  Each aid station after I didn't even try to eat anything because throwing up was only wasting more energy.  So I would take few sips of water to get my endurolytes down and that was it.  

When you hit the half way point of this course, you have to literally run towards the finish line and then turn right as the shoot begins.  Its a freakin tease.  But as soon as you turn you get your special needs bag.  I changed my socks out because I was keeping water poured on my for the first half to try and keep my body cool, and I brought the gummy worms just incase I might be able to keep something down.  I got back up and started jogging.  I was thankful for fresh socks.  I opened the bag of gummy worms and ate two, man did they taste amazing! But coming back up not so much.  I threw the bag away and finally gave up on the thought of eating anything for the next couple hours.  Just stuck to a couple sips of water each aide station.  Around mile 14, I was walking with  a lady and I said "I thought we were suppose to go by Churchill Downs on our course?" and she replied "We Did...it was around mile 10 where the had us do that small turn and come back" and I realized at that point I was losing my mind.  I was feeling tired, dehydrated, sick, and felt my body just start shutting down, but I still had 12 miles to go.  The thought of quitting never crossed my mind, just hoping that I would get to the finish line in time.  To not play more mental games, I even switched my Garmin to time of day instead of seeing my HR/Pace/Distance.  All I cared about was crossing the finish line before midnight. 

It started getting dark and not as crowded.  The lights on the cops cars were making me dizzy so I would have to close my eyes every time I passed a cop car.   The volunteers were amazing, they would walk towards you to bring you whatever you needed.  I kept taking ice to put on my head, down my sports bra, and the back of my tri kit to try and keep my body cool.  I could feel my inner thighs were chaffed from my shorts, I could feel the blister on my heel and toe, I could feel where my heart rate monitor was cutting into my skin, I could feel everything but I refused to let it take over, I just embraced it.  I embraced the suck.  Finally the end was near.  Around mile 23, I looked to my right and saw "University of Louisville", it was a huge beautiful campus and even though I passed it 3 other times I was just now seeing it.  Holy shit, I'm really losing it.  I can't really give you more details about my marathon because I really barely remember any of it.  Maybe its like childbirth, its so bad during that you can't remember what it was like, you just remember the end result.  I would try to jog but could feel my body just crashing even more and I needed to make sure I would be able to at least walk through the finish line.  When I finally turned the last corner, I could hear the finish line crowd, the announcer, the volunteers yelling "You've got this! It's right there!", something kicked in and I was able to jog around the corner and all the way to the finish line.  

Going through that shoot was such an amazing feeling, everyone is cheering for you, calling your name (its on the bib), and all you can see is that beautiful finish line.  It is by far the best feeling in the world, and I do mean best, to cross the finish line as the announcer says your name and says that "You are an IRONMAN!".  I was nothing but smiles and so happy, I was in a bubble of accomplishment and happiness for a minute, they got my medal put on me, and then we (volunteer and I) started walking and thats when all the pain finally set in.  I was miserable.  At first I really wanted to go to medical because I knew I truly needed an IV, but when I look at the medical tent it looked full (found out later that the true medical area was in the convention center with ish loads of IV's) so I refused and thought I'm sure theres someone else who needs it more then I.  The volunteer got me my finishers shirt/hat and then took me to the photographer.  After the photo I walked to the exit shoot and there was Justin.  I practically collapsed in his arms and started balling my eyes out.  I had so many emotions going through me; accomplishment, pride, pain, misery, happiness, and more.  We took a few photos then I had to sit down and get my shoes off, my feet were burning.  We forgot to put post race shoes in my bag so Justin was kind enough to put on my nasty, stinky, sweaty shoes and give me his to wear.  I originally wanted to stay for the finisher party but was just spent.  So, I put my arm around Justin and I hobbled back to the hotel.  Now, our hotel was really nice, so to have me all nasty hobbling in, as theres people dressed all nice and fancy at the nice bar in the hotel was kinda funny.  

Cheesing!

Justin and I after I finished!

When we finally got into the hotel room, I just sat on the bathroom floor.  Justin made me an awesome ice bath but as I tried to get in it I was screaming, it made everything hurt worse.  So we melted the ice out so I could just take a hot shower.  He helped me get undressed and I felt more areas that were chaffed, I felt the sunburn, and just every muscle aching.  Justin left to go and get a menu for the restaurant in the hotel as I literally crawled/climbed into the bathtub and just sat in the tub as the hot shower water rained down on me.  It hurt so much because of all the areas I was chaffed.  From the open lash on my chest from my heart rate monitor, to the raw skin and blisters on my inner thighs, shoulders were chaffed, sides were chaffed, my lower back and butt was chaffed, the top of my feet where chaffed, the back of my neck, just freakin everywhere.  It hurt, I nearly cried for the first few minutes of the water running down me.  I think at one point I even passed out in the tub because one minute I was just laying there and the next I know Justin is next to me with a menu.  I didn't know if my stomach would even be able to eat anything but we figured we'd try since I hadn't had really anything in over 12 hours.  He got the food ordered as I washed my hair, still sitting in the tub under the water.  When I got done, I got dried off and realized all the clothing I had brought was all tighter stuff, and I truthfully didn't want anything touching me with how bad I was chaffed.  I put chamois butter on all the spots and asked Justin for a pair of his gym shorts and a t shirt.  I got into the bed and just laid there until our food got there.  I ate some french fries, some of my cheeseburger, and few chicken tenders.  My stomach was fighting me.  I felt at any moment I was going to hurl it all up.  I was so freakin hungry though.  Justin also got me a Mountain Dew which was my first Mountain Dew in probably a year, it tasted amazing.  I think the carbonation helped my stomach too. We finally got to bed at 1:30 am, and realized we'd have to be up at 6:30 am to get everything packed, attend the athlete celebration breakfast, go to the ironman store to get some swag, and then get on the road. 

That alarm went off too soon.  But we got up, got packed, I put only some sweat pants and my RW singlet, Justin got the car all packed up, and we walked to the Galt House.  Thankfully it was only two blocks away, but I was still moving like a turtle through peanut butter.  I was sore but the main reason for walking so slow was because of how chaffed my entire body was and every time I moved it just irritated my skin more.  We got to the store and I truly wanted everything that said Ironman, but I'm not rich.  So I got myself a t shirt and tank top, and Justin got me the finishers jacket.  It's so sleek and awesome.  We sat down waiting for the breakfast which was breakfast burritos, muffins, and egg and cheese biscuits with juices and coffee.  I didn't eat much, still didn't know how my stomach was going to feel.  After we ate, we headed back to the car and got on the road.  I passed out almost immediately.  

I raced the last "HOT" Ironman Louisville.  After this race IM Louisville will be moved to October for more "ideal race conditions".  I thought it was awesome to say I raced the last hot IM Louisville.

With the days following I started feeling better all around.  And more proud of myself the more I convinced myself that it wasn't about the time I finished but the simple fact I finished.  This was only my first Ironman.  I completely plan on racing more.  I want to race each Ironman Race in America, including Kona but when I do race Kona it will because I earned my spot there.  Looking back, I know had I not had the stomach issues that I could have finish in 13 hours or under.  Which pumped me up even more to do another one.  I know it will take me a while to get faster, this is a sport where when you look at the overalls and the pro's, they're not in their early 20's.  I've got time to grow, to get faster and stronger.  And each race I will come back more determined then the last.  This is where my passion is.  

"We were put on this planet, not to be ok with limits, but to exceed them. " 

-Alyssa King

I would like to thank Running Wild, Gulf Coast Cycle and Tri, and Tensegrity Massage for their sponsorship.

I would like to thank the following companies/brands that helped me get to the finish line: Pearl Izumi, Newton Running, Lazer, Tifosi, Moving Comfort, Injinji, Wright Sock, Profile Design, GU, Energy Labs, Hammer, Body Glide, TYR, Garmin, and 110 Play Harder.