Ironman Coeur d'Alene

I have resurfaced on the other side of this Ironman adventure and loved every minute of it. The training was ruthless and didn't leave time for much else, but it also brought me closer to some amazing people.

In the spirit of those who have inspired my online blogging of my Ironman adventure, I feel I must share my race report.

SWIM: 1:40:26

"SERIOUSLY, are you kidding me?"

I am not a fast swimmer. Haven't been since sophomore year of high school when I grew tired of swim team and decided it was time to do something else. I haven't looked back. I knew a 2.4 mile swim would take me about 50 minutes for each 1.2 mile lap, and that is exactly what it took.

I have participated in many triathlons, ranging from sprint to half-Ironman distances. Each triathlon I have participated in began with a wave swim start, ranging from 50 to 150 or so athletes. Ironman is a mass start -- all 2,200+ of us started at once.

Chris compared the swim to sharks in a feeding frenzy... and he was absolutely right. Chris and I started on the far right side of the beach for the mass start, with me holding back for a few seconds once the gun went off to let "the boys" go ahead. No need to get injured at the start!

I was pretty fortunate and found (unlike many) some open water before hitting the first turn buoy, but it was short lived. 2,200 people all sighting for the same location -- well, you can imagine. It was insane. I was kicked, elbowed, and swam over. Good thing I was not afraid to fight back!

Prior to race day, I had only once participated in an event that consisted of two swim loops where you had to get out of the water and then get right back in. I did not enjoy it the first time, but found myself invigorated by the crowd this time and didn't mind it at all. Lap one down, one more to go. At the turn I heard someone cheering me on by name -- it was Julia! Yay! A friend! I loved it. Julia, you are a sweetheart.

I jumped back in and set out for my second lap. By this time the masses had thinned out as everyone found their paces. I was THRILLED that there were still people around me.

The second lap was uneventful. It didn't fly by as quickly as the first lap, but I finished feeling relaxed and ready to ride! My only frustration during the swim was on the way back in from the last turn buoy on the second lap of the swim. Some guy who CLEARLY had issues sighting kept crossing my (straight) line over and over and over again. Finally, while swimming over this man, I screamed "SERIOUSLY, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" I think I scared him.

I was thrilled to hit land. Leg one DONE.

On my run up to transition I spotted a HUGE sign in the crowd that said "Jennie Eddy Rocks IM CDA!" Aaawww... Chris' parents! Sweethearts! I located them underneath the sign and waved as I headed into transition.

T1: 7:20

Transitions in Ironman are fun. First of all, people help you take your wetsuit off! Where are these folks in other races? I ran up to a group of three who unzipped my wetsuit, freed my arms, told me to sit on my butt, pulled off the rest and then handed the wetsuit over. Post wetsuit removal, I booked it to the women's changing tent where a lovely woman dried my feet for me, sprayed me with suntan lotion and sent me on my merry little way.

I grabbed my bike and started my 112 mile bike ride.

BIKE: 6:57:15

"And OF COURSE..."

We had driven the bike course the Thursday before the race so I knew it was a little bit more "hilly" than I had thought it would be. But, once out on my bike, I felt strong and ready to tackle the ride.

I saw my dear friend Lindsay about a quarter of a mile into the ride. How fun to have friends from High School cheering you on! I loved it! Classy me stuck out my tongue at her as I rode by.

I was under strict instructions not to consume anything but water for the first half hour of my ride. Done. However, when it came time to start eating/drinking, I took one sip of my CarbroPro bottle and realized this was not going to work today. It did not taste good nor did I want it. Good thing I had a back-up nutrition plan for the day (or so I thought).

I started on Powerbars for the first two hours of eating. My body has handled solid foods well earlier in the day on longer training days and then over the course of the day I switch to Gu's and then to liquid calories (of course, drinking lots of water as well).

It was during the second hour of my bike, feeling great, that my SRM power meter decided to stop displaying my wattage output. My reaction, "And OF COURSE this happens today."

While I did not have power, I still had cadence, so I decided to keep my cadence constant and just ride at a comfortable, but quick, pace. That worked for about five more minutes until I lost my remaining data - cadence, speed and the time I had been riding. My power meter simply turned off. NICE. (For those of you wondering, it was charged.) So, left with the time of day, I decided this was to be an old-school "ride as you feel" day.

I didn't let my loss of data get me down and I enjoyed the scenery. It was a beautiful ride. The hills we had seen while driving the course were a bit longer and steeper than they had appeared from the car, but I was ready for anything after Jessica's SEVEN MILE hill workout only weeks prior.

I finished the first loop of 56 miles in approximately 3:30. I wanted to finish around 3:15, but was resolved to the fact I just wasn't having the best day and to enjoy it regardless.

Heading back out to ride the same loop, I thought, "I have to do it again?" But, I was still feeling good and strong and knew it could be a good ride.

I was thrilled when I came up behind a cyclist wearing number 1957. SWEET.

As I had no data, I am not quite sure where I was when I found Kara, but I would guess it was about 10 miles into the second loop, or at about mile 66. Kara is a friend and fellow GGTC Board member. And, as we spent many a mile riding together down at the Wildflower Course, I knew we were pretty evenly paced. Kara and I passed one another back and forth for a while and then just started chatting and ended up riding together. What a wonderful way to pass the miles. I never had a dark moment on the ride. We must have appeared to be having a great time because a woman we passed declared, "I wish I had a friend to ride with!"

At about mile 106 Kara zipped ahead, not to be seen again until transition.

The last 6 miles seemed long, as there was a bit of a headwind, but I didn't much care. I was almost done with the bike leg and was thrilled to be getting off my bike. Note to self: 112 miles in tri shorts is painful.

T2: 6:08

I was happy to pass my bike off to the lovely volunteers who whisked it away at the dismount line. Again, where are these folks in all my other events? I don't have to rack my own bike?

I grabbed my T2 bike to run bag and ran into the women's changing tent for the final time. I traded my bike helmet, bike shoes and sunglasses in for my visor, Garmin watch and running shoes and took off to start my marathon.

RUN: 6:35:14

"No way! It's you!"

My run was my favorite and least favorite part of Ironman.

I am a terribly slow runner. I have never run a 5K in under 30 minutes. Never. I consistently run a 10:30 to 11:00 minute mile on a good day. Longer distances are worse.

I was wearing my Garmin, which provides pace and was thrilled when I first looked at it once I had settled into about a mile of running that my pace was a 9:30. NO WAY! I felt great and was thrilled. I felt like I was holding back and was still moving. SWEET.

I tried to not look at my watch too many times, or I knew I would start obsessing about times. However, at mile 3.1 (5K) I noted my time was at 28:18. OMG. I was thrilled! Was this the start of a great marathon? I hoped so, but didn't want to blow it, so I slowed down to my planned pace of 11:00 per mile.

Ah, alas, it was too good to be true. I made a fatal error during the final hours on the bike. In my backup nutrition plan, I had started consuming Clif Blocks for the last two hours of my ride. Clif Blocks are what I traditionally use as fuel when running.

At mile 7, after having consumed Clif Blocks for over three hours, my body decided it was done with food (and water). Any time I tried to swallow or chew I wanted to throw up. I couldn't get anything down. I decided to slow it down and hoped my stomach would settle.

It got worse. With no fuel or water, I was running on fumes. My calves and quads threatened to cramp and I settled into a walk to calm my system. It was all downhill from there.

There was a highlight before the downfall. At about mile four I spotted in the crowd a gentleman I have seen many times before -- a guy holding a teeny tiny little sign, probably 4 inches by 4 inches, that simply said "Go." It's the Go Sign Guy!

I had seen Go Sign Guy the first time at Wildflower in 2007. He was hilarious. I busted up the first time I saw him and his sign and he loved it. He gave me a special shout out. I saw him again at Escape from Alcatraz a few months later on the bike and run courses and he remembered me. We laughed. I hadn't seen him since, until my Ironman run.

Me: "Oh my goodness! Where have you been? I haven't seen you since Escape last year!"
Go Sign Guy: "No way! It's you!" (Now running next to me.) "We have to stop meeting like this!"

Go Sign Guy's name is Dan. He made my day.

I was super excited each time I saw Chris, Ryan, Jessica, Brian and Dian, as they were FLYING. I was also thrilled each time I saw a GGTC teammate or friend, all the SF Tri folks, fellow Blazeman Warriors... you name it, it provided a moment of joy.

Miles 7 to 13 were bad. An extreme bonk. With no water or fuel, I did not feel well and all I could think about was getting to my special needs bag at mile 13. In that bag was a Twix bar that was calling my name. I eventually made it to special needs, after having watched my desired 14:30 finish slip away.

I tore into that special needs bag to gather my remaining shred of hope. That Twix bar saved my day. I was able to eat a bite of it. After letting it settle a bit, I had another bite. Finally, about a mile later, I started to feel better and could actually jog.

I spent much of miles 13 to 20 with a gentleman named Jason from LA. Jason was having IT band issues and was not happy. Having been through the same issue earlier in the year, I felt for him. We had a lovely chat until mile 20, when I finally felt that I could run again and set off to run the rest of the way in.

I spent a lot of the run feeling disappointed, but reminded myself that I was fortunate to be healthy and injury free -- this was a nutritional issue -- something that can be fixed and improved upon for future events. And, my original goal was to finish this race healthy -- something I was doing.

Coming around the last bend I could finally see the finishing chute. The end of this journey was in sight. The Coeur d'Alene community was so supportive and there were people cheering everywhere. It made those final six or so blocks unforgettable.

It was amazing to cross that finish line... "Jennie Eddy, You are an Ironman!"

After crossing the line and receiving my finishers medal, hat and t-shirt, a very nice young man asked me if I needed anything. "Just Chris." And then I heard Chris call my name.

TOTAL TIME: 15:26:20