Ironman Arizona Race Report (Long)
Originally posted on facebook in April
It's funny how life changing moments can often be so unexpected. For me one of my life's most defining moments came about by accident. I was sitting in my little office in downtown Arlington, Indiana. It was Sunday night, and Youth Group was over, and I didn't want to go home because well, home was somehow more lonely than an empty church...that's sad. I was so out of shape and obese it was gross and I needed to find some kind of exercise that I liked doing. So far in my life running had only happened when I was dribbling a basketball or carrying a football.
I knew that I wouldn't ever lose weight without a goal attached to it, I needed something to be in shape for. I thought of maybe trying to find a bike race of some sort, so I started searching on the internet for bike races in Indiana. Not much came up. Then a little thought hit me, not some big eureka moment, but just a little thought about a thing I had seen on TV back in the day where people swam, biked and ran. I liked to swim, I loved riding my bike as a kid, and I could learn to run. I thought it was called a “triathalon”, so I started searching. A few hours later I had uncovered the whole world of triathlon from local short distance events to the Ironman events that were 140.6 miles of swimming, biking and running. That night in early May of 2002 I decided that I was going to do a triathlon the next summer and in that someday I was going to do an Ironman.
On Sunday April 15th, 2007 I woke up at 4:15 a.m. ready to take on a long day. I ate a banana, 2 powerbars, and drank a 32 oz gatorate. My mom arrived to take me to the race site at 4:30 and we headed Tempe Beach Park where I would begin my Ironman journey. I dropped off my bags of stuff at the transition site, and in the still dark morning looked over my bike. I took it and aired up the tires, then stood in a porta-pot line for what seemed like hours. At this point the sun is starting to come up and I'm getting nervous.
I spent the next 20 minutes putting on sunscreen, and putting vaseline on my neck so I didn't get a "hickie" from my wetsuit rubbing during the 2.4 mile swim. I swam in the lake for about 30 minutes on Friday, and got a huge raw area on my neck that hurt all day and into Saturday. I didn't want this to happen again so I really slathered it on. I put on my wetsuit and I didn't want to lose my goggles, so I put them around my neck. Two minutes later I realized that I had just put about a pound of Vaseline on my neck...I pulled off my goggles and they were covered with Vaseline...arrghh. With only 5 minutes until we have to get into the water, I am frantically trying to get the Vaseline off my goggles. It worked and I jumped into to the lake at about 6:50 a.m. and swam out to the start line.
There we waited, me and 2100 other wetsuit clad iron-hopefuls. They sang the national anthem, and a minute later the cannon fired. I was off on my first Ironman. The swim start was crowded, but not the boxing match that I was expecting. I quickly found my rhythm and settled into a nice (aka slow) swim pace. I had no idea how fast or slow I was going, but I didn't care. Time meant nothing, the only goal was finishing before the cutoff. Soon, I was making the last turn and heading for the exit. I let out a big "Woohoo" underwater because I knew I was going to finish the swim. As I came out of the water, I tried my arms out of my wetsuit, but that wasn't working well becuase I was kinda dizzy. Thankfully there were "wetsuit strippers" there who ripped off my wetsuit and sent me on my way. It was kinda fun. I glanced up at the clock and it said 1:23:xx and I was thrilled. I wanted to go 1:30-1:40 so it was awesome to be ahead of schedule.
Into the change tent I went, I put on my bike clothes, my helmet and sunglasses and headed out for 112 miles of riding. The course at Ironman Arizona is a "three loop" course. That means we headed out into the dessert for 18.6 miles, turned around and headed home. Then we did that same course two more times. I felt great the first 10 miles or so. Just about this time I saw female pro, and contender Hillary Biscay on the side of the road having mechanical problems with her bike. Just then a guy behind me had his bike break and he hit the pavement hard. Right then I started praying and thanking God for keeping me safe this far and asked Him to be with me for the rest of the race.
About that time my new friend Chris, that Melia and I had met at bike check in zipped past me. I beat him on the swim, it looks like he's going to beat me on the bike. About mile 14 we started to go up hill and that was the point that I started to feel tired and achy. Totally freaked out isn't a strong enough phrase to describe how I felt about feeling crummy this short of a time into the race. We made the turn at 18.6 miles and I was greeted with a huge headwind. I didn't really realize it, but we had been going with the wind the whole first section. I really started to feel terrible at this point as I was working really hard to hold 14 or 15 mph. By about 30 miles I was fighting the urge to quit. My neck hurt, my back hurt, my feet hurt, my legs hurt, my butt hurt, and I had so little energy. I was only a few hours into this long day, and I had so so far to go to be feeling this lousy.
It was at this point that I was heading back into town and I was hoping to see my mom and Melia to give me a little boost. As I returned to the race site to start the second loop there was no one, and though I wanted to toss it in, I knew that wasn’t an option yet. I turned and started pedaling with the ever increasing wind and actually started to feel a bit better.
All the way to the 56 mile ½ way point I picked up steam and by the time I turned back into the wind I felt great.As I started into the wind, I was cruising, I was passing people left and right, and I felt so good. I prayed and thanked God for the energy that I had, and I thanked Him for this really enjoyable part of the long day. For about 5 miles from at about mile 70 I was singing old hymns and just having a great time. I don’t think that anyone could hear me because the wind was so loud. At one point I felt so blessed to be feeling so good I started to tear up and almost cry...wait, there's no crying in Ironman...pansy!
The third time out to the turn around was good, but my legs were getting sore and tired. As we made the final turn for home I was so glad to only have less than 20 miles left. I pumped my fist as I watched my bike computer turn over 100 miles, and kinda chugged along the last 12. As I entered T2 (the bike to run transition) I have never been happier to bid my bike adieu. My mom and Melia were there going nuts and cheering for me. Melia was really excited, my mom was crying a little bit, but I think that is because she was happy/emotional/scared that I was drinking enough. On that front, no problem, think I used every porta pot on the course 5 times. After a leisurely transition (12 minutes) I headed out onto the run. I was 8 ½ hours into this race, The midday Arizona sun was beating down on me, and all I had to do was run a marathon. No problem!
As I took my first few steps of the marathon, all my dreams of a 13 hour finish vanished. The arches of both my feet were cramping so bad it hurt to shuffle/run/trot…anything but walk. I would run for a minute or two until the pain became unbearable, then I would have to walk. I would run some more, sometimes for a whole 7 or 8 minutes, but my screaming feet would force me to hobble to a walk again.
At about mile 6 I once again began to wonder if I was going to make it. It is depressing to be out there as many are finishing, and know that you still have 20 miles to run/walk. At one point on the first run lap I started to get dizzy and I began to weave a bit on the run. Thankfully that phase only lasted a little while, and after a bit of walking I was back in the race mentally. I finished the 8.7 mile first lap of running/hobbling/walking and saw my lady fans again and headed out for another round.
About mile 13 I was slowing down in how fast I could run, but my feet were starting to feel way better. From mile 13 to 18 it was getting dark, but I was starting to feel a ton better. I had started drinking coke, water and funny enough chicken broth at the aid stations. I guess you get so low on salt out there that your body really needs craves it. All I know is that it tasted awesome. Just before mile 18 I came back by the finish line and saw mom and Melia, and they were so awesome. I almost cried for the second time…I guess because I was so happy to not be feeling on the edge of death this far into the race.
Ironman is a funny thing for a person emotionally. I trained myself physically, and some mentally, but I was not prepared enough to deal with the rapid emotional swings that happened throughout the day. At mile 18 I was feeling great. I am seeing my mom and wife, there are cheering people all around…and literally 2 minutes later I am shuffling down the road in the dark just me and a few others. There is no cheering, we are all tired, there isn’t much conversation. On the course at 14 hours into the race, most people are just out there surviving a tough day. Everybody that was feeling good has already finished and back at the hotel. It was hard to be out there, knowing you had a long way to go, and the course just keeps getting lonelier and lonelier.
What got me through the last 6 miles was the knowledge that I had my lovely wife and wonderful mom waiting for me at the finish, and the aid stations. I owe my finish to the people out there handing me cups of chicken broth and coke at 10 pm and giving me some encouragement. Each aid station was a bright oasis in the dark night.I remember seeing the 24 mile marker and thinking to myself for the first time that I was going to finish this thing, I was going to be an Ironman. As I headed across the Mill Ave. bridge, a mile from the finish line I started to get pumped. I could see the lights of the finish, I could hear Mike Reilly, the voice of the Ironman bellowing out “You are an Ironman!” as people finished.
I crossed the bridge and made a right turn and there was an almost indescribable sight. After so many quiet lonely hours I was greeted with a bright, humungous party. I immediately saw Melia and she was screaming “You did it!” I took off my hat and glow stick and held them up and crossed the finish line. Matt Douglass You Are an Ironman.
All those nights riding my Wal-Mart Mountain. Bike on 300W, all those mornings running my same little route. The miles on the treadmill, the miles on the trainer, the 90 mile rides to Smithville and back 3 times, all of it was for this. I did it. I proved to myself that I can do anything if I really want to.
I think it was Forest Gump who said “A man goes through something like that, he’s supposed to learn something”. I’m still not sure what I learned, but I do know this. Achievement is rarely a question of can. We all can. Achievement is all about will. Will you put in the time, give of the effort, and make the sacrifices necessary to achieve your goal? Not everything in my life I have had the will to do, but on April 15th, 2007 I turned a lifelong “might be able to do” into “did”. I will always be proud of that.
posted by Matt @ 8:38 AM
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