Ironman Florida 2009

First off a big congratulations to Steve Sunbury (10:51) , Spencer Sunbury (11:50) and Talmadge Reasoner (14:27). They turned in great performances!  Not only are they outstanding triathletes, but great people as well.

I had a rough day! It started off well enough.  I felt relaxed and confident on the swim. I was even able to enjoy watching the marine life. I saw several jellyfish and a school of small silver fish and a sand shark.   The first lap of the 2.4 mile swim was 49 minutes and the total time was 1:51.  The water was a bit choppy and I took on quite bit of salt water.

I felt good on the swim-to-bike transition.

Open a can, Dan!

I changed quickly and started on the bike leg. I saw Susie and the kids at Transition 1 and the day held promise.  Around mile 8 on the bike my stomach was gurgling and churning from the salt water.  By the time I reached the bridge at around mile 12 I felt a blast of diarrhea coming on.  I was able to make to the first rest stop and the port-a-potty before giving in.  Blam! Whoosh! I felt relieved.  I got back onto the bike and started to make up lost ground. Around mile 14 I felt some flatulence coming on and tried to ease it out. Unfortunately, it was deceptive! I ended up seriously sharting  my pants. 98 miles to go in the race and I am forced to sit in my own shit.

There was around 40 miles of strong headwind which made the flat course that much more difficult. At mile 33 I had a flat tire that cost me around 18 minutes.  After that the bike course was a matter of just grinding it out.  My unofficial time on the bike was 6:49.

I felt fairly good at the start of the run course.  My energy level was excellent.  I had to use the restroom at T2 to urinate, which meant that I was staying hydrated. The first two miles I felt good, but shortly thereafter a knee injury starting to give me trouble.  I decided that it was too early in the race to have knee problems that could eventually eliminate me.  I decided to do a race walk.  I was able to keep around a 13 minute pace race walking.  The problem with that strategy was that I had not trained to race walk.  I ordinarily run on the balls of my feet, so my heels had not built up calluses.

I felt fairly good, although a bit disappointed in my inability to run through the first half of the run course. By mile 14 the blisters started to hurt.  By mile 16 I could feel my entire feet were blistered and sore.  I decided to try and make it to the timing chip station inside St. Andrews State Park in order to document that I had made it that far.  Once inside the park a sheriff’s deputy noticed that my knees were buckling from the pain.  She recommended that I seek medical attention. She radioed the support vehicle to come and get me.  I knew at this point that I was out of the race. I was not so much disappointed at this point but just in sheer agony.

Ouch!

I was taken to the medical tent at the finish of the race and tended to by several podiatrists who insisted on taking pictures of my feet. They had not seen any blisters of this magnitude before.  I had my blisters treated and my feet bandaged.  What many people who don’t do endurance event don’t realize is the role that endorphins play in making feats of this magnitude possible.  Endorphins mask much of the discomfort.  Once I had sat down and had my feet treated my feet started really hurting and I was to the point that I couldn’t even put weight on them.

I really owe a debt of gratitude to the whole Sunbury clan who assisted me in getting back to the beach house and then collecting my belongings from the transition area.

The following day all of the Seymour participants and their families had a a nice cookout at the beach house that we were renting.  I was able to hobble around enough to cook at the grill.

Has Ironman seen the last of me?  Oh, hell no!

Taken in the medical tent by podiatrist. Rectangle used to hide what looks like man-boobs.