Message posted by: Jim K. Wow. Don’t even know where to begin!!! What an amazing, surreal international odyssey! We arrived in Mexico on Thanksgiving, spent the day eating tacos in as many places as we could find, and figuring out how to get to the island of Cozumel with our rental car (we had flown into Cancun; there are no bridges to Cozumel, only ferries). Once there, we spent Friday and Saturday exploring the place, finding the “locals only” places- you know you’re in a good restaurant when nobody there speaks a lick of English, no English and no pictures on the menu. 5 years of Spanish class FINALLY came in handy!!! We also couldn’t believe how windy it was, and how rough the seas were; the port was closed to ships, and the swim venue was closed for practice. Oh boy, this was going to be interesting. The expo was awesome, bought some gear, had my bike safety checked and got checked in. Met and chatted with eventual men’s winner Rutger Beke…what a nice guy. Took a few pictures. Now t riathletes aren’t really world famous like golfers are tennis players, but I knew who he was. He and women’s winner Yvonne Van Vlerkin were featured prominently in the 2008 Kona Ironman DVD I watched from my bike trainer during training at least 1,000 times. I figured they would both win and they did…think I need to start a fantasy league for tri-geeks!!!!! Bike/T1 check-in was Saturday afternoon. The transition area is just enormous! Had a good spot near one of the exits, did a walk thru, and was confident T1 would go well. Great Mexican dinner, then off to hopefully, FINALLY be able to sleep the night before Ironman. Ha ha. Got up before the alarm at 4:30, choked down two clif bars and some Gatorade. Gathered up my stuff, poured myself into my swimskin and we’re off to T1 before 5am, and get there just as it is opening…in the total darkness. Got all my gear situation and my nutrition set for the day. Caught up with John M and Dot…what a super nice (and fit) couple!! Saw Dot again on the run, she bellowed “Hey Jim K” as she wizzed past….she would win her AG!!!! Guess Mr. and Mrs. M are going to Kona (again!) Went back to sit quietly with the wife for a few minutes…she was in for every bit the long day that I was. Like Kelly said, their day is probably even tougher, cause most of the time we know how we’re doing, they don’t. But I was sure glad she was here with me every step of the way. A huge crowd is gathering at Chakanaab part. Marching bands, TV cameras, announcers, singing and clapping, hooting and hollering. The pros go off at 6:45, damn they’re fast (duh). And we start to enter the water at 6:50 for the mass in water start. Now, since I abhor the human blender that is the swim start, I usually try to stay out of the fray, back and to the side. But now I’m sitting here treading water for what seems like forever, and I start thinking about Clyde’s advice- “You’ve gotta get a decent starting spot, there’s too much to be gained from a good draft, you can’t give it up!” So in my typical Type-A impatience, I wade up front a little. Then a little more. Then more. After what was at least 15 minutes, the gun goes off, and ya boy is right in the middle of the fray!!! How do you describe the start of an Ironman to someone who has never lived it? Being in a washing machine with boulders? Boxing 2000 Mike Tysons? 20 Lbs of spiders in a 10 lb bag? I take a few shots to the chops, nothing too bad. I’m one of the bigger athletes in the field; I feel sorry for the little guys and the women, who must be getting pounded. The first turn buoy i s absolute chaos….in fact I believe I was sexually assaulted. Two guys are hanging on the buoy screaming at each other, about to come to blows. HELLO! It’s a race!!! Now benevolently, the longest stretch of the swim was with the current, and it sure seemed like we were going fast. I did like Clyde said, found a draft RIGHT on someone’s feet. When I lost them, I found another. Now the Mexican athletes all had dark, bronzed skin, but luckily the bottom of their feet is lily white!!! The water is sooo clear and beautiful. You could see clear to the bottom, 30-40 feet at this point. If there was a quarter down there I could tell you if it was heads or tails. Felt strong and maintained a real strong pace, focused on my draft and a YouTube tip from Natalie Coughlin (so I google her once in a while, get over it) “Make the water as thick as you can-always reach for new water and pull yourself along it like on a ladder”. So I’ve got more of an S-shaped pull going on than usual, and I can feel the extra propulsion. The draft was awesome. I never, ever once looked up to sight, hoping I was drafting some straight swimmers! In fact, the only w ay I knew we had rounded the last turn buoy to head for home was that the sun wasn’t blinding me anymore when I went to breathe. Now the swim is the ultimate sensory deprivation chamber. You have no idea if you’re in there for 30 minutes or 3 hours. I felt like I had done well, but almost fell over when I jump up the stairs and see 1:07….HOLY SHIT….19 freakin’ minutes faster than last year…and that was with a wetsuit…..now there were some pretty fast times; although the seas had calmed for race day, that current stayed strong. I was elated! I never count laps during swim training (too boring), I only swim for technique, time and heart rate. Something must’ve clicked. Never dreamed I had a 1:07 swim in me. Go running past the wife to T1 and yell “I never swam that fast in my life!” T1 was an absolute cluster…..it’s usually pretty empty when I get there . Not this time, Found a corner to stand it, ripped the hell out of my swimskin, and pull my bike gear on. Fortunately, a young volunteer is slathering sunscreen on me. I would painfully discover later that he only got one side . Sprinted to my bike, helmet on, and heard my hero AND my biggest fan yell “Go Kaggy!” as I jailbreak from T1. Felt good to be on the bike….too good. First of several big mistakes on the day. As the Ontriers know, I’m great at dispensing advice, but apparently bad at following it! “Bike the bike you should, not the bike you could.” Nonsense!!! How could I waste that swim split? So my HR was in the 150’s, so what, I feel great!! Go for it!!! After 15 miles or so, we hit the other, unprotected side of the island. WHOOOMP! The wind hits you like a ton of bricks. Everybody slowed to a crawl. I think my 6:07 split is about 18.4 mph average, which was basically 21-22 mph on the more populated side of the island, and 13-14mph fighting that wind on the 3 loop course. Knowing I had to loop around two more times made my heart sink, but looping back around to town was cool- huge crowds were gathering in the streets. The locals totally got behind the event and were very enthusiastic…waving flags, yelling “Vamanos!” and “Animo!!!”. Saw a huge sign that said “Vamanos Juan! Ere s nuestra Ironman” (Go Juan…you’re our Ironman!) and I figure that must have made about 300 guys very happy! So to amuse myself I start clowning with the crowd. I’m yelling “Viva La Mexico” (long live Mexico) and they’re going insane-huge roars- must be what it feels like to ride the Tour De France….everybody trying to get close, high five or touch you…exciting and scary. Then starting heading back out of town for loop two, and the quads start to burn a little. Now there’s no place on earth you’re more alone with your thoughts like the bike leg of the Ironman. Time to start playing mental games. Sing a few songs, name some state capitals, whatever. After trying to ignore the discomfort, then you try to focus on it. Would that work better? Am spot on with my nutrition plan, sucking down my infinit, munching a clif bar every couple hours, popping my endurolytes. Temp is heating up pretty good, start supplementing with Gatorade, probably 6 bottles or so (m istake #2- way too many calories on the bike). Shoulda had water. Wind is awful too….gotta handle adversity. But is this really adversity? I think not. Adversity is the person who had their prosthetic leg hanging, waiting for them in T1. Adversity is not being able to pay your bills. Adversity is what my friend Erin, who got run over by a drunk and had to move halfway around the world to rebuild her body, went thru this year. Adversity is what my friend Stacy, who was left to raise 4 kids and have back surgery while her husband was off at war, went thru this year. I think about Clyde, who’s gotta go thru life with that ridiculous British accent (LOL). That’s tough, this is a game…..these types of thoughts got me to T2….and momma is front and center again. “holy shit babe, 1:07 swim, 6:07 bike, you’re doing GREAT!” I’ll never know how, but she managed to be in exactly the right spot at the right time all damn day!!! And what a boost it was to see her and tal k to her for a sec! Grab my run bag and charge into the tent, not nearly as crowded as T1; I had passed a bunch of people on the bike! So I’m changing, thinking about how far over my head I’m racing and, in the first sign I’m getting delirious, wonder what kind of run it would take to go Top 10, Top 15 in my Age Group! Charge out of the tent and head out on the run course, and realize how heavy the fanny pack carrying my clif shot blocks and endurolytes is. Next comes big mistake #3…I toss it in the trash…..screw it, not gonna let that thing slow me down, now that I’m Joe Stud. I’ll make due with gels at the aid stations (I HATE gels). Pace is quick. 8:30 or so, but it feels easy. “slow down Kaggy, you can’t sustain this. Save it.” I don’t listen. I came here to go fast!!!!! Grab a water and a gel at the first aid station; don’t even slow down to do it…jam the goo down, and it’s a cappuccino flavor….disgusting. The only thing I hate more than goo is coffee. A couple more aid stations and a couple more goos…..nothing new on race day, right? I haven’t had a goo in years….now my stomach tells me it hates them more than I do. Still got a full belly from overdoing it on the bike, and now I’m making myself nauseous with this garbage. Gotta have energy though, so I try to choke down a couple more around mile 9/10. Stomach informs me that it’s shutting down for the evening. I try to persuade it otherwise, and it strikes back with great vengeance and furious anger. Dove in a couple porta potties, there’s nothing more disgusting than a porta potty near the end of an Ironman. That’s it, I’m absolutely sick to my stomach, not eating another thing, I don’t care if I bonk. It’s all I can do to choke down some water, which I do, cause I don’t wanna die!! By mile 12/13 I’m walking. Stomach went first, then the legs, then the attitude. Still about 13 miles to go, and it turns into a real Nazi death march. Starting to get a blister the size of Missouri on the ball of my right foot. Knowing the delusions of a sub 12 hr finish are gone. Don’t care. Just wanna take it to the house. Walking at a pretty good clip, but walking nonetheless. By now there’s an ambulance whizzing by every 5 minutes or so. The little medical aid stations every few miles usually have plenty of customers. It’s been hot, humid and windy all day. I see the guy with the prosthetic leg. He’s not gonna make it. The last 10 miles or so seemed like they took a week. Saw the wife and stopped after completing lap 2 of 3. Tell her “I’m hurting. Bad. I’m sorry babe, but I’m gonna need about another 2 hours to get back here. We hug, we cry. I’m off again. Start thinking about the Ontri thread. “Oh shit, what happened to Jim K? He was flying! Musta done something stupid! Roger. Several somethings stupid. For all you aspiring Ironmen, please learn from my mistakes!!!!! Pace yourself conservatively, pinpoint your nutrition plan and STICK TO IT!!!! No winging it on race day. There are no winners at the Ironman, only survivors. I usually know better, but on this day for some reason I got caught up in it and, in retrospect, that stellar swim hurt me more than it helped me. I temporarily forgot my name was Jim Kagiliery, and tho ught it was Craig Alexander. Duh. I’m limping now, but I’m almost home…..huge boisterous crowd downtown now, bleachers full, streets lined 20 deep. Ironman.com said 4,000 people jammed into downtown square. Wife said it must be what Mardi Gras feels like…singing, screaming, drinking, beads, the whole nine. With no nutrition in a few hours, I walked for fear of bonking totally, now I start running again with ½ mile to go. The Mexican Ironman didn’t have Mike Reilly, but apparently they got some awesome soccer announcer instead. Picture in a big, booming voice- “FRANCISCOOOOOO HERRRNNNAAANNNNDDEEZZZZZ……..ERES UNNNN IRRRRRRROOOOONNNMMAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!” Sounds great…….I enter the finishing shoot…it’s loud, bright, electric. Slow down to get my own space, there’s a family crossing the finish line together (thought they outlawed that?)…cause it’s all about the finish line pic, you know! I hit the tape at 12:41:41…..a PR by two minutes, d espite walking the last 14 miles!!!!!!!! What a day!!!! I did it!!!!! Crumbled to the ground, exhausted, victorious. SWEARING that I will never do this again. Tell the wife as much. “BULLSHIT” is all she says. She’s right. Something about the allure of the race, the challenge, the focus, the achievement. I’ll be back. Just not anytime soon! We hang around for a bit, but I gotta get to bed! Every muscle in my body is stiff and aching. Quads feel like they’ve been beat with a baseball bat. Blister feels like it’s the size of a golf ball. Finally get my gear and get back to the hotel, wife showers me and puts me to bed. Our hotel room overlooks the run route……we see plenty of people still out there at 11, 11:30…..some won’t make it……I sure hope they do. I hate for anyone to miss that finish line experience. To be a 41 year old husband, father and businessman who still has and is able to live out athletic dreams is something I will never be able to put into words. Thanks to my wife; what a source of support and inspiration all the way. I always say I hit the wife lottery….I don’t deserve her, but then again nobody does, so why not me? Thanks to my business partner who has come to understand my magnificent obsession. Thanks to everyone who tracked and followed me thru training and IM day. The encouragement and well wishes stay with you and can never possibly be repaid. Thanks to all my Ontri buddies!!!!!!! What can I say? It’s just not possible without the inspiration, encouragement and camaraderie you provide. I know I’m the “class clown”, but you guys really mean a lot to me…..you have helped me live out my dreams!!! Gonna take December off totally; my body and especially my mind needs it. Mr. Discipline is gonna relax, eat Christmas cookies, and decompress. Can’t wait to see what 2010 brings!!!!! I wish you all a great holiday season. Relax and enjoy it……I love you all!!!!!!! See you next year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jim Kag To view the rest of the post, please log-in to www.ontri.com
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jim k’s ironman cozumel…
