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Michelle Is An Ironman

The other real kicker about the Ironman is that it has a midnight deadline. No exceptions. The end. If you don't cross the finish line before midnight, it doesn't count. It doesn't matter if you were one mile away. It doesn't matter if you were 500 feet away. It's absolutely heart-breaking after a year of your life, thousands of dollars, and a 17 hour day of busting your ass racing. For the spectators, you have to stand there watching the big giant clock tick up to midnight knowing you can't do a goddamn thing to help or make your friend (husband, wife, parent, etc) get there any faster. I wasn't prepared for the insane amount of stress of waiting at the finish line just praying she would make it. We fought our way down into the chute just so we could be there at the big moment even though she wouldn't be able to see or hear us and I knew that official race photographers would be there to take her picture. And then, we waited. And waited. And waited. You can't see down the course because it's pitch black dark. You just have to wait for your runner to emerge out of the darkness and finally make their way in. I began to just scream down into the darkness "Come on, Michelle! Get your ass in here! Pick it up! Let's go!", entirely for my benefit of letting off fear and stress and anxiety. Finally, I saw her and I knew she was going to make it! She could barely shuffle in to the chute but she managed to high five some people along the way and I grabbed her picture.

How do you pick one photo to sum-up an ~20 hour day when your best friend is running an Ironman? You can't really, it's impossible. But I think this shot of her running to the finish line, well after dark, just before the midnight cut-off in fact, sums up my relief and joy for the 20 hour day.

It is, by far, not the best picture I took all day. But, for me, it does bring a fitting close to a very stressful day that took, 16:47. I am so proud of her. I think she's crazy but I am so proud.

The 20ish Mile Mark

The marathon really happens from about miles 20 onward. It's hard to explain, but it's true. I can only imagine it's more true for Ironman. We once again, drove back to the course to see her as she entered town, to give her any last minute encouragement that we could. As bad as things had been at the half way mark, and I mean for everyone, not for Michelle in particular (she, in fact, was looking pretty darn good compared to her immediate competitors), they were WORSE, way WORSE by the time we saw our pack of racers at the 20 mile mark.



The boys and I were what my family calls "punchy" by this point. Lack of sleep, boredom, stress, etc. all add up to a place where you do silly things and think everything is funny. We made up our own house music around this time and I did a dance of my special "Ironman Dance" to it.

Half Way

We drove down to the half way mark of the marathon where the runners have a stop to get a "special needs" bag that can contain anything they think they might want or need after 12+ hours of exercising. It had just gotten dark as Michelle arrive and they gave the runners glow sticks to be seen in the dark. At this point, she is facing more than three more hours of the marathon.

Almost everyone (near Michelle's pace, we didn't get to see the "winners" who turn in marathon times better than regular people can do in stand-alones) walks because that's all they can hack. Their brains aren't working from hours of nutritional deficiencies. They can't think straight, they just know they have to keep walking in a straight direction until they can't any more. And Ironman has strict rules about no "outside interferance" so even though you desperately want to help, you can't run along side to chat with your friend, motivate, pace them, keep them going. All I could do was watch and cheer even though I desperately wanted to jump in and pace her for the whole damn marathon if I had to.

I knew she might be pissed off at this point in the race (annoyance/anger is a perfectly normal response) so I only wanted to take one flash photograph of her and not get in her way. I said, "Just one for your fans back home!" and I kept my promise, so this is it:


But the cheering crew was still going "strong":

The Start of the Run

After a few short pit stops back at the house for food, drink, and a short one-hour nap, we went out to cheer her on in the marathon...and that's really where the Ironman is just beginning.

I have cheered for several NY Marathons and I have run the marathon once myself so I didn't expect the scene that unfolded in front of me for the Ironman. My marathon was hard, sure, but it ultimately was a celebration of fitness and something I really enjoyed doing all the way through.

This was like a world-wide-zombie war had broken out and, you couldn't tell if these people were the zombies or the shell-shocked survivors.

Here's Michelle at around mile 4. She was walking at this point because her stomach hurt and we (the spectator gang) were all very worried about her but had to try not to show it. We wanted to be encouraging, but also give her a kick in the ass if she needed it. You can see the result:


But, finally, she started running again (prolly just to get away from us) and was off on her own until we would see her again around mile 13.2.


You can read her account of the run here.

The Cheering Squad

By this point, we were tired, hot, sore, in danger of being sunburned and our voices were hoarse. They were probably in better shape than we were! We had very wisely invested in two cowbells, but soon had to devise a stick/holder ringing method because our hands were sore! (The lives of Ironman spectators are not glamorous!) Wouldn't you love us as your cheering crew though? We made signs and everything. But, we still had a marathon to go cheer for....

The Bike Course

We didn't get to see her on most of the bike course (it's 112 miles afterall) but we were waiting on top of the last mountain climb in the full sun in the middle of the day to cheer her (and 2600 of her competitors) on. Here she is, putting on a smile for our sakes, at around mile 99 of the race. You can read her bike race report here.

Swim Finish

We were able to wade out into the lake to create a chute of spectators for the swimmer's finish. The lake was very shallow for a long way out so the racers had to stand and run a good distance in the water. We were anxiously looking for a racer (black wetsuit, pink cap, not a lot to go on in a group of 2500 people) that might be Michelle but we recognized her instantly as she stood up from the water. She had a great swim, in about 1 hour 35 minutes.



She gave me her version of the full marathon face here:

Swim Start

Just to give you an idea of what it looks like when 2500 people do a mass start in a lake...







Michelle wisely took her time getting into the water and didn't join the crazy melee. You can read her account of he entire swim on her blog here.

Before the Swim II

One of the latest moments of idleness...


I think I see some nerves in her face in this one...

Before the Swim

There are too many pictures, and there would be too much detail to write, I would never get it done. If you want to read Michelle's first hand race report blog entries, they start here.

But, here are some shots of Michelle and Erin on the beach before the race. They posed for some...I doctored some...and some are just simple portraits.

I can't decide which of these funny captions I like better:

OR

Pre-Race

My favorite portrait of Michelle that sums up the feeling of the pre-race, the anticipation, the nerves, the excitement. We were very excited and surprised to be able to see M before the race because 2500 virtually identically dressed triathletes are on this beach.

Dawn

I was out of bed a little after 4 AM, at my swim-watching post by 5:15 AM. These pics are from just at, or even a little before, dawn. The bouys hadn't yet been put out to mark the course. There were a lot more bouys than the two needed to make my courses! The lake and swim course were so tranquil and beautiful.

Soon-to-be Ironman?

Here's Michelle, the day before the Ironman race. You take your bike and your transition bags to the transition area the day before where they are locked up overnight. So, I imagine this was the moment when it started to feel real. Off to bed around 8:30 PM for the big 4:30 AM wake up call (if you could sleep at all). Tomorrow will be a long nerve-wracking day for all of us.

Poseurs

Yesterday, we went to the pre-race expo which is an unbelievable spectacle of expensive bikes, gorgeous fit people, and of course preening posing leg-shaved think-they're-impressing-everyone triathletes. We saw one guy, seriously, posing on his bike in a very unnatural pose just like this one. Today, as we headed out for a little bike ride, we posed as a group in the style of Mr. Poseur. I have to give J mad props on these awesome photos.

Race Sign Up

We spent the day waiting in a very long line to get Michelle registered for the race. She had to show id, sign her life away on 4+ waivers, then get weighed in (I suppose for medical monitoring reasons, but it was cool to see), and finally she was all set (as far as registration goes) for race day.

Early Morning Coffee

J can look photogenic drinking coffee just about everywhere.

S-P

We went out for a nice dinner with like 8000 triathletes. I snuck away and shot this self-portrait in the bathroom with my recent rock and roll haircut.

The Lake

We got a couple of chances to go swimming in the lake and, I must say, Penticton has the best lake in the entire world. It is so unbelievable and awesome. It is perfectly crystal clear, like Brita water, and the bottom is beautiful soft sand. The best swimming I've ever had in my life.

Penticton, BC

Taking in the atmosphere around Penticton. It's a small town and the race is a big deal so all the businesses have signs about the Ironman race.

Rift

Off to Canada...

Been very lazy in posting to the blog, mostly because of the huge looming pile of photos and posts that await me from our great big trip to Ironman Canada to watch Michelle race. We took a nice long 6 hour road trip to Penticton, CA.



I really wanted to grab a shot of the sign that said Penticton - 110 because that is just a little bit shorter than how long Michelle's bike ride will be. But, I was driving so J was in charge of the pics.

Seattle Day II

Another day of showing off Seattle. Bokeh (in the market), bokeh (in the crumpet shop), Sculpture Garden, my first taste of clams at the Flying Fish (I'll stick with meat and veggies, thank you), a quick portrait of Jaime over coffee, and topped it all off with a Ken Griffey Jr. two-run homer at the Mariner's game.

J, at the Locks

My favorite portrait of J (from today).

Gang

Here's the gang of us while we were watching the salmon jump at the Locks. J, Me, Luft, Q.

Seattle Day I

Some days there are just way too many photos to pick just one. Friends J and Q are visiting us from New York so we had to take them on an awesome day out and about showing off our new town and why we love it. We went to the best pastry place (Cafe Besalu), the Ballard Farmers' Market, my favorite coffee shop (Caffe Fiore), the beach which had a extra low tide so we got to walk further than ever before and pick wild blackberries, Ray's for drinks and soup overlooking the water, and the Locks. I think they were impressed!