2013
Ironman Coeur d’Alene Race Report
4:00am- The alarm goes off and I’m instantly awake. No thoughts of ‘Why
the hell did I sign up for this stupid race?’ at all, just thoughts of all I
have to do to get ready. First breakfast is at 4:05: banana, cereal, milk. Before I dress I
slather a good coating of Blue Steel all over my body.
We pack up everything in the car and I begin eating my second banana as
we head to the park and Ironman Village
Perfect parking spot, I grab a few things and we head out on foot. First
person we see is Elvis. Two Elvis’s… so does that make them Elvi?
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| Her other name is Denise, good omen or what? |
After dropping off SPECIAL NEEDS bags and filling my bikes’ water
bottles I got a text, Lan saying he’s behind me. I turn, don’t see him. Another
text, OTHER BEHIND. Turn the other way and see him. He takes my picture in Bike
Jail.
Transition is full of people; there is a long line of people waiting to
air up tires. I simply ask to borrow a pump from a lady and after pinching two
fingers the tires are good. They were already good but no taking chances today.
I head out of transition and meet Lan. The throngs of people are thick
and I have a hard time finding a spot to get into my wetsuit. Finally just stop
and stand behind a tree, it forces people to walk around as I spray myself
profusely with TriSlide and struggle into my wetsuit. Would be easier if the
spectators weren’t EVERYWHERE.
Last kiss from Lan and I’m off to the athlete area and to get warmed up
in the water and since the outside air was in the 50’s and the water was 61
degrees, it was warmer in the water than out.
Barely anyone else was swimming so I stayed in, swimming out and back,
getting water in the suit, Blow job, making comfort adjustments. BEST MOVE
EVER.
BOOM!
Pros
are in the water.
I swim some more and BOOM! Age Groupers start pouring
into the water. So much different than last year, I was able to stand along the
beach and watch them enter, slowly but steadily for 10 minutes before I had to
think about it myself. I saw Barbara Karbassi standing on the wall, she didn’t
see me. Finally saw Lan, started waving. Waving. Waving. Arms getting tired.
Wave some more. Shit! Finally he sees me and I wave some more so he can get my
picture. I’ve seeded myself at the back of the 1:30 – 1:45 corral -- my
predicted swim finish time was 1:46. Then I’m going under the arch, setting my
watch, into the water.
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| I'm in the water somewhere |
I had spent enough time in the water swimming around that I had no freak
out, which is normal, just swam. Looked
for Richard Seibert in a Yellow Kayak. I actually saw him but didn’t recognize
him from ½ inch above the water.
Swim was nice, water was clear; I could see the bottom of the lake out
until the 2nd buoy. I saw a good size fish out there, just cruising
around. Goggles didn’t fog up, I had plenty of space, I was still touched but
it wasn’t bad. At 1st turn buoy it got a bit crowded but the hard
part was between the turns the kayaks had everyone scrunched up into a 25 foot
space, where we had 75 before. Tight, more groping, more feet. Back toward
shore I’m feeling good, know I’m right on track.
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| Rich there to save us |
Out of the water for another lap, still don’t see Rich, no fish either.
All the logs in the bottom of the lake surprised me, kinda spooky too.
Incentive to go faster. No plants to be seen, anywhere.
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| Lan swears this is me |
Out around the turns and back, I can hear the loudspeaker but closer to
me I hear “TO YOUR RIGHT, TO YOUR RIGHT” as people don’t sight and are heading
the wrong way. I had NO sighting problems. That I remember. But I needed to
have my goggles and nose plug OFF, they were pinching.
Here is the shore, and I’ve been taught to swim until my hands touch the
bottom. I see volunteer feet backing up as I swim right past them while other
people are trying to stand in the deep water and clogging up the middle of the
swim exit. I passed a few right there. Out of the water in good time
1:46:43!!!! All that winter pool time
paid off, 18 minutes faster than last year and exactly made my goal time.
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| Getting the horse out of my sleeve |
I walk along the beach and remove my ear plugs, some guy tells me to
stop and he unzips my wetsuit. I drop my gear and my top half is stripped, I
lie down and off comes the bottom of the wetsuit. Grab my stuff and head to
pick up gear bag and into changing tent. The first part of the tent is packed
as I knew it would be, so I head to the middle and grab a seat. A girl is there
with me instantly and then Barbara too. I dump my whole bag and we get to work.
Off with the bathing suit and the girl has me dry and my bra is going over my
head. She’s a step ahead of me at all points, yay volunteers! It’s going to be
73 degrees so I have her remove the toe covers, opt out of hand warmers. All
gear on, jersey pockets packed with nutrition, salt tabs, everything. The
ladies pack my stuff as I’m heading out the door. Lots of sunscreen this year,
she got behind my neck, my ears, face, all except a line on my leg. It’s tanned
now.
Go get my bike, which has been patiently waiting on the tenth row, 8
spaces to the right. Say hi to Steve, grab Sylar and go. Mount and start
riding. Right away I get into aero but only for a few seconds, there are some
good turns in town. Head out to the eastern side of the lake, turn, head back.
I’m not out of breath at all, back to town, feeling great. See Lan and Robin as
I go past. Now the hills, they are pretty uneventful, just more riding up
hills. I see people getting flats, a lot of them. I am confident that I can
change a flat tire if needed. At each aid station I yell out what I want,
Banana! Water! Peanut Butter and Jelly Bonk Breaker! If you yell it out they
make sure you get it.
Every time I look up I see Lan with the camera up, taking my picture. I
was racing alone with 2500 other people but I was never alone. I had the best
ever in the history of racing support crew. Lucky Monkey is always with me.
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| Heading to the first turn around at 45 miles |
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| Lan said this band was pretty bad but I only heard a bit of their music |
Stop to go pee, volunteer not only holds bike but he fills my water for
me too. I’m at 40 miles and almost out of Heed when I notice I don’t have any
more in my pocket. Uh oh, musta dropped it as I was pulling something else out.
Crap. 45 mile turn around. I continue drinking plenty of water and taking salt
tabs, finish Heed and Perpetuam. There is a long downhill that is a No Passing
Zone and at the last second a guy flies past me, good, I don’t want to hold him
up. I tuck and GO. No side winds, no slow people ahead of me, I’m able to stay
aero and my speed is up to 46MPH. As I go through town I see Linda, tell her
to call Lan, have him make me a bottle of Heed, give it to me on course. I was
still doing fine physically but mentally I needed that Heed. He came through a
mere 6 miles later, just after the third turn/BIKE SPECIAL NEEDS. Yay Lan!
Second lap through town is just as fun at the first, HI ROBIN! Out into the hills again. Far turn at 90
miles and I’m well ahead of that cut off. I need to pee a lot, stop at every
aid station. At one I walk out of a
porta potty and theres a guy standing there, hand down his shorts lubing himself up. I’m thinking 'ya
gotta do what ya gotta do'. Turns out he’s an FB friend but I didn’t know it
till later; Hi Frank! I get a chance to
stretch and fill water bottles. Back into town and I get off the bike after 8
hours 8 minutes, only 8 minutes longer than planned. It was all those pee
stops.
T2 is about 7 minutes and I’m out on the run course with a plan to walk
the first mile. But I’m pretty tired and running isn’t happening as planned so
I walk. Fast. At 2 miles I meet Sean and we stayed together for a long ways.
He’s from Georgia Georgia
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| Me & Sean Bennett on out 1st lap |
First turn and Sean is cramping pretty badly, I make him hurry anyway.
We stop at every aid station, I really have to go. I can barely eat, my tummy
isn’t happy anymore, it’s hard and uncomfortable. We’re stopping at so many aid
stations that I go in a porta-potty at the beginning, he goes in one at the
end. I walk out and start calling his name and when I hear him I stop to wait.
Once I saw a purple shirt ahead of me and start hurrying to catch him but he
was behind me. Whew, good catch. Sean tells me I walk fast, I tell him we need
to, I’m nagging him and feel bad but knew we had to hurry.
At about mile 10 or something like that Richard and Alisa found me AND
STAYED WITH ME TO THE END! I don’t think that was their original plan but it
worked for me. Lan was there suddenly. These guys walked with me for farther
than a half marathon, Rich in jeans, cotton tee and a sweatshirt around his
waist, Alisa in cotton tee and cargo pants, Lan in cotton tee and sporting a
FULLY LOADED backpack. I have no idea what pants Lan had on. I’m very glad they
all had on running shoes.
I told them I had blisters and at one aid station Rich somehow found
duct tape. Really, someone had it on course?? Alisa taped my blistering feet
and I insisted we put my right shoe on before the left shoe. Stupidstition, I
know, but it works for me.
While Alisa is taping my feet I get a visitor, Ed, husband of Lori. They
reside in Gig Harbor and I had just met him there in CDA for the first time. He
took time to stop and check up on me, what a nice guy. Ed finished well before
dark with a fantastic jumping over the finish line, so cool. He made it into
the video!! But he still took a minute to make sure I’m OK.
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| Ed Robison finishing |
Ok, feet taped and we’re on our way. I’m slowing and hurting, Alisa
keeps telling me to run and if I DIG DEEP I can do this. Rich cheers me on and
tells me good job after every 10 or 20 step burst of running I can get out.
Halfway point, turning and RUN SPECIAL NEEDS. I hadn’t packed any extra feet so
I wore the ones at the ends of my legs. Next time I’ll know better. Hey Rich,
thanks for carrying my special needs bag for 13 miles!
Besides my blisters, I’m tired but have no other aches or pains. My head
is getting foggy and some of the things have been told to me in order for me to
remember. Like, when we Phoned A Friend. Alisa called Lisa Ballou for me, she
asked how I was feeling, and I said “Like Shit” and she said “Well, you’re
supposed to feel like shit, it’s an Ironman”.OK, that made me feel better. I
mean, at least I was normal, right? (The other day Rich said it surprised him
that I said it because up until then I had told him I was fine.)
I’m taking in a little fluid at every aid station, water, Perform, a
little chicken broth (ouch! damn it’s hot!).
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| Rich & my TP |
I felt sorry for Rich, Alisa and Lan, they didn’t sign up for this race
and here they were all doing it with me and they didn’t get medals for it. But
without them, without their unstoppable support, without the nagging to make me
run (yes, at times I felt nagged) without Rich carrying around a roll of toilet
paper for me when the porta-potties ran out, without them there to walk with me
I would never have made it. Swim
Bike Mom had this to say about her porta potty experience: My stomach was bothering me a little. I felt like I had to poo all the
time, but then I would get in the porta-potty and nothing would happen. And that is exactly what I was going
through.
At one porta potty I was sitting inside looking at the lock & thought 'They can't get me in in here. I could just sit here and not go out again.' so I didn't lock the doors again after that.
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| Barbara, me Linda, Steve |
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| Lan & his backpack |
Oh yeah, right about the time Rich and Alisa found me, Sean's friend
found him and then Sean was behind me somewhere but still walking. He was in so
much pain and I was worried about him but Rich assured me they were back there.
I did see him again at the 3rd turn around, which I made before the
10:30pm cutoff with just minutes to spare and at that point I realized we were
the last people on the course. There were only like 5 people behind me. I did
CHICK A GUY on the way back to town and we passed a volunteer half carrying a
runner.
Somewhere along the way we lost Alisa, she hitched a ride on a golf cart
and with a mile to go Rich went to find her then Linda, Steve, Barbara and Brayden
joined me and Lan for the final push. They kept me going, made me cut corners,
encouraged me to GO, hurry and GO. We could hear the loud speakers and the
crowd two turns before the end; they kept telling me it was just right up the
street, two more turns, one more turn before Sherman Avenue. Finally, the last
turn and way in the distance, WAY IN THE DISTANCE, I see a bright white light
(was I dead? Was this the light at the end of the tunnel?). I couldn’t run but
I got a few steps out of my legs. Walked. They told me to run, I have to run.
So I started to run again. I realize this is the end and if I can just get over
that finish line I can stop running. There are a lot of cheering people on the
sidewalks lining the streets.
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| Light at the end of the tunnel |
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| See my Beans tattoo on my heart? |
As I walk along as fast as I can on my excruciatingly painfully
blistered feet I realize these people are cheering for me and my huge support
crew. They aren’t just clapping, they are yelling. I have one block to go my
support crew peels off and I’m running alone, the pain is there but I push it
away and run. It’s getting really loud, the sides are lined with the blue
boards, its thick with people, they are banging on the boards, screaming out, I
head Mike Reilly say MY NAME. He said Come on Denise Brooks. It’s so loud, all
the voices, all the clapping, cowbells, horns, screaming. I’m getting closer, I
see a guy with a camera on my left and I’m running. I have never run so well
nor so fast before, I’m giving it everything I’ve got. The noise is
overwhelming, for a second I think it will burst my eardrums, I can feel the
pressure of all the noise.
There’s Mike Reilly, he’s saying DENISE BROOKS YOU.ARE.AN. IRONMAN! And
the crowd yelled it out with him and there is a pretty lady in a white shirt
trying to high five me and I go right past her and I skip all the hands hanging
out at me (that’s a good way to spread germs, eewww) and still, the finish line
is way up there, another 10 feet, can I make it? I realize I could probably
fall down right here and my momentum would throw me over it. But I don’t fall
down and I’m smiling and I’m so happy and I’m across the line, I’ve FINISHED.
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| Video pix Windy got of me coming across the finish line |
And suddenly I realize it’s over. I mean, all the hard work of two
years, all the long hard hours on the bike trainer, hours doing lap after lap
in the pool and the running, it’s all over. NOW WHAT DO I DO?? Well, stop
running for one thing, get someone to catch me if I fall and there is a body,
grabbing me, I hug it, I’m spent, done, finished, dead.
Where is Lan? Linda is
there, putting a medal around my neck. I have NO IDEA how she got there so fast
since I was running about 45mph down that finishers chute but she ran around
the stands, through the hoards of people on the sidewalks, found the gate into
the VIP area/finish line and got in, grabbed a medal out of the hands of
another volunteer and was there to put it around my neck. I was so happy. And
delirious, I couldn’t speak, I was so tired. But I walked (why didn’t they carry
me to a chair way out back?). I was hungry but not for greasy pizza so everyone
else chowed down on pizza while the starving- for- food- but- nothing- sounds-
good- to- me me wants something.
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| Sean Finished!! |
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| I am an IRONMAN |
I sit, take off my shoes and sock and evaluate the damage. A few blisters
on the insides of my heels, under my toes, balls of my feet, between my toes.
We can’t see all this until later, when I take off the duct tape. But we can
see some of it and oh my god they’re big. Medical aid closed down at midnight
sharp so they couldn’t help me.
I was dehydrated and trying to drink and
finally got a chocolate milk, nectar of the gods I tell ya. I had no tears for 4 days and I lost 4 lbs doing this race.
Next day
I’m not sore. At Ironman Village I get to go shopping, sure can spend $500 fast here.
Finishers shirt & jacket, water bottles, few other things.
Watch the Awards
Ceremony & see a video of the midnight finishers (I’m in it). Lan & I
went to the Volunteer Dinner, that was fun.
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| I got a hug from Mike |
My feet/blisters are swelling so on the way back to Connie’s house we
pick up syringes. I have Linda poke them to relieve pressure & boy it feels
better! I have to poke them several more times over the next few days and
discover there are blisters inside of blisters and lot of fluid in them. On the
drive home I reclined the seat & had my feet on the dash board most of the
way, after we got home I spent the whole next day in bed.
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| A cake waited for me at hoome |
It’s been 2 weeks and today I rode the bike 44 miles 7 ran 2.5. I’m
feeling good & never did have any body soreness; I sure it would have been
different if I had actually run more than 20 steps at once.
Much thanks to every one of my friends, you all did something for me in
the course of my two years of training but especially Lan for your willingness
to put up with my crankiness, crazy hours, training with me; Alisa Blitz and
Rich Seibert for going so far with me on my run, Barbara for dressing me &
Linda, Steve & Brayden for bringing me to the finish and all my online
followers. I’ve had such fun hearing your stories of staying up till midnight!
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