Lake Placid Ironman Race Day (as a spectator)

Up early with our Ironman friends. The sky was completely overcast but even I doubted it would rain--it was not in the forecast until late in the afternoon and even then the chance was very low. As participants entered the water the rain began....and it never ended. I really can't even call it rain, it was a complete downpour from 6:30 AM to well after 9 PM. to give you an idea of its intensity I lost my contact at some point in the downpour and I was merely a spectator.

We had a total of 12 participants that we were tracking, three of which were aiming to punch their ticket to Kona. The gun went off and the intimidating swim began. If you have never seen a mass start, it looks like a flock of seagulls taking off from water for flight. All you see is the water churning and you know many within it are getting pummeled. I was surprised at the number of folks who stayed on shore until the mass of bodies made it to the first buoy. Last year I was in the middle of the pack and sure I took some hits but I also got to enjoy the vaccum effect of 2,500 people swimming. I barely worked the first mile except for stopping to put my goggles back on twice.

As participants exited the water and were stripped of their wetsuits they headed up the hill to transition. No one seemed happy about the rain. Who could blame them, I would not want to descend 5 miles in driving rain much less race all 112 miles in it. At this point in time, we headed back to the condo to throw our clothes in the dryer.....for the first time. This process would repeat itself over and over throughout the course of the day.

I needed to do my long run but I really did not want to get soaked to do it. I thought of abandoning my run but buried that out of guilt. With reluctance, I strapped on my running shoes and headed down the backside of the bike course. I ran down Papa bear, Baby bear, Momma bear and little and big cherry. Eventually, the lead pro cyclists (there were two) passed me coming from the opposite direction. They were quite a distance from the rest of the field. I turned around and headed back up the hills enjoying the view of the race as it was unfolding on the opposite side of the road.

After showering and grabbing dry clothes we headed out to our tent on Mirror Lake Rd. We had already missed my coach and her husband, the speed demons had already come through. We cheered on the rest of the participants and in particular the other 10 racers we were watching. Lap one done. As cyclists headed out for lap two we trapsed after dry clothes, donned fashionable garbage bags, and sought out lunch. We decided to watch the participants come off the bike and go out on the run. We saw the pro men's field and pro women's field head out. My coach was the first in her age group out on the course and as we watched to see who was closing in on her it was clear she had built a substantial lead of well over 10 minutes. Given that the run course loops back on itself several times, I knew absent our intel that she would be able to tell Kona was hers to lose.

Eventually everyone had come in off the bike and we had several runners on the course at once. This meant we could not change our clothes. We positioned ourselves on Mirror Lake Drive and screamed at all of our peeps on the course. Of course, with 12 racers of multiple ability, we could not leave our post. First in was my coach's husband who won his age group by passing a number of guys on the run course. As the miles accumulated he just got faster and faster. Next, not too far off, my coach. She, too, won her age group which in itself is a huge accomplishment but add in the fact that last July she gave birth to her daughter. Amazing. Two tickets punched to Kona.

The rest of our field made its way to the finish line. There were those who rode in on flat tires, one who had a fixed gear as a result of a derailluer problem on the bike, among other mechanical melt downs on the bike. There was my riding partner who ran with a torn IT band, a broken right wrist, and 20 stitches to the same wrist from a separate accident. There was another woman from our swim class who was competing in her first Ironman two weeks after receiving chemo for a brain tumor. So many inspirational stories among our friends and the field of other participants. Many well deserved titles of Ironman.