It would be easy to fill this post with everything that did not go well for me yesterday, but I won’t. There were too many good things and the number one goal of the day was accomplished, I Finished! And I heard Mike Reilly (the voice of Ironman) call my name as I crossed the finish line; Miles Burd from Cottage Grove, MN, “You are an Ironman”!

Pre-Race – The Parking Garage

Left the hotel without incident at 04:40 AM, I planned to park in the ramp I’d be using the last couple of days. It was right across the street from Monona Terrace near the bike staging area. The traffic was tough, as expected, me and 2400 of my fellow participants were all arriving for the long day ahead. I was about to turn into the garage when I saw the sign $4 advanced event parking. I did not even think about this. I left everything with Charlene. I had no money on me at all, and my heart rate quickly jumped into zone 4. I called Charlene (glad I had my phone) and told her the good news. Originally the support crew was not going to leave the hotel until 05:30. I pulled around the corner and there was an open parking spot on the street, right on the corner, and it was free. God was definitely watching over me this morning. I pulled in, thanked God, and immediately called Charlene back to cancel the emergency.

Pre-Race – Race Prep

There is a lot of prep for this race. You basically set up your transition areas on Saturday, the day before the race; your bike, swim to bike gear bag, and bike to run gear bag. When I dropped off my bike the volunteer helping me (great volunteers all weekend, thank you again!) said it would be a good idea to let air out of the tires and top them off in the morning. It was in the mid 80’s Saturday and the bike staging area is all concrete. The last thing you need is a tire to expand and blow up. So in addition to bringing my special needs bags for the bike and run, I brought the pump and a gallon of water to fill my bottles. I used Hammer Perpetuim powder for nutrition and Gatorade G2 powder for electrolytes and had it in my bottles already. I just needed to add water, pump up my tires, and put the Garmin on the bike. I then visited my run gear bag to drop off the Garmin I borrowed from Ryan (thanks again Ryan), visited my bike gear bag and dropped off my cell phone which I planned to carry on the bike (just in case), dropped off my special needs bags (a couple of blocks away in front of the capital), and then, finally, dropped the pump and the rest of the water back at the van.

Finally, I could relax. I planned on meeting Charlene, Alexandra, Christopher, and my Mom before heading down to the swim start. As I was walking over to the pre-agreed meeting place I ran into Coach T. Thousands of people around and I run into someone I know (amazing). Teresa and Tina were volunteering today (again thank you volunteers!). I think I saw these two at least a half dozen times throughout the day cheering me on. Thank you! So after chatting with coach T for a bit I met up with the familyand got my final kisses and hugs in (thank you family for all the support. I’m grateful you were here with me and have put up with me over the last year, especially you Charlene!). Then I headed down to the swim start.

The Swim – 2.4 miles

The swim start at Madison is a deep water mass start. So at about 06:25 the pros got in the water. At 06:30 the age groupers started filing in and I was one of the first. The course at Madison is a large rectangle, the long sides of the rectangle are 1/2 mile long and the short sides are 0.1 miles long. You swim the course counter-clockwise and do two loops. The course is a few hundred yards from the shoreline. The starting line runs from the shore to the corner of the course. Swimmers can start anywhere from the shoreline to the corner buoy and behind. There is a water ski jump about 1/3rd of the way between the shore and the corner buoy, right on the start line, and this is where I planned to start. It meant swimming an extra 1/8 of a mile down the first side but I was willing to give up the couple of extra minutes if it meant less traffic.

The venue for the start is amazing. Monona Terrace has spectating areas on four levels. Behind Monona Terrace are several high rise hotels with viewing, and with the capital building in the backdrop, it is an amazing sight.

The morning was perfect, the water was calm, the sun was just coming up; truly beautiful. The water was a little warm, 75F, but manageable even in a wetsuit. The pros started at 06:50 to the sound of a cannon and the age groupers at 07:00. After the singing of the National Anthem we were off. I quickly found open water and swam pretty much unabated until the first turn. After that corner I decided to stay wide, which again added a little extra distance but avoided the extra traffic.

T1 Swim to Bike Transition

After getting out of the water volunteers guided you to the wetsuit strippers where two more volunteers pulled your suit off for you. Gotta love those volunteers. Then you run up the parking garage helix to the fourth level of the Monona Terrace parking garage. The helix is filled with cheering spectators. You then run into a conference room where more volunteers hand you your swim to bike gear bag. From there into the Men’s changing room (another big conference room). Volunteers are there to help you, if you ask. When leaving the convention center out to the bike staging area some more volunteers slather you with sunscreen lotion.

The Bike – 112 miles

The ride starts with a spin down the opposing helix of the parking garage before heading out of town. The Ironman bike course is a lollipop shaped course. You ride the stick 14 miles from T1 and then ride a 42 mile loop, which you do twice before returning down the stick back to transition T2.

There are 87 turns on the bike course and I’d guess less than a few miles of flat sections. The course is continually rising and falling. There are not many huge hills up or down but there are few significant ascends and descends. You cannot put it in cruise control physically or mentally anywhere on this course. And by the way, the hills seem much bigger the second time around.

There are three fairly significant climbs that start about 10 miles outside of the city of Verona, which would be at about mile 40 and 80 overall. The climbs were lined with spectators, men in cheerleading outfits and bikinis, a woman dressed like a Harem girl, and plenty of other characters. It was a lot of fun to have the crowd cheering as you slowly ascended. It was just as much fun on the second loop as the first but the slow ascent was much slower. With 8 miles left there is one last significant climb and then from there pretty much down hill back into town.

With Monona Terrace in sight I was more than ready to stable my steady steed for the day.

T2 Bike to Run

Much like T1 the bike to run transition is in Monona Terrace. You run in and are handed your bag before entering the changing room. The volunteers provided me with some water and assistance with my gear. I changed and left the building for the run course were I was met with more sunscreen volunteers who lathered me up again.

The Run- 26.2 miles

The Madison run course is a two loop affair. The run course is relatively flat. There is one significant hill (Observation Hill) on the University of Wisconsin campus. This hill is at about mile 6 and 19 respectively. Which, by the way, is a beautiful campus, very impressive.

Some unique features of the course include a trip inside Camp Randall Stadium (home of the Wisconsin Badgers) where you run around the football field on the turf; pretty cool. There is an area I named ‘Inspiration Mile’. Janus, one of the race sponsors, has a tent set up at the expo where family and friends can make signs. All these signs are placed along the path, this is at about mile 8 and 21. This was very cool.

There were a lot of spectators along the course and saw family and friends several times on the two loops. Aid stations were set up at almost every mile. The aid stations were very well- manned and well- stocked. Every aid station had sponges, water, Gatorade, fruit, pretzels, and potato chips. Some had energy bars and gu. During the second loop, chicken broth was available at most aid stations.

Finishing the last couple of miles or so in the dark with the State capital lit up coming up State Street is something I’ll remember for a long time. The finishing shoot was at least a 1/4 mile long and lined with cheering spectators. There was a grandstand at the finish line packed with more cheering spectators and with the ‘Voice of Ironman’ Mike Reilly announcing every finisher’s name overpowering it all. This was all visually and audibly amazing, quite the spectacle, and very welcome after a very long day.

Post-Race Thoughts

There are a lot thoughts bouncing around this head of mine today, the day after. Kind of feels like a bad hangover where you’re trying to remember what exactly happened the night before.

But one consistent thought is; I finished and that was really my only goal yesterday, but I know I can perform at a higher level than what this day produced. This thought should not surprise any triathlete, runner, swimmer, or any other person on the planet that is looking to continuously improve themselves. But what I’ve learned over the past year or so is that training for an Ironman is a big commitment, and even though you try not to have it affect the other things going on in your life it does.

Your support system has to be strong, your commitment to training has to be unwavering, but most importantly you must work and focus on maintaining a balance between work, family, and training.

For now it is time for some R&R. I need some time to sit back and take it all in, to evaluate this past year, and then to plan what is next. So stayed tuned to find what happens next on this journey.

Swim 2.4 miles, Bike 112 miles, Run 26.2 miles, brag for the rest of you life!