Ironman Florida Race Report

Alternately tiled "One of the Best Days of My Life"

            I honestly don’t even know where to start this race report because the entire week we were in Panama City Beach was nothing short of magical.  The race was so well run, packet pickup went smoothly, and the expo made me nothing short of excited for the race to come! 

            Now, the water, that was a different story. I’m from the beach, I know how to swim in the waves.  I know how to navigate currents.  I’m comfortable swimming without my wetsuit.  But the gulf?  It was a mess on Thursday and even worse on Friday.  The waves weren’t what bothered me. It was the strong rip current pulling in the opposite direction of the swim.  However, if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that wasting my energy worrying over things I can’t control does no good.  So I went out for a practice swim on Thursday.  Decided that if I had to, I could do it, and prayed that the weather forecast held true and we would see better conditions on race day.

Pre Race

            I overslept on race morning.  How is that possible?  Luckily, it wasn’t by much.  I had also given myself plenty of time, so 10 extra minutes didn’t really matter.  I jumped up, got dressed, got my family and friends together and hit the road. 

Had to get the puppies in the "team" shirt!  Ready for the race!

            The house we rented was about 2 miles from the start/transition so a few minutes later, we were there and ready to get the morning started.  I went ahead and got body marked, put my nutrition on my bike, checked to make sure things had stayed dry in my transition bags, and had my brother drop off my special needs bags.  After pumping my tires and giving my bike one last good check-over, I headed down to the swim start.

            When I got to the beach, what I saw made me do a little happy dance.  The water certainly wasn’t flat, but it reminded me of the bay, where I did 1 training swim every Friday from April until September.  I knew how to swim in this kind of water and I knew it was going to be a good swim.  I did a warm-up swim and my confidence grew.  These were the conditions I’d hoped for!  I went and told my family and texted my coach what a good swim I knew it would be and like that, I was ready!

Nervous but so ready!

Swim

            Well, now I know what they mean by “the washing machine.”  For some reason, the thought of the mass swim start never bothered me much, and it was about like I’d imagined.  Sure, I got hit, bumped, pulled, pushed, etc.  But, it was all to be expected and just a part of the day.  I tried to just keep on swimming and not let it bother me. 

            Soon enough I found myself at the first turn buoy, after passing that, which was really congested, I was able to find a little bit of open water and the rest of the lap was fine.  I got out of my first lap at 39 minutes.  I had swallowed a lot of salt water, so I grabbed some water, walked down the beach and started my second lap.  The spectators were funneling you into the water sooner than where I wanted to go in, so I walked in the shallow water past them and then walked a ways down the beach.  It didn’t make sense to me to swim against the current to get back on the buoy line.  I knew I could walk on the beach faster to a bit past the buoy line and then use the current to my advantage in getting to the first turn buoy.  Only a couple of other people were doing this, but it worked out well. 

            The second lap was way less congested.  I also started to experience some pretty bad chafing on the back of my neck from my wetsuit.  I had put more body glide than ever there, but I guess that didn’t really help.  Oh well.  I was out of the water in 1:27 (that’s when I looked at my watch, although apparently the timing mat was farther up).  My official swim time was 1:28:01.  My goal was to finish between 1:20 and 1:30 so I was right on target.

            I ran out of the water up to transition, smiling the whole way.  This was going to be a great day!

Done with the swim!

 

Bike

            After a quick(ish) transition (in which I almost cried as sunscreen was sprayed on my neck), I ran out, grabbed my bike and was on my way.  I had recently done the Chesapeakeman full aquabike and finished my bike around 6:50.  However, when I finished that bike, which had been super windy, I had nothing left in my legs for my 6-mile transition run.  So, I made it my goal at Florida to take it easy, unless there was absolutely no wind.  My goal was to come in around 7:15. 

            On the way out there was quite a headwind.  I just tried to spin easy and let all the people blow by me.  I knew I would pass them back when I had my legs still after mile 80 and they didn’t. 

            Quite honestly, the bike was pretty uneventful.  I don’t really remember a ton from the bike.  I dropped my chain at one point (stupidity on my part).  But I also wasn’t freaked out about it, stopped, and fixed it.  It probably only took about 30 seconds.  I just felt calm the entire ride.  I was having fun, and I love riding my bike.  The stupid grin from the start of the race still hadn’t left my face. 

            One thing I will say is this: I’ve heard it said that a pancake has more elevation change than IMFL and that’s just not true.  Being from the beach, I’ve ridden flat bike courses.  Sure, IMFL does not have any significant climbs but there are small rollers especially from about mile 55-90.  However, it was kind of nice, changed things up a bit and kept you honest.  Just something to know for those of you thinking about the race in the future.  I had a friend tell me this before the race, but looking at the elevation profile, I just didn’t believe her.  Well, she’s right. 

            Soon enough, we had finished the big loop and were headed back into town, and then we caught a tail wind.  It was awesome and made for a quick ride back into town.  The last part of the ride is right along the water and it’s beautiful.  It’s a nice distraction, especially at that point when you are just ready to be off the bike. 

Remember how I said I wanted to finish my bike right around 7:15?  My official time was 7:15:58.  Right on track!

Run

            The run.  The leg I had been dreading.  I am not a fast runner (not that I’m a fast biker or swimmer, but I’m REALLY not a fast runner).  So my plan for the run was simply this: slow and steady.  And amazingly, that’s exactly what I did…until mile 17, but we’ll get back to that in a minute.

            The energy on the run course is nothing short of amazing.  For the first two miles there are spectators at every turn, cheering, partying, just having a blast!  And honestly, you can’t help but smile.  That stupid grin?  Still on my face.

Coming out of transition

            After a while, the crowds thin out and you begin to run through neighborhoods.  But still, the support is amazing, and the course is flat, so there’s not much to complain about.  I was still having a blast.

            As I was heading into the state park on the back end of the out and back (which you do twice for this run course), two deer sped across the road RIGHT in front of me.  It was unreal.  They had clearly been spooked by something and were running right through the run course.  They were huge and fast.  I was thankful they didn’t hit me.  What a weird way to end my day that would have been.

            Right as I finished the first loop of the run course it began getting dark.  I went through special needs, grabbed my Snickers and headlamp, and was on my way again.  At that point, the only thing I had stopped running for was special needs and a quick bathroom stop.  However, as the next mile, mile 14 continued on, I knew I was slowing down.

            Around mile 15 I started feeling a little sick to my stomach and by mile 16, my stomach was waging war on me. At mile 17, I made my first port o potty stop and had to stop running.  From there I couldn’t run.  Every time I did, my stomach went crazy.  The entire rest of the run was filled with bathroom stops, attempting to run, and slowing to a walk.  I tried to keep my walk at a decent clip, and although I had to slow down, I never had any doubts that I would finish on time. 

            I decided that no matter how badly it hurt, I was going to run the last 1.2 miles and so, when the time, came, that’s exactly what I did.  And it did hurt, but as the crowds got bigger, the pain was the last thing I was thinking about!

            I turned the final corner and headed into the chute.  I couldn’t believe it, I was going to be an Ironman.  I had heard people say that you should hold back and make sure you have the chute to yourself, so I did that and looked around and there was no one there. 

            I heard them call out “and here comes Rosalyn Singer from Virginia Beach, VA” and then as I crossed the finish line: “Hey Rosalyn, you’re an Ironman.”  As he said it some dude blew past me at the finish line.  I didn’t even care! I was thrilled.  And I definitely cried a little.    

Final Time: 15:30:25

            I still can’t believe it.  I can’t believe that the girl that graduated from law school three years ago, barely able to run a mile anymore, is now an Ironman.  I rarely feel proud of myself, but in this moment, I definitely do!

            I also couldn’t have done it without the support of my family and friends, or my “village.”  They all offered support and encouragement to me when I needed it most, and told me to suck it up when that was what I needed to hear.  I’m so grateful for the people I have in my life that continue to support me!

And while I’m proud of this finish, I know it’s only just the beginning…