IMAZ - T2 & The Run

“Pee2”...err T2
A volunteer immediately grabbed my bike from me and I was handed my run bag (amazing), all without missing a beat. I jogged over to the men’s changing tent and immediately hit my faithful urinal tent to relieve myself. As was the case in T1, I peed for what seemed like an eternity, probably a good two minutes. After I was done I ran out, grabbed a seat and began to change into my running gear. Honestly, it went so fast, I thought I had missed something. Helmet off, running shoes on, visor on, sunglasses back on, fuel belt on and off I went. I declined the sun block this time…I don’t think the girls noticed (shucks!). T2 time: 3:25

The Run
The first mile was a blur, it went very quickly and in hindsight probably too quickly. My first mile was done in 8:36. The next three miles were all done in less than 9:00/mile pace; much faster that I really wanted to go and despite my best efforts I wasn’t able to slow down enough. It was at this point that I thought to myself that a four marathon was a distinct possibility. My legs felt good, my breathing was even, nutrition seemed to be spot on; I was ready. Heck, even as I went past the Ford Motivation sign, I saw my number and name pop up with a message that read, “Good Job Jamie”…my wife told me that it was my brother-in-law Jeff that did that (Thanks Jeff!!!). Through eight miles, there was only had one real bad mile, mile 6 was 9:52, there was a bit of a hill which slowed me down considerably. I just chalked it up to a need to go a bit slower, to take it easy and past myself for the rest of the run. The next mile was a bit downhill and then flat, and I managed to run it in 9:15.

Mile nine is where everything started to drop off considerably. It was run west along the lake and right past the finish line where the crowds were thick and I could hear Mike Reilly announcing Ironmen every so often. It is also where you reach a fork in the road with two signs, the one on the left read, “To the Finish” with an arrow pointing to head left and the one on the right reads, “For Lap 1, Lap2, and Lap 3” with an arrow pointing straight ahead. I had two more laps to go and I was not looking forward to it.

With each mile my splits got slower and slower and my stomach began to feel worse and worse. I could no longer eat Clif Shot Bloks as they were making my teeth hurt and they didn’t feel so good when they reached my stomach. Gatorade was having the same effect on me, just not a good thing. I started to feel bloated and sick, then I would pass some gas and I would feel so much better. This went on for about two or three miles. I struggled to think of a solution. It was then that I recalled an article or a passage in a book that suggested not taking anything “solid”, i.e. Shot Bloks, on the run of an Ironman as they are more difficult to digest. I began to take Powerbar Gel (Vanilla) and switched from Gatorade to Coke. Viola! That fixed me, no more gas or uncomfortability.

So, it was mile 10 and my stomach was good. A four hour marathon was not a possibility anymore, but if I could run a 4:15 marathon I would easily finish in under 12 hours. That was my new goal…if only I could have found a way to convince my legs of this new plan. I think they had decided that they were OK with just taking their time sauntering to the finish line. No matter what I did, I just couldn’t get them to go any faster than they were. What surprised me most was that even thought I felt like I was working so hard my heart rate was right at the top of Zone 1/bottom of Zone 2. I was just running out of fuel I guess.

Lap two was a struggle and I was bummed that I hadn’t seen my family at all during the entire run. As I came over the Mill Rd. Bridge I hear someone yell “Jamie”, but I didn’t think anything of it, I had passed a Jamie on the bike and there had to be other Jamie’s doing the race. The course wraps back around transition at this point and as I was running down the grassy path I saw them, my family was lined up along the fences and they were yelling crazily for me. Even thought I felt like absolute crap, I was happy to see them. I felt like it had been hours since I last saw them on the bike course…actually it had been hours, I guess I was spoiled earlier on during the bike.

After seeing them I hit my run special needs bag and grabbed my arm warmers since it was getting cooler out. This was about midway through the run and it was by far my slowest mile to that point (11:40). The remainder of the lap is a bit of a blur. I know that there was a lot of walking, a lot of shuffling and not a lot of “running”. My quads were killing me and I just couldn’t get them to move as fast as I wanted them to. Despite how much I had slowed I still though a 4:20 marathon was in the cards, until I passed by that dang fork in the road again and I kind of hit the wall.

The last and final lap was tough. It was tough because at this point I knew where every single turn was, where each aid station was, where the uphills were and the downhills. There were no surprises left. I tried to convince myself that I could run the remaining 8.8 or so miles without walking. That didn’t last very long. At the 20 mile mark I told myself that I could run that last 10K, nope, just didn’t happen. That entire last lap I did everything mentally that I could think of to get my ass in gear but it just didn’t work.

With four miles left it started to rain again, SERIOUSLY?! I just laughed and made my way up the last hill. It probably wasn’t until I had about two miles left that I had a great moment and it came in the form a little farting Hispanic male as I crossed over the Rural Rd. Bridge. Every step he took he let one slip and it was like this over the entire length of the bridge. I was hysterical and it was exactly what I needed to finish. I wasn’t able to put the pedal to the metal, but I picked up the pace a bit and was psyched to be running along the lake again. The finish was so close.

I could see the Mill Rd. Bridge in the distance and I knew once I hit that I was there. All I wanted was to be done at that point, I picked up the pace and passed a few people. I reached the bridge and I could hear the crowds, I could see the crowds, and at long last I could see that sign that signaled it was my turn to go to the left and finish. As I made my way along that last 300 – 400 meters a young girl passes me and then a guy passed me…I didn’t care, let them go ahead and have their moment. Then as I got closer and the noise and lights grew, I could feel my feet move faster and faster. I passed the guy, but not because I wanted to, it was because I couldn’t slow down. I had thought over the last ten miles what I was going to do when I finished but any ideas went right out the window once I saw the finish line. I was in the final stretch; I could see the end. I started to clap and then just started punching the air. As I approached the finish line I put both hands into the air as though I had just won the race. I was ecstatic! I had finished my first Ironman and then I heard it, the one thing that every Ironman finisher longs to hear,

“Jamie Watson from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!”

Run Stats: 4:32:00

And like that it was over, 12 hours, 7 minutes and 4 seconds.

12:07:04

I thought that I would cry when I finished. I thought that when I saw my family I would be a ball of tears. I thought that I would be an emotional mess having realized what I had accomplished. I was definitely out of it, but more than anything I was happy to be done. There were no tears, but rather a lot of smiles when I saw my wife and kids, my parents, my sister and her family. I was just so happy to see everyone and to be done with the race.