I'm very late on posting the entry about the last part of the race. But here goes!
I arrived into the transition area after a little over 6 hours in the saddle. It was wonderful to get off the bike and onto the run. I quickly grabbed my transition bag which was hanging nicely on the racks and then headed into the changing tent. The changing tent had transformed into a wet nightmare. I sat down and began to change out my socks and pull on my shoes, being careful not to get my feet wet since that could be painful. I stashed my extra pair of socks and some fuel in the back of my jersey, got another application of sunscreen and then headed out. I felt pretty strong but I noticed that my heart rate was higher than it should have been. I was hovering in the 150's and that is higher than what I had trained with. My coach's warnings about staying in my zone until the second half of the run were running through my mind. It was hard not to want to run strong because people were lining the streets as I headed out of transition and onto Kuakini Highway. It was so cool to see my mom and dad who were screaming to me and waving their signs! There were so many people yelling go Army and that was very uplifting and motivating. The run route cuts back from Kuakini onto Ali'i Drive and heads out to the condo where we were staying. It's roughly 4.5 miles out to the turn around point. Even though my stomach was a little upset and my heart rate was high, I pressed on. I even made sure that I was consuming something, since I knew that would eventually come to haunt me if I was negligent on my nutrition this early in the run. This portion of the run is fairly flat and shaded which was nice. It ended up being roughly 10 miles of nice crowds and support. Then you come back to Palini and head uphill (brutal) to the Queen K. I am not kidding when I say that MANY people were walking up this hill, which didn't seem so bad on the bike. There was chalk lining the streets with phrases to push runners along. I managed to run up the hill and then stopped to change my socks since I had splashed so much water on myself with the sponges and water cups that my feet were wet. I didn't need to add another variable to slow me down. I then headed up the Queen K to the Energy Lab which is where the final turn around point is. I specifically remember hitting the ten mile mark (they post the mile markers so runners know where they are at) around 1 hour and 28 minutes and I knew that I was at a sub-9min mile pace. It was a lot farther than I remembered and I did my best to keep my head up and focus on "catching" the runners ahead of me. I'm pretty sure that I slowed down significantly at this point. As I entered the Energy Lab road I knew that this was where I needed to bear down and do my best. I ran through the Ford station where they displayed digital messages for the runners from loved ones. They were playing some great music which was good. I changed my socks again and then headed back. Each time I hit a turn around I saw how much time the competition (AF and CG) had gained on me and I also saw how close the Navy was behind me. At this point the sun was beginning to set and the temperature was dropping. This was great because it also allowed my heart rate to drop. However, I think the damage had already been done and I had burned all my matches too quickly. Sadly, with 3 miles to go to the finish, Navy final edged me out. By this point, I was using a strategy of stopping at the aid stations to walk and receive Coke, as this was pretty much the only thing I could tolerate in my system. I tried to alternate with water, but I didn't really care for that as much. I also remember taking a pretzel, since I felt the urge to switch from sweet to salt. It was tough to chew it though. I came down Palani and made the turn onto Ali'i and how sweet the finish line looked! My poor parents had come down and sat at the finish line to make sure they had good photos of me for nearly an hour! I give them a lot of credit for knowing where to be at the right times! So I was a little confused by the actual "finish line" because there were something like 3 archways and the finish pad was indistinguishable from the carpets that were laid out. At any rate, the finish line footage captures me looking rather stone-faced. :^/ Oh well! I got my celebratory lei presented to me and the honor of being called an Ironman for a second time! Then a volunteer escorted me to the finish area. I think I asked for a medical person to assist me and so I was paired with an ART/medic guy. He was very nice and patient with me, as I stopped repeatedly to sit down due to an overwhelming sense of nausea. I politely asked for an IV, but they refused me since I wasn't vomiting or passed out. Ultimately, I was reunited with my parents (each athlete is given 2 passes to give to family members so they have access to the finish area) and they resumed care of me. I followed the medic's recommendations to avoid sitting---as this would cause blood to pool in my legs, moving it away from my vital organs, and to just lay with my feet elevated. He also advised that I periodically walk around. I followed his advice and did my best to regain my hydration levels by sipping powerade and water. I also had some chicken soup broth which was good. We all sat there on the beach for a while before my dad offered to get my belongings out of transition. Using his special pass to retrieve my bike and gear bags, he was able to unrack my bike and bring it over to the Tribike transport station for shipment back to SA. There was some confusion about my run transition bag (he didn't realize they had separate racks for the bags), but we worked it out. I also retrieved my finisher's bag that included my medal, t-shirt and hat. The ice cream lady came around too. At that point, I was feeling a lot better and was able to eat 2 vanilla's. I also had some pizza. I even got up to get my photo in front of the Ironman board. Eventually we all headed back to the condo for some much needed rest.
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