Many of you know that I have had some struggles the past few months with the ending of my marriage and dealing with my e and not seeing my girls all of the time, but I was determined to do this race. I know that doing something athletic and competitive does not make me a bad mother and having goals is actually a good thing. There were times that I considered not doing the race but I am so glad that I didn't let anyone take this race away from me. I like doing things that challenge me and I like pushing myself to see what I can do athletically and I think that actually makes me a better person and mom!
The few days we were in Penticton before the race, we had some team bonding over Buckets O Beer and Jugs of Margaritas, lol, our team had some fun and I wouldn't have changed that for anything. We did our organizing and I knew that the 3 of them were committed to getting me to that finish line (have I mentioned that they are awesome?).
I went to bed Friday night feeling pretty good and surprisingly calm and I got a good nights sleep. We awoke at 4:30 am and I had a coffee and a bagel and then we loaded the 4 of us and the bike into the van and headed down to the swim start. Standing on the beach under the start banner looking out at the mountains surrounding the calm lake was breath taking and I was excited to be about to swim in such a beautiful setting. I was a little nervous as the farthest I had swam open water was 5km and although I have done over 10km in the pool several times in my life I wasn't sure how it was going to go. Steve was comfortable being my paddler and I figured I would have at least one man in front of me. My goal going into this race was to break the swim record, which was 3:13 and I was confident that I could do this easily. The start was a little disorganized and before I knew it I was in the lead. Steve did a great job of staying straight and all I had to do was look at him when I breathed on my right side. I found myself going away from the boat on several occasions and at one point I ran right into the green kayak (I guess I don't swim as straight as I thought I did, lol) I stopped every 2km to have a sip of Gatorade and Steve would let me know that I was maintaining my lead over the 2nd place swimmer, who was Shanna Armstrong (5 time Hawaii Ultraman Champion). I could also see him taking photos and texting on his phone. I knew that he was updating my family on how my swim was going, it was comforting knowing that my sister was out there with me.
I have to say that the swim was probably the easiest portion of the race for me as I had assumed it would be. It was tiring and my arms were getting tired, but it was beautiful and the sun was shinning which made time fly by and I never felt like I was working hard. I reached the first buoy (at 8km) and thought that it was time to head into shore, I think I got a little testy with Steve when he told me I had to keep going straight( probably could have used a gel, lol). We reached the 2nd buoy and I headed to the shore. I asked Steve if I was going to break the swim record and all I heard him say was that I was going to smash it. I followed him in and at one point when I took a breath I could see him with his arms raised in the air and I knew I was doing well and done the swim.
I reached the beach and saw Peggy and Susan and heard them announcing my name and that I had just broken the swim record, it felt great and then I realized who was making the announcements, it was Steve King (the voice of Ironman Canada) I was so excited and Susan and Peggy had no clue what I was talking about! They got my wetsuit off, a banana in my mouth and sunscreen on me, tried to explain where I was supposed to ride my bike (but I was still focused on Steve King--yeah more food may have been good, lol) and then I was off and riding.
They start you off up a nice little hill from the beach and after swimming 10km in the lake I realized this wasn't a very friendly thing for them to do. My arms were tired and heavy, I was a little foggy and really unsure of where I was supposed to be going, I thought there would be some boys to follow. Luckily, I made it and was able to get into my grove. My crew got me a cliff bar and water and I settled into the ride but I was feeling crampy and it was hot. The first 50km were pretty uneventful and then I hit Richter Pass and that is when I realized how freaking hot it was, there was no wind and I was climbing, my crew had bought these kick ass super soakers and the immediately put them to use. Amber's team was also out on course and offering me aid any time I saw them. I was expecting some of the boys to come flying by but still nothing. I reached the out and back and stopped for a "pit" stop and saw Amber go by. Peggy rubbed my legs a little as I was feeling really crampy. I was staying on top of my salt tabs but I think the swim really made my legs feel that way. I finally got to see Josef and knew he would be passing me soon but he didn't actually go by until just before the 120km point. By the time I reached Yellow Lake, I was ready to be done. I was hot, my legs were tired, my arms were heavy and didn't want to help me climb any longer. I think I reached my lowest point, Steve said to just put it in an easier gear and spin up...which is when I informed him I didn't have another gear...he responded with a" ok, good job", lol! I ended up beside Amber and I told her she was doing great and then we got to the down hill section. I love riding downhill and enjoyed the ride back to the finish line. I crossed the finish line 90 sec behind Josef and earned the name of Superwoman from him and his crew! It was great fun. I ended up breaking the women's bike record (but Amber broke it minutes later, but I will still count it, lol) and the overall women's day 1 record. I was very happy with how we did as a team and how I felt.
Our team had decided we would celebrate each day at the finish line by doing a shot of tequilawhich was so fun and I loved that we did something so silly! My quads were pretty cramped at the end of that ride but I think I did pretty good with my fluid intake (water and Gatorade), I had real fruits and a peanut butter and honey wrap and the banana and cliff bar at the start of the ride. We headed back to the hotel where Susan and Peggy generously made me up a ice bath, all Susan added was one 1 ice cube (it just happened to be the biggest ice block I have ever seen), Peggy worked on my body and her and Steve rubbed my legs and we had a yummy pizza dinner.
Sunday had us up at 4 am as the race officials decided to start us at 6am to help us avoid some of the extreme temperatures. I again had a bagel and a coffee and we made our way to Skaha Lake for the start of day 2. In our van we also had a "team song" which got us into our groove at the start of the day, Pitbulls I Know you want me. We had so much fun riding over to this silly song!
At the race start I felt a little nervous. I hadn't done all of the bike training I had planned on doing, life always seemed to get in the way. I hadn't gone farther than 160km in training and my longest ride in my life had only been 205km and that was over 5 years ago. So I think I was a little nervous of what was going to happen as I climbed in mileage and the hard parts were only starting at 100km into the ride. It was a pretty tame beginning of the ride. I got to chat with Simon from England at the start of the ride and he was highly entertaining. I stopped 55km in to take a "pit stop". The plan today was to take on more salt as the temperatures rose and to try to take in as many calories as I could tolerate to be ready for day 3. I also wanted to take the ride pretty easy because it was so long and I still had a huge run that was always in the back of my mind. I felt really relaxed the first 100km and it almost seemed easy. The nice thing about Ultraman is that it is a small event and you tended to be around the same people and same crews so you always had some support and encouragement.
At 100km came the first tough section called "the wall" seriously I had heard others talking about it but I don't like to see what lies ahead, just deal with it on the day. Well, man what a climb that was. It was steep and had switchbacks and I didn't think it was ever going to end. To be honest, it was over in less than 4km I think but it continued to be challenging until the 124km and I couldn't believe how heavy I was breathing at certain points. But it was nice to be done it. At the top, I stopped to change (my crew didn't say anything as I changed my shorts right in front of a golf course---I asked later that night, did I take my pants off in front of golfers, they all shrugged and said no worries, lol!) Here I also had Peggy rub down the quads and I ate a piece of left over pizza, which was awesome.
The next section of the ride involved some great down hill, but then we made a turn and it was into a head wind. Months earlier Darwin had warned us of this section that always has a head wind and as Steve tried to remind me that we knew about this and to just keep the watts under 200, I could feel myself getting discouraged. But then I realized all I had to do was keep spinning and everyone was dealing with the same wind. I was having some pain in my left foot, I tend to get this pain often when I ride but it wasn't going away and the longer the ride went on the worst it felt. I complained to the team that it felt like my feet were bleeding, I knew they weren't but it was uncomfortable.
At the 200km mark, Simon mentioned that his foot was really sore and I told him mine was feeling the same way, he said he was pouring his water on it and it seemed to help a little, so I tried it out and it did feel a little better. The last section of the ride is an out and back of about 60km, you ride right past the finish line and there are some good climbs. All along everyone said that once you hit the turn around that it was all down hill to the finish. As I headed out, I couldn't get over the fact that there was a lot of ups and downs and it seemed like a lot of climbing to be done on the way back. I asked my team if this was the same road I would finish on, when they said yes, I commented that there was a lot of climbing to be done on the way back and it was supposed to be all down hill and that they were wrong. They told me it would be more downhill than up and I made them promise (I found out later, they were worried about it too b/c it did seem like a lot of climbing)
When I hit the turn around I asked if I was going to break the 12 hour mark. Steve seemed surprised and as they drove by he told me that I was at 9:02. I was surprised, I felt like I had been biking forever. Well, my team was right, it was a net down hill and I had a tail wind. I don't know what got into me, but I wanted to get that ride done and done fast. I picked up the pace and felt like I was flying. I caught up to Wolfgang, who had been 6 minutes ahead of me at the turn around and I cruised into the finish line in 9:49. I felt great, no cramping and was so happy to not have to bike the next day. I ended up riding as the 2nd place woman all day behind Amber, we both broke the previous day 2 record, Amber just broke it by more :) I believe I finished 7th overall for the day and once again my team celebrated with shot of tequila and I had an ice bath. Peggy did some work on my feet which were tender and on my back and neck which were sore from the 2 days, we ate Quiznos for dinner and turned in.
Day 3 was our final 4am wake up. I had 2 wraps, one with peanut butter and honey and the other with peanut butter and banana. There was a group breakfast but I knew that I wouldn't want to eat anything there, but the crew had some. We headed to the start line and for the first time since we landed it was cool. I actually started the run with a jacket on. My goal for the day was to walk every 5km and to break 10 hours. I had never run farther than 45km and knew that at some points that I would be walking.
Fell into a rhythm running beside Wolfgang, who just happens to be from Kitchener. It was nice to run with him, as the miles went on we connected with Jason Lester (a link to his site is in my favourite things) He won an Espy earlier this summer. As we were running, his pacer, Gary asked my name, then said Jason, this is Barbi, you wanted to meet her! I was so flattered, I mean Jason Lester is so inspiring and he wanted to meet me. We ended up running together alot through the first marathon.
Steve started running with me at the 19km point and stayed with me for 10km, then Peggy got out and ran with me. For Steve's second run with me, he had rigged up the IPOD speakers and IPOD so that we could have some tunes. It was awesome and it made the time fly by. We went through the marathon at 4:20 and I stopped and had a wrap with peanut butter and changed my shoes and socks. I had stopped taking Gatorade and shot blocks at the 25km mark because my stomach was feeling a little sad. So I was really only taking my salt tabs, oatmeal raisin cookies, pretzels and grapes. I just couldn't drink or eat anything sweet.
A good portion of the run, from the 35km to 72km were on a gravel road, which I am not a fan of but I do realize it was probably better on the body, I just found it more challenging and took more brain function. The temperature also started to rise in the second marathon, but my team was great about getting me ice cold sponges and lots of cold water. Susan would act as my carrot, she would hop out of the van, yell "come and get me" and start running until I caught her, it was such a great thing to focus on and it gave me a goal. I was having a lot of achilles pain in my right leg which Peggy had worked on from about the 18km point. Peggy and I did a little celebration at the 46km mark as I ran farther than I ever had before. She was so great out there, it seemed every time that it was her turn to run with me that she got some big uphill, she would say to me "I'm just going to get in the van for a second", it was great and I loved having them run beside me.
Once we were into the second marathon, all the athletes had pretty much spread out and it was me alone with my crew. There was always one of them out there running with me (all 3 of them ran so much, Steve ran 34km, 14km farther than he had ever run in his life and had giant blisters on his toes, but never complained. Peggy ran over 22km, mostly uphill, while she hadn't ran more than 5 times in the last year and Susan ran 10km at a sprint pace trying to keep me from catching her, they are so awesome--have I mentioned that?) and the van was either right in front, beside or behind us. At the 61km mark Peggy and Susan warned us about a big uphill, which I had to walk up, I was hurting and the hill seemed so big. However, then came the downhill, seriously it was such a steep down hill and it was a switchback, I said to Steve that I wanted to roll down it, it hurt everything going down that hill, my quads, my knees, my feet and my toes were all screaming, the only silver lining was that was the last big climb, or so we thought. A few minutes later the van pulled up and Peggy said quietly to Steve, "just so you know, in about a km you are going to get to that last big climb, that other one was just a little blip before the big blip" I almost cried right then and there, I couldn't believe it, but Steve said "we walk it if we have to". We got to the climb and it was a killer. We started walking and I grabbed Steve's hand and tried to tell myself that we were just going for a walk in town holding hands, not 63km into a 84km run. At the top, I stopped and had my shoes changed again and the team tried to get some sugar into me. I think at this point they gave me beef broth and told me to drink, which I did obediently, it was disgusting but I didn't mind it at that point. I was getting emotional and really sore, I was hot but the crew was great. We had discussed our mantra for the day, it was "Keep moving forward, the finish line is worth it" this was repeated to me several times over that last half marathon. At 72km I hit my lowest point, I was hurting everywhere and I kind of had a breakdown. I cried and couldn't do much but focus on how much everything hurt. My team was awesome. Peggy worked on my legs and gave me a pep talk and repeated my mantra, Susan was getting pieces of cookie into my mouth and making me drink more broth and Steve was getting me salt tabs and cooling me down with sponges. I regrouped and got myself under control and we were back to running. I managed to keep moving forward but some of the down hills were insane. At the 80km mark we reached one of the final down hills and it was a 9% grade, I started crying, I couldn't believe how hard it was to run down this long winding hill and how much it hurt every single part of my body. I was holding onto Peggy to help get me down but I could not make myself run any longer. Peggy and Susan were out there walking with me and keeping my spirits high, they were so amazing. We climbed that last hill and Steve did the final 2km with me. I apologized for walking and he told me I was nuts and that he was so proud of me and that I was doing well. Peggy and Susan had gone ahead to park the van and finally Steve pointed out the stop sign that meant we were almost done, I started running, I had to get it done with, we turned the corner and Susan and Peggy were there jumping up and down, I was so happy to see them and then there was a row of flags and I could see the finish line, we all ran in together and they were announcing all of our team and they said my daughters names, we were all crying. I crossed the line and can't tell you how amazing it felt. I was so glad to be done and loved my team so much for getting me there. We were all hugging and crying, it was awesome!
I finished the day as the second woman of the day in a time of 9:38 (which broke the women's run record, however Amber ran faster and broke the record first,lol!) and I was 7th overall. I was sore and tired but it was such a party at the finish line that I really didn't notice all the pain when I was done. We had a BBQ burger and sat with Amber (who had done the run in just over 9 hours--she is awesome!) and Conrad and Graham (her team) and we enjoyed our finish line shot of tequila. It was awesome to watch the other athletes run into the finish line and just enjoy not having to do anything the next morning.
We headed out for Mexican once again and had more Buckets O Beer and Jugs of Margaritas and then headed to bed and slept in. I woke up Tuesday feeling sore but no where near where I thought I would be. My body was tired and I had only 2 blisters but I didn't feel like I couldn't move, I thought I would be out of commission for a few days but surprisingly I felt pretty good, I even joked that I was ready to go again, but I was joking! I have to thank my team for taking such good care of me nutritionally and physically, without them working so hard to make sure I had everything I needed I probably would have been in bad shape. We enjoyed a day of nothing, we headed to the beach and then to the awards dinner. At the dinner we enjoyed a final shot of tequila with Amber and her boys and we had so many laughs. Each athlete got up and talked about their experience over this journey and I was moved to tears several times that night. It was really the best awards dinner I have ever been to and I am so honoured to be amoung those who have finished an ultraman.
My final time for the event was 27:16 minutes, which broke the previous women's overall record. I placed second woman overall behind Amber who smashed the women's overall record, and I loved that we got along so well and supported each other through this distance. I look forward to doing more races with her in the future.
I won a new wetsuit from BlueSeventy for breaking the swim record and I made so many new friends. I pushed myself to do something that was a huge challenge mentally and physically. I listened to my crew members and trusted them to do an amazing job, which they certainly did. I had set several goals along the way and I am happy to report that I reached every goal that I set for myself and was able to do so with a smile on my face.
Finally I am happy to report that our team mantra was right, the finish line truly was worth it!
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