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Michele IMMD

Michele CellaiMichele Cellai
in Races & Places 🏁⛺

The Inaugural Ironman Maryland

The Background

In 2012 I enrolled in a doctorate program to begin January 2013. Seeing the end of my long course racing coming, I signed up for 3 races, unfortunately only completing one. I missed the bike cut off at St. George, completed Vineman (full) and developed Immersion Pulmonary Edema (IPE) at Arizona. School then became my all consuming past time, replacing triathlon.

May 2013 while running, a big “pop” in my knee put an end to running. While I knew it was a torn meniscus, it took me another month to accept that I couldn’t run. After another 6 weeks I tried run/walk with some success, enough to complete Timberman 70.3. After that, I stopped trying to run and focused on swimming and biking. All the while I was plugging away at school, but with a growing uncertainty as to whether we would stay in Massachusetts long enough for me to complete the program.

In March, I began to run/walk again. This time with more success. I was also more careful: no hills, no ice/snow. If I had pain, I immediately stopped and called it a day. This strategy helped and I was able to return to a steady run/walk fitness regimen as long as I stayed on a flat course.

I love the mid-Atlantic region, it’s where I went to undergrad and grad school and the weather is more temperate than the NE. So when I heard the announcement of IMMaryland, I immediately began checking my fall course schedule to determine if I could fit the race in with school. I had recently found out that I would have no classes from mid-June until mid-September. That was a lot of free time and we thought we might be moving, so why focus on school. Everything fell into place, so I signed up. Then they changed my class schedule. Instead of telling them I had a race, I just said that I had already made plans based on the previous schedule I had received and that I could not be available by remote contact on September 20th, the day of the race (I’m allowed to attend class by phone or Skype if not in person). The 9/20 class was rearranged (only 2 students, so it was easy) and I continued training without a care (little did I know what was to come).

As for the knee: I had been considering surgery. The orthopedist told me that if I was still having problems a year after the injury, then surgery was necessary and he doubted that I would be able to complete IMMaryland. However, something clicked in my brain and I came to realize that my shoes were part of the problem. I had run in stability shoes for years, switching to tri shoes in 2010. Now I switched back to stability shoes, began ART on my knee, and within weeks all pain and swelling resolved. AWESOME!

Then, 7 weeks prior to the race, I crashed my bike, injuring my right shoulder. I was unable to swim for a month, and then only with pain on every stroke. I started slow, attended more ART and massage. By 2 weeks out, I returned to Master’s swimming. Amazingly, I still had good speed, but could not sustain it for the entire session. I was recovering!

Pre-Race

We drove to Maryland on Wednesday, arriving after dark. Thursday I registered and we surveyed the area. Team dinner was a lot of fun. Friday we drove and then rode part of the bike course. We didn’t get back to the hotel until 7 pm. I was in bed by 8 and proceeded to be unable to sleep. It turned out to be the WORST sleep I have ever had prior to a race.

Race Day

I must have fallen asleep around midnight, but the first alarm went off at 2 AM. I had my nutrition and could not sleep again. I got up for good at 3:45. We were on our way by 4:15, it was a 45 minute drive. I was nervous, so we sang show tunes from “The Producers” to help me relax. We parked where we had planned, half way between start and finish. We walked to transition and did the usual: pump the tires, put nutrition on the bike, drop off special needs bags, get body marked, and met Max out near the swim area. At 6:30 we met other Endurance Nation (EN) folks for a picture, then it was time to seed ourselves for the rolling start.

The staff had described it well, a parade heading into the water. I seeded myself around 1:20. This would be a slow swim for me. Since 9/11, I always cry at the playing of the Star Spangled Banner, and today was no exception. But then I cried because I was scared. Despite much OWS-ing, I was suddenly panicking about a repeat of IPE. Max had moved out of the crowd of swimmers, so I was alone. I moved to the far left, this would be away from the buoys once in the water. I also began to look for other women. I hate being surrounded by men when I swim. I found a few other women and we cried and commiserated. I wasn’t the only one feeling fear.

When the gun went off, I was immediately calm. I headed towards the water with the rest of the parade. They had said that the water was 72.5 degrees, after so many races with water temps in the 60’s, this felt warm and wonderful. I relaxed into my swim and swam just inside the boat/ kayak line, well away from the buoys and mass of swimmers. Once I felt sure that the IPE would not re-emerge, I had a great time. I stayed to the outside for the first loop, a bit closer in on the 2nd loop. I knew it was a long swim when I hit the midway point and my Garmin read 1.35 miles. Plenty of folks had no clue how to swim straight or sight. Many times I had swimmers crossing in front of me swimming almost perpendicular to the course. My GPS shows I swam very straight. Anyway, at the end, sure enough the Garmin read 2.7 miles. A guy exiting at the same time said he had stayed on the buoy line and his Garmin read 2.55. I think the strong winds of the previous days had moved the buoys a bit. 1:23:xx

An uneventful transition and I was off on the bike. 5:57

The morning was not very windy. Not until the end of loop 1 was there was a headwind really. There was, however, a TREMENDOUS amount of cheating, drafting, going on. It was awful. I said something to 3 different groups as they steamed by, then decided that I would not let their behavior ruin my day. But oh what a glorious sight to see the penalty tent PACKED with folks that had gone streaming by. Great job to the race officials. Late in loop 2, I developed left side abdominal pain. I wasn’t sure if it was the stomach or lower down. It didn’t matter, the answer was to slow down. I took Tums and Zantac with some relief, but didn’t feel that I could eat or drink. Not good. I couldn’t sit up too much to aid blood flow to the gut as there was just enough wind to make progress even slower. Until that point I had been doing well with nutrition and hydration, peeing plenty. Now I just tried to get back to transition. I’d been having a great ride, and my splits clearly show just how much I had to slow down in order to save my race. 6:20:xx

I arrived at T2 and although glad to be off the bike, I did not want to run. I had never felt so crappy at the start of the marathon. I actually changed very quickly, walked out of the changing tent, found Max, and just lingered. I was not ready to start running. Later, Max said he had never seen me act like that. It was clear to him that I was delaying. 5:34

The run course was almost the shape of a smile and you actually started in the middle. Once I began the run, the 1st loop of 9 miles was a blur. I was running slow and trying to go slower. My stomach was slowly improving, I was taking Coke and sports drink, putting ice in the bra and a sponge under my hat, running through any hose spray that was available. I knew I needed to get and keep my body temp down in order to get through. I could not speak, I could barely think beyond what I needed to do to survive. By the start of loop 2 I was feeling much better. I was able to smile at other ENers and even chit chat a bit. But every step of the way, all I wanted to do was stop, walk, and quit. I walked every aid station and then forced myself to start running again. When I ran I was on pace, but the walking at the stations, especially when I could barely think or didn’t want to continue, was when I dropped pace a lot. I couldn’t care. I just needed to get through. In the midst of all this, Max told me that he had lost the car key (we had actually remembered to bring the spare). AAA would not unlock the car until I was present. Nothing I could do about it now.

Those of you that know me as a nurse, have heard me say I cannot stand vomiting. It seemed to me that there was an incredibly large number of athletes on the side of the road vomiting and heaving. At points I had to close my eyes and cover my ears. I couldn’t stand it.

As I began the final loop, I was thrilled, but this was the longer out and back. I just put one foot in front of the other and tried to encourage folks around me, when I was able to speak. I was able to do math and knew I would be close to 13 hours, but I didn’t know exactly how long before 7 I had entered the water, so my math was always a bit off until I decided, “F- this. I just want to finish. Who cares about the time.”

When I passed the transition area for the final time, I was relieved. I had one more section of out but the “back” would be to the finish line. When I reached the turn around, the folks ahead turned right, heading out to continue loop 1 or 2. As I made the turn to the left, the crowd went crazy. I felt a surge of strength and began to high five anyone that was willing! A big smile came over my face, then I began to tear up. I was going to make it! Such a relief. It felt like a long way back down the road to the lights of the finish. A group of 3 came sprinting past me just before the chute. Let ’em go! A few seconds made no difference. Then a young man that I had been talking to throughout the bike and run was just standing at the chute entrance. He clearly wanted his moment, but he wanted me to go first. So I did! And I was able to get my solo moment and really hear my name and “You are an Ironman!” 5:20:xx



13:08:xx a 30 minute PR despite everything.

I was OK through the finishers chute, but all they had to drink was chocolate milk. No thanks. Later Max said that more than a few athletes drank it and immediately vomited. YUCK!

We went to the Ironman store where finishers gear was on sale already. I went in the fitting room and changed my clothes. I picked out 2 items and then while waiting to pay I felt faint and had to go outside and put my feet up while Max paid. A nice woman in line behind us walked me out and got me some Sprite.

We called AAA and made our way to the car. I rested, feet up until they arrived. The spare keys were in the car, thankfully. Once unlocked, I crawled inside and fell asleep while Max went to transition and retrieved my bike and gear bags (something he would have done earlier had the key been available).

45 minute drive to the hotel, a hot shower, and I fell asleep. That was my hardest fought finish.

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