Marianne's IMWI Race Report
subtitled: "Party til the Cows Come Home!" (sounds a lot better than "My Slowest Ironman!")
http://mlp5.smugmug.com/photos/1007756197_XN6ps-M.jpg
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The forums don't accomodate pics so I made this short video of Pre Race pics:
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Some of the Pre Race Highlights for me:
1. Getting to meet forum friends. Wished we lived closer.... I could so relate to y'all.
2. Team Dinner, Thursday, taking pics of our pedicures, seeing the coaches get their gifts and eating that great food. and laughing out loud when we said the coaches had to lay down in front of us! for a Team Chica Photo.
3. Laughing and cutting up on Thursday while my best friend Cindi drove my car and blared music to include "Rollin on the River", I was out riding three tricky hills and David our training friend was taking pics (another avid hobby of his). He is also a gadget genius and set my watch and Garmin accordingly. I joked that I knew why Lance was so good cuz he had a support vehicle!!
4. Seeing a local triathlete friend of mine, Jeffrey Glassbrenner get the Ford Everyday Hero award.
5. Getting called up on stage to meet Mike Reilly all because I had the most number of children (5) at the Friday night banquet.
6. Hanging out with my Arkansas friends at that dinner and us being the only ones (at my insistence) that we get a group pic by the Ford car. Having somebody after that dinner said that his table was guessing that I was 33!! I joked that I didn't need to do the Ironman anymore with an age guess like that... 
7. Meeting this one local old farmer gal out on the course whose family owns all of that land and her taking a pic of me by the corn fields and then seeing her cheer for me on race day. Her hands shook so bad with my camera and she kept patting me on my shoulder that jokingly I had visions of me being hauled off into the corn fields and never being seen again!
8. Having my bike mechanic, Kevin, come all the way up to be our bike go to for "team Arkansas". At bike check in, he gave our bikes a once over and when he was at my feet looking at my bike, I was joking with him. He was out there til I finished.. which was late too! and I remember hugging him, Cindi and Heather's mother during the run although I was so much in pain my eyes were shut!
9. My husband stayed back to take care of my children giving me 5 stress free days. I hadn't been away by myself since April 09 when I did NOLA! I thought of it as a "retreat" and I enjoyed not having to do any chores or other work!
10. Being with my best friend and training pal Heather. I am going to be her matron of honor so we have been saying "after this Ironman and before the next Ironman, we will have a wedding!"
*****
RACE DAY: subtitled "Mile 18 starts when the gun goes off!"
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Ever since Ironman Lake Placid 09, I have either been dealing with thyroid/low iron, piriformis, bursitis in left knee cap or shoulder tendonitis! if it wasn't one thing, it was another!! some people hinted that it was brought on by the previous Ironman and that I was a nut to go for the next one!! Of course, I conveniently didn't see the connection! and just went to months of physical therapy, got a new bike fit, new run shoes, doc visits, massages, used foam rollers, took anti inflamms and pulled out of workouts if I had pains.. so that by the time I was seriously in IM training, I had it enough together to arrive at race day. Many of you supported my efforts to get there so a public thanks to you! Also thanks to God for the journey this year.
You have probably seen that funny Cliff Bar Youtube of swims... I think I experienced that at IMWI!! Next year training, I am gonna need some punching and kicking for accurate training!!!
Only 27% females out there and I seemed to be surrounded by the big guys! I was clipped in the jaw sorta "taking my lights out!", hit in the googles, kicked in the stomach, pulled down so that only my head was out of the water, my swim cap pulled off my head, taking with it my very leaky goggles. I also froze even with the water being published at 67 degrees. I tried not to bite my tongue because it was numb from cold and no body part was warm! I finished the swim without a swim cap, with my goggles around my neck and my long hair covering my eyes! I could see the funny side of that. so yep much to the swimmer's dismay, my swim time was not speedy. I couldn't wait to get out of the water! bad thing was my Mdot necklace was also ripped off and my husband had bought it for me after LP last year and I haven't taken it off.. sorta my MDOT tattoo!
The bike? well okay some people have a day job as long as I was out on the bike!! lol Up and down and all around with a left turn here and right turn there,,, "do the hokie pokie and turn yourself around, that's what it is all about!". The coaches say that this race is now the 2nd hardest Ironman in the US (after Utah), you know I dunno, they all seem hard, duh that is why they are an Ironman!! I will admit to fatigue by mile 40. My kneecaps ached so much as literally I just don't seem to have the power to get up the hills even with 12/27 compact, I was on the last gear. My right foot was burning after mile 70. Good thing my nutrition was fine and no stomach distress and although it got warm it was nothing comparable to my AR summer so I wasn't beaded up with sweat but did pour any remainder of water on my neck. The wind picked up and was gusty. The countryside was pretty and the spectators friendly but I was all business out there trying to get back to the town center!
I think my fastest event was T2, bike to run! I cycled up the parking garage helix and lickety split was outta there! so right now, I can give you advice on how to sit on a bike for endless hours!!! or how to get off the thing real, real fast!!! your choice!
Out on the run, my legs never did really shake out, so it felt like a "brick run" the whole time! and by mile 18, both ITs had flared up once again! never happened in 2010 training but yes in my A races, seem to act up. Way used to this, I engaged the "power walking" technique and brought it on in. I interspersed some running but the ITs would hear none of that and I couldn't get past 20 steps. However, some of the runners behind me couldn't keep up with my walk pace!! I was completely in the zone and pretty much unaware of my surroundings due to the pain and effort! Some guy at the end, didn't like me beating his pace and picked up his! but ah ha, I had a bit of go juice in the legs that I had saved for the endspurt! pegging that right on the downhill finish! I ran it on in and finished my slowest Ironman yet, but my 5th!!
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and yes, it really was great to see the EN support crew out on the run. I had predetermined that I fo' sho' wasn't gonna take my walkin' breaks in no stinkin' aid station, when I could just walk AND get some hugs! great to see them on the bike too!
Comments
It was like sitting with an old friend at the Great Dane when we finally got to visit after th race. After all that you were the picture of composure, friendliness, and still so pretty.
Congrats, m! You're as tough as nails--a true Southern velbvet hammer. So proud of you, absolutely!
Chica, you are indeed tough as nails! That course was no joke---congratulations on having a positive attitude and getting 'er done!
I was so happy to see you on the bike -- and you were all business. Chicas definitely know how to execute!
M- so that's how u keep ur swim towels! Pink
U think I would have thought of that years ago...see we need each other! Great race, awesome effort! As we passed on the run, you looked so composed and so darn cute...even though u were hurting I couldn't tell 
5th IM...now that is something to be proud of...oh and looking 33 
but I think towards the end I was getting pretty narrow focused. this one guy at mile 25, well I didn't know if I knew him like was he with EN..?? or was he just a nice spectator!! he asked me "are you okay?",, "oh yeah, why wouldn't I be, I thought to myself!! so I musta looked bad!! he musta been a runner cuz he told me what I needed to know, cuz I admitted my ITs were hurting "up this last hill, really, and then it will be a downhill finish!" so if you did say hello to me and I didn't answer or if I said hello to you and actually we didnt' know each other, then well, hey it was race day!! Like I know some of the EN sherpas were out there but it was like I couldn't see them for the crowds but heard them! /
Kathy, Yes I have a pink road bike for same reason, I was too afraid that they would ride on it and ruin it.
Nathalie, yes after doing my first Ironman and not liking my time and beating myself up over it for a few months, I said UH UH NO way.. not doing that again. so sure, I did some post race analysis and Monday morning "vented" some (like I can't believe I have been getting up early and I can't believe I didn't do X races and I can't believe I spent all this money and for what? I just came in slower and I keep getting slower and just why am I so slow up those hills and you know what, I am silly, and...... see where this is going!!) and gave myself a little deadline to be finished with it (by the time I got in my car ride home cuz who wants to sit in a car for 13 hours beating themselves up!!)... just looked ahead to the next one! (flat, hot and windy, more my style!) and so then I do a retalk...
you have good nutrition, mental toughness, fast transitions, can withstand pain for long periods of time and you can ride aero for hours..and then there ya go, sucked back into the Ironman schtick!! m
Marianne as always a honor to race with you (for the third time I might add). Thanks for the encouragement to keep moving while in the stadium. Still love your response to me asking how you are doing 'This is an Ironman how do you think I feel?' LOL. Congrats as always, darn impressive.
-Dave
P
Matt
Hey Marianne, I'm with EN but wasn't wearing the 4Keys shirt. It's too big on me and I rode in my jearsy the day before. In retrospect I probably should have just run out there in the speedo.
My friends and I were having a beer watching the people run up that last hill and waiting for a few friends. You had a look of pain on your face but were running at a great pace so either that toughness we build in the OS was really paying off or your mind was wrapped around your One Thing. Either way, great race and great finish!
So nice to meet you, Marianne. I saw you in T1 getting your bike and you told me about the swim, yet you were very calm and collected. Ready to get on with your day. I loved it when you came through mile 18 and hugged us ALL! Amazing!
Congratulations!
M, so glad to finally meet you and glad I was there to cheer for you and the chicas! I'm so sorry to hear about your swim, I never would have guessed you had problems because you looked like a supermodel coming up the helix to transition! And seeing you on the bike (shielding your eyes from the boys in speedos) was a riot! Congratulations, chica! Your 5th IM? Wow! Just amazing!
You faced a lot of bad luck going into the race (lost your wallet too, right?) but made a great day out of it. I wish I could say I saw you on the run, but I think my box was sooooo tiny that I probably missed you completely ou there :-(
PS- Did you double check inside your wetsuit? I'm crossing my fingers that M-dot necklase turns up inside. That really sucks.