Dave Williams' IMWI Race Report
First – a major THANK YOU to the team and coaches. This race was so much more fun because of all of you. I wanted to do an Ironman because of how great an experience it would be, the team made the experience so much more rich. Thanks!
The night before I slept fine, went to bed around 9, woke up at 2 for a couple small Naked Juices, and again at 3:15 to catch the 4:00 shuttle to the race.
I arrived at the race site early, sat around a bit, then put my bottles on my bike, pumped up my tires with the help of the mechanics, made sure my PT read my wheel and then dropped off my SN bags. I was done with those logistics by 5:45. I snacked on an apple and bagel I brought and sipped some water while stretching and mentally preparing for the race. I was very calm and felt ready all morning – no real nerves to speak of until 6:30 when I noticed many folks getting in the water. A few deep breaths and I was fine.
I got into the water at 6:40 and treaded water for 20 mins. The water was cold, but just as the Friday warm up swim, it was a perfect temp for swimming. I did not have a great sense of where I was positioned… I did not know where I wanted to be. I did not figure there would be one right answer. I ended up on the shore side of the jump, a little back of it. For the first lap I got pretty beat up, and again on the second lap I got hitkicked a couple times. It was nothing unexpected, but it was kind of a bummer. I finished in 1:15 which I am happy with considering my 1:24 time a few weeks ago.
T1 was uneventful – was on my bike in less than 10 minutes. I appreciated getting a pep talk from Josh telling me this is my day!
The bike ride was fine. Maybe I am forgetting parts of it… but I honestly felt like I was holding back all day. (TSS 236, IF 1.08, NP 157, Gear One 170) I really looked forward to the hills (because of the people) and felt a little embarrassed with others flying past me on the up hills. On every downhill I would pass most of those same people and think about how much harder they worked to get where we both were. J I drank my Infinit every 30 minutes, grabbed my bottle out of SN without an issue, and filled up on water at every aid station. I did not track how much water I consumed since I would drink from bottles and then rinse myself with the remaining water. I was so excited to be doing an IM and so grateful for the beautiful weather and scenery! On hic-up I did have was dropping my chain on one hill – not a major one. I had to grab the chain with my whole hand and yank it free from behind my cassette – my hand was all black! I had nowhere to wipe it. I peed a bunch of times on the bike which was new for me. I finished in 6:15 which is just fine with me. I felt like I executed perfectly.
T2 went fine, I took it easy and had a bit of help from a volunteer. I did see some things in there that I never want to see again…
I started the run slowly (sub 11 miles) but had to watch my pace over the first 6 miles. It was very hard to judge my pace by feel, thankfully I had my Garmin. I kept thinking of giving R&P 30 seconds every mile. AT mile 6 I felt great as I passed the EN folks at mile 18. When I saw them again at mile 8.5 or so I still felt great. Things went south from there. I do not remember when I first felt bad, but my biggest fear came true – stomach issues. I do not remember getting to mile 12.75 but I saw my family there and leaned heavily on them (literally). I felt very bad. I decided to go through the turn around and see them again in .5 miles. When I saw them again I had to sit down. Then I laid down. My wife called another friend over and we tried to assess whether I should continue. No way I would get that far and choose to stop. So I decided to keep going. By this time I could not take two steps jogging without feeling terrible.
While my wife, three kids, niece, and buddy were still right next to me I felt my stomach give and I dove for a patch of grass and threw up. I felt so much better after that and made it .25 mile jogging when I got a side stitch that would stay with me the remainder of the marathon.
I made it to the mile 15 aid station and stopped to rest. A couple volunteers helped me a bit – first I sat down, then I laid down. A medic came over to me to see if I needed assistance. He said that if he touched me I would be DQ’d. I said I wanted to rest and try again. He was fine with that but warned me that if I passed out “I was his”. So the two volunteers would not let me lay down, they kept me awake and encouraged me to eatdrink. By this time I had eaten only one and a half Clif Bloks totaling maybe 50 calories and maybe a few sips of chicken broth and about 6 oz of water. I had not peed since mile one of the run. I figured I was not getting enough fluid or calories, but knew I would get a side stitch if I did eat or drink.
I walked to mile 18 and saw the EN team. It felt great to see those friendly faces, but also a bit disappointing because I was in such rough shape. I really did not want to let them down. Bill and Josh were particularly great – they encouraged me to have some calories and talked me down from my ledge. I laid down for a while and had some Coke and water. I wasn’t close to quitting, I knew I could walk and still make the cut off. But it was disappointing to walk. Josh walked with me through the turn around on State St. and back to mile 1820.5. During that stretch I also saw my wife, niece and two friends who came out to support me. I was so thankful that they were going to stick it out until I finished – it was humbling. What great supporters. They were out there for over 16 hours!
Bill came back along the course to find me at about mile 25 and walked me in. I was able to shuffle around the capital and down the finishing chute and finally heard the words I had been wanting to hear for the last year – my One Thing, “Dave Williams, from Minneapolis, Minnesota – YOU are an Ironman!”
My time was a bit under 15:20.
Comments
Dave, I have been waiting to hear your report!! So sorry bout your stomach issues. Seems like a familiar theme from the day! I remembering seeing you on the run...you were heading back in not sure if it was loop one or two, but I called your name. You looked up at me briefly and barely smiled.....I thought oh no...David is having troubles!!! That run was a bugger, but u did it!!! You did not give up and you heard what you came there to hear....." DAVID WILLIAMS, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!"
I think that run brought everyone to a dark place at some point or another, I know there were certainly times where I was running with my eyes glazed over, a few times that I closed them and found myself starting to veer off the course. I was complaining some after the race that I didn't feel too great on the run, but after reading about you guys literally throwing up and keeping on going I can't imagine how hard it was to keep going.
I remember seeing you a few times on the run and I could tell you were having a hard time, but I'm very happy that you stuck it through and hope that the finish line made it all worth it in the end. It was great talking and training with you throughout the season and if anything you earned the finish even more for having to overcome that much more in order to get there.
Trevor - I don't remember seeing you once, though I was looking for you. It looks like you did well, congrats. That ride on Thursday we did together helped demystify the course for me. I really leaned on what I learned that day during the bike leg. It was great to be able to ride it with you.
As I said before, the Ironman experience was made more rich through the relationships that we built through the weekend and over the last year. It would have been a much more dull experience were it not for the team. It was so fun looking for people, thinking about people and hearing from people afterward. I'm happy to have gotten to know you and look forward to meeting (and riding) again!
I was also a bit startled, and amused, by people moo-ing around the first bouy. I vaguely remember hearing about this and it surprised me when Ii heard it. One of many things I like about this course.
Dave- I think it was you that I saw on the side of the street & asked if you were ok. At that point we were both in a bit of a fog
. Good to see you at the finish though. CONGRATS on your success!!
Wow! That is one way to hang tough on that run. I hope you appreciate in yourself the strength and tenacity it took to do that. Talk about digging deep! Congrats, Dave! That's a really hard Ironman story, but you did it, and did yourself proud.
Dave,
I am so impressed with your race. You looked great when I saw you early in the run on the square then we didn't see you for a long time. All were worried. Like Bill said, when you hit mile 18, I thought you were done too. When I heard that you were continuing on, I couldn't believe it. You couldn't have been better prepared but then your body whacked out on you. You took what the day gave you and turned it into a victory. I think you need to book a ticket for the Revenge Tour!
Matt
I'm so glad to hear you did in fact make it in! Congrats on finishing the Ironman- no one is gonna take that away from you!
PS- IF of 1.08? I'm pretty sure you meant VI of 1.08- if not, I would be surprised you didn't bonk a lot sooner!!! :-)
P