Ironman Lake Placid Report

As most of you already know my race at Lake Placid was interrupted by a trip to the emergency room. However my day started out really well and the race was going as I had planned - well at least until a fellow competitor "bumped" me from my bike. For fear of writing one of those race reports that includes trips to the Porto-let I will try to just be short sweet and to the point.

Race morning was cool, no cold. My feet were frozen by the time I made it to Mirror Lake. The cold mountain water actually felt warm to my frozen toes. The first plus of the day! The women pros started at 6:25, which was a full 35 min before everyone else. I had time to do a nice "warm-up" and enjoy a few moments before the race observing the Ironman scene. I love to race in these big races, but at the same time I always feel like I am having an out of body experience. I have been so fortunate to be able to race so much over the past 6 years and in the company of such great athletes. Linsey Corbin was a new face to me at this race. We talked some before the race and then wished each other well. Aside from her amazing talent (a 3:10 marathon in the Ironman) she also was kind enough to e-mail me after the race to see how I was. How thoughtful is that!? Sorry for the digression - but after all this is a blog! Before long we were off and swimming. I fell into a group and shared the pulling with another 2 athletes. Towards the second half of the second lap the age groupers started to overtake us. At that point the smooth swim got a little rough but for the most part I was able to use the draft to my advantage and managed to exit the water in 1:03 which is one of my better swim times in an Ironman race. In my mind I was really happy to be off to a good start.

After a quick transition I was out on the bike. For some unknown reason I decided that I better wear a jacket! What was I thinking? Within 10 min I was stopping to take it off. My cadence sensor was not working and my legs felt super sluggish in the cold. I tried to calm myself and just work on getting the blood flowing in my legs but it took nearly 30 miles for me to feel somewhat normal. After that I started to get into a rhythm. John was at a surprise location so that was a good moment for me. I had some other friends out on the course watching and racing who were great distractions as well. Yeah - I started having fun. I watched the pro women in front of me and marveled at their strength. The weather was warming up, my heart rate was steady and I was keeping it on the low side because I was planning to have the run of my life! I passed the 100 mile mark at 5:40 and was pleased. I talked myself through the next series of hills - Little Cherry, Big Cherry, Mama Bear, Baby Bear, Papa Bear - that is all I had left when all of a sudden I was flying over the handle bars of my bike... (Moments before the accident - giving thumbs up)

At this point I was laying on the ground and I rolled onto my back. Basically I hit the ground still in my aero position. I had the wind knocked out of me for sure, but then I felt the pain in my shoulder. A moment later everyone was encouraging me to get back on the bike and finish but I was pretty certain that there was no way I was going to finish an Ironman with a dislocated shoulder. The guy who hit me was Ryan Van Praet - the Ford Everyday Ironman Hero. He was a nice guy, very apologetic and even offered to go to the hospital with me. I encouraged him to finish for both of us since he only really had road rash. Poor guy - since I had not kept up with all the happenings I did not even know who he was until after the race. Turns out he raised money and awareness for ALS. His father is dying of it. In addition to that he has some disease that is causing him to loose his eye sight. He is legally blind. So I am going to go out on a limb here and say that he probably never even saw me.

I got a ride in a support vehicle to the emergency room since there was no way I wanted to add to the cost of the day with an even higher medical bill! At the hospital I signed myself in and was then taken to x-ray. Why on earth did they have to turn my arm in such a strange position is beyond me - but they did and when they did I had a little surprise of my own for them..nothing like pain so bad that it makes you vomit, sweat and practically pass out. At that point they decided that maybe they did not need that view after all! I was then allowed to lay down and was given some useless pain killers (clean and synthetic) that did not work at all on me. After receiving 3 doses of it they went with Morphine and I was much more comfortable. Shortly there after my shoulder was put back where it belongs and I was out of there. I had time to go back to the house and take a shower and then go back to the race and watch everyone run. It was great to see my friends and Ryan (new friend?) finish but also bitter sweet since I was really looking forward to the run.

Paul Sullivan (friend from NC) had an amazing race finishing in under 11 hours and Gerald (AKA "G") managed to pull together a great race too. Ryan Van Praet finished in the 13 hour range and Linsey Corbin secured herself a spot to Hawaii with 5th place Overall finish.

I guess if I can walk away from the day with anything it is the fact that everything happens for a reason. Lake Placid was just not meant to be for me. No matter how mentally and physically prepared I was there is a bigger, greater force dictating our lives. Sometimes I like to fight it but after Lake Placid I just took a step back, took some time to look at how wrapped up I was/am in training. Maybe I needed a break? There are so many things I enjoy doing and while I have missed training I have enjoyed catching up with friends who were neglected during Ironman training. I know that I will come back stronger and more determined than ever but for now I am still enjoying physical therapy and abbreviated training.