Satisfaction

In the tent, I was focused, deftly putting on socks, compression calf sleeves, running shoes, and then I grabbed a volunteer to help me with sunscreen....... And immediately realized how much skin had been missed when I applied SPF the first time around. I felt two rings of fire on my back, between my shoulders blades and my tri suit. I told the volunteer to apply as much sunblock as possible, while I put my visor and sunglasses on to head out the door.

To give you all some perspective, when I was leaving the change tent to head out on my run, the Voice of Ironman was announcing the arrival of the Female winner, Heather Wurtele. That is how fast these pro women are, able to swim-bike-run the whole race faster than I could swim-bike-apply sunscreen. It gave me goose bumps to hear the crowd cheer her on, and I harnessed that energy to start my run.

The run, my first marathon, in my first Ironman, how does that work? Let me tell you. Having been unable to complete some of my run training due to injury, I knew that I would have to have a plan for this run, and I did. Walk through the aid stations and bigger hills, otherwise, run, and keep running. I left the oval running, ready for the immediate downhill, which ends just before the first aid station. No walking break here. Although I can't recall whether I saw them at the beginning of the first or second loop of the run, it was great to see the cheering section from the club in Ottawa as I made my way past!

I took the first 3k of the marathon to find my running legs, and get into a rhythm that I thought I could sustain for the hours to come. About 2k in to the run I approached our cottage, where I could see our neighbours, out on their lawn chairs waiting for their athlete to run by. I stopped for a second to ask where my husband was, and they snapped a picture of me starting my run. I told them to tell my hubby that he was fired, and he'd better be in his spot for when I passed by again. Next, I came across the hotel where my parents were staying. I could hear my Mom cheering from about half a kilometre away! She's been practicing this cheering method for years, I was so happy to see her smiling face.

Just after my Mom I saw my cycling partner, who gave me a huge smile and a cheer, “Nicole! You look great, just keep that pace! You have lots of time!” She was rocking her marathon as I knew she would, I gave her a quick cheer and kept on going.

From there it was all downhill….. No, literally, it was basically a huge downhill as we made our way toward the Olympic Ski Jumps, past the Lake Placid Horseshow Grounds, ultimately turning left onto River Road.

At this point in the race it was remarkable to me to see so many people of different ages, shapes and sizes. Each one of them was making forward progress, some looking strong, others looking green. By some miracle, I was feeling good, and relatively happy with my pace when I came upon a young ginger haired guy, at the peak of fitness, walking. He said to me “are you feeling anywhere near as bad as I do right now?”, I couldn’t lie, so I said, “actually, I’m feeling pretty good right now, happy to be running”,  I’m pretty sure I didn’t make his afternoon, so I continued on my way.

Now, the aid stations on the run were really something to behold, first, the portable facilities, hydration options and ice, then the food, everything from PowerBars, to Gels, to pretzels and fruit, and finally, sponges soaked in cool water. At around the 3 km mark, I took water and a sponge – fabulous! I kept that up for every second aid station from then on.

Hitting the River Road, I was thinking about my race plan, and exactly what constituted a large hill, and for some reason, I decided to take a walking break. No aid station or hill in sight. About 20 seconds into the walk I heard a voice behind me, “come on Nicole, any kind of run is better than a walk, let’s go!”… uh oh, caught walking, I thought.  It was Glen, I started running again and we stayed together for a bit talking about our days, and then he was off in his streak of black, red and white.

I kept his voice in my mind as I made my way down the road, which undulates through a lovely neighbourhood.  It was great to see the community out, many sitting at the end of their driveways – partly because they had no way to leave with the road closed to traffic!  They cheered us on as we made our way to the turnaround and headed back into town. Just before I hit the turn I saw Glen again and he said “That’s it Nicole, you look great! Keep it up like that and you’re going to be an Ironman!” and I knew that he was right!

The run back into town is a challenge, because the steep downhills that I’ve already described become steep uphills. At this point, the miles begin to wear, and you see other competitors walking, in various states of discomfort. I set my sights on the next spot I would see my family and kept moving. Coming up on our cottage again, I realized my watch was dead, so I awkwardly removed my heart rate strap – which had become a chafing nightmare –  and my watch, preparing to hand it off to my husband. It was great to see him, in shutterbug mode at first, and then hear his words of encouragement. I quickly passed him the dead watch, and made my way back into town.

The energy from the spectators coming up the hill was crazy, their cheers, taunts and general madness pulls you up, and revs your engine for the turn onto Lake Placid Club Drive where you turn around and do the loop all over again. Right in the thick of the crowd was my Mom, walking with me up the hill, willing me onward and upward.

Just after the turnaround I saw my riding partner again, she was coming to the end of her race, and I was blessed to run with her for what was almost the last 500 metres of her first Ironman. “You’re doing great, Nicole!” she said, there were tears in my eyes knowing what she’d put in to get there. I cheered like crazy, finally saying, “Go get it Ironman, I’ll see you in a few hours”. She rocked it, with a 12:09 finishing time. So proud of her!

That energy was all I needed to keep me moving, what an exhilarating feeling! Once I’d choked down the tears, it was time to hit the downhill on Sentinel Road and start my second loop. As I approached our cottage for the penultimate time that afternoon I heard my name, it was Grant, our neighbour for Ironman week, who was just coming to the end of his second loop on the run. We stopped for a minute for a check-in, he knew it was my first IM, and asked how I was doing. It’s amazing to think that he took time out of his race to ask about mine, these people are really quite incredible.

Seeing my family on this pass was amazing. My husband keeps saying that I smiled the whole race, but if I hadn’t been wearing sunglasses, he’d know that every time I saw him out there, my eyes filled with tears. Your feelings are heightened when you’re out there alone for so many hours, at least mine are, so seeing this amazing guy who has supported me unwaveringly through this process hit me really hard every time. He’s kind of a ninja spectator too, his words of encouragement come through as a quiet calm, but underneath I can always tell he’s pushing for me to do my best.

The second time on the downhills I knew what to expect, and some of the sites were familiar from the first pass. As we made our way toward River Road, I came upon a walker, the woman who had asked me for a GU at the start of the swim! She started running again and we chatted for a bit, “I’ve been watching you, and I can’t believe you’re still running”, she said. I told her about the game plan and how I was determined to run as much of the race as I could. Unfortunately, she’d been experiencing some stomach issues, and had been slowed to a walk for a while at that point. The funny thing was, I had pulled into the bike special needs station at the same time as she had that afternoon, and I noticed that she’d been eating dried fruit and stuff on the ride. I made a mental note NEVER to try that, given the resulting marathon walk.

Shortly after that, I found myself thinking, I can’t believe it’s almost over, what am I going to do now? Just then I passed a lady who said “I can’t believe it’s almost over! What are we supposed to do after this?” It was hilarious, I laughed with her, telling her I’d just thought the same thing. She ended up finishing just before me, and we’ve got veritable flip book photos of her finishing dance, she was clearly stoked!

Darkness eventually took over, and I found myself running toward the light. The light brings aid stations, and ultimately the finish line. Every light you hit brings you closer to the announcement you’ve been waiting to hear all day long. Something happens at the aid stations at night, I’m not sure whether the volunteers succumb to being out in the sun all day, or being on their feet for so long, but the party definitely ramps up. They were dancing and singing, and…..GIVING ATHLETES M&Ms!!!! I cannot tell you how amazing that was; I think they were the best M&Ms I’ve ever had in my entire life. Throw in a few pretzels and I was set.

Hitting the turnaround, I was so excited, I yelled “I’m going to be an Ironman!” to a guy running a light-up message board displaying words of encouragement to the athletes – I’m sure he thought I was nuts. I feel like I flew from there to our cottage, where my family started to walk on the sidewalk next to me. My dad was walking a bit ahead, which I’m fairly sure was to appear stoic/hide the tears in his eyes. As I mentioned, he’s the strong, silent type. My husband walked beside me on the sidewalk, with my mom on the other side of the road, both invisibly pushing me along. I kept running, and was stoked to see Nat and Brent from Ottawa volunteering at the aid station just before the last big climb. I got a huge cheer from their entire group and made my way up the hill. At the top of the hill, three guys from Quebec joined me, declaring that I looked beautiful tonight, and that I was really glowing. Thanks boys, I’m married, but this really helped! And then came the last turn onto Lake Placid Club Drive.

Just past the swim start, at the end of Matt Long’s driveway – see post # 1 –  there were a group of spectators making margaritas with a blender attached to the back of a bike. They’d been at it all day, both making and imbibing. “Have one!” they declared, and I said “won’t be long now!” running past them toward the turnaround. Hitting that turnaround was another Tour de France moment. What seemed like all the residents of the surrounding houses were packed around a solitary pylon, cheering at the top of their lungs. High fives were given all the way around. Back at Matt Long’s house, one of his buddy’s spotted a guy in front of me and said “Girl, you stay with him! You got this!”, and I did! Coming down onto Main Street I felt like I was flying, “Right Turn Here!” said the volunteer, and I choked back tears to thank him.

As I hit the track I could hear Mike Reilly saying, “Here she comes, this is Nicole Delaney from Ottawa, Canada! Come on Nicole! Nicole Delaney, from Ottawa, Canada, You Are an Ironman!!”

If the video doesn’t lie, and the photos are telling the truth, this finish was one of the most exhilarating and fabulous experiences of my life. I celebrated from the moment I hit the track, arms in the air, high fiving with the crowd and finally crossing that finish line as an Ironman. Time: 15:26:12.

Almost immediately, I was whisked to a medal, a t-shirt and a finishing photo by a volunteer. After that, I finally got to see my husband and parents. Hugging him for the first time after the race was even better than finishing – true story, we’d been in this together for so long, it was such a team effort. I never could have done it without his support. We make the best team. I can’t wait for the adventures to come!