JFK50 Mile Race Report

The morning started off early at 3:15. I got my breakfast muffin down along with a banana and some Gatorade. I felt great and was really excited for the day. I got to my parents house and away we went to Boonsboro. When we arrived I put my Perpetuam bottle together and went in to the pre-race meeting. I changed into my running clothes and got myself all ready. I threw my gaitors on my shoes stuffed my pockets with Gels, fruit snacks, snickers mini bars and away we went.

            We walked to the start line which is about a 1000 yard walk. Everybody was cold but I felt great, race nerves seem to do that to me on a regular basis. We passed the lawyers office where the sign said it was 31 degrees….. perfect! I had just enough time to walk up to the start with the other 1200 starters, tell my wife I love her and then the gun went off.

Away we went, 1200 people at a fun strolling pace. After the first mile I literally felt like I could do this forever. At mile 1 we started going up, and when I say up, I mean up. We hit the Appalachian trail and continued our ascent to the clouds.  Only a few people were running at this point. When running an ultra marathon you have to walk the up hills or you will be toast by mile 20 and your day will be ruined. So up we went, 1200 feet in 4 miles. That’s 12 football fields if you were going straight up. We were at an 8-12% gradient so it seemed like it took forever. Once it started going downhill the fun trail work started. Within a quarter mile I heard a yell. Around 30 seconds later I saw a guy on the side of the trail with blood pouring out of his knees. The rocks were everywhere and unforgiving. People were dropping and twisting ankles but we all kept motoring on – it was a blood bath.

            At the 6 mile mark is where I saw the worst injury. It was really quiet on the trail, all you heard was the sound of twigs breaking and people breathing – then a thud. I knew it was bad, when I caught up to the scene I saw a women rolling over to her front. She was crying and barely moving. I knew her day was done and felt awful. This lady has been training for 6 months for this race and it was over 6 miles into it and not to mention the hours she is about to spend at the hospital fixing her broken body. The Appalachian Trail does that to people. It eats you up, chews you and spits you back out, and if you can keep going, you will feel it later on in the race. Lord knows I had my fair share of close calls – at least 25-30 ankle twists.

I guess all those ankle strengthening exercises were worth it. When I saw this sign I knew I was close to Weverton Cliffs and knew I would soon be seeing my crew. That always puts a good thought in your mind.

            15 miles in I finally got to see my crew. My wife, parents, brother (who ran JFK in 2010), my sister (who is the best runner in the family), Tony, Josh and Ashley. Seeing your crew is fantastic, it's such a high. Once I found them I took a seat in a chair and took my trail shoes off and threw on my road shoes. I changed my shirt and took my ear warmers off and threw on my hat. I also had an extremely hot cup of soup. It was needed though. (See the ChesapeakeMan 2011 race report for details). I needed the sodium. After a few mins Tony and I left as he was going to pace me for the next 12 miles. The good news is the Appalachian Trail part was done. The bad news is I would be staring at the same scenery on the C&O Canal for the next 27 miles. A marathon of this…..

...and yes there were cyclists on the canal telling me when I had to move when I was in there way. I guess they didn’t know there was a race going on and we have already ran 20 miles at that point. I was holding in my anger but I noticed my temper was starting to get short.

Tony and I were ticking off miles with ease. We started a 15 min run, 2 min walk interval. Once again, if you try to run the whole thing, you will burn out by mile 40 and will be walking the entire last 10 miles or won't finish. Trust me. At mile 20 we passed a bunch of marines. They were starting their walk interval. One of the Marines told the Marines behind him to ignore Tony and I as we ran past them because we (Tony and I) will burn out and they (The Marines) would pass us later on in the race…… Challenge Accepted!

I was feeling good and sticking to my nutrition until mile 23, this is when a girl and 2 guys ran up right behind Tony and I and fed off us for a mile. It literally sucked the energy right out of me. It was breaking me with every step. They wouldn’t pass us even when we slowed down. I don’t know what it was, but I was going to a bad mental place here. Doubt started creeping into my mind. Eventually I ran behind Tony and forced them to pass. I started feeling a little bit better but then it got hard to eat.

            We met up with my crew again at mile 27. Here my wife forced me to change my socks (which I wrote down exactly like that on my itinerary “Force me to change my socks at mile 27, I don’t want blisters"). When I took off my sock I saw my heinous toes. Two of my toenails had large blood blisters underneath. One of them was definitely going to fall off eventually. (I’m proud to say it’s still on my foot … but barely)  I also drank some soup and re-stocked my water bottle at the aid station. My dad wanted a picture so he had us all look his way, little did they all know that I swore I was going to pass out right then and there. I managed to stare at one place on the picnic table and talk to them – faking it that I was okay. I knew I had to erase the doubt so I was eager to get started running. I also knew the pass out feeling was all in my head and would go away. I felt the same way at ChesapeakeMan and I survived that, so I knew this was just par for the course.  
My brother was going to pace me for the next 10 or so miles which was fantastic since he ran the JFK50 Miler last year. He knew exactly how to pace me. He knew exactly what to say and how to say it to me. I was irritable at this point. I already ran a marathon and knew I still had over 20 miles to go. I took an Uncrustable with me but could only manage to get down 1 bite of it before tossing it on the ground. These miles seemed to tick by fast. My brother was so encouraging. He would tell me that I was breaking one of the marine guys who had sped up past his marine buddies. He also told me I was doing great, and looked okay. At mile 33 he told me this was the point where all the miles were new. This was the farthest I have ever ran before. I was feeling pretty decent at this point, the bad minutes were equal to the good ones, however my body was going through something wierd where I couldnt tell if I was hot, cold or comfortable- temperature wise. It was like I couldnt feel my temperature. This worried me for a few miles but when away after my left hamstring started hurting and became all I could think about. It was literally a mental roller coaster and I was prepared for that. We got to the aid station which was decorated like the north pole and I grabbed some M&M’s. Santa was even at this aid station along with his elves. Santa passed my water bottle to his elf who filled up some new water for me. I then looked to my right and saw a guy grabbing a cup of coke, I looked up at his face and saw there was a huge gash in the middle of his forehead with dried blood dripping all the way down his face.

He was covered but he seemed happy. In fact, I’d say he was probably in a better mental place than I was and he took a hard fall in the first 15 miles. That guy is a trooper. When we left the aid station my back was starting to seize up on me so I had to have my brother carry my water for me. I felt awful for having to do this because he didn’t make me carry his water for him last year, but I think it saved my race. My brother is a lot stronger person than I am mentally. He seemed to take things so much easier than I did at JFK – unless he was faking it like I did. We finished up at mile 38. At the aid station I saw some Mountain Dew and drank it waiting to see what it would do to me. It was the most delicious thing I have ever had.

            We all grew mustaches for Movember which was a campaign to raise awareness for prostate cancer. My sister was going to pace me for the next 8 miles. It was so neat when I got to see her come out with a painted on moustache, it put a smile on my face and whenever I felt bad during the next 8 miles it was nice looking over and seeing a stupid moustache on her face.

 After mile 42 my sister and I left the C&O Canal and entered the last 8 miles on the roads to the finish line. These roads were super hilly. Lots of walking up the up hills which I didn’t mind - I loved the break. My sister was a great pacer, I asked her if she would ever do JFK and she said “NO”. I believe her. When you are doing it, it’s not the most fun thing in the world, but it certainly is a blast. How that makes sense, I don’t know.

At mile 44 we ran past a girl who was crying uncontrollably as she was running. I wanted to say something to her to try and boost her spirits but couldn’t get anything out. My sister usually would have said something to somebody in that place but she had her hands full with me. A few days later I went online and stumbled upon that woman's race report - so she did finish the race, and only 10 mins behind me (not that I had a fast time or anything). Good for her! My sister and I ended our run at mile 46. 4 miles left!

            We got to the aid station and I sat in my comfortable chair. I was so excited, I knew I would finish the race but I didn’t want to go out and run because I hated those rolling hills. Tony told me I had 45 mins to do the 4 miles and I would finish sub 10 hours. I didn’t care. I could have cared less what my time would have been. I was relaxing and comfortable and I was okay with that. Eventually Josh and I strolled off for the last 4 miles. We talked about training and running and it was nice and relaxing although it seemed like it took forever. I was done with these rolling hills. My legs and feet were screaming at me. Every step hurt all over. The bottoms of my feet felt like BBQ, my quads and hamstrings were sore to the touch. I love the pain. That’s the one thing I can deal with. I might not be strong mentally, I might cast a ton of doubt upon myself, but when having to face pain, I will always win. I love it. It’s what makes me feel alive and makes me know that I’m doing something pretty special.

We went through a traffic light and had about ½ a mile left. Josh and I shook hands and he took off to the side as pacers aren’t allowed to run through the finishing chute.

There was a lady around 10 yards in front of me so I slowed down so she could finish the race alone and really soak up her memories of the day. Then it was my turn. The crowd was cheering me on and I couldn’t help but smile. I made it! My stride may have been broken and I haven’t been able to eat anything for the last 10 miles but I made it somehow. Then with 20 yards left I heard the crowd cheering some more, I knew what was happening. I was getting ready to cross the finish line when a women and a man raced to the finish line and crossed the line exactly 1 second before me. She celebrated by waving her hands to the side just as the race photographer was taking my pictures. Bam… a hand in my face for my finishing picture at my first ultra marathon. She walked up to me and congratulated me and wanted to shake my hand. Keep in mind my temper was super short at this point so I jumped at the chance to yell at her for ruining my racing picture. "I just ran over 10 hours and I wont get to see myself crossing the line. Thanks!" I was pissed. I told her I wouldn’t shake her hand. Now I know she ran a long time today too, but in JFK you can apply for permission to start the race 2 hours before the general field. Normally people have 12 hours to finish, if you apply for the 2 extra hours, you get 14 hours and you start at 5am rather than 7am. So she was 2 hours behind me and ruined my picture. No wonder she had the energy to sprint to the line. I was infuriated. I explained to her that in ironman events and ultra marathons that unless you are going for the win or a qualifying time you don’t do what she did. You let people finish by themselves. It’s an unspoken rule when it comes to ultra marathons and Ironman’s. Maybe I was a little mean, but it wasn’t right. Anyway, they gave me my medal and I went and found my crew and my wife and gave her a celebratory kiss. My body was done, my mind was done, but I was elated. And those Marines.... I saw them finish 10 minutes after me. That was a victory in itself. Challenge won! So 10 hours and 7 mins after starting I finished! And that felt great.

            It’s amazing what the human body is capable of. In only a year and a half I went from struggling to run a single 10 min mile to running a 50 mile ultra marathon. I just completed something that less than 0.01% of the US population has done. However, I believe anybody is capable of completing such a feat. All you need is to do the training and tell yourself that you will finish. If you do that, you will finish. The human mind and body are so strong and it honestly saddens me that some people go through life never knowing what they can accomplish. They never know how strong they really are and they never test themselves. Some people say they would never want to run that far. I thought the same thing. But I love being in the best shape of my life, and I love testing my mind and body. And being able to accomplish these goals with your family and close friends is something that could never be put into words.

.... and for the post race toe picture! Yes, some of those nails are going to end up falling off.

ChesapeakeMan Race Report

Many people asked me what it's like to compete in an IronMan distance race. There is nothing easy about completeing 140.6 miles without stopping. It's also hard to train for 3 sports at the same time. On the busiest weeks I would log over 20 hours of training. I would wake up at 5:00am to go swim, go to work, then come home and go for a bike ride, get back home and go for a run. Once the run was over I would get back home and take a shower, eat dinner and go right to bed. Just to do it all again the next day. It takes a special wife to be able to deal with your husband being gone for that long. All of that training is necessary, though. It's a long race. You start out the race swimming 2.4 miles in the Choptank River. You then go on a 112 mile bike ride through the windy marshlands of Cambridge. You then run a full 26.2 mile marathon on a lonely stretch of Egypt Road. This race report will help you get an inside look at the race and the rollercoaster ride of emotions it brought on to me.

Pre Race:

I woke up at 3:51 for race day praying it wasn’t going to monsoon. I checked the weather forecast on my phone and it said 20% showers all day with clouds. Perfect weather if you ask me. I ate my giant blueberry muffin and my banana, grabbed all of my gear bags and headed off to T2. I dropped of my run gear bag and my run special needs bag and bike special needs bag. I jumped on the shuttle bus and it took us to T1 where I dropped of my bike bag, pumped up my tires and met up with my family who just showed up at the race. We hung out and talked and before I know it I was putting my wet suit on and covering my body with Vaseline. I needed to get out one more pee so I walked into the dark shrubs near the water. When I was walking back I ended up stepping in a large pile of dog crap with my bare feet. This was quite disgusting; luckily I was going to be swimming in less than 10 minutes. What a shitty way to start off the day. (pun intended)

The Swim:

I started in the back of the mass start for personal reasons. (Since this is a race report I’ll go in to gross detail. When I get nervous before races, I pee a ton. This race was no difference. I had to pee again. I knew I could pee in the water behind everybody else so I started in the back) .The gun went off and away we went. I no longer felt the freezing cold water as I was now in race mode with an empty bladder.  It was a fairly violent start. People were kicking and punching… a normal triathlon swim start. 200 meters in I took a left arm to the face which knocked my goggles off my eyes. I stopped to fix them and got back in my groove. We passed the back end of the rectangle shaped course, so I assumed I was around 1000 meters in. Here the water was extra choppy and that’s when I felt a piece of seaweed brush against my arm. This was different seaweed - it hurt. Around 100 meters further I hit another piece of painful seaweed. I was thinking maybe all the rain stirred up the bottom of the Choptank River. I went another 50 meters and hit something squishy with my left hand. It was then that I realized I was getting stung by jellyfish. I think the next 3-4 stings made me realize the faster I swam, the faster I would get out of this war zone. I stopped sighting every 5 strokes. I found a good swimmer and swam next to him, sighting every 20 strokes. He was on my breathing side so I only had to breathe and glance over at him to see if I was swimming straight. He eventually swim past me and I swam in his draft for a couple of hundred meters before he left me for good. I finished the first loop in 37 mins. I was happy with that time. I was thinking I’d be closer to 45 mins. I went out to start the second loop when I took a nice jelly fish stink to the right arm pit. The pain in the other stings was now a dull sensation but the new ones always freaked me out. They always hit me when I least expected them. The second loop went about the same as the first; however, I think I swallowed around a gallon of sea water. One guy grabbed my left leg in the choppy water. I was able to shake him off but when he did it again I kicked up really hard with my right leg and got him good. Not sure if I hit face, arm or chest, but my leg wasn’t grabbed anymore. I swam to the swim exit and my feet hit ground. I stood up and realized my equilibrium was all over the place. People were falling around me like college kids leaving a bar.  The 2.4 mile swim was finally over in 1 hour 16 mins. My goal was 1:30.

Transition 1:

They gave me the wrong bike gear bag at first so I put it on the ground and started to yell my number. Eventually a guy got my bag and handed it to me. I thanked him, told him to have a great day and ran to the changing tent. All the seats were filled so I sat on the ground and threw my bike stuff on and ran out of the tent towards my bike. My dad asked how I felt. I told him I felt great except for all the jellyfish stings. I put my sunglasses on when I realized they were broken. I threw my one week old Oakley’s to the ground and off I went for the 112 mile bike course.

The Bike:

The first 10 miles were uneventful. I ate an Uncrustable and drank some Hammer Nutrition Heed and Perpetuam. At the 12 mile mark we had to make a loop, I didn’t know it was a quick circle and almost ran off the road because the flag waving volunteer wasn’t waving his flag in the direction I was supposed to go. He was just looking at me as if I had 6 heads or something.  I made the turn and headed towards the long 50 mile loop. For the first 30 miles I concentrated on nutrition. Every 15 mins I would take a nice drink of Perpetuam followed by Heed followed by water. On every 30 minute mark I would take a shot of Hammer Gel and on the hour I would eat fruit snacks, an uncrustable or a cliff bar. I took in some endurolytes every hour as well. I new I was hydrated because I had to make a few bathroom breaks. These were eventful because there weren’t many Port-A-Potty’s set up. With all the rain the mosquitoes were everywhere, and they were pissed and smelled blood right away. I’m sure the sight of me jogging around in cycling shoes while I was peeing was a funny sight. Only a few of the bastards got me. One resilient one made it a solid 3 miles on my shoulder before I knew he was there. When I squished him it left a blood stain on my brand new AFC tri top. Next I ran into a 3-5 mile stretch of rough road. It felt like we were on cobblestones. My over hydrated bladder took a beating and this stretch of rough road made me have to pee like none other. They told us we would encounter a 1 ½ mile stretch of road that had water on it. I was expecting this so when I got to it I expected a few puddles. Little did I know it was 4-5 inches of water. I quickly dropped to an easier gear and pushed through the swamp. My feet were literally under the water at the bottom of my pedal stroke. My feet were soaked, but it was kind of fun. Something new to take my mind off the monotony of the long bike ride. Around 5 miles later fellow Adventures For the Cure teammate Tony Glorioso (he was doing the Skipjack race that covered over 70 miles total) was passing me on the bike. We talked a bit about the swim and the water on the roads. This ended up hurting him because he came in second place in his age group by only 53 seconds. It may have hurt him, but it helped me. It’s always nice running into people you know when your mind starts to haunt you with what you still have to do in the race.) I sang every song I could think of to myself and finally made it to the special needs bag drop area at mile 65. Here my parents were waiting for me along with my brother. My brother had a sign that read “Go Brent, Don’t Die.”

 It made me laugh as I reached out for my bag. I stuffed my bento box and ran to the Port-A-Potty. My mom held my bike while I was in there, my dad was updating the race status on his facebook page. Kind of funny seeing my dad do that. I jumped on my bike and my dad told me only 45 miles left. I kindly reminded him it was actually 47 miles. I started riding again, eating and drinking according to my schedule. At the 80 mile mark everything started hurting. My butt, my legs, my neck, my triceps, everything. I was also really bored. I swore to myself at this point that I would never do another full Ironman distance race and I would never ride this stupid bike again. This second loop was the exact same as the first, however, the water on the road was a little deeper because of the high tide. After getting through the swamp I finished my bike ride. I averaged 17.1 mph. I was hoping for 17.2-17.8 so I was happy with that. I didn’t want to hammer it too hard on the bike because I didn’t want to wreck my legs for the run. My 112 mile bike journey was finally over. In around 6 hours 30 minutes.

Transition 2:

I waited a second at the dismount area before somebody grabbed my bike. They handed me my run gear bag and I ran into the changing tent. This time there were seats in the transition area. Everybody in there was moaning and taking their time, as was I. It had already been a long day and now we had to “run” a marathon. I changed my socks and shoes grabbed a banana and off I went for a 26.2 mile war.

The Run:

I actually felt good coming into the run. I was hydrated and I left some room in my legs to run. My super goal was to run a 4 hour marathon but had no clue if that was possible after 114.4 miles of swimming and cycling. I went out at an 8:45 pace and felt great stopping at the first aid station for Gatorade and water. This aid station was nice because they were blasting loud music. It allowed me to escape the distance that was in front of me. I drank at the next two aid stations and made it to the 4.5 mile turn around where I took a shot of Hammer Gel. This one didn’t get down that easily, but I choked it down after a little fight. The turn around was neat. There was a party set up and the actual turn around point was a cooler where the people were storing their beer. They were blasting music as well and rooting us on. The ladies were dressed up as peacocks and giving out hugs to any runners that needed one. I got more Gatorade and water and headed back to the high school. I made it to the run start area and was feeling good getting ready to start lap 2 of my 3 lap 26.2 mile trek. I saw my family and told them I was feeling well. I stopped for a quick Port-A-Potty break and went on my way. Mile 11 hit and I felt great!! Mile 11.5 hit and I thought I was dying!!! My stomach started cramping like none other. I have never felt a stomach cramp that bad. And they wouldn’t go away. I refused to stop so I made it my goal to at least run to the next rest stop and get down some liquids. I was angry because my legs felt fine, my stomach just refused to allow me to keep my pace. I made it to the next couple of aid stations and started drinking more water and Gatorade. I took down some endurolytes and started running again. Nothing changed. My stomach was still killing me. I started getting worried that my whole race was going to implode. I knew I ate fine on the bike and was well hydrated going into the run. I’ve run open marathons before and only drank every 2 miles and that was enough for them. Here I am drinking every mile but now I’m hurting like none other. At the turn around (13.5 mile mark) I grabbed some potato chips and started eating them. Nothing. I drank and drank and drank. Nothing. At mile 15 I started getting worried. I was getting dizzy and it looked like the clouds were moving really really fast. Maybe they were? I was able to choke down 100 calories worth of fruit snacks but still couldn’t get any relief. I tried drinking some Pepsi because I remember my grandmother giving it to me when I was sick as a child. It went down fine and I felt better while I was walking, but when I started running again the cramps were there and even worse. I was actually scared to see my family to begin the 3^rd loop because I didn’t want them to see me in such a bad place. They could probably only see me for a half mile stretch, but I was scared I couldn’t even jog that long. Before I made it to the turnaround a guy coming up behind me asked what lap I was on. I told him I was on lap 2, he said he was on lap 3. He asked me how I felt. I told him about my stomach. He said that I should try eating the soup at aid station 2 and 4. He said his stomach was killing him and he ate it and felt great afterwards. He wished me luck and ran to his finish. I got to see him run down the finishing chute as I made the turn to see my family and begin my last 8 mile lap. When I saw my family they asked me how I was. I told them my stomach was in a bad bad place. They told me afterwards that they could tell I wasn’t feeling well. I lost my stride and was struggling to hold onto 10-11 minute miles. I made the turn and got out of their site and started to walk. I hated walking.

This was the first race I have ever done where I walked. Every step felt like somebody was punching my quads, but I didn’t mind that pain. I was expecting it and I’ve felt that pain before in marathons. This stomach thing was new and it hurt. I saw the aid station about a mile and a half in the distance and forced myself to run to it. I ran as close to the side of the road as possible hoping that if I passed out I would land in the grass to the side of me. I was hoping I could wake up after a soft landing and finish the race. Yes, your mind set is that crazy during races like this. You are willing to do anything to make it to the finish. I made it to the aid station and got some soup and coke. The soup tasted great but when I started running I was still hurting. I went to the Port-A-Potty to force myself to pee to see what color my urine was to try and tell if I was dehydrated. It looked like I pee’d orange juice. At this point I was scared. I was dizzy and dehydrated. I walked the next ¼ mile passing by a group of people in green shirts rooting us on. They told me to keep on marching forward. I listened but it hurt. I was in a melt down. I got to the next aid station and got some more hot soup and cola. I walked for around a minute to make sure it went down. I started jogging and felt absolutely fantastic. What the heck just happened? It was like somebody flipped a switch and turned my body back on. It was the weirdest thing I have ever felt my body go through. I was shocked. I started picking up the pace to a 9:00 pace and felt great. It was like I was a new person. I pushed my run to an 8:30 pace and still felt great. I was scared to push any further because I didn’t want to bonk out. The soup had saved my life. All I wanted to do was thank the guy who told me to eat it. He saved my day and my sub 13 hour goal was still in tact if I could hold on. I ran around the far turn around for the last time. I slapped the peacock’s high five and told them to play me some Lil’ Wayne to run out too. They didn’t have it so I settled for soup and went on my way. At that point another guy caught up to me. We ran together for the last 4 miles talking about the pain that we were going through.  It was amazing to see what the human body is capable of going through and pulling itself out of. We were walking with our drinks in hand at the last aid station. We finished our cups and threw them to the ground. He started to run and  I told him to go ahead planning on finishing a few seconds after him so he could cross the line by himself and live it up running up the finishing chute. I forced myself at this point to walk the next tenth of a mile. A few tears crawled out of my eyes and I told myself to take this moment in. All the training, the fight to get to this point – I’m going to do it! I though about my brother. I went to watch him do Ironman Louisville last year and after he passed out on the bike, he got up and finished the bike portion. He started the run but then had to pull out. It broke my heart having to see him pull out. He wanted it so bad. All I wanted to do was finish the 140.6 distance for him and get revenge on it. I knew at that time I was going to do it. At that time it was just getting dark, I couldn’t see my footing, but I didn’t care. I could have broken my foot stepping in a pot hole but it didn’t matter. I knew I could crawl to the finish at this point and that made me happy. As I was turning for the home stretch a race official on a motorcycle asked if I was finishing. I told him yes and he congratulated me and rode on. I’m guessing he was handing out glow sticks to the people that were going to be there for a while. I ran down the stretch and the hundreds of people at the finish line were cheering for me. It was an amazing rush of energy. I saw the finish line and heard the announcer announce my name. I crossed at 12:44:44. The announcer gave me a high five. He seemed genuinely excited for me. They handed me some Gatorade, put the medal around my neck and handed me my finisher’s shirt. The guy ran the final 4 miles with came by and we shook hands congratulations each other.I saw my family walking over and my dad came and shook my hand and told me I did a good job. I’ll remember that for the rest of my life. I looked for my mom but she was no where to be found. My brother told me she was scared to death when she saw me start my last lap. She was like a statue, no emotion, no movement. I turned around and saw her on the phone with my sister, smiling. She gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek and handed me the phone. My sister congratulated me as did the guy I ran with for the last 4 miles. I was literally in shock. Not at the fact that I finished such a long race, but the fact that I felt so good physically. After pulling myself out of that dark hole, I felt I could have ran another 10 miles without any problems at all. My body literally felt amazing at this point. It was the strangest thing.

Many people say I’m crazy for doing this race. I knew I would hit a point where my body would break down and I would have to will myself to the finish. That’s the reason I signed up for the race. Many people go through life never knowing how strong their bodies are. They never take themselves to the brink, crumbling from the pain and then see their bodies pull them out of it. It was an amazing thing for me to witness. During races like this there are 3 things racing it. Your heart is racing it, your body is racing it and your mind is racing it. Your mind will constantly be telling you that you are hurting and that you should stop. Your body will tell you through pain and injury that you need to stop. It’s up to your heart to ignore your mind and body and push forward when you don’t even know if there is an end in sight. When you are at the brink of crashing, literally blacking out, but yet, you push forward ignoring your mind and body, it’s that time that you realize what you are capable of. It’s at that point when you realize what it’s like to be alive….. to be an ironman.