By now many of you have already heard that Jean, Larry and I finished the race at Ironman Wisconsin Sunday and none of us got hurt. That could be the end of the story, but if you’re interested, here are some of the details from the “Just Jack” point of view.

All week long before the race the weathermen talked about a cool front coming through the area and the temperatures were expected to be a high of 67 and a low of 52 with a 30% chance of rain. Well, they were about 30% right!!! I don’t know the exact numbers but I think the low was around 52, the high never got above 59, there was a 100% rain event from the time the race started until it was over and the wind blew from 10 to 20 mph all day long. I can’t describe the conditions as anything but BRUTAL.

The swim was the warmest I was all day. It was chilly when we got ready, but once we got in, the water temp was about 72 and was not uncomfortable. The waves were a different story. There was a strong chop and whitecaps on the lake. The wind was from the east northeast so the waves made the swim on the “back side” of the rectangular swim course difficult. On many occasions I turned my head to take a breath and was whacked in the face by a wave, either swallowing water or having to wait for the next time to get that breath.

Several times I went to take a stroke and was slapped in the face by the waves, but on one stroke a wave caught my left elbow and I could feel my shoulder joint strain. It took a lot of the strength out of the next few strokes and was uncomfortable for the rest of the swim, but nothing that really lasted too long and was gone by the middle of the bike. The mass of humanity in the water was awful. 2,475 athletes started the swim which was the most for any Ironman race. There were bodies everywhere and I fought for position the entire race. I was groped so many times by flailing arms that I felt like one of the “loose girls” at the senior prom.

The bike was worse. I came out of the swim a minute or so of when I expected, did a slow transition to the bike and was off. There were a lot of bikes around us so we had to go slow in town since we made lots of turns in tight areas and the roads were slippery from the rain. Once we got on the road to Verona, it was still crowded but at least you could pick up some speed. Without going into all the details about the ride (ask me sometime and I’ll tell you more than you want to know), all I can say is that it was difficult. The corners were slippery and I saw a few riders go down.

My speed was about where I expected until the second loop. By then the wind was a bit stronger, I was soaked to the skin, all my muscles stayed “tight” and never loosened up, and my body decided to release water. I’ll try to explain. I don’t know why it happens, but often, when the temperatures change from warm to cold, my body decides I don’t need to retain so much water, so I (excuse the expression) pee a lot. I went once when I got up at 4:15 AM, once again before we left the hotel, once after the swim and then I was fine until the second loop of the bike.

I had hydrated as planned and I had to pee again after stopping at the bike special needs area to fill up my camelback with Gatorade mixed with carbo pro. This is where men have an advantage over women (the only time we have an advantage). I pulled over to the side of the road in an abandoned driveway, stayed straddled on the bike, and cut loose. About halfway through he loop, I had to go again, pulled into another abandoned driveway, and repeated. A half hour later when I had completed the second loop and was near the spot where we turned off on the road to Madison, I had to go again and pulled into an entrance to a bike path.

The ride from that point to Madison was 14 miles and took less than an hour, but I had to go (had to go) twice more so I “let ‘er rip” while riding. I had heard about racers doing that and I said I never would but I was in a residential area, couldn’t wait, and I knew the rain would wash it away. Gross and disgusting…yes. Necessary relief…priceless. By the way…anyone want to buy a slightly used Trek bike seat? I had hoped for a 7 hour bike which, for me on that course, was possible. My bike computer time was around 7:13 or so but the stop at the bike special needs and the three pee breaks made the actual time closer to 7:30.

My ride into town was into the teeth of the wind and, by the time I made it to Monona Terrace where the bike transition was located, my hands were so cold I had trouble shifting. The last of the ride is up a helix to a parking level and I had to get the bike into my easiest gear, which I eventually did, but with much difficulty.

I had a long transition from bike to run just trying to get dry and warm. I saw several guys that were so cold, they were wrapped in thermal blankets and had dropped out of the race. The guy next to me was shivering so much he couldn’t undress himself, so he was done (under protest). I got on dry clothes, got my jacket out of my swim to bike bag (not a waterproof jacket), and was off on the run after another pee break.

I felt surprisingly good and was running at a comfortable pace for the first 10 miles. I was stopping at each aid station and drinking warm chicken broth, eating pretzels, drinking water and Gatorade, and felt good. At about the 8th mile I could tell my legs were getting very tired, my left achilles was stiff, but the muscles were still tight from the cold and I couldn’t get them to loosen up. By the 10th mile I went to complete muscle failure and I was reduced to a walk. I’d like to say that it was some kind of injury to save face, but it wasn’t. I hit my limit of endurance on that day under those conditions.

From there on in it was a walk. Oh I ran/shuffled in some of the spots where I could but I couldn’t go more than a half mile at a time and I was back to walking. I stopped in porta-johns to pee twice more so I was well hydrated. The porta-johns have a little funnel shaped “thing” in the corner that is supposed to act as a urinal for the men. I was so cold and shivering so much that I couldn’t keep the “stream” where it should be and the next person in there probably thought I was writing my name in pee all over one wall.

I drank either water, Gatorade or warm chicken broth at every aid station except the last one and I ate soggy pretzels, oranges, bananas and soggy cookies so my nutrition was up to speed. On a positive note I finished with a personal record time. On a negative note, my previous times were both 16:13 and a few seconds so 15:50 (yes, that’s 15 hours and 50 minutes) wasn’t that great. I was 34th out of 63 in my age group (my normal “middle of the pack” finish) and 13 out of those 63 didn’t finish.

Out of our friends from Grand Rapids, Libby finished about 4 minutes ahead of me after two flats on the bike, Ruth finished in 16:59:20 (yes, that’s 40 seconds from the time cutoff) and George (Ruth’s husband) didn’t make the time cutoff.

As for Jean and Larry, you’ll have to talk to them about their races. Jean ended up 2nd out of 10 in her age group after a treacherous swim, a decent bike considering that when she passed me on the second loop she couldn’t get her bike into the big ring and had to ride the rest of the bike in the small ring, and a run where she ran the first loop (13.1 miles) until her knee gave out and she too was reduced to walking. I haven’t had a chance to talk to Larry after the race but I know he got chilled, the muscles tightened up and cramped on the run, and he ended up 75th out of 121 in his age group.

I don’t usually do this but I’ll speak for all of us. Things didn’t go as we planned and we would have liked to have better races so it sounds like we’re all disappointed but we’re not. Given the brutal conditions, we’re all proud that we were able to “tough it out”, finish a race that 305 of the 2,475 that started couldn’t, and again we can call ourselves IRONMAN. This was Jean’s 5th, Larry’s 4th and my 3rd ( and probably last) but running up that last couple hundred yards with screaming fans cheering you on still brings a tear to my eyes. With blisters on both feet, we were cold, we were wet, and every muscle and bone in our bodies ached, but for that minute we were all three “on top of the world”.

Just (Ironman And Proud Of It) Jack