Well, I must confess. If you stayed with me through parts one and two....I apologize for the lame theme and the drama of a 3 part report but....we all knew I really wanted to talk about the run, so of course, that gets its own piece!
Out for mile one with the best cheerleader on the course....who of course got a smooch!! I can't even explain to you how excited I was to see Rob - while I do Ironman for my own interest, watching my kids see their parents out there doing hard things and getting it done is an example that I hope to set for many years to come. What else is a mom to do than sweep down and give her kiddo a giant hug and smooch?!? (I did realize post this that was a HUGE mistake...lol).
After my rob 'mooches, I set off at a brisk trot down the hill and out of town, the biggest smile on my face. Too big. Mile one: 7:53. OMG. Slow down Rae!! I was hoping for a 2:15 first half, so I slooooowed it down to a 9:30-10 minute mile rather quickly. The LP marathon is awesome because its basically an out and back twice, so you see friends on the course. I saw some of my speedier friends on their lap back - most looked beat to hell after that bike, which I figured under my smile, I did too. I high fived the sexy speedo guys (the course support is phenomenal) and set out looking for Greg, who, other than hearing he was "quite a distance ahead", I had no intel on. (I figured as much, given my lousy bike split, but hey, I have to admit, I was just as happy to not have died so there's that.) I finally saw my buddy at mile 3, when he was at mile 8, and gave him a big high five! He yelled out, come catch me! Which, lets be real, he was about 50 minutes ahead of me....and I had 23 miles to work with. Do the math, people. (I later found out he started the run with a 55 minute head start on me..holy cats). I pretty much knew then that I would not catch him, but I'm one to give it the ole college try, so off I went.
Run loop one consisted of running the flats and downhills and walking the hills, averaging about a ten minute mile. I saw all my pals, smiled a ton, and while my legs felt great, my lungs were a hot mess and I could not take a deep breath. I felt really nauseous, which was 100% due to my shitty nutrition on the bike, so I suck with gels, coke and chomps, which are really freaking hard to open (I had to ask someone every time to help - what am I, 5?). I finished run loop 1 in 2:13, which I was 100% thrilled with.
As I headed out for loop 2, I saw my crew again - John, Liz, Noah, Karen, Tom and of course, Super Rob! who held up some inspo (Thanks kid, and thanks Karen!!) and ran with me for about a minute. John gave me the Greg update and told me I was running about 3 minutes per mile faster than him, which gave me hope that I might catch him (math was not my strong suit now, but the idea of crossing the finish line together was what I wanted the most!!)
Running out of town I began to look for a buddy - I usually find a man in his 50s who paces with me and makes me laugh, and establish a 2 hour father daughter relationship with. Not this time. I had a really strong run/walk going, and the people I paired up with had a different strategy in mind. Ahh well. This time out I got to see the people on the loop behind me, who either looked as thrilled as I was or dead on their feet. I got asked several times if this was my first Ironman, people explaining that "I looked too happy". Was I hurting? Oh heck yes. I kept waiting to upchuck. But at this point I KNEW I would be an Ironman, with 8, 7, 6 miles to go...and OMG I was so happy. I saw Greg again at my mile 17.5 and his mile 19.5...again, he told me, come get me! I sadly told him I was running out of road....even if I ran my best, I couldn't make up 20 minutes in 8 miles.
The run back into town was surreal. I basked in Lake Placid - the ski jumps, the mountains, the sights....everything. Mile 24, I heard the finish line cries and headed out for my final two out and back. Saw Greg heading in and we hugged each other tight and I told him how very proud I was of him. As I made the final turn, I began to run slightly faster toward the final mile. I began to shiver and well up....the months of hard work, the time, the training, the doubt earlier in this day....the look on my sons face....my husbands embrace....it all caught up to me. This was it. I looked behind me....all clear. There was one group in front of me I passed as I neared the oval, and then clear sailing for the finish. I raised my arms in Rocky victory, tears coming down my face, and ran across the finish line to "Rae Glaser, you ARE an Ironman!" (Which, by the way, was just as cool as the first two times!!) and there was Greg. With my medal. He placed it around my neck and we just looked at each other in awe. WE DID IT.
Post race, we caught up with Rob and the gang, and John was a godsend and sherpaed our bikes out for us so we could breathe. Since I know you are all on tenterhooks, I finished in 14:15:xx, about an hour slower than I wanted, but still a strong finish. Greg ended up finishing in 14:07:xx, which means that I made up 48 minutes on the run, but still could not out run his strong bike (7:07 vs 8:02). I later found out there was quite a following back home on our progress as people waited for me to catch him - sorry guys, I ran out of road :-P)
All things considered, I am super amped about our race. Neither one of us hit our A goal, but the weather sucked, and to be honest, we did not train nearly as much as 2010 and 2011 (I wonder why?) Be that as it was, we finished smack in the middle of the pack, and we later found out almost no one had the race they wanted....the bike either killed them (me)....or the bike destroyed them for the run (Greg).
Be that as it may, for two people with two little guys, two demanding jobs, and a life, I'm pretty darn proud of us for what we did - and celebrating Greg's 40th couldn't have been any better.
Post Ironman? Well, I won't lie. That initial let down of post race....was not there this time. I honestly am so glad to be off a massive training schedule that I shook out for two weeks and did whatever the hell I wanted - though I am glad to say I started running a few days post race! Now? Well, I signed up for the Green Mountain Vermont marathon on October 14th to cross off state #10. What, did you expect different? :)
Thanks for following my ridiculously long race report and as always, for reading TFB!
As I ran into T2, I had the biggest smile on my face - after the wild ride on the bike, I was finally onto Terra firma and about to rock this race! I knew that my A goal and B goal were out the window at this point, but I was hoping to finish strong around 14 hours. Grabbing my run bag, I had thrown off my bike shoes to run faster and got my feet completely covered in sand on my way to the tent - eff. The nice volunteer grabbed water to hose my feet down....and spilled it on my compression socks. OMG. I knew i could not run this thing with no socks, so I bummed a pair of 50 cent cotton socks and prayed for the best (Yes, Barb, I know). I opted not to change, but had to pee, so I grabbed my race belt, visor and foodstuffs and jetted out - for a nice five minute transition, 3 minutes faster than in 2010! Hey, Ill take what I can get.
Out for mile one with the best cheerleader on the course....who of course got a smooch!! I can't even explain to you how excited I was to see Rob - while I do Ironman for my own interest, watching my kids see their parents out there doing hard things and getting it done is an example that I hope to set for many years to come. What else is a mom to do than sweep down and give her kiddo a giant hug and smooch?!? (I did realize post this that was a HUGE mistake...lol).After my rob 'mooches, I set off at a brisk trot down the hill and out of town, the biggest smile on my face. Too big. Mile one: 7:53. OMG. Slow down Rae!! I was hoping for a 2:15 first half, so I slooooowed it down to a 9:30-10 minute mile rather quickly. The LP marathon is awesome because its basically an out and back twice, so you see friends on the course. I saw some of my speedier friends on their lap back - most looked beat to hell after that bike, which I figured under my smile, I did too. I high fived the sexy speedo guys (the course support is phenomenal) and set out looking for Greg, who, other than hearing he was "quite a distance ahead", I had no intel on. (I figured as much, given my lousy bike split, but hey, I have to admit, I was just as happy to not have died so there's that.) I finally saw my buddy at mile 3, when he was at mile 8, and gave him a big high five! He yelled out, come catch me! Which, lets be real, he was about 50 minutes ahead of me....and I had 23 miles to work with. Do the math, people. (I later found out he started the run with a 55 minute head start on me..holy cats). I pretty much knew then that I would not catch him, but I'm one to give it the ole college try, so off I went.
Run loop one consisted of running the flats and downhills and walking the hills, averaging about a ten minute mile. I saw all my pals, smiled a ton, and while my legs felt great, my lungs were a hot mess and I could not take a deep breath. I felt really nauseous, which was 100% due to my shitty nutrition on the bike, so I suck with gels, coke and chomps, which are really freaking hard to open (I had to ask someone every time to help - what am I, 5?). I finished run loop 1 in 2:13, which I was 100% thrilled with.As I headed out for loop 2, I saw my crew again - John, Liz, Noah, Karen, Tom and of course, Super Rob! who held up some inspo (Thanks kid, and thanks Karen!!) and ran with me for about a minute. John gave me the Greg update and told me I was running about 3 minutes per mile faster than him, which gave me hope that I might catch him (math was not my strong suit now, but the idea of crossing the finish line together was what I wanted the most!!)
Running out of town I began to look for a buddy - I usually find a man in his 50s who paces with me and makes me laugh, and establish a 2 hour father daughter relationship with. Not this time. I had a really strong run/walk going, and the people I paired up with had a different strategy in mind. Ahh well. This time out I got to see the people on the loop behind me, who either looked as thrilled as I was or dead on their feet. I got asked several times if this was my first Ironman, people explaining that "I looked too happy". Was I hurting? Oh heck yes. I kept waiting to upchuck. But at this point I KNEW I would be an Ironman, with 8, 7, 6 miles to go...and OMG I was so happy. I saw Greg again at my mile 17.5 and his mile 19.5...again, he told me, come get me! I sadly told him I was running out of road....even if I ran my best, I couldn't make up 20 minutes in 8 miles.
The run back into town was surreal. I basked in Lake Placid - the ski jumps, the mountains, the sights....everything. Mile 24, I heard the finish line cries and headed out for my final two out and back. Saw Greg heading in and we hugged each other tight and I told him how very proud I was of him. As I made the final turn, I began to run slightly faster toward the final mile. I began to shiver and well up....the months of hard work, the time, the training, the doubt earlier in this day....the look on my sons face....my husbands embrace....it all caught up to me. This was it. I looked behind me....all clear. There was one group in front of me I passed as I neared the oval, and then clear sailing for the finish. I raised my arms in Rocky victory, tears coming down my face, and ran across the finish line to "Rae Glaser, you ARE an Ironman!" (Which, by the way, was just as cool as the first two times!!) and there was Greg. With my medal. He placed it around my neck and we just looked at each other in awe. WE DID IT.
All things considered, I am super amped about our race. Neither one of us hit our A goal, but the weather sucked, and to be honest, we did not train nearly as much as 2010 and 2011 (I wonder why?) Be that as it was, we finished smack in the middle of the pack, and we later found out almost no one had the race they wanted....the bike either killed them (me)....or the bike destroyed them for the run (Greg).
Be that as it may, for two people with two little guys, two demanding jobs, and a life, I'm pretty darn proud of us for what we did - and celebrating Greg's 40th couldn't have been any better.
Post Ironman? Well, I won't lie. That initial let down of post race....was not there this time. I honestly am so glad to be off a massive training schedule that I shook out for two weeks and did whatever the hell I wanted - though I am glad to say I started running a few days post race! Now? Well, I signed up for the Green Mountain Vermont marathon on October 14th to cross off state #10. What, did you expect different? :)
Thanks for following my ridiculously long race report and as always, for reading TFB!
The post was worth the wait. Congratulations on your finish!
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