IMWI Race Report

Wow. Not really sure where to start so I'll just start from the beginning.

We got up at 3:30 to leave by 4 to get up to the Terrace. I hadn't been too nervous up to this point but all of a sudden, I was nervous. We dropped off our special needs bags, went to body marking and let Bob Kincaid mark us, got our bikes all set to go, put sleeveless jerseys in our bike bags and went and hung out waiting. Nerves were terrible. Saw Robert who also confessed he was nervous. Soon more and more people were showing up. We saw CJ and Phil, Jenny's mom and sister, Brenda and Kitty, The Stenzels, and Alison (more on her later) and others. Soon it was time to go down and get into the water so we put the wetsuits on and went down and got in. Tiffany Storms saw us and got our picture all ready to go. I am sure I looked terrified because I was.

I still had not decided what my strategy was going to be. Jenny and I found some open space and when the cannon went off we just started going. It was not too bad at first. I then decided that I was going to get into the scrum and stay close to the buoys. I could feel the pull as the other swimmers were dragging me along. Mike Wolfgram and Bigun were right on the money and I was glad that I had decided to take their advice. I was getting knocked around and I was doing some knocking around too. This lasted for 3/4 of a lap and then the crowd was gone. There were a few people swimming my pace and we were all grouped up. I had some goggle problems. I used the no fog solution on them and that worked great, except that sweat somehow pooled in the bottom of the goggles and ever so often would sting my eye. I would have to stop and drain that out. This happened 3 or 4 times. Otherwise no problems. I thought I did a great job of sighting and thought I was swimming quite straight. I was really enjoying myself at this point. I was in an Ironman. Got around the last turn and I could hear the crowd and see the swim exit. I swam directly to it and got out of the water. I saw I was around 1:43 and I thought that was cool. I got my bearings and saw Steve Stenzel. He pointed me to the wetsuit strippers and soon I was sitting down. Someone who helped me said, we know all about you and Jenny and will be following you all day. One of the many things cool that happened all day. So now I am in my swimsuit running up the helix with a zillion people screaming and ringing cowbells. I see Michelle Alswager yelling at me. I finally get to the ballroom to get my bag and get to transition. I find a chair and someone comes over and asks to help me. He dumps out my transition bag and sets everything out. I dry off, change clothes, put spray sunscreen on (super smart thing) get all my stuff and get outside. I have to pee and right now I am in my socks. I looked at the porta floor and decided I had to put my bike shoes on to go in there. The floor was not sock friendly. So I pee and go get my bike. I see Brian Holmes and he gives me a man hug and I was glad he was there. Always nice to see someone you know. I see Steve Knox and he takes my picture. I see my son and his girlfriend and they are in home made T shirts and have signs. It was awesome. I see Jenny's sister and mom too. I get my bike and get to the mount line and start. Really a very cool experience.

Bike: I rode fairly good from the Terrace out to Verona and the first loop. I wanted to go pretty easy so I did. I still saw my heart rate staying pretty high. I started to get warm and I began my nutrition plan. A couple electrolyte tablets every hour, gatorade as needed, a bottle of water per hour and 200 calories of either shot blocks or sports beans. I felt like I was taking in plenty of fluids but in hindsight, I don't think it was enough. I never felt sloshy and I should have. I know I was sweating a ton as I could feel how sweaty I was. It was 85 and sunny with little or no wind. I was able to average about 15.6 MPH for the first loop which was right on what I wanted. I passed Jenny at mile 32. She looked fine and we talked for a few minutes about how we were doing our dream and that it was cool. People lined the course like the Tour de France. It was amazing. All these people who want to see you succeed. I got cheered on by so many people. Some I knew and some I didn't. I kept smiling. I was taking in everything and was proud that I was competing in an Ironman. Things began to go south after the first loop quickly. I began to get hot spots on the bottoms of both feet right in the center of the balls. It would come and go at first. I stopped to get my special needs bag on the bike and got the pb and j sandwich and the chips and soda. I drank part of the soda and the chips and put the sandwich in my back pocket so I could get going. I was pounding the gatorade now and was worried because I still had not peed on the bike leg. But I never felt like I had to go. So I kept drinking. I began to see participants sitting on the side of the road every so often and even saw some people getting taken out. My guess is because of the heat and the hills. IMWI bike is notoriously hard. It lived up to that for me yesterday. About mile 80 I started getting leg cramps which NEVER happens for me. I got 2 or 3 cramps in different spots on the same muscle. It really caused me to slow way down to avoid the cramping. I was able to climb all of the hills but 1. I cramped up about half way up and got off to walk and stretch. I saw a lot of friends on the bike. Johnny Brown, Kathy Ball and her husband, (they were so awesome. He had done it in the past and was giving me advice and she was asking how I felt, and what I needed..just awesome and at that time I needed that), Tawyna, Martin and Dominc on motorcycles, Alison, Brenda, CJ and loads of other people. I was hurting now. No doubt about it. I was giving a high effort and getting nowhere. I knew my 4:30pm return time goal was going out the window. I saw more people waiting for sag. I was forced to stop again and take my bike shoes off and walk around the grass at an aid station to stop the hot spots on my feet. As I turned onto Whalen road, I began to feel a bit better. I knew there was only 16 miles to go. I passed a few people on the way back in. I was so happy to see Monona Terrace. Rode up the helix and dropped off the bike. It was about 4:45 so I was a bit behind. Saw Michele, Lucas and Chelsea, Kitty and Brenda and Alison. Alison had my bike to run bag and handed it off. She told me to get moving that I could make it. I got in and changed my clothes, took a water bottle and dumped it into a towel and wiped off the grime all over me. It cooled me off and made me feel much better. I saw Bob Kincaid again and he asked me how I was doing. I told him the bike was harder than I though it would be. I had a soda in my bag and drank some of it. It made me feel better too. I went out and began the run. At the sunscreen staion, 4 awesome ladies put sunscreen on me and they sunscreened my legs. It was like a mini massage and I realized right then that my legs were hurting. I felt like I had to pee and was so happy. I went into the porta and I swear I peed fire. Only a couple squirts of pure fire. I wondered what the hell was going on but I felt o.k. so I went out on the course. It was really hot again and my goal was to run. I saw Jon Purinton and he was on his second loop so he was doing awesome. So I started to run but after about 5 minutes I felt like my bladder was full again. So full it hurt to run, so I walked to the next porta and had another 2 squirt fire pee. This continued for 10 miles. I was forced to walk because my bladder felt full but nothing was really coming out. About mile 10 my feet began to get the balled up sock feeling on the bottoms. I looked at them and the sock was nice and flat. I knew that the hot spots from the bike had now become large blisters on the run. Nothing I could do at this point but continue. I saw so many people on the run cheering me on. The volunteers were so awesome. Every aid station was stocked and anything I wanted, I got. Ice water, soda, gatorade, ice and cold sponges. I really wanted to run. I wish I could have gotten over that mental hurdle. I was very close to being on pace to make it how I was moving so I figured I would just keep pushing on. I did the fire pee thing about 15 times and at one point I noticed red on my hands but I thought it was just gatorade. I took 20 miles before I realized that they weren't serving anything red. I believe now that I was peeing blood for the whole marathon so far. Now if I had seen this earlier and figured it out, I would have stopped and sought help. I had no intentions of suffering permanant injury to be an Ironman. I saw Mike Wolfgram a few times on the run and he was super helpful. He was pushing me and getting me to try to realize how far I had come and how close I was and that I should do everything I could to get there. At the State Street turn around, I saw Suzy Jacobsen from high school and a few other people. Some very nice group of girls saw me and started screaming. We read your blog and we think you and Jenny are so awesome so keep going. In fact they were so boistrous, that the girl walking next to me took notice of my number and said she now needed to read my blog. On my second time through Camp Randall, a very nice lady (I was pretty tired and I missed her name) came over and asked if she could walk with me. She asked me my name and I said Mike and she asked if I was Mike Wimmer and I said yes. She said she knew of mine and Jenny's story and she thought that what we have done was amazing. She reads our blogs too. She told me to keep pushing and if I could run to run and if not then walk as fast as I could. Very cool. All day I had nothing but great experiences to off set the pain and trouble I was in. My legs began to cramp and the blisters on my feet were now excruciating. I didn't care. I wasn't quitting. I got to mile 22 and just made the turn around cut off on the bike path. Alison was EVERYWHERE. She found me a bunch of times and kept motivating me. I knew I was going to be close. I wanted to run but now with the leg cramps and the blisters, I couldn't make the pain low enough for my mind to tolerate it. I was walking and hoping. Mike Wolfgram found me and continued to motivate me and walk along the sidewalk pushing me. At Camp Randall at 3 miles to go, I knew that I couldn't make the cutoff. Paul Huddle from Ironman, came by and asked how I was doing. I told the truth and told him badly. He said if I couldn't run, I wouldn't make it. It was over for me. I asked him if I could walk to the finish and turn in my chip and he told me that he would rather I run and make it but if that is how it was going to be then he was o.k. There was a group pacing the last finisher in front of me but there was no way I could keep up. Mike Wolfgram asked if he could walk with me and Paul told him absolutely. I was glad to have someone with me at that point. Especially Mike because he has such a great way of looking at things. Strangely, I thought I would be really emotional at that point but I wasn't. I was very proud of what I did. I was very proud of Jenny. We never quit and we gave it all we had. At the last aid station a couple kids asked if they could walk back to the Kohl Center aid station with me and I said o.k. When we got there, there was about 30 kids who had made a chute for me to go through and they were clapping and cheering. I am pretty sure they knew I wasn't going to make it and they didn't care. I felt like the whole Ironman day was always all about me. Like I was the only person out there. It was one of the best experiences of my life. All the pain and training and suffering was worth it. Even though I didn't finish by 12.
So we get about 4 blocks away and Steve Stenzel comes walking up. I told him I wasn't going to make it and he said it didn't matter to anyone and put his hand on my shoulder and gave me the Steve in a Speedo smile and I was glad to have another friend to walk with. Then Paul Huddle comes up with some other guy and tells me that Mike Reilly is holding the finish line for me, another guy in front of me, and a lady behind me and is keeping the crowd there. They will let us run down the chute and even though I will not be an offical finisher, we can cross the line. I thought that was cool and suddenly I could run the 4 blocks. I am not sure even now how I did it. When I got my chance to run down with the crowd freaking out, I felt no pain. It was very cool and Ironman and WTC did not have to do that for me. I didn't make it. Bottom line. I didn't make it. They gave me a medal, t shirt and hat too. Right now it doesn't feel right to have it and not have made it. But I went the distance. I finished. Just not before midnight. Jenny's mom and dad, my 2 boys, Chelsea, Michele and Jacob were there cheering me in. About a half hour after I came through, Jenny showed up (she didn't make it and walked the rest of the way too)-and they gave her a medal and shirt and hat too. What a class act. I was very impressed.

I had a great time. One of the greatest times of my life, and one of the most challenging. I am more mentally strong than I ever gave myself credit for.

The aftermath:
Well after coming home and verifying that I was indeed peeing blood, I decided to give it a day to see if it works itself out. Today is better and I actually don't feel like I have to go every 5 minutes and seem to have more volume. Still fire a little bit though.
The blisters I was forming are the biggest I have ever seen. The are pretty much from the middle toe all the way to the arch and a couple more on the balls of my feet. I can't really stand on them yet excpet for short periods to get to the bathroom. I shuffled around to get my pictures at the Terrace this morning and it was excruciating. My legs are sore and I can feel where every cramp I got was. Probably the worst my legs have ever felt after any training or working out. My fingers are swollen a little and my hand tries to cramp up if I do the GI JOE kung fu grip position. I'm exhausted and it is going to take a few days for my feet to get well enough to walk.

The coulda, woulda, shoulda:
Well looking back, how could I have shaved the time off. Nothing really in the swim. Not have grabbed my special needs bag, pushed a little harder on the first loop when I felt good, suffered more with the hot spots and not stopped...But at the time you do what you can just to make it through. I honestly thought I was going to be able to run at least half the marathon. The most disappointing thing for me is that I didn't run much on the marathon. If I could have hardened up and ran through the pain, I would have made it. Even if I could have just ran 8-10 miles. But I couldn't. And now it is what it is. Regrets? Hell no. Not one. You live in every moment at Ironman and do whatever you need to so that you get to the next moment.

What I learned:
Just because you can swim 2.4, bike 112 and run 26.2 does not mean that you can do them all on the same day. Mother nature is a bitch. Coldest spring and summer ever so I never got to train in the warm and my body suffered in the heat. Riding and running is not the same as training. Just putting the miles in doesn't count. It is very hard at 260 pounds for me to do an Ironman. Next year I need to be 220 or lower or I may have the same result. I need to toughen up my feet. I need my feet to be able to not blister on the run. That may have made all the difference. But who knows.

What I know:
I have the greatest group of family and friends. Some I have met and some I have not. I opened my email today and had 230 facebook messages and e mail. I can't tell you how much all that support means to me. All you people that recognized us on the course and yelled and screamed for us that was awesome. Very inspiring.
We never expected all of you to be following us so closely yesterday and we really appreciate each and every one of you. We hope to return the favor whenever we can. Thank you all.

Steve and Sarah Stenzel and Brian and Kari Holmes (and crew)-There for us all day. Saw them a bunch of times and they always seemed to be there when I needed it. Seeing a friendly face after a couple hours of being alone is awesome. I am forever grateful.

Mike Wolfgram for being there on the second half of the marathon for me. I hadn't really had anyone to talk to for a while and it helped get my mind off the pain. I may have quit at some point if not for your motivation.

Lucas and Nick are great kids. How they turned out so great with my as their dad, I'll never know. For them to be there and for Lucas and Chelsea to have made signs and shirts without my knowing was so cool. Nick drove us home and there was no way I could have driven. Neither kid cares that we didn't make the cutoff. They still love us.

Michele for taking pictures and being so supportive and bringing Jacob. That was great to see him. And for co ordinating everyone. You are awesome and when you do your Ironman, I'm there for you.

What to say about Alison? She took care of everything all day for us. Called my mom to update her and what was going on, let us know where each one of us was, and seemed to be everywhere on the course cheering. She has done 2 IMWI and finished both. She knows how hard it can be. One of the times I was hurting she told me that it's not called powder puff...It's called Ironman. She was our Saint yesterday and made the day be great. And she walked Jenny in at the end. And then hung around and made sure we were o.k. She is one unselfish person and I will forever be in debt to her for all she did yesterday. Oh and she got up and went to work today after staying up there until 1 am. Thanks will never be enough.

Jenny, who never gave up and kept smiling all day. I wouldn't have even attempted that yesterday without her. Amazing woman. I'm lucky.

I now have unfinished business there. 15 stupid minutes. I know what it feels like and I know what needs to be done. I have 364 days and counting until IMWI 10. Stay tuned.