THE RACE
D MINUS ONE
D MINUS TWO
D MINUS THREE
D MINUS FOUR
ARRIVAL DAY
3.3.01
This, I deem, is quite a fine thing in my life. I'm very pleased. But what a cliffhanger!
The swim was fine, and is in crystal clear water, so I actually drank some sips along the way. You lose a lot of water on a long swim like that.
We’ve been having rain here in the end of the week, but thought we'd have more sun and heat on Saturday. Negative. All Friday night it absolutely poured. Was dry when I got up at 4, but started raining again within the hour/before I walked down to the race site. Sigh. It'd stopped by the time we swam, or at least was only misting/drizzling, so it was OK. And it wasn't cold. I think it was dry when I finished the swim but heavily overcast. I did put my arm warmers on for the bike leg, but was otherwise as I would have been in the heat and it was fine.
There were two laps to the bike. The first went fine—and I did push a bit. Then my knee got some huge pain in the second lap, which turned out to be a mess—a whole hour longer than the first. Never had knee problems before—something special for the race, I guess. Fortunately it disappeared when I hit the run.
My main competitor is a runner, and I'd thrown away a really good lead on the bike, so she was only 23 minutes behind me when she started the run. Then she was 11 minutes back at about 7 miles, and I estimated she'd pick me off at the half-way mark/start of the second lap. But I never saw her again.
Meanwhile, out on the course at night it started to really rain. Then it poured. The functionaries drove around dealing out plastic rain covers, which helped to keep warm when it started to get cold.
I'd started running as quickly as I could, a somewhat sad sight, I'm sure, but I just kept at it, having read enough to know that a marathon is a long race and unsure on outcome, so that I might as well try what I could.
I finally finished, happily at that, but had no idea if I was 1 or 2 (3 was then out of the running). While in the post-race room I was sitting talking with the helpers and finally asked if we could find out if someone had finished. They answered yes, and they went to check if my competitor had come in. Yes, she was on a cot a few feet from where I was. But I didn't know if she'd been in there when I came in.
When I went out, there to greet me were three girls and a fellow who had followed me the whole run and sort of seen me as some sort of pet project. During the day they were on bikes—would bike ahead, then cheer madly as I ran by, do the wave, etc.—and at night they used the car. And there they were, waiting for me to get out of the holding room after the finish. They thought my compatriot had come in after me, but weren't positive. I didn't know for sure until this morning when the results were up.
Great experience—great, well-organized and run race, and happy result.
3.2.01
Yesterday was interesting. I did go back to the expo, after pondering my wetsuit setup, and bought a new top-of-the-line Ironman wetsuit, as they gave me a great trade-in deal on my old one.
There was a very small worship service for athletes up at the Baptist church at 4, which was nice, if small. I went right from there to the line-up for the parade of nations. The U.S. was nifty: The Hawaiians came in grass skirts and such. We had some flags, too, and generally had a fun time following the bagpipers down the main drag into the area for
the opening speeches. The mayor gave a lengthy say-so, and she had a good deal of spunk. This is a BIG financial infusion for Taupo, so they're glad to have IMNZ here. There were a couple of Maori Haka demonstrations, one by kids, the other by men, with the latter including Bryan Rhodes. It was a real hit. Lots of UGH!s and sticking out of the tongue.
Home to bed early but I had a lousy sleep, so I hope that means a great sleep tonight (in my dreams...).
Peggy McDowell-Cramer of California, in winning the women’s 60-64 age group at Ironman New Zealand, also won a slot to the Ironman World Championships in Kona in October. Here, she shares her reflections on the day.
3.1.01
Yesterday was a slow day, full of rest, overcast, not much going on except for the
opening of the expo here. I did go out for a 5-mile bike ride to make a final decision on which shirt I want to wear, assuming it's hot. I'll make the final, final decision tomorrow when I have to cough up my bag.
I had a massage lined up at 5, by Lena Wahlqvist's fiance Anders. What a treat! Then Peter Sandvang came over and we all had dinner. What a kick that was—we all spoke Swedish, but Peter had to go to English when we couldn't understand something. He can speak Swedish, but with such a Danish accent that it's REALLY a stretch to understand a lot of it. We all laughed at ourselves. He's really a good-humored fellow and we all had
a fun evening. We talked shop, too, of course—on wetsuits, food, wheels, etc. He's got a disk on his bike at the moment, so I assume he's racing with it.
It rained all night, was wet when I woke up this morning, but was then clear by 8 a.m. I'll go and register, plus accomplish my day's goal: get two big water bottles. I've changed my original plan, which now necessitates the two bottles for a 10-to-one concentrate of Gatorade. I decided I wasn't enough of a gambler, in heat, with unknown PB [on-course sports drink], and I did bring sufficient Gatorade powder. That means no sitting bottle of water, just sip at them as I fly by, then dump in my front water bottle and toss it. It'll be fine. People are all filing in for registration and the excitement seems to be stepping up. I ran into fellow competitor (in my age group) Mickie Shapiro from Costa Mesa, so now the three of us are here and accounted for. [The third woman in their age group was Judy Collins, wife of Ironman creator John Collins.] This is going to be fun.
2.28.01
There was a good deal of cloud cover yesterday, so we all thought it greatly cooler. There was a swim-the-course deal at 5:30 p.m., which I certainly did without a hot wetsuit on.
Today the expo opened and it's of modest size, the biggest booth being Ironman wetsuits, with lots of other products for sale there, too.
After this morning's expo venture, I went out on the course to bike a five-mile section and decide between two shirts. Both have minus points, so I picked the lesser of the two evils.
I’ve got all of my things in various bags in my room, and will get serious about my lists tonight or tomorrow.
2.27.01
The town's filling up now, and the expo place is getting built today for opening tomorrow. The bike outfit's open for business, though, so I went over to get my inspection of bike and helmet (and told them about the genesis of my new Yaqui, which I love) and had them tighten the bolt on my back bottle cage. Sounds dumb, but it's really onerous to get this thing affixed under the saddle. And the roads are rough enough that I can easily imagine (from experience, alas) the thing coming unattached mostly and swinging by a bit of a screw. Then I went home and put a bit of duct tape over all maybeish bolts. Duct tape is king.
I went out and drove the course again last night (light until after 8) and thought it uphill in more parts than I recalled. Then it poured. I headed home and thought that was enough of that and I'll just pedal as best I can when I get to it Saturday…which is all you can do, anyway.
This whole town is, indeed, up for the race. Even in the bank when I got some more NZ dollars, they want to know all about you, encourage you, etc. It's quite nice.
2.26.01
I flew over uneventfully, got a car amid rain, and drove down amid rain. About 68F, so not too cold. I brought my thermometer along as I wanted to know, at home, what dress was OK at what temperature to be able to jump one way or the next when I was here. I packed for Alaska and Kona. Looks like Kona.
I swam at 7 yesterday morning. Was 50F, but the water's probably 66F, so it was nice. Very clear.
I saw the stairs up from the river to the transition area. Looks gnarly. I’ve decided to pull up my goggles and punch my watch as I exit, then fiddle with nothing until I clear the top—want my hand on the rail going up. Falling on stairs is a big negative in my estimation.
I drove the race course and thought the mile-plus of uphill something I’ll notice in spades, but after it's over it's a whole lotta downhill-even stuff. I hope I like it as much as I think I will. While out there, by the turnaround, I got out to check the temperature (11 a.m., 66F in shade, more in sun). A biker came along and I yelled to ask if she was cold (sleeveless jersey). What HO, but it was my pal, Lena Wahlqvist! She was as surprised to meet up with me out there as I was. As it turns out, she got a place about 50 meters from my domicile for the week.
I biked the first three miles of the course yesterday and am now about to go out to a steepish downhill with a curve so I can see what sort of speed is prudent.
Church was fun—mostly an older congregation, and they asked visitors to stand and say where they're from. When I answered that I was here to do IMNZ, it was quite the thing to say! These older people were really into it—the pastor made it part of his pastoral prayers (for all competitors, not just the one sitting there), and then there was a good deal of chat on it after church. It was fun.
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