Living in a Strange Time

I am not sure how to start this but here goes. I know we are all adjusting to this new normal. It is difficult, strange, and in some instances terrifying. I never in my life thought this would be my new normal (working from home with my family here, trying to be a teacher, a good mom, a good spouse and may other things). It is challenging to say the least and frustrating. None of us wanted this, but here we are in the middle of something we never dreamed of. Restaurants are closed, stores are closing, proms are cancelled, vacations are cancelled, school is cancelled, nurses and doctors are overwhelmed, it is a living nightmare. When this first started, I thought this is just the flu it’s no big deal. Yes, I was that person I will be the first to admit it and John will tell you how blind I was to the reality of what was happening. But as things progressed, I began to educate myself. What the fuck is this Sars-CoV-2 (virus) Coronavirus disease a.k.a. Covid-19. What it is, is fucking scary! And as we learn more it is becoming terrifying. So, what I ask, is for you to take it seriously. The longer people are out living their lives and not social distancing the longer this virus stays around. Social distancing is not hanging out with people in your buildings and at parks. Even though you may know people and they haven’t been sick, you don’t know where they have been and they may be carrying the disease and passing it on to you and you pass it on to someone else and so on and so on (you get the picture). These people you are passing it onto might have compromised health. That person might be a mother, father, uncle, grandparent, a child with a compromised immune system or friend with a compromised immune system. Please take this seriously and practice social distancing and washing your hands. It is the only way to fight this pandemic. I am not perfect, believe me, but I am trying to be self-aware of my surroundings and what I do on a daily basis. I still out walking but I am being conscious. I know we have to get grocery’s and get medications which are essential. But if people can limit contact with others outside of your household to the best of your ability maybe we can conquer this pandemic. We all want to visit our local pubs, restaurants and small business but the longer we continue to meet others out or in groups the longer this goes on. I am not preaching; we are mostly all adults here and you can do what you want. But please do your part and think of others as we move forward. I would like to visit my parents sometime soon. One thing that I have seen that is positive from this pandemic is the number of people who are walking and exercising. I love that but just be cautious. I really want to see you all soon! I need my tribe back. In closing, it is a crazy situation we are all living in, so continue to be kind as we navigate through this difficult time. Kindness goes a long way.

Love to you all and please be safe.

Ironman Mont Tremblant 2018- the big day

It seems like yesterday when I signed up for Ironman Mont Tremblant (IMMT). I remember the day very clearly. It was an August night, the 28th to be exact, and I sat staring at my computer. That button that said register just staring me in the face. I had just come back from IMMT the weekend before from volunteering and spectating my friend Adam. It was my second time there and I love

the vibe of the little village, the lake is so pristine and just the whole atmosphere. The venue is magical and family friendly. I wanted to do this race so bad but I knew it was going to be hard and a lot of training and sacrifice. So after staring at that register button for what seemed like an eternity, I hit it and this is where my journey began.

After registering, you are just so excited. To think about running down that red carpet and hearing hopefully Mike Reilly say "YOU ARE AN IRONMAN." Its the excitement that carries you through the grueling 12 months that are head of you. No lie, but you kind of forget about the grueling 12 months ahead when you hit the register button. hahaha! Then a few months later when the 9 month mark hit and its "go time" you are like what the hell did I do. But you push forward, I mean really you are the one that hit the register button so now you own the goal... right!

There are always bumps in the road that have a tendency to derail your training. It was a rough year to say the least, with things that were outside of my control but had an impact on my training. Thank god for friends. These people are invaluable and there is not price tag I can ever put on their friendship and I am so lucky to have had them by my side and continue to have them by my side. This includes my amazing coach KW.

Mike Reilly Ironman Voice,
Adam and Ironman

So these friends continued to remind me of how strong I am and how getting to the start and finish line is going to be the best feeling ever. The next nine months I patched in the friends for workouts  and if I need a good talking too I knew I could lean on certain friends to talk me off the ledge. The winter months brought on lots of indoor bike trainer miles and early Saturday mornings at Central Mass PT with Mike and Kathleen, who kick your but for two hours of hard work.

It had to be the worst winter/summer ever for endurance training but I pushed on. There were grueling long rides 50-100 hot humid miles on the bike and next day get up and do your long runs anywhere15-19 miles. This does not include swims, additional bikes and runs during the week that range any where from 1300-4200 yard swim, 30-40 miles on the bike yand 5-10 mile runs. There comes a point where you just wanted to cry but you pull your big girl pants up, call your friends who don't even bat an eyelash to swim, bike, ride and even kayak with you and get them done. I tried so hard not to go to that dark space during training no matter how tired I got or fatigued, and I did a pretty good job of that. Remember when I signed up and I was so excited... hahaha! I was still excited but the training is daunting base training runs between 10-15 hours a week and as you get closer to race day the build weeks can be upwards of 17-18 hours of training. You ask how does one do this... Its a lot of sacrifice not only by me but my family. I am very grateful to have a supportive husband and my son. This is also a lesson to my son that "anything is possible".

So the year goes by so quickly. It didn't seem real to be packing the car and heading to Canada on August 14th. We split the trip in half on the way up spending a night in Burlington. After our night in VT we head to Canada and meet up with my cousin MAMA JOES and her family (Kev, Gordy and Shano). They decided to spend their vacation supporting me and as Kev would say taking in "the Ironman experience" hahaha! I think they had fun despite the long day of spectating. The condo is on top of a giant hill, okay maybe a small mountain. It is a ski out condo on the side of Mont Tremblant. It was crazy but luckily there was a trolly to get us back and forth to the village. The vibe was amazing throughout race weekend. We took in sights over the the three days the gondola ride to the top of the mountain, the Tonga Lumina which is a must do it was so cool, and the kids of course did the mountain coaster which I was so sad I missed but the lines were so long and I didn't want to be on my feet. I wish we had more time to explore.. maybe next time. :)

Shane finishing Iron Kids

Friday Morning Shane did the Iron Kids race and we all went down to spectate the 5k. It was so cool and he crushed it. We were all so proud of him and to boot he got to run through the finishers shoot. I am not sure he realizes how awesome that is.  

Packet Pick up! 

After watching Shane, I head to packet pick up with Grace. OMG! here we go. This is when it started to get real. Packet pick up was so organized and relatively quick. I almost died when I saw the scales. Really, I have to weigh myself and write down on a medical form. Oh that was fun! Weighing in is required in case of a medical emergency they can assess how much fluid loss you have. I think that is why they do it or they just want to torture us. We get out numbers and back packs with all of our stickers and make our way out. I have to say I got a bit nervous during packet pick up but it quickly went away and didn't come back til practice swim later that day. 

Later Friday, Monica, Kate, Adam, and I head to the Ironman Training center for our practice swim. I get in the water with Monica and start asking her "what ifs" I don't finish was the big one. She tells me, Wamback you are going to finish no doubt in my mind. At that moment a gentleman standing in the water overheard my conversation with Monica. He went on to say race day is just race day and a celebration of all your hard work.  There are factors you can't control on race day no matter how much training you do. It is a day to smile, have fun, stop for a hug from family, friends, and even strangers. He said there is not a worry in the world it is your day and soak it all in. Then he said unless you are a Pro or trying to place for Kona age group qualifier, to which I responded with a laugh. And here is where things all became calm.. he looked at me and continued to say "you did the work, Sunday is the grand finale and what ever happens that day you are still and Ironman in my book." It was like a weight lifted off me. I was so ready for this day but now I am even more ready. I wish I could find this guy and thank him. His words put me at ease and I knew it was going to be a great day!

Transition (run)

cocktail mixer

I will spare you all the details of putting bags together and all that jazz. It is a process but I have to share that this kid (photo right) mixes up the best electrolyte cocktail. He is hired. 

Here we go... Race day! I wake up at 3:30 a.m. holy crap that is early. My husband gets up with me and helps me get out the door, along with Kev they both wanted the Full IRONMAN Experience getting up at the crack of dawn. Mama Joes she slept in, she is no fool. So I get my tri kit on (I am wearing my SOAS team kit. I love this kit. Its a woman owned triathlon company. I was so excited to be representing them), stuff my face with food and fluid, roll out my legs and do my physical therapy exercises (Jackie would be so proud) and at 5 a.m. we head out to transition. I have to say I was not nervous at all. Ironman has this affect on me. I swear, I am such a nervous and anxious person in general, but when I am facing one of the biggest races of my life and I am "cool as a cucumber". It is bizarre but I will take it. I get nervous doing 5ks for crying out loud.

I get to transition and take my bike to get air in the tires and then add some last minute items to my bike transition bag and off to body marking (they mark your body with marker with your number). The energy is just amazing. Thousands of athletes bustling around some calm, some nervous but it is so awesome and it is 5 a.m. After body marking I grab my wet suit, two pair of goggles and my swim cap and head down to the lake. I saw Adam and Monica at body marking but I needed to be in my own head space and met them at the beach. The walk to the beach was about .50 miles and you had to go up a big hill... ugh!!!

The Beach! Finally I arrive. I hit the porta potty line first. Get the first time over with before I head over to do a quick warm up swim. I get my wetsuit on and put my clothing items in a bag to put on  the truck to go back to transition. You would not believe how organized this whole thing is. I pulled nutrition from my bag before giving it to the truck and my bottle of wate
r. I eat my final nutrition 20 minutes prior to what I thought was going to be the start of the race. I head over to practice swim and get in the water just to get wet and take a few strokes. Oh look who is swimming Adam and Monica.. yay! familiar faces. The fog was so bad on the lake that morning. You could not see anything, I don't think we could see the first swim buoy (the course is marked with buoys yellow then big red turn buoys to signify a turn). We hear Mike Reilly tell the crowd the swim will be delayed 15, minutes, then 30 minutes, then an hour. Oh man... I already ate and drank my nutrition. Oh well nothing I can do, this is one of the things that is out of my control but luckily they were handing out bottled water so I could drink. I had an opportunity to meet up with the family and talk for a bit, which was nice.
Finally, we are lining up to swim. Holy crap it is still foggy. I can't see any more of the buoys. Oh well here we go. I didn't train all this time to bag it now. I lined up in the corral with Grace and seriously not nervous at all. Finally we are in the water, I start my swim I am calm and not panicking. I am swimming I can't see shit but I am swimming and I am in it. My day is here. You ask what the heck do you think about while you are swimming... well I sing songs, I yell in my head where is the next buoy and I literally have conversations with myself. I also hope no one will pull me under and I constantly comment on how bad the swimmers are as the zig zag into me, in front of me, ugh!!! GET AWAY FROM ME. I am constantly saying " are you serious can't you swim a straight gd line". In addition to it being foggy the water was a little choppy but I get there I get to the end and I made it in 1:27. I was so psyched about that.

I get out of the water, have a volunteer strip my wetsuit off and away I go to transition. It is about a .4 mile run from the water to transition. Jesus it felt so long. I get to transition and I can't find my bike bag... Someone had moved it or grab mine by accident and realized it was not theres and didn't put it back. I had a small heart attack but all good a volunteer saved the day.  Still wet from the swim I put my nutrition in my pockets, an extra bike tube, get some extra lube on my bo
dy, helmet check, shoes check.. off I go. Oh wait quick sun screen spray by the volunteer. I think she literally missed every part of my body with the spray. My family is at bike transition and cheers me on as I head out to the hilly roads of Mont Tremblant.

Bike .. I am on the bike. I was feeling so good. The way out the Monte Ryan was so beautiful and it the air was perfect. I was all smiles that I didn't even notice those pesky little rollers.  I was having so much fun and singing. I heard my friends out there yell at me Adam, Kate and Grace, which is always helpful.  I met Dan from Braintree at about mile 30 and we chatted for about 10 miles. Man there is a lot of information you can exchange in 10 miles. He was a real nice guy and first timer. I would see him several times for the rest of the day and we would give a high five and even a hug in transition. So the first loop of the bike I see my family at the first little hill on the Du Plasse (For those that don't know this is the hardest of the climbing on the course there are some steeps and it is gradual but you do get a little down hill to recovery). I yell to my family "hey guys this is awesome I am having a blast." So up the DuPlassis I go. It wasn't so bad. I kept the vision of my family cheering for me and my friend Jim yelling at me to take the hills. As I am going up these damn hills, there are people getting off there bikes and walking these hills.. WHAT??? The most annoying part they would stop directly in front of you and clip out. I almost fell a few times having to swerve around them. Another exciting thing the lead Pro male passed me on my first time up on his second time (ya it is a two loop course so I have to do this again) if that wasn't a burst of inspiration. Well I made it and now for the fun decent. I hit 43 mph going down that thing the first time.

Onto my second loop... OMG! At 56 miles I hit my special needs bag (this is a bag you fill with extra little goodies and fuel you may need to get you through the next 56). I was so happy to have my Fierce Grape Gatorade, Kate and I found this on a ride one day and we both were hooked. It is the best cold but I would have to deal with warm. I had a few bites of a PB&J and off I went. The Monte Ryan was a just as nice on the second loop but it was getting warmer by the minute. I knew the highway portion of the bike was going to bring me some ugly space. I think I may have slowed a bit on this part especially at the turn around heading back. There is a really good climb on the way back and that was a doozy the second time. Again, people were walking up the hill. Seriously, but I offered words of encouragement. The second time up the DuPlassis was harder than the first but all I needed to do was get up and down and I would be done with my bike ride. My legs were tired and I knew about 5 miles before I had to get a little extra food in me. So I took in a Cliff Bar (ok lets say gagged a Cliff Bar down) and hit the hills. I made it to the top and was so excited, now to nail the down hill and bring it home. There was a bad crash when I was heading down and I slowed down to ask if everyone was alright. There was already a medical staff on the scene and he told me to keep moving but thanked me for offering to help. I felt awful but I kept moving as suggest. I came into transition on the bike and man I was tired but feeling good. I saw the family and may have yelled "well that sucked", Sean continues to make fun of me. The first loop brought smiles and happyiness and the end of the second I was ready to burn my bike. Thank god there were people there to help you get off the bike I may have fallen over if they weren't there.

Off I go... grab my transition bag, quick shirt change, was going to change the sports bra but it wasn't in my bag and onto the run. I see my family on the way out of the transition tent. I am not feeling great. My stomach is not happy at the moment. I take a minute to give scheawetty hugs and a kiss to John and Sean. I am on the last leg of this race and there is no stopping me now. The first five miles tested my every limit. I could not keep a stitch of food down, my mind wanted me to walk, but I knew if I walked I was never going to run another step. As coach told me whatever you do don't walk so I told myself even if it is a shuffle you run. The first 4 miles of the run are rolling hills then you come to a paved rail trail. I could not take in any more Gu it was making me gag but I was moving. Shit, I wasn't the only one struggling. I met a nice man on the rail trail and we shuffled and struck up a conversation to pass the time. Then something happened that was straight out of a comedy that I don't think I can ever reenact if I tried. I am running with my water bottle in my hand. I take a sip as I am running the bottle slips from my hand, hits my foot at the perfect angle and I punted that water bottle right into the lake. Seriously, right of the side of my foot down an incline into the lake. The guy was dying laughing and we both were in complete shock, although I wanted to cry because my favorite drink was now floating in the lake we both laughed and later on when we passed each other he belted out a laugh and said,  "way to keep at it punty." That was one of many highlights of the day.

Still moving but not taking in much food at mile 11. I see my friend TS. coming at me on a mountain bike. It was like a sign from above. She is a coach and I tell her my situation. She handed me a bag of chips and tells me to take in salt now and see how that works. I munch on her chips and stick them in my bra for safe keeping. I see my friend Adam and he tells me the same thing, take in salt. So salt it is. At every water stop from there on out I ate pretzels and drank pepsi... it was the magic potion. I couldn't believe it I was feeling like a million bucks. Just keep shuffling Kim. I hit the village finishing my first loop and my god the energy was crazy. People yelling, cheering it was so loud and I could hear Mike Reilly as I passed by the finish calling out Ironman finishers. I told myself Kim Wamback 13.1 more miles and you will be an Ironman. OMG I couldn't believe I had 13.1 more miles an I would be back here hearing my name.

I hit run special needs at mile 13.5 and take some of my nutrition and my sweedish fish was supposed to be at treat. I opened the bag and couldn't even stomach it. If you know me and sweedish fish then you can not even believe what I am telling you. Yes I could not eat the fish. So one last look in my special needs bag and I see a sports bra, its my favorite bra that I was looking for in transition to change into. OMG!! I think to myself I can't leave this bra in the bag I will never get it back. So I am seriously thinking I can't run with it in my hand, what am I going to do. The volunteer looks at me and says do you want to change into that bra. I laugh and say no it was supposed to be in my transition bag but now I don't know what to do with it because it is my favorite. She unbuckles my race belt and puts the bra through the race belt and says there you go now get moving. So off I go. Not even a minute later who do I see coming at me... MONICA COHEN.... I fumble unclipping my belt and taking the bra off of the belt and yell Monica thank god its you take my bra. I hear people laugh. My god how did that sound. Monica took my bra laughed at me (only you Wamback) and sent me on my way. I am going to do this.

The second loop I felt fantastic. Talked to people shuffled may have picked up my pace a tad. I was signing, drinking Pepsi, it was amazing. I even did the Cha Cha Slide with the Red Bull girls who were dancing in the street. They couldn't believe it and I even had some spectators yelling at me. I felt amazing. I kept going met some more people. It was getting frigging dark and we were told to take glow sticks to put around our neck. This is one of the best parts about being slow. You got to wear a god damn glow necklace. It is a frigging party now Pepsi, glow sticks, pretzels, just missing the margaritas! The rail trail had some generator lights on it but a lot of it was dark and cool because all you saw were peoples glow lights coming at you and people breathing. Creepy but cool. I had so much fun. People put glow lights in the trees and on the side of the trail. Loved it. The only bad part was hearing splatter hit the ground and the heaving of some people. Ya that was not good at all. But I kept a smile on my face and song in my voice, and of course I would ask these people if they were okay. Oh ya I forgot to mention I was a walking pharmacy immodium, salt tabs, advil, tylenol, pepto on the bike and the run. I helped a lot of people out which was nice.

Mile 24 I am coming out of a side street and a screaming pain in my pinky toe on my left foot. OMG.. my toe. I take my shoe off move my sock put the shoe back on and keep going. Literally, seconds later sharp pain again. I take the shoe off and start to run without it. I can't do that for 2 miles. I am panicking what am I going to do. I have two miles.. I chuck my shoe and I am feeling defeated. A volunteer sees me grabs my shoe asks me whats wrong. I ask where is the nearest aid station. She says 100 yards that way. She tells me to wait here runs to the aid station and back and fixes up my blister (so painful). She bandages it up and tells me that should get me to the finish. She puts my sock and show back on and send me on my way. It still hurt like hell but I tried not to focus on it and focus on the finish. As I make my way through the final mile I see my family friend Jim. He is yelling at me to get it I am almost there. As I get to the top of the village and make my way down the crowds are amazing and it is late a night. I start crying all the people cheering, yelling, high fives, among them my fellow SOAS teammate Sara. It was the most up lifting and special moments of my life. A feeling I can't even describe and now I crave it. I am on the red carpet.. the finishers carpet. I am hysterically crying and so happy. My family was right at the finish to witness it all... Yelling! I hit that finish line waiting for

Mike Reilly to say my name. I finish and I am waiting OMG Mike say my name. Well Mike went on a short break. LMAO just my luck! the moment I had been waiting for and Mike is on break and I hear the back up announcer say Kim Wamback Worcester Massachusetts... and he did not say those four words "you are an Ironman." I am feeling robbed...oh well no biggie..I hug a stranger and grab my medal and hold it so tight. I am weeping happy tears, tears of joy, tears of 12 months of preparation. Kim Wamback you are an IRONMAN!!! It was one of the best feelings in the world and only few 1% of the population knows what this feels like. I can't put it into words, the feeling but it is an intense few minutes.

I met up with my friends Kate, Monica and Adam in the finishers tent. They had access since they raced. I was so happy to see them. Of course Adam beat me but I am going to get him next time. I was so happy to have them there for me and of course I am already saying I am coming back in 2020. Am I frigging CRAZY!  I left them to go find my family which was truly amazing. Sean was so excited, Gordy said he wants to do one and Joes, Kev and my biggest supporter John were so happy for me. Unlike my last 140.6 where I was a total mess this one I felt amazing. I could of went out and partied but my family was exhausted. No joke spectating is hard work and I love them for it and for being there for me. Two days post race after a few friends tweeted Mike Reilly saying he missed my finish and announcing my name, he called me and personally told me I was an Ironman. As if that day couldn't get any better!!! I have it saved on my phone.

Thanks to my training husband, buddies (Kate, Andrea, Carey, and Adam), Krit and many others for not letting me give up on my goal, and my coach. I couldn't have done it without you. And my friend Julie Sawyer who got this video of me and she gets the award of being my number one fan. LMAO. .. I wish I could of got you all medals. <3. That is the end of my journey. I will be back in 2020! I promise. :)

Who Inspires you

Do you have a pro athlete that inspires you? Do you do what you do for you? Who do you think of when you are laying every possible ounce of energy on the line? For me, it has never been anyone in particular. Actually I did things for me because I wanted to show people I could do it or I was strong enough or fit enough. I never actually looked up to a pro athlete. Wait! I take that back. Back in the day I loved Dwight Evans. Loved!!!! But a pro baseball player I would never be. hahaha! But other than that when I race (and I use the term race loosely) I race for me. I mean I have people in mind like my friend with MS and my nephew, as well as many other people like my son. But have never been inspired by an athlete until the past few weeks. 

I recently have been watching videos of Miranda Carfrae, multiple Ironman World Champion. She is such an amazing athlete and so humble. I know of a few  humble athletes (my own coach) but seriously not many. She is just amazing in everything. I watch her videos and how she reacts and think if I could only be just like her. If I could only strive to be amazing, humble, and be a winner. She made a comment in one of her interviews on what she would say to new triathletes. Her response was to have fun and family comes first so let it. She said if you miss a workout so be it just have fun. I don't know what I am so captured by her but it seems like she is genuine and real an seems to be an amazing all around person and athlete. 

I know I am not the fastest or the strongest but when I am on my game I give it everything I have. I work hard, train hard no matter how hard the workout is. I give it 100%. I must say I continue to  struggle with this. Thinking what am I trying to achieve after IM. I need to get past it. It's funny recently someone said to me "if you can do an IM so can I." Really? you just said that. Well if that doesn't fuel a bitches fire. I can't even..... Do people know the amount of struggle, training, sacrifice one endures to never mind start but to complete such an event. Even a half can be daunting then double that. People will often say Kim did an IM last year. I kind of shrug it off like ya ya ya.... I wonder why do I do that. I should be proud of my accomplishment, what I have achieved but for some reason I don't want the recognition. I should say ya I am so bad ass.. Let me tell you all about it. But I don't. I hope to think it is me being so humble like so many around me. Ya I did and Ironman but it is no different than someone doing their first 5k or their first half marathon, or their first century or metric century ride. It's a race, it was a goal and I made it happen. you can make anything happen if you put the time an energy into it. That is what I take away from Miranda. Have fun with it, train hard, and you will full fill your dreams. :)

What do you do after an Iron Distance Race?

you become lazy and depressed. Holy cow!! Never in my life have I experienced such a huge let down. Don't get me wrong I had a fantastic day. It could not have gone any better well minus the hilly swim. Hahaha! Jesus, talk about almost drowning. It was crazy. What a day! I will give you a brief recap since I haven't as of yet. Ok, so not so brief.

So we left Worcester the Wednesday before the race, September 3rd. I was so nervous and jesus talk about packing shit. So much crap to pack race day clothes, transition items, run clothes, hats, pants, nutrition, fuel belts, the list goes on and on. Oh the bike and shoes. Hahaha! We spent one night in Rochester NY on our way to Sandusky Ohio. When we arrived in Sandusky on Thursday, I was full of excitement, Cedar Point amusement park was pretty, the area not so much but it was decent. The hotel was all decked out for Halloween, my son got a kick out of that. After getting to our room and getting situated I met my friends that came as well to race to go for a bike ride. We did a bit of the bike course since two of the riders had done this before. It was pretty and flat. I was so excited. I was here at Cedar Point and I was about to participate in the biggest race of my life. 

Friday we wake up and take a rest day. Me and a friend drove the bike course and that was great. Lots of corn field. Holy crap! But it was not that bad not many hills some rollers. I thought to myself I got this. And two nights before the race I am seriously cool as a cucumber. I am so relaxed. Not my usual self. If you knew me I am a stress ball. Literally nervous nelly....

Saturday came and it is the day before race day. Decided to go for an early morning swim with friends. As I was putting on my wetsuit I feel a breeze on my ass. My ass was exposed! I ripped my wetsuit!! 

Ok don't panic.. Worst case I swim without one or I rent one from the vendor onsite. My friend pipes in saying she has the same wetsuit and I could use it if I wanted to. OMG! What are the chances she has the same wetsuit in my size. Thank god! So I am back to being calm cool and collective. I eat dinner early and go over to meet up with John and Sean at the amusement park. I decide to go on a ride with Sean it looked like a nice easy ride. OMG!! Not.. it was nuts spinny and I thought I was going to die before I got to my race. Sean was laughing. After that I went back to the room and watched t.v. turning in early. I was still so relaxed no nerves. 

Race Morning!! Look at me slept through the night! OMG. never had such a good night sleep. I eat my pre-race breakfast and get my friend and head out to the swim start. You could feel the nervous energy as we stood by the race start. We decided to get wet before race start and get a feel for the water. Umm.. its a little choppy I think to myself. I don't think much of it. As the announcement is made to please approach the start and go over the start mat to register your chip I am still calm. My girlfriend said to me "hey you, what the hell did you do with Wamback." That is how calm I felt. Well that is all about to change. As we cross over the mat and make our way into the water I am getting nervous. The waves are pretty big. The start is in the water since Lake Erie is really shallow so we have to walk out probably 100 yards from shore. OMG! I am up to my chest and the waves are crashing at my face and I find myself jumping. Panic is setting in and as the whistle blows I start to swim. I really start to panic. I start to think I can't do this, waves are to big, I am going to die, I didn't train for this and can't adapt, and then I start swearing and breast stroking and crying. After 10 minutes in the water I tread water for a bit and I say to myself, "suck it up kim! you didn't train your ass off to drop out in the first quarter mile." I took my time met a guy along the way as we rounded the first mile (it was a two loop) and he tells me just take your time and try and duck the wave on way out and ride wave on way in. He said believe me you are not going to have a good swim so just get through it. He saved my life. We stuck together and come to find out he is a very fast swimmer and was with me! He said he does between a 23-25 minute mile swim and here he is with me. Unfortunately, we were not going to swim date since he was puking. hahaha! Several people were!  Okay I got this... I finished, the swim and I have never been more happy. Not a pretty time 1:40 but I made it before the cut off. And 62 competitors were pulled from the water so I am damn happy. 

Onto Transition 1. Dear god I am in good shape. Most people were vomitting and just looked awful. I felt a little nauseous but took some sips of water while I put my cycling gear on and took a bit of food and off I went. Bike was amazing. So many corn fields I nailed my nutrition, had a great ride. Felt kind of sick around 90 miles but fueled and felt a little better. Such a great ride and even got some woman all scared. I told her the corn field make me think we are in children of the corn and she freaked out and missed her turn. Hahahah! I had to ride to tell her she went the wrong way. She was doing the half and missed the half turn. So I had a little fun. 

Transition 2 I was feeling good. Trying not to think about having to run 26.2 miles but thought I will stay the course and run to every water stop and walk the water stops. No long walking will cramp up! Had to keep telling myself that. I stayed with the plan. Met some awesome people along the way that keep me motivated, strong, and focused. So much to talk about with other runners and shared some stories. One woman had a whole entourage with her they had a radio. Oh I had to stick with her and I did for about 10 miles. I learned so much about this woman. She was amazing, my age. She lost her daughter at the age of three and was doing her first ironman for her. She has done many half irons for her daughter. It was an amazing and inspiring time of the run. She ended up getting a good kick the last two miles and i let her drop me. Another guy who we picked up along the way stayed with me till the finish. We chatted and as we hit the causeway to Cedar Point amusement park we could smell the finish as we encouraged each other for the next two miles. When we hit the causeway he made a joke what a romantic date we were on since there was water on each side, nice big moon, and the amusement park lit up in the distance. hahaha! it was romantic. :) We laughed. 

What an amazing run. I felt great the whole way and now I have yards to go. I see my friends parents and my husband and son. I am crying emotional its over, I did it! My son ran in with me and was yelling at me to run faster. I hit the finish line! Emotions so big it is hard to explain! Roller coaster head is spinning I did it someone call COACH! I did it and I have my husband and son to thank for my success as well as many other friends and family. I finished why do I feel so sad, wait I feel sick. Off to the medical tent I go... 

I finished! Better than I expected I was thinking around 16 hours and I finished in 14:45. Amazing! So happy and proud. What an accomplishment.

So now the real fun. I get back to the hotel room. Shakes all night, freezing, crying uncontrollably, and the shower I screamed bloody murder due to chafing. Then I decide to read Facebook posts because I can't sleep. OMG! Sobbing, just sobbing at all the people who wished me luck, followed me and supported me the whole day. Oh yes good times. Don't you just want to sign up for one now. 

That is not even the worst of it. For the next six months to this day the mental let down and physical fatigue was way more than I could even imaging. I am still not right mentally from it all. Now goals seem so small and I can't wrap my head around not going that distance and being satisfied. I keep thinking there is nothing I can do that will top this, nothing is big enough. I am working hard to get out of this mind set. Now I know how people continue to sign up for them. It is 10x worse than "marathon blues" It is down right awful. That being said, will I ever do it again? HELL YES! I can't wait for the next one. Well that is my story. 

 Thanks to this girl for taking the journey with me!!!

Human Bobber

So I don’t know about this but it has been aggravating me. The last two times I have been to the local YMCA to swim laps they have half the pool open for open swim with no lanes and half the pool open for lap swim with lanes. And kind of ironic the last two times I have been there I have shared a lane with the same woman. So this is my question, if there is a half the pool open for open swim with no kids in the deep end why do people think it is ok to tread water or be a human bobber in the lap lane? Yes the last two times people get in the middle of the lap lane and bob up and down and get angry when you splash or interrupt them. What the hell, move over to the open lanes! The last two times I have been there me and this woman would circle swim around the person, ummm you think they would move. But no, anyway it is annoying and I never have said anything. I understand they have a right to be in the pool to do their work out but there is whole open deep end of the pool that is not being used to do your bobbing.

Ok, so this week I am tired, exhausted and struggling to get through workouts but I have to push. So last night I go to do my swim workout. That is right human bobber in the lap lane but my lady friend wasn’t there this time it was another guy. So I was tired and was kind of aggravated because this person was bobbing in my way so I had to interrupt my stroke to get around them. I got so angry about 10 minutes into my swim that I stopped and said is there a reason you are bobbing in the middle of a lap lane while two people are trying to swim and there is a whole open end to the pool over there. They yelled at me and told me they had a right to swim there. I said whatever and made their life miserable by every time I kicked off at that end I would kick up water to piss him off. I am usually not like this but seriously I had had it! Do you think the life guards would say something? I 

was totally annoyed and probably out of line but I had to.

MOVE YOUR BOBBING ASS OVER! Hahahaha!!!!

Workout got done so it’s all good. 

Has anyone else ever experienced this?

First time getting in a wet suit.. really?

Got up this morning and met my friend at the boat ramp at Comet pond for a nice swim. Little chilly but what a beautiful morning. The pond was like glass and it was just so beautiful. While we were swimming the sun was coming up and it was just perfect.

So I get to the parking lot. Start to put my wetsuit on and get my foot caught. Good lord I almost took a digger while putting on my wet suit. I totally tripped and got my foot caught while putting it in the leg hole. OMG!!! My friend almost had to catch me. hahaha!Can you say tired?

I don't ever think I have experienced this type of exhaustion. Yes I had a baby and you were exhausted lack of sleep wanted to cry but this is different. Muscle fatigue, mental fatigue its just wearing me down. You know it is the end I guess when you are this tired.

I swam 2.4 miles in about 1:25. I am so thrilled with that. That is being totally exhausted and running on fumes. I have to believe I can do this. I do. After tomorrows ride it will be all down hill.

Here is to a 17 hour training week. Yipee!!! Few hard days to go.. I got this.

Felt like Death

So I wake up yesterday morning yep it was Wednesday and I kept thinking it was Thursday. I wake up my body feels like someone beat me in my sleep and my legs hurt, my feet hurt and I have a long swim and a 7 mile run with pick ups to get through. I start to talk to myself. How the hell am I going to do this? The exhaustion alone is killing me never mind trying to put one foot in front of the other to walk or run.

Well I go down stairs get Sean off to day camp. The day goes by and I still can't get out of my own way. I dumped a whole thing of fruit salad on the floor and spilt a half gallon of milk all in one day. Just to give you a mental picture, I was the walking dead. Anyway the workouts are on my plan so I must get them done. I needed to focus one workout at a time. I kept telling myself "Kim are you going to be an ironman! Then suck it up." I emailed a few friends for motivational ass kicking and it worked.

Later that day I lace up the sneakers, put on a cute Lulu running skirt (ya because that is going to make me faster and feel better but damn I will look good! hahaha!) and a tank. I head out the door.

I checked my dam plan three times before leaving and I still couldn't remember how the work out went but I had an idea. It was something like this:
Mile 1 and 2 zone II Heart Rate - which is about a 10:20-10:25 mile
Mile 3 and 4 zone III Heart Rate- which is about a 9:25-9:40 mile
Mile 5 zone IV Heart Rate- which is a 8:15-8:40 mile

The first mile from my house is all down hill. I was like wahoo this feels fantastic. No problem. Well then I hit the flats and slight up hills. I kept thinking in that first two miles how am I ever going to be able to pick up the pace. I would have to dig deep. Well my first two miles were 10:20-10:30 as expected, 3rd and 4th miles were in the 9:30's wahoo and my 5th mile was a 8:33, at which point I stopped put my hand over my head and yelled "fuck yeah." I couldn't believe I just nailed that workout completely exhausted and depleted. I was so happy. The last two miles well were cool down but one was in high 9's and last one was in the 10's.

Later that evening the swim went well too. I had to cut it short since I only had my sitter for a certain amount of time but almost got 2 miles in.

This training is really making me realize how freaking amazing our bodies are. The really are an amazing organ.