Monday, November 05, 2007

I'M IN!


IRONMAN Florida '08, look out...I came, I saw, I Freakin' Signed Up!!!
Actually, I just "pulled the slip"...being onsite after the race I gave them my name, number and email, and they gave me the above piece of paper that says I can sign into active.com between November 15th and December 1st to claim and pay for (ouch!) my slot. To say that I am excited is a slight understatement.

Oh man, where do I start? What a weekend. I guess you could say it started at 4:00 Friday morning when Michele and I took off for our long run. It was a 17 miler with 14 at marathon pace(9:09/mile). To make a long story short on this one - we rocked it. I haven't analyzed the splits, but the overall average pace for all 17 miles was 9:04. And we ran the first 3 around 9:45 or so...so we took some marathon pace to school for the last 14. A couple hours later, we were on our way to PC Beach - me, Holly, and Michele.

We got our volunteer shirts upon arrival at the race site, and met up with Trimama, Taconite Boy, Bigun and Mrs. Bigun, IronJenny and her Ironman friend that his name has now slipped my mind because I'm a dork, and TriFeist(Linae) and her cool husband, Joe. IronGirlNyhus also dropped in for a few minutes. OMG what fun!! I won't even go into how cool all these people are. After the racers left out to get some sleep before their big day, Holly, Michele and I went with Tac, Trimama, and the Biguns to have food and drinks at Hooters. We didn't stay out too late, though, because body markers had to be at the race site at 4:30 a.m.

Now, I'm not stupid. I've read tons of Ironman race reports, and you guys all talk about "The Voice of Ironman" - Mike Reilly. I knew his name and all. But I had this vision of him being only at the start and finish line. So as I was directing people to the body markers as a volunteer, I got many questions from the participants. Some were pretty lame - like does anyone have a couple of rubber bands-someone stole mine. So each time someone asked me a question I'd turn around and ask this guy with a microphone that seemed to have all the answers. I thought he was just a volunteer or something...he was really helpful for most of the questions, but he looked at me a little strange when I said "Hey man, you got a couple of rubber bands by any chance?". Obviously, it was Mike Reilly. LOL. I was asking him questions like he was the captain of the body marking team or something. I realized this when I got to the start line and that same helpful guy was asking "Do you want to be an Ironman today?!?!" Nice one, Lana.

We volunteered for the swim too. We were supposed to be stippers, but instead we got put right at the swim exit next to the timing mats. Holly was one of the first volunteers that the swimmers saw when exiting the beach, and boy did she do a great job! The guy in charge got all serious and told her "We've got about 4 minutes until they start coming - get ready." She said she got all pumped up and said to herself "BRING IT!" Our jobs were to direct the swimmers onto the mats and keep them on the mats to ensure they got a chip time. We did a fine job if I must say so myself. One poor guy was so confused he asked where the strippers were and fell right down in front of me before I could tell him they were on down. So I just said "STAY THERE! I GOT IT!!" I stripped him like nobody's business, baby...and even got applause from the crowd...one guy leaned over the fence and said "Now you know you just wanted to pat that bum, didn't you!" It was fun. I saw Jere from swimclass, IronJenny, and Linae all come out of the water looking great. And then some came out not looking so great, too.

Volunteering was great. It's like a free front row seat to the whole event. I highly recommend it.

After the swim and our shift was over, Michele and I got our wetsuits and swam about a mile in the crystal clear ocean water with Bigun, Tac, and Trimama. Cool stuff. I was surprised at how easy it was to swim in the ocean with a wetsuit. Granted, we only went a mile. We left the race site for a while after the swim and found some lunch and laid on the beach for a while. We cheered for tons of racers as they were coming in on their bikes. I saw Jere AGAIN during that time - can you believe that!! He looked very strong! We got back to the race site just in time to see the winner cross the line, and spent the rest of the night mesmerized by all the runners and the finishers. We yelled and cheered and high-fived until we were delirious. We saw IronJenny finish like a pro and snag the 1st place Athena spot. We saw Jere come across looking like he'd been out for a 5 mile jog. And we saw Linae absolutely rock the finish line with her strong sprint to the tape. I sent all my friends a picture message and said "No doubts. I am SO in!" We searched and searched for TJ, and thought we had seen him a couple of times, but were never sure. I just read his blog and saw that he did AWESOME!

Michele and I got up and did our 8 mile w/intervals run at 7:00 Sunday morning, then got in line and signed up for IMFL '08 along with Tac, Trimama, IronJenny, Ashley,Dee,Abby and some others from swim class. Tom, a guy I workout with some from work, called on our way home and said that he and his training partner got in online! It's gonna be a wild 2008! And you know what I say about that, right? Bring.It.On.

Me, Linae, and Michele after Linae's awesome finish.

Talking to IronJenny after getting our signup slips the next day.

Trimama sharing some of her highly solicited wisdom on IMFL

Congrats to all the finishers Saturday. You guys rock!

24 comments:

Wes said...

I recognize that shirt! I'm bummed that some blogger peeps were at IM FL and I didn't get to meet them :-( I wonder if I passed you while I was out on my twenty miler Sunday morning... Hmmm. Any who... I got my certificate too! See in PCB in 08! I'll come by and see how you are doing!!

Lance Notstrong said...

That's funny about Mike Reilly. At least he was cool about it and wasn't like, "do you know who I am"?

I giggle a little everytime you say "strippers" LOL!!!

:) said...

Awesome...thanks for volunteering!

You are going to rock Fl. in 08. Can't wait to follow your training.

:)

LeahC said...

congrats on signing up for the IM! That's so so impressive. I am in awe of anyone that does a triathlon let alone an Ironman. I can't wait to follow your training!

Brooke said...

Alright then, get to freakin training!
J/K congrats to you.

Di said...

LANA!!!!! WOOOHOOOOO!!!!!!
I am so so so GLAD that I was sp fortunate to meet you, Michele and Holly!! We'll be at IMFL next year too!!!! I think we'll be making it a longer stay...Weds - Mon probably. Did you reserve a condo yet? They run out pretty quickly!

Love you guys!!!
Di

Michele said...

What a great weekend!!

Forward me your active.com confirmation when you pay and I will follow suit ;)

Thanks for the awesome runs Friday and Sunday, I needed that shot in the arm.

Tri-Dummy said...

I'm really excited for you!

Tentatively scheduled to watch you guys rock it out next year...and then so I can sign up for IM FL 09.

Sounds like you guys had a blast...awesome blogger roundup!

Joe said...

Lana, thanks for stopping by my blog!! Cool that you'll be at Rocket City...hope we can connect there!!

Great report...IMFL must be something else. Thanks for volunterring...must have been a rush!

Phil said...

You absolutely rocked your 17 miler Lana. I think that's the fastest 17 miles you've ever covered on foot outside of running an marathon. Great job.

And congrats on your Ironman acceptance.

RunBubbaRun said...

Congrats on getting your "golden ticket" for the big show..

Sounds like a fun group racing next year.. Now the journey begins..

Anonymous said...

Congrats, Lana!
I guarantee you, apart from having kids, the Ironman will be the greatest thing you've ever accomplished. I'm excited to follow you through this adventure.
Cheers!

Rice said...

I'll pass on all the "hey who's that" 's that I got from the guys walking by my desk as I had your blog open on my lap top well I was on the phone, as a complement(s) for you. ;)

Cheers.

Rice

greyhound said...

Love the pictures. Reminds my of my Ironman memories with a lot of those same folks. I **HEART** Trimama--and she always seems to have that nimbus of light around her head. Is she some Byzantine era saint or something?

Benson said...

Wow, what a weekend for you. I got a little choked up reading this post. So so happy you're gonna do it in 08. You rock sistah.

E-Speed said...

sounds like an awesome weekend! I think you have some serious training ahead of you ;)

Glad you rocked the long run!

Joe said...

Congrats on signing up. Now the hard work begins, I guess?

TJ said...

bummer i didn't get to meet you guys down there. i kept looking for yall.
can't wait to follow your iron journey. you're gonna have a great year.

Born To Endure said...

Yay...love the pics and the report..can't wait to meet you in FLA next year!!!

Darrell said...

Lana,
Thanks for stopping by my little slice of blogland. After reading this post I'm not sure I'm worthy to hang with you and all your tribuddies. 8-) I'm only a lowly runner, LOL! I think Rae told me once you'd be at Rocket City but I never made it over your way. I've been having a hard time keeping up with the Running Blog Family. I definitely plan on seeing Wes at Rocket City, so maybe we'll run into each other too.

And congrats on the IM entry. I stand in awe.

tri-mama said...

Ok, I'm stealing the "St. Trimama" picture at the end there :-) It was so awesome to meet you in person and hang out- this is going to be a great training year! Glad you all got home safely, let the countdown begin...

Spandex King said...

Just wait, the realization of signing up has not yet sit in. You�re still floating on that high from being at the race. Wait about a month. Then you�ll get the �I did what� phase. I signed up for Wi in September. Now I�m like oh my!! I�m really going to do this!!

Fe-lady said...

Very cool choice! You will rock! Don't let anyone sniff that enthusiasm. It's an adventure to get there and an adventure that day...have a great journey!

Rae said...

IM weekend sounds like fun! I'm planning to spec at Louisville next year. To me cheering and supporting is just as fun as participating!