Most
of my race reports start out with the morning of the race, or the night before,
however, this race report will be different, because well, let’s face it… this
just isn’t a normal race, this was an IRONMAN.
Flashing
back to July 1st, 2014, frantically hitting refresh on my work computer trying
to see when IRONMAN would open up Volunteer slots for the 2014 IRONMAN Arizona
race. The only way to give me a shot into the 2015 race, as Arizona is a
popular race that sells out within minutes of being opened up online, so if I
was serious about it, I was going to need to start preparations almost 18
months prior. Finally, the volunteer registration opened and the slots were
filling up fast. Stephen and I both got a mid day bike handler position where
you hand the bike off to volunteers after the ride and they place it back on
the bike rack for you.
In
November 2014, Stephen and I headed to Arizona to fulfill out volunteering
obligations and sign up for the 2015 IRONMAN Arizona, as volunteers get
priority registration before the general public can register. The only
triathlon’s I had been a part of before my volunteer shift were small local
ones, with a maximum of about 800 competitors, this race had about 3,000 people
and 4,000 volunteers, it was crazy to be around that kind of atmosphere and
energy. The volunteer shift when good and we were able to secure a wristband
that allowed us priority registration when it opened the following day. At
6:00am the next morning, lining up in IRONMAN village, we were 2 of about
2,000+ people ready to pay and commit to racing the 2015 IRONMAN Arizona Race.
---Fast
forward one year and several hundred hours of training---
The
morning of the race I found myself in a calm place. The hotel was about a mile
and a half from the transition, so we decided to walk, in order to avoid
traffic and road closures. The rolling start of group of 3,000+ age groupers
were scheduled to start at 6:45am, and we arrived to the transition and I was
dressed into my wetsuit and in line by 6:40am.
At 6:45am, the sound of the horn rang out and the
race was on. Where swimmers lined up was self seeded, you decided how fast you
thought you would complete the swim and then lined up near the sign indicating
that time. I lined up between the 1:10:00 sign and the 1:20:00 sign. I was
hoping to swim somewhere between 1:18:00 and 1:20:00 but I wanted to get in
with a faster group. When I climbed down the steps into the water there was no
treading water, or warming it, it was just swim. I found my stroke almost
immediately and felt good. My arms
never got tired and I was able to make quick work of the beginning portion of
the swim. Besides the water being dirty (I was not able to see your hand in
front of your face), I had a great swim. The swim course was 1 loop around the
lake and I was able to keep a straight line for the majority of the race, never
swaying to far from the buoys. There were a couple times when swimmers would
come to close, and their arms would grab your waist, or a pair of feet would
appear a few inches in front of my face (I did mention you couldn’t see very
well in the water). Coming into the final turn and a straight shot to the
stairs I had entered I gave it a final push, kicking my legs harder to get the
blood flow back into them. My final swim time was 1:11:30, a full 7-8 minutes
faster than I had predicted.
A
volunteer quickly grabbed my arm as I reached for the stairs and helped me up. I
instantly starting ripping my wetsuit off, preparing for the change tent, Getting
my wetsuit down to my waist I jumped in front of two other volunteers, wetsuit
strippers, and they wasted no time at all and getting the wetsuit off my legs
and leaving me free to for a quick run to my transition bag and change tent.
I have mixed emotions of the change tent. It was
about 10-15 Degrees warmer, which was nice, but the smell of sweaty bodies
still in a hurry was something I could have done without. But, hey, that got me
in and out the change tent in a few minutes.
The bike course was roughly a 37-mile loop that
needed to be completed 3 times, that plus the bike in and bike out portion
equals 112 miles on the bike. The bike portion for IRONMAN Arizona has you go
out 17.5 miles at a slight increase, there’s about 700 feet of elevation gain
heading out, but at that distance and rate, it’s mostly flat. The way back is
along the same route, so it’s considered downhill, but again, mostly flat, but
the speeds on the way back were promising. I finished the first lap in about 2
hours, and halfway through the second lap it started to rain. This made an
already cold day not only colder, but now everything was wet. The course was
slick, which caused for slow turns. I was able to maintain myself and avoid all
issues. The second loop was a little slower, coming in about 2 hours 6 minutes.
It pretty much rained for the entire remainder of the bike course, the third
loop, and the hardest loop, as I had already completed 75 miles on the bike was
going to be in the cold rain, but as much as I wanted the ride to be over, I
knew that there was only a couple more hours until I was off the bike and onto
the final portion of the race. The third and final leg was my slowest leg of
the bike, but still much faster then I thought. It took me about 2 hours 10 minutes
on the bike, able to maintain a pace above 17 mph. My goal time for the 112
miles on the bike was 6:45, my actual time was 6:19:18, about 25 minutes
faster.
Now
that I was off the bike I realized how cold it actually was. I got into the
again warm but smelly change tent only to not want to leave. A volunteer showed
up to wrap me in a Mylar blanket and gave me a bottle of water. I was cold but
grateful there was someone there to help me. I took my time in shredding my
bike shoes and putting on my race number and run shoes, I was dreading heading
back out into the cold, but I had a thought, I was 26.2 miles away from
finishing the race, now I just wanted to get it over with. The run course was a
13.1 mile loop that required 2 laps before I got to enter that finisher chute
and be immortalized as an IRONMAN for the rest of my life, so off I went. Remembering my training I started off slow, the
tendency for triathletes in an IRONMAN is to come flying out of the final
transition only too bonk in the run after a few miles. To get to the finish line that was my
plan. I felt like I had a good stride during the run, only stopping to walk the
aid stations during the first loop and realizing now I only had 13.1 miles to go
and nothing was going to stop me. I had PLENTY of time to finish and wasn’t
about to go this far without finishing. Around mile 19 of the run was when I
hit the wall. I couldn’t run anymore, my run had already turned into a slow
shuffle and now I had to walk. I walked for about the next 3 miles, then was
able to find my legs and legged out another mile before the final hill of the
run course. Not being stupid, I walked up the hill, and started my run down the
hill, and saw the Mile 24 sign.
That’s it 2 miles left, it was renewed strength, I
was able to trudge along over the final bridge and to the mile 25 sign. Oh my
god, oh my god, 1 mile left, I was slow close, but do you realize how far 1
mile is after 139 miles were all ready completed. There it was, the finish
line, the final 100 feet. Suddenly, every pain, every ache, every muscle came
alive and I felt just as good as I did at the start of the race. About 20 feet
from the finish line, I heard the 6 words that had consumed my life for 17
months, Steven Burkett, you are an IRONMAN!! I had done it. My goal for the
run, was 4 hrs 42 minutes, and my time was 4 hours 47 minutes, 5 minutes
slower, but it doesn’t matter I completed it.
My official
time was 12:33:59. I had done it, I never expected I would have been able to
break the 13-hour mark, and here I had done it by almost 30 minutes.
I
was greeted at the finish line by a volunteer with another Mylar blanket and
then I saw my friends and family waiting for me on the other side of the fence.
The race may have been over, but the experience is something that will last a
lifetime.
