Around this time last year, a co-worker at the time and
friend Ryan hung up a piece of paper that said “Cool $hit I want to do.” He
looked at me and said “Kate, I feel like you have a lot of cool things you want
to do.” Most people were writing things like Sky Diving, traveling to cool
places, etc. I took the pen and wrote down “Run down Ali’i Drive.” “That’s it?”
“Yeah, for right now... that’s it.”
Fast forward to Mont Tremblant in August, I was given that
opportunity when I qualified and got my Kona spot. A dream that even a year ago seemed so distant. I don't have a background in any of the 3 disciplines and it has taken a lot of heart, passion and hard work to punch my ticket to the big island. The road from Ironman Mont
Tremblant to Kona was definitely not all rainbows and butterflies. It was
probably one of the most mentally challenging training blocks I have
experienced. My body was tired, mentally I was tired and most of my training
peeps were in their off-season and had dialed back the training big time. I had
a lot of solo training, though I was extremely fortunate to have several people
step up to the plate and train with me. As much as I hate to admit it, I hit
some bad mental lows. There was a 5 hour solo ride where I pulled over to pee
and just sat leaning up against a tree and cried. I had moments of crying in
the pool, crying on the trainer. As much as I absolutely love the training and
the journey, I was bound to hit some bumps in the road after a long season. Though these rough times made me mentally stronger.
As I was finishing off my final training sessions before
getting on that plane, I just felt like my legs didn’t have the snap. It was
the first time I felt like I was going into doing an Ironman not fully feeling
my best. But it was Kona and I was beyond thrilled that I was going to be
toeing the line with the best in the world.
I arrived to Kona on the Tuesday before the race. I spent
the next couple of days picking up my bike from Tribike Transport, registering,
and doing some last final training sessions with Brigitte, Tara, Steve, Joe and
Molly. I was so happy to have some QT2 people to train and hang out with. The
first practice swim was unforgettable. The whole environment was incredible.
Getting in that water and just realizing I was in Kona was so surreal.
Everything I had watched on TV for years was right in front of me. The water
was clear and gorgeous. My body was happy to be in the warm weather and warm
water. I was starting to feel like I could do this thing.
At the QT2 Breakfast, Cait Snow had warned all of us newbies
that bike check-in was quite the experience. I didn’t appreciate quite what she
meant until I got down to the pier. There were regular people just spectating
the whole event. Bike vendors had set up camp and were giving out t-shirts to
athletes who were riding their brand of bike. I walked through the crowd and arrived at check-in and it was like walking the red carpet. Journalists and vendors
were camped out with clip boards
taking counts of the brand of
bike, helmet, saddle, bike components, and wheels that the athletes were riding. People were taking pictures, and then
there were just regular people not in the industry there just to watch the whole brigade.
I
got to the pier and had my own volunteer to walk me through the whole bike check-in
and bike/run bag drop off. It was sinking in that I was going to be doing an
Ironman the next day.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing with my feet up.
We
had an early dinner and was in bed early. Like at Mont Tremblant, I was very
grateful that I was able to sleep the whole week leading up to the race and the
night before the race. Hopefully this will be the new trend for future races.
As we were driving to drop me off, I realized I forgot my
Special Needs bags. These are the bags that are at the half way point on the
course and are filled with spare tubes, CO2, extra fuel and electrolytes. How
could I forget them?! Debating
whether or not I really needed them, I decided I was setting myself up for
disaster if I didn’t have them. We turned around and my amazing little sherpa
Lindsey ran back in to get them for me. Luckily, we had left plenty of time to
get to the start and I was doing okay with time.
I went to get body marked. They had the tattoo numbers,
which I liked, but thought it was more efficient having the numbers in our race
packet like at Tremblant, rather than having volunteers mark us in the morning.
I weighed in and then went to my bike to do some finishing touches. I made
small talk with other athletes as helicopters were hovering overhead. The chef
Gordon Ramsay walked by, but I was more star struck by Andy Potts walking by,
who had pulled out of the race that morning due to injury.
As I got in to the water, NBC cameras and crew men
surrounded us. I looked around at all of the people lined up on the pier and on
the shoreline. It was unlike anything I had ever seen. It was real, I was
beginning to live my dream.
The countdown started and I was surprisingly pretty relaxed.
I had a small pit in my stomach, but I truly was going into the day with very little
expectations other than to race smart and leave everything out on the course
and to soak up the experience. The cannon blasted and we were off. I started to
swim and felt really good in the water. I had coach Jen’s voice in my head
reminding me on good form and technique. I was able to draft and had moments of
clear water. I was knocked around very little and was very happy to actually
swim rather than battle other athletes unlike a lot of mass starts. I got excited as the big blow up power bar
perform got closer. I started to hear Mike Reilly’s voice commenting on the
race. I ran out of the water and saw a 1:07:xx. I was thrilled. I was expecting
around 5-6 minutes slower than Tremblant because it was a non-wetsuit swim, but
it was only 2.5 minutes slower. With the wave group start at Tremblant, I
really didn’t have any drafting, but here I was able to use the mass start to
my advantage. By the time I ran over the mat, the official swim time was 1:08:00.
I grabbed my bag and was off to the changing tent. I grabbed
my stuff and was off. I looked and realized I was missing my second container
of salt stick electrolytes. Shoot. I turned around and tried to find the
volunteer with my T1 bag. I couldn’t find her. I couldn’t find my bag. Maybe I had
thrown it out with the Ziploc bag that was holding my bars and electrolytes
together. I use the Ziploc to prevent exactly this from happening, but clearly it didn't work. I'm usually in the women's tent by with very few other women, but this was the World Championships, so not the case. I quickly
went through the trash. I couldn’t find it. Well, I am going to need to race
with out them. I had some in special needs, so I could get some more then. I started
to do the math and realized that I had enough in my one container to get me
through the bike. As I started to ride, my heart rate was high. I tried to get
it down and not get caught up in everyone flying by me and focused on my
hydration. I needed to make sure I didn’t get distracted by all of the surrounding
excitement and get 4 bottles down that hour. It was pretty easy as I had
decided to make the switch and race with Skratch Labs. (For more on this see this post.) As I climbed up
Palani, I saw my mom, dad and
Lindsey cheering for me. It was such a great energy boost as I was about to
head out of town. I settled into riding and my heart rate finally settled in
where I wanted it. I was feeling good and riding well. All of a sudden two guys
crashed right in front of me. They both went down and were sprawled across the
road. I luckily was able to swerve around the crash. About 10 miles later, I
was riding and I had been good about avoiding all of the dropped bottles, but
missed seeing one and ran right over it. Luckily I was able to stay upright and
continued on. I swear Pele was looking over me, because I had escaped two
incidents that could have been disaster. A couple miles down the road, my wheel
started making noises and rubbing. Uh oh,
I always get nervous when things with my bike go awry. I decided to pull
over, get off my bike and try to fix it. Luckily it was just my brake that must
have been jolted from running over the water bottle. I fixed it and was on my
way. I continued to ride and was just in awe and full of gratitude that I was actually there, riding
through the lava fields. The ride out to Hawi was pretty uneventful. I took in
the gorgeous views of the ocean. Seeing the leaders of the race go by and the
tv cameras and motorcycles that followed them was a bit surreal. The return trip is where I started to
experience the heat and winds. The winds were picking up by the minute. There
were crosswinds and head winds. I was pushed across the road a couple of times,
but nothing too bad. Later after I finished, I heard the winds were pretty mild
compared to years past. I tried not to think of the wind and just continued to
pedal. My focus was getting my nutrition in, keeping my cadence, power and
heart rate where I wanted them. I was trying not to focus on pace as it was
depressing to see the average pace decrease the more the winds picked up. At
mile 94, my cadence and power went out, but by that point, I knew I just had to
keep it steady for the next 18 miles. I was so happy to start to recognize the
roads again and get back into town. I handed off my bike and was into the
changing tent for a quick transition and then was off. My legs felt ok. My pace
was slower than normal, but I expected that. I just tried to keep my heart rate
where I wanted it. I usually can push a bit higher, but was trying to be
somewhat conservative knowing that the lava fields had a tendency to cause people to blow up
especially around the energy lab. Running down Ali’i past Lava Java, I saw my
parents and Lindsey and other QT2 supporters. As I went through the aid
stations, my main objective was to get perform and water in me, take sponges and ice to
do my best to keep cool. I continued to run and was feeling the effects of
Tremblant lingering in my legs. I tried not to get caught up in my pace that
was slowing and just try to keep my heart rate steady and where I wanted it to
be. My walks through the aid station grew a bit slower and longer, but I
refused to walk other than that. I was going to just keep putting one foot in front
of the other. I started on the coke around mile 12. Nothing had tasted so good.
I was anticipating the turn to the energy lab… where was it? It felt like it
took forever to get there. I was happy to finally make the turn and even
happier to make the turn around. I was heading home. Finally. The sun sets at 6 pm in
Kona and it gets dark really quickly. They were handing out the glow sticks and I was depressed to
see them, so I refused the first time. The second hand out was mandatory. I put it
around my neck and continued on. At this point, my body was really ready to
stop. My chafing was so bad that when I peed it was burning. My feet were
hurting. But the thought of getting to Ali’i kept me going. As I counted down
the miles, I just kept telling myself I had run those amount of miles hundreds
of times before and if I could do it then, I sure as hell could do it now. I was running near a guy who lived on the island. The locals were going crazy cheering for him. I pretended like they were cheering for me. I took that energy boost and soared on. As I
took the right on Ali’i Drive, I started to tear up. This was it. This is what
I had dreamed of. The spectators were cheering, I heard Mike Reilly’s voice
grow louder. I saw Lindsey and my parents. I was determined to finally hear
Mike Reilly say “Kathryn Weiler You are an Ironman.” As I crossed the line, a
guy was wobbling and fell over into the arms of two volunteers. I was nervous he was going to fall into me. I swung around
him and saw myself cross on the big screen overhead. I saw the clock 11:45:15.
Though not even close to a PR, I was so so happy to see an 11 in that time. It
was better than I had expected going into that day. There I was, living my dream. I was officially a qualified
finisher of the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii. And of course, as I later told Mike
Reilly when I happened to be sitting next to him at the bar a couple days
later, I have yet to hear him say my name as I cross the line. It is a
delusional blackout that happens every time.
The rest of the night was spent eating a great meal at Lava
Java, then hanging out watching the finishers to midnight. For years, I have
watched the Kona finish line party in the wee hours of the morning. Each year
saying that I will be there someday. It was surreal. I was actually there this time.
And let me tell you, the
fire in my belly has been ignited, I am going to do everything in my power to
get back to Kona. And where I gave everything I had on that day, I know I can do a heck of a lot better on that course. And I have a burning desire to go back and do just that.
A huge thank you to Tim Snow and QT2Systems. They have
helped me accomplish a dream that only several years ago seemed ridiculously
unrealistic for me. Thank you to
my QT2 Teammates who continually inspire me. I am so honored to be on a team of
such supportive and talented athletes. Seeing you guys absolutely crush it at
Kona inspires and motivates me even more. Thank you to everyone back home for
all the love, texts, tweets, Facebook messages and calls. The outpouring
support meant the world to me. And knowing you all were tracking me back home,
helped me battle through the lava fields.
To Jen for continually help me grow as a swimmer, to Pam for the
friendship and on going hospitality at the lake especially this time around
when I would show up at her house at off hours because I had a lot of solo
swims to do. To Susan at Concord Sports Massage for always
believing in me and keeping my body in top condition.
To my siblings, Michael and Meghan who were sending me lots of love and positive energy from back home. And finally thank you to my Mom, Dad and Lindsey. Having you on the Big Island supporting me and helping me conquer my dream meant the world to me. I can’t thank you enough. I
love you.
Mahalo!!
