The term, "big day", is a fairly common one. It could be used for the day you graduate from school, take a big exam, get married, have a child, etc. Or it could be used in reference to some other big event in a person's life – particularly something they have been working a long time for and put in a fair amount of blood, sweat and tears to achieve a specific goal.
This past weekend, I had the privilege of going to watch my running buddies compete in one of the toughest races I know – Ironman. For those of who don't know what Ironman is, it consists of a person swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles and then running 26.2 miles (a full marathon). Yes, all in one day. Actually, less than a day – you have 17 hours to complete this insanity should you sign up for it. And I have friends who love this kind of thing. Given that I had 9 of my Coach Lesley teammates competing in the race in Penticton, BC (Canada) and my "unexpected summer vacation", I decided to jump on the opportunity to cheer everyone on when I heard that another mate was heading up for just a very quick trip.
I actually decided to treat this like a business trip. I know it sounds wacky, but I felt like my job was to do whatever I could to cheer on the athletes and make them feel more positive when they saw us on the course, and were probably feeling less than stellar. It wasn't about me taking in some of the very well respected wineries in the area, sleeping in, etc. So Libby and I decided to leave on Saturday morning after she kicked some butt in a local triathlon (1st in her group) and I did my 10 mile run with Andria.
Libby and I had a good ride up, and maybe told a fib at the Canadian border crossing about a couple of things. We arrived at the spectator house (there were about 20-25 people in town cheering just for Coach Lesley athletes) as they were having dinner, and received some instructions on how we were to help on Sunday. It was a bit hectic at the house to say the least and we had an early start on Sunday morning – 5:15am wake-up so we could walk down to the start for 6am. So we pretty much arrived, had some dinner, drank some wine, and crashed.
The house was going pretty early before our alarm clock went off, and we walked down to the start so we could give our chums a word or two of support before they embarked on their odyssey. They were all pretty much in good spirits – a bit nervous, which was completely understandable. Then we went off to the beach to see the start of the swim. The pros went off 15 minutes earlier than everyone else, and then the fun began. 17 hours of it. I waded into the water to cheer on some of our teammates, and was texting Libby and another teammate, David, on when we saw our swimmers come out of the water.
It was pretty cool to see them all make it out of the water before the cut-off, as it was the weakest event for a couple of people, so then we went off to grab something to eat before heading off to the bike course. We originally thought we would be at around mile 80 on the bike course on one of the tough hills, but by the time Libby and I made it out of town, we saw a boatload of people at mile 93 so we parked there. Great move as some of our gang were at the mile 80 stop so we were able to spread out the cheering sections for the Coach Lesley team. Our friends, Steve and Katie, were at an earlier part of the course at mile 42, so they texted us when our folks passed them with the hope we would have a good idea of when to look for them.
It was pouring for a bit while we were waiting for the cyclists, so obviously we were concerned for their safety. Then the rain let up. Lesley came on through first – she wasn't racing, but she was out there having fun. We chatted with her for a bit and she looked good. After she went off, we saw Tricia and she was psyched to see us. I decided to throw caution to the wind and run up the hill in my sandals (please don't be mad at me, Coach!) as she biked. She was tired (wouldn't you?) but was doing ok. I left her and just as got back down the hill where Libby was, Diego was coming. What was good for one, was good for another. So I ran up with him. Of course as "luck" would have it – I got to the bottom of the hill and Patricia (aka PNak) showed up. Up I went again. Whew!
We had a break in the action before we saw the next group of teammates, Paul, Ann and Dana. I was able to run alongside of Ann, and then Dana, and I think Ann might have been mad that I didn't have a Molson Canadian with me to hand her (not sure). And yes, as I got back to the bottom of the hill after running with Ann, Dana showed up, so I was getting quite the workout. Libby then suggested that I change into sneakers so I don't trash my body before my race next week. Smart move.
Finally at around 3:15pm, we saw Eileen come through and I ran with her (we had a tradition to keep). I came down the hill, and saw Sjohn so I ran with her as she was able to catch Eileen. I don't know if Sjohn ever stopped smiling the entire day. Seriously. What a way to go! Finally I got a break (or I thought) because I only got about halfway down the hill when I saw Mimi come through, but since she was the last cyclist in our group, I ran with her past the top of the hill. All of a sudden I found myself running a bit faster, which of course made sense because she was now on flat ground and I was trying to keep up with her since I knew she could catch Sjohn and Eileen. Jeez. My legs were tired.
Libby and I then headed back to town for the marathon part of the course. The weather was all over the place – stormy, sunny, rainy, etc. I found PNak and she was looking so consistent in her pace (consistent is a very positive thing). Her attitude was great. Awesome. I found Diego next and he was looking good as well.
Then I found Tricia. The "big day" stopped going the way she wanted it to go. And this is why I get so frustrated with the term, "big day". The fact that Tricia wasn't going to have the day she wanted wasn't going to change one iota about how I felt about her with respect to her being a good friend and great person. It doesn't take away from all of the training she did over the past year and the discipline she showed in doing workouts in good times and in bad. Same with our friend, Ann, who just had a knee that was being a bit problematic.
I walked with Tricia for a few miles along the marathon course (almost managed to get her disqualified – that would have been bad). Dana actually saw me getting a lecture from the race marshal and started yelling at me, which was pretty freaking hilarious. So I hitched a ride back to town and found Libby, and we were able to get Tricia and Lesley's stuff in the gear tents. I really needed to eat at this stage. By the time we sat down to eat and have a much needed beer, it was probably close to 8:30pm. We were able to see PNak pass us at mile 24 of the marathon, which was awesome. She had a great day! Unfortunately we missed Dana and Diego, but they were moving along. Then we caught up with Lesley to see if we could find some of our other mates.
We saw Sjohn and Mimi at mile 23 at around 10:45pm, and they were all smiles. Every time we saw them, they were in such great spirits. They were easily going to finish before the cut-off, which was their goal. We didn't know where Eileen was, so we decided to go to the finish to see Sjohn and Mimi cross the finish line, which we did. It was a great moment to see.
And then there was Eileen. Eileen has done 2 Ironmans previously, but not made the cut-off even though she did complete the course. It was 11:15pm when Sjohn and Mimi crossed, and Lesley, Diego, Libby, Gina and I were getting worried. Libby and I walked up to around mile 24 ½ hoping to see Eileen and sure enough 15 minutes later, we saw her walking and both thought, "uh oh, this is going to be close". Eileen found a little extra gear and crossed the finish line with about 6 or 7 minutes to spare. What a great achievement.
By the time we found some of our other crew and went back to the house, it was past 12:30am. We were beat from running around and crashed. In looking back on the day, I was glad to have made a positive impact on my friends and to bring smiles to their faces when they saw me. The messages they have sent me thanking me have really been heartwarming since they were the ones who did the hard work. I was pumped for the folks who had a great day, and I was sad for the folks who didn't have the day that they were hoping to have. No middle ground.
As expected, it was an emotional and long day. Thanks to Libby for being a good partner-in-crime for the 60 or so hours of this roadtrip. It was appreciated, especially when it seemed like the wheels were falling off on some of the plans that were laid out.
Pictures here.