it's done, and it was fun?fine?enjoyable?well, okay

so it's the day after. a day to chill, soak, drink (stuff), and reflect.
Ironman Canada in Penticton yesterday, in a word, was long...15 + hours long.
some of it was hard, some of it was harder, some was frustraiting, and most of it was amazing.

the start of the day was early. up at 4am for breakfast, and to get our stuff together.
it's amazing how often you can 2nd guess yourself. months of training and working out your nutrition plan, deciding what to take with you on the bike, and how to approach the run, is always being fiddled with. even though through trial and error for 24 weeks, you plan everything, you train and train and decide what works and what doesn't, even the morning of the big race, hours before the race, you're still rethinking everything, and repacking your bags.

anyway, it was go time, as in go and hurry up and wait for the start at 7AM.
was i nervous, nah, well maybe a bit. was i ready, i wasn't totally sure. before for leaving i decided to check my email one more time, and among the much needed encouraging words from friends and family, and messages, there was a note from a friend, noting the passing of another dear friend. that was a hard thing to take in. it wasn't unexpected, but it stopped my heart for a moment, an emotional minute, and in that minute i knew, i knew that today was going to be a day for jill. i knew i would think about her through-out the day, her constant warm and encouraging words. Though sometimes the sadness of the day would be overwhelming (thank goodness for dark sunglasses), there were times when i felt that extra push, that parting of the waters on the swim, and that feeling that someone was walking with me towards the finish line.

the swim was frustrating. even though i was about 4 minutes faster then last year, i just took forever to find open water. there were over 2800 swimmers in the water, and it seemed like not one of them knew how to sight. for the 1st 2 thirds of the swim i was bumping into others, others were crossing in front of me, and crossing back. i have to admit to being more then a little pissed off. the last 3rd, the swim back to the beach was a bit better, i was able to finally put my head down and just swim, and pass people. but again, i would start to blast past someone, and they'd move over and bump into you, or block you. which just got me to swim past them faster, so i guess that was a good thing...(oh yeah, did i mention that i barfed in one of the porta potties before the swim...and i actually saw that as another good thing).
i took my time getting to my bike after the swim, i just wanted to make everything just right.
and then i was off.

the start was a disaster. i headed off, trying to get up to a quick 30kph, and had to push extremely hard to do that.
the ride out of penticton, up main street is a bit up hill, but it shouldn't have been that hard. i then noticed a weird sound, and looked and hmm, my back brake was locked up against my back tire. i was riding with a back tire that took all my strength just to move forward, moving forward at 30KPH!...all it took was for me to squeeze my brake handle to release the thing, but by that time i was already bushed. and still 175KM to go!
the ride was amazing. some was incredibly hard ( i felt like my bike tires were flate for some reason on the way up to yellow lake), and richter's pass was fantastic. i just sat down and spun. i must have passed dozens of riders. i took it easy going down the hills, just letting gravity do the work, but on the way up, even on yellow lake i just did what i had to do.
now the run, or in my case, the walk

i knew on way back into penticton that this was going to be an issue. i've got a bum right knee that i seriously need to get looked at, a left calf that isn't doing so well, and i was using shoes that i hadn't used on any seriously long races ( a big no no, and now i know why big time blisters, ouch!).
i tried running a bit through town, especially when someone i knew was watching, but instantly i knew this wasn't gonna work. so decided early on that this was going to be a 26.2 walk. it was a strong walk though, i started out at about an 8:30 minute K....wow huh?
i won't say i was walking as fast as some people were running, but none of the other walkers passed me. and the nice thing about a 42K walk is that you have a ton of time to think and contemplate life. so i did a lot of that. the only mistake i made was not grabbing an old pair of glasses from my run special needs bag in okanagon falls. so, oh well, i was walking in the dark, around skaha lake and through penticton in dark sun oakleys.
i seriously wanted to run more once i got back into penticton, at least for the final 5k, but naw, there was just nothing there. i ran the last 500 meters, and that was the hardest 500 meters i've ever run, but the loudest. i've never had a finish like that. it was amazing, and experience i'll never forget.

someday i'll be back. i learned a lot during my DNF in 2009, this year i had a quicker swim, a quicker bike, a stronger bike, and i hardly trained. my longest ride i think was between 100 and 120 kilometers, and my longest run was the 21Km at the great white north 1/2 ironman triathlon...so if and when i return to penticton, well, it's got to be at a point in my life when i can put the effort i need to get to where i wanna be.

i'm thinking next year, 2011, will be a year to get myself together. get things that aren't working properly working, getting things fixed that need to get fixed (and yep, it's time for contacts!), do a few things i haven't done for a while, start the countdown to turning 55, and get to the point where i am operating at 100%
anyway, this was an experince to remember, and one i'll never forget, and yet another special moment to add to that list.

w