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| was with me during the |
It has been a few weeks since the most amazing race of my life, and I have finally sat down to write out my thoughts. Some folks have asked me, “What would make you want to do such a challenging race?” or “How can a person even do all that in a day?” I hope by the end of this blog you will form your own answers to both questions, and have a better understanding of who I am.
I did not realize I would be writing so much so I divided everything into chapters. This way it will be easier to find where you left off if you need to take a break. Feel free to skip around as I wrote this mainly for me so I could look back on it years later and reflect on my experiences. I hope you enjoy it.
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CHAPTERS
1. GROWING UP
2. BURNT OUT
3. THE GOOD NEWS
4. TRAINING BEGINS WITH SETH
5. HEADING TO THE RACE COURSE
6. RACE DAY
7. PROFESSIONAL RACE DAY PICTURE GALLERY
8. AFTER THE RACE
9. FUTURE PLANS
10. UPDATES
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1. GROWING UP
Athletically, everything started for me before birth. Both my parents were active runners and gave me great DNA. My Mom had already run consistently for two years and kept it up while I was in her belly. While expecting she enjoyed running 2-3 miles a day but eventually had to drop down to shorter runs as she closed in on her due date. I called her recently to find out more details, and she told me her last 1-mile run was two days before I was born. I knew she ran with me, but in my mind for years I envisioned her wearing some sort of harness system to support her belly, and had always told the story that way. When I asked if this were true she laughed hard, then corrected me by saying, “Nope, I just went running... and the neighbors probably thought I was crazy!” Thank you Mom for pumping all those endorphins and oxygen-rich blood through me. I know it caused me to have a faster metabolism and the great energy I use every day.
For many years my Mom would wake around 3am to train before coming home to get ready for work. She had to get back in time to make sure my sister and I were up and ready for school. She quickly became a great distance runner as her love for training and racing grew. As time passed she found herself competing in world-class ultra-distance races. She has competed in 25 marathons, and at least that many on trails. She raced a handful of 50k's, five or six 50 milers, four 100k's, and four 100 milers. Her fastest 100 miler was the Vermont 100. She completed it in 19 hours 25 minutes which was 28th overall and 2nd female finisher. The course is mostly trails and there is a 100-mile horse race on the same day. The horses start a little while before the people and lots of the time the first human finishers beat the fastest horses. Her personal best marathon is 2:58:58, which is 6:49.55 per mile for 26.2 miles. That's Moving! I hope to beat that time one day, but know it's going to take focus and dedicated training to get there. (2020 Update: It took me a hand full of attempts to beat her PR but I finally did it at the 2015 Boston Marathon and only by 10 seconds. My current all-time Marathon PR is from the 2019 Boston Marathon 2:51:13). The first time She told me of all her marathons her slowest one was still a blazing 3 hours 26 minutes. Then in 1991(Faenza, Italy), 1992(Palamos, Spain), and 1993(Tourhout, Belgium), she was invited to represent the USA Team in the World Cup 100k race. She took first American women in 1991 and 92 of all the women invited. One of her most challenging races was when she completed the Leadville Trail 100. The race starts in downtown Leadville, CO at 10,000 feet above sea level. Once the gun goes off the racers climb, then drop, then climb some more eventually reaching an altitude of 12,620 feet during the race (This is literally over the tops of mountains). Check out the elevation profile. The total gain during the race is 15,600 feet of climbing, and the drop is the same. I can’t imagine how much pain the body goes through covering this distance at elevation.
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| Pics of Mom running for the USA Team and also smoking the record in the Jackson 5-0. (What great form!) |
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| I love his smile in this picture |
My Dad also picked up running and has competed in nine marathons. Four of them were at the Dallas White Rock Marathon, while he had one each at Houston Tenneco, Louisiana, Sunmart Trail, San Antonio, and Rocky Trails. He has also completed nine other races equal to or longer than 25 miles:
A-OK 50K (31 Miles) Trail
Sunmart 50K (31 Miles) Trail
Sunmart 50K (31 Miles) Trail
Dallas 50K (31 Miles)
Dallas 50K (31 Miles)
Palo Duro Trail 25 miles
Palo Duro Trail 25 miles
Eco Challenge 15/10 = 25 miles
Impressive Dad! Thanks for all the encouragement and motivation.
His longest race is the Mississippi Trail 50 miler, which he ran on his 50th birthday. I hope to be able to run a 50-mile trail run one day! He recently told me, "Sometimes when I'm out running those trails my body, mind, and spirit all sync up. It sorta feels like I'm in a dream where my body is very light, and my feet are barely touching the ground. Moving along the trail takes little effort... The experience is unforgettable". Both parents are still running today. My Dad is planning to tack another Half Marathon to his belt by doing the Dallas Running Club race this year. Gooooooo Daaaddd!
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| Helping my Daddy with his Garmin |
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| This belt would barely touch less than a year ago. I'm so proud of him for getting back out there, changing his diet, and finding better health. |
Since my parents were so involved in pushing themselves farther than most people, it was only natural for them to introduce my sister and I to racing from a young age.
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| Here we are after competing in our first KidsSport Triathlon. |
Both of us ended up doing well on the Robert E. Lee High School Cross Country and Track teams. Praise the Lord, I ended up getting a scholarship to run for Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches, TX while I pursued a degree in Business. I specialized in the 1 Mile, 800, and 400 and my best college times are:
1 Mile = 4:20.15
800 = 1:58.8
400 = 49.9
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2. BURNT OUT
After running and training from sixth grade through two years of college I hit a point where my body needed rest. I also needed time to heal from my parent's divorce. Even though it happened during my senior year of high school this was the first time in my life I started to deal with it. I ended up just going to school the rest of my time at SFA, but found a great hobby to enjoy when not in class. I had run past a local disc golf course hundreds of times and finally gave it a shot with one of my friends. By the end of my first round I was hooked and did not run for the next 7 years, as school, work, and playing rounds took up all my time. I played well and ended up going to three Amateur Disc Golf World Championships over the next 3 years. Those events are so much fun and takes a great deal of mental and physical stamina to do well in. There are miles of hiking and hundreds of full power throws in these week-long tournaments. As time passed I looked back on my running career and was able to clearly see some weaknesses I had. I depended too much on natural abilities to get by in races and didn't put my all into training. I always paid for it on race day. Another interesting observation was the connection I felt between emotional pain and physical pain during races. I had it fairly rough in the earlier years of schooling and was bullied fairly often. I tried to offset this treatment by being a class clown and figured if they were laughing with me they would not be laughing at me. Sometimes it did bring relief, while other times it just gave the mean kids more opportunities to pick on me. Kids would often call me skinny, gay, or whatever mean thing they could come up with to hurt me. In high school, I was pushed into the lockers by some of the football players and picked on almost every day. I ended up focusing on dating in hopes my confidence would increase. Later, I realized having many relationships back to back only skewed my understanding of what love is. Another coping mechanism of mine was to turn most conversations I was having with friends into something funny or dirty. I did this effortlessly and with such speed, it usually shocked those around me into laughter. I know I crossed the line often, and it left me feeling embarrassed to be me at times. I desperately wanted to be accepted but was not sure how to change. Before I knew it, I felt like I had dug myself into a dark hole I would never be able to get out of. When I look back on the times when the pain of training or racing really set in, the pattern was that I would slow down no matter who was cheering me on. I just didn't have it together personally and emotionally, so as the physical pain increased I would just give up. Being weak during a race always ended up driving my self-esteem even lower. I knew I was missing my chance to be a great athlete, one race at a time.
I grew up in a Christian home, and would often hear it's best to give the Lord all my burdens and allow Him to take them from me. I did try this but always turned back to living for myself before long. I grew so accustomed to carrying my own burdens, they became a part of who I was. I never knew how to give them over permanently to Jesus. I spent my early to late twenties trying to find something out there to fill the void I had in my heart. In the dark times, I tried drugs, worldly relationships, and partying to ease the pain. I often mixed that with positive things like spending time with friends or family. While living in Colorado I became passionate about racing road and mountain bikes, rock climbing, hiking, snowboarding, and snowshoeing. I did this as a form of entertainment, but also used it to keep my mind off the negative feelings I had boxed up.
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| Beautiful Colorado! |
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| Fish and I after a Mountain Bike Race |
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Muddy ride in Colorado.
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| Dereck Fish and I enjoying a snow covered ride. |
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| Camping using my bike to get gear in and out of the campsite. |
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| Hut trip to Janet's Cabin (Miles away from civilization) |
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I started smoking pot regularly and before long convinced myself smoking was key to enjoying life to the fullest. I would train, race, and do just about anything high. The problem is depending on a drug, sport, or relationship to bring me happiness didn’t have the power to keep me joyful or at peace long term. It felt very hit or miss because I still had pain and memories that would whisper reminders of things I’d done wrong in the past. Even though most people viewed me as a pretty happy guy, I felt like a total loser inside.
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3. THE GOOD NEWS
December of 2009 will always mark the time everything changed for me. I was living with my girlfriend, and we were invited by her brother to go on a vacation to Mexico for 25 days. I was not able to go, because I needed to stay back to find a job. I didn’t have any extra money to spend on a vacation. I ended up staying back and everything around me slowed down long enough for me to take an honest evaluation of my life. Before she left, I was fighting depression and anxiety by smoking often. I just wanted to numb away all the hurts. I also had lost my faith in God somewhere along the way. I still believed there was a God, and everything was created but didn't believe in the God of the Bible. I felt it was written by man to control people, and thought God could not really be known by anyone. The 10th of December came and I drove my girlfriend to the Airport. The night before I made the choice to take a break from smoking at least while she was gone so I could try to figure some things out. Then on December 16th, 2009, I was sitting in my computer chair thinking about my life, and who I was.
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| Where it all happened! |
I was attempting to process my successes and failures in hopes of figuring out what I needed to do to get back to a happier version of myself. I had not prayed in a long time, but this did not stop the Lord from speaking to me while sitting in this chair. It’s not that I heard God audibly or even in my mind. It was more of a feeling that consumed my entire chest. The feeling formed a crystal clear question which was, “Are you pleased with how your life has gone so far?” I almost freaked out, because I had never felt a question coming from inside me like this before. I thought to myself “Not at all!” The feeling continued as I felt this nudge, “Fully surrender your life to Me, and trust that I have a better plan for you”. I suddenly found myself scared, because I realized it was the Lord speaking to me through the Holy Spirit. Immediately thoughts of all the times when I tried to live for Him before but turned back to my own ways were rattling around in my head. My mind started flashing through all the poor decisions I had made in the past living without Him when an amazing thing happened. As quickly as the hurtful thoughts, fear, condemnation, guilt, and worry came the Lord removed all of it completely. My spirit, mind, and body were free to just relax in His presence. I still wondered how I could possibly surrender after spending so much of my life being my own god. I didn’t know what to do next when a daydream was strong in my mind. The image was of me grasping the ends of long ropes with darkness all around me. Each rope represented things I had put my hope in to bring me joy. Things like family, friends, relationships, money, drugs, control, and "stuff" in general. I was struggling to hang on and saw that I was eventually only holding on by my fingertips. I felt anxiety and fear trying to creep back in because I knew letting go meant I would face huge unknowns. I felt that it would be uncomfortable to let go. At this point, I realized all the years of me being my own boss only left me destroyed inside and on a very broken path. At this moment I longed for real peace and lasting joy more than ever, and finally gained the courage to let go. In my daydream, I fell fast into darkness, and to be honest, the falling away from the ropes was intense and frightening at first. However, I quickly felt relieved having let go of the things that were actually holding me back. I then felt total peace all over my body, in my mind, and in my spirit. I had never felt this as strong before. I did not have a single regret about any wrong direction I had ever chosen. I had no guilt or shame to speak of and felt zero negative feelings toward anyone I've ever known. I was experiencing total forgiveness! Not only for things I had done, but forgiveness for those who have wronged me as well. Still to this day, it has been the most freeing experience I’ve ever had. I knew it would be challenging to change the habits I had formed, but I was more than willing to embark on this journey with God. I was no longer letting my desires have the final say over my life, and I knew only the Lord could enable such a quick change in me. I asked Him to guide me and help me to start trusting Him more. I asked for help and understanding because I wanted to know the Truth about things. I was tired of believing the lies found in movies, on the internet, on TV, in marketing, and amongst my peers. With each passing day, I noticed I was experiencing life very differently. Anytime I had a question or concern I would just ask, "What’s the Truth in this Lord?” Most of the time within a day, or a week, I would overhear people talking about that exact topic, or run across the answer somewhere else. It's amazing how much clarity He provided. I found myself learning new things quickly, and actually being able to retain the information. I was always a very distracted kid, and only did fair in school, so I was grateful for this change. The increase in focus while reading and studying really helped. It was as if I woke up from a strange coma to experience real life, or had mental roadblocks removed. I no longer was just going through the motions as time slipped by. I started having many creative thoughts again, new ideas, and experiences that felt brand new to me. They were not actually new, but it had been years since I had seen so clearly, and understood myself from a more positive perspective. Early childhood was probably the last time I was this free. Colors and light seemed more bright, and nature itself looked to be more beautiful than ever. I enjoyed seeing the world in this unfiltered way. I had spent much of my life trying to figure out who God was, and used to think if I just knew more about Him, I would find the right path to take in life. The problem was I didn’t know who "I" was. The empty feeling inside was because I didn’t have an ongoing relationship with the creator of all things, and didn’t know or understand how he viewed me, or what I was supposed to do. I found out I have always been called to be a follower of Christ, but suppressed it or ignored it because I wanted to be accepted by everyone around me. I was such a people pleaser depending on who was around I would change the way acted and talked. I felt like a chameleon on the outside, while lost on the inside. After this experience, I called my cousin Blake and his wife Jo and talked to them about what I was going through. They gave me good advice and I gained the courage to talk to my girlfriend about my heart change. Once she made it home from Mexico I explained everything to her, and by faith stayed on the path He showed me. I ended up moving out of the apartment because the relationship wasn't a healthy one for either of us. I did leave all of my belongings behind and kept paying rent till the lease was up. I knew this was the right thing to do. I later made a trip back to get everything once she was finished with school. I have enjoyed the freedom to keep learning who I am in Christ, and have gotten in touch with the real me before all the drama and lies. Everything started moving in a much more positive direction, and I know my family and friends have seen a difference when I'm around. I understand now that any good that comes from me, is really the Spirit of God living through me. Since this wonderful day, I’ve experienced all the fruits of the spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control) grow in my life, and the darkness has died down. I know that my mind is sharper and have learned new things easier because of the relationship I have with Jesus. It just happens when you spend time in His presence. These are all desires I've had since I was young, but just now have come to pass. Fears that owned me before don't bother me now. Mainly fears of rejection or failure. I use to have road rage pretty bad and would get angry over small issues, but those feelings have slipped into the past. I have noticed when I lose something special to me, get cut off in traffic, get hurt, or spill something I remain calm most of the time. It just doesn't matter like it did before. With the power of God's Love in my heart, I think it's wasteful to give power to anger and that other stuff now. I'm not perfect by any means, but it feels good not becoming angry over petty things. God has fully restored many relationships in my life, and helped to end unhealthy ones. After moving back to Texas a desire to work with troubled teens popped in my mind out of the blue. Within two months I was offered a job a Boys ranch for troubled teens in my area. I work and stay on property round the clock for three and a half days each week, to help teens find hope, a future, and a better way of life. They just need someone to guide them, love them, and consistently be there for them. If it had not been for my past, I don’t feel I would be as equipped for helping these guys.
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4. TRAINING BEGINS WITH SETH
After moving back to my hometown I ran into my old buddy Seth Cooke and we caught up a bit. I had not seen him in years and was excited when I found out he was getting into road biking. We spent the entire summer getting in shape by going on group rides leaving from Simpson's. What fun with a great group of people! Then he caught wind of a full-distance Ironman being added to the schedule in Texas. An Ironman is a triathlon where you start out swimming 2.4 miles in open water, then transition as quickly as you can to the bike to ride 112 miles, then finish up by running a marathon (26.2 miles). The total race distance is 140.6 miles nonstop! Seth had always wanted to do one before he turned 30 but didn’t have the chance. He figured now was a great opportunity to knock one out! TWO DAYS before registration opened he called to ask me if I wanted to train for, and compete in it with him. At first, I told him he was crazy, because I had not trained in the water over the last 10 years, and didn't have any sort of proper swim form to speak of. I also had not worked on my running in years. Somehow he convinced me that we had plenty of time to get ready and that we could work out together. I called my Mom and Dad, and they were both nervous about me signing up because it was a big race, costly, and they had only seen me do things halfway in the past. I am sure they were fearful I would not train properly and would drop out of the race if the struggle became too intense. I convinced them I would work hard, and felt like now was the time to go for it. After I paid the almost $700 entry fee I knew I had better find a training program. I didn't want to risk wasting all my time and money for nothing. I went to google and searched “beginner Ironman program” not knowing what I would find. I was pleased to see this link at the top of the page, and after looking it over knew it would work great for me:
Beginner Triathlete (Full Ironman Training Program)
I printed everything out and decided to stick to it once the start date of January 2nd, 2011 arrived. This program is 20 weeks long so I still had 5 months to begin my physical and mental transformation. I figured I would just keep riding with the group on Monday and Tuesday nights, and also add in a couple more rides when I could. I started a walk/run program to get my legs going again. It was nice alternating between walking and running. This let the muscles in my legs adapt slowly to being used like that again. I didn't want to get injured and knew I needed to take everything slowly. I also signed up for a membership at the local YMCA to start swim training. I first got in the pool on July 16th and could only swim 2 laps before having to take a break. I was very out of breath those first few swims. I wasn't used to the pressure of the water pushing on my lungs while working out so the perceived effort was pretty high. I also had terrible form. I think I was swimming a bit panicked too. This is when I had the thought, “There is no way I’m going to be able to do this thing… What the heck did I let Seth talk me into!”. I didn’t give up hope though. I just keep growing in the Lord, talking to Him about all my fears, and He gave me the strength and focus to continue. I never knew how much developing swim muscles could hurt. Mainly in my neck, shoulders, and triceps. When I was finally running consistently my I.T. Bands started to ache. I remember running 8 miles in the rain with Seth and Apryl Wall and almost had to stop because of the throbbing pain. The problem was that I increased my speed and distance in a short amount of time. Both I.T. bands became inflamed for almost two weeks causing me to take time off. My calves were also tight and I again had the thought, "What in the world was I thinking... Maybe I'm just too old for this stuff!". I just prayed, began a stretching program, and began foam rolling more. After a break, I got back out there and decided not to push the pace and before long I could run 2 miles without pain. By the time January 2nd, 2011 rolled around I was able to jump right into the training program. I could run 3-5 miles with little to no issues. I stayed on top of stretching, taking Epsom salt baths, and using the foam roller. Since I still had minor I.T. problems and a few other nagging issues so decided to see a chiropractor for the first time in my life. My Dad was the contractor on building Dr. David Flynn's brand new office, so he told me to give him a call. Man, is he good! Not only did he notice my left leg was slightly shorter than the right, he was able to adjust them to correct some of the discrepancies. He also helped my neck and shoulders cope with swim and bike training and fixed my I.T. band problem completely. He is very knowledgeable and taught me about proper nutrition with the type of training I was doing. He put me on some quality daily vitamins and usually had me laughing every visit.
I knew swimming was my weakness so I used YouTube to study videos on proper swimming form. I saw a coach once at the beginning, and he used an underwater camera to show me my baseline form. He gave me tips to work on. I kept visiting the YMCA, and started to feel much stronger in the water. I eventually finished my first 1-mile swim, which at the time was difficult. I enjoyed building swim muscles because I had always had a pretty scrawny upper body. I kept up my running and was up to 9 miles, then 12, and finally ran my first half marathon as an adult in Tyler 10/10/10. My childhood friend Brennan also ran this event. I planned on joining Seth at the Dallas White Rock Marathon. It would have been my first full Marathon, but I decided against it because of a sore knot I had in my right foot. I instead ran the Dallas Half as fast as I could! I finished it in 1:28:48 (6:46 pace per mile) which I was happy with but ended up being extremely sore. I wasn't ready to run that fast. It was a great year of training, and I enjoyed everything I learned. As Seth and I increased our long rides from 60 to 80 to 100 miles we started gaining confidence in our ability to finish the bike portion of the event and felt our friendship growing stronger in the Lord. He invited me to check out his church Lifepoint Church, and I had not found a church home yet. Once I attended one service I knew it was the church I would be going to long term. I became a member and have been going ever since. There are great people there to do life with and the praise team is fantastic! Pastor Steve really knows how to bring the word.
Finally, I felt confident in my swim stroke and felt that it was more efficient. I was able to swim the 2.4-mile race distance (169 lengths in a 25-yard pool) in 1:13. This allowed me to mentally check the swim portion off the list as I felt I could honestly complete this section of the Ironman. So, I felt great about the swim, and the bike portion, but still needed to work on my long runs. I had only run 18 miles as a long run in college, and that was a long time ago. During my training, I was able to run a 17-mile run in Boulder, CO when I went up for a visit. I will say that I started enjoying the long runs, and found that when running at an 8:30 pace I could relax, breathe well, and just mentally zone out for a while. The real test run came 5 weeks before the race. I had on my training plan a 2-hour and 55-minute run to complete. I decided to run to the Fire Station where Seth and Ashton work at from my house. When I started out I wasn't sure how far I could go in this time but hoped it would be between 19 and 21 miles. Most of the way to the Station did not feel good at all. I wasn't sure I would even be able to make it home. I made it to the station to use the bathroom, stretch a second, and gulped down a recovery drink. When I left the sun was coming up and felt warm on my skin. The second half of the run was way better than the first half. Here is my GPS Data from this day:
21 Mile Long Run
I finally felt ready for the IRONMAN! During training, I never faced the feeling of wanting to give up or take it easy like in the past. I understood the Lord was now guiding my training, my thoughts, and my life. He kept the pain of my past in his hands and allowed me to endure the physical pain of training much more comfortably. I felt great...mind, body, and spirit! I thank Jesus often for this feeling. I decided to eat foods that were as natural as possible, sleep plenty, and stay as stress-free as I could to help the healing process. I also found that this is how I want to live for the rest of my life.
After 19 weeks of training ranging from 8 hours to 18 hours per week, I was near race day. I researched how to properly carbo-load since this event was so long. I knew a huge pasta dinner just before the race would not cut it. I found out I should aim to eat 600-700 grams of carbohydrates a day leading up to the event. That’s between 3000-3500 calories a day from carbohydrates alone. Steve Farris told me, "Don't worry when you gain 4-6 pounds a couple weeks before the race" and I'm glad he warned me because I did gain 5 fast. Doing this while slowly backing off training I loaded my muscles with the fuel I would need. Each carb holds water so it should help keep me from getting dehydrated during the race. I also increased my salt intake during the final three days because the forecast predicted a warm race day.
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5. HEADING TO THE RACE COURSE
Dad and I carpooled down to the Woodlands with Seth and his wife Kimberly. She took most of the pictures we have, and I thank her for standing out in the heat to take them. Once we arrived, Seth and I headed for race check in.
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| Kim holding her IRONMAN to be! |
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| She stole Seth's timing chip. lol |
They gave us the bags we would use to hold all our gear at the different transition areas, and halfway through the bike and run portion of the race. We also received our timing chip and swim cap. We looked around at all the tents set up with merchandise and cool Ironman stuff. We then headed to the hotel to get off our feet and rest.
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| Seth and I calling each other "The Man" |
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| All my good stuff ready to go in the bags! |
I waited too long to book a hotel so we all had to stay in Conroe, TX (14 miles north of the race course). Kim really enjoyed the quality of their hotel room……yeah right! Later that night we went to our mandatory race meeting to get briefed on water conditions, race rules, and hear stories from people who have completed an Ironman before. At this event, there were over 1,400 people that were attempting to become an Ironman for the first time. The total number of racers including the pros was 2,655. Out of this total 1,478 were from Texas. Seth and I were up against 2,590 age group athletes.
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| Seth eating large amounts of food as usual! |
We left the dinner and went to get some rest. Friday we had to turn in our bikes by 3pm along with all our bags full of bike gear, run gear, and special needs nutrition and equipment. Seth and I did the practice swim Friday morning and the water felt great at 76 degrees.
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The water feels GREAT?
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| Seth is Swol-Jacked! |
Seth and I were going to use a wetsuit if it was below 76 degrees but were not able to because it warmed to almost 80 before the race. We were happy about that because we trained to swim without one. We went on a short ride before turning the bikes in and ran for about 10 minutes to keep our legs feeling fresh.
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| 2,655 Bikes = Millions of $$$ |
We went to dinner with all the Cooke family and it was great to get to spend time with Mom and Dad.
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| What a great time! |
After dinner it was time to get some rest before getting up super early.
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6. RACE DAY
Heavy rain woke me up at 1am and I took that opportunity to drink a 320-calorie Boost. The rain started to make me fear a very wet race day and reminded me of the rules stating the swim would be canceled if there was lighting. Who only wants to do a bike and run... BOOOO! I just prayed for nice race conditions and went back to sleep. When 3:15am rolled around I felt surprisingly well rested, and prepared to eat my 1400-calorie breakfast. 2 eggs with lots of salt, a big bagel with dark chocolate almond spread, another 320-calorie Boost, a banana, oatmeal, and a cup of coffee. I knew it was important to eat a large breakfast so I could get ahead of the 11,000+ calories I would burn during the race. Seth, Kimberly, the Cookes', Mom, Dad, and I all headed for the race course. We stopped by our bikes to make sure the tires had the correct pressure in them. I was able to put higher pressure in mine because Steve Farris let me borrow his full carbon race wheels for the event. I knew they would help me during the bike section. Thanks Steve! I couldn't believe I would be racing on my 1990 seven-speed Trek. This thing weighed 24 pounds without water or gels! Who knows what it weighed loaded down.
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| I had 18 Gel's taped to my top tube. It was my main fuel source! |
I also attached my Garmin Edge 305 so I could get my heart rate reading, average miles per hour, time, and distance during the ride. I dropped off the Garmin watch Andrew Francis let me borrow so I could see my average mile pace, time, and each mile split during the marathon. Once we got these things set we were ready to walk to the swim start almost a mile away. We were all about to leave the area when I remembered I didn’t put my water bottles on my bike and would have had to finish the 2.4-mile swim, and then get to mile 10 on the bike before having anything to drink. That would not have been good. Mom offered to run to the car to get the bottles while I stretched. She made it back in a flash which was no surprise! I went back to my bike to load it up with water and we were off. We all made it to the swim start area with plenty of time to get numbers put on our bodies and then relax. They put my bib number on each arm (1060) and my age on my left calf (30).
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| Even flexed Seth still has me beat! |
The pros all started at 6:50am and all age groupers were set to start at 7am sharp. All 2,590 age group athletes were entering the water just before the start.
I swam out to the front line with about 5 minutes to go. I had to swim under a kayak to get in position. I saw people hanging on to one of the red buoys so I joined them.
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| I'm just out of frame in the bottom right of this picture hanging on to the front corner of the red TYR buoy. |
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As the final minutes passed they played Ironman by Black Sabbath over loudspeakers. Then the gun sounded at 7am and we were off.
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| Total Insanity! |
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| It reminds me of a natural disaster |
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| Somebody just got slapped! |
I was so thankful Seth and I practiced open-water swimming as much as we did because he helped us not panic. This situation was insane. I had to swim the first mile much harder than I had trained. I was breathing every stroke for a long time because of how intense it was to keep from being run over. I found that if I tried to slow down people would be right there to pass me, pull on me, and crash into me. I just had to keep going hard! The swim portion of the race felt like the longest swim of my life, even though I had done 2.4 miles before. Maybe it was because the water was very brown, and I couldn't even see my hands in front of my face. I’ve told people the swim portion of the race felt like 70% of the day. We had to swim almost to the end of the lake before returning to the other side of the buoys. Once back to the swim start we took a right and swam a channel for about 1300 yards to the swim exit.
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| This part was so much fun. I knew I was almost done with the swim. |
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| The last left turn is at the red buoy ahead. Then it's to the shoreline to the stairs. |
I made it and pulled myself out of the water. Once standing it was hard to get moving because I was way dizzy. I jogged to my bike gear bag and headed for the changing tent.
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| Where the heck is my bag! haha |
Once inside everyone was changing as fast as possible. I made the transition into all my bike gear in 5:07. On the way out of the changing tent I found the sunscreen folks, and they lathered my legs, arms, and face nicely. I jogged to my bike, turned on my Garmin, and headed for the bike exit. Once I reached the mount line where people were allowed to get on their bikes I performed a flying mount like I was Cyclocross racing. It felt pretty cool because everyone else was slowly getting on their bikes and I was already cruising. I started my GPS and noticed it was 8:14am. I knew I had a fast swim but wasn't sure of the exact time. I knew it was faster than my previous best swim at this distance. I found out later I swam the 2.4 miles in 1:07:02. SWEET! For the first half of the ride, we had a slight tailwind, and I decided not to push it. I knew the wind would pick up later in the race, and we would all be facing it the whole way back. I let 100’s of people pass me on the way out. My heart rate was only averaging 133 BPM which was low compared to training, but I wanted to stay conservative. I stuck to my nutrition plan which was to drink a 320-calorie recovery drink (Ultragen) 20 minutes into the bike with a Powerbar Gel and a good amount of water. I continued taking Gels every 20 minutes for the remainder of the ride as this helped with nutrition and salt intake. I alternated between drinking Ironman Perform (sports drink) and water every ten minutes. I planned to take another dose of Ultragen around mile 75. It was a beautiful ride and we went through sections of a Sam Houston National Forest. The roads were smooth for the most part and enjoyable to ride. On the return section of the bike, I started seeing all the same people that first passed me. They were looking pretty beat and as I picked them off I gained strength and adrenaline. This is when I saw Kim and Andrew on the course which made me smile! I didn't expect to see them for some reason.
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"Hey buddy, thanks for the watch"
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| Andrew snapping a shot of Seth (aka. Neon Green) |
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I saw my heart rate was still low with 40 – 50 miles to go so I picked up the pace a bit. It finally averaged 137 BPM by the end of 112 miles, with my average speed being 20.02 MPH. This was 2 MPH over my goal pace, so I knew I was still moving along nicely and felt strong. I figured I would finish the bike in about 6 hours to 6:15, but clocked a 5:35:37. I even had my 18th Gel still taped to my bike because of the time difference. Once I made it to the dismount line I jogged my bike over to the transition area. The IM Staff took my bike from me, and I jogged to my Run Gear Bag where they had it waiting on me. I made my way into the transition tent again and put everything I had on in the empty run gear bag. I had dumped my run bag out on the ground. I put on my run shorts, a fresh Simpson's Jersey, my white hat, socks, compression calf sleeves, and my lightweight Newton racers. I was very excited to be off the bike because my upper glute on the right side was getting pretty sore by the end of the ride. I started out my run and clocked an 8:06 for my first mile because of how excited I was. I made myself slow down, and I tried to keep my pace around 8:30-8:50 a mile. I did pretty well on staying steady and keeping focused, but it didn't stop me from enjoying the run and the crowd. They were so amazing and really cheered us on all day. The marathon was set up around Lake Woodlands on an 8-mile loop we would repeat until the end. It was kinda cruel in a way because we all ran right past the finishing area twice before actually being able to finish. The day was warming up fast and I knew I needed to stay hydrated and cool. I made sure to walk every aid station just to take a drink of water or sports drink, and stock up on ice and cold wet sponges. I would put ice in my hat and in my tri-suit as often as I could. I would put a cold sponge behind my neck and on both the left and right side of my bellybutton.
I knew this took time to do but felt overheating would cost me much more time. Before I knew it I came through the half marathon mark at 1:51 feeling good. I spent most of the run smiling at people and making funny comments to some. They would yell, "Looking good 1060" and I would yell back, "No, yourrrr looking good" and then smile. It usually cracked them up, because most people didn't seem to be enjoying themselves. Then on the next lap, they yelled even louder for me, which helped me keep me going strong. I had about 15 groups of people around the loop who recognized me because of my huge grin. I randomly complemented one older spectator "you are ripped!" because he was pretty buff for his age and didn't have a shirt on. I was just saying whatever popped into my mind to stay pumped up and in a joyful and happy mood. The spectators really sent tons of positive energy toward the competitors. I could feel the energy coming from everyone tracking me from home also. It was a surreal feeling because I knew my energy should have dwindled long ago, but it didn't. My right knee and hip started hurting at mile 9 which wasn't pleasant, but I decided not to think negatively about it. I instead talked myself into believing the more pain I felt the more power it meant I had left. It helped and worked perfectly till mile 23. That's when it wasn't easy to smile and joke around as much. It was time to get this thing DONE! I focused on staying smooth, keeping calm, breathing deeply, and ignoring the pain. Before I knew it I was turning down the home stretch to become an IRONMAN. I found a good amount of extra energy, all pain faded away, and I enjoyed a nice sprint to the finish. Here is my marathon data.
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| I'm floating in a dream-like trance like my Dad talks about! |
I remembered to throw my arms up and smile, but didn't remember hearing Mike Reilly say, "JT Peebles... You are an IRONMAN". I'll have to pay better attention when I do my next one.
Here are all the pictures from race day that they took of me. I was so happy out there all day!
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7. PROFESSIONAL RACE DAY PICTURE GALLERY
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| So Serious... |
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| I'm not smiling here, because I'm SUPER tired. |
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| Still catching my breath! |
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| Feeling good now! |
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| Lovin' in! |
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| Closing in on the bike finish |
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| Can anyone explain my fingers in these next few pictures? |
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| I don't remember doing these hand positions. |
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| I could have sworn I had my hands lightly closed...Weird! |
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| Oh the JOY! |
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| I'm so grateful to have gotten to this moment in my life. |
Do you see the thin blue band on my right wrist? Kimberly ordered a custom band for Seth and me with our favorite color and race verse. I chose Isaiah 40:31. This verse reads "but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." I know this truth was alive and well in me during the race, and I praise the Lord for all the help.
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8. AFTER THE RACE
After the race, I was definitely in a daze, and people said I looked pale. I think I might have made myself too cool during the race with all the ice because I don't remember being hot ever.
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| I'm supposed to be looking beat down |
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| Mom and I chatting it up! |
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| I love my Momma |
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| The Cooke Crew |
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| She's so proud... and thankful IM Training is over |
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Chattin' it up with the Cooke family and friends!
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| We Did it IRONbrother! |
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| Like old men talking over war stories. |
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| Thanks for talking me into all this Seth. I owe you! |
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| Loading up after a day well done! |
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| The goods! |
I checked my weight after the race and was still a few pounds above my average. I only lost 2 pounds during the race which tells me I stayed fueled and hydrated perfectly. Seth and I both were not terribly sore the days after the race. We even ended up riding a 20-mile recovery ride two days after the race.
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9. FUTURE PLANS
Seth and I both agree that the cost in both time and money is too great to do another Ironman next year. We have changed our focus a bit toward a faster marathon. We are both wanting to increase our speed, and try to qualify for the Boston Marathon this year. We'll do the Tyler Marathon as a training run, but we will not go too crazy there. Then in December at White Rock, we will attempt to break a 3:05 which would give us a qualifying time. We will have to run a 7:03 per mile average or better to make it. Wish us luck and keep sending us prayers, energy, and love. We'll pay you back one day!
Thank you all for choosing to be my friend, and supporting me through this wild adventure called life. If you are my family I am truly blessed to have you in my life. I will never be able to thank you for all the love and support you have always given me, even during all the rough times. I look forward to catching up with you all as soon as possible. I love you all more than you know.
See you out there! Keep smiling and trusting Jesus! A living relationship with Him made all of the above possible.
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9. UPDATES
Update: Seth and I both qualified and I'll be racing Boston in 2013. Here is the data from my 2011 Dallas Marathon. Seth is going for a Kona slot at this Ironman 2013. Seth, Clay, and I are going to race Dallas again in two days! Exciting times!
Update 2014: I raced Boston 2013 in 3:00:05 and then just over an hour later the bombs went off. This was a crazy day and we prayed for all the families involved in the horrible attack. I ran Boston again in 2014 in 3:02:47 and just signed up for Boston 2015. I also raced the Boulder Ironman this year in 10:54:34 and was waiting at the start line 48 days later to race Ironman Lake Tahoe. This is what we heard because of the King fire. http://youtu.be/UXixGzWfjxY
So now it's time to get stronger in the water, on the bike, and running. I'll race Ironman Lake Tahoe next year after Ironman Boulder so it's going to be a big year.
Update 2018: It's been years since this experience and I'm still sold out to Christ. That decision has proven over time to be the wisest decision I've ever made. I've been married for just over 5 years to my best friend Becky. It would take another blog just to describe the beautiful journey we have been on so far. Marriage and parenting are more special than I could have dreamed. Becky enjoys racing too and is an amazing athlete. She loves Jesus first and everything else has its place. A wise woman I tell you! Oh.. Did I mention she is also an Ironman! Her first one was in 2015 at Boulder in a time of 12:20:53. I'm so proud of her. We are on our second kiddo which is due April 16th. This happens to be the same day as the Boston Marathon. I have kept my string alive since 2013. My time in 2015 was 2:58:48. This was the first time I ever beat my Mom's marathon PR. Her's was 10 seconds slower than this one so I just squeaked under. In 2016 it was hot and I ended up 3:04:39. In 2017 I hit an all-time PR of 2:56:59 which is a 6:45 pace. I'm registered for 2018 but it depends on baby Boston if I go. If he or she shows up early (and Mama and Baby are healthy) I'll make a quick trip over and back to the race, but if we are still waiting on the little one I'll stay home to support my wife and family. I'll race the Lincon Marathon instead. So standby for another update. In the meantime run with joy! (I did get to go race in 2018. Our Son was born on Friday and just before midnight my wife was feeling pretty good. She said “My Mom is in town to help you should see if there are any flights to the race. I found one and flew over raced and was back in less than 48 hours. What a adventure and supportive wife.)
Update 2022: I have so much to add and plan to do so as soon as possible. Becky and I have three kiddos now (6, 4, and 2 years old) and I've been a stay-at-home Dad the whole time. Becky qualified to race her first Boston in 2023 and it'll be my 11th in a row. It's been amazing keeping the string going. I've been on a bit more of a truth seeking journey the last 10 months and have realized there are many deceptions in this world vying for attention. It has caused me to push harder into my relationship with our Heavenly Father, beloved son, and Spirit. I’ve found great joy in focusing on the blessings in my life rather than the drama all around us. What an amazing journey!
2025 Update coming soon…
